A database of biodiversity and habitat quantification tools used in market-based conservation
Scott J. Chiavacci, Emily Pindilli
2018, Fact Sheet 2018-3039
Market-based conservation uses economic incentives to leverage market forces in ways that encourage and improve efficiency in the restoration, enhancement, and preservation of species and habitats. Biodiversity and habitat quantification tools are vital to the operation of this conservation strategy, as they are used to measure the quality and functionality...
Rapid, remote assessment of Hurricane Matthew impacts using four-dimensional structure-from-motion photogrammetry
Christopher R. Sherwood, Jonathan A. Warrick, Andrew D. Hill, Andrew C. Ritchie, Brian D. Andrews, Nathaniel G. Plant
2018, Journal of Coastal Research (34) 1303-1316
Timely assessment of coastal landforms and structures after storms is important for evaluating storm impacts, aiding emergency response and restoration, and initializing and assessing morphological models. Four-dimensional multiview photogrammetry, also known as structure from motion (4D SfM), provides a method for generating three-dimensional reconstructions of landscapes at two times (before...
Flood-inundation maps for the Pawtuxet River in West Warwick, Warwick, and Cranston, Rhode Island
Gardner C. Bent, Pamela J. Lombard
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5043
A series of 15 digital flood-inundation maps was developed for a 10.2-mile reach of the Pawtuxet River in the municipalities of West Warwick, Warwick, and Cranston, Rhode Island, by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers....
Limited nitrate retention capacity in the Upper Mississippi River
Luke C. Loken, John T. Crawford, Mark M. Dornblaser, Robert G. Striegl, Jeffrey N. Houser, Peter A Turner, Emily H. Stanley
2018, Environmental Research Letters (13)
The Mississippi River and other large rivers have the potential to regulate nitrogen export from terrestrial landscapes, and thus mitigate eutrophication in downstream aquatic ecosystems. In large rivers, human-constructed impoundments and connected backwaters may facilitate nitrogen removal; however, the capacity of these features is poorly quantified and...
A comparison of synthetic flowpaths derived from light detection and ranging topobathymetric data and National Hydrography Dataset High Resolution Flowlines
Cynthia Miller-Corbett
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1058
Bathymetric and topobathymetric light detection and ranging (lidar) digital elevation models created for the Delaware River were provided to the National Geospatial Program and used to evaluate synthetic flowpath extraction from bathymetric/topobathymetric lidar survey data as a data source for improving the density, distribution, and connectivity of the National Hydrography...
An update on Toxoplasma gondii infections in northern sea otters (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) from Washington State, USA
Shiv K. Verma, Susan Knowles, Camila K. Cerqueira-Cezar, Oliver C. Kwok, Tiantian Jiang, Chunlei Su, Jitender P. Dubey
2018, Veterinary Parasitology (258) 133-137
Toxoplasmosis in marine mammals is epidemiologically and clinically important. Toxoplasma gondii antibodies (by modified agglutination test, cut-off ≥1:25) were detected in serum of 65 of 70 (92.9%) northern sea otters (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) from Washington State, USA. Brains and/or muscles of 44 sea otters were bioassayed in mice (INF-γ knock-out...
Temporal and spatial monitoring of cyanobacterial blooms at Willow Creek Reservoir, North-Central Oregon
Cassandra D. Smith
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5083
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) investigated the spatial and temporal dynamics of cyanobacterial (blue-green algal) blooms in Willow Creek Reservoir in north-central Oregon in 2015–16. A combination of cameras and water-quality monitoring equipment was used to assess the frequency and duration of blooms...
Pesticide inputs to the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, 2015–16: Results from the Delta Regional Monitoring Program
Matthew D. De Parsia, James L. Orlando, Megan M. McWayne, Michelle L. Hladik
2018, Data Series 1089
Emergent hypotheses about causes of the pelagic organism decline in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta (Delta) indicate that a more complete understanding of the quality of water entering the Delta is needed. Less than half of all pesticides used in the Delta watershed are measured in samples collected for routine monitoring,...
Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve Coordinated Water Resources Monitoring Strategy
Shawn C. Fisher, Robert J. Welk, Jason S. Finkelstein
2018, Open-File Report 2017-1161
Executive SummaryThe Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve Coordinated Water Resources Monitoring Strategy (CWRMS) provides an overview of the water-quality and ecological monitoring within the Reserve and presents suggestions from stakeholders for future data collection, data management, and coordination among monitoring programs. The South Shore Estuary Reserve, hereafter referred to...
Reestablishing a host–affiliate relationship: Migratory fish reintroduction increases native mussel recruitment
Heather S. Galbraith, Julie L. Devers, Carrie J. Blakeslee, Jeffrey C. Cole, Barbara St. John White, Steven Minkkinen, William A. Lellis
2018, Ecological Applications (28) 1841-1852
Co‐extirpation among host–affiliate species is thought to be a leading cause of biodiversity loss worldwide. Freshwater mussels (Unionida) are at...
Preliminary evaluation of the hydrogeology and groundwater quality of the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer and Memphis aquifer at the Tennessee Valley Authority Allen Power Plants, Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee
John K. Carmichael, James A. Kingsbury, Daniel Larsen, Scott Schoefernacker
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1097
The hydrogeology, groundwater quality, and potential for hydraulic connection between the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer and the Memphis aquifer in the area of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Allen Combined Cycle and Allen Fossil Plants in southwestern Memphis, Tennessee, were evaluated from September through December 2017. The study was...
Quality of surface water in Missouri, Water Year 2016
Miya N. Barr, Katherine A. Bartels
2018, Data Series 1086
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, designed and operates a series of monitoring stations on streams and springs throughout Missouri known as the Ambient Water-Quality Monitoring Network. During water year 2016 (October 1, 2015, through September 30, 2016), data presented in this report...
Quantifying variance across spatial scales as part of fire regime classifications
Scholtz Rheinhardt, Samuel D. Fuhlendorf, Sherry A. Leis, Joshua J. Picotte, Dirac Twidwell
2018, Ecosphere (9)
The emergence of large‐scale fire classifications and products informed by remote sensing data has enabled opportunities to include variability or heterogeneity as part of modern fire regime classifications. Currently, basic fire metrics such as mean fire return intervals are calculated without considering spatial variance in a management context. Fire return...
Santa Barbara and Foothill groundwater basins Geohydrology and optimal water resources management—Developed using density dependent solute transport and optimization models
Scott R. Paulinski, Tracy Nishikawa, Geoffrey Cromwell, Scott E. Boyce, Zachary P. Stanko
Tracy Nishikawa, editor(s)
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5059
Groundwater has been a part of the city of Santa Barbara’s water-supply portfolio since the 1800s; however, since the 1960s, the majority of the city’s water has come from local surface water, and the remainder has come from groundwater, State Water Project, recycled water, increased water conservation, and as needed,...
On the reliability of N‐mixture models for count data
Richard J. Barker, Matthew J. Schofield, William A. Link, John R. Sauer
2018, Biometrics (74) 369-377
N‐mixture models describe count data replicated in time and across sites in terms of abundance N and detectability p. They are popular because they allow inference about N while controlling for factors that influence p without the need for marking animals. Using a capture–recapture perspective, we show that the loss...
Juvenile salmonid monitoring following removal of Condit Dam in the White Salmon River Watershed, Washington, 2017
Ian G. Jezorek, Jill M. Hardiman
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1106
Condit Dam, at river kilometer 5.3 on the White Salmon River, Washington, was breached in 2011, and removed completely in 2012, providing anadromous salmonids with the opportunity to recolonize habitat blocked for nearly 100 years. Prior to dam removal, a multi-agency workgroup concluded that the preferred salmonid restoration alternative...
Using cluster analysis to compartmentalize a large managed wetland based on physical, biological, and climatic geospatial attributes
Ian Hahus, Kati Migliaccio, Kyle R. Douglas-Mankin, Geraldine Klarenberg, Rafael Muñoz-Carpena
2018, Environmental Management (62) 571-583
Hierarchical and partitional cluster analyses were used to compartmentalize Water Conservation Area 1, a managed wetland within the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Florida, USA, based on physical, biological, and climatic geospatial attributes. Single, complete, average, and Ward’s linkages were tested during the hierarchical cluster analyses,...
An updated method for estimating landslide‐event magnitude
Hakan Tanyas, Kate E. Allstadt, Cees J. van Weston
2018, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (43) 1836-1847
Summary statistics derived from the frequency–area distribution (FAD) of inventories of triggered landslides allows for direct comparison of landslides triggered by one event (e.g. earthquake, rainstorm) with another. Such comparisons are vital to understand links between the landslide‐event and the environmental characteristics of the area affected. This could lead to...
Map of recently active traces of the Rodgers Creek Fault, Sonoma County, California
Suzanne Hecker, Carolyn E. Randolph Loar
2018, Scientific Investigations Map 3410
The accompanying map and digital data identify recently active strands of the Rodgers Creek Fault in Sonoma County, California, interpreted primarily from the geomorphic expression of recent faulting on aerial photography and hillshade imagery derived from airborne lidar data. A recently active fault strand is defined here as having evidence...
Variation in inbreeding rates across the range of Northern Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis caurina): Insights from over 30 years of monitoring data
Mark P. Miller, Susan M. Haig, Eric D. Forsman, Robert G. Anthony, Lowell Diller, Katie M. Dugger, Alan B. Franklin, Tracy L. Fleming, Scott Gremel, Damon B. Lesmeister, Mark Higley, Dale R. Herter, Stan G Sovern
2018, The Auk (135) 821-833
Inbreeding has been difficult to quantify in wild populations because of incomplete parentage information. We applied and extended a recently developed framework for addressing this problem to infer inbreeding rates in Northern Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) across the Pacific Northwest, USA. Using pedigrees from 14,187 Northern Spotted Owls, we...
Procedures for using the Horiba Scientific Aqualog® fluorometer to measure absorbance and fluorescence from dissolved organic matter
Angela M. Hansen, Jacob Fleck, Tamara E. C. Kraus, Bryan D. Downing, Travis von Dessonneck, Brian A. Bergamaschi
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1096
Advances in spectroscopic techniques have led to an increase in the use of optical measurements (absorbance and fluorescence) to assess dissolved organic matter composition and infer sources and processing. Although optical measurements are easy to make, they can be affected by many variables rendering them less comparable, including by inconsistencies...
Modeling the distributions of tegu lizards in native and potential invasive ranges
Catherine S. Jarnevich, Mark Hayes, Lee A. Fitzgerald, Amy Yackel, Bryan Falk, Michelle Collier, Lea Bonewell, Page Klug, Sergio Naretto, Robert Reed
2018, Scientific Reports (8)
Invasive reptilian predators can have substantial impacts on native species and ecosystems. Tegu lizards are widely distributed in South America east of the Andes, and are popular in the international live animal trade. Two species are established in Florida (U.S.A.) - Salvator merianae (Argentine black and white tegu) and Tupinambis...
Defining the risk landscape in the context of pathogen pollution: Toxoplasma gondii in sea otters along the Pacific Rim
Tristan L. Burgess, M. Tim Tinker, Melissa A. Miller, James L. Bodkin, Michael J. Murray, Justin A. Saarinen, Linda M. Nichol, Shawn E. Larson, Patricia A. Conrad, Christine K. Johnson
2018, Royal Society Open Science (5)
Pathogens entering the marine environment as pollutants exhibit a spatial signature driven by their transport mechanisms. The sea otter (Enhydra lutris), a marine animal which lives much of its life within sight of land, presents a unique opportunity to understand land–sea pathogen transmission. Using a dataset on Toxoplasma gondii prevalence across sea...
Coastal National Elevation Database
Jeffrey J. Danielson, Sandra K. Poppenga, Dean J. Tyler, Monica Palaseanu-Lovejoy, Dean B. Gesch
2018, Fact Sheet 2018-3037
The Coastal National Elevation Database (CoNED) Applications Project develops enhanced topographic (land elevation) and bathymetric (water depth) datasets that serve as valuable resources for coastal hazards research (Danielson and others, 2016; Thatcher and others, 2016). These datasets are used widely for mapping inundation zones from riverine flood events, hurricanes, and...
Groundwater-quality and select quality-control data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, January through December 2015, and previously unpublished data from 2013 to 2014
Terri Arnold, Laura M. Bexfield, MaryLynn Musgrove, Paul E. Stackelberg, Bruce D. Lindsey, James A. Kingsbury, Justin T. Kulongoski, Kenneth Belitz
2018, Data Series 1087
Groundwater-quality data were collected from 502 wells as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Project of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Program and are included in this report. Most of the wells (500) were sampled from January through December 2015, and 2 of them were sampled in 2013. The...
