Earthquake stress drop and Arias Intensity
Annemarie S. Baltay Sundstrom, Thomas C. Hanks, Norman A. Abrahamson
2019, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (124) 3838-3852
We determine earthquake stress drops directly from the Arias intensity database of NGA-West2. Arias intensity (Arias, 1970) is an engineering measure proportional to the integral of the absolute value of acceleration squared, over the significant duration of the signal. As such, it is closely related to root-mean-square acceleration, and can...
Accounting for phenology in the analysis of animal movement
Henry R. Scharf, Mevin Hooten, Ryan R. Wilson, George M. Durner, Todd C. Atwood
2019, Biometrics (75) 810-820
The analysis of animal tracking data provides important scientific understanding and discovery in ecology. Observations of animal trajectories using telemetry devices provide researchers with information about the way animals interact with their environment and each other. For many species, specific geographical features in the landscape can have a strong effect...
Mississippi river sediment diversions and coastal wetland sustainability: Synthesis of responses to freshwater, sediment, and nutrient inputs
Tracy Elsey-Quirk, Sean A. Graham, Irving A. Mendelssohn, Gregg Snedden, John W. Day, Gary P. Shaffer, Leigh Anne Sharp, Robert R. Twilley, James Pahl, R.R. Lane
2019, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science (221) 170-183
Management and restoration of coastal wetlands require insight into how inundation, salinity, and the availability of mineral sediment and nutrients interact to influence ecosystem functions that control sustainability. The Mississippi River Delta, which ranks among the world's largest and most productive coastal wetland complexes, has experienced extensive deterioration over the...
Stream characteristics associated with feeding type in silver(Ichthyomyzon unicuspis) and northern brook (I. fossor) lampreys and tests for phenotypic plasticity
Fraser Neave, Todd B. Steeves, Thomas C. Pratt, Robert L. McLaughlin, Jean V. Adams, Margaret F. Docker
2019, Environmental Biology of Fishes (102) 615-627
In most lamprey genera, “paired” species exist in which the larvae are morphologically indistinguishable but adult feeding type differs. The lack of diagnostic genetic differences in many pairs has led to suggestions that they constitute a single gene pool with environmentally influenced feeding types. To investigate whether stream characteristics are...
Resource concentration mechanisms facilitate foraging success in simulations of a pulsed oligotrophic wetland
Simeon Yurek, Donald L. DeAngelis
2019, Landscape Ecology (34) 583-601
ContextMovement of prey on hydrologically pulsed, spatially heterogeneous wetlands can result in transient, high prey concentrations, when changes in landscape features such as connectivity between flooded areas alternately facilitate and impede prey movement. Predators track and exploit these concentrations, depleting them as they arise.<div id="ASec2"...
Applying the Community Ice Sheet Model to evaluate PMIP3 LGM climatologies over the North American ice sheets
Jay R. Alder, Steven W. Hostetler
2019, Climate Dynamics (53) 2807-2824
We apply the Community Ice Sheet Model (CISM2) to determine the extent to which the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) temperature and precipitation climatologies from the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project 3 (PMIP3) simulations support the large North American ice sheets that were prescribed as a boundary condition. We force CISM2 with...
Flooding regimes increase avian predation on wildlife prey in tidal marsh ecosystems
Karen M. Thorne, Kyle A. Spragens, Kevin J. Buffington, Jordan A. Rosencranz, John Takekawa
2019, Ecology and Evolution (9) 1083-1094
Within isolated and fragmented populations, species interactions such as predation can cause shifts in community structure and demographics in tidal marsh ecosystems. It is critical to incorporate species interactions into our understanding when evaluating the effects of sea‐level rise and storm surges on tidal marshes. In...
Flood-inundation maps for Lake Champlain in Vermont and New York
Robert H. Flynn, Laura Hayes
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5169
In 2016, digital flood-inundation maps along the shoreline of Lake Champlain in Addison, Chittenden, Franklin, and Grand Isle Counties in Vermont and northern Clinton County in New York were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the International Joint Commission (IJC). This report discusses the creation of...
Florida Coastal Mapping Program—Overview and 2018 workshop report
Cheryl J. Hapke, Philip A. Kramer, Elizabeth H. Fetherston-Resch, Rene D. Baumstark, Ryan Druyor, Xan Fredericks, Ekaterina Fitos
2019, Open-File Report 2019-1017
The Florida Coastal Mapping Program is a nascent but highly relevant program that has the potential to greatly enhance the “Blue Economy” of Florida by coordinating and facilitating sea-floor mapping efforts and aligning partner and stakeholder activities for increased efficiency and cost reduction. Sustained acquisition of modern coastal mapping information...
Validating a time series of annual grass percent cover in the sagebrush ecosystem
Stephen P. Boyte, Bruce K. Wylie, Donald J. Major
2019, Rangeland Ecology and Management (72) 347-359
We mapped yearly (2000–2016) estimates of annual grass percent cover for much of the sagebrush ecosystem of the western United States using remotely sensed, climate, and geophysical data in regression-tree models. Annual grasses senesce and cure by early summer and then become beds of fine fuel that easily ignite and spread fire through rangeland systems. Our...
Evidence for plunging river plume deposits in the Pahrump Hills member of the Murray formation, Gale crater, Mars
Kathryn M. Stack, John P. Grotzinger, Michael P. Lamb, Sanjeev Gupta, David M. Rubin, Linda C. Kah, Lauren A. Edgar, Deirdra M. Fey, Joel A. Hurowitz, Marie J. McBride, Frances Rivera-Hernandez, Dawn Y. Sumner, Jason K. Van Beek, Rebecca M. E. Williams, R. Aileen Yingst
2019, Sedimentology (66) 1768-1801
Recent robotic missions to Mars have offered new insights into the extent, diversity and habitability of the Martian sedimentary rock record. Since the Curiosity rover landed in Gale crater in August 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory Science Team has explored the origins and habitability of ancient fluvial, deltaic, lacustrine and aeolian deposits...
Modelling sea lice control by lumpfish on Atlantic salmon farms: interactions with mate limitation, temperature, and treatment rules
Gregor F. McEwan, Maya L. Groner, Allegra A. B. Cohen, Albert K. D. Imsland, Crawford W. Revie
2019, Diseases of Aquatic Organisms (133) 69-82
Atlantic salmon farming is one of the largest aquaculture sectors in the world. A major impact on farm economics, fish welfare, and potentially nearby wild salmonid populations, is the sea louse ectoparasite Lepeophtheirus salmonis. Sea louse infestations are most often controlled through application of chemicals, but in most farming regions sea...
Not so normal normals: Species distribution model results are sensitive to choice of climate normals and model type
Catherine S. Jarnevich, Nicholas E. Young
2019, Climate (7) 1-15
Species distribution models have many applications in conservation and ecology, and climate data are frequently a key driver of these models. Often, correlative modeling approaches are developed with readily available climate data; however, the impacts of the choice of climate normals is rarely considered. Here, we produced species distribution models...
Patterns of mercury and selenium exposure in Minnesota common loons
Kevin P. Kenow, Steven C. Houdek, Luke J. Fara, Richard A. Erickson, Brian R. Gray, Travis J. Harrison, Bruce Monson, Carrol L. Henderson
2019, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (38) 524-532
Common loons (Gavia immer) are at risk of elevated dietary mercury (Hg) exposure in portions of their breeding range. To assess the level of risk among loons in Minnesota (USA), we investigated loon blood Hg concentrations in breeding lakes across Minnesota. Loon blood Hg concentrations were regressed on predicted Hg...
The area under the precision‐recall curve as a performance metric for rare binary events
Helen Sofaer, Jennifer A. Hoeting, Catherine S. Jarnevich
2019, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (10) 565-577
Species distribution models are used to study biogeographic patterns and guide decision‐making. The variable quality of these models makes it critical to assess whether a model's outputs are suitable for the intended use, but commonly used evaluation approaches are inappropriate for many ecological contexts. In particular, unrealistically high performance...
Managing dams for energy and fish tradeoffs: What does a win-win solution take?
Cuihong Song, Andrew O’Malley, Samuel G. Roy, Joseph D. Zydlewski, Betsy L. Barber, Weiwei Mo
2019, Science of the Total Environment (669) 833-843
Management activities to restore endangered fish species, such as dam removals, fishway installations, and periodic turbine shutdowns, usually decrease hydropower generation capacities at dams. Quantitative analysis of the tradeoffs between energy production and fish population recovery related to dam decision-making...
Spatial and temporal variability of harmful algal blooms in Milford Lake, Kansas, May through November 2016
Guy M. Foster, Jennifer L. Graham, Lindsey R. King
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5166
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), completed a study to quantify the spatial and temporal variability of cyanobacterial blooms in Milford Lake, Kansas, over a range of environmental conditions at various time scales (hours to months). A better understanding of the...
Characterizing the influence of fire on hydrology in southern California
Lorraine E. Flint, Emma C Underwood, Alan L. Flint, Allan Hollander
2019, Natural Areas Journal (39) 108-121
The chaparral-dominated national forests of southern California were in part established to provide water provision services to the surrounding urban populations and irrigation for agriculture. However, water provision in the form of groundwater recharge and surface runoff depends on the climatological conditions of any given...
Fungicides: An overlooked pesticide class?
Jochen Zubrod, Micro Bundschuh, Gertie Arts, Carsten Bruhl, Gwenael Imfeld, Anja Knabel, Sylvain Payraudeau, Jes J Rasmussen, Jason Rohr, Andreas Scharmuller, Kelly L. Smalling, Sebastian Stehle, Ralf B. Schäfer, Ralf Schulz
2019, Environmental Science & Technology (53) 3347-3365
Fungicides are indispensable to global food security and their use is forecasted to intensify. Fungicides can reach aquatic ecosystems and occur in surface water bodies in agricultural catchments throughout the whole growing season due to their frequent, prophylactic application. However, in comparison to herbicides and insecticides, the exposure to and...
Assessing the lead solubility potential of untreated groundwater of the United States
Bryant Jurgens, David L. Parkhurst, Kenneth Belitz
2019, Environmental Science & Technology (53) 3095-3103
In the U.S., about 44 million people rely on self-supplied groundwater for drinking water. Because most self-supplied homeowners do not treat their water to control corrosion, drinking water can be susceptible to lead (Pb) contamination from metal plumbing. To assess the types and locations of susceptible groundwater, a geochemical reaction...
An assessment of plant species differences on cellulose oxygen isotopes from two Kenai Peninsula, Alaska peatlands: Implications for hydroclimatic reconstructions
Miriam Jones, Lesleigh Anderson, Katherine Keller, Bailey Nash, Virginia Littell, Matthew J. Wooller, Chelsea Jolley
2019, Frontiers in Earth Science (7)
Peat cores are valuable archives of past environmental change because they accumulate plant organic matter over millennia. While studies have primarily focused on physical, ecological, and some biogeochemical proxies, cores from peatlands have increasingly been used to interpret hydroclimatic change using stable isotope analyses of cellulose preserved in plant remains....
Modeling connectivity of non‐floodplain wetlands: Insights, approaches, and recommendations
C. Nathan Jones, Ali A. Ameli, Brian Neff, Grey R. Evenson, Daniel L. McLaughlin, Heather E. Golden, Charles R. Lane
2019, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) (55) 559-577
Representing hydrologic connectivity of non‐floodplain wetlands (NFWs) to downstream waters in process‐based models is an emerging challenge relevant to many research, regulatory, and management activities. We review four case studies that utilize process‐based models developed to simulate NFW hydrology. Models range from a simple, lumped parameter...
GPS tracking data reveals daily spatio-temporal movement patterns of waterfowl
Fiona McDuie, Michael L. Casazza, Cory T. Overton, Mark P. Herzog, C. Alex Hartman, Sarah H. Peterson, Cliff L. Feldheim, Joshua T. Ackerman
2019, Movement Ecology (7) 1-17
BackgroundSpatio-temporal patterns of movement can characterize relationships between organisms and their surroundings, and address gaps in our understanding of species ecology, activity budgets, bioenergetics, and habitat resource management. Highly mobile waterfowl, which can exploit resources over large spatial extents, are excellent models to understand relationships...
Hydromechanical earthquake nucleation model forecasts onset, peak, and falling rates of induced seismicity in Oklahoma and Kansas
Jack Norbeck, Justin L. Rubinstein
2019, Geophysical Research Letters (45) 2963-2975
The earthquake activity in Oklahoma and Kansas that began in 2008 reflects the most widespread instance of induced seismicity observed to date. We develop a reservoir model to calculate the hydrologic conditions associated with the activity of 902 saltwater disposal wells injecting into the Arbuckle aquifer. Estimates...
Modelling for catchment management
Aroon Parshotam, Dale M. Robertson
David P. Hamilton, Kevin J. Collier, John M. Quinn, Clive Howard-Williams, editor(s)
2019, Book chapter, Lake restoration handbook
Catchment models are useful tools to help describe and quantify the sources, transport, and fate of sediment, nutrients, and other constituents in a landscape. Results from catchment models are used to quantify and understand existing conditions and used in restoration efforts by defining areas with highest contributions (hotspots, where actions...
