Streamflow contributions from tribal lands to major river basins of the United States
Kyle W. Blasch, Stephen A. Hundt, Patrick Wurster, Roy Sando, Antony Berthelote
2018, PLoS ONE (13) 1-16
While many studies on tribal water resources of individual tribal lands in the United States (US) have been conducted, the importance of tribal water resources at a national scale has largely gone unrecognized because their combined totals have not been quantified. Thus, we sought to provide a numerical estimate of...
Chronic wasting disease detection and mortality sources in semi-protected deer population
Krysten L. Schuler, Jonathan A. Jenks, Robert W. Klaver, Christopher S. Jennelle, R. Terry Bowyer
2018, Wildlife Biology (2018)
Surveillance for wildlife diseases is essential for assessing population dynamics of ungulates, especially in free-ranging populations where infected animals are difficult to sample. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is an emerging infectious disease of concern because of the potential for substantial negative effects on populations of cervids. Variability in the likelihood...
The 1952 Kern County, California earthquake: A case study of issues in the analysis of historical intensity data for estimation of source parameters
Leah Salditch, Susan E. Hough, Seth Stein, Bruce Spencer, Edward Brooks, James S. Neely, Madeleine C. Lucas
2018, Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors (283) 140-151
Seismic intensity data based on first-hand accounts of shaking give valuable insight into historical and early instrumental earthquakes. Comparing an observed intensity distribution to intensity-prediction models based on modern calibration events allows the magnitude to be estimated for many historic earthquakes. Magnitude estimates can also potentially be refined for earthquakes...
Changes in Earth’s gravity reveal changes in groundwater storage
Jeffrey R. Kennedy
2018, Fact Sheet 2018-3032
Changes in the amount of water stored in underground aquifers cause small changes in Earth’s gravitational field. The U.S. Geological Survey’s Southwest Gravity Program has developed methods for measuring terrestrial gravity changes with part-per-billion precision. The measurements allow scientists to map changes in groundwater storage and to improve models...
Modelling sound attenuation in heterogeneous environments for improved bioacoustic sampling of wildlife populations
J. Andrew Royle
2018, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (9) 1939-1947
Acoustic sampling methods are becoming increasingly important in biological monitoring. Sound attenuation is one of the most important dynamics affecting the utility of acoustic data as it directly affects the probability of detection of individuals by acoustic sensor arrays and especially the localization of acoustic signals necessary in telemetry...
Methods used to reconstruct historical daily streamflows in northern New Jersey and southeastern New York, water years 1922–2010
R. Edward Hickman, Amy R. McHugh
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5068
A study was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, to reconstruct streamflows for use in the RiverWare model. Methods and data used to estimate daily reconstructed streamflows at 53 sites in selected subbasins in northern New Jersey and southeastern New...
U.S. Geological Survey energy and wildlife research annual report for 2018
Mona Khalil, editor(s)
2018, Circular 1447
USGS scientists provide scientific information and options that land and resource managers and private industries can use to make decisions regarding the development of energy resources while protecting the health of ecosystems. Studies focus on delivering information to avoid, minimize, or mitigate the impacts of energy infrastructure on fish and...
Soil property and class maps of the conterminous United States at 100-meter spatial resolution
Amanda Ramcharan, Tomislav Hengl, Travis W. Nauman, Colby W. Brungard, Sharon Waltman, Skye A. Wills, James Thompson
2018, Soil Science Society of America Journal (82) 186-201
With growing concern for the depletion of soil resources, conventional soil maps need to be updated and provided at finer and finer resolutions to be able to support spatially explicit human–landscape models. Three US soil point datasets—the National Cooperative Soil Survey Characterization Database, the National Soil Information System, and the...
Reductions in tree performance during hotter droughts are mitigated by shifts in nitrogen cycling
Charlotte Grossiord, Arthur Gessler, Sasha C. Reed, Isaac Borrego, Adam D. Collins, Lee T. Dickman, Max Ryan, Leonie Schonbeck, Sanna Sevanto, Alberto Vilagroso, Nate G. McDowell
2018, Plant, Cell & Environment (41) 2627-2637
Climate warming should result in hotter droughts of unprecedented severity in this century. Such droughts have been linked with massive tree mortality, and data suggest that warming interacts with drought to aggravate plant performance. Yet how forests will respond to hotter droughts remains unclear, as does the suite of mechanisms...
KG²B, a collaborative benchmarking exercise for estimating the permeability of the Grimsel granodiorite - Part 1: measurements, pressure dependence and pore-fluid effects
Christian David, J. Wasserman, F. Amann, David A. Lockner, E.H. Rutter, T Vanorio, A. Amann Hildenbrand, J. Billiotte, T. Reuschle, D. Lasseux, J. Fortin, R. Lenormand, A.P.S. Selvadurai, P.G. Meredith, J. Browning, T.M. Mitchell, D. Loggia, F. Nono, J. Sarout, L. Esteban, C. Davy, L. Louis, G. Boitnott, C. Madonna, E. Jahns, Fleury. M., G. Berthe, P. Delage, P. Braun, D. Gregoire, L. Perrier, P. Polito, Y. Jannot, A. Sommier, B. Krooss, R. Fink, Q. Hu, J.M. Klaver, A. Clark
2018, Geophysical Journal International (215) 799-824
Measuring the permeability of tight rocks remains a challenging task. In addition to the traditional sources of errors that affect more permeable formations (e.g. sample selection, non-representative specimens, disturbance introduced during sample acquisition and preparation), tight rocks can be particularly prone to solid–fluid interactions and thus more sensitive to the...
Multi-year data from satellite- and ground-based sensors show details and scale matter in assessing climate’s effects on wetland surface water, amphibians, and landscape conditions
Walter Sadinski, Alisa L. Gallant, Mark Roth, Jesslyn F. Brown, Gabriel B. Senay, Wayne L. Brininger, Perry M. Jones, Jason M. Stoker
2018, PLoS ONE (13)
Long-term, interdisciplinary studies of relations between climate and ecological conditions on wetland-upland landscapes have been lacking, especially studies integrated across scales meaningful for adaptive resource management. We collected data in situ at individual wetlands, and via satellite for surrounding 4-km2 landscape blocks, to assess relations between annual weather dynamics, snow duration, phenology, wetland...
Impacts of tidal road-stream crossings on aquatic organism passage
Sarah Becker, Scott Jackson, Adrian Jordaan, Allison H. Roy
2018, Cooperator Science Series 131-2018
ivers and streams are highly vulnerable to fragmentation from roads due to their prevalence in the landscape. Road-stream crossings are far more numerous than other anthropogenic barriers such as dams; these crossing structures (culverts, bridges, fords, and tide gates) have been demonstrated to impede the passage of aquatic organisms. However,...
Patterns of host-associated fecal indicators driven by hydrology, precipitation, and land use attributes in Great Lakes watersheds
Deborah K. Dila, Steven R. Corsi, Peter L. Lenaker, Austin K. Baldwin, Melinda J. Bootsma, Sandra L. McLellan
2018, Environmental Science & Technology (52) 11500-11509
Fecal contamination from sewage and agricultural runoff is a pervasive problem in Great Lakes watersheds. Most work examining fecal pollution loads relies on discrete samples of fecal indicators and modeling land use. In this study, we made empirical measurements of human and ruminant-associated fecal indicator bacteria and combined these with...
Drought and land-cover conditions in the Great Plains
Heather J. Tollerud, Jesslyn F. Brown, Thomas Loveland, Rezaul Mahmood, Norman B. Bliss
2018, Earth Interactions (22) 1-25
Land–atmosphere interactions play a critical role in the Earth system, and a better understanding of these interactions could improve weather and climate models. The interaction among drought, vegetation productivity, and land cover is of particular significance. In a semiarid environment, such as the U.S. Great Plains, droughts can have a...
Spatial sampling bias in the Neotoma paleoecological archives affects species paleo-distribution models
Richard D. Inman, Janet Franklin, Todd Esque, Kenneth E. Nussear
2018, Journal of Quaternary Science Reviews (198) 115-125
The ability to infer paleo-distributions with limited knowledge of absence makes species distribution modeling (SDM) a useful tool for exploring paleobiogeographic questions. Spatial sampling bias is a known issue when modeling extant species. Here we quantify the spatial sampling bias in a North American packrat midden archive and explore its impact on...
Tidal flushing of mercury from the Bremerton Naval Complex through the PSNS015 stormwater drain system to Sinclair Inlet, Kitsap County, Washington, 2011 -12
Kathleen E. Conn, Anthony J. Paulson, Richard S. Dinicola, John F. DeWild
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5087
The sediments of Sinclair Inlet, in Puget Sound, Washington, have elevated levels of contaminants including mercury. The Bremerton Naval Complex is adjacent to Sinclair Inlet, and has known areas of historical soil mercury contamination. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Navy, has been investigating the potential for...
Habitat overlap between Asiatic black bear Ursus thibetanus and red panda Ailurus fulgens in Himalaya
Manjit Bista, Saroj Panthi, Sarah R. Weiskopf
2018, PLoS ONE (13)
Studying habitat overlap between sympatric species is one of the best ways to identify interspecies relationships and to direct conservation efforts so that multiple species can benefit. However, studies exploring interspecies relationships are very limited in Nepal, making it difficult for the government of Nepal and conservation partners to manage...
Experimental infection of Tadarida brasiliensis with Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome
Michelle Verant, Carol U. Meteyer, Benjamin Stading, David S. Blehert
2018, mSphere (3)
White-nose syndrome (WNS) is causing significant declines in populations of North American hibernating bats, and recent western and southern expansions of the disease have placed additional species at risk. Understanding differences in species susceptibility and identifying management actions to reduce mortality of bats from WNS are top research priorities. However,...
The 2015 landslide and tsunami in Taan Fiord, Alaska
Brentwood Higman, Dan H. Shugar, Colin P. Stark, Goran Ekstrom, Michele N Koppes, Patrick Lynett, Anja Dufresne, Peter J. Haeussler, Marten Geertsema, Sean P.S. Gulick, Andrew Mattox, Jeremy G. Venditti, Maureen A. L. Walton, Naoma McCall, Erin Mckittrick, Breanyn MacInnes, Eric L. Bilderback, Hui Tang, Micheal Willis, Bruce Richmond, Bobby Reece, Christopher F. Larsen, Bjorn Olson, James Capra, Aykut Ayca, Colin K Bloom, Haley Williams, Doug Bonno, Robert Weiss, Adam Keen, Vassilios Skanavis, Micheal Loso
2018, Scientific Reports (8)
Glacial retreat in recent decades has exposed unstable slopes and allowed deep water to extend beneath some of those slopes. Slope failure at the terminus of Tyndall Glacier on 17 October 2015 sent 180 million tons of rock into Taan Fiord, Alaska. The resulting tsunami reached elevations as high as...
A 42 year inference of cloud base height trends in the Luquillo Mountains of northeastern Puerto Rico
Paul W. Miller, Thomas L. Mote, C.A. Ramseyer, Ashley E. Van Beusekom, Martha A. Scholl, Grizelle Gonzalez
2018, Climate Research (76) 87-94
The Luquillo Mountains of eastern Puerto Rico are home to the only tropical rainforest managed by the United States Forest Service, with cloud-immersed forests historically occupying the highest elevations. However, within the past 50 yr, studies of the Luquillo cloud forest have suggested an increase in cloud base heights (CBH), although...
New methods for predicting and measuring dispersion in rivers
Jonathan M. Nelson, Richard R. McDonald, Carl J. Legleiter, Paul J. Kinzel, Travis Terrell Ramos, Yutaka Higashi, Il Won Seo, Donghae Baek, Du Han Lee, Yonguk Ryu
2018, Conference Paper, E3S Web of Conferences
To develop a better predictive tool for dispersion in rivers over a range of temporal and spatial scales, our group has developed a simple Lagrangian model that is applicable for a wide range of coordinate systems and flow modeling methodologies. The approach allows dispersion computations for a large suite of...
Evaluating time-removal models for estimating availability of boreal birds during point count surveys: Sample size requirements and model complexity
Peter Solymos, Steven M. Matsuoka, Steven G. Cumming, Diana Stralberg, Patricia C. Fontaine, Fiona K. A. Schmiegelow, Samantha J. Song, Erin M. Bayne
2018, Condor (120) 765-786
We used conventional and finite mixture removal models with and without time-varying covariates to evaluate availability given presence for 152 bird species using data from point counts in boreal North America. We found that the choice of model had an impact on the estimability of unknown model parameters and affected...
Controls on submarine channel-modifying processes identified through morphometric scaling relationships
Lauren E. Shumaker, Zane R. Jobe, Samuel Johnstone, Luke A. Pettinga, Dingxin Cai, Jeremiah D. Moody
2018, Geosphere (14) 2171-2187
Submarine channels share morphological similarities with rivers, but observations from modern and ancient systems indicate they are formed under processes and controls unique to submarine settings. Morphologic characteristics of channels—e.g., width, depth, slope, and the relationships among them—can constrain interpretations of channel-forming processes. This work uses morphometric scaling relationships extracted...
Leveraging big data towards functionally-based, catchment scale restoration prioritization
John P. Lovette, Jonathan M. Duncan, Lindsey S. Smart, John P. Fay, Dean L. Urban, Nancy Daly, Jamie Blackwell, Anne B. Hoos, Ana M. Garcia, Lawrence E. Band
2018, Environmental Management (62) 1007-1024
The persistence of freshwater degradation has necessitated the growth of an expansive stream and wetland restoration industry, yet restoration prioritization at broad spatial extents is still limited and ad-hoc restoration prevails. The River Basin Restoration Prioritization tool has been developed to incorporate vetted, distributed data models into a catchment scale...
Marine threats overlap key foraging habitat for two imperiled sea turtle species in the Gulf of Mexico
Kristen M. Hart, Autumn R. Iverson, Ikuko Fujisaki, Margaret M. Lamont, David N. Bucklin, Donna J. Shaver
2018, Frontiers in Marine Science (5)
Effective management of human activities affecting listed species requires understanding both threats and animal habitat-use patterns. However, the extent of spatial overlap between high-use foraging areas (where multiple marine species congregate) and anthropogenic threats is not well known. Our modeling approach incorporates data on sea turtle spatial ecology and a...
