UAV lidar and hyperspectral fusion for forest monitoring in the southwestern USA
Temuulen T. Sankey, Jonathon Donager, Jason L. McVay, Joel B. Sankey
2017, Remote Sensing of Environment (195) 30-43
Forest vegetation classification and structure measurements are fundamental steps for planning, monitoring, and evaluating large-scale forest changes including restoration treatments. High spatial and spectral resolution remote sensing data are critically needed to classify vegetation and measure their 3-dimensional (3D) canopy structure at the level of individual species. Here we test...
Groundwater resources of the Devils Postpile National Monument—Current conditions and future vulnerabilities
William C. Evans, Deborah Bergfeld
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5048
This study presents an extensive database on groundwater conditions in and around Devils Postpile National Monument. The database contains chemical analyses of springs and the monument water-supply well, including major-ion chemistry, trace element chemistry, and the first information on a list of organic compounds known as emerging contaminants. Diurnal, seasonal,...
The role of paleoecology in restoration and resource management—The past as a guide to future decision-making: Review and example from the Greater Everglades Ecosystem, U.S.A
G. Lynn Wingard, Christopher E. Bernhardt, Anna Wachnicka
2017, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (5)
Resource managers around the world are challenged to develop feasible plans for sustainable conservation and/or restoration of the lands, waters, and wildlife they administer—a challenge made greater by anticipated climate change and associated effects over the next century. Increasingly, paleoecologic and geologic archives are being used to extend the period...
Quantifying drivers of wild pig movement across multiple spatial and temporal scales
Shannon L. Kay, Justin W. Fischer, Andrew J. Monaghan, James C Beasley, Raoul Boughton, Tyler A Campbell, Susan M Cooper, Stephen S. Ditchkoff, Stephen B. Hartley, John C Kilgo, Samantha M Wisely, A Christy Wyckoff, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Kim M Pipen
2017, Movement Ecology (5) 1-15
Background The movement behavior of an animal is determined by extrinsic and intrinsic factors that operate at multiple spatio-temporal scales, yet much of our knowledge of animal movement comes from studies that examine only one or two scales concurrently. Understanding the drivers of animal movement across multiple scales is crucial for...
Continuity of the Reelfoot fault across the Cottonwood Grove and Ridgely faults of the New Madrid Seismic Zone
M.L. Greenwood, Edward W Woolery, R. B. Van Arsdale, William J. Stephenson, Gary L. Patterson
2017, BSSA (106) 2674-2685
Previous investigators have argued that the northwest-striking Reelfoot fault of northwest Tennessee and southeastern Missouri is segmented. One segment boundary is at the intersection of the northeast-striking Cottonwood Grove and Ridgely strike-slip faults with the Reelfoot fault. We use seismic reflection and geologic mapping to locate and determine the history of the Reelfoot South...
Inter-annual variability in apparent relative production, survival, and growth of juvenile Lost River and shortnose suckers in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2001–15
Summer M. Burdick, Barbara A. Martin
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1069
Executive SummaryPopulations of the once abundant Lost River (Deltistes luxatus) and shortnose suckers (Chasmistes brevirostris) of the Upper Klamath Basin, decreased so substantially throughout the 20th century that they were listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1988. Major landscape alterations, deterioration of water quality, and competition with and...
Hydrologic characterization of Bushy Park Reservoir, South Carolina, 2013–15
Paul Conrads, Matthew D. Petkewich, W. Fred Falls, Timothy H. Lanier
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5050
The Bushy Park Reservoir is a relatively shallow impoundment in a semi-tropical climate and is the principal water supply for the 400,000 people of the city of Charleston, South Carolina, and the surrounding areas including the Bushy Park Industrial Complex. Although there is an adequate supply of freshwater in the...
A new seamless, high-resolution digital elevation model of the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary, California
Theresa A. Fregoso, Rueen-Fang Wang, Eli Ateljevich, Bruce E. Jaffe
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1067
Climate change, sea-level rise, and human development have contributed to the changing geomorphology of the San Francisco Bay - Delta (Bay-Delta) Estuary system. The need to predict scenarios of change led to the development of a new seamless, high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) of the Bay – Delta that can...
Soils as relative-age dating tools
Helaine W. Markewich, Milan J. Pavich, Douglas A. Wysocki
2017, Book chapter, The International Encyclopedia of Geography
Soils develop at the earth's surface via multiple processes that act through time. Precluding burial or disturbance, soil genetic horizons form progressively and reflect the balance among formation processes, surface age, and original substrate composition. Soil morphology provides a key link between process and time (soil age), enabling soils to...
Transient electromagnetic soundings in the San Luis Valley, Colorado, near the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve and the Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge (field seasons 2007, 2009, and 2011)
David V. Fitterman
2017, Data Series 1043
Transient electromagnetic (TEM) soundings were made in the San Luis Valley, Colorado, to map the location of a blue clay unit as well as to investigate the presence of suspected faults. A total of 147 soundings were made near and in Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, and an...
Assessment of imperfect detection of blister rust in whitebark pine within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
Wilson J. Wright, Kathryn M. Irvine
2017, Natural Resource Report 2017/1457
We examined data on white pine blister rust (blister rust) collected during the monitoring of whitebark pine trees in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (from 2004-2015). Summaries of repeat observations performed by multiple independent observers are reviewed and discussed. These summaries show variability among observers and the potential for errors being...
A multi-scale evaluation of pack stock effects on subalpine meadow plant communities in the Sierra Nevada
Steven R. Lee, Eric L. Berlow, Steven M. Ostoja, Matthew L. Brooks, Alexandre Génin, John R. Matchett, Stephen C. Hart
2017, PLoS ONE (12) 1-20
We evaluated the influence of pack stock (i.e., horse and mule) use on meadow plant communities in Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks in the Sierra Nevada of California. Meadows were sampled to account for inherent variability across multiple scales by: 1) controlling for among-meadow variability by using remotely sensed hydro-climatic...
Secondary ionization mass spectrometry analysis in petrochronology
Axel K. Schmitt, Jorge A. Vazquez
2017, Book chapter, Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry
The goal of petrochronology is to extract information about the rates and conditions at which rocks and magmas are transported through the Earth’s crust. Garnering this information from the rock record greatly benefits from integrating textural and compositional data with radiometric dating of accessory minerals. Length scales of crystal growth...
Expanding the North American Breeding Bird Survey analysis to include additional species and regions
John R. Sauer, Daniel Niven, Keith L. Pardieck, David Ziolkowski Jr., William A. Link
2017, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (8) 154-172
The North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) contains data for >700 bird species, but analyses often focus on a core group of ∼420 species. We analyzed data for 122 species of North American birds for which data exist in the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) database but are not...
Five hydrologic and landscape databases for selected National Wildlife Refuges in the Southeastern United States
Gary R. Buell, Laura N. Gurley, Daniel L. Calhoun, Alexandria M. Hunt
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1018
This report serves as metadata and a user guide for five out of six hydrologic and landscape databases developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to describe data-collection, data-reduction, and data-analysis methods used to construct the databases and provides statistical and graphical...
Synoptic sampling and principal components analysis to identify sources of water and metals to an acid mine drainage stream
Patrick Byrne, Robert L. Runkel, Katherine Walton-Day
2017, Environmental Science and Pollution Research (24) 17220-17240
Combining the synoptic mass balance approach with principal components analysis (PCA) can be an effective method for discretising the chemistry of inflows and source areas in watersheds where contamination is diffuse in nature and/or complicated by groundwater interactions. This paper presents a field-scale study in which synoptic sampling and PCA...
A geochemical examination of humidity cell tests
Ann Maest, D. Kirk Nordstrom
2017, Applied Geochemistry (81) 109-131
Humidity cell tests (HCTs) are long-term (20 to >300 weeks) leach tests that are considered by some to be the among the most reliable geochemical characterization methods for estimating the leachate quality of mined materials. A number of modifications have been added to the original HCT method, but the interpretation...
Model-based approaches to deal with detectability: a comment on Hutto (2016)
Tiago A. Marques, Len Thomas, Marc Kery, Steve T. Buckland, David L. Borchers, Eric Rexstad, Rachel M. Fewster, Darryl I. MacKenzie, J. Andrew Royle, Gurutzeta Guillera-Arroita, Colleen M. Handel, David C. Pavlacky Jr, Richard J. Camp
2017, Ecological Applications (27) 1694-1698
In a recent paper, Hutto (2016a) challenges the need to account for detectability when interpreting data from point counts. A number of issues with model-based approaches to deal with detectability are presented, and an alternative suggested: surveying an area around each point over which detectability is assumed certain. The article...
Performance measures for a Mississippi River reintroduction into the forested wetlands of Maurepas Swamp
Ken W. Krauss, Gary P. Shaffer, Richard F. Keim, Jim L. Chambers, William B. Wood, Stephen B. Hartley
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5036
The use of freshwater diversions (river reintroductions) from the Mississippi River as a restoration tool to rehabilitate Louisiana coastal wetlands has been promoted widely since the first such diversion at Caernarvon became operational in the early 1990s. To date, aside from the Bonnet Carré Spillway (which is designed and operated...
Groundwater quality in the Western San Joaquin Valley study unit, 2010: California GAMA Priority Basin Project
Miranda S. Fram
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5032
Water quality in groundwater resources used for public drinking-water supply in the Western San Joaquin Valley (WSJV) was investigated by the USGS in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) as part of its Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program Priority Basin Project. The WSJV includes...
An updated geospatial liquefaction model for global application
Jing Zhu, Laurie G. Baise, Eric M. Thompson
2017, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (107) 1365-1385
We present an updated geospatial approach to estimation of earthquake-induced liquefaction from globally available geospatial proxies. Our previous iteration of the geospatial liquefaction model was based on mapped liquefaction surface effects from four earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, and Kobe, Japan, paired with geospatial explanatory variables including slope-derived VS30, compound...
Collecting a better water-quality sample: Reducing vertical stratification bias in open and closed channels
William R. Selbig
2017, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 5th Federal Interagency Hydrologic Modeling Conference and the 10th Federal Interagency Sedimentation Conference
Collection of water-quality samples that accurately characterize average particle concentrations and distributions in channels can be complicated by large sources of variability. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed a fully automated Depth-Integrated Sample Arm (DISA) as a way to reduce bias and improve accuracy in water-quality concentration data. The DISA...
Synthesis centers as critical research infrastructure
Jill Baron, Alison Specht, Eric Garnier, Pamela Bishop, C. Andrew Campbell, Frank W. Davis, Bruno Fady, Dawn Field, Louis J. Gross, Siddeswara M. Guru, Benjamin S Halpern, Stephanie E. Hampton, Peter R. Leavitt, Thomas R. Meagher, Jean Ometto, John N. Parker, Richard Price, Casey H. Rawson, Allen Rodrigo, Laura A. Sheble, Marten Winter
2017, BioScience (67) 750-759
Demand for the opportunity to participate in a synthesis-center activity has increased in the years since the US National Science Foundation (NSF)–funded National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) opened its doors in 1995 and as more scientists across a diversity of scientific disciplines have become aware of what synthesis...
Paleozoic and mesozoic GIS data from the Geologic Atlas of the Rocky Mountain Region: Volume 1
Aimee Graeber, Gregory L. Gunther, editor(s)
2017, Book
The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists (RMAG) is, once again, publishing portions of the 1972 Geologic Atlas of the Rocky Mountain Region (Mallory, ed., 1972) as a geospatial map and data package. Georeferenced tiff (Geo TIFF) images of map figures from this atlas has served as the basis for these...
Effects of changes in pumping on regional groundwater-flow paths, 2005 and 2010, and areas contributing recharge to discharging wells, 1990–2010, in the vicinity of North Penn Area 7 Superfund site, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Lisa A. Senior, Daniel J. Goode
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5014
A previously developed regional groundwater flow model was used to simulate the effects of changes in pumping rates on groundwater-flow paths and extent of recharge discharging to wells for a contaminated fractured bedrock aquifer in southeastern Pennsylvania. Groundwater in the vicinity of the North Penn Area 7 Superfund site, Montgomery...
