Science framework for conservation and restoration of the sagebrush biome: Linking the Department of the Interior’s Integrated Rangeland Fire Management Strategy to long-term strategic conservation actions, Part 1. Science basis and applications
Jeanne C. Chambers, Jeffrey L. Beck, John B. Bradford, Jared Bybee, Steve Campbell, John Carlson, Thomas J Christiansen, Karen J. Clause, Gail Collins, Michele R. Crist, Jonathan B. Dinkins, Kevin Doherty, Fred Edwards, Shawn Espinosa, Kathleen A. Griffin, Paul Griffin, Jessica R. Haas, Steve E. Hanser, Douglas W. Havlina, Kenneth F. Henke, Jacob D. Hennig, Linda A Joyce, Francis F. Kilkenny, Sarah M Kulpa, Laurie L Kurth, Jeremy D Maestas, Mary E. Manning, Kenneth E. Mayer, Brian A. Mealor, Clinton McCarthy, Mike Pellant, Marco A. Perea, Karen L. Prentice, David A. Pyke, Lief A. Wiechman, Amarina Wuenschel
2017, General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-360
The Science Framework is intended to link the Department of the Interior’s Integrated Rangeland Fire Management Strategy with long-term strategic conservation actions in the sagebrush biome. The Science Framework provides a multiscale approach for prioritizing areas for management and determining effective management strategies within the sagebrush biome. The emphasis is...
A lake-centric geospatial database to guide research and inform management decisions in an Arctic watershed in northern Alaska experiencing climate and land-use changes
Benjamin M. Jones, Christopher D. Arp, Matthew S. Whitman, Debora A. Nigro, Ingmar Nitze, John Beaver, Anne Gadeke, Callie Zuck, Anna K. Liljedahl, Ronald Daanen, Eric Torvinen, Stacey Fritz, Guido Grosse
2017, Ambio (46) 769-786
Lakes are dominant and diverse landscape features in the Arctic, but conventional land cover classification schemes typically map them as a single uniform class. Here, we present a detailed lake-centric geospatial database for an Arctic watershed in northern Alaska. We developed a GIS dataset consisting of 4362 lakes that provides...
Long-term afterslip of the M6.0, 2004 Parkfield, California, earthquake—Implications for forecasting amount and duration of afterslip on other major creeping faults
James J. Lienkaemper, Forrest S. McFarland
2017, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (107) 1082-1093
We present the longest record of surface afterslip on a continental strike‐slip fault for the 2004 M 6.0 Parkfield, California, earthquake, from which we can derive critical information about the duration and predictability of afterslip relevant to urban displacement hazard applications. Surface slip associated with this event occurred entirely postseismically...
Shallow-depth location and geometry of the Piedmont Reverse splay of the Hayward Fault, Oakland, California
Rufus D. Catchings, Mark R. Goldman, David Trench, Michael Buga, Joanne H. Chan, Coyn J. Criley, Luther M. Strayer
2017, Open-File Report 2016-1123
The Piedmont Thrust Fault, herein referred to as the Piedmont Reverse Fault (PRF), is a splay of the Hayward Fault that trends through a highly populated area of the City of Oakland, California (fig. 1A). Although the PRF is unlikely to generate a large-magnitude earthquake, slip on the PRF or...
A groundwater-flow model for the Treasure Valley and surrounding area, southwestern Idaho
James R. Bartolino, Sean Vincent
2017, Fact Sheet 2017-3027
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in partnership with the Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) and Idaho Water Resource Board (IWRB), will construct a numerical groundwater-flow model of the Treasure Valley and surrounding area. Resource managers will use the model to simulate potential anthropogenic and climatic effects on groundwater for...
Precipitation collector bias and its effects on temporal trends and spatial variability in National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National Trends Network data
Gregory A. Wetherbee
2017, Environmental Pollution (223) 90-101
Precipitation samples have been collected by the National Atmospheric Deposition Program's (NADP) National Trends Network (NTN) using the Aerochem Metrics Model 301 (ACM) collector since 1978. Approximately one-third of the NTN ACM collectors have been replaced with N-CON Systems, Inc. Model ADS 00-120 (NCON) collectors. Concurrent data were collected over...
Developing flood-inundation maps for Johnson Creek, Portland, Oregon
Adam J. Stonewall, Benjamin A. Beal
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5024
Digital flood-inundation maps were created for a 12.9‑mile reach of Johnson Creek by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The flood-inundation maps depict estimates of water depth and areal extent of flooding from the mouth of Johnson Creek to just upstream of Southeast 174th Avenue in Portland, Oregon. Each flood-inundation...
Monitoring protocols: Options, approaches, implementation, benefits
Jason W. Karl, Jeffrey E. Herrick, David A. Pyke
2017, Book chapter, Monitoring protocol: Options, approaches, implementation, benefits
Monitoring and adaptive management are fundamental concepts to rangeland management across land management agencies and embodied as best management practices for private landowners. Historically, rangeland monitoring was limited to determining impacts or maximizing the potential of specific land uses—typically grazing. Over the past several decades, though, the uses of and...
The effects of drought and fire in the extirpation of an abundant semi-aquatic turtle from a lacustrine environment in the southwestern USA
Jeffrey E. Lovich, Mari Quillman, Brian Zitt, Adam Schroeder, David E. Green, Charles B. Yackulic, Paul Gibbons, Eric Goode
2017, Knowledge and Management of Aquatic Ecosystems (418) 1-11
We documented a significant mortality event affecting a southwestern pond turtle (Actinemys pallida) population living in a lake in southern California, USA. The area around the lake was impacted by a large wildland fire in 2013 that occurred during a protracted drought. As the mortality event was still unfolding, we...
Effects of experimental removal of barred owls on population demography of northern spotted owls in Washington and Oregon—2016 progress report
J. David Wiens, Katie M. Dugger, Krista E. Lewicki, David C. Simon
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1040
Evidence indicates that competition with invasive barred owls (Strix varia) is causing rapid declines in populations of northern spotted owls (S. occidentalis caurina), and that the long-term persistence of spotted owls may be in question without additional management intervention. A pilot study in California showed that removal of barred...
Cloud detection algorithm comparison and validation for operational Landsat data products
Steven Curtis Foga, Pat Scaramuzza, Song Guo, Zhe Zhu, Ronald Dilley, Tim Beckmann, Gail L. Schmidt, John L. Dwyer, MJ Hughes, Brady Laue
2017, Remote Sensing of Environment (194) 379-390
Clouds are a pervasive and unavoidable issue in satellite-borne optical imagery. Accurate, well-documented, and automated cloud detection algorithms are necessary to effectively leverage large collections of remotely sensed data. The Landsat project is uniquely suited for comparative validation of cloud assessment algorithms because the modular architecture of the Landsat ground...
Integrated species distribution models: combining presence-background data and site-occupancy data with imperfect detection
Vira Koshkina, Yang Wang, Ascelin Gordon, Robert Dorazio, Matthew White, Lewi Stone
2017, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (8) 420-430
Two main sources of data for species distribution models (SDMs) are site-occupancy (SO) data from planned surveys, and presence-background (PB) data from opportunistic surveys and other sources. SO surveys give high quality data about presences and absences of the species in a particular area. However, due to...
δ13C and d15N in the endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle Lepidochelys kempii after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Kimberly J. Reich, Melania C. Lopez-Castro, Donna J. Shaver, Claire Iseton, Kristen M. Hart, Michael J. Hooper, Christopher J. Schmitt
2017, Endangered Species Research (33) 281-289
The Deepwater Horizon explosion in April 2010 and subsequent oil spill released 3.19 × 106 barrels (5.07 × 108 L) of MC252 crude oil into important foraging areas of the endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle Lepidochelys kempii (Lk) in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM). We measured δ13C and δ15N...
Geomorphic process from topographic form: automating the interpretation of repeat survey data in river valleys
Alan Kasprak, Joshua J. Caster, Sara G. Bangen, Joel B. Sankey
2017, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (42) 1872-1883
The ability to quantify the processes driving geomorphic change in river valley margins is vital to geomorphologists seeking to understand the relative role of transport mechanisms (e.g. fluvial, aeolian, and hillslope processes) in landscape dynamics. High-resolution, repeat topographic data are becoming readily available to geomorphologists. By contrasting digital elevation models...
Quantifying the demographic cost of human-related mortality to a raptor population
W. Grainger Hunt, David Wiens, Peter R. Law, Mark R. Fuller, Teresa L. Hunt, Daniel E. Driscoll, Ronald E. Jackman
2017, PLoS ONE (12)
Raptors are exposed to a wide variety of human-related mortality agents, and yet population-level effects are rarely quantified. Doing so requires modeling vital rates in the context of species life-history, behavior, and population dynamics theory. In this paper, we explore the details of such an analysis by focusing on the...
A new model for turbidity current behavior based on integration of flow monitoring and precision coring in a submarine canyon
William O. Symons, Esther J. Sumner, Charles K. Paull, Matthieu J.B. Cartigny, Jingping Xu, Katherine L. Maier, Thomas Lorenson, Peter J. Talling
2017, Geology (45) 367-370
Submarine turbidity currents create some of the largest sediment accumulations on Earth, yet there are few direct measurements of these flows. Instead, most of our understanding of turbidity currents results from analyzing their deposits in the sedimentary record. However, the lack of direct flow measurements means that there is considerable...
Final data report for factors controlling DDE dechlorination rates on the Palos Verdes Shelf: A field and laboratory investigation
Robert P. Eganhouse, James Pontolillo, William H. Orem, Daniel M. Webster, Paul C. Hackley, Brian D. Edwards, Kurt J. Rosenberger, Patrick Dickhudt, Christopher R. Sherwood, Martin Reinhard, Sujie Qin, Jennifer Dougherty, Gary Hopkins, Ian Marshall, Alfred Spormann
2017, Report
This data report provides a compilation of information developed over the last 6+ years by a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional research team. The overall goal of this work has been to identify the biological, chemical, and physical factors that control rates of reductive dechlorination of DDE and DDMU in sediments of the Palos Verdes Shelf...
Sediment lithology and radiochemistry from the back-barrier environments along the northern Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana—March 2012
Marci E. Marot, Christopher G. Smith, C. Scott Adams, Kathryn A. Richwine
2017, Data Series 1045
Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center collected a set of 8 sediment cores from the back-barrier environments along the northern Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, in March 2012. The sampling efforts were part of a larger USGS study to evaluate effects on the geomorphology...
Contrasting nest survival patterns for ducks and songbirds in northern mixed-grass prairie
Todd Grant, Terry L. Shaffer, Elizabeth M. Madden, Melvin P. Nenneman
2017, Journal of Wildlife Management (81) 641-651
Management actions intended to protect or improve habitat for ducks may benefit grassland-nesting passerines, but scant information is available to explore this assumption. During 1998–2003, we examined nest survival of ducks and songbirds to determine whether effects of prescribed fire and other habitat features (e.g., shrub cover and distance to...
Groundwater flow model for the Little Plover River basin in Wisconsin’s Central Sands
Ken Bradbury, Michael N. Fienen, Maribeth Kniffin, Jacob Krause, Stephen M. Westenbroek, Andrew T. Leaf, Paul M. Barlow
2017, Bulletin 111
The Little Plover River is a groundwater-fed stream in the sand plains region of central Wisconsin. In this region, sandy sediment deposited during or soon after the last glaciation forms an important unconfined sand and gravel aquifer. This aquifer supplies water for numerous high-capacity irrigation, municipal, and industrial wells that...
Polygamy slows down population divergence in shorebirds
Josephine D’Urban Jackson, Natalie dos Remedios, Kathryn Maher, Sama Zefania, Susan M. Haig, Sara J. Oyler-McCance, Donald Blomqvist, Terry Burke, Michael W. Bruford, Tamas Szekely, Clemens Kupper
2017, Evolution (71) 1313-1326
Sexual selection may act as a promotor of speciation since divergent mate choice and competition for mates can rapidly lead to reproductive isolation. Alternatively, sexual selection may also retard speciation since polygamous individuals can access additional mates by increased breeding dispersal. High breeding dispersal should hence increase gene flow and...
USGS Spectral Library Version 7
Raymond F. Kokaly, Roger N. Clark, Gregg A. Swayze, K. Eric Livo, Todd M. Hoefen, Neil C. Pearson, Richard A. Wise, William Benzel, Heather A. Lowers, Rhonda L. Driscoll, Anna J. Klein
2017, Data Series 1035
We have assembled a library of spectra measured with laboratory, field, and airborne spectrometers. The instruments used cover wavelengths from the ultraviolet to the far infrared (0.2 to 200 microns [μm]). Laboratory samples of specific minerals, plants, chemical compounds, and manmade materials were measured. In many cases, samples were purified,...
An update of hydrologic conditions and distribution of selected constituents in water, eastern Snake River Plain aquifer and perched groundwater zones, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho, emphasis 2012-15
Roy C. Bartholomay, Neil V. Maimer, Gordon W. Rattray, Jason C. Fisher
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5021
Since 1952, wastewater discharged to in ltration ponds (also called percolation ponds) and disposal wells at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has affected water quality in the eastern Snake River Plain (ESRP) aquifer and perched groundwater zones underlying the INL. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS),...
Twentieth century warming of the tropical Atlantic captured by Sr-U paleothermometry
Alice E. Alpert, Anne L. Cohen, Delia W. Oppo, Thomas M. DeCarlo, Glenn A. Gaetani, Edwin A. Hernandez-Delgado, Amos Winter, Meagan Gonneea Eagle
2017, Paleoceanography (32) 146-160
Coral skeletons are valuable archives of past ocean conditions. However, interpretation of coral paleotemperature records is confounded by uncertainties associated with single-element ratio thermometers, including Sr/Ca. A new approach, Sr-U, uses U/Ca to constrain the influence of Rayleigh fractionation on Sr/Ca. Here we build on the initial Pacific Porites Sr-U...
Correction of elevation offsets in multiple co-located lidar datasets
David M. Thompson, P. Soupy Dalyander, Joseph W. Long, Nathaniel G. Plant
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1031
IntroductionTopographic elevation data collected with airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) can be used to analyze short- and long-term changes to beach and dune systems. Analysis of multiple lidar datasets at Dauphin Island, Alabama, revealed systematic, island-wide elevation differences on the order of 10s of centimeters (cm) that were not...
