Life histories and conservation of long-lived reptiles, an illustration with the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus)
Venetia Briggs-Gonzalez, Christophe Bonefant, Mathieu Basille, Michael S. Cherkiss, Jeff Beauchamp, Frank J. Mazzotti
2017, Journal of Animal Ecology (86) 1102-1113
Successful species conservation is dependent on adequate estimates of population dynamics, but age-specific demographics are generally lacking for many long-lived iteroparous species such as large reptiles. Accurate demographic information allows estimation of population growth rate, as well as projection of future population sizes and quantitative analyses of...
Combined analysis of roadside and off-road breeding bird survey data to assess population change in Alaska
Colleen M. Handel, John R. Sauer
2017, Condor (119) 557-575
Management interest in North American birds has increasingly focused on species that breed in Alaska, USA, and Canada, where habitats are changing rapidly in response to climatic and anthropogenic factors. We used a series of hierarchical models to estimate rates of population change in 2 forested Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs)...
Timescales of mixing and storage for Keanakāko‘i Tephra magmas (1500-1823 C.E.), Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai‘i
Kendra J. Lynn, Michael O. Garcia, Thomas Shea, Fidel Costa, Donald A. Swanson
2017, Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology (172)
The last 2500 years of activity at Kīlauea Volcano (Hawai‘i) have been characterized by centuries-long periods dominated by either effusive or explosive eruptions. The most recent period of explosive activity produced the Keanakāko‘i Tephra (KT; ca. 1500–1820 C.E.) and occurred after the collapse of the summit caldera (1470–1510 C.E.). Previous studies...
Geologic field-trip guide to Mount Shasta Volcano, northern California
Robert L. Christiansen, Andrew T. Calvert, Timothy L. Grove
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5022-K3
The southern part of the Cascades Arc formed in two distinct, extended periods of activity: “High Cascades” volcanoes erupted during about the past 6 million years and were built on a wider platform of Tertiary volcanoes and shallow plutons as old as about 30 Ma, generally called the “Western Cascades.”...
The influence of local- and landscape-level factors on wetland breeding birds in the Prairie Pothole Region of North and South Dakota
Lawrence D. Igl, Jill A. Shaffer, Douglas H. Johnson, Deborah A. Buhl
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1096
We examined the relationship between local- (wetland) and landscape-level factors and breeding bird abundances on 1,190 depressional wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region of North and South Dakota during the breeding seasons in 1995–97. The surveyed wetlands were selected from five wetland classes (alkali, permanent, semipermanent, seasonal, or temporary), two...
Integrating spatially explicit representations of landscape perceptions into land change research
Monica Dorning, Derek B. Van Berkel, Darius J. Semmens
2017, Current Landscape Ecology Reports (2) 73-88
Purpose of ReviewHuman perceptions of the landscape can influence land-use and land-management decisions. Recognizing the diversity of landscape perceptions across space and time is essential to understanding land change processes and emergent landscape patterns. We summarize the role of landscape perceptions in the land change...
Surface morphology of caldera-forming eruption deposits revealed by lidar mapping of Crater Lake National Park, Oregon- Implications for emplacement and surface modification
Joel E. Robinson, Charles R. Bacon, Jon J. Major, Heather M. Wright, James W. Vallance
2017, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (342) 61-78
Large explosive eruptions of silicic magma can produce widespread pumice fall, extensive ignimbrite sheets, and collapse calderas. The surfaces of voluminous ignimbrites are rarely preserved or documented because most terrestrial examples are heavily vegetated, or severely modified by post-depositional processes. Much research addresses the internal sedimentary characteristics, flow processes, and...
Modified mercalli intensities for nine earthquakes in central and western Washington between 1989 and 1999
Thomas M. Brocher, James W. Dewey, John F. Cassidy
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1104
We determine Modified Mercalli (Seismic) Intensities (MMI) for nine onshore earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 and larger that occurred in central and western Washington between 1989 and 1999, on the basis of effects reported in postal questionnaires, the press, and professional collaborators. The earthquakes studied include four earthquakes of M5 and...
Centennial-scale reductions in nitrogen availability in temperate forests of the United States
Kendra K. McLauchlan, Laci M. Gerhart, John J. Battles, Joseph M. Craine, Andrew J. Elmore, Phil E. Higuera, Michelle M Mack, Brendan E. McNeil, David M. Nelson, Neil Pederson, Steven S. Perakis
2017, Scientific Reports (7)
Forests cover 30% of the terrestrial Earth surface and are a major component of the global carbon (C) cycle. Humans have doubled the amount of global reactive nitrogen (N), increasing deposition of N onto forests worldwide. However, other global changes—especially climate change and elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations—are increasing demand...
Evidence of compounded disturbance effects on vegetation recovery following high-severity wildfire and spruce beetle outbreak
Amanda R. Carlson, Jason S. Sibold, Timothy J. Assal, Jose F. Negron
2017, PLoS ONE (12)
Spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) outbreaks are rapidly spreading throughout subalpine forests of the Rocky Mountains, raising concerns that altered fuel structures may increase the ecological severity of wildfires. Although many recent studies have found no conclusive link between beetle outbreaks and increased fire size or canopy mortality, few studies have...
An integral projection model with YY-males and application to evaluating grass carp control
Richard A. Erickson, Eric A. Eager, Marybeth K. Brey, Michael J. Hansen, Patrick Kocovsky
2017, Ecological Modelling (361) 14-25
Invasive fish species disrupt ecosystems and cause economic damage. Several methods have been discussed to control populations of invasive fish including the release of YY-males. YY-males are fish that have 2 male chromosomes compared to a XY-male. When YY-males mate, they only produce male (XY) offspring. This decreases the female...
Methods for estimating annual exceedance-probability streamflows for streams in Kansas based on data through water year 2015
Colin C. Painter, David C. Heimann, Jennifer L. Lanning-Rush
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5063
A study was done by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Kansas Department of Transportation and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to develop regression models to estimate peak streamflows of annual exceedance probabilities of 50, 20, 10, 4, 2, 1, 0.5, and 0.2 percent at ungaged locations in...
Seasonal trends in eDNA detection and occupancy of bigheaded carps
Richard A. Erickson, Christopher M. Merkes, Craig Jackson, Reuben Goforth, Jon Amberg
2017, Journal of Great Lakes Research (43) 762-770
Bigheaded carps, which include silver and bighead carp, are threatening to invade the Great Lakes. These species vary seasonally in distribution and abundance due to environmental conditions such as precipitation and temperature. Monitoring this seasonal movement is important for management to control the population size and spread of the species....
Residence times and alluvial architecture of a sediment superslug in response to different flow regimes
John A. Moody
2017, Geomorphology (294) 40-57
A superslug was deposited in a basin in the Colorado Front Range Mountains as a consequence of an extreme flood following a wildfire disturbance in 1996. The subsequent evolution of this superslug was measured by repeat topographic surveys (31 surveys from 1996 through 2014) of 18 cross sections approximately...
Effects of lateral confinement in natural and leveed reaches of a gravel-bed river: Snake River, Wyoming, USA
Christina Leonard, Carl J. Legleiter, Brandon T. Overstreet
2017, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (42) 2119-2138
This study examined the effects of natural and anthropogenic changes in confining margin width by applying remote sensing techniques – fusing LiDAR topography with image-derived bathymetry – over a large spatial extent: 58 km of the Snake River, Wyoming, USA. Fused digital elevation models from 2007 and 2012 were differenced...
Changes in projected spatial and seasonal groundwater recharge in the upper Colorado River Basin
Fred D. Tillman, Subhrendu Gangopadhyay, Tom Pruitt
2017, Groundwater (55) 506-518
The Colorado River is an important source of water in the western United States, supplying the needs of more than 38 million people in the United States and Mexico. Groundwater discharge to streams has been shown to be a critical component of streamflow in the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB),...
Using optimal transport theory to estimate transition probabilities in metapopulation dynamics
Jonathan M. Nichols, Jeffrey A. Spendelow, James D. Nichols
2017, Ecological Modelling (359) 311-319
This work considers the estimation of transition probabilities associated with populations moving among multiple spatial locations based on numbers of individuals at each location at two points in time. The problem is generally underdetermined as there exists an extremely large number of ways in which individuals can move from one...
Dam removal: Listening in
Melissa M. Foley, James Bellmore, James E. O'Connor, Jeffrey J. Duda, Amy E. East, Gordon G. Grant, Chauncey W. Anderson, Jennifer A. Bountry, Mathias J. Collins, Patrick J. Connolly, Laura S. Craig, James E. Evans, Samantha Greene, Francis J. Magilligan, Christopher S. Magirl, Jon J. Major, George R. Pess, Timothy J. Randle, Patrick B. Shafroth, Christian E. Torgersen, Desiree D. Tullos, Andrew C. Wilcox
2017, Water Resources Research (53) 5229-5246
Dam removal is widely used as an approach for river restoration in the United States. The increase in dam removals—particularly large dams—and associated dam-removal studies over the last few decades motivated a working group at the USGS John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis to review and synthesize available...
Archive of bathymetry data collected in South Florida from 1995 to 2015
Mark Erik Hansen, Nancy T. DeWitt, Billy J. Reynolds
2017, Data Series 1031
DescriptionLand development and alterations of the ecosystem in south Florida over the past 100 years have decreased freshwater and increased nutrient flows into many of Florida's estuaries, bays, and coastal regions. As a result, there has been a decrease in the water quality in many of these critical habitats, often...
Documentation for the MODFLOW 6 Groundwater Flow Model
Christian D. Langevin, Joseph D. Hughes, Edward R. Banta, Richard G. Niswonger, Sorab Panday, Alden M. Provost
2017, Techniques and Methods 6-A55
This report documents the Groundwater Flow (GWF) Model for a new version of MODFLOW called MODFLOW 6. The GWF Model for MODFLOW 6 is based on a generalized control-volume finite-difference approach in which a cell can be hydraulically connected to any number of surrounding cells. Users can define the model...
Documentation for the “XT3D” option in the Node Property Flow (NPF) Package of MODFLOW 6
Alden M. Provost, Christian D. Langevin, Joseph D. Hughes
2017, Techniques and Methods 6-A56
This report describes the “XT3D” option in the Node Property Flow (NPF) Package of MODFLOW 6. The XT3D option extends the capabilities of MODFLOW by enabling simulation of fully three-dimensional anisotropy on regular or irregular grids in a way that properly takes into account the full, three-dimensional conductivity tensor. It...
Documentation for the MODFLOW 6 framework
Joseph D. Hughes, Christian D. Langevin, Edward R. Banta
2017, Techniques and Methods 6-A57
MODFLOW is a popular open-source groundwater flow model distributed by the U.S. Geological Survey. Growing interest in surface and groundwater interactions, local refinement with nested and unstructured grids, karst groundwater flow, solute transport, and saltwater intrusion, has led to the development of numerous MODFLOW versions. Often times, there are incompatibilities...
Reconstructing Common Era relative sea-level change on the Gulf Coast of Florida
Matthew J. Gerlach, Simon E. Engelhart, Andrew C. Kemp, Ryan P. Moyer, Joseph M. Smoak, Christopher E. Bernhardt, Niamh Cahill
2017, Marine Geology (390) 254-269
To address a paucity of Common Era data in the Gulf of Mexico, we reconstructed ~ 1.1 m of relative sea-level (RSL) rise over the past ~ 2000 years at Little Manatee River (Gulf Coast of Florida, USA). We applied a regional-scale foraminiferal transfer function to fossil assemblages preserved in a core of salt-marsh...
Hierarchical population monitoring of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in Nevada and California—Identifying populations for management at the appropriate spatial scale
Peter S. Coates, Brian G. Prochazka, Mark A. Ricca, Gregory T. Wann, Cameron L. Aldridge, Steven E. Hanser, Kevin Doherty, Michael S. O’Donnell, David R. Edmunds, Shawn P. Espinosa
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1089
Population ecologists have long recognized the importance of ecological scale in understanding processes that guide observed demographic patterns for wildlife species. However, directly incorporating spatial and temporal scale into monitoring strategies that detect whether trajectories are driven by local or regional factors is challenging and rarely implemented. Identifying the...
Estimating risks for water-quality exceedances of total-copper from highway and urban runoff under predevelopment and current conditions with the Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM)
Gregory E. Granato, Susan C. Jones
Christopher N. Dunn, Brian Van Weele, editor(s)
2017, Conference Paper, World environmental and water resources congress 2017: Watershed management, irrigation and drainage, and water resources planning and management
The stochastic empirical loading and dilution model (SELDM) was used to demonstrate methods for estimating risks for water-quality exceedances of event-mean concentrations (EMCs) of total-copper. Monte Carlo methods were used to simulate stormflow, total-hardness, suspended-sediment, and total-copper EMCs as stochastic variables. These simulations were done for the Charles River Basin...
