Assessing the feasibility of using acoustic monitoring for Burbot conservation, management, and production
Timothy B. Grabowski
2016, Cooperator Science Series FWS/CSS-118-2016
Burbot Lota lota is the sole freshwater representative of the cod-like fishes and supports subsistence, commercial, and recreational fisheries worldwide above approximately 40° N. It is a difficult species to manage effectively due to its preference for deep-water habitats and spawning activity under the ice in winter. Like other gadiform...
Prioritizing landscapes for longleaf pine conservation
J. Barry Grand, Kevin J. Kleiner
2016, Cooperator Science Series FWS/CSS-119-2016
We developed a spatially explicit model and map, as a decision support tool (DST), to aid conservation agencies creating or maintaining open pine ecosystems. The tool identified areas that are likely to provide the greatest benefit to focal bird populations based on a comprehensive landscape analysis. We used NLCD 2011,...
Assessing the potential for rainbow trout reproduction in tributaries of the Mountain Fork River below Broken Bow Dam, southeastern Oklahoma
James M. Long, Trevor A. Starks, Tyler Farling, Robert Bastarache
2016, e-Research Paper SRS–58
Stocked trout (Salmonidae) in reservoir tailwater systems in the Southern United States have been shown to use tributary streams for spawning and rearing. The lower Mountain Fork of the Little River below Broken Bow Dam is one of two year-round tailwater trout fisheries in Oklahoma, and the only one with...
Physical condition and stress levels during early development reflect feeding rates and predict pre- and post-fledging survival in a nearshore seabird
Juliet S. Lamb, Kathleen M. O’Reilly, Patrick G.R. Jodice
2016, Conservation Physiology (4)
The effects of acute environmental stressors on reproduction in wildlife are often difficult to measure because of the labour and disturbance involved in collecting accurate reproductive data. Stress hormones represent a promising option for assessing the effects of environmental perturbations on altricial young; however, it is necessary first to establish...
Water-quality response to a high-elevation wildfire in the Colorado Front Range
M. Alisa Mast, Sheila F. Murphy, David W. Clow, Colin A. Penn, Graham A. Sexstone
2016, Hydrological Processes (30) 1811-1823
Water quality of the Big Thompson River in the Front Range of Colorado was studied for 2 years following a high‐elevation wildfire that started in October 2012 and burned 15% of the watershed. A combination of fixed‐interval sampling and continuous water‐quality monitors was used to examine the timing and magnitude of...
Identification of groundwater nitrate contamination from explosives used in road construction: Isotopic, chemical, and hydrologic evidence
James R. Degnan, John Karl Bohlke, Krystle Pelham, David M. Langlais, Gregory J. Walsh
2016, Environmental Science & Technology (50) 593-603
Explosives used in construction have been implicated as sources of NO3– contamination in groundwater, but direct forensic evidence is limited. Identification of blasting-related NO3– can be complicated by other NO3– sources, including agriculture and wastewater disposal, and by hydrogeologic factors affecting NO3– transport and stability. Here we describe a study that used hydrogeology, chemistry,...
Quantifying watershed-scale groundwater loading and in-stream fate of nitrate using high-frequency water quality data
Matthew P. Miller, Anthony J. Tesoriero, Paul D. Capel, Brian A. Pellerin, Kenneth E. Hyer, Douglas A. Burns
2016, Water Resources Research (52) 330-347
We describe a new approach that couples hydrograph separation with high-frequency nitrate data to quantify time-variable groundwater and runoff loading of nitrate to streams, and the net in-stream fate of nitrate at the watershed-scale. The approach was applied at three sites spanning gradients in watershed size and land use in...
Fish assemblage shifts in the Powder River of Wyoming: an unregulated prairie river system previously considered to be relatively pristine.
Anna C. Senecal, Annika W. Walters, Wayne A. Hubert
2016, Ecosphere (6) 1-13
Wyoming’s Powder River is considered an example of a pristine prairie river system. While the river hosts a largely native <span...
Oil slick morphology derived from AVIRIS measurements of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill: Implications for spatial resolution requirements of remote sensors
Shaojie Sun, Chuanmin Hu, Lian Feng, Gregg A. Swayze, Jamie Holmes, George Graettinger, Ian R. MacDonald, Oscar Garcia, Ira Leifer
2016, Marine Pollution Bulletin (103) 276-285
Using fine spatial resolution (~ 7.6 m) hyperspectral AVIRIS data collected over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, we statistically estimated slick lengths, widths and length/width ratios to characterize oil slick morphology for different thickness classes. For all AVIRIS-detected oil slicks (N = 52,100 continuous features)...
Multi-scale predictions of massive conifer mortality due to chronic temperature rise
Nathan G. McDowell, A.P. Williams, C. Xu, W. T. Pockman, L. T. Dickman, Sanna Sevanto, R. Pangle, J. Limousin, J.J. Plaut, D.S. Mackay, J. Ogee, Jean-Christophe Domec, Craig D. Allen, Rosie A. Fisher, X. Jiang, J.D. Muss, D.D. Breshears, Sara A. Rauscher, C. Koven
2016, Nature Climate Change (6) 295-300
Global temperature rise and extremes accompanying drought threaten forests and their associated climatic feedbacks. Our ability to accurately simulate drought-induced forest impacts remains highly uncertain in part owing to our failure to integrate physiological measurements, regional-scale models, and dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs). Here we show consistent predictions of widespread mortality of...
Spatial capture-recapture models allowing Markovian transience or dispersal
J. Andrew Royle, Angela K. Fuller, Chris Sutherland
2016, Population Ecology (58) 53-62
Spatial capture–recapture (SCR) models are a relatively recent development in quantitative ecology, and they are becoming widely used to model density in studies of animal populations using camera traps, DNA sampling and other methods which produce spatially explicit individual encounter information. One of the core assumptions of SCR models is...
Water use in Georgia by county for 2010 and water-use trends, 1985–2010
Stephen J. Lawrence
2016, Open-File Report 2015-1230
Water use and water withdrawals and returns in 2010 are estimated for each major river basin, principal aquifer, water-planning region, and county in Georgia using data obtained from various Federal and State agencies and local sources. Offstream water use in 2010 is estimated for the categories of public supply, domestic,...
Climate change and water resources in a tropical island system: Propagation of uncertainty from statistically downscaled climate models to hydrologic models
Ashley E. Van Beusekom, William A. Gould, Adam J. Terando, Jaime A. Collazo
2016, International Journal of Climatology (36) 3370-3383
Many tropical islands have limited water resources with historically increasing demand, all potentially affected by a changing climate. The effects of climate change on island hydrology are difficult to model due to steep local precipitation gradients and sparse data. This work uses 10 statistically downscaled general circulation models (GCMs) under...
Transforming growth factor-β1 expression in endangered age-0 shortnose suckers (Chasmistes brevirostris) from Upper Klamath Lake, OR relative to histopathology, meristic, spatial, and temporal data
Christopher A. Ottinger, Christine L. Densmore, Laura S. Robertson, Deborah D. Iwanowicz, Scott P. Vanderkooi
2016, Fish & Shellfish Immunology (49) 1-6
During July – September of 2008, 2009, and 2010 endangered age-0 juvenile shortnose suckers were sampled from Upper Klamath Lake, OR in a health evaluation that included the measurement of transforming growth factor – beta (TGF-β) expression in spleen in combination with a histopathology assessment. This analysis was performed to...
The effects of habitat, climate, and Barred Owls on long-term demography of Northern Spotted Owls
Katie M. Dugger, Eric D. Forsman, Alan B. Franklin, Raymond J. Davis, Gary C. White, Carl J. Schwarz, Kenneth P. Burnham, James D. Nichols, James E. Hines, Charles B. Yackulic, Paul F. Doherty, Larissa Bailey, Darren A. Clark, Steven H. Ackers, Lawrence S. Andrews, Benjamin Augustine, Brian L. Biswell, Jennifer Blakesley, Peter C. Carlson, Matthew J. Clement, Lowell V. Diller, Elizabeth M. Glenn, Adam Green, Scott A. Gremel, Dale R. Herter, J. Mark Higley, Jeremy Hobson, Rob B. Horn, Kathryn P. Huyvaert, Christopher McCafferty, Trent McDonald, Kevin McDonnell, Gail S. Olson, Janice A. Reid, Jeremy Rockweit, Viviana Ruiz, Jessica Saenz, Stan G. Sovern
2016, Condor (118) 57-116
Estimates of species' vital rates and an understanding of the factors affecting those parameters over time and space can provide crucial information for management and conservation. We used mark–recapture, reproductive output, and territory occupancy data collected during 1985–2013 to evaluate population processes of Northern Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) in 11...
The current status of mapping karst areas and availability of public sinkhole-risk resources in karst terrains of the United States
Eve L. Kuniansky, David J. Weary, James E. Kaufmann
2016, Hydrogeology Journal (24) 613-624
Subsidence from sinkhole collapse is a common occurrence in areas underlain by water-soluble rocks such as carbonate and evaporite rocks, typical of karst terrain. Almost all 50 States within the United States (excluding Delaware and Rhode Island) have karst areas, with sinkhole damage highest in Florida, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky,...
Radiometric dating of marine-influenced coal using Re–Os geochronology
Gyana Ranjan Tripathy, Judith L. Hannah, Holly J. Stein, Nicholas J. Geboy, Leslie F. Ruppert
2016, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (432) 13-23
Coal deposits are integral to understanding the structural evolution and thermal history of sedimentary basins and correlating contemporeous estuarine and fluvial delatic strata with marine sections. While marine shales may readily lend themselves to Re–Os dating due to the dominance of hydrogenous Re and Os,...
Impacts of climatic variation on trout: A global synthesis and path forward
Ryan Kovach, Clint C. Muhlfeld, Robert K. Al-Chokhachy, Jason B. Dunham, Benjamin Letcher, Jeffrey L. Kershner
2016, Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries (26) 135-151
Despite increasing concern that climate change may negatively impact trout—a globally distributed group of fish with major economic, ecological, and cultural value—a synthetic assessment of empirical data quantifying relationships between climatic variation and trout ecology does not exist. We conducted a systematic review to describe how temporal variation in temperature...
High and dry: high elevations disproportionately exposed to regional climate change in Mediterranean-climate landscapes
Ian M. McCullough, Frank W. Davis, John R. Dingman, Lorraine E. Flint, Alan L. Flint, Josep M. Serra-Diaz, Alexandra D. Syphard, Max A. Moritz, Lee Hannah, Janet Franklin
2016, Landscape Ecology (31) 1063-1075
Context Predicting climate-driven species’ range shifts depends substantially on species’ exposure to climate change. Mountain landscapes contain a wide range of topoclimates and soil characteristics that are thought to mediate range shifts and buffer species’ exposure. Quantifying fine-scale patterns of exposure across mountainous terrain is a...
Comparative demographics of a Hawaiian forest bird community
Alban Guillaumet, Bethany L. Woodworth, Richard J. Camp, Eben H. Paxton
2016, Journal of Avian Biology (47) 185-196
Estimates of demographic parameters such as survival and reproductive success are critical for guiding management efforts focused on species of conservation concern. Unfortunately, reliable demographic parameters are difficult to obtain for any species, but especially for rare or endangered species. Here we derived estimates of adult survival and recruitment in...
Evidence of estrogenic endocrine disruption in smallmouth and largemouth bass inhabiting Northeast U.S. National Wildlife Refuge waters: A reconnaissance study
Luke R. Iwanowicz, Vicki S. Blazer, A.E. Pinkney, C.P. Guy, A.M. Major, K. Munney, S. Mierzykowski, S. Lingenfelser, A. Secord, K. Patnode, T.J. Kubiak, C. Stern, Cassidy M. Hahn, Deborah D. Iwanowicz, Heather L. Walsh, Adam J. Sperry
2016, Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety (124) 50-59
Intersex as the manifestation of testicular oocytes (TO) in male gonochoristic fishes has been used as an indicator of estrogenic exposure. Here we evaluated largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) or smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) form 19 National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) in the Northeast U.S. inhabiting waters on or near NWR lands...
A global planktic foraminifer census data set for the Pliocene ocean
Harry J. Dowsett, Marci M. Robinson, Kevin M. Foley
2016, Scientific Data (2)
This article presents data derived by the USGS Pliocene Research, Interpretation and Synoptic Mapping (PRISM) Project. PRISM has generated planktic foraminifer census data from core sites and outcrops around the globe since 1988. These data form the basis of a number of paleoceanographic reconstructions focused on the mid-Piacenzian...
Changes in seasonal climate outpace compensatory density-dependence in eastern brook trout
Ronald D. Bassar, Benjamin H. Letcher, Keith H. Nislow, Andrew R. Whiteley
2016, Global Change Biology (22) 577-593
Understanding how multiple extrinsic (density-independent) factors and intrinsic (density-dependent) mechanisms influence population dynamics has become increasingly urgent in the face of rapidly changing climates. It is particularly unclear how multiple extrinsic factors with contrasting effects among seasons are related to declines in population numbers and changes in mean body size...
geoknife: Reproducible web-processing of large gridded datasets
Jordan S. Read, Jordan I. Walker, Alison P. Appling, David L. Blodgett, Emily K. Read, Luke A. Winslow
2016, Ecography (39) 354-360
Geoprocessing of large gridded data according to overlap with irregular landscape features is common to many large-scale ecological analyses. The geoknife R package was created to facilitate reproducible analyses of gridded datasets found on the U.S. Geological Survey Geo Data Portal web application or elsewhere, using a web-enabled workflow that...
Sustainable groundwater management in California
Steven P. Phillips, Laurel Lynn Rogers, Claudia C. Faunt
2016, Fact Sheet 2015-3084
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) uses data collection, modeling tools, and scientific analysis to help water managers plan for, and assess, hydrologic issues that can cause “undesirable results” associated with groundwater use. This information helps managers understand trends and investigate and predict effects of different groundwater-management strategies....
