The Iġnik Sikumi Field Experiment, Alaska North Slope: Design, operations, and implications for CO2−CH4 exchange in gas hydrate reservoirs
Ray Boswell, David Schoderbek, Timothy S. Collett, Satoshi Ohtsuki, Mark White, Brian J. Anderson
2017, Energy & Fuels (31) 140-153
The Iġnik Sikumi Gas Hydrate Exchange Field Experiment was conducted by ConocoPhillips in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, and the U.S. Geological Survey within the Prudhoe Bay Unit on the Alaska North Slope during 2011 and 2012. The primary goals...
Identifying western yellow-billed cuckoo breeding habitat with a dual modelling approach
Matthew J. Johnson, James R. Hatten, Jennifer A. Holmes, Patrick B. Shafroth
2017, Ecological Modelling (347) 50-62
The western population of the yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) was recently listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. Yellow-billed cuckoo conservation efforts require the identification of features and area requirements associated with high quality, riparian forest habitat at spatial scales that range from nest microhabitat to landscape, as...
The Bayesian group lasso for confounded spatial data
Trevor J. Hefley, Mevin Hooten, Ephraim M. Hanks, Robin E. Russell, Daniel P. Walsh
2017, Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics (22) 42-59
Generalized linear mixed models for spatial processes are widely used in applied statistics. In many applications of the spatial generalized linear mixed model (SGLMM), the goal is to obtain inference about regression coefficients while achieving optimal predictive ability. When implementing the SGLMM, multicollinearity among covariates and the spatial random effects...
Long-term flow-through column experiments and their relevance to natural granitoid weathering rates
Arthur F. White, Marjorie S. Schulz, Corey R. Lawrence, Davison V. Vivit, David A. Stonestrom
2017, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (202) 190-214
Four pairs of fresh and partly-weathered granitoids, obtained from well-characterized watersheds—Merced River, CA, USA; Panola, GA, USA; Loch Vale, CO, USA, and Rio Icacos, Puerto Rico—were reacted in columns under ambient laboratory conditions for 13.8 yrs, the longest running experimental weathering study to date. Low total column mass losses...
Uranium delivery and uptake in a montane wetland, north-central Colorado, USA
R. Randall Schumann, Robert A. Zielinski, James K. Otton, Michael P. Pantea, William H. Orem
2017, Applied Geochemistry (78) 363-379
Comprehensive sampling of peat, underlying lakebed sediments, and coexisting waters of a naturally uraniferous montane wetland are combined with hydrologic measurements to define the important controls on uranium (U) supply and uptake. The major source of U to the wetland is groundwater flowing through locally fractured and faulted granite gneiss...
Continued geophysical logging near the GMH Electronics National Priorities List Superfund site near Roxboro, North Carolina
Dominick J. Antolino, Melinda J. Chapman
2017, Data Series 1022
The U.S. Geological Survey South Atlantic Water Science Center collected borehole geophysical logs and images and continuous water-level data near the GMH Electronics National Priorities List Superfund site near Roxboro, North Carolina, during December 2012 through July 2015. Previous work by the U.S. Geological Survey South Atlantic Water Science Center...
Predicting cyanobacterial abundance, microcystin, and geosmin in a eutrophic drinking-water reservoir using a 14-year dataset
Ted D. Harris, Jennifer L. Graham
2017, Lake and Reservoir Management
Cyanobacterial blooms degrade water quality in drinking water supply reservoirs by producing toxic and taste-and-odor causing secondary metabolites, which ultimately cause public health concerns and lead to increased treatment costs for water utilities. There have been numerous attempts to create models that predict cyanobacteria and their secondary metabolites, most using...
Simulated mussel mortality thresholds as a function of mussel biomass and nutrient loading
Jeremy S. Bril, Kathryn Langenfeld, Craig L. Just, Scott N. Spak, Teresa Newton
2017, PeerJ (5)
A freshwater “mussel mortality threshold” was explored as a function of porewater ammonium (NH4+) concentration, mussel biomass, and total nitrogen (N) utilizing a numerical model calibrated with data from mesocosms with and without mussels. A mortality threshold of 2 mg-N L−1 porewater NH4+ was selected based on a study that...
Susceptibility and antibody response of the laboratory model zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) to West Nile Virus
Erik K. Hofmeister, Melissa Lund, Valerie I. Shearn-Bochsler, Christopher N. Balakrishnan
2017, PLoS ONE (12)
Since the introduction of West Nile virus (WNV) into North America in 1999 a number of passerine bird species have been found to play a role in the amplification of the virus. Arbovirus surveillance, observational studies and experimental studies have implicated passerine birds (songbirds, e.g., crows, American robins, house sparrows,...
Spatial and temporal patterns of dissolved organic matter quantity and quality in the Mississippi River Basin, 1997–2013
Sarah M. Stackpoole, Edward G. Stets, David W. Clow, Douglas A. Burns, George R. Aiken, Brent T. Aulenbach, Irena F. Creed, Robert M. Hirsch, Hjalmar Laudon, Brian A. Pellerin, Robert G. Striegl
2017, Hydrological Processes (31) 902-915
Recent studies have found insignificant or decreasing trends in time-series dissolved organic carbon (DOC) datasets, questioning the assumption that long-term DOC concentrations in surface waters are increasing in response to anthropogenic forcing, including climate change, land use, and atmospheric acid deposition. We used the weighted regressions on time, discharge, and...
Estimating the settling velocity of bioclastic sediment using common grain-size analysis techniques
Michael V. W. Cuttler, Ryan J. Lowe, James L. Falter, Daniel D. Buscombe
2017, Sedimentology (64) 987-1004
Most techniques for estimating settling velocities of natural particles have been developed for siliciclastic sediments. Therefore, to understand how these techniques apply to bioclastic environments, measured settling velocities of bioclastic sedimentary deposits sampled from a nearshore fringing reef in Western Australia were compared with settling velocities calculated using results from...
Shallow water benthic imaging and substrate characterization using recreational-grade sidescan-sonar
Daniel D. Buscombe
2017, Environmental Modelling and Software 1-18
In recent years, lightweight, inexpensive, vessel-mounted ‘recreational grade’ sonar systems have rapidly grown in popularity among aquatic scientists, for swath imaging of benthic substrates. To promote an ongoing ‘democratization’ of acoustical imaging of shallow water environments, methods to carry out geometric and radiometric correction and georectification of sonar echograms are...
Pinyon and juniper encroachment into sagebrush ecosystems impacts distribution and survival of greater sage-grouse
Peter S. Coates, Brian G. Prochazka, Mark A. Ricca, K. Benjamin Gustafson, Pilar T. Ziegler, Michael L. Casazza
2017, Rangeland Ecology and Management (70) 25-38
In sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems, encroachment of pinyon (Pinus spp.) and juniper (Juniperus spp.; hereafter, “pinyon-juniper”) trees has increased dramatically since European settlement. Understanding the impacts of this encroachment on behavioral decisions, distributions, and population dynamics of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) and other sagebrush obligate species could help benefit sagebrush...
Forest restoration at Redwood National Park: Exploring prescribed fire alternatives to second-growth management: A case study
Eamon Engber, Jason Teraoka, Phillip J. van Mantgem
2017, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the Coast Redwood Science Symposium
Almost half of Redwood National Park is comprised of second-growth forests characterized by high stand density, deficient redwood composition, and low understory biodiversity. Typical structure of young redwood stands impedes the recovery of old-growth conditions, such as dominance of redwood (Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.), distinct canopy layers and diverse...
No substitute for survival: Perturbation analyses using a Golden Eagle population model reveal limits to managing for take
Jason D. Tack, Barry R. Noon, Zachary H. Bowen, Lauren Strybos, Bradley C. Fedy
2017, Journal of Raptor Research (51) 258-272
Conserving populations of long-lived birds of prey, characterized by a slow life-history (e.g., high survival and low reproductive output), requires a thorough understanding of how variation in their vital rates differentially affects population growth. Stochastic population modeling provides a framework for exploring variation in complex life histories to better understand...
Unifying population and landscape ecology with spatial capture-recapture
J. Andrew Royle, Angela K. Fuller, Christopher Sutherland
2017, Ecography (41) 444-456
Spatial heterogeneity in the environment induces variation in population demographic rates and dispersal patterns, which result in spatio‐temporal variation in density and gene flow. Unfortunately, applying theory to learn about the role of spatial structure on populations has been hindered by the lack of mechanistic spatial models and inability to...
Geophysical expression of buried range-front embayment structure: Great Sand Dunes National Park, Rio Grande rift, Colorado
Benjamin J. Drenth, V. J. Grauch, Chester A. Ruleman, Judith A Schenk
2017, Geosphere (13) 974-990
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve (GRSA, Colorado) lies along the eastern margin of the San Luis Basin and the tectonically active Sangre de Cristo fault system that are part of the northern Rio Grande rift. GRSA lies within a prominent embayment in the range front where two separate...
Validation of NEXRAD data and models of bird migration stopover sites in the Northeast U.S.
Jeffrey J. Buler, James McLaren, Timothy Schreckengost, Jaclyn A. Smolinsky, Eric Walters, J. Andrew Arnold, Deanna K. Dawson
2017, Report
The national network of weather surveillance radars (NEXRAD) detects birds in flight, and has proven to be a useful remote-sensing tool for ornithological study. We used data collected during Fall 2008 to 2014 by 16 NEXRAD and four terminal Doppler weather radars (TDWR) in the northeastern U.S. to map and...
A pressure-limited model to estimate CO2 injection and storage capacity of saline formations: Investigating the effects of formation properties, model variables and presence of hydrocarbon reservoirs
Hossein Jahediesfanjani, Peter D. Warwick, Steven T. Anderson
2017, Conference Paper, IEAGHG Modelling and Risk Management Network Meeting
No abstract available....
Climate change and collapsing thermal niches of Mexican endemic reptiles
Barry Sinervo, Donald B. Miles, Rafael A. Lara Resendiz, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Joshua R. Ennen, Johannes Muller, Robert D. Cooper, Philip C. Rosen, Joseph A. E. Stewart, Juan Carlos Santos, Jack W. Sites Jr., Paul Gibbons, Eric Goode, L. Scott Hillard, Luke Welton, Mickey Agha, Gabriel Caetano, Mercy Vaughn, Cristina Melendez Torres, Hector Gadsden, Gamaliel Castenada Gaytan, Patricia Galina-Tessaro, Fernando I. Valle Jimenez, Jorge H. Valdez-Villavicencio, Norberto Martinez Mendez, Guillermo Woolrich Pina, Victor Luja Molina, Anibal Diaz de la Vega Perez, Diego M. Arenas Moreno, Saul Dominguez Guerrero, Natalia Fierro, Scott Butterfield, Michael Westpha, Raymond B. Huey, William Mautz, Víctor Sánchez-Cordero, Fausto R. Mendez de la Cruz
2017, Report
Recent climate change should result in expansion of species to northern or high elevation range margins, and contraction at southern and low elevation margins due to extinction. Climate models predict dramatic extinctions and distributional shifts in the next century, but there are few ground-truths of these dire forecasts leading to...
Adaptive harvest management for the Svalbard population of pink-footed geese (Anser brachyrhynchus)
2017, EGMP Technical Report 5
This document describes progress to date on the development of an adaptive harvest-management strategy for maintaining the Svalbard population of pink-footed geese (Anser brachyrhynchus) near their target level (60,000) by providing for sustainable harvests in Norway and Denmark. Specifically, this report provides an assessment of the most recent monitoring information...
Mercury bioaccumulation in estuarine fishes: Novel insights from sulfur stable isotopes
James J. Willacker, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Joshua T. Ackerman
2017, Environmental Science & Technology (51) 2131-2139
Estuaries are transitional habitats characterized by complex biogeochemical and ecological gradients that result in substantial variation in fish total mercury concentrations (THg). We leveraged these gradients and used carbon (δ13C), nitrogen (δ15N), and sulfur (δ34S) stable isotopes to examine the ecological and biogeochemical processes underlying THg bioaccumulation in fishes from...
Post-rift magmatic evolution of the eastern North American “passive-aggressive” margin
Sarah E. Mazza, Esteban Gazel, Elizabeth A. Johnson, Michael Bizmis, Ryan J. McAleer, C. Berk Biryol
2017, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (18) 3-22
Understanding the evolution of passive margins requires knowledge of temporal and chemical constraints on magmatism following the transition from supercontinent to rifting, to post-rifting evolution. The Eastern North American Margin (ENAM) is an ideal study location as several magmatic pulses occurred in the 200 My following rifting. In particular, the...
A network model framework for prioritizing wetland conservation in the Great Plains
Gene Albanese, David A. Haukos
2017, Landscape Ecology (32) 115-130
ContextPlaya wetlands are the primary habitat for numerous wetland-dependent species in the Southern Great Plains of North America. Plant and wildlife populations that inhabit these wetlands are reciprocally linked through the dispersal of individuals, propagules and ultimately genes among local populations.Objective<p id="Par2"...
Effects of topographic data quality on estimates of shallow slope stability using different regolith depth models
Rex L. Baum
2017, Conference Paper, Landslides: Putting Experience, Knowledge and Emerging Technologies into Practice--Proceedings of the 3rd North American Symposium on Landslides: Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists Special Publication 27
Thickness of colluvium or regolith overlying bedrock or other consolidated materials is a major factor in determining stability of unconsolidated earth materials on steep slopes. Many efforts to model spatially distributed slope stability, for example to assess susceptibility to shallow landslides, have relied on estimates of constant thickness, constant depth,...
