Sediment budget for watersheds of West Maui, Hawaii
Jonathan D. Stock, Corina Cerovski-Darriau
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5133
Episodic runoff brings suspended sediment to West Maui’s nearshore waters, turning them from blue to brown. This pollution degrades the ecological, cultural, and recreational value of these iconic nearshore waters. We used mapping, monitoring, and modeling to identify and quantify the watershed sources for fine sediment that pollutes the nearshore...
Sources of volcanic tremor associated with the summit caldera collapse during the 2018 east rift eruption of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai'i
J. Soubestre, B. Chouet, Phillip B. Dawson
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth (126)
Volcanic tremor occurring at the beginning of the 2018 Kīlauea eruption is characterized using both seismic and tilt data recorded at the Kīlauea summit. An automatic seismic network-based approach detects several types of tremor including (a) 0.5–1 Hz long-period tremor preceding the eruption, located at the south-southwest edge...
Repeated large-scale mechanical treatment of invasive Typha under increasing water levels promotes floating mat formation and wetland methane emissions
Olivia Fayne Johnson, Abha Panda, Shane C. Lishawa, Beth A. Lawrence
2021, Science of the Total Environment (790)
Invasive species management typically aims to promote diversity and wildlife habitat, but little is known about how management techniques affect wetland carbon (C) dynamics. Since wetland C uptake is largely influenced by water levels and highly productive plants, the interplay of hydrologic extremes and <a class="topic-link" title="Learn more about invasive species from...
Willow drives changes in arthropod communities of northwestern Alaska: Ecological implications of shrub expansion
Molly Mcdermott, Patricia Doak, Colleen M. Handel, Greg A. Breed, Christa Mulder
2021, Ecosphere (12)
Arthropods serve as complex linkages between plants and higher-level predators in Arctic ecosystems and provide key ecosystem services such as pollination and nutrient cycling. Arctic plant communities are changing as tall woody shrubs expand onto tundra, but potential effects on arthropod abundance and food web structure...
GIS-based identification of areas that have resource potential for sediment-hosted Pb-Zn deposits in Alaska
Karen D. Kelley, Garth E. Graham, Keith A. Labay, Nora B. Shew
2021, Open-File Report 2020-1147
A state-wide Geographic Information System analysis was conducted to assess prospectivity for lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) in sediment-hosted deposits in Alaska. The datasets that were utilized include publicly available geospatial datasets of lithologic, geochemical, and mineral occurrence data. Key characteristics of Pb-Zn deposits were identified in available datasets and...
Modeling effects of disturbance across life history strategies of stream fishes
Robert J. Fournier, Nick R. Bond, Daniel D. Magoulick
2021, Oecologia (196) 413-425
A central goal of population ecology is to establish linkages between life history strategy, disturbance, and population dynamics. Globally, disturbance events such as drought and invasive species have dramatically impacted stream fish populations and contributed to sharp declines in freshwater biodiversity. Here, we used RAMAS-Metapop to construct stage-based demographic metapopulation...
Stress controls rupture extent and maximum magnitude of induced earthquakes
K. A. Kroll, Elizabeth S. Cochran
2021, Geophysical Research Letters (48)
Seismic hazard forecasts of induced seismicity often require estimates of the maximum possible magnitude (Mmax). Empirical models suggest that maximum magnitudes, or expected number of earthquakes, are related to the volume of injected fluid. We perform a suite of 3D physics-based earthquake simulations with rate- and state-dependent friction, systematically varying...
An empirically based simulation model to inform flow management for endangered species conservation
Timothy E. Walsworth, Phaedra E. Budy
2021, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (78) 1770-1781
Increasing water demand, water development, and ongoing climate change have driven extensive changes to the hydrology, geomorphology and biology of arid-land rivers globally, driving an increasing need to understand how annual hydrologic conditions affect the distribution and abundance of imperiled desert fish populations. We analyzed the relationship between annual hydrologic...
Development of soil radiocarbon profiles in a reactive transport framework
Jennifer Druhan, Corey Lawrence
2021, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (306) 63-83
Today, there is a greater appreciation for the importance of the physical protection of carbon (C) through interactions with mineral surfaces, isolation from microbes, and the important role of transport in shaping soil properties and controlling moisture limitations on decomposition. As our paradigm for soil organic carbon (SOC) preservation changes, so too should our representation...
Exploring how vessel activity influences the soundscape at a navigation lock on the Mississippi River
Rosalyn L Putland, Marybeth K. Brey, Allen F. Mensinger
2021, Journal of Environmental Management (296)
Vessel sound is now globally recognized as a significant and pervasive pollutant to aquatic life. However, compared to marine environments, there is a paucity of data on sound emitted by vessel activity in freshwater habitats. The Upper Mississippi River (UMR) is home...
The proliferation of induced seismicity in the Permian Basin, Texas
Robert Skoumal, Daniel T. Trugman
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research (126)
The Permian Basin has a long history of induced earthquakes, but the seismicity rates have increased dramatically over the past two decades and included a MW 5.0 likely induced by wastewater disposal (WD) in March 2020. A detailed characterization of the proliferation of seismicity in the Permian Basin...
Science needs of southeastern grassland species of conservation concern: A framework for species status assessments
Reed F. Noss, Jennifer M. Cartwright, Dwayne Estes, Theo Witsell, K. Gregg Elliott, Daniel S. Adams, Matthew A. Albrecht, Ryan P. Boyles, Patrick J. Comer, Chris Doffitt, Don Faber-Langendoen, JoVonn G. Hill, William C. Hunter, Wesley M. Knapp, Mike Marshall, Milo Pyne, Jason R. Singhurst, Christopher Tracey, Jeffrey L. Walck, Alan Weakley
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1047
The unglaciated southeastern United States is a biodiversity hotspot, with a disproportionate amount of this biodiversity concentrated in grasslands. Like most hotspots, the Southeast is also threatened by human activities, with the total reduction of southeastern grasslands estimated as 90 percent (upwards to 100 percent for some types) and with...
Summary of oceanographic and water-quality measurements offshore of Matanzas Inlet, Florida, 2018
Marinna A. Martini, Ellyn Montgomery, Steven E. Suttles, John C. Warner
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1014
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists and technical staff deployed instrumented underwater platforms and buoys to collect oceanographic and atmospheric data at two sites near Matanzas Inlet, Florida, on January 24, 2018, and recovered them on April 13, 2018. Matanzas Inlet is a natural, unmaintained inlet on the Florida Atlantic coast...
Characterization of factors affecting groundwater levels in and near the former Lake Traverse Indian Reservation, South Dakota, water years 1956–2017
Kristen J. Valseth, Daniel G. Driscoll
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5151
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, completed a study to characterize water-level fluctuations in observation wells relative to driving factors that affect water levels in and near the historical 1867 boundary of the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation. The study investigated concerns regarding potential effects...
Use of an artificial stream to monitor avoidance behavior of larval sea lamprey in response to TFM and niclosamide
Nicholas Schloesser, Michael A. Boogaard, Todd Johnson, Courtney Kirkeeng, Justin Schueller, Richard A. Erickson
2021, Journal of Great Lakes Research (47) 1192-1199
The lampricide 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM) has been used in liquid form to control larval sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) in Great Lakes tributaries since the late 1950s. In the 1980s a dissolvable TFM bar was developed as a supplemental tool for application to small tributaries as a deterrent to larvae seeking water...
Prototyping a methodology for long-term (1680-2100) historical-to-future landscape modeling for the conterminous United States
Jordan Dornbierer, Steve Wika, Charles Robison, Gregory Rouze, Terry L. Sohl
2021, Land (10)
Land system change has been identified as one of four major Earth system processes where change has passed a destabilizing threshold. A historical record of landscape change is required to understand the impacts change has had on human and natural systems, while scenarios of future landscape change are required to...
Incorporating climate change in a harvest risk assessment for polar bears Ursus maritimus in Southern Hudson Bay
Eric V. Regehr, Markus Dyck, Samuel A. Iverson, David S. Lee, Nicholas J Lunn, Joseph M Northrup, Marie-Claude Richer, Guillaume Szor, Michael C. Runge
2021, Biological Conservation (258)
Arctic marine mammals are harvested by Indigenous people for subsistence and are socially and culturally important. For ice-dependent species like the polar bear Ursus maritimus, management and conservation require understanding interactions between harvest and sea-ice loss due to climate change. We developed a demographic...
The 2008-2010 subsidence of Dallol volcano on the 2 spreading Erta Ale ridge: InSAR observations and source models
Maurizio Battaglia, Carolina Paglia, Stefano Meuti
2021, Remote Sensing (13)
In this work, we study the subsidence of Dallol, an explosive crater and hydrothermal area along the spreading Erta Ale ridge of Afar (Ethiopia). No volcanic products exist at the surface. However, a diking episode in 2004, accompanied by dike-induced faulting, indicates that Dallol is an active...
Flood of June 30–July 1, 2018, in the Fourmile Creek Basin, near Ankeny, Iowa
Padraic S. O’Shea, Jared C. Vegrzyn, Kimberlee K. Barnes
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1044
Major flooding occurred June 30–July 1, 2018, in the Fourmile Creek Basin in central Iowa after thunderstorm activity over the region. The largest recorded 24-hour precipitation total at a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather station was 8.72 inches in Ankeny, Iowa, and 7.54 inches in Des Moines, Iowa. A...
American crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus) as restoration bioindicators in the Florida Everglades
Venetia S. Briggs-Gonzalez, Mathieu Basille, Michael Cherkiss, Frank J. Mazzotti
2021, PLoS ONE (16)
The federally threatened American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) is a flagship species and ecological indicator of hydrologic restoration in the Florida Everglades. We conducted a long-term capture-recapture study on the South Florida population of American crocodiles from 1978 to 2015 to evaluate the effects of restoration efforts...
Forest evapotranspiration dynamics over a fragmented forest landscape under drought in southwestern Amazonia
Izaya Numata, Kul Bikram Khand, Jeppe Kjaersgaard, Mark A. Cochrane, Sonaira S. Silva
2021, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology (306)
Ongoing climate change and human conversion of forests to other land uses alter regional evapotranspiration dynamics and, consequently, impact associated hydrological systems in Amazonia. We studied the effects of drought and fragmentation on forest evapotranspiration using the surface energy balance-based model METRIC (Mapping Evapotranspiration at high Resolution with Internalized...
Dissolved Fe supply to the central Gulf of Alaska is inferred to be derived from Alaskan glacial dust that is not resolved by dust transport models
John Crusius
2021, JGR-Biogeosciences (126)
Re-examination of previously published dissolved iron time-series data from Ocean Station Papa in the central Gulf of Alaska (GoA) reveals 33-70% increases in the dissolved iron inventories occurring between September and February of successive years, implying a source of Fe to this region during autumn or early winter. Because I...
Dynamics of endangered sucker populations in Clear Lake Reservoir, California
David A. Hewitt, Brian S. Hayes, Alta C. Harris, Eric C. Janney, Caylen M. Kelsey, Russell W. Perry, Summer M. Burdick
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1043
Executive SummaryIn collaboration with the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Geological Survey began a consistent monitoring program for endangered Lost River suckers (Deltistes luxatus) and shortnose suckers (Chasmistes brevirostris) in Clear Lake Reservoir, California, in fall 2004. The program was intended to improve understanding of the Clear Lake Reservoir...
Sediment characteristics of northwestern Wisconsin’s Nemadji River, 1973–2016
Faith A. Fitzpatrick
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1003
In 2015–16, a comparison study of stream sediment collection techniques was done for a U.S. Geological Survey streamgage on the Nemadji River near South Superior, Wisconsin (U.S. Geological Survey station number 04024430) to provide an adjustment factor for comparing suspended-sediment rating curves for two historical periods 1973–86 and 2006–16. During...
Investigation of otolith microstructure and composition for identification of rearing strategies and associated Baker Lake sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) smolt production, Washington, 2016–17
Kimberly A. Larsen, Lisa A. Wetzel, Karl D. Stenberg, Angie M. Lind-Null
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1032
Baker River (Washington, USA) sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) are a recovering Puget Sound stock that are aided by trap-and-haul and hatchery programs to mitigate for the presence of a high head dam. The relative contribution of hatchery and natural adults to overall production of smolts and recruits is unknown....
