Key seabird areas in southern New England identified using a community occupancy model
Allan F. O’Connell, Nicholas P. Flanders, Beth Gardner, Kristopher J. Winiarski, Peter W. C. Paton, Taber Allison
2015, Marine Ecology Progress Series (533) 277-290
Seabirds are of conservation concern, and as new potential risks to seabirds are arising, the need to provide unbiased estimates of species’ distributions is growing. We applied community occupancy models to detection/non-detection data collected from repeated aerial strip-transect surveys conducted in 2 large study plots off southern New England, USA;...
The influence of logjams on largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) concentrations on the lower Roanoke River, a large sand-bed river
Edward R. Schenk, Jeremy W. McCargo, Bertrand Moulin, Cliff R. Hupp, Jean M. Richter
2015, River Research and Applications (31) 704-711
This study examines the relation between logjams and largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) on the alluvial sand-bed lower Roanoke River. Disparate data sets from previous bank erosion, fisheries, and large wood studies were used to compare the distribution of largemouth bass with logjam frequency. Logjams are related to the frequency of...
Dynamic models of an earthquake and tsunami offshore Ventura, California
Kenny J. Ryan, Eric L. Geist, Michael Barall, David D. Oglesby
2015, Geophysical Research Letters (42) 6599-6606
The Ventura basin in Southern California includes coastal dip-slip faults that can likely produce earthquakes of magnitude 7 or greater and significant local tsunamis. We construct a 3-D dynamic rupture model of an earthquake on the Pitas Point and Lower Red Mountain faults to model low-frequency ground motion and the...
Collections management plan for the U.S. Geological Survey Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Data Library
Kelleen M. List, Brian J. Buczkowski, Linda P. McCarthy, Alice M. Orton
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1141
The U.S. Geological Survey Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center has created a Data Library to organize, preserve, and make available the field, laboratory, and modeling data collected and processed by Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center staff. This Data Library supports current research efforts by providing unique,...
Trends in Rocky Mountain amphibians and the role of beaver as a keystone species
Blake R. Hossack, William R. Gould, Debra A. Patla, Erin L. Muths, Rob Daley, Kristin Legg, P. Stephen Corn
2015, Biological Conservation (187) 260-269
Despite prevalent awareness of global amphibian declines, there is still little information on trends for many widespread species. To inform land managers of trends on protected landscapes and identify potential conservation strategies, we collected occurrence data for five wetland-breeding amphibian species in four national parks in the U.S. Rocky Mountains...
The effects of body size and climate on post-weaning survival of elephant seals at Heard Island
Clive R McMahon, Leslie New, E.J. Fairley, M.A. Hindell, H.R. Burton
2015, Journal of Zoology (297) 301-308
The population size of southern elephant seals in the southern Indian and Pacific Oceans decreased precipitously between the 1950s and 1990s. To investigate the reasons behind this, we studied the population of southern elephant seals at Heard Island between 1949 and 1954, using data collected by the early Australian National...
Using 15-minute acoustic data to analyze suspended-sediment dynamics in the Rio Grande in the Big Bend Region
David J. Dean, David J. Topping, Ronald E. Griffiths, Thomas A. Sabol, John C. Schmidt, Jeffery B. Bennett
2015, Conference Paper
The Rio Grande in the Big Bend region is subject to rapid geomorphic change consisting of channel narrowing during years of low flow, and channel widening during rare, large, long duration floods. Since the 1940s, there have been large declines in mean and peak stream flow, and the channel has...
A conceptual model for site-level ecology of the giant gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas) in the Sacramento Valley, California
Brian J. Halstead, Glenn D. Wylie, Michael L. Casazza, Eric C. Hansen, Rick D. Scherer, Laura C. Patterson
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1152
Giant gartersnakes (Thamnophis gigas) comprise a species of semi-aquatic snakes precinctive to marshes in the Central Valley of California (Hansen and Brode, 1980; Rossman and others, 1996). Because more than 90 percent of their historical wetland habitat has been converted to other uses (Frayer and others, 1989; Garone, 2007), giant...
The Boulder magnetic observatory
Jeffrey J. Love, Carol A. Finn, Kolby L. Pedrie, Cletus C. Blum
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1125
The Boulder magnetic observatory has, since 1963, been operated by the Geomagnetism Program of the U.S. Geological Survey in accordance with Bureau and national priorities. Data from the observatory are used for a wide variety of scientific purposes, both pure and applied. The observatory also supports developmental projects within the...
A new temperature profiling probe for investigating groundwater-surface water interaction
Ramon C. Naranjo, Robert Turcotte
2015, Water Resources Research (51) 7790-7797
Measuring vertically nested temperatures at the streambed interface poses practical challenges that are addressed here with a new discrete subsurface temperature profiling probe. We describe a new temperature probe and its application for heat as a tracer investigations to demonstrate the probe's utility. Accuracy and response time of temperature measurements...
Hydroacoustic signatures of Colorado Riverbed sediments in Marble and Grand Canyons using multibeam sonar
Daniel D. Buscombe, Paul E. Grams, Matthew Kaplinski, Robert B. Tusso, David M. Rubin
2015, Conference Paper
Characterizing the large-scale sedimentary make-up of heterogeneous riverbeds (Nelson et al., 2014), which consist of a patchwork of sediment types over small scales (less than one to several tens of meters) (Dietrich and Smith, 1984) requires high resolution measurements of sediment grain size. Capturing such variability with conventional physical (e.g....
Landscapes for energy and wildlife: conservation prioritization for golden eagles across large spatial scales
Jason D. Tack, Bradley C. Fedy
2015, PLoS ONE (10)
Proactive conservation planning for species requires the identification of important spatial attributes across ecologically relevant scales in a model-based framework. However, it is often difficult to develop predictive models, as the explanatory data required for model development across regional management scales is rarely available. Golden eagles are a large-ranging predator...
Natural recharge estimation and uncertainty analysis of an adjudicated groundwater basin using a regional-scale flow and subsidence model (Antelope Valley, California, USA)
Adam J. Siade, Tracy Nishikawa, Peter Martin
2015, Hydrogeology Journal (23) 1267-1291
Groundwater has provided 50–90 % of the total water supply in Antelope Valley, California (USA). The associated groundwater-level declines have led the Los Angeles County Superior Court of California to recently rule that the Antelope Valley groundwater basin is in overdraft, i.e., annual pumpage exceeds annual recharge. Natural recharge consists...
Multiscale analysis of river networks using the R package linbin
Ethan Z. Welty, Christian E. Torgersen, Samuel J. Brenkman, Jeffrey J. Duda, Jonathan B. Armstrong
2015, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (4) 802-809
Analytical tools are needed in riverine science and management to bridge the gap between GIS and statistical packages that were not designed for the directional and dendritic structure of streams. We introduce linbin, an R package developed for the analysis of riverscapes at multiple scales. With this software, riverine data...
Terrain parameters of glide snow avalanches and a simple spatial glide snow avalanche model
Erich H. Peitzsch, Jordy Hendrikx, Daniel B. Fagre
2015, Cold Regions Science and Technology (120) 237-250
Glide snow avalanches are dangerous and difficult to predict. Despite substantial recent research there is still inadequate understanding regarding the controls of glide snow avalanche release. Glide snow avalanches often occur in similar terrain or the same locations annually, and repeat observations and prior work suggest that specific topography...
Mortality patterns and detection bias from carcass data: An example from wolf recovery in Wisconsin
Jennifer L. Stenglein, Timothy R. Van Deelen, Adrian P. Wydeven, David J. Mladenoff, Jane E. Wiedenhoft, Nancy K. Businga, Julia A. Langenberg, Nancy J. Thomas, Dennis M. Heisey
2015, Journal of Wildlife Management (79) 1173-1184
We developed models and provide computer code to make carcass recovery data more useful to wildlife managers. With these tools, wildlife managers can understand the spatial, temporal (e.g., across time periods, seasons), and demographic patterns in mortality causes from carcass recovery datasets. From datasets of radio-collared and non-collared carcasses, managers...
Assessing juvenile salmon rearing habitat and associated predation risk in a lower Snake River reservoir
Kenneth F. Tiffan, James R. Hatten, David A Trachtenbarg
2015, River Research and Applications (32) 1030-1038
Subyearling fall Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the Columbia River basin exhibit a transient rearing strategy and depend on connected shoreline habitats during freshwater rearing. Impoundment has greatly reduced the amount of shallow-water rearing habitat that is exacerbated by the steep topography of reservoirs. Periodic dredging creates opportunities to strategically place...
Hydrologic budget and conditions of Permian, Pennsylvanian, and Mississippian aquifers in the Appalachian Plateaus physiographic province
Kurt J. McCoy, Richard M. Yager, David L. Nelms, David E. Ladd, Jack Monti, Jr., Mark D. Kozar
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5106
In response to challenges to groundwater availability posed by historic land-use practices, expanding development of hydrocarbon resources, and drought, the U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater Resources Program began a regional assessment of the Appalachian Plateaus aquifers in 2013 that incorporated a hydrologic landscape approach to estimate all components of the hydrologic...
U.S. Geological Survey Noble Gas Laboratory’s standard operating procedures for the measurement of dissolved gas in water samples
Andrew G. Hunt
2015, Techniques and Methods 5-A11
This report addresses the standard operating procedures used by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Noble Gas Laboratory in Denver, Colorado, U.S.A., for the measurement of dissolved gases (methane, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide) and noble gas isotopes (helium-3, helium-4, neon-20, neon-21, neon-22, argon-36, argon-38, argon-40, kryton-84, krypton-86, xenon-103, and xenon-132) dissolved...
Simulation of groundwater flow and analysis of the effects of water-management options in the North Platte Natural Resources District, Nebraska
Steven M. Peterson, Amanda T. Flynn, Joseph Vrabel, Derek W. Ryter
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5093
The North Platte Natural Resources District (NPNRD) has been actively collecting data and studying groundwater resources because of concerns about the future availability of the highly inter-connected surface-water and groundwater resources. This report, prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the North Platte Natural Resources District, describes a...
Normalization of stable isotope data for carbonate minerals: implementation of IUPAC guideline
Sang-Tae Kim, Tyler B. Coplen, Juske Horita
2015, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (158) 276-289
Carbonate minerals provide a rich source of geochemical information because their δ13C and δ18O values provide information about surface and subsurface Earth processes. However, a significant problem is that the same δ18O value is not reported for the identical carbonate sample when analyzed in different isotope laboratories in spite...
Median nitrate concentrations in groundwater in the New Jersey Highlands Region estimated using regression models and land-surface characteristics
Ronald J. Baker, Mary M. Chepiga, Stephen J. Cauller
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5075
Nitrate-concentration data are used in conjunction with land-use and land-cover data to estimate median nitrate concentrations in groundwater underlying the New Jersey (NJ) Highlands Region. Sources of data on nitrate in 19,670 groundwater samples are from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Information System (NWIS) and the NJ Private...
Understory vegetation as an indicator for floodplain forest restoration in the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley, U.S.A.
Diane De Steven, Stephen Faulkner, Bobby D. Keeland, M.J. Baldwin, John W. McCoy, Steven C. Hughes
2015, Restoration Ecology (23) 402-412
In the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley (MAV), complete alteration of river-floodplain hydrology allowed for widespreadconversion of forested bottomlands to intensive agriculture, resulting in nearly 80% forest loss. Governmental programs haveattempted to restore forest habitat and functions within this altered landscape by the methods of tree planting (afforestation)and...
Earthquake shaking hazard estimates and exposure changes in the conterminous United States
Kishor S. Jaiswal, Mark D. Petersen, Kenneth S. Rukstales, William S. Leith
2015, Earthquake Spectra (31) 201-220
A large portion of the population of the United States lives in areas vulnerable to earthquake hazards. This investigation aims to quantify population and infrastructure exposure within the conterminous U.S. that are subjected to varying levels of earthquake ground motions by systematically analyzing the last four cycles of the U.S....
Geochemical, modal, and geochronologic data for 1.4 Ga A-type granitoid intrusions of the conterminous United States
Edward A. du Bray, Christopher S. Holm-Denoma, Carma A. San Juan, Karen Lund, Wayne R. Premo, Ed DeWitt
2015, Data Series 942
Introduction The purpose of this report is to present available geochemical, modal, and geochronologic data for approximately 1.4 billion year (Ga) A-type granitoid intrusions of the United States and to make those data available to ongoing petrogenetic investigations of these rocks. A-type granites, as originally defined by Loiselle and Wones (1979),...
