Near-field receiving water monitoring of trace metals and a benthic community near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in south San Francisco Bay, California; 2015
Daniel J. Cain, Janet K. Thompson, Jeffrey Crauder, Francis Parchaso, A. Robin Stewart, Matthew A. Turner, Michelle I. Hornberger, Samuel N. Luoma
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1118
Trace-metal concentrations in sediment and in the clam Macoma petalum (formerly reported as Macoma balthica), clam reproductive activity, and benthic macroinvertebrate community structure were investigated in a mudflat 1 kilometer south of the discharge of the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant (PARWQCP) in South San Francisco Bay,...
Lake transparency: a window into decadal variations in dissolved organic carbon concentrations in Lakes of Acadia National Park, Maine
Collin S. Roesler, Charles W. Culbertson
2016, Book chapter, Aquatic nutrient biogeochemistry and microbial ecology: A dual perspective
A forty year time series of Secchi depth observations from approximately 25 lakes in Acadia National Park, Maine, USA, evidences large variations in transparency between lakes but relatively little seasonal cycle within lakes. However, there are coherent patterns over the time series, suggesting large scale processes are responsible. It has...
The structure and composition of Holocene coral reefs in the Middle Florida Keys
Lauren T. Toth, Anastasios Stathakopoulos, Ilsa B. Kuffner
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1074
The Florida Keys reef tract (FKRT) is the largest coral-reef ecosystem in the continental United States. The modern FKRT extends for 362 kilometers along the coast of South Florida from Dry Tortugas National Park in the southwest, through the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS), to Fowey Rocks reef in...
Characterization of mean transit time at large springs in the Upper Colorado River Basin, USA: A tool for assessing groundwater discharge vulnerability
John E. Solder, Bernard J. Stolp, Victor M. Heilweil, David D. Susong
2016, Hydrogeology Journal (24) 2017-2033
Environmental tracers (noble gases, tritium, industrial gases, stable isotopes, and radio-carbon) and hydrogeology were interpreted to determine groundwater transit-time distribution and calculate mean transit time (MTT) with lumped parameter modeling at 19 large springs distributed throughout the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB), USA. The predictive value of the MTT to...
Water-quality trends and constituent-transport analysis for selected sampling sites in the Milltown Reservoir/Clark Fork River Superfund Site in the upper Clark Fork Basin, Montana, water years 1996–2015
Steven K. Sando, Aldo V. Vecchia
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5100
During the extended history of mining in the upper Clark Fork Basin in Montana, large amounts of waste materials enriched with metallic contaminants (cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc) and the metalloid trace element arsenic were generated from mining operations near Butte and milling and smelting operations near Anaconda. Extensive deposition...
Invasive species: Ocean ecosystem case studies for earth systems and environmental sciences
Pamela J. Schofield, Mary E. Brown
2016, Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences
Marine species are increasingly transferred from areas where they are native to areas where they are not. Some nonnative species become invasive, causing undesirable impacts to environment, economy and/or human health. Nonnative marine species can be introduced through a variety of vectors, including shipping, trade, inland corridors (such as canals),...
Study of thermochemical sulfate reduction mechanism using compound specific sulfur isotope analysis
Alexander Meshoulam, Geoffrey S. Ellis, Ward Said Ahmad, Andrei Deev, Alex L. Sessions, Yongchun Tang, Jess F. Adkins, Jinzhong Liu, William P. Gilhooly III, Zeev Aizenshtat, Alon Amrani
2016, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (188) 73-92
The sulfur isotopic fractionation associated with the formation of organic sulfur compounds (OSCs) during thermochemical sulfate reduction (TSR) was studied using gold-tube pyrolysis experiments to simulate TSR. The reactants used included n-hexadecane (n-C16) as a model organic compound with sulfate, sulfite, or elemental sulfur as the sulfur source. At the...
Internal loading of phosphorus in western Lake Erie
Gerald Matisoff, Eliza M. Kaltenberg, Rebecca L. Steely, Stephanie K. Hummel, Jinyu Seo, Kenneth J. Gibbons, Thomas B. Bridgeman, Youngwoo Seo, Mohsen Behbahani, William F. James, Laura Johnson, Phuong Doan, Maria Dittrich, Mary Anne Evans, Justin D. Chaffin
2016, Journal of Great Lakes Research (42) 775-788
This study applied eight techniques to obtain estimates of the diffusive flux of phosphorus (P) from bottom sediments throughout the western basin of Lake Erie. The flux was quantified from both aerobic and anaerobic incubations of whole cores; by monitoring the water encapsulated in bottom chambers; from pore water concentration...
Hierarchical animal movement models for population-level inference
Mevin Hooten, Frances E. Buderman, Brian M. Brost, Ephraim M. Hanks, Jacob S. Ivans
2016, Environmetrics (27) 322-333
New methods for modeling animal movement based on telemetry data are developed regularly. With advances in telemetry capabilities, animal movement models are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Despite a need for population-level inference, animal movement models are still predominantly developed for individual-level inference. Most efforts to upscale the inference to...
Island characteristics within wetlands influence waterbird nest success and abundance
C. Alex Hartman, Joshua T. Ackerman, Mark P. Herzog
2016, Journal of Wildlife Management (80) 1177-1188
Coastal waterbird populations are threatened by habitat loss and degradation from urban and agricultural development and forecasted sea level rise associated with climate change. Remaining wetlands often must be managed to ensure that waterbird habitat needs, and other ecosystem functions, are met. For many waterbirds, the availability of island nesting...
Estimating carbon sequestration in the piedmont ecoregion of the United States from 1971 to 2010
Jinxun Liu, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Zhiliang Zhu, Linda S. Heath, Zhengxi Tan, Tamara Wilson, Jason T. Sherba, Decheng Zhou
2016, Carbon Balance and Management (11) 1-13
Background: Human activities have diverse and profound impacts on ecosystem carbon cycles. The Piedmont ecoregion in the eastern United States has undergone significant land use and land cover change in the past few decades. The purpose of this study was to use newly available land use and land cover change...
Arctic sea ice decline contributes to thinning lake ice trend in northern Alaska
Vladimir Alexeev, Christopher D. Arp, Benjamin M. Jones, Lei Cai
2016, Environmental Research Letters (11)
Field measurements, satellite observations, and models document a thinning trend in seasonal Arctic lake ice growth, causing a shift from bedfast to floating ice conditions. September sea ice concentrations in the Arctic Ocean since 1991 correlate well (r = +0.69,p < 0.001) to this lake regime shift. To understand how and to what extent...
State-and-transition simulation models: a framework for forecasting landscape change
Colin Daniel, Leonardo Frid, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Marie-Josee Fortin
2016, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (7) 1413-1423
SummaryA wide range of spatially explicit simulation models have been developed to forecast landscape dynamics, including models for projecting changes in both vegetation and land use. While these models have generally been developed as separate applications, each with a separate purpose and audience, they share many...
Dam operations affect route-specific passage and survival of juvenile Chinook salmon at a main-stem diversion dam
Russell W. Perry, Tobias J. Kock, Ian I Couter, Thomas M Garrison, Joel D Hubble, David B Child
2016, River Research and Applications (32) 2009-2019
Diversion dams can negatively affect emigrating juvenile salmon populations because fish must pass through the impounded river created by the dam, negotiate a passage route at the dam and then emigrate through a riverine reach that has been affected by reduced river discharge. To quantify the effects of a main-stem...
Benefits of prescribed flows for salmon smolt survival enhancement vary longitudinally in a highly managed river system
Ian Courter, Thomas Garrison, Tobias J. Kock, Russell W. Perry, David Child, Joel Hubble
2016, River Research and Applications (32) 1999-2008
The influence of streamflow on survival of emigrating juvenile Pacific salmonids Oncorhynchus spp. (smolts) is a major concern for water managers throughout the northeast Pacific Rim. However, few studies have quantified flow effects on smolt survival, and available information does not indicate a consistent flow–survival relationship within the typical range of flows...
Spatial and temporal assessment of back-barrier erosion on Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia, 2011–2013
Daniel L. Calhoun, Jeffrey W. Riley
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5071
Much research has been conducted to better understand erosion and accretion processes for the seaward zones of coastal barrier islands; however, at Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia, the greater management concern is the effect that erosion is having on the resources of the island’s western shoreline, or the back barrier....
Parameter regionalization of a monthly water balance model for the conterminous United States
Andrew R. Bock, Lauren E. Hay, Gregory J. McCabe, Steven L. Markstrom, R. Dwight Atkinson
2016, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (20) 2861-2876
A parameter regionalization scheme to transfer parameter values from gaged to ungaged areas for a monthly water balance model (MWBM) was developed and tested for the conterminous United States (CONUS). The Fourier Amplitude Sensitivity Test, a global-sensitivity algorithm, was implemented on a MWBM to generate parameter sensitivities on a...
Missouri River Scaphirhynchus albus (pallid sturgeon) effects analysis—Integrative report 2016
Robert B. Jacobson, Mandy L. Annis, Michael E. Colvin, Daniel A. James, Timothy L. Welker, Michael J. Parsley
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5064
The Missouri River Pallid Sturgeon Effects Analysis was designed to carry out three components of an assessment of how Missouri River management has affected, and will affect, population dynamics of endangered Scaphirhynchus albus (pallid sturgeon): (1) collection of reliable scientific information, (2) critical assessment and synthesis of available data and...
Wound repair in Pocillopora
Jenny Carolina Rodríguez-Villalobos, Thierry M. Work, Luis Eduardo Calderon-Aguileraa
2016, Journal of Invertebrate Pathology (139) 1-5
Corals routinely lose tissue due to causes ranging from predation to disease. Tissue healing and regeneration are fundamental to the normal functioning of corals, yet we know little about this process. We described the microscopic morphology of wound repair in Pocillopora damicornis. Tissue was removed by airbrushing fragments from three healthy...
Theory and application of semiochemicals in nuisance fish control
Peter W. Sorensen, Nicholas S. Johnson
2016, Journal of Chemical Ecology (42) 698-715
Controlling unwanted, or nuisance, fishes is becoming an increasingly urgent issue with few obvious solutions. Because fish rely heavily on semiochemicals, or chemical compounds that convey information between and within species, to mediate aspects of their life histories, these compounds are increasingly being considered as an option to help control...
Assessing the influence of watershed characteristics on chlorophyll a in waterbodies at global and regional scales
Whitney Woelmer, Yu-Chun Kao, David B. Bunnell, Andrew M. Deines, David Bennion, Mark W. Rogers, Colin N. Brooks, Michael J. Sayers, David M. Banach, Amanda G. Grimm, Robert A. Shuchman
2016, Inland Waters (6) 379-392
Prediction of primary production of lentic water bodies (i.e., lakes and reservoirs) is valuable to researchers and resource managers alike, but is very rarely done at the global scale. With the development of remote sensing technologies, it is now feasible to gather large amounts of data across the world, including...
Assessing the sensitivity of avian species abundance to land cover and climate
Jaymi J. LeBrun, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Frank R. Thompson III, William D. Dijak, Joshua J. Millspaugh
2016, Ecosphere (7)
Climate projections for the Midwestern United States predict southerly climates to shift northward. These shifts in climate could alter distributions of species across North America through changes in climate (i.e., temperature and precipitation), or through climate-induced changes on land cover. Our objective was to determine the relative impacts of land...
Identifying sturgeon spawning locations through back-calculations of drift
Edward A. Bulliner, Susannah O. Erwin, Robert B. Jacobson, Kimberly A. Chojnacki, Amy E. George, Aaron J. DeLonay
2016, Book chapter, River Flow 2016
Unfavorable spawning habitat conditions have been identified as a potential limiting factor for recovery of the endangered pallid sturgeon on the Missouri River and its tributaries. After successful spawning, incubation, and hatching, sturgeon free embryos passively drift downstream and are sometimes captured by sampling crews. While spawning habitat has been...
Habitat and fish assemblage associations and current status of northern leatherside chub Lepidomeda copei in western Wyoming
Luke Schultz, Pete Cavalli, Hilda Sexauer, David Zafft
2016, Western North American Naturalist (76) 427-440
Human activities have extensively altered native fish assemblages and their habitats in the western United States. Conservation and restoration for long-term persistence of these fishes requires knowledge of their distributional patterns and life history requirements. Northern leatherside chub Lepidomeda copei (hereafter northern leatherside) is a cyprinid native to the Snake and Bear...
Report from the workshop on climate downscaling and its application in high Hawaiian Islands, September 16–17, 2015
David A. Helweg, Victoria Keener, Jeff M. Burgett
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1102
In the subtropical and tropical Pacific islands, changing climate is predicted to influence precipitation and freshwater availability, and thus is predicted to impact ecosystems goods and services available to ecosystems and human communities. The small size of high Hawaiian Islands, plus their complex microlandscapes, require downscaling of global climate models...
