Groundwater quality in the Colorado Plateaus aquifers, western United States
James R. Degnan, MaryLynn Musgrove
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3012
Groundwater provides nearly 50 percent of the Nation’s drinking water. To help protect this vital resource, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project assesses groundwater quality in aquifers that are important sources of drinking water. The Colorado Plateaus aquifers constitute one of the important areas being evaluated....
Groundwater quality in selected Stream Valley aquifers, western United States
James A. Kingsbury
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3011
Groundwater provides nearly 50 percent of the Nation’s drinking water. To help protect this vital resource, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project assesses groundwater quality in aquifers that are important sources of drinking water. The Stream Valley aquifers constitute one of the important aquifer systems being...
Groundwater quality in the Edwards-Trinity aquifer system
MaryLynn Musgrove
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3010
Groundwater provides nearly 50 percent of the Nation’s drinking water. To help protect this vital resource, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project assesses groundwater quality in aquifers that are important sources of drinking water. The Edwards-Trinity aquifer system constitutes one of the important aquifers being evaluated....
Abiotic stress and biotic factors mediate range dynamics on opposing edges
Alexej P. K. Siren, Christopher Sutherland, Chris Bernier, Kimberly Royar, Jillian R. Kilborn, Catherine Callahan, Rachel Cliche, Leighlan S. Prout, Toni Lyn Morelli
2021, Journal of Biogeography (48) 1758-1772
AimIn the face of global change, understanding causes of range limits are one of the most pressing needs in biogeography and ecology. A prevailing hypothesis is that abiotic stress forms cold (upper latitude/altitude) limits, whereas biotic interactions create warm (lower) limits. A new framework – Interactive Range-Limit...
The transformation of dryland rivers: The future of introduced tamarisk in the U.S.
Pamela L. Nagler, Julia B. Hull, Charles van Riper III, Patrick B. Shafroth, Charles B. Yackulic
2021, Fact Sheet 2020-3061
Tamarix spp. (tamarisk or saltcedar), a shrub-like tree, was intentionally introduced to the U.S. from Asia in the mid-1800s. Tamarisk thrives in today’s human-altered streamside (riparian) habitats and can be found along wetlands, rivers, lakes, and streams across the western U.S. In 2001, a biological control agent, Diorhabda spp. (tamarisk...
Postcaldera intrusive magmatism at the Platoro caldera complex, Southern Rocky Mountain volcanic field, Colorado, USA
Amy K. Gilmer, Ren A. Thompson, Peter W. Lipman, Jorge A. Vazquez, Amanda Souders
2021, Geosphere (17) 898-931
The Oligocene Platoro caldera complex of the San Juan volcanic locus in Colorado (USA) features numerous exposed plutons both within the caldera and outside its margins, enabling investigation of the timing and evolution of postcaldera magmatism. Intrusion whole-rock geochemistry and phenocryst and/or mineral trace element compositions coupled with new zircon...
Improving paleoseismic earthquake magnitude estimates with rupture length information: Application to the Puget Lowland, Washington State, U.S.A.
Richard Styron, Brian Sherrod
2021, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (111) 1139-1153
Both earthquake displacement and rupture length correlate with magnitude, and therefore observations of each from past earthquakes can be used to estimate the magnitude of those earthquakes in the absence of instrumental records. We extend the Bayesian inversion method of Biasi and Weldon (2006), which estimates paleoearthquake magnitude from displacement...
Roadside rights-of-way as pollinator habitat: A literature review
Brianne Du Clos, Phillip deMaynadier, Frank Drummond, Cyndy Loftin
2021, Technical Report ME 21-01
Pollination of crops and naturally-occurring flowering plants is a critical ecosystem service provided by managed and unmanaged animal pollinators. Insects are the most studied pollinators, particularly managed honey bees, unmanaged wild bees, and butterflies. Bees and butterflies thrive in early-<span...
Middle Holocene hydrologic changes catalyzed by river avulsion in Big Soda Lake, Nevada, USA
Michael R. Rosen, Liam M. Reidy, Scott W. Starratt, Susan Zimmerman
David B. Finkelstein, Lisa Park Boush, Sila Pla-Pueyo, editor(s)
2021, Book chapter, Limnogeology: Progress, challenges and opportunities: A tribute to Elizabeth Gierlowski-Kordesch
Big Soda Lake is a 63 m deep, 1.6 km2 maar lake in the Great Basin of Nevada, USA. Water level in the lake is controlled by groundwater inputs from the surrounding aquifer and the only surface water input is rainfall, which is negligible. A core taken in 2010 records an...
Introduction to limnogeology: Progress, challenges, and opportunities: A tribute to Elizabeth Gierlowski-Kordesch
Michael R. Rosen, Lisa Park Boush, David Finkelstein, Sila Pla-Pueyo
2021, Book chapter, Limnogeology: Progress, challenges and opportunities: A tribute to Elizabeth Gierlowski-Kordesch
Elizabeth Gierlowski-Kordesch (1956–2016) was a leader and innovator in the specialty field of limnogeology since its beginnings in the late 1980s. Her excitement for field work and examining sediments was contagious, and she was always testing new research ideas. Beth would have been thrilled with the diversity of papers presented...
Mars Astrobiological Cave and Internal habitability Explorer (MACIE): A New Frontiers mission concept
C. M. Phillips-Lander, A. Agha-mohamamdi, J. J. Wynne, Timothy N. Titus, N. Chanover, C. Demirel-Floyd, Kyle Uckert, Kaj E. Williams, D Wyrick, J. Blank, Penelope J. Boston, K. Mitchell, A Kereszturi, J. Martin-Torres, S. Shkolyar, N. Bardabelias, S. Datta, K. Retherford, Lydia Sam, A. Bahardwaj, A. Fairen, D. Flannery, Roger C. Wiens
2021, Report, Planetary science and astrobiology decadal survey 2023-2032
Martian subsurface habitability and astrobiology can be evaluated via a lava tube cave, without drilling. MACIE addresses two key goals of the Decadal Survey (2013–2022) and three MEPAG goals. New advances in robotic architectures, autonomous navigation, target sample selection, and analysis will enable MACIE to explore the Martian subsurface....
Genetics as a tool for conservation and management of West Indian manatee populations in Brazil
Fabia Luna, Caitlin Beaver, Coralie Nourisson, Robert Bonde, Fernanda L. N. Attademo, Adriana V. Miranda, Juan P. Torres-Florez, Glaucia P. de Sousa, José Z. Passavante, Margaret Hunter
2021, Newsletter
A study conducted by the National Center for Research and Conservation of Aquatic Mammals (CMA), United States Geological Survey Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, and partner researchers found that the marine Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus) has low genetic diversity in regions where there are territorial interfaces with the Amazonian...
Graph-based reinforcement learning for active learning in real time: An application in modeling river networks
Xiaowei Jia, Beiyu Lin, Jacob Aaron Zwart, Jeffrey Michael Sadler, Alison P. Appling, Samantha K. Oliver, Jordan Read
2021, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 2021 SIAM International Conference on Data Mining
Effective training of advanced ML models requires large amounts of labeled data, which is often scarce in scientific problems given the substantial human labor and material cost to collect labeled data. This poses a challenge on determining when and where we should deploy measuring instruments (e.g., in-situ sensors) to collect...
PumaPlex100: An expanded tool for puma SNP genotyping with low-yield DNA
John A. Erwin, Robert R. Fitak, Melanie Culver
2021, Conservation Genetics Resources (13) 341-343
The original PumaPlex is a high-throughput assay developed to genotype 25 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in pumas (Puma concolor). Here, we describe the development of PumaPlex100 – an expanded version of the original assay that now genotypes > 100 SNPs. We tested 142 candidate SNPs and developed a panel of 101 polymorphic...
Exploring strategies for investigating the mechanisms linking climate and individual-level child health outcomes: An analysis of birth weight in Mali
Kathryn Grace, Andrew Verdin, Audrey Dorélien, Frank Davenport, Chris Funk, Gregory Husak
2021, Demography (58) 499-526-526
The goal of this article is to consider data solutions to investigate the differential pathways that connect climate/weather variability to child health outcomes. We apply several measures capturing different aspects of climate/weather variability to different time periods of in utero exposure. The measures are designed to capture the complexities of climate-related risks...
The Denver Well Logging Society April 2021 Newsletter: From the VP - Technology
Jenny Heather Lagesse
2021, Newsletter
No abstract available....
Embracing ensemble species distribution models to inform at-risk species status assessments
C. Ramirez-Reyes, M. Nazeri, Garrett Street, D. T. Jones-Ferrand, Francisco Vilella, K. O. Evans
2021, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (12) 98-111
Conservation planning depends on reliable information regarding the geographic distribution of species. However, our knowledge of species' distributions is often incomplete, especially when species are cryptic, difficult to survey, or rare. The use of species distribution models has increased in recent years and proven a valuable tool to evaluate habitat...
Intended consequences statement
Ryan Phelan, Bridget Baumgartner, Stewart Brand, Evelyn Brister, Stanley W. Burgiel, R. Alta Charo, Isabelle Coche, Al Cofrancesco, Jason A. Delborne, Owain Edwards, Joshua P. Fisher, Martin Gaywood, Doria R. Gordon, Gregg Howald, Margaret Hunter, Peter Kareiva, Aditi Mankad, Michelle Marvier, Katherine Moseby, Andrew E. Newhouse, Ben J. Novak, Gerry Ohrstrom, Steven Olson, Megan J. Palmer, Stephen S. Palumbi, Neil Patterson Jr., Miguel Pedrono, Francisco Pelegri, Yasha Rohwer, Oliver A. Ryder, J. Royden Saah, Robert M. Scheller, Philip J. Seddon, H. Bradley Shaffer, Beth Shapiro, Mike Sweeney, Mark R. Tercek, Delphine Thizy, Whitney Tilt, Michele Weber, Renee D. Wegrzyn, Bruce Whitelaw, Matthew Winkler, Josh Wodak, Mark Zimring, Paul Robbins
2021, Conservation Science and Practice (3)
As the biodiversity crisis accelerates, the stakes are higher for threatened plants and animals. Rebuilding the health of our planet will require addressing underlying threats at many scales, including habitat loss and climate change. Conservation interventions such as habitat protection, management, restoration, predator control, translocation, genetic rescue, and biological control...
An integrated population model for harvest management of Atlantic brant
A.J. Roberts, J.L. Dooly, Beth Ross, T.C. Nichols, J.O. Leafloor, K.W. Dufour
2021, Journal of Wildlife Management (85) 897-908
Atlantic brant (Branta bernicla hrota) are important game birds in the Atlantic Flyway and several long-term monitoring data sets could assist with harvest management, including a count-based survey and demographic data. Considering their relative strengths and weaknesses, integrated analysis to these data would likely improve harvest management, but tools for...
Evidence of successful river spawning by lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) in the lower Niagara River, Lake Ontario
Alexander Gatch, Dimitry Gorsky, Zy Biesinger, Eric Bruestle, Kelley Lee, Curt Karboski, Meredith L. Bartron, Tyler Wagner
2021, Journal of Great Lakes Research (47) 486-493
Restoration of a wild-produced lake trout Salvelinus namaycush population in Lake Ontario has not been successful despite the adult population often meeting or exceeding restoration targets. Lack of high-quality spawning habitat in Lake Ontario is suggested as one impediment to recruitment of wild lake trout, although the quantity and location of...
Investigating the morphological and genetic divergence of arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) populations in lakes of arctic Alaska
Stephen L. Klobucar, Jessica A. Rick, Elizabeth G. Mandeville, Catherine E. Wagner, Phaedra E. Budy
2021, Ecology and Evolution (11) 3040-3057
Polymorphism facilitates coexistence of divergent morphs (e.g., phenotypes) of the same species by minimizing intraspecific competition, especially when resources are limiting. Arctic char (Salvelinus sp.) are a Holarctic fish often forming morphologically, and sometimes genetically, divergent morphs. In this study, we assessed the morphological and genetic diversity and divergence of 263...
Climate change indicators: Streamflow
Caelan E. Simeone, Robert W. Dudley, Glenn A. Hodgkins, Michael McHale
2021, Report
No abstract available....
Demography and loss of genetic diversity in two insular populations of the bobcat (Lynx rufus)
Cassandra M. Miller-Butterworth, Duane R. Diefenbach, Jessie E. Edson, Leslie A. Hansen, James D. Jordan, Tess M. Gingery, Amy L. Russell
2021, Global Ecology and Conservation (26) 1-15
Among felids worldwide, only 6 of 38 species have stable or increasing populations, and most felid species are threatened by anthropogenic influences, especially habitat loss and fragmentation. We documented changes in genetic diversity in an isolated, reintroduced population of bobcats on Cumberland Island (CUIS), Georgia, USA, compared to another...
Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) Level 1B User Guide
Jared Beck, Bradford Wirt, Scott Luthcke, Michelle Hofton, John Armston
2021, Book
No abstract available....
Plague transforms positive effects of precipitation on prairie dogs to negative effects
Dean E. Biggins, David A. Eads, Jerry L. Godbey
2021, International Journal of Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife (14) 329-334
Rodents characteristically benefit from increased precipitation, especially in typically dry habitats; “good years” of high precipitation improve their forage and water balance. However, Yersinia pestis (plague), a flea-borne pathogen of mammals that was introduced to western North America, has the greatest negative impact on at least some species of rodents during years...
