Statistical analysis and mapping of water levels in the Biscayne aquifer, water conservation areas, and Everglades National Park, Miami-Dade County, Florida, 2000–2009
Scott T. Prinos, Joann F. Dixon
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5005
Statistical analyses and maps representing mean, high, and low water-level conditions in the surface water and groundwater of Miami-Dade County were made by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Miami-Dade County Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources, to help inform decisions necessary for urban planning and development. Sixteen...
Groundwater
David A. Stonestrom
Ellen E. Wohl, editor(s)
2016, Book chapter, Oxford Bibliographies in Environmental Science
Introduction Groundwater represents the terrestrial subsurface component of the hydrologic cycle. As such, groundwater is generally in motion, moving from elevated areas of recharge to lower areas of discharge. Groundwater usually moves in accordance with Darcy’s law (Dalmont, Paris: Les Fontaines Publiques de la Ville de Dijon, 1856). Groundwater residence times...
A full annual cycle modeling framework for American black ducks
Orin J. Robinson, Conor P. McGowan, Patrick K. Devers, Rodney W. Brook, Min Huang, Malcom Jones, Daniel G. McAuley, Guthrie S. Zimmerman
2016, Natural Resource Modeling (29) 159-174
American black ducks (Anas rubripes) are a harvested, international migratory waterfowl species in eastern North America. Despite an extended period of restrictive harvest regulations, the black duck population is still below the population goal identified in the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP). It has been hypothesized that density-dependent factors...
Controls on ferromanganese crust composition and reconnaissance resource potential, Ninetyeast Ridge, Indian Ocean
James R. Hein, Tracey A. Conrad, Kira Mizell, Virupaxa K. Banakar, Frederick A. Frey, William W. Sager
2016, Deep-Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers (110) 1-19
A reconnaissance survey of Fe-Mn crusts from the 5000 km long (~31°S to 10°N) Ninetyeast Ridge (NER) in the Indian Ocean shows their widespread occurrence along the ridge as well as with water depth on the ridge flanks. The crusts are hydrogenetic based in growth rates and discrimination plots. Twenty...
Stochastic model for simulating Souris River Basin precipitation, evapotranspiration, and natural streamflow
Kelsey A. Kolars, Aldo V. Vecchia, Karen R. Ryberg
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5185
The Souris River Basin is a 61,000-square-kilometer basin in the Provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba and the State of North Dakota. In May and June of 2011, record-setting rains were seen in the headwater areas of the basin. Emergency spillways of major reservoirs were discharging at full or nearly full...
Genetic diversity of Wolbachia endosymbionts in Culex quinquefasciatus from Hawai`i, Midway Atoll, and Samoa
Carter T. Atkinson, William Watcher-Weatherwax, Dennis A. LaPointe
2016, Technical Report HCSU-074
Incompatible insect techniques are potential methods for controlling Culex quinquefasciatus and avian disease transmission in Hawai‘i without the use of pesticides or genetically modified organisms. The approach is based on naturally occurring sperm-egg incompatibilities within the Culex pipiens complex that are controlled by different strains of the bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia...
Are brown trout replacing or displacing bull trout populations in a changing climate?
Robert K. Al-Chokhachy, David A. Schmetterling, Chris Clancy, Pat Saffel, Ryan Kovach, Leslie Nyce, Brad Liermann, Wade A. Fredenberg, Ron Pierce
2016, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (73) 1395-1404
Understanding how climate change may facilitate species turnover is an important step in identifying potential conservation strategies. We used data from 33 sites in western Montana to quantify climate associations with native bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) and non-native brown trout (Salmo trutta) abundance and population growth rates (λ). We estimated...
Groundwater ages from the freshwater zone of the Edwards aquifer, Uvalde County, Texas—Insights into groundwater flow and recharge
Andrew G. Hunt, Gary P. Landis, Jason R. Faith
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5163
Tritium–helium-3 groundwater ages of the Edwards aquifer in south-central Texas were determined as part of a long-term study of groundwater flow and recharge in the Edwards and Trinity aquifers. These ages help to define groundwater residence times and to provide constraints for calibration of groundwater flow models. A suite of...
Arsenic in groundwater of Licking County, Ohio, 2012—Occurrence and relation to hydrogeology
Mary Ann Thomas
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5148
Arsenic concentrations were measured in samples from 168 domestic wells in Licking County, Ohio, to document arsenic concentrations in a wide variety of wells and to identify hydrogeologic factors associated with arsenic concentrations in groundwater. Elevated concentrations of arsenic (greater than 10.0 micrograms per liter [µg/L]) were detected in 12...
Active tectonics within the NW and SE extensions of the Pambak-Sevan-Syunik fault: Implications for the present geodynamics of Armenia
Jeff Ritz, A. Avagyan, M. Mkrtchyan, H. Nazari, P. H. Blard, A. Karakhanian, H. Philip, Sanda Balescu, Shannon A. Mahan, Sebastien Huot, P. Munch, M. Lamothe
2016, Quaternary International (395) 61-78
This study analyzes the active tectonics within the northwestern and southeastern extensions of the Pambak-Sevan-Syunik fault (PSSF), a major right-lateral strike-slip fault cutting through Armenia. Quantifying the deformations in terms of geometry, kinematics, slip rates and earthquake activity, using cosmogenic 3He, OSL/IRSL and radiocarbon dating techniques, reveal different behaviors between...
Sediment accumulation in prairie wetlands under a changing climate: The relative roles of landscape and precipitation
Susan K. Skagen, Lucy E. Burris, Diane A. Granfors
2016, Wetlands (36) 383-395
Sediment accumulation threatens the viability and hydrologic functioning of many naturally formed depressional wetlands across the interior regions of North America. These wetlands provide many ecosystem services and vital habitats for diverse plant and animal communities. Climate change may further impact sediment accumulation rates in the context of current land...
Flood-Inundation Maps of Selected Areas Affected by the Flood of October 2015 in Central and Coastal South Carolina
Jonathan W. Musser, Kara M. Watson, Jaime A. Painter, Anthony J. Gotvald
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1019
Heavy rainfall occurred across South Carolina during October 1–5, 2015, as a result of an upper atmospheric low-pressure system that funneled tropical moisture from Hurricane Joaquin into the State. The storm caused major flooding in the central and coastal parts of South Carolina. Almost 27 inches of rain fell near...
Efficiency of portable antennas for detecting passive integrated transponder tags in stream-dwelling salmonids
Nolan P. Banish, Summer M. Burdick, Katherine R. Moyer
2016, PLoS ONE (11)
Portable antennas have become an increasingly common technique for tracking fish marked with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags. We used logistic regression to evaluate how species, fish length, and physical habitat characteristics influence portable antenna detection efficiency in stream-dwelling brown trout (Salmo trutta), bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus), and redband trout...
Toward a quantitative and empirical dissolved organic carbon budget for the Gulf of Maine, a semienclosed shelf sea
William Balch, Thomas G. Huntington, George R. Aiken, David Drapeau, Bruce Bowler, Laura Lubelczyk, Kenna D. Butler
2016, Global Biogeochemical Cycles (30) 268-292
A time series of organic carbon export from Gulf of Maine (GoM) watersheds was compared to a time series of biological, chemical, bio-optical, and hydrographic properties, measured across the GoM between Yarmouth, NS, Canada, and Portland, ME, U.S. Optical proxies were used to quantify the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and...
Terrestrial-based lidar beach topography of Fire Island, New York, June 2014
Owen T. Brenner, Cheryl J. Hapke, Kathryn G. Lee, Dustin R. Kimbrow
2016, Data Series 980
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center (SPCMSC) in Florida and the USGS Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center (LMG WSC) in Montgomery, Alabama, collaborated to gather alongshore terrestrial-based lidar beach elevation data at Fire Island, New York. This high-resolution elevation dataset was collected on June...
Experimental studies and model analysis of noble gas fractionation in porous media
Xin Ding, B. Mack. Kennedy, William C. Evans, David A. Stonestrom
2016, Vadose Zone Journal (15) 1-12
The noble gases, which are chemically inert under normal terrestrial conditions but vary systematically across a wide range of atomic mass and diffusivity, offer a multicomponent approach to investigating gas dynamics in unsaturated soil horizons, including transfer of gas between saturated zones, unsaturated zones, and the atmosphere. To evaluate the...
Bivalve grazing can shape phytoplankton communities
Lisa Lucas, James E. Cloern, Janet K. Thompson, Mark T. Stacey, Jeffrey K. Koseff
2016, Frontiers in Marine Science (3)
The ability of bivalve filter feeders to limit phytoplankton biomass in shallow waters is well-documented, but the role of bivalves in shaping phytoplankton communities is not. The coupled effect of bivalve grazing at the sediment-water interface and sinking of phytoplankton cells to that bottom filtration zone could influence the relative...
Simulating future water temperatures in the North Santiam River, Oregon
Norman L. Buccola, John C. Risley, Stewart A. Rounds
2016, Journal of Hydrology (535) 318-330
A previously calibrated two-dimensional hydrodynamic and water-quality model (CE-QUAL-W2) of Detroit Lake in western Oregon was used in conjunction with inflows derived from Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) hydrologic models to examine in-lake and downstream water temperature effects under future climate conditions. Current and hypothetical operations and structures at Detroit Dam...
Fishing diseased abalone to promote yield and conservation
Tal Ben-Horin, Kevin D. Lafferty, Gorka Bidegain, Hunter S. Lenihan
2016, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (371)
Past theoretical models suggest fishing disease-impacted stocks can reduce parasite transmission, but this is a good management strategy only when the exploitation required to reduce transmission does not overfish the stock. We applied this concept to a red abalone fishery so impacted by an infectious disease (withering syndrome) that stock...
Testing the suitability of geologic frameworks for extrapolating hydraulic properties across regional scales
Benjamin B. Mirus, Keith J. Halford, Donald S. Sweetkind, Joseph M. Fenelon
2016, Hydrogeology Journal (24) 1133-1146
The suitability of geologic frameworks for extrapolating hydraulic conductivity (K) to length scales commensurate with hydraulic data is difficult to assess. A novel method is presented for evaluating assumed relations between K and geologic interpretations for regional-scale groundwater modeling. The approach relies on simultaneous interpretation of...
Cumulative drought and land-use impacts on perennial vegetation across a North American dryland region
Seth M. Munson, A. Lexine Long, Cynthia Wallace, Robert H. Webb
2016, Applied Vegetation Science (19) 430-441
Question The decline and loss of perennial vegetation in dryland ecosystems due to global change pressures can alter ecosystem properties and initiate land degradation processes. We tracked changes of perennial vegetation using remote sensing to address the question of how prolonged drought and land-use intensification have affected perennial...
Reconstruction of late Holocene climate based on tree growth and mechanistic hierarchical models
John Tipton, Mevin Hooten, Neil Pederson, Martin Tingley, Daniel Bishop
2016, Environmetrics (27) 42-54
Reconstruction of pre-instrumental, late Holocene climate is important for understanding how climate has changed in the past and how climate might change in the future. Statistical prediction of paleoclimate from tree ring widths is challenging because tree ring widths are a one-dimensional summary of annual growth that represents a multi-dimensional...
Wetting and drying of soil in response to precipitation: Data analysis, modeling, and forecasting
Aniruddha Basak, Chinmay Kulkarni, Kevin M. Schmidt, Ole Mengshoel
2016, Conference Paper
This paper investigates methods to analyze and forecast soil moisture time series. We extend an existing Antecedent Water Index (AWI) model, which expresses soil moisture as a function of time and rainfall. Unfortunately, the existing AWI model does not forecast effectively for time periods beyond a few hours. To overcome...
Demographic response of northern spotted owls to barred owl removal
V. Lowell Diller, Keith A. Hamm, Desiree A Early, David W Lamphear, Katie M. Dugger, Charles B. Yackulic, Carl J. Schwarz, Peter C. Carlson, Trent L. McDonald
2016, Journal of Wildlife Management (80) 691-707
Federally listed as threatened in 1990 primarily because of habitat loss, the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) has continued to decline despite conservation efforts resulting in forested habitat being reserved throughout its range. Recently, there is growing evidence the congeneric invasive barred owl (Strix varia) may be...
Development of a bioenergetics model for the threespine stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus
Rachel A. Hovel, David A. Beauchamp, Adam G. Hansen, Mark H. Sorel
2016, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (144) 1311-1321
The Threespine Stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus is widely distributed across northern hemisphere ecosystems, has ecological influence as an abundant planktivore, and is commonly used as a model organism, but the species lacks a comprehensive model to describe bioenergetic performance in response to varying environmental or ecological conditions. This study parameterized a bioenergetics model...
