Mechanisms and timescales of generating eruptible rhyolitic magmas at Yellowstone caldera from zircon and sanidine geochronology and geochemistry
Mark E. Stelten, Kari M. Cooper, Jorge A. Vazquez, Andrew T. Calvert, Justin G Glessner
2015, Journal of Petrology (56) 1607-1642
We constrain the physical nature of the magma reservoir and the mechanisms of rhyolite generation at Yellowstone caldera via detailed characterization of zircon and sanidine crystals hosted in three rhyolites erupted during the (ca. 170 – 70 ka) Central Plateau Member eruptive episode – the most recent post-caldera magmatism at...
A case study demonstrating analysis of stormflows, concentrations, and loads of nutrients in highway runoff and swale discharge with the Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM)
Gregory E. Granato, Susan C. Jones
2015, Conference Paper
Decisionmakers need information about the quality and quantity of stormwater runoff, the risk for adverse effects of runoff on receiving waters, and the potential effectiveness of mitigation measures to reduce these risks. The Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM) uses Monte Carlo methods to generate stormflows, concentrations, and loads...
Molecular tracing of confiscated pangolin scales for conservation and illegal trade monitoring in Southeast Asia
Huarong Zhang, Mark P. Miller, Feng Yang, Ki Chan, Philippe Gaubert, Gary Ades, Gunter A. Fischer
2015, Global Ecology and Conservation (4) 414-422
Despite being protected by both international and national regulations, pangolins are threatened by illegal trade. Here we report mitochondrial DNA identification and haplotype richness estimation, using 239 pangolin scale samples from two confiscations in Hong Kong. We found a total of 13 genetically distinct cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) haplotypes...
An examination of gender differences in the American Fisheries Society peer-review process
Grace Handley, Cynthia M Frantz, Patrick Kocovsky, Dennis R. DeVries, Steven J. Cooke, Julie Claussen
2015, Fisheries (40) 442-451
This study investigated the possibility of gender differences in outcomes throughout the peer review process of American Fisheries Society (AFS) journals. For each manuscript submitted to four AFS journals between January 2003 and December 2010, we collated information regarding the gender and nationality of authors, gender of associate editor, gender...
Hydrogeology and simulation of groundwater flow in fractured-rock aquifers of the Piedmont and Blue Ridge Physiographic Provinces, Bedford County, Virginia
Kurt J. McCoy, Bradley A. White, Richard M. Yager, George E. Harlow Jr.
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5113
An annual groundwater budget was computed as part of a hydrogeologic characterization and monitoring effort of fractured-rock aquifers in Bedford County, Virginia, a growing 764-square-mile (mi2) rural area between the cities of Roanoke and Lynchburg, Virginia. Data collection in Bedford County began in the 1930s when continuous stream gages were...
Long-term effects of wildfire on greater sage-grouse - integrating population and ecosystem concepts for management in the Great Basin
Peter S. Coates, Mark A. Ricca, Brian G. Prochazka, Kevin E. Doherty, Matthew L. Brooks, Michael L. Casazza
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1165
Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereinafter, sage-grouse) are a sagebrush obligate species that has declined concomitantly with the loss and fragmentation of sagebrush ecosystems across most of its geographical range. The species currently is listed as a candidate for federal protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Increasing wildfire frequency and...
Legacy effects of wildfire on stream thermal regimes and rainbow trout ecology: an integrated analysis of observation and individual-based models
Amanda E. Rosenberger, Jason B. Dunham, Jason R. Neuswanger, Steven F. Railsback
2015, Freshwater Science (34) 1571-1584
Management of aquatic resources in fire-prone areas requires understanding of fish species’ responses to wildfire and of the intermediate- and long-term consequences of these disturbances. We examined Rainbow Trout populations in 9 headwater streams 10 y after a major wildfire: 3 with no history of severe wildfire in the watershed...
Influence of changes in wetland inundation extent on net fluxes of carbon dioxide and methane in northern high latitudes from 1993 to 2004
Qianlai Zhuang, Xudong Zhu, Yujie He, Catherine Prigent, Jerry M. Melillo, A. David McGuire, Ronald G. Prinn, David W. Kicklighter
2015, Environmental Research Letters (10)
Estimates of the seasonal and interannual exchanges of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) between land ecosystems north of 45°N and the atmosphere are poorly constrained, in part, because of uncertainty in the temporal variability of water-inundated land area. Here we apply a process-based biogeochemistry model to evaluate how interannual...
Slip pulse and resonance of Kathmandu basin during the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha earthquake, Nepal imaged with space geodesy
John Galetzka, D. Melgar, J.F. Genrich, J. Geng, S. Owen, E. O. Lindsey, X. Xu, Y. Bock, J.-P. Avouac, L. B. Adhikari, B. N. Upreti, B. Pratt-Sitaula, T. N. Bhattarai, B. P. Sitaula, A. Moore, Kenneth W. Hudnut, W. Szeliga, J. Normandeau, M. Fend, M Flouzat, L. Bollinger, P. Shrestha, B. Koirala, U. Gautam, M. Bhatterai, R. Gupta, T. Kandel, C. Timsina, S.N. Sapkota, S. Rajaure, N. Maharjan
2015, Science (349) 1091-1095
Detailed geodetic imaging of earthquake rupture enhances our understanding of earthquake physics and induced ground shaking. The April 25, 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal earthquake is the first example of a large continental megathrust rupture beneath a high-rate (5 Hz) GPS network. We use GPS and InSAR data to model...
Linking climate change and health outcomes: Examining the relationship between temperature, precipitation and birth weight in Africa
Kathryn Grace, Frank Davenport, Heidi Hanson, Christopher C. Funk, Shraddhanand Shukla
2015, Global Environmental Change (35) 125-137
This paper examined the relationship between birth weight, precipitation, and temperature in 19 African countries. We matched recorded birth weights from Demographic and Health Surveys covering 1986 through 2010 with gridded monthly precipitation and temperature data derived from satellite and ground-based weather stations. Observed weather patterns during various stages of...
How spatio-temporal habitat connectivity affects amphibian genetic structure
Alexander G. Watts, P Schlichting, S Billerman, B Jesmer, S Micheletti, M.-J. Fortin, W. C. Funk, P Hapeman, Erin L. Muths, M.A. Murphy
2015, Frontiers in Genetics (6)
Heterogeneous landscapes and fluctuating environmental conditions can affect species dispersal, population genetics, and genetic structure, yet understanding how biotic and abiotic factors affect population dynamics in a fluctuating environment is critical for species management. We evaluated how spatio-temporal habitat connectivity influences dispersal and genetic structure in a population of...
Bistability of mangrove forests and competition with freshwater plants
Jiang Jiang, Douglas O Fuller, Su Yean Teh, Lu Zhai, Hock Lye Koh, Donald L. DeAngelis, L.D.S.L. Sternberg
2015, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology (213) 283-290
Halophytic communities such as mangrove forests and buttonwood hammocks tend to border freshwater plant communities as sharp ecotones. Most studies attribute this purely to underlying physical templates, such as groundwater salinity gradients caused by tidal flux and topography. However, a few recent studies hypothesize that self-reinforcing feedback between vegetation and...
Subglacial discharge at tidewater glaciers revealed by seismic tremor
Timothy C. Bartholomaus, Jason M. Amundson, Jacob I. Walter, Shad O’Neel, Michael E. West, Christopher F. Larsen
2015, Geophysical Research Letters (42) 6391-6398
Subglacial discharge influences glacier basal motion and erodes and redeposits sediment. At tidewater glacier termini, discharge drives submarine terminus melting, affects fjord circulation, and is a central component of proglacial marine ecosystems. However, our present inability to track subglacial discharge and its variability significantly hinders our understanding of these processes....
Corn Belt soil carbon and macronutrient budgets with projected sustainable stover harvest
Zhengxi Tan, Shu-Guang Liu
2015, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment (212) 119-126
Corn (Zea mays L.) stover has been identified as a prime feedstock for biofuel production in the U.S. Corn Belt because of its perceived abundance and availability, but long-term stover harvest effects on regional nutrient budgets have not been evaluated. We defined the minimum stover requirement (MSR) to maintain current soil...
Ground motion simulation for the 23 August 2011, Mineral, Virginia earthquake using physics-based and stochastic broadband methods
Xiaodan Sun, Stephen H. Hartzell, Sanaz Rezaeian
2015, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (105) 2641-2661
Three broadband simulation methods are used to generate synthetic ground motions for the 2011 Mineral, Virginia, earthquake and compare with observed motions. The methods include a physics‐based model by Hartzell et al. (1999, 2005), a stochastic source‐based model by Boore (2009), and a stochastic site‐based model by Rezaeian and Der...
Potential direct and indirect effects of climate change on a shallow natural lake fish assemblage
Jason J. Breeggemann, Mark A. Kaemingk, T.J. DeBates, Craig P. Paukert, J. Krause, Alexander P. Letvin, Tanner M. Stevens, David W. Willis, Steven R. Chipps
2015, Ecology of Freshwater Fish
Much uncertainty exists around how fish communities in shallow lakes will respond to climate change. In this study, we modelled the effects of increased water temperatures on consumption and growth rates of two piscivores (northern pike [Esox lucius] and largemouth bass [Micropterus salmoides]) and examined relative effects of consumption by...
A conceptual framework and monitoring strategy for movement of saltwater in the coastal plain aquifer system of Virginia
E. Randolph Mcfarland
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5117
A conceptual framework synthesizes previous studies to provide an understanding of conditions, processes, and relations of saltwater to groundwater withdrawal in the Virginia Coastal Plain aquifer system. A strategy for monitoring saltwater movement is based on spatial relations between the saltwater-transition zone and 612 groundwater-production wells that were regulated during...
Documentation of input datasets for the soil-water balance groundwater recharge model of the Upper Colorado River Basin
Fred D. Tillman
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1160
The Colorado River and its tributaries supply water to more than 35 million people in the United States and 3 million people in Mexico, irrigating more than 4.5 million acres of farmland, and generating about 12 billion kilowatt hours of hydroelectric power annually. The Upper Colorado River Basin, encompassing more...
Chronicling long-term predator responses to a shifting forage base in Chesapeake Bay: an energetics approach
Anthony S. Overton, Jennifer C. Griffin, F. Joseph Margraf, Eric B. May, Kyle J. Hartman
2015, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (144) 956-966
The population of Striped Bass Morone saxatilis in Chesapeake Bay has increased significantly since the 1980s because of management efforts while the relative abundance of some key prey fish has declined since the 1970s. We examined the trophic interactions and prey consumption patterns of Striped Bass in Chesapeake Bay to determine how...
Seasonally-dynamic presence-only species distribution models for a cryptic migratory bat impacted by wind energy development
Mark A. Hayes, Paul M. Cryan, Michael B. Wunder
2015, PLoS ONE (10)
Understanding seasonal distribution and movement patterns of animals that migrate long distances is an essential part of monitoring and conserving their populations. Compared to migratory birds and other more conspicuous migrants, we know very little about the movement patterns of many migratory bats. Hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus), a cryptic, wide-ranging,...
Not to put too fine a point on it - does increasing precision of geographic referencing improve species distribution models for a wide-ranging migratory bat?
Mark A. Hayes, Katharine Ozenberger, Paul M. Cryan, Michael B. Wunder
2015, Acta Chiropterologica (17) 159-169
Bat specimens held in natural history museum collections can provide insights into the distribution of species. However, there are several important sources of spatial error associated with natural history specimens that may influence the analysis and mapping of bat species distributions. We analyzed the importance of geographic referencing and error...
Status and trends of land change in the Great Plains of the United States--1973 to 2000
Janis Taylor, William Acevedo, Roger F. Auch, Mark A. Drummond, editor(s)
2015, Professional Paper 1794-B
Preface U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Professional Paper 1794–B is the second in a four-volume series on the status and trends of the Nation’s land use and land cover, providing an assessment of the rates and causes of land-use and land-cover change in the Great Plains of the United States between 1973...
Estimation of river and stream temperature trends under haphazard sampling
Brian R. Gray, Vyacheslav Lyubchich, Yulia R. Gel, James T. Rogala, Dale M. Robertson, Xiaoqiao Wei
2015, Statistical Methods & Applications (25) 89-105
Long-term temporal trends in water temperature in rivers and streams are typically estimated under the assumption of evenly-spaced space-time measurements. However, sampling times and dates associated with historical water temperature datasets and some sampling designs may be haphazard. As a result, trends in temperature may be confounded with trends in...
Flood-inundation Maps for the Deerfield River, Franklin County, Massachusetts, from the Confluence with the Cold River Tributary to the Connecticut River
Pamela J. Lombard, Gardner C. Bent
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5104
The U.S. Geological Survey developed flood elevations in cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a 30-mile reach of the Deerfield River from the confluence of the Cold River tributary to the Connecticut River in the towns of Charlemont, Buckland, Shelburne, Conway, Deerfield, and Greenfield in Franklin County, Massachusetts...
Effects of urbanization and stormwater control measures on streamflows in the vicinity of Clarksburg, Maryland, USA
Lee Rhea, Taylor Jarnagin, Dianna M. Hogan, J. V. Loperfido, William Shuster
2015, Hydrological Processes (29) 4413-4426
Understanding the efficacy of revised watershed management methods is important to mitigating the impacts of urbanization on streamflow. We evaluated the influence of land use change, primarily as urbanization, and stormwater control measures on the relationship between precipitation and stream discharge over an 8-year period for five catchments near Clarksburg,...
