Exploring the potential of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to measure the extent of chronic disturbance in peatlands: Examples from acid mine drainage and peat fire
Neil Terry, Robert L. Runkel, Dale D. Werkema, Elizabeth Rutila, Xavier Comas, Matthew Warren, Agus Kristiyono, Daniel Murdiyarso
2020, Conference Paper
Peatlands are accumulations of partially decayed organic soil that cover approximately 3% of Earth’s surface and have been shown to serve essential environmental and ecological functions such as sequestering carbon, purifying water, and providing habitat for organisms. However, peatlands are threatened by pressures from agriculture, urban development, mining, and climate...
Mars orbiter for resources, ices, and environments (MORIE)
Wendy M. Calvin, Nathaniel E. Putzig, John W Holt, Ali M Bramson, Colin M. Dundas, Bethany L. Ehlmann, Briony H. N. Horgan, Gareth A Morgan, Scott L. Murchie, G Wesley Patterson, Kimberly D. Seelos, Hanna G Sizemore, Steve Matousek, Ryan Woolley, Carlos Brinoccolo, Valerie Scott, Cassie Stuurman, Kevin Wheeler, Brian Sutin, Marc Lane, Nathan Barba, Ivair Gontijo, Katherine Park, Mariko Burgin, Scott Hensley, Jan Martin, Jean Biancone, David Hinkle, Barbara Insua
2020, Report
The MORIE mission concept study examined the science and technical trade space to address high priority questions related to ice reservoirs and environmental transitions. The study team converged on a medium-class SEP-enabled orbiter with seven instruments to unlock the extent and volume of subsurface ice and geologic sequence stratigraphy through...
Science in action or science inaction? Evaluating the implementation of "best available science" in hydropower relicensing
Sarah K. Vogel, Jessica S. Jansujwicz, Carly C. Sponarski, Joseph D. Zydlewski
2020, Energy Policy (143)
Over the next two decades, half of all hydropower projects in the USA will require relicensing by the Federal Regulatory Commission (FERC). Relicensing proceedings invoke a range of informational sources and agency regulators are tasked with using the “best available science” (BAS) to make informed decisions about hydropower operations and...
Interpreting Indicators of Rangeland Health, Version 5: Bureau of Land Management Technical Reference 1734-6
Mike Pellant, Patrick L Shaver, David A. Pyke, Jeffrey E. Herrick, Nika Lepak, Gregg Riegel, Emily Kachergis, Beth A. Newingham, David Toledo, Frank E Busby
2020, Report
The Interpreting Indicators of Rangeland Health (IIRH) protocol is designed for assessing ecosystem function on rangelands and woodlands. The protocol was developed by an interagency cadre of technical experts and has been in use by for two decades. The protocol is well accepted and is a valuable tool...
Dendrochronology of a rare long-lived mediterranean shrub
Ellis Margolis, Keith Lombardo, Andrew E. Smith
2020, Tree-Ring Research (2) 61-73
Ceanothus verrucosus (CEVE) is a globally rare, long-lived, chaparral shrub endemic to coastal southern California (CA) and northern Mexico. There is concern for CEVE persistence because of habitat loss, fire, and climate change, yet little is known about basic features of the plant, including whether it...
Genetic diversity targets and indicators in the CBD post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework must be improved
Sean M. Hoban, Michael W. Bruford, Josephine D’Urban Jackson, Margarida Lopes-Fernandes, Myriam Heuertz, Paul A. Hohenlohe, Per Sjogren-Gulve, Gernot Segelbacher, Cristiano Vernesi, Sally Aitken, Laura D. Bertola, Paulette Bloomer, Martin Breed, Hernando Rodriguez-Correa, W. Chris Funk, Catherine E. Grueber, Margaret Hunter, Rodolfo Jaffe, Libby Liggins, Joachim Mergeay, Farideh Moharrek, David O'Brien, Rob Ogden, Clarisse Palma-Silva, Ivan Paz-Vinas, Jennifer Pierson, Uma Ramakrishnan, Murielle Simo-Droissart, Naoki Tani, Lisette Waits, Linda Laikre
2020, Biological Conservation (248)
The 196 parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will soon agree to a post-2020 global framework for conserving the three elements of biodiversity (genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity) while ensuring sustainable development and benefit sharing. As the most significant global conservation policy mechanism, the new CBD framework has...
Distance effects of gas field infrastructure on pygmy rabbits in southwestern Wyoming
Stephen S. Germaine, Timothy Assal, Aaron Freeman, Sarah K. Carter
2020, Ecosphere (11)
As domestic energy development activity continues in the western United States, wildlife conservation planning in affected regions is increasingly important. The geologic basins where oil and gas energy exploration is occurring are primarily sagebrush steppe rangelands. Sagebrush steppe habitats may support more than 20 vertebrate species of conservation concern, and...
Why are so many structures burning in California?
Alexandra D. Syphard, Jon Keeley
2020, Fremontia (47) 28-35
California has earned a reputation for wildfires that inflict serious damage on human infrastructure, dating back to images of Richard Nixon hosing down the roof of his house in the 1961 Bel-Air fire, and of the famous “fireproof” home of grocery store entrepreneur Fred Roberts burning to the ground in...
Combined seismic and geodetic analysis before, during and after the 2018 Mt. Etna eruption
M. Mattia, V. Bruno, Emily K. Montgomery-Brown, D. Patane, G. Barberi, M. Coltelli
2020, Journal of Geophysical Research (21)
In December 2018, Etna volcano experienced one of the largest episodes of unrest since the installation of geophysical monitoring networks in 1970. The unrest culminated in a short eruption with a small volume of lava erupted, a significant seismic crisis and deformation of the entire volcanic...
Coarse sediment dynamics in a large glaciated river system: Holocene history and storage dynamics dictate contemporary climate sensitivity
Scott W. Anderson, Kristin Jaeger
2020, Geological Society of America Bulletin
The gravel-bedded White River drains a 1279 km2 basin in Washington State, with lowlands sculpted by continental glaciation and headwaters on an actively glaciated stratovolcano. Chronic aggradation along an alluvial fan near the river’s mouth has progressively reduced flood conveyance. In order to better understand how forecasted climate change may influence...
Investigating apparent misalignment of predator-prey dynamics: Great Lakes lake trout and sea lampreys
Jean V. Adams, Michael L. Jones, James R. Bence
2020, Fisheries Research (232)
Interpreting ecological dynamics is challenging when observed patterns are not aligned with presumed models. Investigating possible sources of uncertainty is critical to understand the underlying system and ultimately inform management decisions. In this study, we used simulation to investigate the hypothesis that observed inconsistencies in...
Permafrost hydrogeology
Barret L. Kurylyk, Michelle A. Walvoord
2020, Book chapter, Arctic hydrology, permafrost and ecosystems
Groundwater processes are often overlooked in permafrost environments, but subsurface storage and routing can strongly influence water and biogeochemical cycling in northern catchments. Groundwater flow in permafrost regions is controlled by the temporal and spatial distribution of frozen ground, causing the hydrogeologic framework to be temperature-dependent. Most flow...
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center—2019 annual report
Sara Ernst
2020, Circular 1467
The 2019 annual report of the U.S. Geological Survey Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center highlights accomplishments of 2019, includes a list of 2019 publications, and summarizes the work of the center, as well as the work of each of its science groups. This product allows readers to gain...
Use of boosted regression trees to quantify cumulative instream flow resulting from curtailment of irrigation in the Sprague River basin, Oregon
Tamara M. Wood
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5130
A boosted regression trees (BRT) approach was used to estimate the amount by which streamflow is increased when irrigation is regulated (curtailed) upstream of a streamgage on the Sprague River in southern-central Oregon. The BRT approach differs from most other approaches that require baseline conditions for comparison, where those baseline...
Coming of age: Morphometric variation in the hand skeletons of juvenile and adult Lesser Treeshrews (Scandentia: Tupaiidae: Tupaia minor Günther, 1876)
Neal Woodman, Ananth Miller-Murthy, Link E. Olson, Eric J. Sargis
2020, Journal of Mammalogy (101) 1151-1164
Morphometric analyses of the manus skeleton have proven useful in understanding species limits and morphological divergence among tupaiid treeshrews (Scandentia: Tupaiidae). Specimens in these studies are typically limited to mature individuals with fully erupted permanent dentition, which eliminates potentially confounding variation attributable to age, but can also exclude rare...
Using paleo-archives to safeguard biodiversity under climate change
Damien A. Fordham, Stephen Jackson, Stuart C. Brown, Brian Huntley, Barry W. Brook, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, Anders Svensson, Spyros Theodoridis, Janet M. Wilmshurst, Jessie C. Buettel, Elisabetta Canteri, Matthew McDowell, Ludovic Orlando, Julia Pilowsky, Carsten Rahbek, David Nogues-Bravo
2020, Science (369)
Strategies for 21st-century environmental management and conservation under global change require a strong understanding of the biological mechanisms that mediate responses to climate- and human-driven change to successfully mitigate range contractions, extinctions, and the degradation of ecosystem services. Biodiversity responses to past rapid warming events can be followed...
Calibrating environmental DNA metabarcoding to conventional surveys for measuring fish species richness
Mary E McElroy, Terra L Dressler, Georgia C Titcomb, Emily A Wilson, Kristy Deiner, Tom L. Dudley, Erika J. Eliason, Nathan T Evans, Steven D Gaines, Kevin D. Lafferty, Gary A Lamberti, Yiyuan Li, David M. Lodge, Milton S. Love, Andrew R. Mahon, Michael E Pfrender, Mark A Renshaw, Kimberly A Selkoe, Christopher L. Jerde
2020, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (8)
The ability to properly identify species present in a landscape is foundational to ecology and essential for natural resource management and conservation. However, many species are often unaccounted for due to ineffective direct capture and visual surveys, especially in aquatic environments. Environmental DNA metabarcoding is an approach that overcomes low...
Compositional layering in Io driven by magmatic segregation and volcanism
Dan C Spencer, Richard F. Katz, Ian J. Hewitt, David A. May, Laszlo P. Keszthelyi
2020, Journal of Geophysical Research (125)
The compositional evolution of volcanic bodies like Io is not well understood. Magmatic segregation and volcanic eruptions transport tidal heat from Io's interior to its surface. Several observed eruptions appear to be extremely high temperature (≥ 1600 K), suggesting either very high degrees of melting, refractory source regions, or intensive...
Use of environmental DNA to detect grass carp spawning events
Cari-Ann Hayer, Michael F. Bayless, Amy E. George, Nathan Thompson, Catherine A. Richter, Duane Chapman
2020, Fishes (5)
The timing and location of spawning events are important data for managers seeking to control invasive grass carp populations. Ichthyoplankton tows for grass carp eggs and larvae can be used to detect spawning events; however, these samples can be highly debris-laden, and are expensive and laborious to process. An alternative...
Bathymetric surveys of Morse and Geist Reservoirs in central Indiana made with a multibeam echosounder, 2016, and comparison with previous surveys
Justin A. Boldt, Zachary W. Martin
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5067
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Citizens Energy Group, conducted a bathymetric survey of Morse and Geist Reservoirs in central Indiana in April and May of 2016 with a multibeam echosounder. Both reservoirs serve as water supply, flood control, and recreational resources for the city of Indianapolis and the...
Changes in prey, turbidity, and competition reduce somatic growth and cause the collapse of a fish population
Josh Korman, Michael D. Yard, Maria C. Dzul, Charles Yackulic, Michael Dodrill, Bridget Deemer, Theodore Kennedy
2020, Ecological Monographs (91)
Somatic growth exerts strong control on patterns in the abundance of animal populations via effects on maturation, fecundity, and survival rates of juveniles and adults. In this paper, we quantify abiotic and biotic drivers of rainbow trout growth in the Colorado River, AZ, and the resulting impact on spatial and...
Spatiotemporal modeling of dengue fever risk in Puerto Rico
Gavino Puggioni, Jannelle Couret, Emily Serman, Ali S Akanda, Howard S. Ginsberg
2020, Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology (35)
Dengue Fever (DF) is a mosquito vector transmitted flavivirus and a reemerging global public health threat. Although several studies have addressed the relation between climatic and environmental factors and the epidemiology of DF, or looked at purely spatial or time series analysis,...
Sediment record of mining legacy and water quality from a drinking-water reservoir, Aztec, New Mexico, USA
Johanna M. Blake, Jeb E. Brown, Christina L. Ferguson, Rebecca J. Bixby, Naomi T. Delay
2020, Environmental Earth Sciences (79)
The record of mining legacy and water quality was investigated in sediments collected in 2018 from four trenches in the Aztec, New Mexico, drinking-water reservoir #1. Bulk chemical analysis of sediments with depth in the reservoir revealed variable trace-element (uranium, vanadium, arsenic, copper, sulfur, silver, lead,...
Evidence of prevalent heat stress in Yukon River Chinook salmon
Vanessa R. von Biela, Lizabeth Bowen, Stephen D. McCormick, Michael P. Carey, Daniel S. Donnelly, Shannon C. Waters-Dynes, Amy M. Regish, Sarah M. Laske, Randy J Brown, Sean Larson, Stan Zuray, Christian E. Zimmerman
2020, Canadian Journal Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (77) 1878-1892
Migrating adult Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) are sensitive to warm water (>18 °C), with a range of consequences from decreased spawning success to early mortality. We examined the proportion of Yukon River Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha) exhibiting evidence of heat stress to assess the potential that high temperatures contribute to freshwater...
Analysis of genomic sequence data reveals the origin and evolutionary separation of Hawaiian hoary bat populations
Corinna A. Pinzari, Lin Kang, Pawel Michalak, Lars S Jermiin, Donald K Price, Frank Bonaccorso
2020, Genome Biology and Evolution (12) 1504-1514
We examine the genetic history and population status of Hawaiian hoary bats (Lasiurus semotus), the most isolated bats on Earth, and their relationship to northern hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus), through whole-genome analysis of single-nucleotide polymorphisms mapped to a de novo-assembled reference genome. Profiles of genomic diversity and divergence indicate that...
