Agricultural disturbance response models for invertebrate and algal metrics from streams at two spatial scales within the U.S.
Ian R. Waite
2014, Hydrobiologia (726) 285-303
As part of the USGS study of nutrient enrichment of streams in agricultural regions throughout the United States, about 30 sites within each of eight study areas were selected to capture a gradient of nutrient conditions. The objective was to develop watershed disturbance predictive models for macroinvertebrate and algal metrics...
Compaction and gas loss in welded pyroclastic deposits as revealed by porosity, permeability, and electrical conductivity measurements of the Shevlin Park Tuff
Heather M. Wright, Katharine V. Cashman
2014, GSA Bulletin (126) 234-247
Pyroclastic flows produced by large volcanic eruptions commonly densify after emplacement. Processes of gas escape, compaction, and welding in pyroclastic-flow deposits are controlled by the physical and thermal properties of constituent material. Through measurements of matrix porosity, permeability, and electrical conductivity, we provide a framework for understanding the evolution of...
The Mw 5.8 Mineral, Virginia, earthquake of August 2011 and aftershock sequence: constraints on earthquake source parameters and fault geometry
Daniel E. McNamara, H.M. Benz, Robert B. Herrmann, Eric A. Bergman, Paul Earle, Anne Meltzer, Mitch Withers, Martin Chapman
2014, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (104) 40-54
The Mw 5.8 earthquake of 23 August 2011 (17:51:04 UTC) (moment, M0 5.7×1017 N·m) occurred near Mineral, Virginia, within the central Virginia seismic zone and was felt by more people than any other earthquake in United States history. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) received 148,638 felt reports from 31 states and 4...
Improving groundwater predictions utilizing seasonal precipitation forecasts from general circulation models forced with sea surface temperature forecasts
Naser Almanaseer, A. Sankarasubramanian, Jerad Bales
2014, Journal of Hydrologic Engineering (19) 87-98
Recent studies have found a significant association between climatic variability and basin hydroclimatology, particularly groundwater levels, over the southeast United States. The research reported in this paper evaluates the potential in developing 6-month-ahead groundwater-level forecasts based on the precipitation forecasts from ECHAM 4.5 General Circulation Model Forced with Sea Surface...
Virtual Beach 3: user's guide
Mike Cyterski, Wesley Brooks, Mike Galvin, Kurt Wolfe, Rebecca Carvin, Tonia Roddick, Mike Fienen, Steve Corsi
2014, Report
Virtual Beach version 3 (VB3) is a decision support tool that constructs site-specific statistical models to predict fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) concentrations at recreational beaches. VB3 is primarily designed for beach managers responsible for making decisions regarding beach closures or the issuance of swimming advisories due to pathogen contamination....
Measuring and predicting abundance and dynamics of habitat for piping plovers on a large reservoir
Michael J. Anteau, Mark T. Wiltermuth, Mark H. Sherfy, Terry L. Shaffer
2014, Ecological Modelling (272) 16-27
Measuring habitat and understanding habitat dynamics have become increasingly important for wildlife conservation. Using remotely-sensed data, we developed procedures to measure breeding habitat abundance for the federally listed piping plover (Charadrius melodus) at Lake Sakakawea, North Dakota, USA. We also developed a model to predict habitat abundance based on past...
Damping scaling factors for elastic response spectra for shallow crustal earthquakes in active tectonic regions: "average" horizontal component
Sanaz Rezaeian, Yousef Bozorgnia, I.M. Idriss, Norman Abrahamson, Kenneth Campbell, Walter Silva
2014, Earthquake Spectra (30) 939-963
Ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) for elastic response spectra are typically developed at a 5% viscous damping ratio. In reality, however, structural and nonstructural systems can have other damping ratios. This paper develops a new model for a damping scaling factor (DSF) that can be used to adjust the 5%...
Rapid dispersal of saltcedar (Tamarix spp.) biocontrol beetles (Diorhabda carinulata) on a desert river detected by phenocams, MODIS imagery and ground observations
Pamela L. Nagler, Susanna Pearlstein, Edward P. Glenn, Tim B. Brown, Heather L. Bateman, Dan W. Bean, Kevin R. Hultine
2014, Remote Sensing of Environment (140) 206-219
We measured the rate of dispersal of saltcedar leaf beetles (Diorhabda carinulata), a defoliating insect released on western rivers to control saltcedar shrubs (Tamarix spp.), on a 63 km reach of the Virgin River, U.S. Dispersal was measured by satellite imagery, ground surveys and phenocams. Pixels from the Moderate Resolution...
The roles of competition and habitat in the dynamics of populations and species distributions
Charles Brandon Yackulic, Janice Reid, James D. Nichols, James E. Hines, Raymond Davis, Eric Forsman
2014, Ecology (95) 265-279
The role of competition in structuring biotic communities at fine spatial scales is well known from detailed process-based studies. Our understanding of competition's importance at broader scales is less resolved and mainly based on static species distribution maps. Here, we bridge this gap by examining the joint occupancy dynamics of...
Net ecosystem productivity of temperate grasslands in northern China: An upscaling study
Li Zhang, Huadong Guo, Gensuo Jia, Bruce Wylie, Tagir Gilmanov, Daniel M. Howard, Lei Ji, Jingfeng Xiao, Jing Li, Wenping Yuan, Tianbao Zhao, Shiping Chen, Guangsheng Zhou, Tomomichi Kato
2014, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology (184) 71-81
Grassland is one of the widespread biome types globally, and plays an important role in the terrestrial carbon cycle. We examined net ecosystem production (NEP) for the temperate grasslands in northern China from 2000 to 2010. We combined flux observations, satellite data, and climate data to develop a piecewise regression...
Relative significance of microtopography and vegetation as controls on surface water flow on a low-gradient floodplain
Jungyill Choi, Judson W. Harvey
2014, Wetlands (34) 101-115
Surface water flow controls water velocities, water depths, and residence times, and influences sediment and nutrient transport and other ecological processes in shallow aquatic systems. Flow through wetlands is substantially influenced by drag on vegetation stems but is also affected by microtopography. Our goal was to use microtopography data directly...
SemantEco: a semantically powered modular architecture for integrating distributed environmental and ecological data
Evan W. Patton, Patrice Seyed, Ping Wang, Linyun Fu, F. Joshua Dein, R. Sky Bristol, Deborah L. McGuinness
2014, Future Generation Computer Systems (36) 430-440
We aim to inform the development of decision support tools for resource managers who need to examine large complex ecosystems and make recommendations in the face of many tradeoffs and conflicting drivers. We take a semantic technology approach, leveraging background ontologies and the growing body of linked open data. In...
Large wood budget and transport dynamics on a large river using radio telemetry
Edward R. Schenk, Bertrand Moulin, Cliff R. Hupp, Jean M. Richte
2014, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (39) 487-498
Despite the abundance of large wood (LW) river studies there is still a lack of understanding of LW transport dynamics on large low gradient rivers. This study used 290 radio frequency identification tagged (RFID) LW and 54 metal (aluminum) tagged LW, to quantify the percent of in-channel LW that moves...
Chapter A5. Section 2.2B. Syringe-Filter Procedure for Processing Samples for Analysis of Organic Compounds by DAI LC-MS/MS
Mark W. Sandstrom, Franceska D. Wilde
2014, Techniques and Methods 5.2.2.B
This section of chapter 5 of the National Field Manual for the Collection of Water-Quality Data (NFM) describes the field procedures for collecting small-volume samples using a syringe-tip filtration method. The samples are sent to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Quality Laboratory (NWQL) for analysis of organic compounds...
An application of Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES) to three national forests in Colorado and Wyoming
Benson C. Sherrouse, Darius J. Semmens, Jessica M. Clement
2014, Ecological Indicators (36) 68-79
Despite widespread recognition that social-value information is needed to inform stakeholders and decision makers regarding trade-offs in environmental management, it too often remains absent from ecosystem service assessments. Although quantitative indicators of social values need to be explicitly accounted for in the decision-making process, they need not be monetary. Ongoing...
Mercury cycling in agricultural and managed wetlands of California: experimental evidence of vegetation-driven changes in sediment biogeochemistry and methylmercury production
Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Mark Marvin-DiPasquale, Craig A. Stricker, Jennifer L. Agee, Le H. Kieu, Evangelos Kakouros
2014, Science of the Total Environment (484) 300-307
The role of live vegetation in sediment methylmercury (MeHg) production and associated biogeochemistry was examined in three types of agricultural wetlands (domesticated or white rice, wild rice, and fallow fields) and adjacent managed natural wetlands (cattail- and bulrush or tule-dominated) in the Yolo Bypass region of California's Central Valley, USA....
Long-distance transport of Hg, Sb, and As from a mined area, conversion of Hg to methyl-Hg, and uptake of Hg by fish on the Tiber River basin, west-central Italy
John E. Gray, Valentina Rimondi, Pilario Costagliola, Orlando Vaselli, Pierfranco Lattanzi
2014, Environmental Geochemistry and Health (36) 145-157
Stream sediment, stream water, and fish were collected from a broad region to evaluate downstream transport and dispersion of mercury (Hg) from inactive mines in the Monte Amiata Hg District (MAMD), Tuscany, Italy. Stream sediment samples ranged in Hg concentration from 20 to 1,900 ng/g, and only 5 of the...
Status of rainbow smelt in the U.S. waters of Lake Ontario, 2013
Brian Weidel, Michael J. Connerton
2014, NYSDEC Lake Ontario Annual Report 2013-12
Rainbow Smelt Osmerus mordax are the second most abundant pelagic prey fish in Lake Ontario after Alewife Alosa psuedoharengus. The 2013, USGS/NYSDEC bottom trawl assessment indicated the abundance of Lake Ontario age-1 and older Rainbow Smelt decreased by 69% relative to 2012. Length frequency-based age analysis indicated that age-1 Rainbow...
Surface-water and groundwater interactions in an extensively mined watershed, upper Schuylkill River, Pennsylvania, USA
Charles A. Cravotta III,, Daniel J. Goode, Michael D. Bartles, Dennis W. Risser, Daniel G. Galeone
2014, Hydrological Processes (28) 3574-3601
Streams crossing underground coal mines may lose flow, while abandoned mine drainage (AMD) restores flow downstream. During 2005-12, discharge from the Pine Knot Mine Tunnel, the largest AMD source in the upper Schuylkill River Basin, had near-neutral pH and elevated concentrations of iron, manganese, and sulfate. Discharge from the tunnel...
Refocusing Mussel Watch on contaminants of emerging concern (CECs): the California pilot study (2009-10)
Keith A. Maruya, Nathan G. Dodder, Rebecca A. Schaffner, Stephen B. Weisberg, Dominic Gregorio, Susan Klosterhaus, David A. Alvarez, Edward T. Furlong, Kimani L. Kimbrough, Gunnar G. Lauenstein, John D. Christensen
2014, Marine Pollution Bulletin (81) 334-339
To expand the utility of the Mussel Watch Program, local, regional and state agencies in California partnered with NOAA to design a pilot study that targeted contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). Native mussels (Mytilus spp.) from 68 stations, stratified by land use and discharge scenario, were collected in 2009–10 and analyzed...
Sources of global climate data and visualization portals
David C. Douglas
2014, Conference Paper, Gyrfalcons and Ptarmigan in a Changing World, Conference Proceedings
Climate is integral to the geophysical foundation upon which ecosystems are structured. Knowledge about mechanistic linkages between the geophysical and biological environments is essential for understanding how global warming may reshape contemporary ecosystems and ecosystem services. Numerous global data sources spanning several decades are available that document key geophysical metrics...
LANDFIRE 2001 and 2008 refresh: geographic area report: Alaska
Joel A. Connot
2014, Report
The LANDFIRE National Project (LF_1.0.0) was successfully completed in 2009. The goal of LANDFIRE National was to generate consistent 2001 vintage 30 meter spatial data sets for all 50 States for fire and other natural resource applications. This report highlights results from the continuation of LANDFIRE as a program to update the spatial...
Standard for the U.S. Geological Survey Historical Topographic Map Collection
Gregory J. Allord, Kristin A. Fishburn, Jennifer L. Walter
2014, Techniques and Methods 11-B3
This document defines the digital map product of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Historical Topographic Map Collection (HTMC). The HTMC is a digital archive of about 190,000 printed topographic quadrangle maps published by the USGS from the inception of the topographic mapping program in 1884 until the last paper topographic...
Vibrational, X-ray absorption, and Mössbauer spectra of sulfate minerals from the weathered massive sulfide deposit at Iron Mountain, California
Juraj Majzlan, Charles N. Alpers, Christian Bender Koch, R. Blaine McCleskey, Satish B.C. Myneni, John M. Neil
2014, Chemical Geology (284) 296-305
The Iron Mountain Mine Superfund site in California is a prime example of an acid mine drainage (AMD) system with well developed assemblages of sulfate minerals typical for such settings. Here we present and discuss the vibrational (infrared), X-ray absorption, and Mössbauer spectra of a number of these phases, augmented...
Chapter A2. Selection of equipment for water sampling
Franceska D. Wilde, Mark W. Sandstrom, Stanley C. Skrobialowski
2014, Techniques of Water-Resources Investigations 09-A2
The National Field Manual for the Collection of Water-Quality Data (National Field Manual) describes protocols and provides guidelines for U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) personnel who collect data used to assess the quality of the Nation's surface-water and ground-water resources. This chapter of the manual addresses the selection of equipment commonly...
