Defining population structure and genetic signatures of decline in the giant garter snake (Thamnophis gigas): implications for conserving threatened species within highly altered landscapes
Dustin A. Wood, Brian J. Halstead, Michael L. Casazza, Eric C. Hansen, Glenn D. Wylie, Amy G. Vandergast
2015, Conservation Genetics (16) 1025-1039
Anthropogenic habitat fragmentation can disrupt the ability of species to disperse across landscapes, which can alter the levels and distribution of genetic diversity within populations and negatively impact long-term viability. The giant gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas) is a state and federally threatened species that historically occurred in the wetland...
Delineation of fractures, foliation, and groundwater of the bedrock at a geothermal feasibility site on Roosevelt Island, New York County, New York
Frederick Stumm, Anthony Chu, Michael D. Como, Michael L. Noll, Peter K. Joesten
2015, Conference Paper
Advanced borehole-geophysical methods were used to investigate the hydrogeology of the crystalline bedrock in three boreholes on Roosevelt Island, New York County, New York. Cornell University was evaluating the feasibility of using geothermal energy for a future campus at the site. The borehole-logging techniques were used to delineate bedrock fractures,...
Scoops3D: software to analyze 3D slope stability throughout a digital landscape
Mark E. Reid, Sarah B. Christian, Dianne L. Brien, Scott T. Henderson
2015, Techniques and Methods 14-A1
The computer program, Scoops3D, evaluates slope stability throughout a digital landscape represented by a digital elevation model (DEM). The program uses a three-dimensional (3D) method of columns approach to assess the stability of many (typically millions) potential landslides within a user-defined size range. For each potential landslide (or failure), Scoops3D...
Revision and proposed modification for a total maximum daily load model for Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon
Susan A. Wherry, Tamara M. Wood, Chauncey W. Anderson
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5041
This report presents Phase 2 of the review and development of the mass balance water-quality model, originally developed in 2001, that guided establishment of the phosphorus (P) total maximum daily load (TMDL) for Upper Klamath and Agency Lakes, Oregon. The purpose of Phase 2 was to incorporate a longer (19-year)...
A case study of data integration for aquatic resources using semantic web technologies
Janice M. Gordon, Nina Chkhenkeli, David L. Govoni, Frances L. Lightsom, Andrea C. Ostroff, Peter N. Schweitzer, Phethala Thongsavanh, Dalia E. Varanka, Stephan Zednik
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1004
Use cases, information modeling, and linked data techniques are Semantic Web technologies used to develop a prototype system that integrates scientific observations from four independent USGS and cooperator data systems. The techniques were tested with a use case goal of creating a data set for use in exploring potential relationships...
New argon-argon (40Ar/39Ar) radiometric age dates from selected subsurface basalt flows at the Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho
Mary K. V. Hodges, Brent D. Turrin, Duane E. Champion, Carl C. Swisher III
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5028
In 2011, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy, collected samples for 12 new argon-argon radiometric ages from eastern Snake River Plain olivine tholeiite basalt flows in the subsurface at the Idaho National Laboratory. The core samples were collected from flows that had previously published...
Revised hydrogeologic framework of the Floridan aquifer system in Florida and parts of Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina
Lester J. Williams, Eve L. Kuniansky
2015, Professional Paper 1807
The hydrogeologic framework for the Floridan aquifer system has been revised throughout its extent in Florida and parts of Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina. The updated framework generally conforms to the original framework established by the U.S. Geological Survey in the 1980s, except for adjustments made to the internal boundaries...
Effect of tides, river flow, and gate operations on entrainment of juvenile salmon into the interior Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta
Russell W. Perry, Patricia L. Brandes, Jon R. Burau, Philip T. Sandstrom, John R. Skalski
2015, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (144) 445-455
Juvenile Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha emigrating from natal tributaries of the Sacramento River, California, must negotiate the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (hereafter, the Delta), a complex network of natural and man-made channels linking the Sacramento River with San Francisco Bay. Fish that enter the interior and southern Delta—the region to...
Hydrogeologic framework, hydrology, and refined conceptual model of groundwater flow for Coastal Plain aquifers at the Standard Chlorine of Delaware, Inc. Superfund Site, New Castle County, Delaware, 2005-12
Michael J. Brayton, Roberto M. Cruz, Luke Myers, James R. Degnan, Jeff P. Raffensperger
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5224
From 1966 to 2002, activities at the Standard Chlorine of Delaware chemical facility in New Castle County, Delaware resulted in the contamination of groundwater, soils, and wetland sediment. In 2005, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 3, and the Delaware Department of...
Hydrologic effects of potential changes in climate, water use, and land cover in the Upper Scioto River Basin, Ohio
Andrew D. Ebner, G. F. Koltun, Chad J. Ostheimer
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5024
This report presents the results of a study to provide information on the hydrologic effects of potential 21st-century changes in climate, water use, and land cover in the Upper Scioto River Basin, Ohio (from Circleville, Ohio, to the headwaters). A precipitation-runoff model, calibrated on the basis of historical climate and...
Developmental exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) alters sexual differentiation in painted turtles (Chrysemys picta)
Caitlin M. Jandegian, Sharon L. Deem, Ramji K. Bhandari, Casey M. Holliday, Diane Nicks, Cheryl S. Rosenfeld, Kyle Selcer, Donald E. Tillitt, Fredrick S. vom Saal, Vanessa Velez, Ying Yang, Dawn K. Holliday
2015, General and Comparative Endocrinology (216) 77-85
Environmental chemicals can disrupt endocrine signaling and adversely impact sexual differentiation in wildlife. Bisphenol A (BPA) is an estrogenic chemical commonly found in a variety of habitats. In this study, we used painted turtles (Chrysemys picta), which have temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), as an animal model...
Landscape prediction and mapping of game fish biomass, an ecosystem service of Michigan rivers
Peter C. Esselman, R. Jan Stevenson, Frank Lupi, Catherine M. Riseng, Michael J. Wiley
2015, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (35) 302-320
The increased integration of ecosystem service concepts into natural resource management places renewed emphasis on prediction and mapping of fish biomass as a major provisioning service of rivers. The goals of this study were to predict and map patterns of fish biomass as a proxy for the availability of catchable...
RRAWFLOW: Rainfall-Response Aquifer and Watershed Flow Model (v1.15)
Andrew J. Long
2015, Geoscientific Model Development (8) 865-880
The Rainfall-Response Aquifer and Watershed Flow Model (RRAWFLOW) is a lumped-parameter model that simulates streamflow, spring flow, groundwater level, or solute transport for a measurement point in response to a system input of precipitation, recharge, or solute injection. I introduce the first version of RRAWFLOW available for download and public...
Potential groundwater recharge for the State of Minnesota using the Soil-Water-Balance model, 1996-2010
Erik A. Smith, Stephen M. Westenbroek
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5038
Groundwater recharge is one of the most difficult components of a water budget to ascertain, yet is an important boundary condition necessary for the quantification of water resources. In Minnesota, improved estimates of recharge are necessary because approximately 75 percent of drinking water and 90 percent of agricultural irrigation water...
Near-surface versus fault zone damage following the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake: Observation and simulation of repeating earthquakes
Kate Huihsuan Chen, Takashi Furumura, Justin L. Rubinstein
2015, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (120) 2426-2445
We observe crustal damage and its subsequent recovery caused by the 1999 M7.6 Chi-Chi earthquake in central Taiwan. Analysis of repeating earthquakes in Hualien region, ~70 km east of the Chi-Chi earthquake, shows a remarkable change in wave propagation beginning in the year 2000, revealing damage within the fault zone and distributed...
Conceptual models of the formation of acid-rock drainage at road cuts in Tennessee
Mike Bradley, Scott Worland, Tom Byl
2015, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 2015 Tennessee Water Resources Symposium
Pyrite and other minerals containing sulfur and trace metals occur in several rock formations throughout Middle and East Tennessee. Pyrite (FeS2) weathers in the presence of oxygen and water to form iron hydroxides and sulfuric acid. The weathering and interaction of the acid on the rocks and other minerals at...
Multilevel groundwater monitoring of hydraulic head and temperature in the eastern Snake River Plain aquifer, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho, 2011-13
Brian V. Twining, Jason C. Fisher
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5042
From 2011 to 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Project Office, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy, collected depth-discrete measurements of fluid pressure and temperature in 11 boreholes located in the eastern Snake River Plain aquifer. Each borehole was instrumented with a multilevel monitoring system...
An evaluation of the accuracy of modeled and computed streamflow time-series data for the Ohio River at Hannibal Lock and Dam and at a location upstream from Sardis, Ohio
G. F. Koltun
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1058
Between July 2013 and June 2014, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) made 10 streamflow measurements on the Ohio River about 1.5 miles (mi) downstream from the Hannibal Lock and Dam (near Hannibal, Ohio) and 11 streamflow measurements near the USGS Sardis gage (station number 03114306) located approximately 2.4 mi upstream...
Do management actions to restore rare habitat benefit native fish conservation? Distribution of juvenile native fish among shoreline habitats of the Colorado River
Michael J. Dodrill, Charles B. Yackulic, Brandon Gerig, William E. Pine III, Josh Korman, Colton Finch
2015, River Research and Applications (31) 1203-1217
Many management actions in aquatic ecosystems are directed at restoring or improving specific habitats to benefit fish populations. In the Grand Canyon reach of the Colorado River, experimental flow operations as part of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program have been designed to restore sandbars and associated backwater habitats....
A method for determining average beach slope and beach slope variability for U.S. sandy coastlines
Kara S. Doran, Joseph W. Long, Jacquelyn R. Overbeck
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1053
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Assessment of Hurricane-Induced Coastal Erosion Hazards compares measurements of beach morphology with storm-induced total water levels to produce forecasts of coastal change for storms impacting the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coastlines of the United States. The wave-induced water level component (wave setup and...
Managing habitat to slow or reverse population declines of the Columbia spotted frog in the Northern Great Basin
David S. Pilliod, Richard D. Scherer
2015, Journal of Wildlife Management (79) 579-590
Evaluating the effectiveness of habitat management actions is critical to adaptive management strategies for conservation of imperiled species. We quantified the response of a Great Basin population of the Columbia spotted frog (Rana luteiventris) to multiple habitat improvement actions aimed to reduce threats and reverse population declines. We used mark-recapture...
Desert tortoise use of burned habitat in the Eastern Mojave desert
K. Kristina Drake, Todd C. Esque, Kenneth E. Nussear, Lesley DeFalco, Sara J. Scoles-Sciulla, Andrew T. Modlin, Philip A. Medica
2015, Journal of Wildlife Management (79) 618-629
Wildfires burned 24,254 ha of critical habitat designated for the recovery of the threatened Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) in southern Nevada during 2005. The proliferation of non-native annual grasses has increased wildfire frequency and extent in recent decades and continues to accelerate the conversion of tortoise habitat across the Mojave...
Can polar bears use terrestrial foods to offset lost ice-based hunting opportunities?
Karyn D. Rode, Charles T. Robbins, Lynne Nelson, Steven C. Amstrup
2015, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (13) 138-145
Increased land use by polar bears (Ursus maritimus) due to climate-change-induced reduction of their sea-ice habitat illustrates the impact of climate change on species distributions and the difficulty of conserving a large, highly specialized carnivore in the face of this global threat. Some authors have suggested that terrestrial food consumption...
Targeting climate diversity in conservation planning to build resilience to climate change
Nicole E. Heller, Jason R. Kreitler, David Ackerly, Stuart Weiss, Amanda Recinos, Ryan Branciforte, Lorraine E. Flint, Alan L. Flint, Elisabeth Micheli
2015, Ecosphere (6) 1-20
Climate change is raising challenging concerns for systematic conservation planning. Are methods based on the current spatial patterns of biodiversity effective given long-term climate change? Some conservation scientists argue that planning should focus on protecting the abiotic diversity in the landscape, which drives patterns of biological diversity, rather than focusing...
Summer diel diet and feeding periodicity of four species of cyprinids in the Salmon River, New York
James H. Johnson
2015, American Midland Naturalist (173) 326-334
The diel diet composition and feeding periodicity of Luxilus cornutus (common shiner), Exoglossum maxillingua (cutlip minnow), Semotilus corporalis (fallfish), and Notropis hudsonius (spottail shiner) were examined in the Salmon River, New York over a 24 h period during the summer. Chironomids were the major prey of common shiner (60.6%) and...
