Design of Cycle 3 of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program, 2013-23: Part 2: Science plan for improved water-quality information and management
Gary L. Rowe, Kenneth Belitz, Charlie R. Demas, Hedeff I. Essaid, Robert J. Gilliom, Pixie A. Hamilton, Anne B. Hoos, Casey J. Lee, Mark D. Munn, David W. Wolock
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1160
This report presents a science strategy for the third decade of the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program, which since 1991, has been responsible for providing nationally consistent information on the quality of the Nation's streams and groundwater; how water quality is changing over time; and the major natural and human...
Probabilistic accounting of uncertainty in forecasts of species distributions under climate change
Seth J. Wenger, Nicholas A. Som, Daniel C. Dauwalter, Daniel J. Isaak, Helen M. Neville, Charles H. Luce, Jason B. Dunham, Michael K. Young, Kurt D. Fausch, Bruce E. Rieman
2013, Global Change Biology (19) 3343-3354
Forecasts of species distributions under future climates are inherently uncertain, but there have been few attempts to describe this uncertainty comprehensively in a probabilistic manner. We developed a Monte Carlo approach that accounts for uncertainty within generalized linear regression models (parameter uncertainty and residual error), uncertainty among competing models (model...
LANDFIRE 2010 - updated data to support wildfire and ecological management
Kurtis J. Nelson, Joel A. Connot, Birgit E. Peterson, Joshua J. Picotte
2013, Earthzine
Wildfire is a global phenomenon that affects human populations and ecosystems. Wildfire effects occur at local to global scales impacting many people in different ways (Figure 1). Ecological concerns due to land use, fragmentation, and climate change impact natural resource use, allocation, and conservation. Access to consistent and current environmental...
Landscape consequences of natural gas extraction in Lackawanna and Wayne Counties, Pennsylvania, 2004-2010
L.E. Milheim, E.T. Slonecker, C.M. Roig-Silva, A.R. Malizia
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1227
Increased demands for cleaner burning energy, coupled with the relatively recent technological advances in accessing unconventional hydrocarbon-rich geologic formations, have led to an intense effort to find and extract natural gas from various underground sources around the country. One of these sources, the Marcellus Shale, located in the Allegheny Plateau,...
Landscape consequences of natural gas extraction in Beaver and Butler Counties, Pennsylvania, 2004-2010
Coral M. Roig-Silva, E. Terry Slonecker, Lesley E. Milheim, Alexander R. Malizia
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1226
Increased demands for cleaner burning energy, coupled with the relatively recent technological advances in accessing unconventional hydrocarbon-rich geologic formations, have led to an intense effort to find and extract natural gas from various underground sources around the country. One of these sources, the Marcellus Shale, located in the Allegheny Plateau,...
Estimating the extent of impervious surfaces and turf grass across large regions
Peter R. Claggett, Frederick M. Irani, Renee L. Thompson
2013, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (49) 1057-1077
The ability of researchers to accurately assess the extent of impervious and pervious developed surfaces, e.g., turf grass, using land-cover data derived from Landsat satellite imagery in the Chesapeake Bay watershed is limited due to the resolution of the data and systematic discrepancies between developed land-cover classes, surface mines, forests,...
Parasites affect food web structure primarily through increased diversity and complexity
Jennifer A. Dunne, Kevin D. Lafferty, Andrew P. Dobson, Ryan F. Hechinger, Armand M. Kuris, Neo D. Martinez, John P. McLaughlin, Kim N. Mouritsen, Robert Poulin, Karsten Reise, Daniel B. Stouffer, David W. Thieltges, Richard J. Williams, Claus Dieter Zander
2013, PLoS Biology (11)
Comparative research on food web structure has revealed generalities in trophic organization, produced simple models, and allowed assessment of robustness to species loss. These studies have mostly focused on free-living species. Recent research has suggested that inclusion of parasites alters structure. We assess whether such changes in network structure result...
Preliminary groundwater flow model of the basin-fill aquifers in Detrital, Hualapai, and Sacramento Valleys, Mohave County, northwestern Arizona
Fred D. Tillman, Bradley D. Garner, Margot Truini
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5122
Preliminary numerical models were developed to simulate groundwater flow in the basin-fill alluvium in Detrital, Hualapai, and Sacramento Valleys in northwestern Arizona. The purpose of this exercise was to gather and evaluate available information and data, to test natural‑recharge concepts, and to indicate directions for improving future regional groundwater models...
Permeability of roads to movement of scrubland lizards and small mammals
Cheryl S. Brehme, Jeff A. Tracey, Leroy R. McClenaghan, Robert N. Fisher
2013, Conservation Biology (27) 710-720
A primary objective of road ecology is to understand and predict how roads affect connectivity of wildlife populations. Road avoidance behavior can fragment populations, whereas lack of road avoidance can result in high mortality due to wildlife-vehicle collisions. Many small animal species focus their activities to particular microhabitats within their...
Geologic framework, structure, and hydrogeologic characteristics of the Knippa Gap area in eastern Uvalde and western Medina Counties, Texas
Allan K. Clark, Diana E. Pedraza, Robert R. Morris
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5149
The Edwards aquifer is the primary source of potable water for the San Antonio area in south-central Texas. The Knippa Gap was postulated to channel or restrict flow in the Edwards aquifer in eastern Uvalde County, and its existence was based on a series of numerical simulations of groundwater flow...
Host range, host ecology, and distribution of more than 11800 fish parasite species
Giovanni Strona, Maria Lourdes D. Palomares, Nicholas Bailly, Paolo Galli, Kevin D. Lafferty
2013, Ecology (94) 544
Our data set includes 38 008 fish parasite records (for Acanthocephala, Cestoda, Monogenea, Nematoda, Trematoda) compiled from the scientific literature, Internet databases, and museum collections paired to the corresponding host ecological, biogeographical, and phylogenetic traits (maximum length, growth rate, life span, age at maturity, trophic level, habitat preference, geographical range size,...
Predicting what helminth parasites a fish species should have using Parasite Co-occurrence Modeler (PaCo)
Giovanni Strona, Kevin D. Lafferty
2013, Journal of Parasitology (99) 6-10
Fish pathologists are often interested in which parasites would likely be present in a particular host. Parasite Co-occurrence Modeler (PaCo) is a tool for identifying a list of parasites known from fish species that are similar ecologically, phylogenetically, and geographically to the host of interest. PaCo uses data from FishBase...
Semiautomated tremor detection using a combined cross-correlation and neural network approach
Tobias Horstmann, Rebecca M. Harrington, Elizabeth S. Cochran
2013, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (118) 4827-4846
Despite observations of tectonic tremor in many locations around the globe, the emergent phase arrivals, low‒amplitude waveforms, and variable event durations make automatic detection a nontrivial task. In this study, we employ a new method to identify tremor in large data sets using a semiautomated technique. The method first reduces...
The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Alaska
William J. Carswell Jr.
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3083
Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the State of Alaska, elevation data are critical for aviation navigation and safety, natural resources conservation, oil and gas resources, flood risk management, geologic resource...
Mapping invasive Phragmites australis in the coastal Great Lakes with ALOS PALSAR satellite imagery for decision support
Laura L. Bourgeau-Chavez, Kurt P. Kowalski, Martha L. Carlson Mazur, Kirk A. Scarbrough, Richard B. Powell, Colin N. Brooks, Brian Huberty, Liza K. Jenkins, Elizabeth C. Banda, David M. Galbraith, Zachary M. Laubach, Kevin Riordan
2013, Journal of Great Lakes Research (39) 65-77
The invasive variety of Phragmites australis (common reed) forms dense stands that can cause negative impacts on coastal Great Lakes wetlands including habitat degradation and reduced biological diversity. Early treatment is key to controlling Phragmites, therefore a map of the current distribution is needed. ALOS PALSAR imagery was used to...
Tectonic map of the Circum-Pacific region, Pacific basin sheet
E. Scheibner, G. W. Moore, K. J. Drummond, Corvalan Q.J. Dalziel, T. Moritani, Y. Teraoka, T. Sato, C. Craddock
2013, Circum-Pacific Map 52
Circum-Pacific Map Project: The Circum-Pacific Map Project was a cooperative international effort designed to show the relationship of known energy and mineral resources to the major geologic features of the Pacific basin and surrounding continental areas. Available geologic, mineral, and energy-resource data are being complemented by new, project-developed data...
Potential increases in natural disturbance rates could offset forest management impacts on ecosystem carbon stocks
John B. Bradford, Nicholas R. Jensen, Grant M. Domke, Anthony W. D’Amato
2013, Forest Ecology and Management (308) 178-187
Forested ecosystems contain the majority of the world’s terrestrial carbon, and forest management has implications for regional and global carbon cycling. Carbon stored in forests changes with stand age and is affected by natural disturbance and timber harvesting. We examined how harvesting and disturbance interact to influence forest carbon stocks...
Geodatabase compilation of hydrogeologic, remote sensing, and water-budget-component data for the High Plains aquifer, 2011
Natalie A. Houston, Sophia L. Gonzales-Bradford, Amanda T. Flynn, Sharon L. Qi, Steven M. Peterson, Jennifer S. Stanton, Derek W. Ryter, Terry L. Sohl, Gabriel B. Senay
2013, Data Series 777
The High Plains aquifer underlies almost 112 million acres in the central United States. It is one of the largest aquifers in the Nation in terms of annual groundwater withdrawals and provides drinking water for 2.3 million people. The High Plains aquifer has gained national and international attention as a...
Hydrographs showing groundwater levels for selected wells in the Puyallup River watershed and vicinity, Pierce and King Counties, Washington
R. C. Lane, R. J. Julich, G.B. Justin
2013, Data Series 791
Hydrographs of groundwater levels for selected wells in and adjacent to the Puyallup River watershed in Pierce and King Counties, Washington, are presented using an interactive Web-based map of the study area to illustrate changes in groundwater levels on a monthly and seasonal basis. The interactive map displays well locations...
Lithofacies, age, depositional setting, and geochemistry of the Otuk Formation in the Red Dog District, northwestern Alaska
Julie A. Dumoulin, Robert A. Burruss, Charles D. Blome
2013, Professional Paper 1795-B
Complete penetration of the Otuk Formation in a continuous drill core (diamond-drill hole, DDH 927) from the Red Dog District illuminates the facies, age, depositional environment, source rock potential, and isotope stratigraphy of this unit in northwestern Alaska. The section, in the Wolverine Creek plate of the Endicott Mountains Allochthon...
The δ2H and δ18O of tap water from 349 sites in the United States and selected territories
Tyler B. Coplen, Jurate M. Landwehr, Haiping Qi, Jennifer M. Lorenz
2013, Data Series 703
Because the stable isotopic compositions of hydrogen (δ2H) and oxygen (δ18O) of animal (including human) tissues, such as hair, nail, and urine, reflect the δ2H and δ18O of water and food ingested by an animal or a human and because the δ2H and δ18O of environmental waters vary geographically, δ2H...
Linking river management to species conservation using dynamic landscape scale models
Mary Freeman, Gary R. Buell, Lauren E. Hay, W. Brian Hughes, Robert B. Jacobson, John W. Jones, S.A. Jones, Jacob H. LaFontaine, Kenneth R. Odom, James T. Peterson, Jeffrey W. Riley, J. Stephen Schindler, C. Shea, J.D. Weaver
2013, River Research and Applications (29) 906-918
Efforts to conserve stream and river biota could benefit from tools that allow managers to evaluate landscape-scale changes in species distributions in response to water management decisions. We present a framework and methods for integrating hydrology, geographic context and metapopulation processes to simulate effects of changes in streamflow on fish...
Comparison of bird community indices for riparian restoration planning and monitoring
Jock S. Young, Elisabeth M. Ammon, Peter J. Weisburg, Thomas E. Dilts, Wesley E. Newton, Diane C. Wong-Kone, Lisa G. Heki
2013, Ecological Indicators (34) 159-167
The use of a bird community index that characterizes ecosystem integrity is very attractive to conservation planners and habitat managers, particularly in the absence of any single focal species. In riparian areas of the western USA, several attempts at arriving at a community index signifying a functioning riparian bird community...
Surface mineral maps of Afghanistan derived from HyMap imaging spectrometer data, version 2
Raymond F. Kokaly, Trude King, Todd M. Hoefen
2013, Data Series 787
This report presents a new version of surface mineral maps derived from HyMap imaging spectrometer data collected over Afghanistan in the fall of 2007. This report also describes the processing steps applied to the imaging spectrometer data. The 218 individual flight lines composing the Afghanistan dataset, covering more than 438,000...
Sediment distribution and hydrologic conditions of the Potomac aquifer in Virginia and parts of Maryland and North Carolina
Randolph E. McFarland
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5116
Sediments of the heavily used Potomac aquifer broadly contrast across major structural features of the Atlantic Coastal Plain Physiographic Province in eastern Virginia and adjacent parts of Maryland and North Carolina. Thicknesses and relative dominance of the highly interbedded fluvial sediments vary regionally. Vertical intervals in boreholes of coarse-grained sediment...
