Identifying Precipitation and Reference Evapotranspiration Trends in West Africa to Support Drought Insurance
Sari Blakeley, Stuart Sweeney, Gregory Husak, Laura Harrison, Chris Funk, Pete Peterson, Daniel E Osgood
2020, Remote Sensing (12)
West Africa represents a wide gradient of climates, extending from tropical conditions along the Guinea Coast to the dry deserts of the south Sahara, and it has some of the lowest income, most vulnerable populations on the planet, which increases catastrophic impacts of low and high frequency climate variability. This...
Capture of environmental DNA (eDNA) from water samples by flocculation
W. Bane Schill
2020, JOVE Journal Of Visualized Experiments (159)
The analysis of environmental DNA (eDNA) has become a widely used approach to problem solving in species management. The detection of cryptic species including invasive and (or) species at risk is the goal, typically accomplished by testing water and sediment for the presence of characteristic DNA signatures. Reliable and efficient...
Pervasive shifts in forest dynamics in a changing world
Nate G. McDowell, Craig D. Allen, Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira, Brian H. Aukema, Ben Bond-Lamberty, Louise Chini, James S. Clark, Michael Dietze, Charlotte Grossiord, Adam Hanbury-Brown, George C. Hurtt, Robert B. Jackson, Daniel J. Johnson, Lara Kueppers, Jeremy W. Lichstein, Kiona Ogle, Benjamin Poulter, Thomas A. M. Pugh, Rupert Seidl, Monica G. Turner, Maria Uriarte, Anthony P. Walker, Chonggang Xu
2020, Science (368)
Forest dynamics arise from the interplay of environmental drivers and disturbances with the demographic processes of recruitment, growth, and mortality, subsequently driving biomass and species composition. However, forest disturbances and subsequent recovery are shifting with global changes in climate and land use, altering these dynamics. Changes...
Nontuberculous mycobacterial disease and molybdenum in Colorado watersheds
Ettie M Lipner, Joshua French, Carleton R. Bern, Katherine Walton-Day, David Knox, Michael Strong, D. Rebecca Prevots, James L Crooks
2020, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (17)
Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are environmental bacteria that may cause chronic lung disease. Environmental factors that favor NTM growth likely increase the risk of NTM exposure within specific environments. We aimed to identify water-quality constituents (Al, As, Cd, Ca, Cu, Fe, Pb, Mg, Mn, Mo, Ni, K, Se,...
Extreme arsenic and antimony uptake and tolerance in toad tadpoles during development in highly contaminated wetlands
Meghan A. Dovick, Thomas R Kulp, Robert S. Arkle, David S. Pilliod
2020, Environmental Science and Technology (54) 7983-7991
The effects of extreme concentrations of toxic metalloids, such as arsenic (As) and antimony (Sb), on larval amphibians are not well-understood. We sampled Western Toad tadpoles (Anaxyrus boreas) living in As- and Sb-contaminated wetlands throughout their development. Although the tadpoles completed...
Observations of coastal change and numerical modeling of sediment-transport pathways at the mouth of the Columbia River and its adjacent littoral cell
Andrew W. Stevens, Edwin Elias, Stuart Pearson, George M. Kaminsky, Peter R Ruggiero, Heather M. Weiner, Guy R. Gelfenbaum
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1045
Bathymetric and topographic surveys performed annually along the coastlines of northern Oregon and southwestern Washington documented changes in beach and nearshore morphology between 2014 and 2019. Volume change analysis revealed measurable localized erosion and deposition throughout the study area, but significant net erosion at the regional scale (several kilometers [km])...
Methods of collection and quality assessment of arsenic data in well-water supplies in Maine, 2001–2 and 2006–7
Charles W. Culbertson, James M. Caldwell, Luther Schalk, Deana Manassaram, Lorraine C. Backer, Andrew E. Smith
2020, Data Series 1125
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, assessed the chemical characteristics and the occurrence, distribution, and oxidation state of inorganic arsenic in drinking water from selected domestic well-water supplies in Maine in 2001–2...
Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) 20th anniversary postcard
Lianne C. Ball
2020, General Information Product 198
The Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) was established within the U.S. Geological Survey in 2000 as a result of Congressional funding for Department of the Interior agencies to study amphibians and provide information to help manage amphibians and address threats. As the research arm of the Department of the...
Immigration does not offset harvest mortality in groups of a cooperatively breeding carnivore
S. B. Bassing, David Edward Ausband, Michael S. Mitchell, M. K. Schwartz, J. J. Nowak, G. Hale, L. P. Waits
2020, Animal Conservation (23) 750-761
The effects of harvest on cooperatively breeding species are often more complex than simply subtracting the number of animals that died from the group count. Changes in demographic rates, particularly dispersal, could offset some effects of harvest mortality in groups but this is rarely explored with...
Between the supercontinents: Mesoproterozoic Deer Trail Group, an intermediate age unit between the Mesoproterozoic Belt–Purcell Supergroup and the Neoproterozoic Windermere Supergroup in northeastern Washington, USA
Stephen E. Box, Chad J. Pritchard, Travis S. Stephens, Paul B. O’Sullivan
2020, Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences (57) 1411-1427
Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic basins in western North America record the evolving position of the Laurentian craton within two supercontinents during their growth and dismemberment: Columbia (Nuna) and Rodinia. The western-most exposures of the Columbia rift-related Belt–Purcell Supergroup are preserved in northeastern Washington, structurally overlain by the Deer Trail Group and...
Deglacierization of a marginal basin and implications for outburst floods, Mendenhall Glacier, Alaska
Christian Kienholz, Jamie Pierce, Eran Hood, Jason M. Amundson, Gabriel Wolken, Aaron Jacobs, Skye Hart, Katreen Wikstrom-Jones, Dina Abdel-Fattah, Crane Johnson, Jeffrey S. Conaway
2020, Frontiers in Earth Science (8)
Suicide Basin is a partly glacierized marginal basin of Mendenhall Glacier, Alaska, that has released glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs) annually since 2011. The floods cause inundation and erosion in the Mendenhall Valley, impacting homes and other infrastructure. Here, we utilize in-situ and remote sensing data to assess the recent evolution and...
Rethinking foundation species in a changing world: The case for Rhododendron maximum as an emerging foundation species in shifting ecosystems of the southern Appalachians
Maura P. Dudley, Mary Freeman, Seth J. Wenger, C. Rhett Jackson, Catherine M. Pringle
2020, Forest Ecology and Management (472)
“Foundation species” are widespread, abundant species that play critical roles in structuring ecosystem characteristics and processes. Ecosystem change in response to human activities, climate change, disease introduction, or other environmental conditions may promote the emergence of new foundation species or the decline of previously important foundation species. We present rhododendron...
Capturing, preserving and digitizing legacy seismic data from the Montserrat Volcano Observatory analog seismic network, July 1995 – December 2004
Glenn Thompson, John Power, Jochen Braunmiller, Andrew Lockhart, Lloyd Lynch, Wendy McCausland, Charlotte Rowe, Thomas Shea, Randall A. White, Charles Breithaupt
2020, Seismological Research Letters (91) 2127-2140
An eruption of the Soufrière Hills Volcano (SHV) on the eastern Caribbean island of Montserrat began on 18 July 1995 and continued until February 2010. Within nine days of the eruption onset, an existing four‐station analog seismic network (ASN) was expanded to 10 sites. Telemetered data from this network were...
When source and path components trade off in ground-motion prediction equations
Annemarie S. Baltay Sundstrom, Lauren S. Abrahams, Thomas C. Hanks
2020, Seismological Research Letters (91) 2259-2267
Current research on ground‐motion models (also known as ground‐motion prediction equations [GMPEs]) and their uncertainties focus on the separate contributions of source, path, and site to both median values and their variability. Implicit here is the assumption that the event term, path term, and site term reflect only properties of...
Modeling larval American Shad recruitment in a large river
Elizabeth A. Marschall, David C. Glover, Martha E. Mather, Donna L. Parrish
2020, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (41) 939-954
Climate change is altering the spatial and temporal patterns of temperature and discharge in rivers, which is expected to have implications for the life stages of anadromous fish using those rivers. We developed an individual-based model to track American Shad Alosa sapidissima offspring within a coarse template of spatially and temporally variable...
Challenges in quantifying air-water carbon dioxide flux using estuarine water quality data: Case study for Chesapeake Bay
Maria Herrmann, Raymond G. Najjar, Fei Da, Jaclyn R. Friedman, Marjorie A. M. Friedrichs, Sreece Goldberger, Alana Menendez, Elizabeth H. Shadwick, Edward G. Stets, Pierre St-Laurent
2020, JGR Oceans (125)
Estuaries play an uncertain but potentially important role in the global carbon cycle via CO2 outgassing. The uncertainty mainly stems from the paucity of studies that document the full spatial and temporal variability of estuarine surface water partial pressure of carbon dioxide ( pCO2). Here, we explore the potential of utilizing the...
Rapid geodetic observations of spatiotemporally varying postseismic deformation following the Ridgecrest earthquake sequence: The U.S. Geological Survey response
Benjamin A. Brooks, Jessica R. Murray, Jerry L. Svarc, Ellen L. Phillips, Ryan Clayton Turner, Mark Hunter Murray, Todd Ericksen, Kang Wang, Sarah E. Minson, Roland Burgmann, Frederick Pollitz, Kenneth W. Hudnut, Johanna Nevitt, Evelyn Roeloffs, Janis Hernandez, Brian Olson
2020, Seismological Research Letters (9) 2108-2123
The U.S. Geological Survey’s geodetic response to the 4–5 July 2019 (Pacific time) Ridgecrest earthquake sequence comprised primarily the installation and/or reoccupation of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) monumentation. Our response focused primarily on the United States’ Navy’s China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station base (NAWSCL). This focus was because...
Departures of rangeland fractional component cover and land cover from landsat-based ecological potential in Wyoming USA
Matthew B. Rigge, Collin G. Homer, Hua Shi, Bruce Wylie
2020, Rangeland Ecology and Management (73) 856-870
Monitoring rangelands by identifying the departure of contemporary conditions from long-term ecological potential allows for the disentanglement of natural biophysical gradients driving change from changes associated with land uses and other disturbance types. We developed maps of ecological potential (EP) for shrub, sagebrush (Artemisia spp.), perennial herbaceous, litter, and bare ground...
Landscape matters: Predicting the biogeochemical effects of permafrost thaw on aquatic networks with a state factor approach
Suzanne E. Tank, Jorien E. Vonk, Michelle A. Walvoord, James W. McClelland, Isabelle Laurion, Benjamin W. Abbott
2020, Permafrost and Periglacial Processes (31) 358-370
Permafrost thaw has been widely observed to alter the biogeochemistry of recipient aquatic ecosystems. However, research from various regions has shown considerable variation in effect. In this paper, we propose a state factor approach to predict the release and transport of materials from permafrost through aquatic networks. Inspired by Hans...
Minimal clustering of injection-induced earthquakes observed with a large-n seismic array
Elizabeth S. Cochran, A. Wickham-Piotrowski, K. Kemna, R. M Harrington, S. Dougherty, A. Pena Castro
2020, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (110) 2005-2017
The clustering behavior of injection‐induced earthquakes is examined using one month of data recorded by the LArge‐n Seismic Survey in Oklahoma (LASSO) array. The 1829‐node seismic array was deployed in a 25 km×32 km area of active saltwater disposal in northern Oklahoma between...
Behavior and movement of adult winter steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in the upper Cowlitz River Basin, Washington, 2017–18
Theresa L. Liedtke, Tobias J. Kock, Amy C. Hansen, Brian K. Ekstrom, Ryan G. Tomka
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1054
Executive SummaryA 2-year radiotelemetry study was completed to monitor the movements of adult winter steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in the upper Cowlitz River Basin. A reintroduction program was established to restore healthy and harvestable populations of steelhead because volitional access to the area was blocked in the 1960s after construction of...
Evaluation of the analytical methods used to determine the elemental concentrations found in the stream geochemical dataset compiled for Alaska
Bronwen Wang, Karl J. Ellefsen, Matthew Granitto, Karen D. Kelley, Susan M. Karl, George N.D. Case, Douglas C. Kreiner, Courtney L. Amundson
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1038
A recent U.S. Geological Survey data compilation of stream-sediment geochemistry for Alaska contains decades of analyses collected under numerous Federal and State programs. The compiled data were determined by various analytical methods. Some samples were reanalyzed by a different analytical method than the original, resulting in some elements having concentrations...
Trends in nutrient and soil loss in Illinois rivers, 1978–2017
Timothy O. Hodson, Paul J. Terrio
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5041
Nutrient and soil loss, defined herein as the loss of nutrients or soil to streams and other downstream receiving waters, affect watersheds around the globe. Although governments make large investments mitigating nutrient and soil loss through watershed management efforts, the efficacy of these efforts is often difficult to assess, in...
A tropical cyclone-induced ecological regime shift: Mangrove forest conversion to mudflat in Everglades National Park (Florida, USA)
Michael Osland, Laura Feher, Gordon Anderson, William Vervaeke, Ken Krauss, Kevin R.T. Whelan, Karen S. Balentine, G. Tiling-Range, Thomas J. Smith, Donald Cahoon
2020, Wetlands (40) 1445-1458
The ecological effects of tropical cyclones on mangrove forests are diverse and highly location- and cyclone-dependent. Ecological resistance, resilience, and enhancement are terms that describe most mangrove forest responses to tropical cyclones. However, in the most extreme cases, tropical cyclones can trigger abrupt and irreversible ecological transformations (i.e., ecological regime...
Surface soil temperature seasonal variation estimation in a forested area using combined satellite observations and in-situ measurements
Chenyang Xu, John J. Qu, Xianjun Hao, Zhiliang Zhu, Laurel Gutenberg
2020, International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation (91)
Surface soil temperature is the soil temperature from the surface to 10 cm in depth. Surface soil temperature plays a significant role in agricultural drought monitoring, ecosystem energy transfer modeling, and global carbon cycle evaluation. Studies have been proposed to estimate surface soil temperature, but surface soil temperature monitoring within forested...
