Forest bird trends within Haleakala National Park
Kevin W. Brinck
2020, Hawaii Cooperative Studies Unit Technical Report Series 97
In 2017, the comprehensive east Maui bird surveys allowed for an update in status and evaluation of trends in bird populations within Haleakalā National Park. This report describes a finer-scale analysis of the park lands, distinguishing between the upper Kīpahulu Valley plus adjacent high-elevation areas compared to the rest of...
Distribution and abundance of Aquila chrysaetos (golden eagles) in East Contra Costa County Habitat Conservation Plan/Natural Community Conservation Plan area, California
J. David Wiens, Patrick S. Kolar, Douglas A. Bell
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1107
The East Contra Costa County Habitat Conservation Plan/Natural Community Conservation Plan (HCP/NCCP) Preserve System was designed to protect and enhance ecological diversity and function in eastern Contra Costa County, California. Aquila chrysaetos (golden eagle) is a special-status species expected to benefit from biological goals of the HCP/NCCP. As part of...
Assessment of water quality and fecal contamination sources at Hook Pond, East Hampton, New York
Shawn C. Fisher, Brendan A. McCarthy, Christopher M. Kephart, Dale W. Griffin
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5071
SummaryThe U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Village of East Hampton, New York, conducted a 1-year study from August 2017 to August 2018 to provide data necessary to improve understanding of the sources of nutrients and pathogens to Hook Pond watershed to allow for possible mitigation or reduction of...
Groundwater quality in relation to drinking water health standards and hydrogeologic and geochemical characteristics for 47 domestic wells in Potter County, Pennsylvania, 2017
Daniel G. Galeone, Charles A. Cravotta III, Dennis W. Risser
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5038
As part of a regional effort to characterize groundwater in rural areas of Pennsylvania, water samples from 47 domestic wells in Potter County were collected from May through September 2017. The sampled wells had depths ranging from 33 to 600 feet in sandstone, shale, or siltstone aquifers. Groundwater samples were...
Building adaptive capacity in a coastal region experiencing global change
Fred A. Johnson, Mitchell J. Eaton, Jessica Mikels-Carrasco, David J. Case
2020, Ecology & Society (25)
Coastal ecosystems in the eastern U.S. have been severely altered by human development, and climate change and other stressors are now further degrading the capacity of those ecological and social systems to remain resilient in the face of such disturbances. We sought to identify potential ways in which local conservation...
Cottonwoods, water, and people-Integrating analysis of tree rings with observations of elders from the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming
Shannon M. McNeeley, Jonathan M. Friedman, Tyler A. Beeton, Richard D. Thaxton
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1072
We assessed the history of flow and riparian ecosystem change along the Wind River using cottonwood tree-ring data, streamgage records, historical temperature and precipitation data, drought indices, and local observations and Traditional Ecological Knowledge from elders of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming....
Mineral deposits of the Mesoproterozoic Midcontinent Rift system in the Lake Superior region – A space and time classification
Laurel G. Woodruff, Klaus J. Schulz, Suzanne W. Nicholson, Connie L. Dicken
2020, Ore Geology Reviews (126)
The Mesoproterozoic Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) of North America hosts a diverse suite of magmatic and hydrothermal mineral deposits in the Lake Superior region where rift rocks are exposed at or near the surface. Historically, hydrothermal deposits, such as Michigan’s native copper deposits and the White Pine sediment-hosted stratiform...
Spatial ecology and resource selection of eastern box turtles
Katie A Harris, Joseph D. Clark, R. Dwayne Elmore, Craig A. Harper
2020, Journal of Wildlife Management (84) 1590-1600
Eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina) are widely distributed throughout the eastern United States. Although once common throughout much of its distribution, the species has experienced declines in local populations. Understanding resource selection is important for the conservation of this species; however, few data exist on...
Effects of inundation duration on southeastern Louisiana oyster reefs
Danielle A. Marshall, Megan La Peyre
2020, Experimental Results (1)
Understanding the effects of predicted rising sea levels, combined with changes in precipitation and freshwater inflow on key estuarine ecosystem engineers such as the eastern oyster would provide critical information to inform restoration design and predictive models. Using oyster ladders with shell bags placed at three heights to capture a...
Exploring methane behavior in Marcellus Shale micropores via contrast matching neutron scattering
Aaron M. Jubb, Leslie F. Ruppert, Tristan G. A. Youngs, Thomas Headen
2020, Energy & Fuels (34) 10926-10932
Petroleum in shale reservoirs is hosted in organic matter and mineral pores as well as in natural fractures and voids. For thermally mature plays, e.g., the Marcellus Shale, methane and other light alkane gases are thought to be primarily contained in organic matter pores with radii ≦50 nm. Thus, in...
Pesticides and their degradates in groundwater reflect past use and current management strategies, Long Island, New York, USA
Irene Fisher, Patrick J. Phillips, Banu Bayraktar, Shirley Chen, Brendan A. McCarthy, Mark W. Sandstrom
2020, Science of the Total Environment (752)
Long Island, New York, has a mix of urban/suburban to agricultural/horticultural land use and nearly 3 million residents that rely on a sole-source aquifer for drinking water. The analysis of shallow groundwater (<40 m below land surface) collected from 54 monitoring wells across Long Island detected 53 pesticides or pesticide degradates....
Repetitive sampling and control threshold improve 16S rRNA results from produced waters associated with hydraulically fractured shales
Jenna L. Shelton, Elliott P. Barnhart, Leslie F. Ruppert, Aaron M. Jubb, Madalyn S. Blondes, Christina A. DeVera
2020, Frontiers in Microbiology (11)
Sequencing microbial DNA from deep subsurface environments is complicated by a number of issues ranging from contamination to non-reproducible results. Many samples obtained from these environments - which are of great interest due to the potential to stimulate microbial methane generation - contain low biomass. Therefore, samples from these environments...
Step increase in eastern U.S. precipitation linked to Indian Ocean warming
Courtney Strong, Gregory J. McCabe, Alexander Weech
2020, Geophysical Research Letters (47)
A step increase in annual precipitation over the eastern United States in the early 1970s commenced five decades of invigorated hydroclimate, with ongoing impacts on streamflow and water resources. Despite its far-reaching impacts, the dynamical origin of this change is unknown. Here analyses of a century of...
Simultaneous Middle Pleistocene eruption of three widespread tholeiitic basalts in northern California (USA): Insights into crustal magma transport in an actively extending back arc
Drew T. Downs, Duane E. Champion, L.J. Patrick Muffler, Robert L. Christiansen, Michael A. Clynne, Andrew T. Calvert
2020, Geology (48) 1216-1220
Mapping and chronology are central to understanding spatiotemporal volcanic trends in diverse tectonic settings. The Cascades back arc in northern California (USA) hosts abundant lava flows and normal faults, but tholeiitic basalts older than 200 ka are difficult to discriminate by classic mapping methods. Paleomagnetism and chemistry offer independent means...
Reversal of forest soil acidification in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada: Site and soil factors contributing to recovery
P.W. Hazlett, C.E. Emilson, Gregory B. Lawrence, I. J. Fernandez, R. Ouimet, S.W. Bailey
2020, Soil Systems (4)
As acidic deposition has decreased across Eastern North America, forest soils at some sites are beginning to show reversal of soil acidification. However, the degree of recovery appears to vary and is not fully explained by deposition declines alone. To assess if other site and soil factors can help to...
Strategic Plan for the North American Breeding Bird Survey, 2020–30
U.S. Geological Survey, Canadian Wildlife Service
2020, Circular 1466
The North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) has been the cornerstone of continental bird conservation and management for hundreds of North American bird species in the United States and Canada for more than 50 years. This strategic plan was developed in collaboration with key partners and stakeholders and charts the...
Boreal blazes: Biomass burning and vegetation types archived in the Juneau Icefield
Natalie Kehrwald, Jeramy Roland Jasmann, Melissa E. Dunham, David G. Ferris, Erich C. Osterburg, Joshua Kennedy, Jeremy C. Havens, Larry B. Barber, Sarah K. Fortner
2020, Environmental Research Letters (15)
The past decade includes some of the most extensive boreal forest fires in the historical record. Warming temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, the desiccation of thick organic soil layers, and increased ignition from lightning all contribute to a combustive combination. Smoke aerosols travel thousands of kilometers, before blanketing...
Metamorphic amphiboles in the Ironwood Iron-Formation, Gogebic Iron Range, Wisconsin: Implications for potential resource development
Carlin J. Green, Robert R. Seal, II, Nadine M. Piatak, William F. Cannon, Ryan J. McAleer, Julia Nord
2020, American Mineralogist (105) 1259-1269
No abstract available. ...
Characterization of peak streamflow and stages at selected streamgages in eastern and northeastern Oklahoma from the May to June 2019 flood event—With an emphasis on flood peaks downstream from dams and on tributaries to the Arkansas River
Jason M. Lewis, David J. Williams, Sarah J. Harris, A.R. Trevisan
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1090
As much as 22 inches of rain fell in Oklahoma in May 2019, resulting in historic flooding along the Arkansas River and its tributaries in eastern and northeastern Oklahoma. The flooding along the Arkansas River and its tributaries that began in May continued into June 2019. Peaks of record were...
Geomorphic map of western Whatcom County, Washington
Dori J. Kovanen, Ralph A. Haugerud, Don J. Easterbrook
2020, Scientific Investigations Map 3406
Western Whatcom County has a rich history of glaciation, sea-level change, fluvial erosion and deposition, landsliding, nearby volcanic activity, and human landscape modification. This lidar-derived geomorphic map interprets this history from the form and position of the Earth’s surface.The geomorphic record is broken into nine phases, beginning with the peak...
Integrating airborne remote sensing and field campaigns for ecology and Earth system science
K. Dana Chadwick, Philip G. Brodrick, Kathleen Grant, Tristan Goulden, Amanda Henderson, Nicola Falco, Haruko Wainwright, Kenneth Williams, Markus Bill, Ian Breckheimer, Eoin Brodie, Heidi Steltzer, C. F. Rick Williams, Benjamin Blonder, Jiancong Chen, Baptiste Dafflon, Joan Damerow, Matt Hancher, Aizah Khurram, Jack Lamb, Corey R. Lawrence, Maeve McCormick, John Musinsky, Samuel Pierce, Alexander Polussa, Maceo Hastings Porro, Andea Scott, Hans Wu Singh, Patrick O. Sorensen, Charuleka Varadharajan, Bizuayehu Whitney, Katharine Maher
2020, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (11) 1492-1508
In recent years, the availability of airborne imaging spectroscopy (hyperspectral) data has expanded dramatically. The high spatial and spectral resolution of these data uniquely enable spatially explicit ecological studies including species mapping, assessment of drought mortality and foliar trait distributions. However, we have barely begun to unlock the potential...
Evaluation of genetic structuring within GIS‐derived Brook Trout management units
Lucas Nathan, Y. Kanno, Benjamin Letcher, Amy B. Welsh, Andrew R. Whiteley, Jason C. Vokoun
2020, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (149) 681-694
Delineation of management units across broad spatial scales can help to visualize population structuring and identify conservation opportunities. Geographical information system (GIS) approaches can be useful for developing broad‐scale management units, especially when paired with field data that can validate the GIS‐based delineations. Genetic data can be useful for evaluating...
Citizen scientists record novel leaf phenology of invasive shrubs in eastern U.S. forests
Erynn E. Maynard-Bean, Margot Kaye, Tyler Wagner, Eric P. Burkhart
2020, Biological Invasions (22) 3325-3337
Invasive shrubs are an emergent concern in deciduous forests of eastern North America. Their extended leaf phenology (ELP) – earlier leaf emergence and later leaf off compared to native shrubs and the overstory canopy – can simultaneously provide photosynthetic benefits to invasive shrubs while negatively affecting native flora and fauna...
Three-dimensional shape and structure of the Susitna basin, south-central Alaska, from geophysical data
Anjana K. Shah, Jeffrey Phillips, Kristen A. Lewis, Richard G. Stanley, Peter J. Haeussler, Christopher J. Potter
2020, Geosphere (16) 969-990
We use gravity, magnetic, seismic reflection, well, and outcrop data to determine the three-dimensional shape and structural features of south-central Alaska’s Susitna basin. This basin is located within the Aleutian-Alaskan convergent margin region and is expected to show effects of regional subduction zone processes. Aeromagnetic data, when filtered to highlight...
Genomes reveal genetic diversity of Piscine orthoreovirus in farmed and free-ranging salmonids from Canada and USA
Ahmed Siah, B. R. Breyta, K. I. Warheit, N Gagne, Maureen K. Purcell, Diane B. Morrison, J. F. F. Powell, S. C. Johnson
2020, Virus Evolution (6)
Piscine orthoreovirus (PRV-1) is a segmented RNA virus which is commonly found in salmonids in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. PRV-1 causes the Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation (HSMI) disease in Atlantic salmon and is associated with several other disease conditions. Previous phylogenetic studies of genome segment 1 (S1) identified...
