Metabolic rate is negatively linked to adult survival but does not explain latitudinal differences in songbirds
Andy J. Boyce, James C. Mouton, Penn Lloyd, Blair O. Wolf, Thomas E. Martin
2020, Ecology Letters (23) 642-652
Survival rates vary dramatically among species and predictably across latitudes, but causes of this variation are unclear. The rate of living hypothesis posits that physiological damage from metabolism causes species with faster metabolic rates to exhibit lower survival rates. However, whether increased survival commonly observed in tropical and south temperate...
Mapping the thermal landscape of the Upper Mississippi River
Kathi Jo Jankowski, Larry R. Robinson, John Kalas, Alicia Carhart, Brian R. Lubinski, Janis Ruhser
2020, Long Term Resource Monitoring Technical Report LTRMP-2017TL2
Temperature has a fundamental influence on physical, chemical and biological processing in aquatic ecosystems. River temperatures respond to a diverse array of drivers including air temperature, streamflow, and thermal inputs, but the physical template has been shown to play a significant role in structuring spatial and temporal variation in water...
Subalpine sentinels: Understanding & managing whitebark pine in California
Michèle Slaton, Marc Mayer, Shana Gross, Johathan Nesmith, Joan Dudney, Phillip J. van Mantgem, Ramona J. Butz
2020, Fremontia (47) 34-42
A hardy inhabitant of the subalpine zone of western North America, whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) is a keystone tree species in California’s subalpine forests, where it regularly defines the upper treeline in the Sierra Nevada, Cascade, Warner, and Klamath Mountains. Walking portions of the John Muir Trail in the southern...
Learning from real-world experience to understand renewable energy impacts to wildlife
Tara J Conkling, Hannah B. Vander Zanden, Sharon A. Poessel, Scott R. Loss, Taber D Allison, James E. Diffendorfer, Adam E. Duerr, David M. Nelson, Julie L Yee, Todd E. Katzner
2020, Energy Research ad Development Division Final Research Report CEC-500-2020-012
The project team sought to use real-world data to understand adverse effects to wildlife of renewable energy production that is critical to meeting California’s climate and clean energy goals. The project had three main components. First, a systematic literature review studied 20 peer-reviewed publications and 612 reports from other nonreviewed sources from 231 wind...
Geophysical surveys, hydrogeologic characterization, and groundwater flow model for the Truxton basin and Hualapai Plateau, northwestern Arizona
Jon P. Mason, editor(s)
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5017
This is the third and final report in a series that describe the groundwater resources of the Hualapai Indian Reservation. These reports document the findings of a comprehensive groundwater study conducted on the reservation and adjacent areas from 2015 through 2018 by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the...
Gene transcript profiling in desert bighorn sheep
Lizabeth Bowen, Kathleen Longshore, Peregrine Wolff, Robert C. Klinger, Mike Cox, Sarah Bullock, Shannon C. Waters-Dynes, A. Keith Miles
2020, Wildlife Society Bulletin (44) 323-332
Respiratory disease is a key factor affecting the conservation and recovery of bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis ) populations. Innovative, minimally invasive tools such as gene transcription–based diagnostics have the potential to improve our understanding of the broad range of factors that can affect the health of wild sheep. Evaluation of transcript...
Groundwater quality in the Biscayne aquifer, Florida
James A. Kingsbury
2020, Fact Sheet 2019-3056
Groundwater provides nearly 50 percent of the Nation’s drinking water. To help protect this vital resource, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project assesses groundwater quality in aquifers that are important sources of drinking water (Burow and Belitz, 2014). The Biscayne aquifer constitutes one of the important...
Groundwater quality in the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system, central United States
James A. Kingsbury
2020, Fact Sheet 2019-3057
Groundwater provides nearly 50 percent of the Nation’s drinking water. To help protect this vital resource, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project assesses groundwater quality in aquifers that are important sources of drinking water (Burow and Belitz, 2014). The Ozark Plateaus aquifer system constitutes one of...
Groundwater quality in the Columbia Plateau basaltic-rock aquifers, northwestern United States
MaryLynn Musgrove
2020, Fact Sheet 2019-3058
Groundwater provides nearly 50 percent of the Nation’s drinking water. To help protect this vital resource, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project assesses groundwater quality in aquifers that are important sources of drinking water. The Columbia Plateau basaltic-rock aquifers constitute one of the important resources being...
Groundwater quality in the High Plains aquifer
MaryLynn Musgrove
2020, Fact Sheet 2019-3055
Groundwater provides nearly 50 percent of the Nation’s drinking water. To help protect this vital resource, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project assesses groundwater quality in aquifers that are important sources of drinking water. The High Plains aquifer constitutes one of the important aquifers being evaluated....
Environmental DNA: An emerging tool for understanding aquatic biodiversity
Trey Simmons, Damian M. Menning, Sandra L. Talbot
2020, Alaska Park Science (19)
Field surveys for aquatic organisms provide critical information that is important for robust resource management. However, such surveys are expensive and labor intensive, particularly in large, remote landscapes like those that characterize much of Alaska. Traditionally, characterizing aquatic biodiversity necessitated the physical capture and identification of individual organisms, which required...
Evaluation of water temperature effects on adult sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) behavior in the Yakima River, Washington, 2019
Tobias J. Kock, Scott D. Evans, Amy C. Hansen, Brian K. Ekstrom, Richard Visser, Brian Saluskin, Paul Hoffarth
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1033
A study was conducted in the lower Yakima River, Washington, during June–October 2019 to evaluate water temperature effects on adult sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) behavior. A total of 60 sockeye salmon adults were tagged with radio transmitters and monitored during the study. Fourteen of the fish were collected and...
Evaluation of restoration alternatives using hydraulic models of lake outflow at Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge, northwestern Oregon
Stewart A. Rounds, Stephen L. Pilson, Annett B. Sullivan, Adam J. Stonewall
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5014
Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge near the city of Gaston in northwestern Oregon was established in 2013, and planning is underway to restore a more natural lake and wetland system after more than 100 years of agricultural activity on the lakebed. Several water-management and restoration alternatives are under consideration, one...
Evaluation of restoration alternatives using water-budget tools for the Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge, northwestern Oregon
Stewart A. Rounds, T. Zach Freed, Daniel T. Snyder, Cassandra D. Smith, Micelis C. Doyle, Erin Holmes, Curt Mykut, Tim Mayer, Erin Stockenberg, Stephen L. Pilson
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5013
The lakebed in Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in northwestern Oregon was farmed for decades prior to the establishment of the refuge in 2013. Planning for restoration of these lands required extensive data collection and construction of a water budget and tools to design and evaluate potential restoration...
Coming to terms with the new normal: Forest health in the Sierra Nevada
Jodi Axelson, John J. Battles, Adrian J. Das, Phillip J. van Mantgem
2020, Fremontia (47) 50-56
The vast conifer forests of California’s Sierra Nevada range inspire awe and create lasting memories. The size and longevity of these trees make them seem both otherworldly and everlasting. Indeed, their grandeur is such that visitors may not appreciate how these forests are connected to the larger landscape, and so...
Hydrologic monitoring networks in the Death Valley Regional Flow System, Nye County, Nevada and Inyo County, California
Steven R. Reiner, Peggy E. Elliott, Katherine J. Earp, Wayne R. Belcher
2020, Fact Sheet 2020-3018
IntroductionWater is an important resource in the arid southwest region of the United States where there is a limited supply of surface water and groundwater. In the Death Valley regional groundwater flow system (DVRFS) in southern Nevada and eastern California, groundwater is the main source of supply for agricultural, commercial,...
Combining models of the critical streakline and the cross-sectional distribution of juvenile salmon to predict fish routing at river junctions
Dalton Hance, Russell Perry, Jon R. Burau, Aaron R. Blake, Paul Stumpner, Xiaochun Wang, Adam Pope
2020, San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science (18)
Because fish that enter the interior Delta have poorer survival than those emigrating via the Sacramento River, understanding the mechanisms that drive entrainment rates at side channel junctions is critically important for the management of imperiled juvenile salmon. Here, we implement a previously proposed process-based conceptual model to study entrainment...
Bloater restoration
Jeremy P. Holden, Erin Brown, Brian Weidel, Michael J. Connerton, Brian O'Malley, C. Osborne
2020, Report, 2019 Annual report of the lake Ontario management unit
No abstract available....
Lake Ontario fall benthic prey fish assessment
Jeremy P. Holden, Brian Weidel, Michael J. Connerton, Brian P. O’Malley, C. Osborne
2020, Report, 2019 Annual report of the lake Ontario management unit
No abstract available....
NGWA Groundwater Modeling Advisory Panel Survey on the Use of Uncertainty Analysis in Groundwater Modeling
Steve Luis, Pete Schulmeyer, David Bean, Connor P. Newman, Dan Puddephatt, Rodney A. Sheets, Randall J. Hunt
2020, Report
This white paper provides the results of a survey by members of the NGWA Groundwater Modeling Advisory Panel to assess the use of uncertainty analysis in groundwater modeling.The objective of the survey was to improve understanding of the use of uncertainty analysis in practical groundwater modeling projects subject to real-world...
Lake Ontario spring prey fish assessment
Jeremy P. Holden, Brian Weidel, Michael J. Connerton
2020, Report, 2019 Annual report of the lake Ontario management unit
No abstract available....
A multiscale approach to understanding migratory land bird habitat use of functional stopover habitat types and management efforts
Theodore J. Zenzal Jr.
2020, Newsletter
It is hard to believe that many of the small “backyard birds” people see during spring and autumn can make migratory journeys that span thousands of kilometers. In fact, over two-thirds of all land birds (i.e., those not associated with aquatic habitats) and over half of the migratory species in...
Species and genetic diversity in Lake Huron in 2018
Wendylee Stott, Edward F. Roseman, Chris C. Wilson
2020, Special Publication 2020-01
Fish community objectives (FCOs) for species and genetic diversity (DesJardine et al. 1995) complement the species- or genera-specific objectives by recognizing that diversity within and among species can improve ecosystem resiliency through portfolio effects (DuFour et al. 2015). In Lake Huron, native species (such as Lake Trout and Lake Whitefish),...
Lake trout rehabilitation in Lake Ontario, 2019
Brian F. Lantry, Stacy Furgal, Brian Weidel, Michael Connerton, Dimitry Gorsky, Christopher Osborne
2020, Report, 2019 Lake Ontario Unit Annual Report
Each year we report on the progress toward rehabilitation of the Lake Ontario lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) population, including the results of stocking, annual assessment surveys, creel surveys, and evidence of natural reproduction observed from all standard surveys performed by USGS and NYSDEC. The catch per unit effort of adult...
Lake trout spawning studies: Updates, new survey, and comparison to standard September gillnet survey
Stacy Furgal, Christopher Osborne, Brian F. Lantry, Brian Weidel, Dimitry Gorsky, Michael Connerton
2020, Report, 2019 Lake Ontario Unit Annual Report
In Lake Ontario, lake trout restoration efforts have not established a self-sustaining population. Herein we describe efforts to evaluate standard and new surveys, and to estimate dispersal from stocking locations, to better understand impediments to natural reproduction. In 2019, lake trout egg deposition was sampled at two locations, Stony Island...
