Data management challenges in species distribution modeling
Colin Talbert, Marian Talbert, Jeffrey T. Morisette, David Koop
2013, Bulletin of the Technical Committee on Data Engineering (36) 31-40
An important component in the fields of ecology and conservation biology is understanding the environmental conditions and geographic areas that are suitable for a given species to inhabit. A common tool in determining such areas is species distribution modeling which uses computer algorithms to determine the spatial distribution of organisms. Most commonly the...
Developing an outcome-based biodiversity metric in support of the field to market project: Final report
C. Ashton Drew, Louise B. Alexander-Vaughn, Jaime A. Collazo, Alexa McKerrow, John Anderson
2013, Technical Bulletin 334
Our objective was to create a metric that would calculate the relative impact of common commercial agricultural practices on terrestrial vertebrate richness. We sought to define impacts in fields (including field borders) of the southeastern region’s commercial production of corn, wheat, soy, and cotton. The metric is intended to serve...
An approach for characterizing the distribution of shrubland ecosystem components as continuous fields as part of NLCD
George Z. Xian, Collin G. Homer, Debbie Meyer, Brian J. Granneman
2013, ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (86) 136-149
Characterizing and quantifying distributions of shrubland ecosystem components is one of the major challenges for monitoring shrubland vegetation cover change across the United States. A new approach has been developed to quantify shrubland components as fractional products within National Land Cover Database (NLCD). This approach uses remote sensing data and...
Differences in extreme low salinity timing and duration differentially affect eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) size class growth and mortality in Breton Sound, LA
Megan K. LaPeyre, Benjamin S. Eberline, Thomas M. Soniat, Jerome F. La Peyre
2013, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science (135) 146-157
Understanding how different life history stages are impacted by extreme or stochastic environmental variation is critical for predicting and modeling organism population dynamics. This project examined recruitment, growth, and mortality of seed (25–75 mm) and market (>75 mm) sized oysters along a salinity gradient over two years in Breton Sound, LA. In...
Next generation of global land cover characterization, mapping, and monitoring
Chandra Giri, Bruce Pengra, J. Long, Thomas R. Loveland
2013, International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation (25) 30-37
Land cover change is increasingly affecting the biophysics, biogeochemistry, and biogeography of the Earth's surface and the atmosphere, with far-reaching consequences to human well-being. However, our scientific understanding of the distribution and dynamics of land cover and land cover change (LCLCC) is limited. Previous global land cover assessments performed using...
Using landscape epidemiological models to understand the distribution of chronic wasting disease in the Midwestern USA
Stacie J. Robinson, Michael D. Samuel, Robert E. Rolley, Paul Shelton
2013, Landscape Ecology (28) 1923-1935
Animal movement across the landscape plays a critical role in the ecology of infectious wildlife diseases. Dispersing animals can spread pathogens between infected areas and naïve populations. While tracking free-ranging animals over the geographic scales relevant to landscape-level disease management is challenging, landscape features that influence gene flow among wildlife...
Protocol for monitoring forest-nesting birds in National Park Service parks
Deanna K. Dawson, Murray G. Efford
2013, Report
These documents detail the protocol for monitoring forest-nesting birds in National Park Service parks in the National Capital Region Network (NCRN). In the first year of sampling, counts of birds should be made at 384 points on the NCRN spatially randomized grid, developed to sample terrestrial resources. Sampling should begin...
A scenario study of seismically induced landsliding in Seattle using broadband synthetic seismograms
Kate E. Allstadt, John E. Vidale, Arthur D. Frankel
2013, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (103) 2971-2992
We demonstrate the value of utilizing broadband synthetic seismograms to assess regional seismically induced landslide hazard. Focusing on a case study of an Mw 7.0 Seattle fault earthquake in Seattle, Washington, we computed broadband synthetic seismograms that account for rupture directivity and 3D basin amplification. We then adjusted the computed motions on...
Net primary productivity of subalpine meadows in Yosemite National Park in relation to climate variability
Peggy E. Moore, Jan W. Van Wagtendonk, Julie L. Yee, Mitchel P. McClaran, David N. Cole, Neil K. McDougald, Matthew L. Brooks
2013, Western North American Naturalist (73) 409-418
Subalpine meadows are some of the most ecologically important components of mountain landscapes, and primary productivity is important to the maintenance of meadow functions. Understanding how changes in primary productivity are associated with variability in moisture and temperature will become increasingly important with current and anticipated changes in climate. Our...
Limited denitrification in glacial deposit aquifers having thick unsaturated zones (Long Island, USA)
Caitlin Young, Kevin D. Kroeger, Gilbert Hanson
2013, Hydrogeology Journal (21) 1773-1786
The goal of this study was to demonstrate how the extent of denitrification, which is indirectly related to dissolved organ carbon and directly related to oxygen concentrations, can also be linked to unsaturated-zone thickness, a mappable aquifer property. Groundwater from public supply and monitoring wells in Northport on Long Island,...
Multiple factors affect a population of Agassiz's desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) in the Northwestern Mojave Desert
Kristin H. Berry, Julie L. Yee, Ashley A. Coble, William M. Perry, Timothy A. Shields
2013, Herpetological Monographs (27) 87-109
Numerous factors have contributed to declines in populations of the federally threatened Agassiz's Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) and continue to limit recovery. In 2010, we surveyed a low-density population on a military test facility in the northwestern Mojave Desert of California, USA, to evaluate population status and identify potential factors...
Public lakes, private lakeshore: Modeling protection of native aquatic plants
Susan A. Schroeder, David C. Fulton
2013, Environmental Management (52) 99-112
Protection of native aquatic plants is an important proenvironmental behavior, because plant loss coupled with nutrient loading can produce changes in lake ecosystems. Removal of aquatic plants by lakeshore property owners is a diffuse behavior that may lead to cumulative impacts on lake ecosystems. This class of behavior is challenging...
Flood-inundation maps for the Elkhart River at Goshen, Indiana
Kellan R. Strauch
2013, Scientific Investigations Map 3269
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs, created digital flood-inundation maps for an 8.3-mile reach of the Elkhart River at Goshen, Indiana, extending from downstream of the Goshen Dam to downstream from County Road 17. The inundation maps, which can be...
Modeling the effects of fire severity and climate warming on active layer and soil carbon dynamics of black spruce forests across the landscape in interior Alaska
H. Genet, Anthony D. McGuire, K. Barrett, A. Breen, E.S. Euskirchen, J.F. Johnstone, E.S. Kasischke, A.M. Melvin, A. Bennett, M.C. Mack, T.S. Rupp, A.E.G. Schuur, M.R. Turetsky, F. Yuan
2013, Environmental Research Letters (8)
There is a substantial amount of carbon stored in the permafrost soils of boreal forest ecosystems, where it is currently protected from decomposition. The surface organic horizons insulate the deeper soil from variations in atmospheric temperature. The removal of these insulating horizons through consumption by fire increases the vulnerability of...
Modeling earthquake rate changes in Oklahoma and Arkansas: possible signatures of induced seismicity
Andrea L. Llenos, Andrew J. Michael
2013, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (103) 2850-2861
The rate of ML≥3 earthquakes in the central and eastern United States increased beginning in 2009, particularly in Oklahoma and central Arkansas, where fluid injection has occurred. We find evidence that suggests these rate increases are man‐made by examining the rate changes in a catalog of ML≥3 earthquakes in Oklahoma,...
Estimation of total nitrogen and total phosphorus in streams of the Middle Columbia River Basin (Oregon, Washington, and Idaho) using SPARROW models, with emphasis on the Yakima River Basin, Washington
Henry M. Johnson, Robert W. Black, Daniel R. Wise
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5199
The watershed model SPARROW (Spatially Related Regressions on Watershed attributes) was used to predict total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) loads and yields for the Middle Columbia River Basin in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. The new models build on recently published models for the entire Pacific Northwest, and provide...
An integrated model of environmental effects on growth, carbohydrate balance, and mortality of Pinus ponderosa forests in the southern Rocky Mountains
Christina L. Tague, Nathan G. McDowell, Craig D. Allen
2013, PLoS ONE (8)
Climate-induced tree mortality is an increasing concern for forest managers around the world. We used a coupled hydrologic and ecosystem carbon cycling model to assess temperature and precipitation impacts on productivity and survival of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa). Model predictions were evaluated using observations of productivity and survival for three...
Hydrogeology, distribution, and volume of saline groundwater in the southern midcontinent and adjacent areas of the United States
Noel I. Osborn, S. Jerrod Smith, Christian H. Seger
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5017
The hydrogeology, distribution, and volume of saline water in 22 aquifers in the southern midcontinent of the United States were evaluated to provide information about saline groundwater resources that may be used to reduce dependency on freshwater resources. Those aquifers underlie six States in the southern midcontinent—Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri,...
Estimated nitrogen loads from selected tributaries in Connecticut draining to Long Island Sound, 1999–2009
John R. Mullaney, Gregory E. Schwarz
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5171
The total nitrogen load to Long Island Sound from Connecticut and contributing areas to the north was estimated for October 1998 to September 2009. Discrete measurements of total nitrogen concentrations and continuous flow data from 37 water-quality monitoring stations in the Long Island Sound watershed were used to compute total...
Broad-scale patterns of Brook Trout responses to introduced Brown Trout in New York
James E. McKenna Jr., Michael T. Slattery, Kean M. Clifford
2013, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (33) 1221-1235
Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis and Brown Trout Salmo trutta are valuable sport fish that coexist in many parts of the world due to stocking introductions. Causes for the decline of Brook Trout within their native range are not clear but include competition with Brown Trout, habitat alteration, and repetitive stocking...
Methods for estimating water consumption for thermoelectric power plants in the United States
Timothy H. Diehl, Melissa Harris, Jennifer C. Murphy, Susan S. Hutson, David E. Ladd
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5188
Water consumption at thermoelectric power plants represents a small but substantial share of total water consumption in the U.S. However, currently available thermoelectric water consumption data are inconsistent and incomplete, and coefficients used to estimate consumption are contradictory. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has resumed the estimation of thermoelectric water...
Habitat heterogeneity and intraguild interactions modify distribution and injury rates in two coexisting genera of damselflies
Jonathan W. Witt, Rebecca E. Forkner, Richard T. Kraus
2013, Freshwater Biology (58) 2380-2388
1. Sublethal effects of predation can affect both population and community structure. Despite this, little is known about how the frequency of injury varies in relation to habitat, aquatic community characteristics or between trophically similar, coexisting taxa. 2. In a tidal freshwater ecosystem, we first examined injuries (lamellar autotomy)...
Land subsidence along the Delta-Mendota Canal in the northern part of the San Joaquin Valley, California, 2003-10
Michelle Sneed, Justin T. Brandt, Mike Solt
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5142
Extensive groundwater withdrawal from the unconsolidated deposits in the San Joaquin Valley caused widespread aquifer-system compaction and resultant land subsidence from 1926 to 1970—locally exceeding 8.5 meters. The importation of surface water beginning in the early 1950s through the Delta-Mendota Canal and in the early 1970s through the California Aqueduct...
Mechanical properties of simulated Mars materials: gypsum-rich sandstones and lapilli tuff
Carolyn Morrow, David Lockner, Chris Okubo
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1242
Observations by the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity, and other recent studies on diagenesis in the extensive equatorial layered deposits on Mars, suggest that the likely lithologies of these deposits are gypsum-rich sandstones and tuffaceous sediments (for example, Murchie and others, 2009; Squyres and others, 2012; Zimbelman and Scheidt, 2012)....
Developing and implementing the use of predictive models for estimating water quality at Great Lakes beaches
Donna S. Francy, Amie M. G. Brady, Rebecca B. Carvin, Steven R. Corsi, Lori M. Fuller, John H. Harrison, Brett A. Hayhurst, Jeremiah Lant, Meredith B. Nevers, Paul J. Terrio, Tammy M. Zimmerman
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5166
Predictive models have been used at beaches to improve the timeliness and accuracy of recreational water-quality assessments over the most common current approach to water-quality monitoring, which relies on culturing fecal-indicator bacteria such as Escherichia coli (E. coli.). Beach-specific predictive models use environmental and water-quality variables that are easily and...
