Annual winter site fidelity of Barrow's goldeneyes in the Pacific
Megan Willie, Daniel Esler, W. Sean Boyd, Timothy D. Bowman, Jason Schamber, Jonathan Thompson
2019, Journal of Wildlife Management (84) 161-171
Coastal regions on the Pacific north coast of North America provide important wintering habitat for many species of sea ducks. Although winter range and habitat preferences are well described for most species, fidelity to coastal wintering sites is generally undocumented. Fidelity is an important factor necessary for understanding interactions with...
Estimated use of water in Georgia for 2015 and water-use trends, 1985–2015
Jaime A. Painter
2019, Open-File Report 2019-1086
Water-withdrawal, water-use, and water-return information have been collected and compiled for each county in Georgia every 5 years since 1980 using data obtained from various Federal, State, and private agencies, as well as additional online sources. For 2015, water use, water withdrawal, and water returns were estimated for each county,...
Characterizing range-wide population divergence in an alpine-endemic bird: A comparison of genetic and genomic approaches
Kathryn Langin, Cameron L. Aldridge, Jennifer A. Fike, Robert S. Cornman, Kathy M Martin, Greg T Wann, Amy E. Seglund, Michael A Schroeder, David P Benson, Brad C. Fedy, Jessica R. Young, Scott D. Wilson, Don H Wolfe, Clait E. Braun, Sara J. Oyler-McCance
2019, Conservation Genetics (19) 1471-1485
The delineation of intraspecific units that are evolutionarily and demographically distinct is an important step in the development of species-specific management plans. Neutral genetic variation has served as the primary data source for delineating “evolutionarily significant units,” but with recent advances in genomic technology, we now have an unprecedented ability...
Climate-driven state shifts in the Prairie Pothole Region: Assessing future impacts relevant to the management of wetland habitats critical to waterfowl
David M. Mushet, Owen P. McKenna
2019, Report
Embedded within the North American Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) are millions of small, depressional wetlands that annually support 50–80% of the continent’s waterfowl production. We recently assembled evidence that demonstrates a change towards a wetter climate that is driving a shift in the state of the region’s wetland ecosystems. This...
Controls on eolian landscape evolution in fractured bedrock
Jonathan P. Perkins, Noah J. Finnegan, Shanaka L. de Silva, Michael J. Willis
2019, Geophysical Research Letters (46) 12012-12020
Wind abrasion is important for planetary landscape evolution, and wind‐abraded bedrock landscapes contain many landforms that are difficult to interpret. Here we exploit a natural experiment in Chile where topographic shielding by an upwind lava flow yields diverse erosional landforms in a downwind ignimbrite. Using a 3‐D topographic wind model,...
Variability in results from mineralogical and organic geochemical interlaboratory testing of U. S. Geological Survey shale reference materials
Justin E. Birdwell, Stephen A. Wilson
2019, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 7th Unconventional Resources Technology Conference
The expansion of unconventional petroleum resource exploration and production in the United States has led to an increase in source rock characterization efforts, particularly related to bulk organic and mineralogical properties. To support the analytical and research needs of industry and academia, as well as internal work, the U.S. Geological...
Evolutionary history predicts high-impact invasions by herbivorous insects
Angela M. Mech, Kathryn A. Thomas, Travis D. Marsico, Daniel A. Herms, Craig Allen, Matthew P. Ayres, Kamal J.K. Gandhi, Jessica Gurevitch, Nathan P. Havill, Ruth A. Hufbauer, Andrew M. Liebhold, Kenneth F. Raffa, Ashley N. Schulz, Daniel R. Uden, Patrick C. Tobin
2019, Ecology and Evolution (9) 12216-12230
A long‐standing goal of invasion biology is to identify factors driving highly variable impacts of non‐native species. Although hypotheses exist that emphasize the role of evolutionary history (e.g., enemy release hypothesis & defense‐free space hypothesis), predicting the impact of non‐native herbivorous insects has eluded scientists for over a century. Using a...
Competitive interactions among H, CU, and Zn ion moderate aqueous uptake of Cu and Zn by an aquatic insect
Daniel J. Cain, Marie Noele Croteau, Christopher C. Fuller
2019, Environmental Pollution (255)
The absorption of aqueous copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) by aquatic insects, a group widely used to assess water quality, is unresolved. This study examined interactions among Cu, Zn, and protons that potentially moderate Cu and Zn uptake by the acid-tolerant stonefly Zapada sp. Saturation uptake kinetics was imposed to...
Mechanics of inflationary deformation during Caldera collapse: Evidence from the 2018 Kīlauea Eruption
Paul Segall, Kyle R. Anderson, Ingrid A. Johanson, Asta Miklius
2019, Geophysical Research Letters (46) 11782-11789
During the 2018 Kilauea eruption the caldera ffloor dropped 500 meters in 62 nearly periodic events of up to 8 meters. Caldera collapse maintains pressure in the magma reservoir necessary to sustain high-rate eruptions. The 2018 collapses were accompanied by inflationary tilts and displacements, similar to observations at other basaltic...
A geographic hot spot of Ichthyophonus infection in the southern Salish Sea, USA
Paul Hershberger, Ashley MacKenzie, Jacob Gregg, A Lindquist, T Sandell, Maya L. Groner, D Lowry
2019, Diseases of Aquatic Organisms (136) 157-162
The prevalence of Ichthyophonus infection in Pacific herring Clupea pallasii was spatially heterogeneous in the southern Salish Sea, Washington State, USA. Over the course of 13 mo, 2232 Pacific herring were sampled from 38 midwater trawls throughout the region. Fork length was positively correlated with Ichthyophonus infection at all sites....
Hurricane Matthew: Predictions, observations, and an analysis of coastal change
Justin J. Birchler, Kara S. Doran, Joseph W. Long, Hilary F. Stockdon
2019, Open-File Report 2019-1095
Hurricane Matthew, the strongest Atlantic hurricane of the 2016 hurricane season, made land-fall south of McClellanville, S.C., around 1500 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on October 8, 2016. Hurricane Matthew affected the States of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina along the U.S. Atlantic coastline. Numerous barrier islands were breached,...
Insights into post-Miocene uplift of the western margin of the Colorado Plateau from the stratigraphic record of the lower Colorado River
Ryan S. Crow, Keith A. Howard, L. Sue Beard, Phil Pearthree, Kyle House, Karl Karlstrom, Lisa Peters, William C. McIntosh, Colleen Cassidy, Tracey J. Felger, Debra Block
2019, Geosphere (15) 1826-1845
The spatial and temporal distribution of Pliocene to Holocene Colorado River deposits (southwestern USA and northwestern Mexico) form a primary data set that records the evolution of a continental-scale river system and helps to delineate and quantify the magnitude of regional deformation. We focus in particular on the age and...
Evaluating the effects of barriers on Slimy Sculpin movement and population connectivity using novel sibship-based and traditional genetic metrics
Spencer Y. Weinstein, Jason A. Coombs, Keith H. Nislow, Chris Riley, Allison H. Roy, Andrew R. Whiteley
2019, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (148) 1117-1131
Population genetics-based approaches can provide robust and cost-effective ways to assess the effects of potential barriers, including dams and road-stream crossings, on the passage and population connectivity of aquatic organisms. Determining the best way to apply and modify genetic tools for different species and situations is essential for making these...
The 30 November 2018 Mw7.1 Anchorage Earthquake
Michael E. West, Adrian Bender, Matthew Gardine, Lea Gardine, Kara Gately, Peter J. Haeussler, Wael Hassan, Franz Meyer, Cole Richards, Natalia Ruppert, Carl Tape, John Thornley, Robert C. Witter
2019, Seismological Research Letters (91) 66-84
The Mw">Mw 7.1 47 km deep earthquake that occurred on 30 November 2018 had deep societal impacts across southcentral Alaska and exhibited phenomena of broad scientific interest. We document observations that point to future directions...
Vertical distribution of microplastics in the water column and surficial sediment from the Milwaukee River basin to Lake Michigan
Peter L. Lenaker, Austin K. Baldwin, Steven R. Corsi, Sherri A. Mason, Paul C. Reneau, John W Scott
2019, Environmental Science & Technology (53) 12227-12237
Microplastic contamination was studied along a freshwater continuum from inland streams to the Milwaukee River estuary to Lake Michigan, and vertically from the water surface, water subsurface and sediment. Microplastics were detected in all 96 water samples and nine sediment samples collected. Results indicated a gradient of polymer presence with...
Economic valuation of Landsat imagery
Crista L. Straub, Stephen R. Koontz, John B. Loomis
2019, Open-File Report 2019-1112
Landsat satellites have been operating since 1972, providing a continuous global record of the Earth’s land surface. The imagery is currently available at no cost through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). A previous USGS study estimated that Landsat imagery provided users an annual benefit of $2.19 billion in 2011, with...
Projected urban growth in the Southeastern USA puts small streams at risk
Peter C. Van Metre, Ian R. Waite, Sharon L. Qi, Barbara Mahler, Adam Terando, Michael Wieczorek, Michael R. Meador, Paul M. Bradley, Celeste A. Journey, Travis S. Schmidt, Daren M. Carlisle
2019, PLoS ONE (10)
Future land-use development has the potential to profoundly affect the health of aquatic ecosystems in the coming decades. We developed regression models predicting the loss of sensitive fish (R2=0.39) and macroinvertebrate (R2=0.64) taxa as a function of urban and agricultural land uses and applied them to projected urbanization of...
The effect of brine on the electrical properties of methane hydrate
Ryan Lu, Laura A. Stern, Wyatt L. Du Frane, John C. Pinkston, J. Murray Roberts, S. Constable
2019, Journal of Geophysical Research (124) 10877-10892
Gas hydrates possess lower electrical conductivity (inverse of resistivity) than either seawater or ice, but higher than clastic silts and sands, such that electromagnetic methods can be employed to help identify their natural formation in marine and permafrost environments. Controlled laboratory studies offer a means to...
Nest survival of Black-necked Stilts (Himantopus mexicanus) on the upper Texas coast, USA
Thomas V. Riecke, Warren C. Conway, David A. Haukos, Jena A. Moon, Christopher E. Comer
2019, Waterbirds (42) 261-271
The Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) is a migratory shorebird of temperate and tropical America. Declining wetland quality and associated declines in hydrological integrity may contribute to widespread habitat loss for stilts nesting on the upper Texas Gulf of Mexico coast of the USA, as both fresh and brackish...
Detrital zircon geochronology along a structural transect across the Kahiltna assemblage in the western Alaska Range: Implications for emplacement of the Alexander-Wrangellia-Peninsular terrane against North America
Stephen E. Box, Susan M. Karl, James V. Jones III, Dwight Bradley, Peter J. Haeussler, Paul B. O’Sullivan
2019, Geosphere (15) 1774-1808
The Kahiltna assemblage in the western Alaska Range consists of deformed Upper Jurassic and Cretaceous clastic strata that lie between the Alexander-Wrangellia-Peninsular (AWP) terrane to the south, and the Farewell and other peri-cratonic terranes to the north. Differences in detrital zircon populations and sandstone petrography allow geographic separation of the...
A mechanistic understanding of ecological responses to land-use change in headwater streams
Richard H. Walker, Annika W. Walters
2019, Ecosphere (10)
Anthropogenic activities, such as oil and natural gas development (ONGD), have significantly altered the landscape. It is often challenging to identify the mechanistic processes underlying ecological responses to land-use change (LUC). In aquatic ecosystems, alterations to habitat and food availability and water quality associated with increased...
Stormquakes
Wenyuan Fan, Jeffrey J. McGuire, C. D. de Groot-Hedlin, M. A. H. Hedlin, S. Coats, J. W. Fiedler
2019, Geophysical Research Letters (46) 12918
Seismic signals from ocean-solid Earth interactions are ubiquitously recorded on our planet. However, these wavefields are typically incoherent in most frequency bands limiting their utilization for understanding ocean dynamics or solid Earth properties. In contrast, we find that during large storms such as hurricanes and Nor’easters the interaction of long-period...
Plant and insect herbivore community variation across the Paleocene–Eocene boundary in the Hanna Basin, southeastern Wyoming
Lauren E Schmidt, Regan E Dunn, Jason J Mercer, Marieke Dechesne, Ellen D Currano
2019, PeerJ
Ecosystem function and stability are highly affected by internal and external stressors. Utilizing paleobotanical data gives insight into the evolutionary processes an ecosystem undergoes across long periods of time, allowing for a more complete understanding of how plant and insect herbivore communities are affected by ecosystem imbalance. To study how...
Escherichia coli in the Santa Cruz River in Tumacácori National Historical Park, Arizona
Nicholas V. Paretti
2019, Fact Sheet 2019-3065
At Tumacácori National Historical Park in southern Arizona, resource managers are concerned about microbial pathogens in the Santa Cruz River that could pose a serious health risk to employees and visitors. The U.S. Geological Survey recently completed a comprehensive 3-year study of water quality in the Santa Cruz River watershed...
Spatial and temporal distribution of bacterial indicators and microbial-source tracking within Tumacácori National Historical Park and the upper Santa Cruz River, southern Arizona and northern Mexico, 2015–2016
Nicholas V. Paretti, Christopher M. Kephart, Thomas J. Porter, Edyth Hermosillo, Jay R. Cederberg, Justine P. Mayo, Bruce Gungle, Alissa L. Coes, Rachel S. Tucci, Laura M. Norman
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5108
Tumacácori National Historical Park (TUMA) in southern Arizona protects the culturally important Mission San José de Tumacácori, while also managing a part of the ecologically diverse riparian corridor of the Santa Cruz River. The quality of the water flowing through depends solely on upstream watershed activities, and among the water-quality...
