Estimation of regional flow-duration curves for Indiana and Illinois
Thomas M. Over, James D. Riley, Mackenzie K. Marti, Jennifer B. Sharpe, Donald V. Arvin
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5177
Flow-duration curves (FDCs) of daily streamflow are useful for many applications in water resources planning and management but must be estimated at ungaged sites. One common technique for estimating FDCs at ungaged sites in a given region is to use equations obtained by linear regression of FDC quantiles against multiple...
Population viability of Pediocactus brady (Cactaceae) in a changing climate
Daniel F. Shryock, Todd C. Esque, Lee Huges
2014, American Journal of Botany (101) 1944-1953
• Premise of the study: A key question concerns the vulnerability of desert species adapted to harsh, variable climates to future climate change. Evaluating this requires coupling long-term demographic models with information on past and projected future climates. We investigated climatic drivers of population growth using a 22-yr demographic model for Pediocactus bradyi,...
Effects of prey abundance, distribution, visual contrast and morphology on selection by a pelagic piscivore
Adam G. Hansen, David A. Beauchamp
2014, Freshwater Biology (59) 2328-2341
Most predators eat only a subset of possible prey. However, studies evaluating diet selection rarely measure prey availability in a manner that accounts for temporal–spatial overlap with predators, the sensory mechanisms employed to detect prey, and constraints on prey capture.We evaluated the diet selection of cutthroat trout...
Groundwater-quality data in the North San Francisco Bay Shallow Aquifer study unit, 2012: results from the California GAMA Program
George L. Bennett V, Miranda S. Fram
2014, Data Series 865
Groundwater quality in the 1,850-square-mile North San Francisco Bay Shallow Aquifer (NSF-SA) study unit was investigated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from April to August 2012, as part of the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program’s Priority Basin Project (PBP). The...
An integrated modeling approach to estimating Gunnison Sage-Grouse population dynamics: Combining index and demographic data
Amy J. Davis, Mevin B. Hooten, Michael L. Phillips, Paul F. Doherty Jr.
2014, Ecology and Evolution (4) 4247-2457
Evaluation of population dynamics for rare and declining species is often limited to data that are sparse and/or of poor quality. Frequently, the best data available for rare bird species are based on large‐scale, population count data. These data are commonly based on sampling methods that lack consistent sampling effort,...
Late Holocene sedimentary environments of south San Francisco Bay, California, illustrated in gravity cores
Donald L. Woodrow, Theresa A. Fregoso, Florence L. Wong, Bruce E. Jaffe
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1198
Data are reported here from 51 gravity cores collected from the southern part of San Francisco Bay by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1990. The sedimentary record in the cores demonstrates a stable geographic distribution of facies and spans a few thousand years. Carbon-14 dating of the sediments suggests that...
Post-mortem sporulation of Ceratomyxa shasta (Myxozoa) after death in adult Chinook salmon
Michael L. Kent, K. Soderlund, E. Thomann, Carl B. Schreck, T.J. Sharpton
2014, Journal of Parasitology (100) 679-683
Ceratomyxa shasta (Myxozoa) is a common gastrointestinal pathogen of salmonid fishes in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. We have been investigating this parasite in adult Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the Willamette River, Oregon. In prior work, we observed differences in the pattern of development of C. shasta...
A cross-validation package driving Netica with python
Michael N. Fienen, Nathaniel G. Plant
2014, Environmental Modelling and Software (63) 14-23
Bayesian networks (BNs) are powerful tools for probabilistically simulating natural systems and emulating process models. Cross validation is a technique to avoid overfitting resulting from overly complex BNs. Overfitting reduces predictive skill. Cross-validation for BNs is known but rarely implemented due partly to a lack of software tools designed to...
Fatal paralytic shellfish poisoning in Kittlitz's Murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris) nestlings, Alaska, USA
Valerie I. Shearn-Bochsler, Ellen W. Lance, Robin Corcoran, John F. Piatt, Barbara Bodenstein, Elizabeth Frame, James Lawonn
2014, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (50) 933-937
Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) is an acute toxic illness in humans resulting from ingestion of shellfish contaminated with a suite of neurotoxins (saxitoxins) produced by marine dinoflagellates, most commonly in the genus Alexandrium. Poisoning also has been sporadically suspected and, less often, documented in marine wildlife, often in association with...
Great Lakes restoration success through science: U.S. Geological Survey accomplishments 2010 through 2013
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2014, Circular 1404
The Great Lakes (Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario) are the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth and serve as an important source of drinking water, transportation, power, and recreational opportunities for the United States and Canada. They also support an abundant commercial and recreational fishery, are crucial for...
Minimal role of eastern fence lizards in Borrelia burgdorferi transmission in central New Jersey oak/pine woodlands
Eric L. Rulison, Kaetlyn T Kerr, Megan C Dyer, Seungeun Han, Russell L. Burke, Jean I. Tsao, Howard S. Ginsberg
2014, Journal of Parasitology (100) 578-582
The Eastern fence lizard, Sceloporus undulatus, is widely distributed in eastern and central North America, ranging through areas with high levels of Lyme disease, as well as areas where Lyme disease is rare or absent. We studied the potential role of S. undulatus in transmission dynamics of Lyme spirochetes by...
Accounting for false-positive acoustic detections of bats using occupancy models
Matthew J. Clement, Thomas J. Rodhouse, Patricia C. Ormsbee, Joseph M. Szewczak, James D. Nichols
2014, Journal of Applied Ecology (51) 1460-1467
1. Acoustic surveys have become a common survey method for bats and other vocal taxa. Previous work shows that bat echolocation may be misidentified, but common analytic methods, such as occupancy models, assume that misidentifications do not occur. Unless rare, such misidentifications could lead to incorrect inferences with significant management...
Long-term effects of seeding after wildfire on vegetation in Great Basin shrubland ecosystems
Kevin C. Knutson, David A. Pyke, Troy A. Wirth, Robert S. Arkle, David S. Pilliod, Matthew L. Brooks, Jeanne C. Chambers, James B. Grace
2014, Journal of Applied Ecology (51) 1414-1424
1. Invasive annual grasses alter fire regimes in shrubland ecosystems of the western USA, threatening ecosystem function and fragmenting habitats necessary for shrub-obligate species such as greater sage-grouse. Post-fire stabilization and rehabilitation treatments have been administered to stabilize soils, reduce invasive species spread and restore or establish sustainable ecosystems...
Deposit model for heavy-mineral sands in coastal environments
Bradley S. Van Gosen, David L. Fey, Anjana K. Shah, Philip L. Verplanck, Todd M. Hoefen
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5070-L
This report provides a descriptive model of heavy-mineral sands, which are sedimentary deposits of dense minerals that accumulate with sand, silt, and clay in coastal environments, locally forming economic concentrations of the heavy minerals. This deposit type is the main source of titanium feedstock for the titanium dioxide (TiO2) pigments...
A synopsis of short-term response to alternative restoration treatments in sagebrush-steppe: the SageSTEP project
James McIver, Mark Brunson, Steve Bunting, Jeanne Chambers, Paul Doescher, James Grace, April Hulet, Dale Johnson, Steven T. Knick, Richard Miller, Mike Pellant, Fred Pierson, David Pyke, Benjamin Rau, Kim Rollins, Bruce Roundy, Eugene Schupp, Robin Tausch, Jason Williams
2014, Rangeland Ecology and Management (67) 584-598
The Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Project (SageSTEP) is an integrated long-term study that evaluates ecological effects of alternative treatments designed to reduce woody fuels and to stimulate the herbaceous understory of sagebrush steppe communities of the Intermountain West. This synopsis summarizes results through 3 yr posttreatment. Woody vegetation reduction by...
Estimates of annual survival, growth, and recruitment of a white-tailed ptarmigan population in Colorado over 43 years
Gregory T. Wann, Cameron L. Aldridge, Clait E. Braun
2014, Population Ecology (56) 555-567
Long-term datasets for high-elevation species are rare, and considerable uncertainty exists in understanding how high-elevation populations have responded to recent climate warming. We present estimates of demographic vital rates from a 43-year population study of white-tailed ptarmigan (Lagopus leucura), a species endemic to alpine habitats in western North America. We...
Genetic evidence of local exploitation of Atlantic salmon in a coastal subsistence fishery in the Northwest Atlantic
Ian R. Bradbury, Lorraine C. Hamilton, Sara Rafferty, David Meerburg, Rebecca Poole, J. Brian Dempson, Martha J. Robertson, David G. Reddin, Vincent Bourret, Melanie Dionne, Gerald J. Chaput, Timothy F. Sheehan, Tim L. King, John R. Candy, Louis Bernatchez
2014, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
Fisheries targeting mixtures of populations risk the over utilization of minor stock constituents unless harvests are monitored and managed. We evaluated stock composition and exploitation of Atlantic salmon in a subsistence fishery in coastal Labrador, Canada using genetic mixture analysis and individual assignment with a microsatellite baseline (15 loci, 11...
Water-chemistry data collected in and near Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park, Hawaii, 2012–2014
Fred D. Tillman, Delwyn S. Oki, Adam G. Johnson
2014, Open-File Report 2014-1173
Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park (KAHO) on western Hawaiʻi was established in 1978 to preserve, interpret, and perpetuate traditional Native Hawaiian culture and activities, including the preservation of a variety of culturally and ecologically significant water resources that are vital to this mission. KAHO water bodies provide habitat for 1 threatened,...
Geophysical expression of a buried niobium and rare earth element deposit: the Elk Creek carbonatite, Nebraska, USA
Benjamin J. Drenth
2014, Interpretation (2) SJ169-SJ179
The lower Paleozoic Elk Creek carbonatite is a 6–8-km-diameter intrusive complex buried under 200 m of sedimentary rocks in southeastern Nebraska. It hosts the largest known niobium deposit in the U.S. and a rare earth element (REE) deposit. The carbonatite is composed of several lithologies, the relations of which are...
Mineral resource of the month: Arsenic
George M. Bedinger
2014, Earth (September 2014)
Arsenic is a gray metal rarely encountered as a free element, but is widely distributed in minerals and ores that contain copper, iron and lead. Arsenic is often found in groundwater as a result of the natural weathering of rock and soil....
Survival of surf scoters and white-winged scoters during remigial molt
Brian D. Uher-Koch, Daniel Esler, Rian D. Dickson, Jerry W. Hupp, Joseph R. Evenson, Eric M. Anderson, Jennifer Barrett, Joel A. Schmutz
2014, Journal of Wildlife Management (78) 1189-1196
Quantifying sources and timing of variation in demographic rates is necessary to determine where and when constraints may exist within the annual cycle of organisms. Surf scoters (Melanitta perspicillata) and white-winged scoters (M. fusca) undergo simultaneous remigial molt during which they are flightless for >1 month. Molt could result in...
The offshore benthic fish community
Brian F. Lantry, Jana R. Lantry, Brian Weidel, Maureen Walsh, James A. Hoyle, Teodore Schaner, Fraser B. Neave, Michael Keir
2014, Report, The state of Lake Ontario in 2008
Lake Ontario’s offshore benthic fish community includes primarily slimy sculpin, lake whitefish, rainbow smelt, lake trout, burbot, and sea lamprey. Of these, lake trout have been the focus of an international restoration effort for more than three decades (Elrod et al. 1995; Lantry and Lantry 2008). The deepwater sculpin and...
Dissolved pesticide concentrations entering the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta from the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, California, 2012-13
James L. Orlando, Megan McWayne, Corey Sanders, Michelle Hladik
2014, Data Series 876
Surface-water samples were collected from the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers where they enter the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, and analyzed by the U.S. Geological Survey for a suite of 99 current-use pesticides and pesticide degradates. Samples were collected twice per month from May 2012 through July 2013 and from May...
Sub-decadal turbidite frequency during the early Holocene: Eel Fan, offshore northern California
Charles K. Paull, Mary L. McGann, Esther J. Sumner, Philip M Barnes, Eve M. Lundsten, Krystle Anderson, Roberto Gwiazda, Brian D. Edwards, David W Caress
2014, Geology Today (42) 855-858
Remotely operated and autonomous underwater vehicle technologies were used to image and sample exceptional deep sea outcrops where an ∼100-m-thick section of turbidite beds is exposed on the headwalls of two giant submarine scours on Eel submarine fan, offshore northern California (USA). These outcrops provide a rare opportunity to connect...
A precipitation-runoff model for simulating natural streamflow conditions in the Smith River watershed, Montana, water years 1996-2008
Katherine J. Chase, Rodney R. Caldwell, Andrea K. Stanley
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5125
This report documents the construction of a precipitation-runoff model for simulating natural streamflow in the Smith River watershed, Montana. This Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System model, constructed in cooperation with the Meagher County Conservation District, can be used to examine the general hydrologic framework of the Smith River watershed, including quantification of...
