Tumor prevalence and biomarkers of genotoxicity in brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus) in Chesapeake Bay tributaries
Alfred E. Pinkney, John C. Harshbarger, Natalie K. Karouna-Renier, Kathryn Jenko, Lennart Balk, Halldora Skarphedinsdottir, Birgitta Liewenborg, Michael A. Rutter
2011, Science of the Total Environment (410-411) 248-257
We surveyed four Chesapeake Bay tributaries for skin and liver tumors in brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus). We focused on the South River, where the highest skin tumor prevalence (53%) in the Bay watershed had been reported. The objectives were to 1) compare tumor prevalence with nearby rivers (Severn and Rhode)...
Trophic relationships between a native and a nonnative predator in a system of natural lakes
Michael H. Meeuwig, Christopher S. Guy, Wade A. Fedenberg
2011, Ecology of Freshwater Fish (20) 315-325
Bull trout, a species of char listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act, have been displaced from portions of their historic range following the introduction of nonnative lake trout. It has been suggested that competitive exclusion as a result of trophic overlap between bull trout and lake trout...
Trematode communities in snails can indicate impact and recovery from hurricanes in a tropical coastal lagoon
Maria Leopoldina Aguirre-Macedo, Victor M. Vidal-Martinez, Kevin D. Lafferty
2011, International Journal for Parasitology (41) 1403-1408
In September 2002, Hurricane Isidore devastated the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. To understand its effects on the parasites of aquatic organisms, we analyzed long-term monthly population data of the horn snail Cerithidea pliculosa and its trematode communities in Celestún, Yucatán, Mexico before and after the hurricane (February 2001 to December 2009)....
Non-genetic data supporting genetic evidence for the eastern wolf
L. David Mech
2011, Northeastern Naturalist (18) 521-526
Two schools of thought dominate the molecular-genetics literature on Canis spp. (wolves) in the western Great Lakes region of the US and Canada: (1) they are hybrids between Canis lupus (Gray Wolf) and Canis latrans (Coyote), or (2) they are hybrids between the Gray Wolf and Canis lycaon (Eastern Wolf)....
Potential water-quality effects of coal-bed methane production water discharged along the upper Tongue River, Wyoming and Montana
Stacy M. Kinsey, David A. Nimick
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5196
Water quality in the upper Tongue River from Monarch, Wyoming, downstream to just upstream from the Tongue River Reservoir in Montana potentially could be affected by discharge of coal-bed methane (CBM) production water (hereinafter referred to as CBM discharge). CBM discharge typically contains high concentrations of sodium and other ions...
Airborne electromagnetic and magnetic geophysical survey data of the Yukon Flats and Fort Wainwright areas, central Alaska, June 2010
Lyndsay B. Ball, Bruce D. Smith, Burke J. Minsley, Jared D. Abraham, Clifford I. Voss, Beth N. Astley, Maria Deszcz-Pan, James C. Cannia
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1304
In June 2010, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted airborne electromagnetic and magnetic surveys of the Yukon Flats and Fort Wainwright study areas in central Alaska. These data were collected to estimate the three-dimensional distribution of permafrost at the time of the survey. These data were also collected to evaluate the...
Effects of brush management on the hydrologic budget and water quality in and adjacent to Honey Creek State Natural Area, Comal County, Texas, 2001-10
J. Ryan Banta, Richard N. Slattery
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5226
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Edwards Region Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative, the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board, the San Antonio River Authority, the Edwards Aquifer Authority, Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority, and...
The present and future role of coastal wetland vegetation in protecting shorelines: Answering recent challenges to the paradigm
Keryn B. Gedan, Matthew L. Kirwan, Eric Wolanski, Edward B. Barbier, Brian R. Silliman
2011, Climatic Change (106) 7-29
For more than a century, coastal wetlands have been recognized for their ability to stabilize shorelines and protect coastal communities. However, this paradigm has recently been called into question by small-scale experimental evidence. Here, we conduct a literature review and a small meta-analysis of wave attenuation data, and we find...
Interface between black-footed ferret research and operational conservation
Dean E. Biggins, Travis M. Livieri, Stewart W. Breck
2011, Journal of Mammalogy (92) 699-704
Questions and problems that emerged during operational conservation of black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes) have been addressed by a wide variety of studies. Early results from such studies often were communicated orally during meetings of recovery groups and in written form using memoranda, unpublished reports, and theses. Typically, implementation of results...
Hyperspectral remote sensing of vegetation and agricultural crops: Knowledge gain and knowledge gap after 40 years of research
Prasad S. Thenkabail, John G. Lyon, Alfredo Huete
Prasad S. Thenkabail, John G. Lyon, Alfredo Huete, editor(s)
2011, Book chapter, Hyperspectral remote sensing of vegetation
The focus of this chapter was to summarize the advances made over last 40+ years, as reported in various chapters of this book, in understanding, modeling, and mapping terrestrial vegetation using hyperspectral remote sensing (or imaging spectroscopy) using sensors that are ground-based, truck-mounted, airborne, and spaceborne. As we have seen...
Advances in hyperspectral remote sensing of vegetation and agricultural croplands
Prasad S. Thenkabail, John G. Lyon, Alfredo Huete
Prasad S. Thenkabail, John G. Lyon, Alfredo Huete, editor(s)
2011, Book, Hyperspectral remote sensing of vegetation
Recent advances in hyperspectral remote sensing (or imaging spectroscopy) demonstrate a great utility for a variety of land monitoring applications. It is now possible to be diagnostic in sensing species and plant communities using remotely sensed data and to do so in a direct and informed manner using modern tools...
Hydrostratigraphic interpretation of test-hole and geophysical data, Upper Loup River Basin, Nebraska, 2008-10
Christopher M. Hobza, Theodore H. Asch, Paul A. Bedrosian
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1289
Nebraska's Upper Loup Natural Resources District is currently (2011) participating in the Elkhorn-Loup Model to understand the effect of various groundwater-management scenarios on surface-water resources. During Phase 1 of the Elkhorn-Loup Model, a lack of subsurface geological information in the Upper Loup Natural Resources District, hereafter referred to as the...
Editor’s message: Groundwater modeling fantasies - Part 1, adrift in the details
Clifford I. Voss
2011, Hydrogeology Journal (19) 1281-1284
Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it. …Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it. (Epigrams in Programming by Alan Perlis, a computer scientist; Perlis 1982).A doctoral student creating a groundwater model of a regional aquifer put individual...
Evaluating the potential for remote bathymetric mapping of a turbid, sand-bed river: 2. application to hyperspectral image data from the Platte River
Carl J. Legleiter, Paul J. Kinzel, Brandon T. Overstreet
2011, Water Resources Research (47)
This study examined the possibility of mapping depth from optical image data in turbid, sediment-laden channels. Analysis of hyperspectral images from the Platte River indicated that depth retrieval in these environments is feasible, but might not be highly accurate. Four methods of calibrating image-derived depth estimates were evaluated. The first...
An evaluation of the Bayesian approach to fitting the N-mixture model for use with pseudo-replicated count data
S.G. Toribo, B. R. Gray, S. Liang
2011, Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation (82) 1135-1143
The N-mixture model proposed by Royle in 2004 may be used to approximate the abundance and detection probability of animal species in a given region. In 2006, Royle and Dorazio discussed the advantages of using a Bayesian approach in modelling animal abundance and occurrence using a hierarchical N-mixture model. N-mixture...
An automated device for provoking and capturing wildlife calls
David E. Ausband, Jesse Skrivseth, Michael S. Mitchell
2011, Wildlife Society Bulletin (35) 498-503
Some animals exhibit call-and-response behaviors that can be exploited to facilitate detection. Traditionally, acoustic surveys that use call-and-respond techniques have required an observer's presence to perform the broadcast, record the response, or both events. This can be labor-intensive and may influence animal behavior and, thus, survey results. We developed an...
Alternative states of a semiarid grassland ecosystem: implications for ecosystem services
Mark E. Miller, R. Travis Belote, Matthew A. Bowker, Steven L. Garman
2011, Ecosphere (2)
Ecosystems can shift between alternative states characterized by persistent differences in structure, function, and capacity to provide ecosystem services valued by society. We examined empirical evidence for alternative states in a semiarid grassland ecosystem where topographic complexity and contrasting management regimes have led to spatial variations in levels of livestock...
Offshore sand-shoal development and evolution of Petit Bois Pass, Mississippi-Alabama Barrier Islands, Mississippi, USA
James G. Flocks, Kyle W. Kelso, Gregory C. Twichell, Noreen A. Buster, John N. Baehr
Julie D. Rosati, Ping Wang, Tiffany M. Roberts, editor(s)
2011, Book, The Proceedings of the Coastal Sediments 2011
Assessment of recently collected geophysical and sediment-core data identifies an extensive shoal field located off Dauphin and Petit Bois Islands. The shoals are the product of Pleistocene fluvial deposition and Holocene marine-transgressive processes, and their position and orientation oblique to the modern shoreline has been stable over the past century....
A new strategy for developing Vs30 maps
David J. Wald, Leslie McWhirter, Eric Thompson, Amanda S. Hering
2011, Book
Despite obvious limitations as a proxy for site amplification, the use of time-averaged shear-wave velocity over the top 30m (Vs30) is useful and widely practiced, most notably through its use as an explanatory variable in ground motion prediction equations (and thus hazard maps and ShakeMaps, among other applications). Local, regional,...
The fate and transport of nitrate in shallow groundwater in northwestern Mississippi, USA
Heather L. Welch, Christopher T. Green, Richard H. Coupe
2011, Hydrogeology Journal (19) 1239-1252
Agricultural contamination of groundwater in northwestern Mississippi, USA, has not been studied extensively, and subsurface fluxes of agricultural chemicals have been presumed minimal. To determine the factors controlling transport of nitrate-N into the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer, a study was conducted from 2006 to 2008 to estimate fluxes of...
The evaluation of a rake method to quantify submersed vegetation in the Upper Mississippi River
Yao Yin, Rebecca M. Kreiling
2011, Hydrobiologia (675) 187-195
A long-handled, double-headed garden rake was used to collect submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) and compared to in-boat visual inspection to record species presence at 67 individual sites. Six rake subsamples were taken at each site and a rake density rating was given to each species collected in the subsamples. Presence...
A multi-year comparison of IPCI scores for prairie pothole wetlands: implications of temporal and spatial variation
Ned H. Euliss Jr., David M. Mushet
2011, Wetlands (31) 713-723
In the prairie pothole region of North America, development of Indices of Biotic Integrity (IBIs) to detect anthropogenic impacts on wetlands has been hampered by naturally dynamic inter-annual climate fluctuations. Of multiple efforts to develop IBIs for prairie pothole wetlands, only one, the Index of Plant Community Integrity (IPCI), has...
US Topo - A new national map series
Laurence R. Moore
2011, Directions Magazine (2011)
In the second half of the 20th century, the foundation of the U.S. Geological Survey's national map series was the handcrafted 7.5-minute topographic map. Times change, budgets get squeezed and currency expectations become ever more challenging. The USGS's Larry Moore, who oversees data production operations at two National Geospatial Technical...
Estimation of volumetric runoff coefficients for Texas watersheds using land-use and rainfall-runoff data
Nirajan Dhakal, Xing Fang, Theodore G. Cleveland, David B. Thompson, William H. Asquith, Luke J. Marzen
2011, Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering (138) 43-54
The rational method for peak discharge (Qp">Qp) estimation was introduced in the 1880s. Although the rational method is considered simplistic, it remains an effective method for estimating peak discharge for...
Predicting breeding habitat for amphibians: a spatiotemporal analysis across Yellowstone National Park
Paul E. Bartelt, Alisa L. Gallant, Robert W. Klaver, Christopher K. Wright, Debra A. Patla, Charles R. Peterson
2011, Ecological Applications (21) 2530-2547
The ability to predict amphibian breeding across landscapes is important for informing land management decisions and helping biologists better understand and remediate factors contributing to declines in amphibian populations. We built geospatial models of likely breeding habitats for each of four amphibian species that breed in Yellowstone National Park (YNP)....
