Amphibians and reptiles of Guyana, South America: illustrated keys, annotated species accounts, and a biogeographic synopsis
Charles J. Cole, Carol R. Townsend, Robert P. Reynolds, Ross D. MacCulloch, Amy Lathrop
2013, Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington (125) 317-578
Guyana has a very distinctive herpetofauna. In this first ever detailed modern accounting, based on voucher specimens, we document the presence of 324 species of amphibians and reptiles in the country; 148 amphibians, 176 reptiles. Of these, we present species accounts for 317 species and color photographs of about 62%...
Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Baghlan mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter P in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan
Philip A. Davis, Laura E. Cagney
2013, Data Series 709-P
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the...
Assessment of macroinvertebrate communities in adjacent urban stream basins, Kansas City, Missouri, metropolitan area, 2007 through 2011
Eric D. Christensen, Heather M. Krempa
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5284
Macroinvertebrates were collected as part of two separate urban water-quality studies from adjacent basins, the Blue River Basin (Kansas City, Missouri), the Little Blue River and Rock Creek Basins (Independence, Missouri), and their tributaries. Consistent collection and processing procedures between the studies allowed for statistical comparisons. Seven Blue River Basin...
Hydrography change detection: the usefulness of surface channels derived From LiDAR DEMs for updating mapped hydrography
Sandra K. Poppenga, Dean B. Gesch, Bruce B. Worstell
2013, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (49) 371-389
The 1:24,000-scale high-resolution National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) mapped hydrography flow lines require regular updating because land surface conditions that affect surface channel drainage change over time. Historically, NHD flow lines were created by digitizing surface water information from aerial photography and paper maps. Using these same methods to update nationwide...
Defining a data management strategy for USGS Chesapeake Bay studies
Cassandra Ladino
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1005
The mission of U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Chesapeake Bay studies is to provide integrated science for improved understanding and management of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. Collective USGS efforts in the Chesapeake Bay watershed began in the 1980s, and by the mid-1990s the USGS adopted the watershed as one of its...
Analysis of changes in water-level dynamics at selected sites in the Florida Everglades
Paul Conrads, Stephen T. Benedict
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5286
The historical modification and regulation of the hydrologic patterns in the Florida Everglades have resulted in changes in the ecosystem of South Florida and the Florida Everglades. Since the 1970s, substantial focus has been given to the restoration of the Everglades ecosystem. The U.S. Geological Survey through its Greater Everglades...
Assessing the risk of nitrogen deposition to natural resources in the Four Corners area
Sasha C. Reed, Jayne Belnap, Lisa Floyd-Hanna, Tim Crews, Jack Herring, Dave Hanna, Mark E. Miller, Michael C. Duniway, Carla M. Roybal
2013, Report
Nitrogen (N) deposition in the western U.S. is on the rise and is already dramatically affecting terrestrial ecosystems. For example, N deposition has repeatedly been shown to lower air and water quality, increase greenhouse gas emissions, alter plant community composition, and significantly modify fire regimes. Accordingly, the effects of N...
Partial least squares for efficient models of fecal indicator bacteria on Great Lakes beaches
Wesley R. Brooks, Michael N. Fienen, Steven R. Corsi
2013, Journal of Environmental Management (114) 470-475
At public beaches, it is now common to mitigate the impact of water-borne pathogens by posting a swimmer's advisory when the concentration of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) exceeds an action threshold. Since culturing the bacteria delays public notification when dangerous conditions exist, regression models are sometimes used to predict the...
Population genetic structure of rare and endangered plants using molecular markers
Jennifer Raji, Carter T. Atkinson
2013, Technical Report HCSU-036
This study was initiated to assess the levels of genetic diversity and differentiation in the remaining populations of Phyllostegia stachyoides and Melicope zahlbruckneri in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park and determine the extent of gene flow to identify genetically distinct individuals or groups for conservation purposes....
Computing ordinary least-squares parameter estimates for the National Descriptive Model of Mercury in Fish
David I. Donato
2013, Techniques and Methods 7-C10
A specialized technique is used to compute weighted ordinary least-squares (OLS) estimates of the parameters of the National Descriptive Model of Mercury in Fish (NDMMF) in less time using less computer memory than general methods. The characteristics of the NDMMF allow the two products X'X and X'y in the normal...
Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the South Helmand mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter O in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan
Philip A. Davis, Laura E. Cagney
2013, Data Series 709-O
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the...
Temporal shifts in top-down vs. bottom-up control of epiphytic algae in a seagrass ecosystem
Matthew A. Whalen, J. Emmett Duffy, James B. Grace
2013, Ecology (94) 510-520
In coastal marine food webs, small invertebrate herbivores (mesograzers) have long been hypothesized to occupy an important position facilitating dominance of habitat-forming macrophytes by grazing competitively superior epiphytic algae. Because of the difficulty of manipulating mesograzers in the field, however, their impacts on community organization have rarely been rigorously documented....
Representing the acquisition and use of energy by individuals in agent-based models of animal populations
Richard M. Sibly, Volker Grimm, Benjamin T. Martin, Alice Johnston, Katarzyna Kulakowska, Christopher J. Topping, Peter Calow, Jacob Nabe-Nielsen, Pernille Thorbek, Donald L. DeAngelis
2013, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (4) 151-161
1. Agent-based models (ABMs) are widely used to predict how populations respond to changing environments. As the availability of food varies in space and time, individuals should have their own energy budgets, but there is no consensus as to how these should be modelled. Here, we use knowledge of physiological...
Trait contributions to fish community assembly emerge from trophicinteractions in an individual-based model
Henrique C. Giacomini, Donald DeAngelis, Joel C. Trexler, Miguel Petrere Jr.
2013, Ecological Modelling (251) 32-43
Community ecology seeks to understand and predict the characteristics of communities that can develop under different environmental conditions, but most theory has been built on analytical models that are limited in the diversity of species traits that can be considered simultaneously. We address that limitation with an individual-based model to...
Modeling plant species distributions under future climates: how fine scale do climate projections need to be?
Janet Franklin, Frank W. Davis, Makihiko Ikegami, Alexandra D. Syphard, Lorraine E. Flint, Alan L. Flint, Lee Hannah
2013, Global Change Biology (19) 473-483
Recent studies suggest that species distribution models (SDMs) based on fine‐scale climate data may provide markedly different estimates of climate‐change impacts than coarse‐scale models. However, these studies disagree in their conclusions of how scale influences projected species distributions. In rugged terrain, coarse‐scale climate grids may not capture topographically controlled climate...
Dynamics of seabird colonies vulnerable to sea-level rise at French Frigate Shoals, Hawai`i
Michelle H. Reynolds, Karen N. Courtot, Crystal M. Krause, Nathaniel E. Seavy, Paula Hartzell, Jeff S. Hatfield
2013, Hawai‘i Cooperative Studies Unit Technical Report HCSU-037
Globally, seabirds are vulnerable to anthropogenic threats both at sea and on land. Seabirds typically nest colonially and show strong site fidelity; therefore, conservation strategies could benefit from an understanding of the population dynamics and vulnerability of breeding colonies to climate change. More than 350 atolls exist across the Pacific...
Ecosystem engineering varies spatially: a test of the vegetation modification paradigm for prairie dogs
Bruce W. Baker, David J. Augustine, James A. Sedgwick, Bruce C. Lubow
2013, Ecography: Pattern and Diversity in Ecology (36) 230-239
Colonial, burrowing herbivores can be engineers of grassland and shrubland ecosystems worldwide. Spatial variation in landscapes suggests caution when extrapolating single-place studies of single species, but lack of data and the need to generalize often leads to ‘model system’ thinking and application of results beyond appropriate statistical inference. Generalizations about...
Integration of bed characteristics, geochemical tracers, current measurements, and numerical modeling for assessing the provenance of beach sand in the San Francisco Bay Coastal System
Patrick L. Barnard, Amy C. Foxgrover, Edwin P.L. Elias, Li H. Erikson, James R. Hein, Mary McGann, Kira Mizell, Robert J. Rosenbauer, Peter W. Swarzenski, Renee K. Takesue, Florence L. Wong, Don Woodrow
2013, Marine Geology (345) 181-206
Over 150 million m3 of sand-sized sediment has disappeared from the central region of the San Francisco Bay Coastal System during the last half century. This enormous loss may reflect numerous anthropogenic influences, such as watershed damming, bay-fill development, aggregate mining, and dredging. The reduction in Bay sediment also appears to be...
Regional contingencies in the relationship between aboveground Bbomass and litter in the world’s grasslands
Lydia R. O’Halloran, Elizabeth T. Borer, Eric W. Seabloom, Andrew S. MacDougall, Elsa E. Cleland, Rebecca L. McCulley, Sarah Hobbie, W. Stan Harpole, Nicole M. DeCrappeo, Cheng-Jin Chu, Jonathan D. Bakker, Kendi F. Davies, Guozhen Du, Jennifer Firn, Nicole Hagenah, Kirsten S. Hofmockel, Johannes M.H. Knops, Wei Li, Brett A. Melbourne, John W. Morgan, John L. Orrock, Suzanne M. Prober, Carly J. Stevens
2013, PLoS ONE (8)
Based on regional-scale studies, aboveground production and litter decomposition are thought to positively covary, because they are driven by shared biotic and climatic factors. Until now we have been unable to test whether production and decomposition are generally coupled across climatically dissimilar regions, because we lacked replicated data collected within...
VisTrails SAHM: visualization and workflow management for species habitat modeling
Jeffrey T. Morisette, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Tracy R. Holcombe, Colin B. Talbert, Drew A. Ignizio, Marian Talbert, Claudio Silva, David Koop, Alan Swanson, Nicholas E. Young
2013, Ecography: Pattern and Diversity in Ecology (36) 129-135
The Software for Assisted Habitat Modeling (SAHM) has been created to both expedite habitat modeling and help maintain a record of the various input data, pre- and post-processing steps and modeling options incorporated in the construction of a species distribution model through the established workflow management and visualization VisTrails software....
Intercontinental dispersal of bacteria and archaea by transpacific winds
D. Smith, H. Timonen, D. Jaffe, Dale W. Griffin, M. Birmele, K.D. Perry, P.D. Ward, M. Roberts
2013, Applied and Environmental Microbiology (79) 1134-1139
Microorganisms are abundant in the upper atmosphere, particularly downwind of arid regions, where winds can mobilize large amounts of topsoil and dust. However, the challenge of collecting samples from the upper atmosphere and reliance upon culture-based characterization methods have prevented a comprehensive understanding of globally dispersed airborne microbes. In spring...
Consumption of freshwater bivalves by muskrats in the Green River, Kentucky
Kimberly Asmus Hersey, Joseph D. Clark, James B. Layzer
2013, American Midland Naturalist (170) 248-259
Muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) are known to prey on freshwater bivalves (mussels and clams) and can negatively impact imperiled mussel species. However, factors that influence muskrat predation on bivalves are poorly understood. We evaluated the feeding ecology of muskrats in the Green River, Kentucky, by using stable isotope analysis of muskrat...
Monitoring the status of forests and rangelands in the Western United States using ecosystem performance anomalies
Matthew B. Rigge, Bruce Wylie, Yingxin Gu, Jayne Belnap, Khem P. Phuyal, Larry Tieszen
2013, International Journal of Remote Sensing (34) 4049-4068
The effects of land management and disturbance on ecosystem performance (i.e. biomass production) are often confounded by those of weather and site potential. The current study overcomes this issue by calculating the difference between actual and expected ecosystem performance (EEP) to generate ecosystem performance anomalies (EPA). This study aims to...
Temporal and spatial distribution of alteration, mineralization and fluid inclusions in the transitional high-sulfidation epithermal-porphyry copper system at Red Mountain, Arizona
Pilar Lecumberri-Sanchez, M. Claiborne Newton III, Erik C. Westman, Robert J. Kamilli, Vertrees M. Canby, Robert J. Bodnar
2013, Journal of Geochemical Exploration (125) 80-93
Red Mountain, Arizona, is a Laramide porphyry Cu system (PCD) that has experienced only a modest level of erosion compared to most other similar deposits in the southwestern United States. As a result, the upper portion of the magmatic–hydrothermal system, which represents the transition from shallower high-sulfidation epithermal mineralization to...
Limitation and facilitation of one of the world's most invasive fish: an intercontinental comparison
Phaedra E. Budy, Gary P. Thiede, Javier Lobon-Cervia, Gustavo Gonzolez Fernandez, Peter McHugh, Angus McIntosh, Lief Asbjorn Vollestad, Eloy Becares, Phillip Jellyman
2013, Ecology (94) 356-367
Purposeful species introductions offer opportunities to inform our understanding of both invasion success and conservation hurdles. We evaluated factors determining the energetic limitations of brown trout (Salmo trutta) in both their native and introduced ranges. Our focus was on brown trout because they are nearly globally distributed, considered one of...
