TracerLPM (Version 1): An Excel® workbook for interpreting groundwater age distributions from environmental tracer data
Bryant C. Jurgens, J.K. Böhlke, Sandra M. Eberts
2012, Techniques and Methods 4-F3
TracerLPM is an interactive Excel® (2007 or later) workbook program for evaluating groundwater age distributions from environmental tracer data by using lumped parameter models (LPMs). Lumped parameter models are mathematical models of transport based on simplified aquifer geometry and flow configurations that account for effects of hydrodynamic dispersion or mixing...
Hatching and fledging times from grassland passerine nests
Pamela J. Pietz, Diane A. Granfors, Todd A. Grant
Christine A. Ribic, Frank R. Thompson III, Pamela J. Pietz, editor(s)
2012, Studies in Avian Biology 43-4
<span data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Accurate estimates of fledging age are needed in field studies to avoid inducing premature fledging or missing the fledging event. Both may lead to misinterpretation of nest fate. Correctly assessing nest fate and length of the nestling period can be critical for accurate calculation of nest survival rates. For...
Airborne digital-image data for monitoring the Colorado River corridor below Glen Canyon Dam, Arizona, 2009 - Image-mosaic production and comparison with 2002 and 2005 image mosaics
Philip A. Davis
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1139
Airborne digital-image data were collected for the Arizona part of the Colorado River ecosystem below Glen Canyon Dam in 2009. These four-band image data are similar in wavelength band (blue, green, red, and near infrared) and spatial resolution (20 centimeters) to image collections of the river corridor in 2002 and...
Fate and transport of cyanobacteria and associated toxins and taste-and-odor compounds from upstream reservoir releases in the Kansas River, Kansas, September and October 2011
Jennifer L. Graham, Andrew C. Ziegler, Brian L. Loving, Keith A. Loftin
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5129
Cyanobacteria cause a multitude of water-quality concerns, including the potential to produce toxins and taste-and-odor compounds. Toxins and taste-and-odor compounds may cause substantial economic and public health concerns and are of particular interest in lakes, reservoirs, and rivers that are used for drinking-water supply, recreation, or aquaculture. The Kansas River...
Carbon storage, timber production, and biodiversity: comparing ecosystem services with multi-criteria decision analysis
W. Scott Schwenk, Therese Donovan, William S. Keeton, Jared S. Nunery
2012, Ecological Applications (22) 1612-1627
Increasingly, land managers seek ways to manage forests for multiple ecosystem services and functions, yet considerable challenges exist in comparing disparate services and balancing trade-offs among them. We applied multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and forest simulation models to simultaneously consider three objectives: (1) storing carbon, (2) producing timber and wood...
Evaluating the ability of regional models to predict local avian abundance
Jaymi J. LeBrun, Wayne E. Thogmartin, James R. Miller
2012, Journal of Wildlife Management (76) 1177-1187
Spatial modeling over broad scales can potentially direct conservation efforts to areas with high species-specific abundances. We examined the performance of regional models for predicting bird abundance at spatial scales typically addressed in conservation planning. Specifically, we used point count data on wood thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) and blue-winged warbler (Vermivora...
A collaborative approach for estimating terrestrial wildlife abundance
Jason I. Ransom, Petra Kaczensky, Bruce C. Lubow, Oyunsaikhan Ganbaatar, Nanjid Altansukh
2012, Biological Conservation (153) 219-226
Accurately estimating abundance of wildlife is critical for establishing effective conservation and management strategies. Aerial methodologies for estimating abundance are common in developed countries, but they are often impractical for remote areas of developing countries where many of the world's endangered and threatened fauna exist. The alternative terrestrial methodologies can...
Chronostratigraphic framework for the IODP Expedition 318 cores from the Wilkes Land Margin: Constraints for paleoceanographic reconstruction
L. Tauxe, C.E. Stickley, S. Sugisaki, P.K. Bijl, S. M. Bohaty, H. Brinkhuis, C. Escutia, J.A. Flores, A.J.P. Houben, M. Iwai, F. Jimenez-Espejo, R. McKay, S. Passchier, J. Pross, Christina Riesselman, U. Röhl, F. Sangiorgi, K. Welsh, A. Klaus, A. Fehr, J.A.P. Bendle, R. Dunbar, J. Gonzalez, T. Hayden, K. Katsuki, M.P. Olney, S.F. Pekar, P.K. Shrivastava, T. van de Flierdt, T. Williams, M. Yamane
2012, Paleoceanography (27)
The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 318 to the Wilkes Land margin of Antarctica recovered a sedimentary succession ranging in age from lower Eocene to the Holocene. Excellent stratigraphic control is key to understanding the timing of paleoceanographic events through critical climate intervals. Drill sites recovered the lower and middle...
Sediment entrainment by debris flows: In situ measurements from the headwaters of a steep catchment
S.W. McCoy, Jason W. Kean, Jeffrey A. Coe, G.E. Tucker, Dennis M. Staley, T.A. Wasklewicz
2012, Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface (117)
Debris flows can dramatically increase their volume, and hence their destructive potential, by entraining sediment. Yet quantitative constraints on rates and mechanics of sediment entrainment by debris flows are limited. Using an in situ sensor network in the headwaters of a natural catchment we measured flow and bed properties during...
Patterns and controlling factors of species diversity in the Arctic Ocean
Moriaki Yasuhara, Gene Hunt, Gert van Dijken, Kevin R. Arrigo, Thomas M. Cronin, Jutta E. Wollenburg
2012, Journal of Biogeography (39) 2081-2088
Aim The Arctic Ocean is one of the last near-pristine regions on Earth, and, although human activities are expected to impact on Arctic ecosystems, we know very little about baseline patterns of Arctic Ocean biodiversity. This paper aims to describe Arctic Ocean-wide patterns of benthic biodiversity and to explore factors...
Flood-Inundation Maps for a 1.6-Mile Reach of Salt Creek, Wood Dale, Illinois
David T. Soong, Elizabeth A. Murphy, Jennifer B. Sharpe
2012, Scientific Investigations Map 3185
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 1.6-mile reach of Salt Creek from upstream of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad to Elizabeth Drive, Wood Dale, Illinois, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the DuPage County Stormwater Management Division. The inundation maps, which can be...
Status of groundwater quality in the Upper Santa Ana Watershed, November 2006--March 2007--California GAMA Priority Basin Project
Robert Kent, Kenneth Belitz
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5052
Groundwater quality in the approximately 1,000-square-mile (2,590-square-kilometer) Upper Santa Ana Watershed (USAW) study unit was investigated as part of the Priority Basin Project of the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The study unit is located in southern California in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. The GAMA Priority Basin...
Hotspot of accelerated sea-level rise on the Atlantic coast of North America
Sallenger Jr., Kara S. Doran, Peter A. Howd
2012, Nature Climate Change (2) 884-888
Climate warming does not force sea-level rise (SLR) at the same rate everywhere. Rather, there are spatial variations of SLR superimposed on a global average rise. These variations are forced by dynamic processes, arising from circulation and variations in temperature and/or salinity, and by static equilibrium processes, arising from mass...
Geohydrology of Big Bear Valley, California: phase 1--geologic framework, recharge, and preliminary assessment of the source and age of groundwater
Lorraine E. Flint, Justin Brandt, Allen H. Christensen, Alan L. Flint, Joseph A. Hevesi, Robert Jachens, Justin T. Kulongoski, Peter Martin, Michelle Sneed
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5100
The Big Bear Valley, located in the San Bernardino Mountains of southern California, has increased in population in recent years. Most of the water supply for the area is pumped from the alluvial deposits that form the Big Bear Valley groundwater basin. This study was conducted to better understand the...
Mate loss affects survival but not breeding in black brant geese
Christopher A. Nicolai, James S. Sedinger, David H. Ward, W. Sean Boyd
2012, Behavioral Ecology (23) 643-648
For birds maintaining long-term monogamous relationships, mate loss might be expected to reduce fitness, either through reduced survival or reduced future reproductive investment. We used harvest of male brant during regular sport hunting seasons as an experimental removal to examine effects of mate loss on fitness of female black brant...
Simulation of streamflow, evapotranspiration, and groundwater recharge in the middle Nueces River watershed, south Texas, 1961-2008
Benjamin J. Dietsch, Loren L. Wehmeyer
2012, Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5136
The U.S. Geological Survey—in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District; City of Corpus Christi; Guadalupe–Blanco River Authority; San Antonio River Authority; and San Antonio Water System— configured, calibrated, and tested a watershed model for a study area consisting of about 7,726 square miles of the...
Independent technical review and analysis of hydraulic modeling and hydrology under low-flow conditions of the Des Plaines River near Riverside, Illinois
Thomas M. Over, Timothy D. Straub, Jon Hortness, Elizabeth A. Murphy
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1143
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has operated a streamgage and published daily flows for the Des Plaines River at Riverside since Oct. 1, 1943. A HEC-RAS model has been developed to estimate the effect of the removal of Hofmann Dam near the gage on low-flow elevations in the reach approximately...
A climate for speciation: rapid spatial diversification within the Sorex cinereus complex of shrews
Andrew G. Hope, Kelly A. Speer, John R. Demboski, Sandra L. Talbot, Joseph A. Cook
2012, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (64) 671-684
The cyclic climate regime of the late Quaternary caused dramatic environmental change at high latitudes. Although these events may have been brief in periodicity from an evolutionary standpoint, multiple episodes of allopatry and divergence have been implicated in rapid radiations of a number of organisms. Shrews of the Sorex cinereus...
Turbidite event history—Methods and implications for Holocene paleoseismicity of the Cascadia subduction zone
Chris Goldfinger, C. Hans Nelson, Ann E. Morey, Joel E. Johnson, Jason R. Patton, Eugene B. Karabanov, Julia Gutierrez-Pastor, Andrew T. Eriksson, Eulalia Gracia, Gita Dunhill, Randolph J. Enkin, Audrey Dallimore, Tracy Vallier
Robert Kayen, editor(s)
2012, Professional Paper 1661-F
Turbidite systems along the continental margin of Cascadia Basin from Vancouver Island, Canada, to Cape Mendocino, California, United States, have been investigated with swath bathymetry; newly collected and archive piston, gravity, kasten, and box cores; and accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dates. The purpose of this study is to test the...
An assessment of the carbon balance of arctic tundra: comparisons among observations, process models, and atmospheric inversions
A. D. McGuire, T.R. Christensen, D. Hayes, A. Heroult, E. Euskirchen, Y. Yi, J.S. Kimball, C. Koven, P. Lafleur, P.A. Miller, W. Oechel, P. Peylin, Murray Williams
2012, Biogeosciences (9) 4543-4594
Although arctic tundra has been estimated to cover only 8% of the global land surface, the large and potentially labile carbon pools currently stored in tundra soils have the potential for large emissions of carbon (C) under a warming climate. These emissions as radiatively active greenhouse gases in the form...
Likelihood analysis of species occurrence probability from presence-only data for modelling species distributions
J. Andrew Royle, Richard B. Chandler, Charles Yackulic, James D. Nichols
2012, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (3) 545-554
1. Understanding the factors affecting species occurrence is a pre-eminent focus of applied ecological research. However, direct information about species occurrence is lacking for many species. Instead, researchers sometimes have to rely on so-called presence-only data (i.e. when no direct information about absences is available), which often results from opportunistic,...
General methods for sensitivity analysis of equilibrium dynamics in patch occupancy models
David A.W. Miller
2012, Ecology (93) 1204-1213
Sensitivity analysis is a useful tool for the study of ecological models that has many potential applications for patch occupancy modeling. Drawing from the rich foundation of existing methods for Markov chain models, I demonstrate new methods for sensitivity analysis of the equilibrium state dynamics of occupancy models. Estimates from...
Index for characterizing post-fire soil environments in temperate coniferous forests
Theresa B. Jain, David S. Pilliod, Russell T. Graham, Leigh B. Lentile, Jonathan E. Sandquist
2012, Forests (3) 445-466
Many scientists and managers have an interest in describing the environment following a fire to understand the effects on soil productivity, vegetation growth, and wildlife habitat, but little research has focused on the scientific rationale for classifying the post-fire environment. We developed an empirically-grounded soil post-fire index (PFI) based on...
Interactions of tissue and fertilizer nitrogen on decomposition dynamics of lignin-rich conifer litter
Steven S. Perakis, Joselin J. Matkins, David E. Hibbs
2012, Ecosphere (3)
High tissue nitrogen (N) accelerates decomposition of high-quality leaf litter in the early phases of mass loss, but the influence of initial tissue N variation on the decomposition of lignin-rich litter is less resolved. Because environmental changes such as atmospheric N deposition and elevated CO2 can alter tissue N levels...
Estimating the Cumulative Ecological Effect of Local Scale Landscape Changes in South Florida
Dianna M. Hogan, William Labiosa, Leonard Pearlstine, David Hallac, David Strong, Paul Hearn, Richard Bernknopf
2012, Environmental Management (49) 502-515
Ecosystem restoration in south Florida is a state and national priority centered on the Everglades wetlands. However, urban development pressures affect the restoration potential and remaining habitat functions of the natural undeveloped areas. Land use (LU) planning often focuses at the local level, but a better understanding of the cumulative...
