An approach for modeling sediment budgets in supply-limited rivers
Scott Wright, David J. Topping, David M. Rubin, Theodore S. Melis
2010, Water Resources Research (46)
Reliable predictions of sediment transport and river morphology in response to variations in natural and human-induced drivers are necessary for river engineering and management. Because engineering and management applications may span a wide range of space and time scales, a broad spectrum of modeling approaches has been developed, ranging from...
Tapping environmental history to recreate America's colonial hydrology
Christopher L. Pastore, Mark B. Green, Daniel J. Bain, Andrea Munoz-Hernandez, Charles J. Vorosmarty, Jennifer Arrigo, Sara Brandt, Jonathan M. Duncan, Francesca Greco, Hyojin Kim, Sanjiv Kumar, Michael Lally, Anthony J. Parolari, Brian A. Pellerin, Nira Salant, Adam Schlosser, Kate Zalzal
2010, Environmental Science & Technology (44) 8798-8803
Throughout American history water resources have played integral roles in shaping patterns of human settlement and networks of biological and economic exchange. In turn, humans have altered hydrologic systems to meet their needs. A paucity of climate and water discharge data for the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, however, has left...
Vegetation index methods for estimating evapotranspiration by remote sensing
Edward P. Glenn, Pamela L. Nagler, Alfredo R. Huete
2010, Surveys in Geophysics (31) 531-555
Evapotranspiration (ET) is the largest term after precipitation in terrestrial water budgets. Accurate estimates of ET are needed for numerous agricultural and natural resource management tasks and to project changes in hydrological cycles due to potential climate change. We explore recent methods that combine vegetation indices (VI) from satellites with...
Variation in δ13C and δ15N diet–vibrissae trophic discrimination factors in a wild population of California sea otters
Seth D. Newsome, Gena B. Bentall, M. Tim Tinker, Olav T. Oftedal, Katherine Ralls, James A. Estes, Marilyn L. Fogel
2010, Ecological Applications (20) 1744-1752
The ability to quantify dietary inputs using stable isotope data depends on accurate estimates of isotopic differences between a consumer (c) and its diet (d), commonly referred to as trophic discrimination factors (TDFs) and denoted by Δc-d. At present, TDFs are available for only a few mammals and are usually...
Whole-rock analyses of core samples from the 1988 drilling of Kilauea Iki lava lake, Hawaii
Rosalind Tuthill Helz, Joseph E. Taggart Jr.
2010, Open-File Report 2010-1093
This report presents and evaluates 64 major-element analyses of previously unanalyzed Kilauea Iki drill core, plus three samples from the 1959 and 1960 eruptions of Kilauea, obtained by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis during the period 1992 to 1995. All earlier major-element analyses of Kilauea Iki core, obtained by classical (gravimetric)...
Update on geographic spread of invasive lionfishes (Pterois volitans [Linnaeus, 1758] and P. miles [Bennett, 1828]) in the Western North Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico
Pamela J. Schofield
2010, Aquatic Invasions (5) S117-S122
The Indo-Pacific lionfishes (Pterois volitans [Linnaeus, 1758] and P. miles [Bennett, 1828]: Family Scorpaenidae) are the first nonnative marine fishes to establish in the Western North Atlantic/Caribbean region. The chronology of the invasion was reported last year (Schofield 2009) using records from the US Geological Survey's Nonindigenous Aquatic Species database....
Unmodeled observation error induces bias when inferring patterns and dynamics of species occurrence via aural detections
Brett T. McClintock, Larissa L. Bailey, Kenneth H. Pollock, Theodore R. Simons
2010, Ecology (91) 2446-2454
The recent surge in the development and application of species occurrence models has been associated with an acknowledgment among ecologists that species are detected imperfectly due to observation error. Standard models now allow unbiased estimation of occupancy probability when false negative detections occur, but this is conditional on no false...
USGS perspectives on an integrated approach to watershed and coastal management
Matthew C. Larsen, Pixie A. Hamilton, John W. Haines, Mason Jr.
2010, Marine Technology Society Journal (44) 18-21
The writers discuss three critically important steps necessary for achieving the goal for improved integrated approaches on watershed and coastal protection and management. These steps involve modernization of monitoring networks, creation of common data and web services infrastructures, and development of modeling, assessment, and research tools. Long-term monitoring is needed...
Uncloaking a cryptic, threatened rail with molecular markers: origins, connectivity and demography of a recently-discovered population
Philippe Girard, John Y. Takekawa, Steven R. Beissinger
2010, Conservation Genetics (11) 2409-2418
The threatened California Black Rail lives under dense marsh vegetation, is rarely observed, flies weakly and has a highly disjunct distribution. The largest population of rails is found in 8–10 large wetlands in San Francisco Bay (SF Bay), but a population was recently discovered in the foothills of the Sierra...
Two-dimensional time dependent hurricane overwash and erosion modeling at Santa Rosa Island
R.T. McCall, J. S. M. Van Theil de Vries, N.G. Plant, A. R. Van Dongeren, J.A. Roelvink, D.M. Thompson, A.J.H.M. Reniers
2010, Coastal Engineering (57) 668-683
A 2DH numerical, model which is capable of computing nearshore circulation and morphodynamics, including dune erosion, breaching and overwash, is used to simulate overwash caused by Hurricane Ivan (2004) on a barrier island. The model is forced using parametric wave and surge time series based on field data and large-scale...
Traffic effects on bird counts on North American Breeding Bird Survey routes
Emily H. Griffith, John R. Sauer, J. Andrew Royle
2010, The Auk (127) 387-393
The North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) is an annual roadside survey used to estimate population change in >420 species of birds that breed in North America. Roadside sampling has been criticized, in part because traffic noise can interfere with bird counts. Since 1997, data have been collected on the...
Thresholds in forest bird occurrence as a function of the amount of early-seral broadleaf forest at landscape scales
M.G. Betts, J.C. Hagar, J.W. Rivers, J.D. Alexander, K. McGarigal, B.C. McComb
2010, Ecological Applications (20) 2116-2130
Recent declines in broadleaf-dominated, early-seral forest globally as a function of intensive forest management and/or fire suppression have raised concern about the viability of populations dependent on such forest types. However, quantitative information about the strength and direction of species associations with broadleaf cover at landscape scales are rare. Uncovering...
Thermochronology and tectonics of the Leeward Antilles: Evolution of the southern Caribbean Plate boundary zone
Roelant van der Lelij, Richard A. Spikings, Andrew C. Kerr, Alexandre Kounov, Michael Cosca, David Chew, Diego Villagomez
2010, Tectonics (29)
Tectonic reconstructions of the Caribbean Plate are severely hampered by a paucity of geochronologic and exhumation constraints from anastomosed basement blocks along its southern margin. New U/Pb, 40Ar/39Ar, apatite fission track, and apatite (U-Th)/He data constrain quantitative thermal and exhumation histories, which have been used to propose a model for...
Thermal state of permafrost in North America: A contribution to the international polar year
S.L. Smith, V.E. Romanovsky, A.G. Lewkowicz, C.R. Burn, M. Allard, G.D. Clow, K. Yoshikawa, J. Throop
2010, Permafrost and Periglacial Processes (21) 117-135
A snapshot of the thermal state of permafrost in northern North America during the International Polar Year (IPY) was developed using ground temperature data collected from 350 boreholes. More than half these were established during IPY to enhance the network in sparsely monitored regions. The measurement sites span a diverse...
Measurement of dissolved organic matter fluorescense in aquatic environments: An interlaboratory comparison
Kathleen R. Murphy, Kenna D. Butler, Robert G. M. Spencer, Colin A. Stedmon, Jennifer R. Boehme, George R. Aiken
2010, Environmental Science & Technology (44) 9405-9412
The fluorescent properties of dissolved organic matter (DOM) are often studied in order to infer DOM characteristics in aquatic environments, including source, quantity, composition, and behavior. While a potentially powerful technique, a single widely implemented standard method for correcting and presenting fluorescence measurements is lacking, leading to difficulties when comparing...
The impact of conservation on the status of the world's vertebrates
Michael Hoffmann, Craig Hilton-Taylor, Ariadne Angulo, Monika Bohm, Thomas M. Brooks, Stuart H.M. Butchart, Kent E. Carpenter, Janice Chanson, Ben Collen, Neil A. Cox, William R.T. Darwall, Nicholas K. Dulvy, Lucy R. Harrison, Vineet Katariya, Caroline M. Pollock, Suhel Quader, Nadia I. Richman, Ana S.L. Rodrigues, Marcelo F. Tognelli, Jean-Christophe Vie, John M. Aguiar, David J. Allen, Gerald R. Allen, Giovanni Amori, Natalia B. Ananjeva, Franco Androene, Paul Andrew, Aida Luz Aquino Ortiz, Jonathan E.M. Baillie, Ricardo Baldi, Ben D. Bell, S.D. Biju, Jeremy P. Bird, Patricia Black-Decima, J. Julian Blanc, Federico Bolanos, Wilmar Bolivar-G., Ian J. Burfield, James A. Burton, David R. Capper, Fernando Castro, Gianluca Catullo, Rachel D. Cavanagh, Alan Channing, Ning Labbish Chao, Anna M. Chenery, Federica Chiozza, Viola Clausnitzer, Nigel J. Collar, Leah C. Collett, Bruce B. Collette, Claudia F. Cortez Fernandez, Matthew T. Craig, Michael J. Crosby, Neil Cumberlidge, Annabelle Cuttelod, Andrew E. Derocher, Arvin C. Diesmos, John S. Donaldson, J.W. Duckworth, Guy Dutson, S.K. Dutta, Richard H. Emslie, Aljos Farjon, Sarah Fowler, Jorg Freyhof, David L. Garshelis, Justin Gerlach, David J. Gower, Tandora D. Grant, Geoffrey A. Hammerson, Richard B. Harris, Lawrence R. Heaney, S. Blair Hedges, Jean-Marc Hero, Baz Hughes, Syed Ainul Hussain, Javier M. Icochea, Robert F. Inger, Nobuo Ishii, Djoko T. Iskandar, Richard K.B. Jenkins, Yoshio Kaneko, Maurice Kottelat, Kit M. Kovacs, Sergius L. Kuzmin, Enrique La Marca, John F. Lamoreux, Michael W.N. Lau, Esteban O. Lavilla, Kristin Leus, Rebecca L. Lewison, Gabriela Lichtenstein, Suzanne R. Livingstone, Vimoksolehi Lukoschek, David P. Mallon, Philip J.K. McGowan, Anna McIvor, Patricia D. Moehlman, Sanjay Molur, Antonio Munoz Alonso, John A. Musick, Kristin Nowell, Ronald A. Nussbaum, Wanda Olech, Nikolay L. Orlov, Theodore J. Papenfuss, Gabriela Parra-Olea, William F. Perrin, Beth A. Polidoro, Mohammad Pourkazemi, Paul A. Racey, James S. Ragle, Mala Ram, Galen Rathbun, Robert P. Reynolds, Anders G.J. Rhodin, Stephen J. Richards, Lily O. Rodriguez, Santiago R. Ron, Carlo Rondinini, Anthony B. Rylands, Yvonne Sadovy de Mitcheson, Jonnell C. Sanciangco, Kate L. Sanders, Georgina Santos-Barrera, Jan Schipper, Caryn Self-Sullivan, Yichuan Shi, Alan Shoemaker, Frederick T. Short, Claudio Sillero-Zubiri, Debora L. Silvano, Kevin G. Smith, Andrew T. Smith, Jos Snoeks, Alison J. Stattersfield, Andrew J. Symes, Andrew B. Taber, Bibhab K. Talukdar, Helen J. Temple, Rob Timmins, Joseph A. Tobias, Katerina Tsytsulina, Denis Tweddle, Carmen Ubeda, Sarah V. Valenti, Peter Paul van Dijk, Liza M. Veiga, Alberto Veloso, David C. Wege, Mark Wilkinson, Elizabeth A. Williamson, Feng Xie, Bruce E. Young, H. Resit Akcakaya, Leon Bennun, Tim M. Blackburn, Luigi Boitani, Holly T. Dublin, Gustavo A. B. da Fonseca, Claude Gascon, Thomas E. Lacher Jr., Georgina M. Mace, Susan A. Mainka, Jeffery A. McNeely, Russell A. Mittermeier, Gordon McGregor Reid, Jon Paul Rodriguez, Andrew A. Rosenberg, Michael J. Samways, Jane Smart, Bruce A. Stein, Simon N. Stuart
2010, Science (330) 1503-1509
Using data for 25,780 species categorized on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, we present an assessment of the status of the world's vertebrates. One-fifth of species are classified as Threatened, and we show that this figure is increasing: On average, 52 species of mammals, birds, and...
Estimation of aquifer scale proportion using equal area grids: assessment of regional scale groundwater quality
Kenneth Belitz, Bryant C. Jurgens, Matthew K. Landon, Miranda S. Fram, Tyler D. Johnson
2010, Water Resources Research (46)
The proportion of an aquifer with constituent concentrations above a specified threshold (high concentrations) is taken as a nondimensional measure of regional scale water quality. If computed on the basis of area, it can be referred to as the aquifer scale proportion. A spatially unbiased estimate of aquifer scale proportion...
Two-dimensional hydrodynamic modeling to quantify effects of peak-flow management on channel morphology and salmon-spawning habitat in the Cedar River, Washington
Christiana Czuba, Jonathan A. Czuba, Andrew S. Gendaszek, Christopher S. Magirl
2010, Report
The Cedar River in Washington State originates on the western slope of the Cascade Range and provides the City of Seattle with most of its drinking water, while also supporting a productive salmon habitat. Water-resource managers require detailed information on how best to manage high-flow releases from Chester Morse Lake,...
Geomorphic Framework to assess changes to aquatic habitat due to flow regulation and channel and floodplain alteration, Cedar River, Washington
Andrew S. Gendaszek, Christopher S. Magirl, Christiana R. Czuba, Christopher P. Konrad, Rand Little
2010, Report
Flow regulation, bank armoring, and floodplain alteration since the early 20th century have contributed to significant changes in the hydrologic regime and geomorphic processes of the Cedar River in Washington State. The Cedar River originates in the Cascade Range, provides drinking water to the Seattle metropolitan area, and supports several...
Glacier modeling in support of field observations of mass balance at South Cascade Glacier, Washington, USA
Edward G. Josberger, William R. Bidlake
2010, Report
The long-term USGS measurement and reporting of mass balance at South Cascade Glacier was assisted in balance years 2006 and 2007 by a new mass balance model. The model incorporates a temperature-index melt computation and accumulation is modeled from glacier air temperature and gaged precipitation at a remote site. Mass...
Use of regression‐based models to map sensitivity of aquatic resources to atmospheric deposition in Yosemite National Park, USA
David W. Clow, Leora Nanus, Brian Huggett
2010, Water Resources Research (46)
An abundance of exposed bedrock, sparse soil and vegetation, and fast hydrologic flushing rates make aquatic ecosystems in Yosemite National Park susceptible to nutrient enrichment and episodic acidification due to atmospheric deposition of nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S). In this study, multiple linear regression (MLR) models were created to estimate...
Water-quality, water-level, and discharge data associated with the Mississippi embayment agricultural chemical-transport study, 2006-2008
Melinda S. Dalton, Claire E. Rose, Richard H. Coupe
2010, Data Series 546
In 2006, the Agricultural Chemicals: Sources, Transport and Fate study team (Agricultural Chemicals Team, ACT) of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program began a study in northwestern Mississippi to evaluate the influence of surface-water recharge on the occurrence of agriculturally related nutrients and pesticides in the Mississippi River...
Are wolves saving Yellowstone's aspen? A landscape-level test of a behaviorally mediated trophic cascade
Matthew J. Kauffman, Jedediah F. Brodie, Erik S. Jules
2010, Ecology (91) 2742-2755
Behaviorally mediated trophic cascades (BMTCs) occur when the fear of predation among herbivores enhances plant productivity. Based primarily on systems involving small-bodied predators, BMTCs have been proposed as both strong and ubiquitous in natural ecosystems. Recently, however, synthetic work has suggested that the existence of BMTCs may be mediated by...
Discussion of "Natural hydrograph of the Missouri River near Sioux City and the least tern and piping plover" by Donald G. Jorgensen
D. Catlin, R. Jacobson, M. Sherfy, M. Anteau, J. Felio, J. Fraser, C. Lott, T. Shaffer, J. Stucker
2010, Journal of Hydrologic Engineering (15) 1076-1078
The author analyzed stream-flow data from a single gauging station to predict preengineering flooding frequency for "sandbar islands adjacent to stream gauge on the Missouri River at Sioux City." He predicted dates that sandbars would be exposed and discussed his results relative to reproduction by least terns (Sternula antillarum) and...
Surveys for presence of Oregon spotted frog (Rana pretiosa): background information and field methods
Christopher A. Pearl, David Clayton, Lauri Turner
2010, Report
The Oregon spotted frog (Rana pretiosa) is the most aquatic of the native frogs in the Pacific Northwest. The common name derives from the pattern of black, ragged-edged spots set against a brown or red ground color on the dorsum of adult frogs. Oregon spotted frogs are generally associated with...