Multidecadal geomorphic evolution of a profoundly disturbed gravel-bed river system—a complex, nonlinear response and its impact on sediment delivery
Jon J. Major, Shan Zheng, Adam R. Mosbrucker, Kurt R. Spicer, Tami Christianson, Colin R. Thorne
2019, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface (124) 1281-1309
A 2.5-km3 debris avalanche during the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens reset the fluvial landscape of upper North Fork Toutle River valley. Since then, a new drainage network has formed and evolved. Cross-section surveys repeated over nearly 40 years at 16 locations along a 20-km reach of river valley...
Skin and fin diseases
Pedro Smith, Diane Elliott, David W Bruno, Stephen A Smith
2019, Book chapter, Fish Diseases and Medicine
Fish are critically important to the welfare of this planet and its occupants, the health of both wild and captive fish populations paramount to our survival. This book presents the gross pathology of the most commonly encountered diseases and syndromes of fish in an organ system-based approach. It provides an...
Iron and sulfide nanoparticle formation and transport in nascent hydrothermal vent plumes
Alyssa J. Findlay, Emily Estes, Amy Gartman, Alexey Kamyshny, Mustafa Yucel, George W. Luther
2019, Nature Communications (10)
Deep-sea hydrothermal vents are a significant source of dissolved metals to the global oceans, producing midwater plumes enriched in metals that are transported thousands of kilometers from the vent source. Extensive particle precipitation upon emission of hydrothermal fluids, due to temperature and pH changes during mixing with ambient seawater, controls...
Bisphenol A and 17 alpha-ethinylestradiol-induced transgenerational differences in expression of osmoregulatory genes in the gill of medaka (Oryzias latipes)
Xuegeng Wang, Diamond Hill, Donald E. Tillitt, Ramji K. Bhandari
2019, Aquatic Toxicology (211) 227-234
Embryonic bisphenol A (BPA) and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) exposure can have far reaching health effects in fish, including adult onset transgenerational reproductive abnormalities, anxiety, and cardiac disorders. It is unknown whether these two environmental estrogens can induce transgenerational abnormalities in the gill. The present study examined transgenerational effects of BPA or...
Coelomic disorders of fishes
Christine L. Densmore
2019, Book chapter, Fish diseases and medicine
Dropsy is a commonly applied term for coelomic distention due to ascites, or the effusion and collection of fluid freely throughout the coelomic cavity. Dropsy, or ascites, is generally a sign of another ongoing disease process, oftentimes one that is multisystemic and impacting coelomic organs and tissues. Dropsy may be...
Sediment storage and transport in the Nooksack River basin, northwestern Washington, 2006–15
Scott W. Anderson, Christopher P. Konrad, Eric E. Grossman, Christopher A. Curran
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5008
The Nooksack River is a dynamic gravel-bedded river in northwestern Washington, draining off Mount Baker and the North Cascades into Puget Sound. Working in cooperation with the Whatcom County Flood Control Zone District, the U.S. Geological Survey studied topographic, hydrologic, and climatic data for the Nooksack River basin to...
Changes in genetic diversity and differentiation in Red‐cockaded woodpeckers (Dryobates borealis) over the past century
Mark P. Miller, Julia T. Vilstrup, Thomas D. Mullins, Will McDearmon, Jeffrey R. Walters, Susan M. Haig
2019, Ecology and Evolution (9) 5420-5432
Red‐cockaded woodpeckers (RCW; Dryobates borealis) declined after human activities reduced their fire‐maintained pine ecosystem to <3% of its historical range in the southeastern United States and degraded remaining habitat. An estimated 1.6 million RCW cooperative breeding groups declined to about 3,500 groups with no more than 10,000 birds by 1978....
Implications of climate scenarios for Badlands National Park resource management
Brian W. Miller, Amy Symstad, Gregor Schuurman
2019, Report
Badlands National Park (BADL) hosts a myriad of natural and cultural resources, including bison and black-footed ferrets, the mixed grass prairie they live in, 37-75 million-year-old fossils, and historic buildings, trails, and roads. All are sensitive to climate, but anticipating precisely how each will be affected by climate change is...
The Value of Data – The Qatar Geologic Mapping Project
Joseph T. Krupansky, Michael A. Knight, Randall Orndorff, Khaled M. Al-Akhras, Ara G. Mouradian, Ali F. Saleh
2019, Conference Paper, Geotechnical Special Publication
The State of Qatar is in a period of rapid development, modernization, and population growth. One of the most important factors influencing the long-term success and sustainability of future development is a comprehensive understanding of the region’s geologic regime, geotechnical conditions, natural resources, and environmental constraints. To obtain this...
Quantifying hydrologic alteration in an area lacking current reference conditions—The Mississippi Alluvial Plain of the South-Central U.S.
Rheannon M. Hart, Brian Breaker
2019, River Research and Applications (35) 553-565
To better understand the effects of hydrologic alteration as they relate to human and biological needs within the Mississippi Alluvial Plain of the south-central United States, the quantification of hydrologic alteration is required. Quantifying hydrologic alteration in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain is particularly difficult because of the lack of current...
A multi-scale soil moisture monitoring strategy for California: Design and validation
Jennifer Curtis, Lorraine E. Flint, Michelle A. Stern
2019, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (55) 740-758
A multi‐scale soil moisture monitoring strategy for California was designed to inform water resource management. The proposed workflow classifies soil moisture response units (SMRUs) using publicly available datasets that represent soil, vegetation, climate, and hydrology variables, which control soil water storage. The SMRUs were classified, using principal component analysis and...
Changes in behavior are unable to disrupt a trophic cascade involving a specialist herbivore and its food plant
Madeleine G Lohman, Thomas V. Riecke, Cheyenne R Acevedo, Brian T. Person, Joel A. Schmutz, Brian D. Uher-Koch, James S. Sedinger
2019, Article
Changes in ecological conditions can induce changes in behavior and demography of wild organisms, which in turn may influence population dynamics. Pacific black brant (Branta bernicla nigricans) nesting in colonies on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) in western Alaska have declined substantially (~50%) since the turn of the century. Pacific black...
A high carbon content of the Hawaiian mantle from olivine-hosted melt inclusions
Jonathan M. Tucker, Erik H. Hauri, Jared P. Marske, Aaron Pietruszka, Michael O Garcia, Frank Trusdell
2019, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (254) 156-172
The deep mantle carbon content and flux are fundamental quantities in understanding global volatile cycles and distributions. Here, we present CO2 concentrations measured in 407 olivine-hosted melt inclusions from Hualalai, Kilauea, Koolau, Loihi, and Mauna Loa to constrain the Hawaiian mantle CO2 content and flux. Quantification of melt inclusion CO2...
Perfluoroalkyl contaminant exposure in tree swallows nesting at Clarks Marsh, Oscoda, Michigan, USA
Christine M. Custer, Thomas W. Custer, Robert Delaney, Paul M. Dummer, Sandra L. Schultz, Natalie Karouna-Renier
2019, Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (77) 1-13
A site in north eastern Michigan, Oscoda Township, has some of the highest recorded exposure in birds to perfluorinated substances (PFASs) in the U.S. Some egg and plasma concentrations at that location exceeded the lowest reproductive effect threshold established for two avian laboratory species. The objectives of this...
An integrated statistical and deterministic hydrologic model for analyzing trace organic contaminants in commercial and high-density residential stormwater runoff
Jacob W Brownscombe, Colin D. Bell, Terri Hogue, Christopher P. Higgins, William R. Selbig
2019, Science of the Total Environment (673) 656-667
Urbanization can dramatically alter stormwater, both the quantity and quality, by engendering larger peak flows and through the introduction of contaminants into runoff. The current study builds on previous research that developed relationships between a suite of nonpoint source contaminants, known as trace organic contaminants (TOrCs), and hydrologic measurements for...
Topographic drivers of flight altitude over large spatial and temporal scales
Adam E. Duerr, Tricia A. Miller, Leah Dunn, Douglas A. Bell, Peter H. Bloom, Robert N. Fisher, Jeff A. Tracey, Todd E. Katzner
2019, The Auk (136)
Bird movements vary spatially and temporally, but the primary drivers that explain such variation can be difficult to identify. For example, it is well known that the availability of updraft influences soaring flight and that topography interacts with weather to produce these updrafts. However, the influences of topography on flight...
Induced seismicity reduces seismic hazard?
Andrew J. Barbour, Frederick Pollitz
2019, Geophysical Research Letters (46) 4170-4173
Earthquakes caused by human activities have been observed for decades. Often these are related to industrial activities pumping fluids into deep geologic formations, like with wastewater disposal. The simplest theory connecting these processes to earthquakes is straightforward: injection leads to fluid pressure changes that either reduce the strength of preexisting...
Top-down effect of repatriating bald eagles hinder jointly recovering competitors
Jennyffer Cruz, Steve K. Windels, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Shawn M. Crimmins, Leland H. Grim, James H. Larson, Benjamin Zuckerberg
2019, Journal of Animal Ecology (88) 1054-1065
1. The recovery of piscivorous birds around the world is touted as one of the great conservation successes of the 21st century, but for some species, this success was short-lived. Bald eagles, ospreys, and great blue herons began repatriating Voyageurs National Park, USA, in the mid-20th century. However, after 1990,...
Using environmental DNA to extend the window of early detection for dreissenid mussels
Adam J. Sepulveda, Jon Amberg, Erik Hanson
2019, Management of Biological Invasions (10) 342-358
Tools that bolster early detection of invasive species are needed to prevent their spread. In this study, we assessed if environmental DNA (eDNA) can extend the seasonal window for dreissenid mussel early detection beyond that of plankton tows, which are limited to warmer seasons when mussel larvae are present. We...
A stratigraphic approach to inferring depositional ages from detrital geochronology data
Samuel Johnstone, Theresa M. Schwartz, Christopher S. Holm-Denoma
2019, Frontiers in Earth Science (7)
With the increasing use of detrital geochronology data for provenance analyses, we have also developed new constraints on the age of otherwise undateable sedimentary deposits. Because a deposit can be no older than its youngest mineral constituent, the youngest defensible detrital mineral age defines the maximum depositional age of the...
Native forage mediates influence of irrigated agriculture on migratory behaviour of elk
Michael S. Mitchell, Kristin J. Barker, Kelly M. Proffitt
2019, Journal of Animal Ecology (88) 1100-1110
Ungulates migrate to maximize nutritional intake when forage varies seasonally. Populations of ungulates often include both migratory and non-migratory individuals, but the mechanisms driving individual differences in migratory behaviour are not well-understood.We quantified associations between hypothesized drivers of partial migration and the likelihood of migration for individual ungulates that...
Invasive species research—Science for detection, containment, and control
Earl Campbell, Cindy Kolar Tam, Suzanna C. Soileau
2019, Fact Sheet 2018-3080
Invasive species research within the U.S. Geological Survey’s Ecosystems Mission Area focuses on invasive organisms throughout the United States. U.S. Geological Survey scientists work with partners in the Department of the Interior, other Federal, State and Territorial agencies, Tribes, industry, and agriculture to provide the information needed to help solve...
Living with volcano hazards
Wendy K. Stovall, Carolyn L. Driedger, Elizabeth G. Westby, Lisa M. Faust
2019, Fact Sheet 2018-3075
Volcanic eruptions are among Earth’s most dramatic and powerful agents of change. Ash, mudflows, and lava flows can devastate communities near volcanoes and cause havoc in areas far downwind, downstream, and downslope. Even when a volcano is quiet, steep volcanic slopes can collapse to become landslides, and large rocks can...
Coral skeleton δ15N as a tracer of historic nutrient loading to a coral reef in Maui, Hawaii
Joseph Murray, Nancy G. Prouty, Sara E. Peek, Adina Paytan
2019, Scientific Reports (9) 1-10
Excess nutrient loading to nearshore environments has been linked to declining water quality and ecosystem health. Macro-algal blooms, eutrophication, and reduction in coral cover have been observed in West Maui, Hawaii, and linked to nutrient inputs from coastal submarine groundwater seeps. Here, we present a forty-year record of nitrogen isotopes...
Hydrologic function of rapidly induced biocrusts
Stephen E. Fick, Nichole N. Barger, Michael C. Duniway
2019, Ecohydrology (12)
In dryland ecosystems, land degradation and erosion pose severe threats to ecosystem productivity and human wellbeing. Bio‐inoculation of degraded soils with native biological soil crusts ('biocrusts') is a promising yet relatively untested means to improve soil stability and hydrologic function (i.e. increase infiltration and reduce runoff). In a degraded semi‐arid...
