Groundwater model of the Harney Basin, southeastern Oregon
Stephen B. Gingerich, Darrick E. Boschmann, Gerald H. Grondin, Halley J Schibel
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5017
Groundwater development, mainly for large-scale irrigation, has increased substantially in the Harney Basin of southeastern Oregon since 2010. Concurrently, some areas of the basin experienced groundwater-level declines of more than 100 feet, and some shallow wells have gone dry. The Oregon Water Resources Department has limited new groundwater development in...
Warm places, warm years, and warm seasons increase parasitizing of moose by winter ticks
Nicholas J. DeCesare, Richard B. Harris, M. P. Atwood, Eric A. Bergman, Courtemanch, Paul C. Cross, Gary Fralick, Kent Hersey, Mark A. Hurley, T Koser, Rebecca L. Levine, Kevin Monteith, Jesse Newby, Collin Peterson, Sarah M. Robertson, Benjamin Wise
2024, Ecosphere (15)
Observed links between parasites, such as ticks, and climate change have aroused concern for human health, wildlife population dynamics, and broader ecosystem effects. The one-host life history of the winter tick (Dermacentor albipictus) links each annual cohort to environmental conditions during three specific time...
Novel insights about petroleum systems from source and reservoir rock characterization, Cretaceous Deposits, Babouri-Figuil Basin, Northern Cameroon
Manga Gaspard, Javin J. Hatcherian, Paul C. Hackley, Moise Bessong, Carole Bapowa, Henry Pougue, Arsene Meying
2024, International Journal of Coal Geology (285)
The Babouri-Figuil Basin (BFB) is a frontier basin for petroleum in Cameroon. It belongs to the series of Cretaceous rift basins of the West and Central Rift System (WCARS), the origin of which is related to the opening of the South Atlantic. Within the same rift system, commercial hydrocarbon accumulations...
Changes in landscape and climate in Mexico and Texas reveal small effects on migratory habitat of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus)
James E. Diffendorfer, Francisco Botello, Mark A. Drummond, Zachary H. Ancona, Lucila Marie Corro, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Peter Christian Ibsen, Rafael Moreno-Sanchez, Laura Lukens, Victor Sanchez-Cordero
2024, Scientific Reports (14)
The decline of the iconic monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) in North America has motivated research on the impacts of land use and land cover (LULC) change and climate variability on monarch habitat and population dynamics. We investigated spring and fall trends in LULC, milkweed and nectar resources over a 20-year...
Characterizing future streamflows in Massachusetts using stochastic modeling—A pilot study
Scott A. Olson, Ghazal Shabestanipour, Jonathan Lamontagne, Scott Steinschneider
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5134
Communities throughout Massachusetts face the potential effects of climate change, ranging from more extreme rainfall to more pronounced and frequent droughts. Understanding the effects of climate change on hydrology is important to State and community officials to evaluate the potential effects on infrastructure and water systems. To better understand the...
Managing ecosystems with resist-accept-direct (RAD)
Byron K. Williams, Ellie Brown
2024, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (15) 796-805
In recent years considerable interest has been generated in a new approach known as resist–accept–direct, or RAD, for managing ecosystems in the face of climate change. Under RAD, strategic responses to climate change are described in terms of three broad categories: resisting climate transformation, accepting the transformation and continuing to...
Partitioning of chemicals in aquatic organisms
Gavin N. Saari, Samreen Siddiqui, Susanne M. Brander
Samreen Siddiqui, Susanne M. Brander, editor(s)
2024, Book chapter, Aquatic ecotoxicology
Human populations have utilized heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants for their physiochemical properties in industrial, agricultural, and consumer goods for decades. Limited knowledge on their persistence and toxicological effects has resulted in organisms being exposed to some of the most problematic compounds ever generated by humans. Although overlap in...
Summary of Creepmeter Data from 1980 to 2020—Measurements Spanning the Hayward, Calaveras, and San Andreas Faults in Northern and Central California
John Langbein, Roger G. Bilham, Hollice A. Snyder, Todd Ericksen
2024, Open-File Report 2024-1011
This report is an update to the presentation by Schulz (1989) introducing potential users to the creepmeter data collected between the publication of Schulz’s report and mid-2020. The creepmeter network monitors aseismic, surface slip at various locations on the Hayward, Calaveras, and San Andreas Faults in northern and central California....
Evaluation and refinement of chlorophyll-a algorithms for high-biomass blooms in San Francisco Bay (USA)
Raphael M. Kudela, David B. Senn, Emily T. Richardson, Keith Bouma-Gregson, Brian A. Bergamaschi, Lawrence Sim
2024, Remote Sensing (16)
A massive bloom of the raphidophyte Heterosigma akashiwo occurred in summer 2022 in San Francisco Bay, causing widespread ecological impacts including events of low dissolved oxygen and mass fish kills. The rapidly evolving bloom required equally rapid management response, leading to the use of near-real-time image analysis of chlorophyll from the...
New diagnostic assessment of MCMC algorithm effectiveness, efficiency, reliability, and controllability
Hossein KavianiHamedani, Julianne D. Quinn, Jared David Smith
2024, IEEE Access (12) 42385-42400
Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) is a robust statistical approach for estimating posterior distributions. However, the significant computational cost associated with MCMC presents a considerable challenge, complicating the selection of an appropriate algorithm tailored to the specific problem at hand. This study introduces a novel and comprehensive framework for...
White-tailed deer detection rates increase when coyotes are present
Hannah L. Clipp, Sarah M. Pesi, Madison L. Miller, Laura C. Gigliotti, Brett P. Skelly, Christopher T. Rota
2024, Ecology and Evolution (14)
Predator species can indirectly affect prey species through the cost of anti-predator behavior responses, which may involve shifts in occupancy, space use, or movement. Quantifying the various strategies implemented by prey species to avoid adverse interactions with predators can lead to a better understanding of potential population-level repercussions. Therefore, the...
Data-driven adjustments for combined use of NGA-East hard-rock ground motion and site amplification models
Maria E. Ramos-Sepulveda, Jonathan P. Stewart, Grace Alexandra Parker, Morgan P. Moschetti, Eric M. Thompson, Scott J. Brandenberg, Youssef M A Hashash, Ellen Rathje
2024, Earthquake Spectra (40) 1132-1157
Model development in the Next Generation Attenuation-East (NGA-East) project included two components developed concurrently and independently: (1) earthquake ground-motion models (GMMs) that predict the median and aleatory variability of various intensity measures conditioned on magnitude and distance, derived for a reference hard-rock site condition with an average shear-wave velocity in...
Snow-cover remote sensing of conifer tree recovery in high-severity burn patches
Casey Menick, Wade T. Tinkham, Chad Hoffman, Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Jody C. Vogeler
2024, Remote Sensing of Environment (305)
The number of large, high-severity wildfires has been increasing across the western United States over the last several decades. It is not fully understood how changes in the frequency of large, severe wildfires may impact the resilience of conifer forests,...
Shift in piscivory by salmonids following invasion of a minnow in an oligotrophic reservoir
Rachelle Carina Johnson, Marshal Hoy, Karl D. Stenberg, Jonathan H Mclean, Benjamin Lorenz Jensen, Tessa Julianne Code, Carl Ostberg, David Beauchamp
2024, Ecology of Freshwater Fish (33)
Predation can play an important role in structuring ecological communities, and predator–prey dynamics can be altered following the introduction of new species. An unauthorized introduction of redside shiner (Richardsonius balteatus) into reservoirs in the Upper Skagit River, Washington, USA created concern that a consequent shift...
Implications for the resilience of modern coastal systems derived from mesoscale barrier dynamics at Fire Island, New York
Daniel J. Ciarletta, Jennifer L. Miselis, Julie Bernier, Arnell S. Forde
2024, Earth Surface Dynamics (12) 449-475
Understanding the response of coastal barriers to future changes in rates of sea level rise, sediment availability, and storm intensity/frequency is essential for coastal planning, including socioeconomic and ecological management. Identifying drivers of past changes in barrier morphology, as well as barrier sensitivity to...
Time of year and weather influence departure decisions of sandhill cranes at a primary stopover
Rachel A. Vanausdall, William L. Kendall, Daniel P. Collins, Quentin R. Hays
2024, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (12)
The Rocky Mountain Population (RMP) of greater sandhill cranes uses a key stopover area, the San Luis Valley (SLV) in Colorado. Parameters of migration phenology can differ between autumn and spring and are affected by weather and environmental factors. We hypothesized that sandhill cranes in the SLV would have...
Climatic variability as a principal driver of primary production in the southernmost subalpine Rocky Mountain lake
Anna Shampain, Jill Baron, Peter R. Leavitt, Sarah Spaulding
2024, Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research (56)
Mountain lakes are sensitive indicators of anthropogenically driven global change, with lake sediment records documenting increased primary production during the twentieth century. Atmospheric nutrient deposition and warming have been attributed to changes in other Western mountain lakes, however, the intensity of these drivers varies. We analyzed a sediment core representing...
Modeled flooding by tsunamis and a storm versus observed extent of coral erratics on Anegada, British Virgin Islands— Further evidence for a great Caribbean earthquake six centuries ago
Yong Wei, Uri S. ten Brink, Brian F. Atwater
2024, JGR Solid Earth (129)
Models of near-field tsunamis and an extreme hurricane provide further evidence for a great precolonial earthquake along the Puerto Rico Trench. The models are benchmarked to brain-coral boulders and cobbles on Anegada, 125 km south of the trench. The models are screened by their success in flooding the mapped sites of...
Incorporating life history diversity in an integrated population model to inform viability analysis
Mark H. Sorel, Jeffrey C. Jorgensen, Richard W. Zabel, Mark David Scheuerell, Andrew R. Murdoch, Cory M. Kamphaus, Sarah J. Converse
2024, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (81) 535-548
Life history diversity can significantly affect population dynamics and effects of management actions. For instance, variation in individual responses to environmental variability can reduce extirpation risk to populations, as the portfolio effect dampens temporal variability in abundance. Moreover, differences in habitat use may cause individuals to respond differently to habitat...
Estimating multivariate ecological variables at high spatial resolution using a cost-effective matching algorithm
Rachel R. Renne, Daniel Rodolphe Schlaepfer, Kyle A. Palmquist, William K. Lauenroth, John B. Bradford
2024, Ecosphere (15)
Simulation models are valuable tools for estimating ecosystem response to environmental conditions and are particularly relevant for investigating climate change impacts. However, because of high computational requirements, models are often applied over a coarse grid of points or for representative locations. Spatial interpolation of model output can be necessary to...
Evaluating water-quality trends in agricultural watersheds prioritized for management-practice implementation
James S. Webber, Jeffrey G. Chanat, John W. Clune, Olivia Devereux, Natalie Celeste Hall, Robert D. Sabo, Qian Zhang
2024, Journal of the American Water Resources Assocation (60) 305-330
Many agricultural watersheds rely on the voluntary use of management practices (MPs) to reduce nonpoint source nutrient and sediment loads; however, the water-quality effects of MPs are uncertain. We interpreted water-quality responses from as early as 1985 through 2020 in three agricultural Chesapeake Bay watersheds...
What the cliffs near America’s earliest settlements tell us about climate change
Harry J. Dowsett, Marci M. Robinson
2024, Frontiers for Young Minds (12)
Climate change is a big problem for natural habitats, people, and the systems that support society, including roads, water supply, electrical grids, and phone and internet connections. It’s an important theme in politics, economics, and culture. Scientists make computer models to show what the climate might be like in the...
StreamStats—A quarter century of delivering web-based geospatial and hydrologic information to the public, and lessons learned
Kernell G. Ries III, Peter A. Steeves, Peter M. McCarthy
2024, Circular 1514
StreamStats is a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) web application that provides streamflow statistics, such as the 1-percent annual exceedance probability peak flow, the mean flow, and the 7-day, 10-year low flow, to the public through a map-based user interface. These statistics are used in many ways, such as in the...
Database and time series of nearshore waves along the Alaskan coast from the United States-Canada border to the Bering Sea
Anita C. Engelstad, Li H. Erikson, Borja G. Reguero, Ann E. Gibbs, Kees Nederhoff
2024, Open-File Report 2023-1094
Alaska’s Arctic coast has some of the highest coastal erosion rates in the world, primarily driven by permafrost thaw and increasing wave energy. In the Arctic, a warming climate is driving sea ice cover to decrease in space and time. A lack of long-term observational wave data along Alaska’s coast...
How, when and where current mass flows in Martian gullies are driven by CO2 sublimation
Lonneke Roelofs, Susan J. Conway, Tjalling de Haas, Colin M. Dundas, Stephen R. Lewis, Jim McElwaine, Kelly Pasquon, Jan Raack, Matt Sylvest, Manish Patel
2024, Communications Earth and Environment (5)
Martian gullies resemble water-carved gullies on Earth, yet their present-day activity cannot be explained by water-driven processes. The sublimation of CO2 has been proposed as an alternative driver for sediment transport, but how this mechanism works remains unknown. Here we combine laboratory experiments of CO2-driven granular flows under Martian atmospheric pressure...
