Groundwater and surface-water data collection for Mason County, western Washington, 2016–18
Alison E. Tecca, Lonna M. Frans
2019, Data Series 1106
Groundwater levels and surface water flow measurements were collected from August 2016 to September 2018 to provide the Mason Conservation District and other stakeholders with basic knowledge of existing water resources in Mason County, Washington. Additionally, the data were collected with the intent of contributing to informed decision making about...
Stream sediment geochemistry of four small drainages on the north shore of Kauai west of Hanalei
Renee K. Takesue, Curt D. Storlazzi
2019, Open-File Report 2019-1007
Geochemical compositions of fine-grained stream sediment from four drainages on the north shore of the island of Kauai, Hawaii, west of Hanalei and two back-beach sites were explored to increase understanding about land-based runoff and ecological risk from runoff to nearshore coral communities. Stream and beach sediment were collected between...
Abundance and productivity of marbled murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus) off central California during the 2018 breeding season
Jonathan J. Felis, Emily C. Kelsey, Josh Adams
2019, Data Series 1107
Executive SummaryMarbled murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus) have been listed as “endangered” by the State of California and “threatened” by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 1992 in California, Oregon, and Washington. Information regarding marbled murrelet abundance, distribution, population trends, and habitat associations is critical for risk assessment, effective management, evaluation...
Least Bell’s Vireo (Vireo bellii pusillus) and Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus) surveys in the Sepulveda Dam Basin, Los Angeles County, California—2018 data summary
Ryan E. Pottinger, Barbara E. Kus
2019, Data Series 1105
Executive SummaryWe surveyed for Least Bell’s Vireos (Vireo bellii pusillus; vireo) and Southwestern Willow Flycatchers (Empidonax traillii extimus; flycatcher) in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers along Bull Creek, Haskell Creek, and the Los Angeles River (Sepulveda Dam project area) in Los Angeles County, California, in 2018. Four vireo surveys were conducted between...
Functional divergence of thyrotropin beta-subunit paralogs gives new insights into salmon smoltification metamorphosis
Mitchell S Fleming, Gersende Maugars, Anne-Gaelle LaFont, Romain Fontaine, Finn-Arne Weltzien, Stephen D. McCormick
2019, Scientific Reports (9)
Smoltification is a metamorphic event in salmon life history, which initiates downstream migration and pre-adapts juvenile salmon for seawater entry. While a number of reports concern thyroid hormones and smoltification, few and inconclusive studies have addressed the potential role of thyrotropin (TSH). TSH is composed of a α-subunit common to...
Surface fire to Crown Fire: Fire history in the Taos Valley watersheds, New Mexico, USA
Lane B Johnson, Ellis Margolis
2019, Fire (2)
Tree-ring fire scars, tree ages, historical photographs, and historical surveys indicate that, for centuries, fire played different ecological roles across gradients of elevation, forest, and fire regimes in the Taos Valley Watersheds. Historical fire regimes collapsed across the three watersheds by 1899, leaving all sites without fire for at least...
North American Commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature Note 69 – Application for addition of subseries/subepoch to the North American Stratigraphic Code
Marie-Pierre Aubry, Richard H. Fluegeman, Lucy E. Edwards, Brian R. Pratt, Carlton E. Brett
2019, Stratigraphy (15) 261-263
Consistency in stratigraphic nomenclature enables communication among scientists both regionally and globally, thus requiring the North American Stratigraphic Code, as presented by the North American Commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature, to follow international convention. The ratification of three subseries of the Holocene by the InternationalUnion of Geological Sciences (IUGS) in June...
Improved enrichment factor calculations through principal component analysis: Examples from soils near breccia pipe uranium mines, Arizona, USA
Carleton R. Bern, Katherine Walton-Day, David L. Naftz
2019, Environmental Pollution (248) 90-100
The enrichment factor (EF) is a widely used metric for determining how much the presence of an element in a sampling media has increased relative to average natural abundance because of human activity. Calculation of an EF requires the selection of both a background composition and a reference element, choices...
Assessment of skin and liver neoplasms in white sucker (Catostomus commersonii) collected in the Sheboygan River Area of Concern, Wisconsin, in 2017
Vicki S. Blazer, Heather L. Walsh, Ryan P. Braham, Patricia M. Mazik
2019, Open-File Report 2019-1014
Two hundred adult white sucker (Catostomus commersonii), age 3 years and older, were collected from the lower Sheboygan River Area of Concern in 2017, during the spring spawning run. Fish were euthanized, weighed, and measured, and any visible abnormalities were documented. Pieces of raised skin lesions as well as five...
Respiratory selenite reductase from Bacillus selenitireducens strain MLS10
Michael L. Wells, Jennifer McGarry, Maissa M Gaye, Partha Basu, Ronald S. Oremland, John F. Stolz
2019, Journal of Bacteriology (201)
The putative respiratory selenite [Se(IV)] reductase (Srr) from Bacillus selenitireducens MLS10 has been identified through a polyphasic approach involving genomics, proteomics, and enzymology. Nondenaturing gel assays were used to identify Srr in cell fractions, and the active band was shown to contain a single protein of 80 kDa. The...
Migratory goose arrival time plays a larger role in influencing forage quality than advancing springs in an Arctic coastal wetland
Karen H. Beard, Ryan T. Choi, A. Joshua Leffer, Lindsay Carlson, Katharine C. Kelsey, Joel A. Schmutz, Jeffrey Welker
2019, PLoS ONE (14)
With warmer springs, herbivores migrating to Arctic breeding grounds may experience phenological mismatches between their energy demands and the availability of high quality forage. However, the timing of high quality forage relative to the timing of grazing is often unknown. In coastal western Alaska, approximately one million migratory geese arrive...
Antipredator response diminishes during periods of resource deficit for a large herbivore
Brendan A. Oates, J.A. Merkle, Matthew Kauffman, S.R. Dewey, M.D. Jimenez, J.M. Vartanian, S.A. Becker, J.R. Goheen
2019, Ecology (100)
The starvation-predation hypothesis predicts that, during resource shortages, prey forego antipredator behavior and forage as much as possible to avoid starvation, even when risk of predation is high. We tested this hypothesis using GPS locations collected simultaneously from moose (Alces alces) and wolves (Canis lupus) in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem...
Winter precipitation and summer temperature predict lake water quality at macroscales
S. M. Collins, S. Yuan, P. N. Tan, S. K. Oliver, J. F. Lapierre, K. S. Cheruvelil, C. E. Fergus, N. K. Skaff, J. Stachelek, Tyler Wagner, P. A. Soranno
2019, Water Resources Research (55) 2708-2721
Climate change can have strong effects on aquatic ecosystems, including disrupting nutrient cycling and mediating processes that affect primary production. Past studies have been conducted mostly on individual or small groups of ecosystems, making it challenging to predict how future climate change will affect water quality at broad scales. We...
Behavior of adult and young grassland songbirds at fledging
Christine Ribic, David J. Rugg, Nicola Koper, Kevin Ellison, Christoph S. Ng
2019, Journal of Field Ornithology (90) 143-153
The behavior of adults and young at the time of fledging is one of the least understood aspects of the breeding ecology of birds. Current hypotheses propose that fledging occurs either as a result of parent-offspring conflict or nestling choice. We used video recordings to monitor the behavior of nestling...
Recreational impacts to wildlife: Managing visitors and resources to protect wildlife
Jeffrey L. Marion
2019, Report
Publication Abstract: Visitor use management is essential for maximizing benefits for visitors while achieving and maintaining desired resource conditions and visitor experiences on federally managed lands and waters. Visitor capacity, a component of visitor use management, is defined as the maximum amounts and types of visitor use that an...
Flood-inundation maps for the Yellow River from River Drive to Centerville Highway, Gwinnett County, Georgia
Jonathan W. Musser
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5009
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 16.4-mile reach of the Yellow River in Gwinnett County, Georgia, from 0.5 mile upstream from River Drive to Centerville Highway (Georgia State Route 124) were developed to depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at two...
Harmful algal blooms
U.S. Geological Survey
2019, General Information Product 188
This postcard provides details about "Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms and U.S. Geological Survey Science Capabilities, "Open File Report 2016-1174, where you can find details about how U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists use traditional methods and emerging technologies in collaboration with numerous partners to lead a diverse range of...
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Tindouf Basin Province, North Africa, 2018
Michael E. Brownfield, Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Cheryl A. Woodall, Phuong A. Le, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Thomas M. Finn, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Janet K. Pitman, Kristen R. Marra, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Ronald M. Drake II
2019, Fact Sheet 2019-3006
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 2.6 billion barrels of oil and 123.9 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Tindouf Basin Province of North Africa....
Fall Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), sand roller (Percopsis transmontana), and smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) interactions in a Snake River reservoir: A tale of three species
Rulon J. Hemingway, Kenneth F. Tiffan, John M. Erhardt, Tobyn N. Rhodes, Brad K. Bickford
2019, Northwestern Naturalist (100) 26-36
We studied some of the relationships between federally listed fall Chinook Salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, endemic Sand Roller, Percopsis transmontana, and non-native Smallmouth Bass, Micropterus dolomieu, in Lower Granite Reservoir on the Snake River. Because of its recent reappearance and population increase, the Sand Rollers could be filling the role of a “native invader”...
Contemporary environmental assessment using a viability analysis in a large river system to inform restoration and adaptive management decisions
Robin L. DeBruyne, Edward F. Roseman, Jason E. Ross, Kurt R. Newman, Russell M. Strach
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5002
As large-scale restoration plans for degraded aquatic habitats evolve, it is essential that multiorganizational collaborations have a common vision to achieve consensus on restoration goals. Development of restoration targets and postrestoration monitoring strategies can be focused using a viability analysis framework that supports an adaptive management process. Viability analysis is...
Geochemistry of a thermally immature Eagle Ford Group drill core in central Texas
Katherine L. French, Justin E. Birdwell, Katherine J. Whidden
2019, Organic Geochemistry (131) 19-33
The Upper Cretaceous Eagle Ford Group displays significant lateral and vertical geochemical variability. Much of the work on the Eagle Ford Group has been focused southwest of the San Marcos arch. To more fully characterize the Eagle Ford across the entire region, a thermally immature drill core was acquired...
Towards determining spatial methane distribution on Arctic permafrost bluffs with an unmanned aerial system
Ferdinand K. J. Oberle, Ann E. Gibbs, Bruce M. Richmond, Li H. Erikson, Mark P. Waldrop, Peter W. Swarzenski
2019, SN Applied Sciences (1) 1-9
Arctic permafrost stores vast amounts of methane (CH4) in subsurface reservoirs. Thawing permafrost creates areas for this potent greenhouse gas to be released to the atmosphere. Identifying ‘hot spots’ of methane flux on a local scale has been limited by the spatial scales of traditional ground-based or satellite-based methane-sampling methods....
Long‐term plant community trajectories suggest divergent responses of native and non‐native perennials and annuals to vegetation removal and seeding treatments
Stella M. Copeland, Seth M. Munson, John B. Bradford, Bradley J. Butterfield, Kevin L. Gunnell
2019, Restoration Ecology (27) 821-831
Land managers frequently apply vegetation removal and seeding treatments to restore ecosystem function following woody plant encroachment, invasive species spread, and wildfire. However, the long‐term outcome of these treatments is unclear due to a lack of widespread monitoring. We quantified how vegetation removal (via wildfire or management) with or without...
Diversity and abundance of wild bees in an agriculturally dominated landscape of eastern Colorado
H. S. Arathi, Mark W. Vandever, Brian S. Cade
2019, Journal of Insect Conservation (23) 187-197
Agricultural intensification has resulted in loss of natural and semi-natural habitats impacting several important ecosystem services. One group of organisms that has suffered greatly are the bees and hence pollination, the supporting ecosystem service they complete. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has implemented conservation...
Widespread global peatland establishment and persistence over the last 130,000 y
Claire C. Treat, Thomas Kleinen, Nils Broothaerts , April S. Dalton, Rene Dommain, Thomas A. Douglas, Judith Z. Drexler, Sarah A Finkelstein, Guido Grosse, Geoffrey Hope, Jack Hutchings, Miriam C. Jones, Peter Kuhry, Terri Lacourse, Outi Lahteenoja, Julie Loisel, Bastiaan Notebaert, Richard Payne, Dorothy M. Peteet, A. Britta K. Sannel, Jonathan M. Stelling, Jens Strauss, Graeme T. Swindles, Julie Talbot, Charles Tarnocai, Gert Verstraeten, Christopher J. Williams , Zhengyu Xia, Zicheng Yu, Minna Valiranta, Martina Hattestrand, Helena Alexanderson, Victor Brovkin
2019, PNAS (116) 4822-4827
Glacial−interglacial variations in CO2 and methane in polar ice cores have been attributed, in part, to changes in global wetland extent, but the wetland distribution before the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 21 ka to 18 ka) remains virtually unknown. We present a study of global peatland extent and carbon (C) stocks...
