Search Results

Hybridization and introgression between introduced and native salmonids threaten the continued persistence of many inland cutthroat trout species. Environmental models have been developed to predict the spread of introgression, but few studies have assessed the role of propagule pressure. We used an extensive set of fish stocking records and geographic...

We detect seismic scattering from the core-mantle boundary related to the phase PKKP (PK. KP) in data from small aperture seismic arrays in India and Canada. The detection of these scattered waves in data from small aperture arrays is new and allows a better characterization of the fine-scale structure of...

Citizen science programs are emerging as an efficient way to increase data collection and help monitor invasive species. Effective invasive species monitoring requires rigid data quality assurances if expensive control efforts are to be guided by volunteer data. To achieve data quality, effective online training is needed to improve field...

This work discusses a Bayesian approach to approximating the distribution of parameters governing nonlinear structural systems. Specifically, we use a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method for sampling the posterior parameter distributions thus producing both point and interval estimates for parameters. The method is first used to identify both linear and...

Highway construction in mountainous areas can result in sedimentation of streams, negatively impacting stream habitat, water quality, and biotic communities. We assessed the impacts of construction of a segment of Corridor H, a four-lane highway, in the Lost River watershed, West Virginia, by monitoring benthic macroinvertebrate communities and water quality,...

We applied the Numerical Maxwell Model of three-dimensional simulations (NMM3D) in the Dense Media Radiative Theory (DMRT) to calculate backscattering coefficients. The particles' positions are computer-generated and the subsequent Foldy-Lax equations solved numerically. The phase matrix in NMM3D has significant cross-polarization, particularly when the particles are densely packed. The NMM3D...

Future estuarine geomorphic change, in response to climate change, sea-level rise, and watershed sediment supply, may govern ecological function, navigation, and water quality. We estimated geomorphic changes in Suisun Bay, CA, under four scenarios using a tidal-timescale hydrodynamic/sediment transport model. Computational expense and data needs were reduced using the morphological...

Resource managers often have little information regarding the habitat requirements and distribution of rare species. Factor analysis-based habitat suitability models describe the ecological niche of a species and identify locations where these conditions occur on the landscape using existing occurrence data. We used factor analyses to assess the suitability of...

The recent discoveries of large, active populations of microbes in the subseafloor of the world's oceans supports the impact of the deep biosphere biota on global biogeochemical cycles and raises important questions concerning the functioning of these extreme environments for life. These investigations demonstrated that subseafloor microbes are unevenly distributed...

Fossil shells of small terrestrial gastropods are commonly preserved in wetland, alluvial, loess, and glacial deposits, as well as in sediments at many archeological sites. These shells are composed largely of aragonite (CaCO3) and potentially could be used for radiocarbon dating, but they must meet two criteria before their 14C...

Analyses of feces, stomach contents, and regurgitated pellets are common techniques for assessing diets of vertebrates and typically contain more than 1 food item per sampling unit. When analyzed, these individual food items have traditionally been treated as independent, which represents pseudoreplication. When food types are recorded as present or...

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) assessments were conducted both in the laboratory and at a field site in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico, using a continuous heat-type automated seepage meter (seepmeter). The functioning of the seepmeter is based on measurements of a temperature gradient in the water between downstream and upstream...

The use of structural equation modeling (SEM) is often motivated by its utility for investigating complex networks of relationships, but also because of its promise as a means of representing theoretical concepts using latent variables. In this paper, we discuss characteristics of ecological theory and some of the challenges for...

Models of fault scarp morphology have been previously used to infer the relative age of different fault scarps in a fault zone using labor-intensive ground surveying. We present a method for automatically extracting scarp morphologic ages within high-resolution digital topography. Scarp degradation is modeled as a diffusive mass transport process...

We used a simple yet powerful method for judging public support for management actions from randomized surveys. We asked respondents to rank choices (representing management regulations under consideration) according to their preference, and we then used discrete choice models to estimate probability of choosing among options (conditional on the set...

A monthly snow accumulation and melt model is used with gridded monthly temperature and precipitation data for the Northern Hemisphere to generate time series of March snow-covered area (SCA) for the period 1905 through 2002. The time series of estimated SCA for March is verified by comparison with previously published...

The availability of wetlands and shallow water habitats significantly influences Gulf of Mexico (GOM) penaeid shrimp fishery productivity. However, the GOM region has the highest rate of wetland loss in the USA. Protection and management of these vital GOM habitats are critical to sustainable shrimp fisheries. Brown shrimp (Farfantepenaeus aztecus)...

This map is part of a three-map series of German Bank, located on the Scotian Shelf off southern Nova Scotia.  This map is the product of a number of surveys (1997-2003) that used a multibeam sonar system to map 5321 km2 of the seafloor.  Other surveys collected geological data for...

Streambed drainage was measured at the cessation of 26 ephemeral streamflow events in Rillito Creek, Tucson, Arizona from August 2000 to June 2002 using buried time domain reflectometry (TDR) probes. An unusual drainage response was identified, which was characterized by sharp drainage from saturation to near field capacity at each...

Biotic responses to climate change will vary among taxa and across latitudes, elevational gradients, and degrees of insularity. However, due to factors such as phenotypic plasticity, ecotypic variation, and evolved tolerance to thermal stress, it remains poorly understood whether losses should be greatest in populations experiencing the greatest climatic change...

Evaluating the effectiveness of stream restoration is often challenging because of the lack of pre-treatment data, narrow focus on physicochemical measures and insufficient post-restoration monitoring. Even when these fundamental elements are present, quantifying restoration success is difficult because of the challenges associated with distinguishing treatment effects from seasonal variation, episodic...

Groundwater modeling has become a vital component to water supply and contaminant transport investigations. An important component of groundwater modeling under steady state conditions is selecting a representative hydraulic conductivity (K) estimate or set of estimates which defines the K field of the studied region. Currently, there are a number...

DNA-based mark-recapture has become a methodological cornerstone of research focused on bear species. The objective of such studies is often to estimate population size; however, doing so is frequently complicated by movement of individual bears. Movement affects the probability of detection and the assumption of closure of the population required...

The flow regime is a primary determinant of the structure and function of aquatic and riparian ecosystems for streams and rivers. Hydrologic alteration has impaired riverine ecosystems on a global scale, and the pace and intensity of human development greatly exceeds the ability of scientists to assess the effects on...

This report summarizes work completed by U.S. Geological Survey’s Columbia River Research Laboratory (USGS-CRRL) in the Wind River subbasin during the period November 2008 through October 2009 under Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) contract 41038. Long term research in the Wind River has focused on assessments of steelhead/rainbow trout Oncorhynchus...