Confirmation of diving and swimming behavior in the Sora (Porzana carolina)
David G. Krementz
2018, Wilson Journal of Ornithology (130) 778-780
We first observed Sora (Porzana carolina) swimming and diving under water while capturing them with hand nets at night. Since that time, we have observed the behavior several times and documented it with photos and video. Rails are among the most elusive birds. Despite living...
Remote sensing of river bathymetry: Evaluating a range of sensors, platforms, and algorithms on the upper Sacramento River, California, USA
Carl J. Legleiter, Lee R. Harrison
2018, Water Resources Research (55) 2142-2169
Remote sensing has become an increasingly viable tool for characterizing fluvial systems. In this study, we used field measurements from a 1.6 km reach of the upper Sacramento River, CA, to evaluate the potential of mapping water depths from a range of platforms, sensors, and depth retrieval methods. Field measurements...
Bat activity following repeated prescribed fire in the central Appalachians, USA
Lauren V. Austin, Alexander Silvis, Michael S. Muthersbaugh, Karen E. Powers, W. Mark Ford
2018, Fire Ecology (14)
BackgroundTo restore and manage fire-adapted forest communities in the central Appalachians, USA, land managers are now increasingly prioritizing use of prescribed fire. However, it is unclear how the reintroduction of fire following decades of suppression will affect bat communities, particularly where white-nose syndrome-related population declines of many cave-hibernating...
Extreme‐value geoelectric amplitude and polarization across the northeast United States
Jeffrey J. Love, Greg M. Lucas, Paul A. Bedrosian, Anna Kelbert
2018, Space Weather (17) 379-395
Maps are presented of extreme‐value geoelectric field amplitude and horizontal polarization for the Northeast United States. These maps are derived from geoelectric time series calculated for sites across the Northeast by frequency‐domain multiplication (time‐domain convolution) of 172 magnetotelluric impedance tensors, acquired during a survey, with decades‐long,...
Initial dispersal (1986-1987) of the invasive foraminifera Trochammina hadai Uchio in San Francisco Bay, California, USA
Mary McGann
2018, Micropaleontology (64) 365-378
A time series of three closely-spaced data sets are used to track the early expansion of the invasive Japanese benthic foraminifera Trochammina hadai in the southern portion of San Francisco Bay known as South Bay. The species initially appeared in 1983, comprising only 1.5% of the assemblage in one of...
The occurrence of the invasive foraminifera Trochammina hadai Uchio in Flamengo Inlet, Ubatuba, São Paulo State, Brazil
Patricia P. B. Eichler, Mary McGann, Andre R. Rodrigues, Alison Mendonca, Audrey Amorim, Carla Bonetti, Cristiane Cordeito de Farias, Silvia H. Mello e Sousa, Helenice Vital, Moab Praxedes Gomes
2018, Micropaleontology (64) 391-402
The agglutinated foraminifera Trochammina hadai Uchio (1962), a dominant species in Japan, first appeared as an invasive species in San Francisco Bay, US, in 1983. Trochammina hadai's first appearance in the Brazilian coastal waters of Flamengo Inlet, Ubatuba, Sao Paulo State, is recorded nearly three decades later, in two of...
Remote sensing of bush honeysuckle in the Middle Blue River Basin, Kansas City, Missouri, 2016–17
Jarrett T. Ellis
2018, Scientific Investigations Map 3421
Amur honeysuckle bush (Lonicera maackii) and Morrow’s honeysuckle (Lonicera morrowii) are two of the most aggressively invasive species to become established throughout areas along the Blue River in metropolitan Kansas City, Missouri. These two large, spreading shrubs (locally referred to as bush honeysuckle in the Kansas City metropolitan area) colonize...
Interior Least Tern sandbar nesting habitat measurements from Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery
Edward A. Bulliner, Caroline M. Elliott, Robert B. Jacobson, Casey Lott
2018, Data Series 1098
Sandbars of large sand-bedded rivers of the central United States serve important ecological functions to many species, including the endangered Interior Least Tern (Sternula antillarum, ILT). The ILT is a colonial bird that feeds on fish and nests primarily on riverine sandbars during its annual breeding season of around May...
Post-release breeding of translocated sharp-tailed grouse and an absence of artificial insemination effects
Steven R. Mathews, Peter S. Coates, Jennifer A. Fike, Helena Schneider, Dominik Fischer, Sara J. Oyler-McCance, Michael Lierz, David J. Delehanty
2018, Wildlife Research (46) 12-24
Context: Translocation has become a widely used method to restore wildlife populations following extirpation. For some species, such as lekking grouse, which breed at traditional mating grounds, reproduction is linked to culturally established geographic locations. Cultural centres are lost upon extirpation, making restoration into otherwise rehabilitated habitats especially challenging. The process...
Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 5.0 user guide
Emily A. Himmelstoss, Rachel E. Henderson, Meredith G. Kratzmann, Amy S. Farris
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1179
OverviewThe Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) is a freely available software application that works within the Esri Geographic Information System (ArcGIS) software. DSAS computes rate-of-change statistics for a time series of shoreline vector data. DSAS version 5.0 (v5.0) was released in December 2018 and has been tested for compatibility with...
Geologic map and database of the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range, Riverside and Imperial Counties, California
Robert E. Powell, Robert J. Fleck, Pamela M. Cossette
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1191
The northwest-trending Chocolate Mountains are situated along the northeastern margin of the southern Salton Trough. The Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range occupies most of the 75-km-long part of the Chocolate Mountains that lies between Salt Creek to the north and California State Highway 78 to the south. Mapping studies in...
On the potential duration of the aftershock sequence of the 2018 Anchorage earthquake
Andrew J. Michael
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1195
Currently, an aftershock sequence is ongoing in Alaska after the magnitude 7.0 Anchorage earthquake of November 30, 2018. Using two scenarios, determined with observations as of December 14, 2018, this report estimates that it will take between 2.5 years and 3 decades before the rate of aftershocks decays...
Updates to the suspended sediment SPARROW model developed for western Oregon and northwestern California
Daniel R. Wise
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5156
A SPARROW (SPAtially Related Regressions On Watershed attributes) model that was previously developed for western Oregon and northwestern California was updated using advancements in the SPARROW software and refinements to the input data. As was the case for the original model calibration, the updated models used the NHD Plus...
2017-2018 Palila abundance estimates and trend
Ayesha S. Genz, Kevin W. Brinck, Richard J. Camp, Paul C. Banko
2018, Technical Report HCSU-086
The palila (Loxioides bailleui) population was surveyed annually from 1998–2018 on Mauna Kea Volcanoto determine abundance, population trend, and spatial distribution. In the latest surveys, the 2017population was estimated at 1,177−1,813 birds (point estimate: 1,461) and the 2018 population wasestimated at 778−1,420 (point estimate: 1,051). Only two palila were detected...
The geology and paleontology of Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, Nevada
Kathleen B. Springer, Jeffrey S. Pigati, Eric Scott
2018, Fact Sheet 2018-3038
On December 19, 2014, Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, located in the Las Vegas Valley of southern Nevada, was established by Congress as the 405th unit of the National Park Service to “conserve, protect, interpret, and enhance for the benefit of present and future generations the unique and nationally...
The Las Vegas Formation
Kathleen B. Springer, Jeffrey S. Pigati, Craig R. Manker, Shannon A. Mahan
2018, Professional Paper 1839
The Las Vegas Formation was established in 1965 to designate the distinctive light-colored, fine-grained, fossil-bearing sedimentary deposits exposed in and around the Las Vegas Valley, Nevada. In a coeval designation, the sediments were subdivided into informal units with stratigraphic and chronologic frameworks that have persisted in the literature. Use of...
How and why Upper Colorado River Basin land, water, and fire managers choose to use drought tools (or not)
Amanda E. Cravens
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1173
On the Western Slope of Colorado, variable climate and precipitation conditions are typical. Periods of drought—which may be defined by lack of water, high temperatures, low soil moisture, or other indicators—cause a range of impacts across sectors, including water, land, and fire management.The Western Slope’s Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB)...
Earthquakes induced by hydraulic fracturing are pervasive in Oklahoma
Robert J. Skoumal, Rosamiel Ries, Michael R. Brudzinski, Andrew J. Barbour, Brian S. Currie
2018, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (123) 10918-10935
Wastewater disposal is generally accepted to be the primary cause of the increased seismicity rate in Oklahoma within the past decade, but no statewide analysis has investigated the contribution of hydraulic fracturing (HF) to the observed seismicity or the seismic hazard. Utilizing an enhanced seismicity catalog generated with multi‐station template...
Microseismic events associated with the Oroville Dam spillway
Robert J. Skoumal, Phillip B. Dawson, Stephen H. Hickman, J. Ole Kaven
2018, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (109) 387-394
On 14 February 2017, two small (equivalent MD 0.8 and 1.0) seismic events occurred in proximity to the Oroville Dam in the Sierra Nevada foothills, California. To examine possible causal relationships between these events and reservoir operations, including the spillway failure starting prior to these events, we applied a new...
Ground motions from induced earthquakes in Oklahoma and Kansas
Morgan P. Moschetti, Eric M. Thompson, Peter M. Powers, Susan M. Hoover, Daniel E. McNamara
2018, Seismological Research Letters (90) 160-170
Improved predictions of earthquake ground motions are critical to advancing seismic hazard analyses and earthquake response. The high seismicity rate from 2009 to 2016 in Oklahoma and Kansas provides an extensive data set for examining the ground motions from these events. We evaluate the ability of three suites of ground‐motion...
Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program Long Term Resource Monitoring element—Spatial data query tool
Jason J. Rohweder
2018, Fact Sheet 2018-3077
The Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) Program Long Term Resource Monitoring (LTRM) element has been monitoring fish, water quality, and vegetation in six study pools in the Upper Mississippi River system for approximately 30 years. Geographic locations were recorded for all sampling points. All of this information has been made...
Episodic master recession evaluation of groundwater and streamflow hydrographs for water-resource estimation
John R. Nimmo, Kimberlie Perkins
2018, Vadose Zone Journal (17) 1-25
Hydrograph analysis tools using a master recession curve (MRC) can produce many types of hydrologically important watershed-response quantifications, including aquifer recharge and stormflow characterization. An MRC is the relation between the value of a measured response R and its rate of change with time, dR/dt, occurring on the falling limb when there...
Hyperspectral remote sensing of wetland vegetation
Elijah Ramsey III, Amina Rangoonwala
2018, Book chapter, Advanced applications in remote sensing of agricultural crops and natural vegetation
Chapter 11 by Ramsey and Rangoonwala provides an overview of how hyperspectral imaging (HSI) advances the mapping of coastal wetlands that comprise a unique variety of plant species, forms, and associations. Each description begins by seeking to uncover the relationship between canopy hyperspectral reflectance and one or more of the...
Analysis of groundwater response to tidal fluctuations, Site 10 Naval Magazine Indian Island, Port Hadlock, Washington
Chad C. Opatz, Richard S. Dinicola
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1192
Site 10 at Naval Magazine Indian Island is an approximately 3.7-acre inactive landfill. The site was used as the primary landfill for the island from about 1945 until the mid-1970s, receiving paints, batteries, trash, and materials. In a memorandum to Washington State Department of Ecology, Naval Facilities Engineering Command...
Non‐linear effect of sea ice: Spectacled Eider survival declines at both extremes of the ice spectrum
Katherine S. Christie, Tuula E. Hollmen, Paul L. Flint, David C. Douglas
2018, Ecology and Evolution (8) 11808-11818
Understanding the relationship between environmental factors and vital rates is an important step in predicting a species’ response to environmental change. Species associated with sea ice are of particular concern because sea ice is projected to decrease rapidly in polar environments with continued levels of greenhouse gas emissions. The relationship...