Collision and displacement vulnerability to offshore wind energy infrastructure among marine birds of the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf
Emily C. Kelsey, Jonathan J. Felis, Max Czapanskiy, David M. Peresksta, Josh Adams
2018, Journal of Environmental Management (227) 229-247
Marine birds are vulnerable to collision with and displacement by offshore wind energy infrastructure (OWEI). Here we present the first assessment of marine bird vulnerability to potential OWEI in the California Current System portion of the U.S. Pacific Outer Continental Shelf (POCS). Using population size, demography, life history, flight heights, and avoidance...
Monitoring the social benefits of ecological restoration
David M. Martin, James E. Lyons
2018, Restoration Ecology (26) 1045-1050
Ecological restoration has traditionally been evaluated by monitoring the recovery of ecosystem conditions, such as species diversity and abundance, physical form, and water quality, whereas monitoring the social benefits of restoration is uncommon. Current monitoring frameworks do not track who benefits from restoration or by how much. In this study,...
Chronic wasting disease detection and mortality sources in semi-protected deer population
Krysten L. Schuler, Jonathan A. Jenks, Robert W. Klaver, Christopher S. Jennelle, R. Terry Bowyer
2018, Wildlife Biology (2018)
Surveillance for wildlife diseases is essential for assessing population dynamics of ungulates, especially in free-ranging populations where infected animals are difficult to sample. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is an emerging infectious disease of concern because of the potential for substantial negative effects on populations of cervids. Variability in the likelihood...
Climatically driven changes in primary production propagate through trophic levels
David C. Stoner, Joseph O. Sexton, David M. Choate, Jyothy Nagol, Heather H. Bernales, Steven A. Sims, Kirsten E. Ironside, Kathleen M. Longshore, Thomas C. Edwards Jr.
2018, Global Change Biology (24) 4453-4463
Climate and land‐use change are the major drivers of global biodiversity loss. Their effects are particularly acute for wide‐ranging consumers, but little is known about how these factors interact to affect the abundance of large carnivores and their herbivore prey. We analyzed population densities of a primary and secondary consumer...
The 1952 Kern County, California earthquake: A case study of issues in the analysis of historical intensity data for estimation of source parameters
Leah Salditch, Susan E. Hough, Seth Stein, Bruce Spencer, Edward Brooks, James S. Neely, Madeleine C. Lucas
2018, Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors (283) 140-151
Seismic intensity data based on first-hand accounts of shaking give valuable insight into historical and early instrumental earthquakes. Comparing an observed intensity distribution to intensity-prediction models based on modern calibration events allows the magnitude to be estimated for many historic earthquakes. Magnitude estimates can also potentially be refined for earthquakes...
Changes in Earth’s gravity reveal changes in groundwater storage
Jeffrey R. Kennedy
2018, Fact Sheet 2018-3032
Changes in the amount of water stored in underground aquifers cause small changes in Earth’s gravitational field. The U.S. Geological Survey’s Southwest Gravity Program has developed methods for measuring terrestrial gravity changes with part-per-billion precision. The measurements allow scientists to map changes in groundwater storage and to improve models...
Necropsy-based wild fish health assessment
Vicki S. Blazer, Heather L. Walsh, Ryan P. Braham, Cheyenne R. Smith
2018, Journal of Visualized Experiments (139)
Anthropogenic influences from increased nutrients and chemical contaminants, to habitat alterations and climate change, can have significant effects on fish populations. Adverse effects monitoring, utilizing biomarkers from the organismal to the molecular level, can be used to assess the cumulative effects on fishes and other organisms. Fish health has been...
The 19 September 2017 M 7.1 Puebla‐Morelos earthquake: Spectral ratios confirm Mexico City zoning
Mehmet Celebi, Valerie Jean Sahakian, Diego Melgar, Luis Quintanar
2018, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (108) 3289-3299
One important element of understanding basin response to strong shaking is the analysis of spectral ratios, which may provide information about the dominant frequency of ground motion at specific locations. Spectral ratios computed from accelerations recorded by strong‐motion stations in Mexico City during the mainshock of the 19 September 2017 <span...
Internal parasites of the two subspecies of the West Indian manatee Trichechus manatus
Heidi M. Wyrosdick, Alycia Chapman, Antonio A. Mignucci-Giannoni, Carla I. Riviera-Perez, Robert K. Bonde
2018, Diseases of Aquatic Organisms (130) 145-152
The West Indian manatee Trichechus manatus is divided into 2 subspecies: the Antillean (T. m. manatus) and Florida (T. m. latirostris) manatees. This study reports sample prevalence of manatee parasites from populations of these 2 subspecies in different geographical locations. Although necropsy is a valuable diagnostic tool for parasite infections, the need...
Modelling sound attenuation in heterogeneous environments for improved bioacoustic sampling of wildlife populations
J. Andrew Royle
2018, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (9) 1939-1947
Acoustic sampling methods are becoming increasingly important in biological monitoring. Sound attenuation is one of the most important dynamics affecting the utility of acoustic data as it directly affects the probability of detection of individuals by acoustic sensor arrays and especially the localization of acoustic signals necessary in telemetry...
Prioritizing conserved areas threatened by wildfire and fragmentation for monitoring and management
Jeff A. Tracey, Carlton J. Rochester, Stacie A. Hathaway, Kristine L. Preston, Alexandra D. Syphard, Amy G. Vandergast, James E. Diffendorfer, Janet Franklin, Jason B. MacKenzie, Tomas A. Oberbauer, Scott Tremor, Clark S. Winchell, Robert N. Fisher
2018, PLoS ONE (13) 1-23
In many parts of the world, the combined effects of habitat fragmentation and altered disturbance regimes pose a significant threat to biodiversity. This is particularly true in Mediterranean-type ecosystems (MTEs), which tend to be fire-prone, species rich, and heavily impacted by human land use. Given the spatial complexity of overlapping...
Latitudinal limits to the predicted increase of the peatland carbon sink with warming
Angela Gallego-Sala, Dan Charman, Simon Brewer, Sue Page, I. Colin Prentice, Pierre Friedlingstein, Steven Morley, Matthew Amesbury, David Beilman, Svante Bjorck, Tatiana Blyakharchuk, Christopher Bochicchio, Robert K Booth, Joan Bunbury, Philip Camill, Donna Carless, Rodney A. Chimner, Michael Clifford, Elizabeth Cressey, Colin Courtney-Mustaphi, Francois De Vleeschouwer, Rixt de Jong, Barbara Fialkiawicz-Koziel, Sarah A Finkelstein, Michelle Garneau, Esther N. Githumbi, John Hribjlan, James Holmquist, Paul Hughes, Chris D. Jones, Miriam Jones, Edgar Karofeld, Eric S. Klein, Ulla Kokfelt, Atte Korhola, Terri Lacourse, Gael LeRoux, Mariusz Lamentowicz, David Large, Martin Lavoie, Julie Loisel, Helen MacKay, Glen M. MacDonald, Markku Makila, Gabriel Magnan, R. Marchant, Katarzyna Marcisz, Antonio Martinez-Cortizas, Charly Massa, Paul Mathijssen, Dmitri Mauquoy, Timothy Mighall, Fraser J.G. Mitchell, Patrick Moss, J. Nichols, P.O. Oksanen, L. Orme, Maara S. Packalen, Stephen Robinson, Thomas P. Roland, Nicole K. Sanderson, A. B. K. Sannel, Noemi Silva-Sanchez, Natasha Steinberg, Graeme T. Swindles, T. Edward Turner, Joanna Uglow, M. Valiranta, Simon van Bellen, Marjolein van der Linden, Guoping Wang, Zicheng Yu, Joana Zaragoza-Castells, Yan Zhao
2018, Nature Climate Change (8) 907-913
The carbon sink potential of peatlands depends on the balance of carbon uptake by plants and microbial decomposition. The rates of both these processes will increase with warming but it remains unclear which will dominate the global peatland response. Here we examine the global relationship between peatland carbon accumulation rates...
Methods used to reconstruct historical daily streamflows in northern New Jersey and southeastern New York, water years 1922–2010
R. Edward Hickman, Amy R. McHugh
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5068
A study was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, to reconstruct streamflows for use in the RiverWare model. Methods and data used to estimate daily reconstructed streamflows at 53 sites in selected subbasins in northern New Jersey and southeastern New...
Multiphase flow and underpressured shale at the Bruce nuclear site, Ontario, Canada
Michelle R. Plampin, Christopher E. Neuzil
2018, Geological Society, London, Special Publications (482) 101-114
Hydraulic testing has revealed dramatic underpressures in Paleozoic shales and carbonates at the Bruce nuclear site in Ontario. Although evidence from both laboratory and field studies suggests that a small amount of gas-phase methane could be present in the shale, previous studies examining causal linkages between the gas phase and...
U.S. Geological Survey energy and wildlife research annual report for 2018
Mona Khalil, editor(s)
2018, Circular 1447
USGS scientists provide scientific information and options that land and resource managers and private industries can use to make decisions regarding the development of energy resources while protecting the health of ecosystems. Studies focus on delivering information to avoid, minimize, or mitigate the impacts of energy infrastructure on fish and...
U.S. Geological Survey sage-grouse and sagebrush ecosystem research annual report for 2018
Steven E. Hanser, editor(s)
2018, Circular 1446
The sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystem extends across a large portion of the Western United States, and the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is one of the iconic species of this ecosystem. Greater sage-grouse populations occur in 11 States and are dependent on relatively large expanses of sagebrush-dominated habitat. Sage-grouse populations have...
A comparison of the chemical sensitivities between in vitro and in vivo propagated juvenile freshwater mussels: Implications for standard toxicity testing
A. Popp, W. G. Cope, M.A. McGregor, Thomas J. Kwak, T. Augspurger, Jay F. Levine, L. Koch
2018, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (37) 3077-3085
Unionid mussels are ecologically important and are globally imperiled. Toxicants contribute to mussel declines, and toxicity tests using juvenile mussels—a sensitive life stage—are valuable in determining thresholds used to set water quality criteria. In vitro culture methods provide an efficient way to propagate juveniles for toxicity testing, but their relative...
Approaches for improving field soil identification
Zhaosheng Fan, Skye A. Wills, Jeffrey E. Herrick, Travis W. Nauman, Colby W. Brungard, Dylan E. Beaudette, Matthew R. Levi, Anthony T. O’Geen
2018, Soil Science Society of America Journal (82) 871-877
Use of soil survey information by non-soil-scientists is often limited by their inability to select the correct soil map unit component (COMP). Here, we developed two approaches that can be deployed to smartphones for non-soil-scientists to identify COMP from the location alone or location together with easily observed field data...
Soil property and class maps of the conterminous United States at 100-meter spatial resolution
Amanda Ramcharan, Tomislav Hengl, Travis W. Nauman, Colby W. Brungard, Sharon Waltman, Skye A. Wills, James Thompson
2018, Soil Science Society of America Journal (82) 186-201
With growing concern for the depletion of soil resources, conventional soil maps need to be updated and provided at finer and finer resolutions to be able to support spatially explicit human–landscape models. Three US soil point datasets—the National Cooperative Soil Survey Characterization Database, the National Soil Information System, and the...
Reductions in tree performance during hotter droughts are mitigated by shifts in nitrogen cycling
Charlotte Grossiord, Arthur Gessler, Sasha C. Reed, Isaac Borrego, Adam D. Collins, Lee T. Dickman, Max Ryan, Leonie Schonbeck, Sanna Sevanto, Alberto Vilagroso, Nate G. McDowell
2018, Plant, Cell & Environment (41) 2627-2637
Climate warming should result in hotter droughts of unprecedented severity in this century. Such droughts have been linked with massive tree mortality, and data suggest that warming interacts with drought to aggravate plant performance. Yet how forests will respond to hotter droughts remains unclear, as does the suite of mechanisms...
Biocrusts enhance soil fertility and Bromus tectorum growth, and interact with warming to influence germination
Scott Ferrenberg, Akasha M. Faist, Armin J. Howell, Sasha C. Reed
2018, Plant and Soil (429) 77-90
Background and aimsBiocrusts are communities of cyanobacteria, mosses, and/or lichens found in drylands worldwide. Biocrusts are proposed to enhance soil fertility and productivity, but simultaneously act as a barrier to the invasive grass, Bromus tectorum, in western North America. Both biocrusts and B. tectorum are sensitive to climate change drivers,...
Long-term evolution of sand transport through a river network: Relative influences of a dam versus natural changes in grain size from sand waves
David J. Topping, Erich R. Mueller, John C. Schmidt, Ronald E. Griffiths, David J. Dean, Paul E. Grams
2018, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface (123) 1879-1909
Temporal and spatial nonuniformity in supplies of water and sand in a river network leads to sand transport that is in local disequilibrium with the upstream sand supply. In such river networks, sand is transported downstream as elongating waves in which coupled changes in grain size and transport occur. Depending...
KG²B, a collaborative benchmarking exercise for estimating the permeability of the Grimsel granodiorite - Part 1: measurements, pressure dependence and pore-fluid effects
Christian David, J. Wasserman, F. Amann, David A. Lockner, E.H. Rutter, T Vanorio, A. Amann Hildenbrand, J. Billiotte, T. Reuschle, D. Lasseux, J. Fortin, R. Lenormand, A.P.S. Selvadurai, P.G. Meredith, J. Browning, T.M. Mitchell, D. Loggia, F. Nono, J. Sarout, L. Esteban, C. Davy, L. Louis, G. Boitnott, C. Madonna, E. Jahns, Fleury. M., G. Berthe, P. Delage, P. Braun, D. Gregoire, L. Perrier, P. Polito, Y. Jannot, A. Sommier, B. Krooss, R. Fink, Q. Hu, J.M. Klaver, A. Clark
2018, Geophysical Journal International (215) 799-824
Measuring the permeability of tight rocks remains a challenging task. In addition to the traditional sources of errors that affect more permeable formations (e.g. sample selection, non-representative specimens, disturbance introduced during sample acquisition and preparation), tight rocks can be particularly prone to solid–fluid interactions and thus more sensitive to the...
Multi-year data from satellite- and ground-based sensors show details and scale matter in assessing climate’s effects on wetland surface water, amphibians, and landscape conditions
Walter Sadinski, Alisa L. Gallant, Mark Roth, Jesslyn F. Brown, Gabriel Senay, Wayne L. Brininger, Perry M. Jones, Jason M. Stoker
2018, PLoS ONE (13)
Long-term, interdisciplinary studies of relations between climate and ecological conditions on wetland-upland landscapes have been lacking, especially studies integrated across scales meaningful for adaptive resource management. We collected data in situ at individual wetlands, and via satellite for surrounding 4-km2 landscape blocks, to assess relations between annual weather dynamics, snow duration, phenology, wetland...
Spring temperature, migration chronology, and nutrient allocation to eggs in three species of arctic‐nesting geese: Implications for resilience to climate warming
Jerry W. Hupp, David H. Ward, David X. Soto, Keith A. Hobson
2018, Global Change Biology (24) 5056-5071
The macronutrients that Arctic herbivores invest in their offspring are derived from endogenous reserves of fat and protein (capital) that females build prior to the period of investment or from foods they consume concurrently with investment (income). The relative contribution from each source can be influenced by temporal and environmental...
