Temporal and spatial monitoring of cyanobacterial blooms at Willow Creek Reservoir, North-Central Oregon
Cassandra D. Smith
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5083
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) investigated the spatial and temporal dynamics of cyanobacterial (blue-green algal) blooms in Willow Creek Reservoir in north-central Oregon in 2015–16. A combination of cameras and water-quality monitoring equipment was used to assess the frequency and duration of blooms...
An update on Toxoplasma gondii infections in northern sea otters (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) from Washington State, USA
Shiv K. Verma, Susan Knowles, Camila K. Cerqueira-Cezar, Oliver C. Kwok, Tiantian Jiang, Chunlei Su, Jitender P. Dubey
2018, Veterinary Parasitology (258) 133-137
Toxoplasmosis in marine mammals is epidemiologically and clinically important. Toxoplasma gondii antibodies (by modified agglutination test, cut-off ≥1:25) were detected in serum of 65 of 70 (92.9%) northern sea otters (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) from Washington State, USA. Brains and/or muscles of 44 sea otters were bioassayed in mice (INF-γ knock-out...
Pesticide inputs to the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, 2015–16: Results from the Delta Regional Monitoring Program
Matthew D. De Parsia, James L. Orlando, Megan M. McWayne, Michelle L. Hladik
2018, Data Series 1089
Emergent hypotheses about causes of the pelagic organism decline in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta (Delta) indicate that a more complete understanding of the quality of water entering the Delta is needed. Less than half of all pesticides used in the Delta watershed are measured in samples collected for routine monitoring,...
Implicit decision framing as an unrecognized source of confusion in endangered species classification
Jonathan Cummings, Sarah J. Converse, David R. Smith, Steve Morey, Michael C. Runge
2018, Conservation Biology (32) 1246-1254
Legal classification of species requires scientific and values‐based components, and how those components interact depends on how people frame the decision. Is classification a negotiation of trade‐offs, a decision on how to allocate conservation efforts, or simply a comparison of the biological status of a species to a legal standard?...
Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve Coordinated Water Resources Monitoring Strategy
Shawn C. Fisher, Robert J. Welk, Jason S. Finkelstein
2018, Open-File Report 2017-1161
Executive SummaryThe Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve Coordinated Water Resources Monitoring Strategy (CWRMS) provides an overview of the water-quality and ecological monitoring within the Reserve and presents suggestions from stakeholders for future data collection, data management, and coordination among monitoring programs. The South Shore Estuary Reserve, hereafter referred to...
Reestablishing a host–affiliate relationship: Migratory fish reintroduction increases native mussel recruitment
Heather S. Galbraith, Julie L. Devers, Carrie J. Blakeslee, Jeffrey C. Cole, Barbara St. John White, Steven Minkkinen, William A. Lellis
2018, Ecological Applications (28) 1841-1852
Co‐extirpation among host–affiliate species is thought to be a leading cause of biodiversity loss worldwide. Freshwater mussels (Unionida) are at...
Evaluating anthropogenic landscape alterations as wildlife hazards, with wind farms as an example
Peter R. Law, Mark R. Fuller
2018, Ecological Indicators (34) 380-385
Anthropogenic alterations to landscape are indicators of potential compromise of that landscape’s ecology. We describe how alterations can be assessed as ‘hazards’ to wildlife through a sequence of three steps: diagnosing...
Quality of surface water in Missouri, Water Year 2016
Miya N. Barr, Katherine A. Bartels
2018, Data Series 1086
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, designed and operates a series of monitoring stations on streams and springs throughout Missouri known as the Ambient Water-Quality Monitoring Network. During water year 2016 (October 1, 2015, through September 30, 2016), data presented in this report...
Bat community response to silvicultural treatments in bottomland hardwood forests managed for wildlife in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley
Loraine P. Ketzler, Christopher E. Comer, Daniel J. Twedt
2018, Forest Ecology and Management (417) 40-48
Silvicultural treatments (e.g., selective timber harvests) that are prescribed to promote wildlife habitat are intended to alter the physical structure of forests to achieve conditions deemed beneficial for wildlife. Such treatments have been advocated for management of bottomland hardwood forests on public conservation lands in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Although...
Quantifying variance across spatial scales as part of fire regime classifications
Scholtz Rheinhardt, Samuel D. Fuhlendorf, Sherry A. Leis, Joshua J. Picotte, Dirac Twidwell
2018, Ecosphere (9)
The emergence of large‐scale fire classifications and products informed by remote sensing data has enabled opportunities to include variability or heterogeneity as part of modern fire regime classifications. Currently, basic fire metrics such as mean fire return intervals are calculated without considering spatial variance in a management context. Fire return...
Preliminary evaluation of the hydrogeology and groundwater quality of the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer and Memphis aquifer at the Tennessee Valley Authority Allen Power Plants, Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee
John K. Carmichael, James A. Kingsbury, Daniel Larsen, Scott Schoefernacker
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1097
The hydrogeology, groundwater quality, and potential for hydraulic connection between the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer and the Memphis aquifer in the area of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Allen Combined Cycle and Allen Fossil Plants in southwestern Memphis, Tennessee, were evaluated from September through December 2017. The study was...
Santa Barbara and Foothill groundwater basins Geohydrology and optimal water resources management—Developed using density dependent solute transport and optimization models
Scott R. Paulinski, Tracy Nishikawa, Geoffrey Cromwell, Scott E. Boyce, Zachary P. Stanko
Tracy Nishikawa, editor(s)
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5059
Groundwater has been a part of the city of Santa Barbara’s water-supply portfolio since the 1800s; however, since the 1960s, the majority of the city’s water has come from local surface water, and the remainder has come from groundwater, State Water Project, recycled water, increased water conservation, and as needed,...
Juvenile salmonid monitoring following removal of Condit Dam in the White Salmon River Watershed, Washington, 2017
Ian G. Jezorek, Jill M. Hardiman
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1106
Condit Dam, at river kilometer 5.3 on the White Salmon River, Washington, was breached in 2011, and removed completely in 2012, providing anadromous salmonids with the opportunity to recolonize habitat blocked for nearly 100 years. Prior to dam removal, a multi-agency workgroup concluded that the preferred salmonid restoration alternative...
On the reliability of N‐mixture models for count data
Richard J. Barker, Matthew J. Schofield, William A. Link, John R. Sauer
2018, Biometrics (74) 369-377
N‐mixture models describe count data replicated in time and across sites in terms of abundance N and detectability p. They are popular because they allow inference about N while controlling for factors that influence p without the need for marking animals. Using a capture–recapture perspective, we show that the loss...
A simple method for partitioning total solar radiation into diffuse/direct components in the United States
Jingjing Fan, Qiang Huang, David M. Sumner, Dingbao Wang
2018, International Journal of Green Energy (15) 497-506
Solar radiation is a major sustainable and clean energy resource, and use of solar radiation is expected to increase. The utilization efficiency of solar energy varies with the relative proportions of the direct and diffuse components that compose total solar radiation and with the slope and aspect of the irradiated...
A novel technique for precision geometric correction of jitter distortion for the Europa Imaging System and other rolling shutter cameras
Randolph L. Kirk, Makayla Shepherd, Stuart Sides
2018, Conference Paper
We use simulated images to demonstrate a novel technique for mitigating geometric distortions caused by platform motion (“jitter”) as two-dimensional image sensors are exposed and read out line by line (“rolling shutter”). The results indicate that the Europa Imaging System (EIS) on NASA’s Europa Clipper can likely meet its...
Candidate products for operational earthquake forecasting illustrated using the HayWired planning scenario, including one very quick (and not‐so‐dirty) hazard‐map option
Edward H. Field, Kevin R. Milner
2018, Seismological Research Letters (89) 1420-1434
In an effort to help address debates on the usefulness of operational earthquake forecasting (OEF), we illustrate a number of OEF products that could be automatically generated in near‐real time. To exemplify, we use an M">M 7.1...
Using cluster analysis to compartmentalize a large managed wetland based on physical, biological, and climatic geospatial attributes
Ian Hahus, Kati Migliaccio, Kyle R. Douglas-Mankin, Geraldine Klarenberg, Rafael Muñoz-Carpena
2018, Environmental Management (62) 571-583
Hierarchical and partitional cluster analyses were used to compartmentalize Water Conservation Area 1, a managed wetland within the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Florida, USA, based on physical, biological, and climatic geospatial attributes. Single, complete, average, and Ward’s linkages were tested during the hierarchical cluster analyses,...
Map of recently active traces of the Rodgers Creek Fault, Sonoma County, California
Suzanne Hecker, Carolyn E. Randolph Loar
2018, Scientific Investigations Map 3410
The accompanying map and digital data identify recently active strands of the Rodgers Creek Fault in Sonoma County, California, interpreted primarily from the geomorphic expression of recent faulting on aerial photography and hillshade imagery derived from airborne lidar data. A recently active fault strand is defined here as having evidence...
Variation in inbreeding rates across the range of Northern Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis caurina): Insights from over 30 years of monitoring data
Mark P. Miller, Susan M. Haig, Eric D. Forsman, Robert G. Anthony, Lowell Diller, Katie M. Dugger, Alan B. Franklin, Tracy L. Fleming, Scott Gremel, Damon B. Lesmeister, Mark Higley, Dale R. Herter, Stan G Sovern
2018, The Auk (135) 821-833
Inbreeding has been difficult to quantify in wild populations because of incomplete parentage information. We applied and extended a recently developed framework for addressing this problem to infer inbreeding rates in Northern Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) across the Pacific Northwest, USA. Using pedigrees from 14,187 Northern Spotted Owls, we...
Frictional properties and 3-D stress analysis of the southern Alpine Fault, New Zealand
Carolyn Boulton, Nicolas C. Barth, Diane E. Moore, David A. Lockner, John Townend, Daniel R. Faulkner
2018, Journal of Structural Geology (114) 43-54
New Zealand's Alpine Fault (AF) ruptures quasi-periodically in large-magnitude earthquakes. Paleoseismological evidence suggests that about half of all recognized AF earthquakes terminated at the boundary between the Central and South Westland sections of the fault. There, fault geometry and the polarity of uplift change. The South Westland AF exhibits oblique-normal fault...
An updated method for estimating landslide‐event magnitude
Hakan Tanyas, Kate E. Allstadt, Cees J. van Weston
2018, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (43) 1836-1847
Summary statistics derived from the frequency–area distribution (FAD) of inventories of triggered landslides allows for direct comparison of landslides triggered by one event (e.g. earthquake, rainstorm) with another. Such comparisons are vital to understand links between the landslide‐event and the environmental characteristics of the area affected. This could lead to...
“Asian carp” is societally and scientifically problematic. Let's replace it
Patrick Kocovsky, Duane Chapman, Song S. Qian
2018, Fisheries (43) 311-316
Bighead Carp Hypophthalmichthys nobilis, Black Carp Mylopharyngodon piceus, Grass Carp Ctenopharyngodon idella, and Silver Carp H. molitrix are considered invasive species in North America and Europe. In North America, they are typically referred to collectively as “Asian carp”, a reference to their native range. The category “Asian carp” fails to acknowledge the cultural value and...
Transient coastal landscapes: Rising sea level threatens salt marshes
Ivan Valiela, Javier Lloret, Tynan Bowyer, Simon Miner, David P. Remsen, Elizabeth Elmstrom, Charlotte Cogswell, E. Robert Thieler
2018, Science of the Total Environment (640-641) 1148-1156
Salt marshes are important coastal environments that provide key ecological services. As sea level rise has accelerated globally, concerns about the ability of salt marshes to survive submergence are increasing. Previous estimates of likely survival of salt marshes were based on ratios of sea level rise to marsh platform accretion....
Procedures for using the Horiba Scientific Aqualog® fluorometer to measure absorbance and fluorescence from dissolved organic matter
Angela M. Hansen, Jacob Fleck, Tamara E. C. Kraus, Bryan D. Downing, Travis von Dessonneck, Brian A. Bergamaschi
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1096
Advances in spectroscopic techniques have led to an increase in the use of optical measurements (absorbance and fluorescence) to assess dissolved organic matter composition and infer sources and processing. Although optical measurements are easy to make, they can be affected by many variables rendering them less comparable, including by inconsistencies...
