Assessing the effectiveness of riparian restoration projects using Landsat and precipitation data from the cloud-computing application ClimateEngine.org
Mark B. Hausner, Justin L. Huntington, Caroline Nash, Charles Morton, Daniel J. McEvoy, David S. Pilliod, Katherine C. Hegewisch, Britta Daudert, John T. Abatzoglou, Gordon E. Grant
2018, Ecological Engineering (120) 432-440
Riparian vegetation along streams provides a suite of ecosystem services in rangelands and thus is the target of restoration when degraded by over-grazing, erosion, incision, or other disturbances. Assessments of restoration effectiveness depend on defensible monitoring data, which can be both expensive and difficult to collect. We present a method...
Landscape-scale wildlife species richness metrics to inform wind and solar energy facility siting: An Arizona case study
Kathryn A. Thomas, Christopher Jarchow, Terence R. Arundel, Pankaj Jamwal, Amanda Borens, Charles A. Drost
2018, Energy Policy (116) 145-152
The juxtaposition of wildlife and wind or solar energy facility infrastructure can present problems for developers, planners, policy makers, and management agencies. Guidance on siting of these renewable energy facilities may help identify potential wildlife-facility conflicts with species of regulatory or economic concern. However, existing spatial guidance usually does not...
Applying a Bayesian weighted surveillance approach to detect chronic wasting disease in white‐tailed deer
Christopher S. Jennelle, Daniel P. Walsh, Michael D. Samuel, Erik E. Osnas, Robert E. Rolley, Julia A. Langenberg, Jenny G. Powers, Ryan J. Monello, E. David Demarest, Rolf Gubler, Dennis M. Heisey
2018, Journal of Applied Ecology (55) 2944-2953
Surveillance is critical for early detection of emerging and re‐emerging infectious diseases. Weighted surveillance leverages heterogeneity in infection risk to increase sampling efficiency.Here, we apply a Bayesian approach to estimate weights for 16 surveillance classes of white‐tailed deer in Wisconsin, USA, relative to hunter‐harvested yearling males. We used these...
Stronger peak ground motion, beyond the threshold to initiate a response, does not lead to larger stream discharge responses to earthquakes
Christian H. Mohr, Michael Manga, David J. Wald
2018, Geophysical Research Letters (45) 6523-6531
The impressive number of stream gauges in Chile, combined with a suite of past and recent large earthquakes, makes Chile a unique natural laboratory to study several streams that recorded responses to multiple seismic events. We document changes in discharge in eight streams in Chile following two or more large...
The science, engineering applications, and policy implications of simulation-based PSHA
Morgan P. Moschetti, Sandra P. Chang, C.B Crouse, Arthur D. Frankel, Robert Graves, H Puangnak, Nico Luco, Christine A. Goulet, Sanaz Rezaeian, Allison Shumway, Peter M. Powers, Mark D. Petersen, Scott Callaghan, T.H. Jordan, Kevin R. Milner
2018, Conference Paper, Eleventh United States national conference on earthquake engineering
We summarize scientific methods for developing probabilistic seismic hazard assessments from 3-D earthquake ground motion simulations, describe current use of simulated ground motions for engineering applications, and discuss on-going efforts to incorporate these effects in the U.S. national seismic hazard model. The 3-D simulations provide important, additional information about earthquake...
Effects of land use on summer thermal regimes in critical salmonid habitats of the Pacific Northwest
Ryan Kovach, Clint C. Muhlfeld, Robert Al-Chokhachy, Jeffrey V. Ojala, Eric Archer
2018, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (76) 753-761
The effect of climate change on stream temperature regimes is of significant concern to natural resource managers focused on protecting cold-water-dependent species. Nevertheless, understanding of how human land-use activities may act to exacerbate the effects of climate change on stream temperature regimes is limited. Using extensive stream temperature data with...
Post-spring migration colony-site prospecting by Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii)
Jeffrey A. Spendelow, Adam J. Eichenwald
2018, North American Bird Bander (43) 1-6
We recorded banded Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii) and unbanded individuals mated to banded individuals in May and the first third of June in 2001 and 2002 to quantify post spring migration prospecting by this species at Falkner Island, Connecticut, USA. In 2001, more than one quarter: 34/125 (27.2%) of those...
Value of sample information in dynamic, structurally uncertain resource systems
Byron K. Williams, Fred A. Johnson
2018, PLoS ONE (13)
Few if any natural resource systems are completely understood and fully observed. Instead, there almost always is uncertainty about the way a system works and its status at any given time, which can limit effective management. A natural approach to uncertainty is to allocate time and effort to the collection...
Dynamic minimum set problem for reserve design: Heuristic solutions for large problems
Mathieu Bonneau, Regis Sabbadin, Fred A. Johnson, Bradley Stith
2018, PLoS ONE (13)
Conversion of wild habitats to human dominated landscape is a major cause of biodiversity loss. An approach to mitigate the impact of habitat loss consists of designating reserves where habitat is preserved and managed. Determining the most valuable areas to preserve in a landscape is called the reserve design problem. There exists several...
Water budget of the upper Chehalis River Basin, southwestern Washington
Andrew S. Gendaszek, Wendy B. Welch
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5084
Groundwater and surface water collectively supply the domestic, agricultural, and industrial needs of the 895-square mile upper Chehalis River Basin upstream of Grand Mound, Washington, while providing streamflow for fish and other aquatic species in the Chehalis River and its tributaries. To support sustainable water management decision-making, a water budget...
Outburst floods provide erodability estimates consistent with long-term landscape evolution
Daniel Garcia-Castellanos, Jim E. O'Connor
2018, Scientific Reports (8) 1-9
Most current models for the landscape evolution over geological timescales are based on semi-empirical laws that consider riverbed incision proportional to rock erodability (dependent on lithology) and to the work performed by water flow (stream power). However, the erodability values obtained from these models are entangled with poorly known conditions...
Explicit consideration of preferential groundwater discharges as surface water ecosystem control points
Martin A. Briggs, Danielle K. Hare
2018, Hydrological Processes (32) 2435-2440
Heterogeneities in sediment and rock permeability induce preferentialgroundwater flow from the scale of pore networks to large basins. Inthe unsaturated zone, preferential flow is frequently conceptualizedas an infiltration process dominated by macropores, resulting in stron-ger delivery of surface‐derived solute...
Using earthquakes, T waves, and infrasound to investigate the eruption of Bogoslof Volcano, Alaska
Aaron Wech, Gabrielle Tepp, John J. Lyons, Matthew M. Haney
2018, Geophysical Research Letters (45) 6918-6925
The 2016‐2017 eruption of Bogoslof volcano, a submarine stratovolcano in the Bering Sea, produced 70 discrete explosive eruptions over 8 months. With no local monitoring data, activity was seismically recorded on nearby islands 50‐100 km away, limiting the detection and resolution of seismic observations. We construct a matched filter catalog...
Streamflow, water quality, and constituent loads and yields, Scituate Reservoir Drainage Area, Rhode Island, Water Year 2016
Kirk P. Smith
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1084
As part of a long-term cooperative program to monitor water quality within the Scituate Reservoir watershed, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Providence Water Supply Board collected streamflow and water-quality data at the Scituate Reservoir and tributaries. Streamflow and concentrations of chloride and sodium estimated from records of...
Accurate predictions of microscale oxygen barometry in basaltic glasses using V K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy: A multivariate approach
Antonio Lanzirotti, M. Darby Dyar, Steve Sutton, Matthew Newville, Elisabet Head, CJ Carey, Molly McCanta, R. Lopaka Lee, Penelope L. King, John Jones
2018, American Mineralogist (103)
Because magmatic oxygen fugacity (fO2) exerts a primary control on the discrete vanadium (V) valence states that will exist in quenched melts, V valence proxies for fO2, measured using X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES), can provide highly sensitive measurements of the redox conditions in basaltic melts. However, published calibrations for basaltic...
Icebergs in the Nordic Seas throughout the Late Pliocene
Yvonne M. Smith, Daniel Hill, Aisling M Dolan, Alan M Haywood, Harry J. Dowsett, Bjorg Risebrobakken
2018, Paleoceanography (33) 318-335
The Arctic cryosphere is changing and making a significant contribution to sea level rise. The Late Pliocene had similar CO2 levels to the present and a warming comparable to model predictions for the end of this century. However, the state of the Arctic cryosphere during the Pliocene remains poorly constrained....
Collections management plan for the U.S. Geological Survey Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Samples Repository
Brian J. Buczkowski
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1100
Since 2002, the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Samples Repository has been supporting research by providing secure storage for geological, biological, and geochemical samples; maintaining organization and an active inventory of these sample collections; and providing researchers access to these scientific collections for study and reuse.Over the years,...
A database of biodiversity and habitat quantification tools used in market-based conservation
Scott J. Chiavacci, Emily Pindilli
2018, Fact Sheet 2018-3039
Market-based conservation uses economic incentives to leverage market forces in ways that encourage and improve efficiency in the restoration, enhancement, and preservation of species and habitats. Biodiversity and habitat quantification tools are vital to the operation of this conservation strategy, as they are used to measure the quality and functionality...
The flathead catfish invasion of the Great Lakes
Pamela L. Fuller, Gary Whelan
2018, Journal of Great Lakes Research (44) 1081-1092
A detailed review of historical literature and museum data revealed that flathead catfish were not historically native in the Great Lakes Basin, with the possible exception of a relict population in Lake Erie. The species has invaded Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair, Lake Huron, nearly all drainages in Michigan, and the...
Rapid, remote assessment of Hurricane Matthew impacts using four-dimensional structure-from-motion photogrammetry
Christopher R. Sherwood, Jonathan A. Warrick, Andrew D. Hill, Andrew C. Ritchie, Brian D. Andrews, Nathaniel G. Plant
2018, Journal of Coastal Research (34) 1303-1316
Timely assessment of coastal landforms and structures after storms is important for evaluating storm impacts, aiding emergency response and restoration, and initializing and assessing morphological models. Four-dimensional multiview photogrammetry, also known as structure from motion (4D SfM), provides a method for generating three-dimensional reconstructions of landscapes at two times (before...
Breaching of strike-slip faults and successive flooding of pull-apart basins to form the Gulf of California seaway from ca. 8–6 Ma
Paul J. Umhoefer, Michael H. Darin, Scott E.K. Bennett, Lisa A. Skinner, Rebecca J. Dorsey, Michael E. Oskin
2018, Geology (46) 695-698
The geologic record of the formation of marine basins during continental rifting is uncommonly preserved. Using GIS-based paleotectonic maps, we show that marine basin formation in the Gulf of California–Salton trough oblique rift (Mexico and the United States) occurred in a stepwise manner as crustal thinning lowered elevations within the...
Flood-inundation maps for the Pawtuxet River in West Warwick, Warwick, and Cranston, Rhode Island
Gardner C. Bent, Pamela J. Lombard
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5043
A series of 15 digital flood-inundation maps was developed for a 10.2-mile reach of the Pawtuxet River in the municipalities of West Warwick, Warwick, and Cranston, Rhode Island, by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers....
Limited nitrate retention capacity in the Upper Mississippi River
Luke C. Loken, John T. Crawford, Mark M. Dornblaser, Robert G. Striegl, Jeffrey N. Houser, Peter A Turner, Emily H. Stanley
2018, Environmental Research Letters (13)
The Mississippi River and other large rivers have the potential to regulate nitrogen export from terrestrial landscapes, and thus mitigate eutrophication in downstream aquatic ecosystems. In large rivers, human-constructed impoundments and connected backwaters may facilitate nitrogen removal; however, the capacity of these features is poorly quantified and...
A comparison of synthetic flowpaths derived from light detection and ranging topobathymetric data and National Hydrography Dataset High Resolution Flowlines
Cynthia Miller-Corbett
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1058
Bathymetric and topobathymetric light detection and ranging (lidar) digital elevation models created for the Delaware River were provided to the National Geospatial Program and used to evaluate synthetic flowpath extraction from bathymetric/topobathymetric lidar survey data as a data source for improving the density, distribution, and connectivity of the National Hydrography...
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...
