Ecosystem extent and fragmentation
Roger Sayre, Matt Hansen
2017, Report, A sourcebook of methods and procedures for monitoring essential biodiversity variables in tropical forests with remote sensing
One of the candidate essential biodiversity variable (EBV) groups described in the seminal paper by Pereira et al. (2014) concerns Ecosystem Structure. This EBV group is distinguished from another EBV group which encompasses aspects of Ecosystem Function. While the Ecosystem Function EBV treats ecosystem processes like nutrient cycling, primary production,...
Prediction of lake depth across a 17-state region in the United States
Samantha K. Oliver, Patricia A. Soranno, C. Emi Fergus, Tyler Wagner, Luke A. Winslow, Caren E. Scott, Katherine E. Webster, John A. Downing, Emily H. Stanley
2016, Inland Waters (6) 314-324
Lake depth is an important characteristic for understanding many lake processes, yet it is unknown for the vast majority of lakes globally. Our objective was to develop a model that predicts lake depth using map-derived metrics of lake and terrestrial geomorphic features. Building on previous models that use local topography...
Regional water table (2014) in the Mojave River and Morongo Groundwater Basins, southwestern Mojave Desert, California
Nick F. Teague, Meghan C. Dick, Sally F. House, Dennis A. Clark
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1105
Data for static water-levels measured in about 610 wells during March-April 2014 by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Mojave Water Agency (MWA), and other local water districts were compiled to construct a regional water-table map. This map shows the...
Sharing our data—An overview of current (2016) USGS policies and practices for publishing data on ScienceBase and an example interactive mapping application
Katherine J. Chase, Andrew R. Bock, Roy Sando
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1202
This report provides an overview of current (2016) U.S. Geological Survey policies and practices related to publishing data on ScienceBase, and an example interactive mapping application to display those data. ScienceBase is an integrated data sharing platform managed by the U.S. Geological Survey. This report describes resources that U.S. Geological...
Landscape genetic approaches to guide native plant restoration in the Mojave Desert
Daniel F. Shryock, Caroline A. Havrilla, Lesley A. DeFalco, Todd C. Esque, Nathan Custer, Troy E. Wood
2016, Ecological Applications (27) 429-445
Restoring dryland ecosystems is a global challenge due to synergistic drivers of disturbance coupled with unpredictable environmental conditions. Dryland plant species have evolved complex life-history strategies to cope with fluctuating resources and climatic extremes. Although rarely quantified, local adaptation is likely widespread among these species and potentially influences restoration outcomes....
Groundwater and surface-water interaction, water quality, and processes affecting loads of dissolved solids, selenium, and uranium in Fountain Creek, near Pueblo, Colorado, 2012–2014
L. Rick Arnold, Roderick F. Ortiz, Christopher R. Brown, Kenneth R. Watts
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5134
In 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Arkansas River Basin Regional Resource Planning Group, initiated a study of groundwater and surface-water interaction, water quality, and loading of dissolved solids, selenium, and uranium to Fountain Creek near Pueblo, Colorado, to improve understanding of sources and processes affecting loading...
Book review: Mapping gendered routes and spaces in the early modern world
Dalia E. Varanka
2016, Renaissance Quarterly (69) 1092
This book encapsulates and extends many seminal ideas presented at the eighth “Attending to Early Modern Women” conference held at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in June 2012. Merry Wiesner-Hanks has done a masterful job editing these papers within a central theme of the interaction of spatial domains with gender-based phenomena....
Dynamic distributions and population declines of Golden-winged Warblers
Kenneth V. Rosenberg, Tom Will, David A. Buehler, Sara Barker Swarthout, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Ruth E. Bennett, Richard Chandler
2016, Book chapter, Golden-winged Warbler ecology, conservation, and habitat management (Studies in Avian Biology, volume 49)
With an estimated breeding population in 2010 of 383,000 pairs, the Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) is among the most vulnerable and steeply declining of North American passerines. This species also has exhibited among the most dynamic breeding distributions, with populations expanding and then contracting over the past 150 years in...
U.S. Geological Survey science for the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative—2015 annual report
Zachary H. Bowen, Cameron L. Aldridge, Patrick J. Anderson, Timothy J. Assal, Timothy T. Bartos, Anna D. Chalfoun, Geneva W. Chong, Marie K. Dematatis, Cheryl A. Eddy-Miller, Steven L. Garman, Stephen S. Germaine, Collin G. Homer, Matthew J. Kauffman, Christopher C. Huber, Daniel J. Manier, Cynthia P. Melcher, Kirk A. Miller, Tamar Norkin, Lindsey E. Sanders, Annika W. Walters, Anna B. Wilson, Teal B. Wyckoff
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1141
This is the eighth annual report highlighting U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) science and decision-support activities conducted for the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI). The activities address specific management needs identified by WLCI partner agencies. In 2015, USGS scientists continued 24 WLCI projects in 5 categories: (1) acquiring and analyzing resource-condition data...
Magnitude, frequency, and trends of floods at gaged and ungaged sites in Washington, based on data through water year 2014
Mark C. Mastin, Christopher P. Konrad, Andrea G. Veilleux, Alison E. Tecca
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5118
An investigation into the magnitude and frequency of floods in Washington State computed the annual exceedance probability (AEP) statistics for 648 U.S. Geological Survey unregulated streamgages in and near the borders of Washington using the recorded annual peak flows through water year 2014. This is an updated report from...
Time-slice maps showing age, distribution, and style of deformation in Alaska north of 60° N.
Thomas E. Moore, Stephen E. Box
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1138
The structural architecture of Alaska is the product of a complex history of tectonism that occurred along the Cordilleran and Arctic margins of North America through interactions with ancient and modern ocean plates and with continental elements derived from Laurentia, Siberia, and Baltica. To unravel the tectonic history of Alaska,...
Dam Removal Information Portal (DRIP)—A map-based resource linking scientific studies and associated geospatial information about dam removals
Jeffrey J. Duda, Daniel J. Wieferich, R. Sky Bristol, J. Ryan Bellmore, Vivian B. Hutchison, Katherine M. Vittum, Laura Craig, Jonathan A. Warrick
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1132
The removal of dams has recently increased over historical levels due to aging infrastructure, changing societal needs, and modern safety standards rendering some dams obsolete. Where possibilities for river restoration, or improved safety, exceed the benefits of retaining a dam, removal is more often being considered as a viable...
Landscape effects of wildfire on permafrost distribution in interior Alaska derived from remote sensing
Dana R. N. Brown, M. Torre Jorgenson, Knut Kielland, David L. Verbyla, Anupma Prakash, Joshua C. Koch
2016, Remote Sensing (8) 1-22
Climate change coupled with an intensifying wildfire regime is becoming an important driver of permafrost loss and ecosystem change in the northern boreal forest. There is a growing need to understand the effects of fire on the spatial distribution of permafrost and its associated ecological consequences. We focus on the...
The Maryland Coastal Plain Aquifer Information System: A GIS-based tool for assessing groundwater resources
David C. Andreasen, Mark R. Nardi, Andrew W. Staley, Grufron Achmad, John W. Grace
2016, Special Paper of the Geological Society of America (520) 159-170
Groundwater is the source of drinking water for ∼1.4 million people in the Coastal Plain Province of Maryland (USA). In addition, groundwater is essential for commercial, industrial, and agricultural uses. Approximately 0.757 × 109 L d–1 (200 million gallons/d) were withdrawn in 2010. As a result of decades of withdrawals...
Seeing the forest through the trees: Considering roost-site selection at multiple spatial scales
David S. Jachowski, Christopher T. Rota, Christopher A. Dobony, W. Mark Ford, John W. Edwards
2016, PLoS ONE (11)
Conservation of bat species is one of the most daunting wildlife conservation challenges in North America, requiring detailed knowledge about their ecology to guide conservation efforts. Outside of the hibernating season, bats in temperate forest environments spend their diurnal time in day-roosts. In addition to simple shelter, summer roost availability...
Extending Alaska's plate boundary: tectonic tremor generated by Yakutat subduction
Aaron G. Wech
2016, Geology (44) 587-590
The tectonics of the eastern end of the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone are complicated by the inclusion of the Yakutat microplate, which is colliding into and subducting beneath continental North America at near-Pacific-plate rates. The interaction among these plates at depth is not well understood, and further east, even less is...
Presence of rapidly degrading permafrost plateaus in south-central Alaska
Benjamin M. Jones, Carson Baughman, Vladimir E. Romanovsky, Andrew D. Parsekian, Esther Babcock, Eva Stephani, Miriam C. Jones, Guido Grosse, Edward E Berg
2016, The Cryosphere (10) 2673-2692
Permafrost presence is determined by a complex interaction of climatic, topographic, and ecological conditions operating over long time scales. In particular, vegetation and organic layer characteristics may act to protect permafrost in regions with a mean annual air temperature (MAAT) above 0 °C. In this study, we document the presence of residual...
Modeled effects of soil acidification on long-term ecological and economic outcomes for managed forests in the Adirondack region (USA)
Jesse Caputo, Colin M. Beier, Timothy J. Sullivan, Gregory B. Lawrence
2016, Science of the Total Environment (565) 401-411
Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) is among the most ecologically and economically important tree species in North America, and its growth and regeneration is often the focus of silvicultural practices in northern hardwood forests. A key stressor for sugar maple (SM) is acid rain, which depletes base cations from poorly-buffered forest...
@KarlTheFog has been mapped!
Alicia A. Torregrosa
2016, BayGEO Journal (9)
Within the world of mapping, clouds are a pesky interference to be removed from satellite remote sensed imagery. However, to many of us, that is a waste of pixels. Cloud maps are becoming increasingly valuable in the quest to understand land cover change and surface processes. In coastal California, the...
Flood-inundation maps for a 9.1-mile reach of the Coast Fork Willamette River near Creswell and Goshen, Lane County, Oregon
Glen W. Hess, Tana Haluska
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5029
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 9.1-mile reach of the Coast Fork Willamette River near Creswell and Goshen, Oregon, were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science...
Map of landslides triggered by the January 12, 2010, Haiti earthquake
Edwin L. Harp, Randall W. Jibson, Robert G. Schmitt
2016, Scientific Investigations Map 3353
The magnitude (M) 7.0 Haiti earthquake of January 12, 2010, triggered landslides throughout much of Haiti on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea. The epicenter of the quake was located at 18.44°N., 72.57°W. at a depth of 13 kilometers (km) approximately 25 km southwest of the capital, Port-au-Prince....
Methods to estimate historical daily streamflow for ungaged stream locations in Minnesota
David L. Lorenz, Jeffrey R. Ziegeweid
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5181
Effective and responsible management of water resources relies on a thorough understanding of the quantity and quality of available water; however, streamgages cannot be installed at every location where streamflow information is needed. Therefore, methods for estimating streamflow at ungaged stream locations need to be developed. This report presents a...
Estimation of a Trophic State Index for selected inland lakes in Michigan, 1999–2013
Lori M. Fuller, Richard S. Jodoin
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5023
A 15-year estimated Trophic State Index (eTSI) for Michigan inland lakes is available, and it spans seven datasets, each representing 1 to 3 years of data from 1999 to 2013. On average, 3,000 inland lake eTSI values are represented in each of the datasets by a process that relates field-measured...
Compilation of VS30 Data for the United States
Alan Yong, Eric M. Thompson, David J. Wald, Keith L. Knudsen, Jack K. Odum, William J. Stephenson, Scott Haefner
2016, Data Series 978
VS30, the time-averaged shear-wave velocity (VS) to a depth of 30 meters, is a key index adopted by the earthquake engineering community to account for seismic site conditions. VS30 is typically based on geophysical measurements of VS derived from invasive and noninvasive techniques at sites of interest. Owing to cost considerations, as well as...
Integrated modeling approach for fate and transport of submerged oil and oil-particle aggregates in a freshwater riverine environment
Faith A. Fitzpatrick, Rex Johnson, Zhenduo Zhu, David Waterman, Richard D. McCulloch, Earl Hayter, Marcelo H. Garcia, Michel C. Boufadel, Timothy Dekker, Jacob S. Hassan, David T. Soong, Christopher J. Hoard, Kenneth Lee
2016, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the joint federal interagency conference 2015
The Enbridge Line 6B pipeline release of diluted bitumen into the Kalamazoo River downstream of Marshall, Michigan, U.S.A., in July 2010 was one of the largest oil spills into freshwater in North American history. A portion of the oil interacted with river sediment and submerged requiring the development and implementation...
