Dam removal: Listening in
Melissa M. Foley, James Bellmore, James E. O'Connor, Jeffrey J. Duda, Amy E. East, Gordon G. Grant, Chauncey W. Anderson, Jennifer A. Bountry, Mathias J. Collins, Patrick J. Connolly, Laura S. Craig, James E. Evans, Samantha Greene, Francis J. Magilligan, Christopher S. Magirl, Jon J. Major, George R. Pess, Timothy J. Randle, Patrick B. Shafroth, Christian E. Torgersen, Desiree D. Tullos, Andrew C. Wilcox
2017, Water Resources Research (53) 5229-5246
Dam removal is widely used as an approach for river restoration in the United States. The increase in dam removals—particularly large dams—and associated dam-removal studies over the last few decades motivated a working group at the USGS John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis to review and synthesize available...
Comparison of sediment and nutrient export and runoff characteristics from watersheds with centralized versus distributed stormwater management
Kristina G. Hopkins, J.V. Loperfido, Laura S. Craig, Gregory E. Noe, Dianna M. Hogan
2017, Journal of Environmental Management (203) 286-298
Stormwater control measures (SCMs) are used to retain stormwater and pollutants. SCMs have traditionally been installed in a centralized manner using detention to mitigate peak flows. Recently, distributed SCM networks that treat runoff near the source have been increasingly utilized. The aim of this study was to evaluate differences among...
Using optimal transport theory to estimate transition probabilities in metapopulation dynamics
Jonathan M. Nichols, Jeffrey A. Spendelow, James D. Nichols
2017, Ecological Modelling (359) 311-319
This work considers the estimation of transition probabilities associated with populations moving among multiple spatial locations based on numbers of individuals at each location at two points in time. The problem is generally underdetermined as there exists an extremely large number of ways in which individuals can move from one...
Autotrophic microbial arsenotrophy in arsenic-rich soda lakes
Ronald S. Oremland, Chad W. Saltikov, John F. Stolz, James T. Hollibaugh
2017, FEMS Microbiology Letters (364)
A number of prokaryotes are capable of employing arsenic oxy-anions as either electron acceptors [arsenate; As(V)] or electron donors [arsenite; As(III)] to sustain arsenic-dependent growth (‘arsenotrophy’). A subset of these microorganisms function as either chemoautotrophs or photoautotrophs, whereby they gain sufficient energy from their redox metabolism of arsenic to completely...
Water quality measurements in San Francisco Bay by the U.S. Geological Survey, 1969–2015
Tara Schraga, James E. Cloern
2017, Scientific Data (4)
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) maintains a place-based research program in San Francisco Bay (USA) that began in 1969 and continues, providing one of the longest records of water-quality measurements in a North American estuary. Constituents include salinity, temperature, light extinction coefficient, and concentrations of chlorophyll-a, dissolved oxygen, suspended particulate...
Archive of bathymetry data collected in South Florida from 1995 to 2015
Mark Erik Hansen, Nancy T. DeWitt, Billy J. Reynolds
2017, Data Series 1031
DescriptionLand development and alterations of the ecosystem in south Florida over the past 100 years have decreased freshwater and increased nutrient flows into many of Florida's estuaries, bays, and coastal regions. As a result, there has been a decrease in the water quality in many of these critical habitats, often...
Documentation for the MODFLOW 6 framework
Joseph D. Hughes, Christian D. Langevin, Edward R. Banta
2017, Techniques and Methods 6-A57
MODFLOW is a popular open-source groundwater flow model distributed by the U.S. Geological Survey. Growing interest in surface and groundwater interactions, local refinement with nested and unstructured grids, karst groundwater flow, solute transport, and saltwater intrusion, has led to the development of numerous MODFLOW versions. Often times, there are incompatibilities...
Documentation for the “XT3D” option in the Node Property Flow (NPF) Package of MODFLOW 6
Alden M. Provost, Christian D. Langevin, Joseph D. Hughes
2017, Techniques and Methods 6-A56
This report describes the “XT3D” option in the Node Property Flow (NPF) Package of MODFLOW 6. The XT3D option extends the capabilities of MODFLOW by enabling simulation of fully three-dimensional anisotropy on regular or irregular grids in a way that properly takes into account the full, three-dimensional conductivity tensor. It...
Documentation for the MODFLOW 6 Groundwater Flow Model
Christian D. Langevin, Joseph D. Hughes, Edward R. Banta, Richard G. Niswonger, Sorab Panday, Alden M. Provost
2017, Techniques and Methods 6-A55
This report documents the Groundwater Flow (GWF) Model for a new version of MODFLOW called MODFLOW 6. The GWF Model for MODFLOW 6 is based on a generalized control-volume finite-difference approach in which a cell can be hydraulically connected to any number of surrounding cells. Users can define the model...
Using object-based image analysis to conduct high-resolution conifer extraction at regional spatial scales
Peter S. Coates, K. Benjamin Gustafson, Cali L. Roth, Michael P. Chenaille, Mark A. Ricca, Kimberly Mauch, Erika Sanchez-Chopitea, Travis J. Kroger, William M. Perry, Michael L. Casazza
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1093
The distribution and abundance of pinyon (Pinus monophylla) and juniper (Juniperus osteosperma, J. occidentalis) trees (hereinafter, "pinyon-juniper") in sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems of the Great Basin in the Western United States has increased substantially since the late 1800s. Distributional expansion and infill of pinyon-juniper into sagebrush ecosystems threatens the...
Hierarchical population monitoring of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in Nevada and California—Identifying populations for management at the appropriate spatial scale
Peter S. Coates, Brian G. Prochazka, Mark A. Ricca, Gregory T. Wann, Cameron L. Aldridge, Steven E. Hanser, Kevin Doherty, Michael S. O’Donnell, David R. Edmunds, Shawn P. Espinosa
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1089
Population ecologists have long recognized the importance of ecological scale in understanding processes that guide observed demographic patterns for wildlife species. However, directly incorporating spatial and temporal scale into monitoring strategies that detect whether trajectories are driven by local or regional factors is challenging and rarely implemented. Identifying the...
Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) nesting and brood-rearing microhabitat in Nevada and California—Spatial variation in selection and survival patterns
Peter S. Coates, Brianne E. Brussee, Mark A. Ricca, Jonathan E. Dudko, Brian G. Prochazka, Shawn P. Espinosa, Michael L. Casazza, David J. Delehanty
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1087
Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereinafter, "sage-grouse") are highly dependent on sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) dominated vegetation communities for food and cover from predators. Although this species requires the presence of sagebrush shrubs in the overstory, it also inhabits a broad geographic distribution with significant gradients in precipitation and temperature that...
Reconstructing Common Era relative sea-level change on the Gulf Coast of Florida
Matthew J. Gerlach, Simon E. Engelhart, Andrew C. Kemp, Ryan P. Moyer, Joseph M. Smoak, Christopher E. Bernhardt, Niamh Cahill
2017, Marine Geology (390) 254-269
To address a paucity of Common Era data in the Gulf of Mexico, we reconstructed ~ 1.1 m of relative sea-level (RSL) rise over the past ~ 2000 years at Little Manatee River (Gulf Coast of Florida, USA). We applied a regional-scale foraminiferal transfer function to fossil assemblages preserved in a core of salt-marsh...
A projection of lesser prairie chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) populations range-wide
Jonathan W. Cummings, Sarah J. Converse, Clinton T. Moore, David R. Smith, Clay T. Nichols, Nathan L. Allan, Chris M. O’Meilia
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1071
We built a population viability analysis (PVA) model to predict future population status of the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus, LEPC) in four ecoregions across the species’ range. The model results will be used in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) Species Status Assessment (SSA) for the LEPC. Our...
Estimating risks for water-quality exceedances of total-copper from highway and urban runoff under predevelopment and current conditions with the Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM)
Gregory E. Granato, Susan C. Jones
Christopher N. Dunn, Brian Van Weele, editor(s)
2017, Conference Paper, World environmental and water resources congress 2017: Watershed management, irrigation and drainage, and water resources planning and management
The stochastic empirical loading and dilution model (SELDM) was used to demonstrate methods for estimating risks for water-quality exceedances of event-mean concentrations (EMCs) of total-copper. Monte Carlo methods were used to simulate stormflow, total-hardness, suspended-sediment, and total-copper EMCs as stochastic variables. These simulations were done for the Charles River Basin...
A unique coral community in the mangroves of Hurricane Hole, St. John, US Virgin Islands
Caroline S. Rogers
2017, Diversity (9)
Corals do not typically thrive in mangrove environments. However, corals are growing on and near the prop roots of red mangrove trees in Hurricane Hole, an area within the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument under the protection of the US National Park Service in St. John, US Virgin Islands....
Field-trip guide to Columbia River flood basalts, associated rhyolites, and diverse post-plume volcanism in eastern Oregon
Mark L. Ferns, Martin J. Streck, Jason D. McClaughry
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5022-O
The Miocene Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) is the youngest and best preserved continental flood basalt province on Earth, linked in space and time with a compositionally diverse succession of volcanic rocks that partially record the apparent emergence and passage of the Yellowstone plume head through eastern Oregon during...
Field-trip guide to the geologic highlights of Newberry Volcano, Oregon
Robert A. Jensen, Julie M. Donnelly-Nolan
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5022-J2
Newberry Volcano and its surrounding lavas cover about 3,000 square kilometers (km2) in central Oregon. This massive, shield-shaped, composite volcano is located in the rear of the Cascades Volcanic Arc, ~60 km east of the Cascade Range crest. The volcano overlaps the northwestern corner of the Basin and...
Vegetation map for the Hakalau Forest Unit of the Big Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex on the island of Hawai‘i
James D. Jacobi
2017, Technical Report HCSU-TR042
This vegetation map was produced to serve as an updated habitat base for management of natural resources of the Hakalau Forest Unit (HFU) of the Big Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex (Refuge) on the island of Hawai‘i. The map is based on a vegetation map originally produced as part of...
Geologic field trip guide to Mount Mazama and Crater Lake Caldera, Oregon
Charles R. Bacon, Heather M. Wright
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5022-J1
Crater Lake partly fills one of the most spectacular calderas of the world—an 8 by 10 kilometer (km) basin more than 1 km deep formed by collapse of the Mount Mazama volcano during a rapid series of explosive eruptions ~7,700 years ago. Having a maximum depth of 594 meters (m),...
Synthesis of downstream fish passage information at projects owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the Willamette River Basin, Oregon
Amy C. Hansen, Tobias J. Kock, Gabriel S. Hansen
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1101
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) operates the Willamette Valley Project (Project) in northwestern Oregon, which includes a series of dams, reservoirs, revetments, and fish hatcheries. Project dams were constructed during the 1950s and 1960s on rivers that supported populations of spring Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), winter steelhead...
Shorebird stopover habitat decisions in a changing landscape
Caitlyn R. Gillespie, Joseph J. Fontaine
2017, Journal of Wildlife Management (81) 1051-1062
To examine how habitat use by sandpipers (Calidris spp.; Baird's sandpipers, dunlin, least sandpipers, pectoral sandpipers, semipalmated sandpipers, stilt sandpipers, and white-rumped sandpipers) varies across a broad suite of environmental conditions, we conducted surveys at wetlands throughout the spring migratory period in 2013 and 2014 in 2 important stopover regions:...
Investigation of late Pleistocene and Holocene activity in the San Gregorio fault zone on the continental slope north of Monterey Canyon, offshore central California
Katherine L. Maier, Charles K. Paull, Daniel S. Brothers, David W. Caress, Mary McGann, Eve M. Lundsten, Krystle Anderson, Roberto Gwiazda
2017, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (107) 1094-1106
We provide an extensive high‐resolution geophysical, sediment core, and radiocarbon dataset to address late Pleistocene and Holocene fault activity of the San Gregorio fault zone (SGFZ), offshore central California. The SGFZ occurs primarily offshore in the San Andreas fault system and has been accommodating dextral strike‐slip motion between the Pacific...
Combining multiple earthquake models in real time for earthquake early warning
Sarah E. Minson, Stephen Wu, James L Beck, Thomas H. Heaton
2017, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (107) 1868-1882
The ultimate goal of earthquake early warning (EEW) is to provide local shaking information to users before the strong shaking from an earthquake reaches their location. This is accomplished by operating one or more real‐time analyses that attempt to predict shaking intensity, often by estimating the earthquake’s location and magnitude...
Hierarchical, quantitative biogeographic provinces for all North American turtles and their contribution to the biogeography of turtles and the continent
Joshua R. Ennen, Wilfredo A. Matamoros, Mickey Agha, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Sarah C. Sweat, Christopher W. Hoagstrom
2017, Herpetological Monographs (31) 114-140
Our study represents the first attempt to describe biogeographic provinces for North American (México, United States, and Canada) turtles. We analyzed three nested data sets separately: (1) all turtles, (2) freshwater turtles, and (3) aquatic turtles. We georeferenced North American turtle distributions, then we created presence–absence matrices for each of...
