Where you stand depends on where you sit: Qualitative inquiry into notions of fire adaptation
Hannah Brenkert-Smith, James Meldrum, Patricia A. Champ, Christopher M. Barth
2017, Ecology and Society (22)
Wildfire and the threat it poses to society represents an example of the complex, dynamic relationship between social and ecological systems. Increasingly, wildfire adaptation is posited as a pathway to shift the approach to fire from a suppression paradigm that seeks to control fire to a paradigm that focuses on...
Suspended-sediment loads in the lower Stillaguamish River, Snohomish County, Washington, 2014–15
Scott A. Anderson, Christopher A. Curran, Eric E. Grossman
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1066
Continuous records of discharge and turbidity at a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgage in the lower Stillaguamish River were paired with discrete measurements of suspended-sediment concentration (SSC) in order to estimate suspended-sediment loads over the water years 2014 and 2015. First, relations between turbidity and SSC were developed and used...
Recent stability of resident and migratory landbird populations in National Parks of the Pacific Northwest
Chris Ray, James Saracco, Mandy Holmgren, Robert Wilkerson, Rodney Siegel, Kurt J. Jenkins, Jason I. Ransom, Patricia J. Happe, John Boetsch, Mark Huff
2017, Ecosphere (8)
Monitoring species in National Parks facilitates inference regarding effects of climate change on population dynamics because parks are relatively unaffected by other forms of anthropogenic disturbance. Even at early points in a monitoring program, identifying climate covariates of population density can suggest vulnerabilities to future change. Monitoring landbird populations in...
Altitudinal migration and the future of an iconic Hawaiian honeycreeper in response to climate change and management
Alban Guillaumet, Wendy A. Kuntz, Michael D. Samuel, Eben H. Paxton
2017, Ecological Monographs (87) 410-428
Altitudinal movement by tropical birds to track seasonally variable resources can move them from protected areas to areas of increased vulnerability. In Hawaiʻi, historical reports suggest that many Hawaiian honeycreepers such as the ‘I‘iwi (Drepanis coccinea) once undertook seasonal migrations, but the existence of such movements today is unclear. Because...
New Jersey StreamStats: A web application for streamflow statistics and basin characteristics
Kara M. Watson, Jon A. Janowicz
2017, Fact Sheet 2017-3057
StreamStats is an interactive, map-based web application from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) that allows users to easily obtain streamflow statistics and watershed characteristics for both gaged and ungaged sites on streams throughout New Jersey. Users can determine flood magnitude and frequency, monthly flow-duration, monthly low-flow frequency statistics, and watershed...
Estimation of low-flow statistics at ungaged sites on streams in the Lower Hudson River Basin, New York, from data in geographic information systems
Allan D. Randall, Douglas A. Freehafer
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5019
A variety of watershed properties available in 2015 from geographic information systems were tested in regression equations to estimate two commonly used statistical indices of the low flow of streams, namely the lowest flows averaged over 7 consecutive days that have a 1 in 10 and a 1 in 2...
Geomorphic response of the North Fork Stillaguamish River to the State Route 530 landslide near Oso, Washington
Scott W. Anderson, Mackenzie K. Keith, Christopher S. Magirl, J. Rose Wallick, Mark C. Mastin, James R. Foreman
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5055
On March 22, 2014, the State Route 530 Landslide near Oso, Washington mobilized 8 million cubic meters of unconsolidated Pleistocene material, creating a valley‑spanning deposit that fully impounded the North Fork Stillaguamish River. The river overtopped the 8-meter high debris impoundment within 25 hours and began steadily incising a new...
Mechanisms associated with an advance in the timing of seasonal reproduction in an urban songbird
Adam M. Fudickar, Timothy J Greives, Mikas Abolins-Abols, Jonathan W. Atwell, Simone L. Meddle, Guillermo Friis, Craig A. Stricker, Ellen D. Ketterson
2017, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (5)
The colonization of urban environments by animals is often accompanied by earlier breeding and associated changes in seasonal schedules. Accelerated timing of seasonal reproduction in derived urban populations is a potential cause of evolutionary divergence from ancestral populations if differences in physiological processes that regulate reproductive timing become fixed over...
The National Map seamless digital elevation model specifications
Christy-Ann M. Archuleta, Eric W. Constance, Samantha T. Arundel, Amanda J. Lowe, Kimberly S. Mantey, Lori A. Phillips
2017, Techniques and Methods 11-B9
This specification documents the requirements and standards used to produce the seamless elevation layers for The National Map of the United States. Seamless elevation data are available for the conterminous United States, Hawaii, Alaska, and the U.S. territories, in three different resolutions—1/3-arc-second, 1-arc-second, and 2-arc-second. These specifications include requirements and...
Interpreting surveys to estimate the size of the monarch butterfly population: Pitfalls and prospects
John M. Pleasants, Myron P. Zalucki, Karen S. Oberhauser, Lincoln P. Brower, Orley R. Taylor, Wayne E. Thogmartin
2017, PLoS ONE (12)
To assess the change in the size of the eastern North American monarch butterfly summer population, studies have used long-term data sets of counts of adult butterflies or eggs per milkweed stem. Despite the observed decline in the monarch population as measured at overwintering sites in Mexico, these studies found...
Restoring monarch butterfly habitat in the Midwestern US: 'All hands on deck'
Wayne E. Thogmartin, Laura Lopez-Hoffman, Jason J. Rohweder, James E. Diffendorfer, Ryan G. Drum, Darius J. Semmens, Scott Black, Iris Caldwell, Donita Cotter, Pauline Drobney, Laura L. Jackson, Michael Gale, Doug Helmers, Steven B. Hilburger, Elizabeth Howard, Karen S. Oberhauser, John M. Pleasants, Brice X. Semmens, Orley R. Taylor, Patrick Ward, Jake F. Weltzin, Ruscena Wiederholt
2017, Conservation Letters (12)
The eastern migratory population of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus plexippus) has declined by >80% within the last two decades. One possible cause of this decline is the loss of ≥1.3 billion stems of milkweed (Asclepias spp.), which monarchs require for reproduction. In an effort to restore monarchs to a population goal...
Field-trip guide to Mount St. Helens, Washington - An overview of the eruptive history and petrology, tephra deposits, 1980 pyroclastic density current deposits, and the crater
John S. Pallister, Michael A. Clynne, Heather M. Wright, Alexa R. Van Eaton, James W. Vallance, David R. Sherrod, B. Peter Kokelaar
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5022-D
This field trip will provide an introduction to several fascinating features of Mount St. Helens. The trip begins with a rigorous hike of about 15 km from the Johnston Ridge Observatory (9 km north-northeast of the crater vent), across the 1980 Pumice Plain, to Windy Ridge (3.6 km northeast of...
Efficacy and residual toxicity of a sodium hydroxide based ballast water treatment system for freshwater bulk freighters
Adria Elskus, Carys L. Mitchelmore, David Wright, Jeffrey W. Henquinet, Nicholas Welschmeyer, Colin Flynn, Barnaby J. Watten
2017, Journal of Great Lakes Research (43) 744-754
The efficacy and residual toxicity of a sodium hydroxide (NaOH) based ballast water treatment system (BWTS) were tested aboard the Great Lakes carrier M/V American Spiritin 1000 L mesocosms containing water from the ship's ballast tanks. NaOH was added to elevate the pH to 11.5 or 11.7 for 48 h, after which pH was reduced to < 9...
Identifying ecologically relevant scales of habitat selection: diel habitat selection in elk
Caleb P. Roberts, James W. Cain III, Robert D. Cox
2017, Ecosphere (8) 1-16
Although organisms make resource selection decisions at multiple spatiotemporal scales, not all scales are ecologically relevant to any given organism. Ecological patterns and rhythms such as behavioral and climatic patterns may provide a consistent method for identifying ecologically relevant scales of habitat selection. Using elk (Cervus canadensis) as an example...
New constraints on coseismic slip during southern Cascadia subduction zone earthquakes over the past 4600 years implied by tsunami deposits and marine turbidites
George R. Priest, Robert C. Witter, Yinglong J. Zhang, Chris Goldfinger, Kelin Wang, Jonathan C. Allan
2017, Natural Hazards (88) 285-313
Forecasting earthquake and tsunami hazards along the southern Cascadia subduction zone is complicated by uncertainties in the amount of megathrust fault slip during past ruptures. Here, we estimate slip on hypothetical ruptures of the southern part of the megathrust through comparisons of late Holocene Cascadia earthquake histories derived from tsunami...
Temporal changes in nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations with comparisons to conservation practices and agricultural activities in the Lower Grand River, Missouri and Iowa, and selected watersheds, 1969–2015
Heather M. Krempa, Allison K. Flickinger
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5067
This report presents the results of a cooperative study by the U.S. Geological Survey and Missouri Department of Natural Resources to estimate total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations at monitoring sites within and near the Lower Grand River hydrological unit. The primary objectives of the study were to...
Field-trip guide to a volcanic transect of the Pacific Northwest
Dennis Geist, John A. Wolff, Karen Harpp
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5022-M
The Pacific Northwest region of the United States provides world-class and historically important examples of a wide variety of volcanic features. This guide is designed to give a broad overview of the region’s diverse volcanism rather than focusing on the results of detailed studies; the reader should consult the...
Distribution and migration chronology of Eastern population sandhill cranes
David L. Fronczak, David E. Andersen, Everett E. Hanna, Thomas R. Cooper
2017, Journal of Wildlife Management (81) 1021-1032
The Eastern Population (EP) of greater sandhill cranes (Antigone canadensis tabida; cranes) is expanding in size and geographic range. Little information exists regarding the geographic extent of breeding, migration, and wintering ranges, migration chronology, or use of staging areas for cranes in the EP. To obtain these data, we attached...
Spatial and temporal variability in benthic invertebrate assemblages in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon
Natalie J. Stauffer-Olsen, James L. Carter, Steven V. Fend
2017, Northwest Science (91) 257-271
Upper Klamath Lake (UKL) in southern Oregon has experienced declines in water quality due to excessive nutrient loading. This has led to annual cyanobacterial blooms, primarily of Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (AFA). Benthic invertebrates are important food resources for benthic feeding fishes; however, they can increase autochthonous nutrient cycling in lakes and as a...
Piscivore diet response to a collapse in pelagic prey populations
Steven Zeug, Frederick V. Feyrer, Annie Brodsky, Jenny Melgo
2017, Environmental Biology of Fishes (100) 947-958
Pelagic fish populations in the upper San Francisco Estuary have experienced significant declines since the turn of the century; a pattern known as the pelagic organism decline (POD). This study investigated food habits of piscivorous fishes over two consecutive fall seasons following the decline of pelagic fish prey. Specifically, this...
Paltry past-precipitation: Predisposing prairie dogs to plague?
David Eads, Dean E. Biggins
2017, Journal of Wildlife Management (81) 990-998
The plague bacterium Yersinia pestis was introduced to California in 1900 and spread rapidly as a sylvatic disease of mammalian hosts and flea vectors, invading the Great Plains in the United States by the 1930s to 1940s. In grassland ecosystems, plague causes periodic, devastating epizootics in colonies of black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys...
Variation and plasticity and their interaction with urbanization in Guadalupe Bass populations on and off the Edwards Plateau
Jessica E. Pease, Timothy B. Grabowski, Allison A. Pease
2017, Report
The Colorado River Basin in Texas has experienced major alterations to its hydrologic regime due to changing land and water use patterns. These anthropogenic influences on hydrologic variability have had major implications for riparian and aquatic ecosystems and the species dependent upon them. However, impacts are often assessed at a...
Potential impacts of sea level rise on native plant communities and associated cultural sites in coastal areas of the main Hawaiian Islands
James D. Jacobi, Frederick R. Warshauer
2017, Report
Hawaiian coastal vegetation is comprised of plant species that are adapted to growing in extremely harsh conditions (salt spray, wave wash, wind, and substrates with limited nutrients) found in this habitat zone. Prior to human colonization of Hawai‘i coastal vegetation extended as a continuous ring around each of the islands,...
Geographic variation in winter adaptations of snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus)
Laura C. Gigliotti, Duane R. Diefenbach, M.J. Sheriff
2017, Canadian Journal of Zoology (95) 539-545
Understanding adaptations of nonhibernating northern endotherms to cope with extreme cold is important because climate-induced changes in winter temperatures and snow cover are predicted to impact these species the most. We compared winter pelage characteristics and heat production of snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus Erxleben, 1777) on the southern edge of their...
An assessment of food habits, prey availability, and nesting success of golden eagles within the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan Area
Kathleen M. Longshore, Todd Esque, Kenneth Nussear, Diego R. Johnson, Matthew Simes, Richard D. Inman
2017, Report
Within the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan area, which encompasses California’s Mojave Desert, development and operation of renewable energy facilities has the potential to impact golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) populations through loss of habitat and prey base. Developing an effective conservation strategy that aims to mitigate for such operations is necessary to...
