Satellite psychrometric formulation of the operational simplified surface energy balance (SSEBop) model for quantifying and mapping evapotranspiration
Gabriel B. Senay
2018, Applied Engineering in Agriculture (34) 555-566
Remote sensing-based evapotranspiration (ET) can be derived using various methods, from soil moisture accounting to vegetation-index based approaches to simple and complex surface energy balance techniques. Due to the complexity of fully representing and parameterizing ET sub-processes, different models tend to diverge in their estimations. However, most models appear to...
Euler-vector clustering of GPS velocities defines microplate geometry in southwest Japan
James C. Savage
2018, JGR Solid Earth (123) 1954-1968
I have used Euler-vector clustering to assign 469 GEONET stations in southwest Japan to k clusters (k = 2, 3,..., 9) so that, for any k, the velocities of stations within each cluster are most consistent with rigid-block motion on a sphere. That is, I attempt to explain the raw (i.e., uncorrected for strain accumulation),...
Unifying concepts linking dissolved organic matter composition to persistence in aquatic ecosystems
Anne M. Kellerman, Francois Guillemette, David C. Podgorski, George R. Aiken, Kenna D. Butler, Robert G. M. Spencer
2018, Environmental Science & Technology (52) 2538-2548
The link between composition and reactivity of dissolved organic matter (DOM) is central to understanding the role aquatic systems play in the global carbon cycle; yet, unifying concepts driving molecular composition have yet to be established. We characterized 37 DOM isolates from diverse aquatic ecosystems, including their stable and radiocarbon...
High-energy, high-fat lifestyle challenges an Arctic apex predator, the polar bear
Anthony M. Pagano, George M. Durner, Karyn D. Rode, Todd C. Atwood, Stephen N. Atkinson, Elizabeth Peacock, Daniel P. Costa, Megan A. Owen, Terrie M. Williams
2018, Science (359) 568-572
Regional declines in polar bear (Ursus maritimus) populations have been attributed to changing sea ice conditions, but with limited information on the causative mechanisms. By simultaneously measuring field metabolic rates, daily activity patterns, body condition, and foraging success of polar bears moving on the spring sea ice, we found that...
Reproductive output and clutch phenology of female Agassiz's desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) in the Sonoran Desert region of Joshua Tree National Park
Jeffrey E. Lovich, Shellie R. Puffer, Mickey Agha, Joshua R. Ennen, Kathie Meyer-Wilkins, Laura A. Tennant, Amanda L Smith, Terence R. Arundel, Kathleen D. Brundige, Michael S. Vamstad
2018, Current Herpetology (37) 40-57
Agassiz's desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) reaches the southern edge of its range in the Sonoran Desert of California. The reproductive ecology of this wideranging species is understudied here compared to populations in the adjacent Mojave Desert. Understanding potential geographic variation in reproductive ecology is important for effective management of conservation-reliant...
A surrogate regression approach for computing continuous loads for the tributary nutrient and sediment monitoring program on the Great Lakes
Dale M. Robertson, Laura E. Hubbard, David L. Lorenz, Daniel J. Sullivan
2018, Journal of Great Lakes Research (44) 26-42
Water quality (WQ) in many Great Lake tributaries has been degraded (increased nutrient and sediment concentrations) due to changes in their watersheds, resulting in downstream eutrophication. As part of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, specific goals were established for loading of specific constituents (e.g., phosphorus)....
High‐elevation evapotranspiration estimates during drought: Using streamflow and NASA Airborne Snow Observatory SWE observations to vlose the upper Tuolumne River Basin eater balance
Brian Henn, Thomas H. Painter, Kathryn J. Bormann, Bruce McGurk, Alan L. Flint, Lorraine E. Flint, Vince White, Jessica D. Lundquist
2018, Water Resources Research (54) 746-766
Hydrologic variables such as evapotranspiration (ET) and soil water storage are difficult to observe across spatial scales in complex terrain. Streamflow and lidar‐derived snow observations provide information about distributed hydrologic processes such as snowmelt, infiltration, and storage. We use a distributed streamflow data set across eight basins in the upper...
Life‐history tradeoffs revealed by seasonal declines in reproductive traits of Arctic‐breeding shorebirds
Emily L. Weiser, Stephen C. Brown, Richard B. Lanctot, H. River Gates, Kenneth F. Abraham, Rebecca L. Bentzen, Joël Bêty, Rodney W. Brook, Megan L. Boldenow, Tyrone F. Donnelly, Willow B. English, Scott A. Flemming, Samantha E. Franks, H. Grant Gilchrist, Marie-Andree Giroux, Andrew C. Johnson, Lisa V. Kennedy, Laura Koloski, Eunbi Kwon, Jean-François Lamarre, David B. Lank, Nicolas Lecomte, Joseph R. Liebezeit, Laura McKinnon, Erica Nol, Johanna Perz, Jennie Rausch, Martin D. Robards, Sarah T. Saalfeld, Nathan R. Senner, Paul A. Smith, Mikhail Soloviev, Diana V. Solovyeva, David H. Ward, Paul F. Wood, Brett K. Sandercock
2018, Journal of Avian Biology (49) 1-16
Seasonal declines in breeding performance are widespread in wild animals, resulting from temporal changes in environmental conditions or from individual variation. Seasonal declines might drive selection for early breeding, with implications for other stages of the annual cycle. Alternatively, selection on the phenology of nonbreeding stages could constrain timing of...
Monitoring global tree mortality patterns and trends. Report from the VW symposium ‘Crossing scales and disciplines to identify global trends of tree mortality as indicators of forest health’
Henrik Hartmann, Bernhard Schuldt, Tanja G. M. Sanders, Cate Macinnis-Ng, Hans Juergen Boehmer, Craig D. Allen, Andreas Bolte, Thomas W. Crowther, Matthew C. Hansen, Belinda E. Medlyn, Nadine K. Ruehr, William R. L. Anderegg
2018, New Phytologist (217) 948-987
From the 21stto the 23rdJune 2017, the Herrenhausen castle inHannover/Germany hosted a diverse and large crowd with morethan 70 tree physiologists, forest ecologists, forest inventoryexperts, remote-sensing scientists, and vegetation modele rs. Par-ticipants from six continent s and from more...
Increasing chloride in rivers of the conterminous U.S. and linkages to potential corrosivity and lead action level exceedances in drinking water
Edward G. Stets, Casey J. Lee, Darren A. Lytle, Michael R. Schock
2018, Science of the Total Environment (613-614) 1498-1509
Corrosion in water-distribution systems is a costly problem and controlling corrosion is a primary focus of efforts to reduce lead (Pb) and copper (Cu) in tap water. High chloride concentrations can increase the tendency of water to cause corrosion in distribution systems. The effects of chloride are also expressed in several indices commonly used...
Wind River Subbasin Restoration, Annual report of U.S. Geological Survey activities, January 2016 through December 2016
Ian G. Jezorek, Patrick J. Connolly
2018, Report
We used Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT)-tagging and a series of instream PIT-tag interrogation systems (PTISs) to investigate life-histories, populations, and efficacy of habitat restoration actions for steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss in the Wind River subbasin, WA. Our tagging focused on parr in headwaters areas of the subbasin and our instream readers...
Den phenology and reproductive success of polar bears in a changing climate
Karyn D. Rode, Jay Olson, Dennis L. Eggett, David C. Douglas, George M. Durner, Todd C. Atwood, Eric V. Regehr, Ryan H. Wilson, Tom Smith, Michelle St. Martin
2018, Journal of Mammalogy (99) 16-26
Synchrony between reproduction and food availability is important in mammals due to the high energetic costs of gestation and lactation. Female polar bears (Ursus maritimus) must accumulate sufficient energy reserves during spring through autumn to produce and nurse cubs during the winter months in snow dens. Adequate time in a...
Poroelastic stress changes associated with primary oil production in the Los Angeles Basin, California
Susan E. Hough, Roger G. Bilham
2018, The Leading Edge (37) 108-116
While recent investigations of induced earthquakes have focused on earthquakes associated with wastewater injection and unconventional recovery methods, the potential for earthquakes to be induced by primary production has long been recognized. We use boundary element methods to quantify the predicted geometry and amplitude of stress and strain changes associated...
Mass addition at Mount St. Helens, Washington, inferred from repeated gravity surveys
Maurizio Battaglia, Michael Lisowski, Daniel Dzurisin, Michael P. Poland, Steve Schilling, Angela K. Diefenbach, Jeff Wynn
2018, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (123) 1856-1874
Measurements of subtle changes in the Earth’s gravityfield can provideinformation on the addition/loss of mass (e.g., magma or aqueousfluids) beneath a volcano. In this study, wemeasured gravity at Mount St. Helens from 2010 to 2016 to investigate possible mass changes followingthe 2004–2008 dome-forming eruption. The raw gravity measurements were corrected...
Bathymetry of Ashokan, Cannonsville, Neversink, Pepacton, Rondout, and Schoharie Reservoirs, New York, 2013–15
Elizabeth A. Nystrom
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5064
Drinking water for New York City is supplied from several large reservoirs, including a system of reservoirs west of the Hudson River. To provide updated reservoir capacity tables and bathymetry maps of the City’s six West of Hudson reservoirs, bathymetric surveys were conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey from 2013...
Evaluating the “Gradual Entrainment Lake Inverter” (GELI) artificial mixing technology for lake and reservoir management
Colin A Smith, Jordan Read, M Jake Vander Zanden
2018, Land and Reservoir Management (34) 232-243
Thermal stratification is important to the structure and function of lake and reservoir ecosystems. Yet when lakes undergo eutrophication, thermal stratification can exacerbate water quality problems. As a result, lake management has sometimes involved artificial mixing and destratification, though the available technologies are few and costly. It...
Fine-scale heterogeneity drives forest use by spring migrant landbirds across a broad, contiguous forest matrix
Theodore J. Zenzal Jr., Robert J. Smith, David N. Ewert, Robert H. Diehl, Jeffrey J. Buler
2018, Ornithological Applications (120) 166-184
Much of our understanding of en route landbird habitat use comes from research performed at local scales, ignoring effects at larger spatial scales. We used a multiscale approach to investigate stopover habitat use by landbirds using transect surveys in 68 forested sites in southwestern Michigan, USA, during the springs...
Evidence for major input of riverine organic matter into the ocean
Xiaoyan Cao, George R. Aiken, Kenna D. Butler, Thomas G. Huntington, William M. Balch, Jingdong Mao, Klaus Schmidt-Rohr
2018, Organic Geochemistry (116) 62-76
The changes in the structure of XAD-8 isolated dissolved organic matter (DOM) samples along a river (Penobscot River) to estuary (Penobscot Bay) to ocean (across the Gulf of Maine) transect and from the Pacific Ocean were investigated using selective and two dimensional (2D) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy coupled with...
Effect of fishing effort on catch rate and catchability of largemouth bass in small impoundments
M. G. Wegener, Harold Schramm, J. W. Neal, P.D. Gerard
2018, Fisheries Management and Ecology (25) 66-76
Largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides (Lacepède) catch rates decline with sustained fishing effort, even without harvest. It is unclear why declines in catch rate occur, and little research has been directed at how to improve catch rate. Learning has been proposed as a reason for declining catch rate, but has never been tested...
Determinants of Pseudogymnoascus destructans within bat hibernacula: Implications for surveillance and management of white-nose syndrome
Michelle L. Verant, Elizabeth A. Bohuski, Katherine L. D. Richgels, Kevin J. Olival, Jonathan H. Epstein, David S. Blehert
2018, Journal of Applied Ecology (55) 820-829
Fungal diseases are an emerging global problem affecting human health, food security and biodiversity. Ability of many fungal pathogens to persist within environmental reservoirs can increase extinction risks for host species and presents challenges for disease control. Understanding factors that regulate pathogen spread and persistence in these...
Environmental DNA (eDNA): A tool for quantifying the abundant but elusive round goby (Neogobius melanostomus)
Meredith B. Nevers, Muruleedhara Byappanahalli, Charles C. Morris, Dawn Shively, Katarzyna Przybyla-Kelly, Ashley M. Spoljaric, Joshua Dickey, Edward F. Roseman
2018, PLoS ONE (13) 1-22
Environmental DNA (eDNA) is revolutionizing biodiversity monitoring, occupancy estimates, and real-time detections of invasive species. In the Great Lakes, the round goby (Neogobius melanostomus), an invasive benthic fish from the Black Sea, has spread to encompass all five lakes and many tributaries, outcompeting or consuming native species; however, estimates of...
Limited contribution of ancient methane to surface waters of the U.S. Beaufort Sea shelf
Katy J. Sparrow, John D. Kessler, John R. Southon, Fenix Garcia-Tigreros, Kathryn M. Schreiner, Carolyn D. Ruppel, John B. Miller, Scott J. Lehman, Xiaomei Xu
2018, Science Advances (4)
In response to warming climate, methane can be released to Arctic Ocean sediment and waters from thawing subsea permafrost and decomposing methane hydrates. However, it is unknown whether methane derived from this sediment storehouse of frozen ancient carbon reaches the atmosphere. We quantified the fraction of methane derived from ancient...
Modulators of mercury risk to wildlife and humans in the context of rapid global change
Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Ellen K. Silbergeld, Niladri Basu, Paco Bustamante, Fernando Diaz-Barriga, William A. Hopkins, Karen A. Kidd, Jennifer F. Nyland
2018, Ambio (47) 170-197
Environmental mercury (Hg) contamination is an urgent global health threat. The complexity of Hg in the environment can hinder accurate determination of ecological and human health risks, particularly within the context of the rapid global changes that are altering many ecological processes, socioeconomic patterns, and other factors like infectious disease...
Strengthening links between waterfowl research and management
Anthony J. Roberts, John M. Eadie, David Howerter, Fred A. Johnson, James D. Nichols, Michael C. Runge, Mark P. Vrtiska, Byron K. Williams
2018, Journal of Wildlife Management (82) 260-265
Waterfowl monitoring, research, regulation, and adaptive planning are leading the way in supporting science-informed wildlife management. However, increasing societal demands on natural resources have created a greater need for adaptable and successful linkages between waterfowl science and management. We presented a special session at the 2016 North American Duck Symposium,...
Comparative analyses of hydrological responses of two adjacent watersheds to climate variability and change using the SWAT model
Sangchul Lee, In-Young Yeo, Ali M. Sadeghi, Gregory W. McCarty, Wells Hively, Megan W. Lang, Amir Sharifi
2018, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (22) 689-708
Water quality problems in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed (CBW) are expected to be exacerbated by climate variability and change. However, climate impacts on agricultural lands and resultant nutrient loads into surface water resources are largely unknown. This study evaluated the impacts of climate variability and change on two adjacent watersheds...
