Holocene earthquakes of magnitude 7 during westward escape of the Olympic Mountains, Washington
Alan R. Nelson, Stephen Personius, Ray E. Wells, Elizabeth R. Schermer, Lee-Ann Bradley, Jason Buck, Nadine G. Reitman
2017, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (107) 2394-2415
The Lake Creek–Boundary Creek fault, previously mapped in Miocene bedrock as an oblique thrust on the north flank of the Olympic Mountains, poses a significant earthquake hazard. Mapping using 2015 light detection and ranging (lidar) confirms 2004 lidar mapping of postglacial (<<mn...
National assessment of shoreline change—Summary statistics for updated vector shorelines and associated shoreline change data for the north coast of Alaska, U.S.-Canadian Border to Icy Cape
Ann E. Gibbs, Bruce M. Richmond
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1107
Long-term rates of shoreline change for the north coast of Alaska, from the U.S.-Canadian border to the Icy Cape region of northern Alaska, have been updated as part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Assessment of Shoreline Change Project. Short-term shoreline change rates are reported for the first time. Additional...
Coming to terms about describing Golden Eagle reproduction
Karen Steenhof, Michael N. Kochert, Carol L. McIntyre, Jessi L. Brown
2017, Journal of Raptor Research (51) 378-390
Clearly defined terms are essential for reporting and understanding research findings, and inconsistent terminology can complicate efforts to compare findings from different studies. In this article, we reiterate and clarify recommended terms for describing Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) territory occupancy and reproduction. Several authors have provided recommendations for reporting data...
Biogeographical variation of plumage coloration in the sexually dichromatic Hawai‘i ‘Amakihi (Chlorodrepanis virens)
Jacqueline M. Gaudioso-Levita, Patrick J. Hart, Dennis Lapointe, Anne Veillet, Esther Sebastian-Gonzalez
2017, Journal of Ornithology (158) 955-964
Plumage coloration in birds can be of major importance to mate selection, social signaling, or predator avoidance. Variations in plumage coloration related to sex, age class, or seasons have been widely studied, but the effect of other factors such as climate is less known. In this study, we examine how...
Assessment of continuous oil and gas resources in the Middle and Upper Magdalena Basins, Colombia, 2017
Christopher J. Schenk, Michael E. Brownfield, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Phuong A. Le, Tracey J. Mercier, Thomas M. Finn, Sarah J. Hawkins, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Kristen R. Marra, Timothy R. Klett, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Cheryl A. Woodall
2017, Fact Sheet 2017-3060
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean undiscovered, technically recoverable continuous resources of 0.45 billion barrels of oil and 1.0 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Middle and Upper Magdalena Basins, Colombia....
Low-flow characteristics of streams in South Carolina
Toby D. Feaster, Wladmir B. Guimaraes
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1110
An ongoing understanding of streamflow characteristics of the rivers and streams in South Carolina is important for the protection and preservation of the State’s water resources. Information concerning the low-flow characteristics of streams is especially important during critical flow periods, such as during the historic droughts that South Carolina has...
Organic petrology and micro-spectroscopy of Tasmanites microfossils: Applications to kerogen transformations in the early oil window
Paul C. Hackley, Clifford C. Walters, S.R. Kelemen, Maria Mastalerz, Heather A. Lowers
2017, Organic Geochemistry (114) 23-44
The transformation of kerogen to hydrocarbons in the early stages of oil generation is critical for understanding the resource potential of liquid-rich shale plays. Organic petrology commonly is used for visual evaluation of type, quality, and thermal maturity of organic matter,...
Do you hear what I see? Vocalization relative to visual detection rates of Hawaiian hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus semotus)
P. Marcos Gorresen, Paul M. Cryan, Kristina Montoya-Aiona, Frank Bonaccorso
2017, Ecology and Evolution (7) 6669-6679
Bats vocalize during flight as part of the sensory modality called echolocation, but very little is known about whether flying bats consistently call. Occasional vocal silence during flight when bats approach prey or conspecifics has been documented for relatively few species and situations. Bats flying alone in clutter-free airspace are...
Measuring the role of seagrasses in regulating sediment surface elevation
Maria Potouroglou, James C. Bull, Ken W. Krauss, Hilary A. Kennedy, Marco Fusi, Daniele Daffonchio, Mwita M. Mangora, Michael N. Githaiga, Karen Diele, Mark Huxham
2017, Scientific Reports (7)
Seagrass meadows provide numerous ecosystem services and their rapid global loss may reduce human welfare as well as ecological integrity. In common with the other ‘blue carbon’ habitats (mangroves and tidal marshes) seagrasses are thought to provide coastal defence and encourage sediment stabilisation and surface elevation. A sophisticated understanding of...
Annual estimates of recharge, quick-flow runoff, and ET for the contiguous U.S. using empirical regression equations
Meredith Reitz, Ward E. Sanford, Gabriel Senay, J. Cazenas
2017, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (53) 961-983
This study presents new data-driven, annual estimates of the division of precipitation into the recharge, quick-flow runoff, and evapotranspiration (ET) water budget components for 2000-2013 for the contiguous United States (CONUS). The algorithms used to produce these maps ensure water budget consistency over this broad spatial scale, with contributions from...
Assessment of critical minerals: Updated application of an early-warning screening methodology
Erin A. McCullough, Nedal Nassar
2017, Mineral Economics (30) 257-272
Increasing reliance on non-renewable mineral resources reinforces the need for identifying potential supply constraints before they occur. The US National Science and Technology Council recently released a report that outlines a methodology for screening potentially critical minerals based on three indicators: supply risk (R), production growth (<i class="EmphasisTypeItalic...
Pitted terrains on (1) Ceres and implications for shallow subsurface volatile distribution
H.G. Sizemore, Thomas Platz, Norbert Schorghofer, Thomas Prettyman, Maria Christina De Sanctis, David A. Crown, Nico Schmedemann, Andeas Nessemann, Thomas Kneissl, Simone Marchi, Paul M. Schenk, Michael T. Bland, B.E. Schmidt, Kynan H.G. Hughson, F. Tosi, F Zambon, S.C. Mest, R.A. Yingst, D.A. Williams, C.T. Russell, C.A. Raymond
2017, Geophysical Research Letters (44) 6570-6578
Prior to the arrival of the Dawn spacecraft at Ceres, the dwarf planet was anticipated to be ice-rich. Searches for morphological features related to ice have been ongoing during Dawn's mission at Ceres. Here we report the identification of pitted terrains associated with fresh Cerean impact craters. The Cerean pitted...
Multiple-source tracking: Investigating sources of pathogens, nutrients, and sediment in the Upper Little River Basin, Kentucky, water years 2013–14
Angela S. Crain, Mac A. Cherry, Tanja N. Williamson, Aubrey R. Bunch
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5086
The South Fork Little River (SFLR) and the North Fork Little River (NFLR) are two major headwater tributaries that flow into the Little River just south of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Both tributaries are included in those water bodies in Kentucky and across the Nation that have been reported with declining water...
Food abundance, prey morphology, and diet specialization influence individual sea otter tool use
Jessica A. Fujii, Katherine Ralls, M. Tim Tinker
2017, Behavioral Ecology (28) 1206-1216
Sea otters are well-known tool users, employing objects such as rocks or shells to break open invertebrate prey. We used a series of generalized linear mixed effect models to examine observational data on prey capture and tool use from 211 tagged individuals from 5 geographically defined study areas throughout the...
Monarch butterfly population decline in North America: identifying the threatening processes
Wayne E. Thogmartin, Ruscena Wiederholt, Karen Oberhauser, Ryan G. Drum, Jay E. Diffendorfer, Sonia Altizer, Orley R. Taylor, John M. Pleasants, Darius J. Semmens, Brice X. Semmens, Richard A. Erickson, Kaitlin Libby, Laura Lopez-Hoffman
2017, Royal Society Open Science (4)
The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) population in North America has sharply declined over the last two decades. Despite rising concern over the monarch butterfly's status, no comprehensive study of the factors driving this decline has been conducted. Using partial least-squares regressions and time-series analysis, we investigated climatic and habitat-related factors...
The Great Acceleration and the disappearing surficial geologic record
Jason A. Rech, Kathleen B. Springer, Jeffrey S. Pigati
2017, GSA Today (27) 8-9
The surficial geologic record is the relatively thin veneer of young (<~1 Ma) and mostly unconsolidated sediments that cover portions of Earth’s terrestrial surface (Fig. 1). Once largely ignored as “overburden” by geologists, surficial deposits are now studied to address a wide range of issues related to the sustainability of...
Restoring tides to reduce methane emissions in impounded wetlands: A new and potent Blue Carbon climate change intervention
Kevin D. Kroeger, Stephen Crooks, Serena Moseman-Valtierra, Jianwu Tang
2017, Scientific Reports (7)
Coastal wetlands are sites of rapid carbon (C) sequestration and contain large soil C stocks. Thus, there is increasing interest in those ecosystems as sites for anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission offset projects (sometimes referred to as “Blue Carbon”), through preservation of existing C stocks or creation of new wetlands to...
Ancient lakes, Pleistocene climates and river avulsions structure the phylogeography of a large but little-known rock scorpion from the Mojave and Sonoran deserts
Matthew R. Graham, Dustin A. Wood, Jonathan A. Henault, Zachary J. Valois, Paula E. Cushing
2017, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society (122) 133-146
Recent syntheses of phylogeographical data from terrestrial animals in the Mojave and Sonoran deserts have revealed a complex history of geologic and climatic vicariance events. We studied the phylogeography of Smeringurus vachoni to see how vicariance events may have impacted a large, endemic rock scorpion. Additionally, we used the phylogeographical data to...
What mediates tree mortality during drought in the southern Sierra Nevada?
Tarin Paz-Kagan, Philip Brodrick, Nicholas R. Vaughn, Adrian J. Das, Nathan L. Stephenson, Koren R. Nydick, Gregory P. Asner
2017, Ecological Applications (27) 2443-2457
Severe drought has the potential to cause selective mortality within a forest, thereby inducing shifts in forest species composition. The southern Sierra Nevada foothills and mountains of California have experienced extensive forest dieback due to drought stress and insect outbreak. We used high-fidelity imaging spectroscopy (HiFIS) and light detection and...
Facultative parasitism by the bivalve Kurtiella pedroana in the sand crab Emerita analoga
Ritin Bhaduri, Paul Valentich-Scott, Mark Hilgers, Rajvir Singh, Mikaila Hickman, Kevin D. Lafferty
2017, Journal of Parasitology (103) 646-651
It is rare that an organism capable of independent or commensalistic existence can also become endoparasitic on a host. In this study, we documented a potential step toward parasitism in the commensal clam Kurtiella pedroana (Bivalvia: Galeommatoidea). Galeommatoideans are known commensals of various invertebrates, including crustaceans. Emerita analoga (Decapoda: Hippidae)...
Isolation and characterization of the fall Chinook aquareovirus
Negar Makhsous, Nicole L. Jensen, Katherine H. Haman, William N. Batts, Keith R. Jerome, James Winton, Alexander L. Greninger
2017, Virology Journal (14) 1-7
BackgroundSalmon are paramount to the economy, ecology, and history of the Pacific Northwest. Viruses constitute one of the major threats to salmon health and well-being, with more than twenty known virus species that infect salmon. Here, we describe the isolation and characterization of the fall...
Nitrate reduction mechanisms and rates in an unconfined eogenetic karst aquifer in two sites with different redox potential
Wesley R. Henson, Laibin Huang, Wendy D. Graham, Andrew Ogram
2017, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (122) 1062-1077
This study integrates push-pull tracer tests (PPTT) with microbial characterization of extracted water via quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and reverse transcriptase qPCR (RT-qPCR) of selected functional N transformation genes to quantify nitrate reduction mechanisms and rates in sites with different redox potential in a karst aquifer. PPTT treatments with...
Standardization and application of an index of community integrity for waterbirds in the Chesapeake Bay, USA
Diann J. Prosser, Jessica L. Nagel, Paul Marban, Luo Ze, Daniel D. Day, R. Michael Erwin
2017, Waterbirds (40) 233-251
In recent decades, there has been increasing interest in the application of ecological indices to assess ecosystem condition in response to anthropogenic activities. An Index of Waterbird Community Integrity was previously developed for the Chesapeake Bay, USA. However, the scoring criteria were not defined well enough to generate scores for...
A record of change - Science and elder observations on the Navajo Nation
Margaret M. Hiza-Redsteer, Stephen M. Wessells
2017, General Information Product 181
A Record of Change - Science and Elder Observations on the Navajo Nation is a 25-minute documentary about combining observations from Navajo elders with conventional science to determine how tribal lands and culture are affected by climate change. On the Navajo Nation, there is a shortage of historical climate data,...
Water-level trends and potentiometric surfaces in the Nacatoch Aquifer in northeastern and southwestern Arkansas and in the Tokio Aquifer in southwestern Arkansas, 2014–15
Kirk D. Rodgers
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5090
The Nacatoch Sand in northeastern and southwestern Arkansas and the Tokio Formation in southwestern Arkansas are sources of groundwater for agricultural, domestic, industrial, and public use. Water-level altitudes measured in 51 wells completed in the Nacatoch Sand and 42 wells completed in the Tokio Formation during 2014 and 2015 were used...
