Population-level plasticity in foraging behavior of western gulls (Larus occidentalis)
Scott A. Shaffer, Sue Cockerham, Peter Warzybok, Russell W. Bradley, Jaime Jahncke, Corey A. Clatterbuck, Magali Lucia, Jennifer A. Jelincic, Anne L. Cassell, Emily Kelsey, Josh Adams
2017, Movement Ecology (5)
BackgroundPlasticity in foraging behavior among individuals, or across populations may reduce competition. As a generalist carnivore, western gulls (Larus occidentalis) consume a wide range of marine and terrestrial foods. However, the foraging patterns and habitat selection (ocean or land) of western gulls is not...
Quantifying animal movement for caching foragers: the path identification index (PII) and cougars, Puma concolor
Kirsten E. Ironside, David J. Mattson, Tad Theimer, Brian Jansen, Brandon Holton, Terence R. Arundel, Michael Peters, Joseph O. Sexton, Thomas C. Edwards Jr.
2017, Movement Ecology (5) 1-17
Relocation studies of animal movement have focused on directed versus area restricted movement, which rely on correlations between step-length and turn angles, along with a degree of stationarity through time to define behavioral states. Although these approaches may work well for grazing foraging strategies in a patchy landscape, species...
Detrital zircon geochronology of quartzose metasedimentary rocks from parautochthonous North America, east-central Alaska
Cynthia Dusel-Bacon, Christopher S. Holm-Denoma, James V. Jones III, John N. Aleinikoff, James K. Mortensen
2017, Lithosphere (9) 927-952
We report eight new U-Pb detrital zircon ages for quartzose metasedimentary rocks from four lithotectonic units of parautochthonous North America in east-central Alaska: the Healy schist, Keevy Peak Formation, and Sheep Creek Member of the Totatlanika Schist in the northern Alaska Range, and the Butte assemblage in the northwestern Yukon-Tanana...
A statistical method to predict flow permanence in dryland streams from time series of stream temperature
Ivan Arismendi, Jason B. Dunham, Michael Heck, Luke Schultz, David Hockman-Wert
2017, Water (9) 1-13
Intermittent and ephemeral streams represent more than half of the length of the global river network. Dryland freshwater ecosystems are especially vulnerable to changes in human-related water uses as well as shifts in terrestrial climates. Yet, the description and quantification of patterns of flow permanence in these systems is challenging...
Genetic implications of bottleneck effects of differing severities on genetic diversity in naturally recovering populations: An example from Hawaiian coot and Hawaiian gallinule
Sarah A. Sonsthagen, Robert E. Wilson, Jared G. Underwood
2017, Ecology and Evolution (7) 9925-9934
The evolutionary trajectory of populations through time is influenced by the interplay of forces (biological, evolutionary, and anthropogenic) acting on the standing genetic variation. We used microsatellite and mitochondrial loci to examine the influence of population declines, of varying severity, on genetic diversity within two Hawaiian endemic waterbirds, the Hawaiian...
LAGOS-NE: a multi-scaled geospatial and temporal database of lake ecological context and water quality for thousands of US lakes
Patricia A. Soranno, Linda C. Bacon, Michael Beauchene, Karen E. Bednar, Edward G. Bissell, Claire K. Boudreau, Marvin G. Boyer, Mary T. Bremigan, Stephen R. Carpenter, Jamie W. Carr, Kendra S. Cheruvelil, Samuel T. Christel, Matt Claucherty, Sarah M. Collins, Joseph D. Conroy, John A. Downing, Jed Dukett, C. Emi Fergus, Christopher T. Filstrup, Clara Funk, Maria J. Gonzalez, Linda T. Green, Corinna Gries, John D. Halfman, Stephen K. Hamilton, Paul C. Hanson, Emily N. Henry, Elizabeth M. Herron, Celeste Hockings, James R. Jackson, Kari Jacobson-Hedin, Lorraine L. Janus, William W. Jones, John R. Jones, Caroline M. Keson, Katelyn B.S. King, Scott A. Kishbaugh, Jean-Francois Lapierre, Barbara Lathrop, Jo A. Latimore, Yuehlin Lee, Noah R. Lottig, Jason A. Lynch, Leslie J. Matthews, William H. McDowell, Karen E.B. Moore, Brian Neff, Sarah J. Nelson, Samantha K. Oliver, Michael L. Pace, Donald C. Pierson, Autumn C. Poisson, Amina I. Pollard, David M. Post, Paul O. Reyes, Donald Rosenberry, Karen M. Roy, Lars G. Rudstam, Orlando Sarnelle, Nancy J. Schuldt, Caren E. Scott, Nicholas K. Skaff, Nicole J. Smith, Nick R. Spinelli, Joseph J. Stachelek, Emily H. Stanley, John L. Stoddard, Scott B. Stopyak, Craig A. Stow, Jason M. Tallant, Pang-Ning Tan, Anthony P. Thorpe, Michael J. Vanni, Tyler Wagner, Gretchen Watkins, Kathleen C. Weathers, Katherine E. Webster, Jeffrey D. White, Marcy K. Wilmes, Shuai Yuan
2017, GigaScience (6) 1-22
Understanding the factors that affect water quality and the ecological services provided by freshwater ecosystems is an urgent global environmental issue. Predicting how water quality will respond to global changes not only requires water quality data, but also information about the ecological context of individual water bodies across broad spatial...
Spatial mismatch between sea lamprey behaviour and trap location explains low success at trapping for control
Andrew M. Rous, Adrienne R. McLean, Jessica Barber, Gale Bravener, Theodore Castro-Santos, Christopher M. Holbrook, Istvan Imre, Thomas C. Pratt, Robert L. McLaughlin
2017, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (74) 2085-2097
Crucial to the management of invasive species is understanding space use and the environmental features affecting space use. Improved understanding of space use by invasive sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) could help researchers discern why trap success in large rivers is lower than needed for effective control. We tested whether manipulating...
Experimental investigation on thermochemical sulfate reduction in the presence of 1-pentanethiol at 200 and 250 °C: Implications for in situ TSR processes occurring in some MVT deposits
Shunda Yuan, Geoffrey S. Ellis, I-Ming Chou, Robert Burruss
2017, Ore Geology Reviews (91) 57-65
Organic sulfur compounds are ubiquitous in natural oil and gas fields and moderate-low temperature sulfide ore deposits. Previous studies have shown that organic sulfur compounds are important in enhancing the rates of thermochemical sulfate reduction (TSR) reactions, but the details of these reaction mechanisms remain unclear. In order to assess...
Canyons microbiology studies
Christina A. Kellogg, Stephanie N. Lawler
2017, OCS Study BOEM 2017-060-12
Off the eastern coast of the United States, several deep canyons cut through the continental shelf, acting like funnels to move sediment from the shelf out to the deep seafloor. Exposed rock outcrops and ledges along the walls of these canyons provide important habitat for deepsea corals and sponges. Although...
Northern hemisphere jet stream positions indices as diagnostic tools for climate and ecosystem dynamics
Soumaya Belmecheri, Flurin Babst, Amy R. Hudson, Julio L. Betancourt, Valerie Trouet
2017, Earth Interactions (21) 1-23
The latitudinal position of the Northern Hemisphere jet stream (NHJ) modulates the occurrence and frequency of extreme weather events. Precipitation anomalies in particular are associated with NHJ variability; the resulting floods and droughts can have considerable societal and economic impacts. This study develops a new climatology of the 300-hPa NHJ...
Crustal permeability
Steven E. Ingebritsen, Tom Gleeson
2017, Hydrogeology Journal (25) 2221-2224
Permeability is the dominant parameter in most hydrogeologic studies. There is abundant evidence for dynamic variations in permeability in time as well as space, and throughout the crust. Whether this dynamic behavior should be included in quantitative models depends on the problem at hand....
Overview of avian toxicity studies for the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment
Steven J. Bursian, C. R. Alexander, Dave Cacela, Fred L. Cunningham, Karen M. Dean, Brian S. Dorr, Christine K. Ellis, Celine A.J. Godard-Codding, Christopher G. Guglielmo, Katie C. Hanson-Dorr, Kendall E. Harr, Katherine A. Healy, Michael J. Hooper, Katherine E. Horak, John P. Isanhart, Lisa V. Kennedy, Jane E. Link, Ivan Maggini, John K. Moye, Christina R. Perez, Chris A. Pritsos, Susan A. Shriner, Kinberly A. Trust, Peter L. Tuttle
2017, Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety (146) 4-10
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 establishes liability for injuries to natural resources because of the release or threat of release of oil. Assessment of injury to natural resources resulting from an oil spill and development and implementation of a plan for the restoration, rehabilitation, replacement or acquisition of natural...
Earthquake Early Warning ShakeAlert System: Testing and certification platform
Elizabeth S. Cochran, Monica D. Kohler, Douglas D. Given, Stephen Guiwits, Jennifer Andrews, Men-Andrin Meier, Mohammad Ahmad, Ivan Henson, J. Renate Hartog, Deborah Smith
2017, Seismological Research Letters (89) 108-117
Earthquake early warning systems provide warnings to end users of incoming moderate to strong ground shaking from earthquakes. An earthquake early warning system, ShakeAlert, is providing alerts to beta end users in the western United States, specifically California, Oregon, and Washington. An essential aspect of the earthquake early warning system...
Earthquake early Warning ShakeAlert system: West coast wide production prototype
Monica D. Kohler, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Douglas D. Given, Stephen Guiwits, Doug Neuhauser, Ivan Hensen, J. Renate Hartog, Paul Bodin, Victor Kress, Stephen Thompson, Claude Felizardo, Jeff Brody, Rayo Bhadha, Stan Schwarz
2017, Seismological Research Letters (89) 99-107
Earthquake early warning (EEW) is an application of seismological science that can give people, as well as mechanical and electrical systems, up to tens of seconds to take protective actions before peak earthquake shaking arrives at a location. Since 2006, the U.S. Geological Survey has been working in collaboration with...
Developing enterprise tools and capacities for large-scale natural resource monitoring: A visioning workshop
Jennifer M. Bayer, Jake Weltzin, Rebecca A. Scully
2017, Report
In October 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in collaboration with the Pacific Northwest Aquatic Monitoring Partnership (PNAMP, www.pnamp.org), convened a 30-person workshop, https://www.pnamp.org/event/5509, to identify and prioritize development of enterprise systems for programs that monitor the status and trends of species populations and their terrestrial, aquatic, and marine habitats....
The effect of beaver ponds on water quality in rural coastal plain streams
Christopher W. Bason, Daniel Kroes, Mark M. Brinson
2017, Southeastern Naturalist (16) 584-602
We compared water-quality effects of 13 beaver ponds on adjacent free-flowing control reaches in the Coastal Plain of rural North Carolina. We measured concentrations of nitrate, ammonium, soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), and suspended sediment (SS) upstream and downstream of paired ponds and control reaches. Nitrate and SS concentrations decreased, ammonium...
Sampling bees in tropical forests and agroecosystems: A review
Sara G. Prado, Hien T. Ngo, Jaime A. Florez, Jaime A. Collazo
2017, Journal of Insect Conservation (21) 753-770
Bees are the predominant pollinating taxa, providing a critical ecosystem service upon which many angiosperms rely for successful reproduction. Available data suggests that bee populations worldwide are declining, but scarce data in tropical regions precludes assessing their status and distribution, impact on ecological services, and response to management actions. Herein,...
A mass balance approach to investigate arsenic cycling in a petroleum plume
Brady A. Ziegler, Madeline E. Schreiber, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Ng. G.-H. Crystal
2017, Environmental Pollution (231) 1351-1361
Natural attenuation of organic contaminants in groundwater can give rise to a series of complex biogeochemical reactions that release secondary contaminants to groundwater. In a crude oil contaminated aquifer, biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons is coupled with the reduction of ferric iron (Fe(III)) hydroxides in aquifer sediments. As a result, naturally...
Evaluating factors driving population densities of mayfly nymphs in Western Lake Erie
Martin A. Stapanian, Patrick Kocovsky, Betsy L. Bodamer Scarbro
2017, Journal of Great Lakes Research (43) 1111-1118
Mayfly (Hexagenia spp.) nymphs have been widely used as indicators of water and substrate quality in lakes. Thermal stratification and the subsequent formation of benthic hypoxia may result in nymph mortality. Our goal was to identify potential associations between recent increases in temperature and eutrophication, which exacerbate hypoxic events in lakes,...
Case study - Dynamic pressure-limited capacity and costs of CO2 storage in the Mount Simon sandstone
Steven T. Anderson, Hossein Jahediesfanjani
2017, Conference Paper, 35th USAEE/IAEE North American Conference
Widespread deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) is likely necessary to be able to satisfy baseload electricity demand, to maintain diversity in the energy mix, and to achieve climate and other objectives at the lowest cost. If all of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from stationary sources (such as...
Methane- and dissolved organic carbon-fueled microbial loop supports a tropical subterranean estuary ecosystem
D. Brankovits, John W. Pohlman, H. Niemann, M.B. Leigh, M.C. Leewis, K. W. Becker, T.M. Iliffe, Alvarez. F., M.F. Lehmann, B. Phillips
2017, Nature Communications (8) 1-12
Subterranean estuaries extend inland into density-stratified coastal carbonate aquifers containing a surprising diversity of endemic animals (mostly crustaceans) within a highly oligotrophic habitat. How complex ecosystems (termed anchialine) thrive in this globally distributed, cryptic environment is poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that a microbial loop shuttles methane and dissolved organic carbon...
Spatial data analytics on heterogeneous multi- and many-core parallel architectures using python
Jason R. Laura, Sergio J. Rey
2017, Book chapter, Encyclopedia of GIS
Parallel vector spatial analysis concerns the application of parallel computational methods to facilitate vector-based spatial analysis. The history of parallel computation in spatial analysis is reviewed, and this work is placed into the broader context of high-performance computing (HPC) and parallelization research. The rise of cyber infrastructure and its manifestation...
Ad hoc instrumentation methods in ecological studies produce highly biased temperature measurements
Adam J. Terando, Elsa Youngsteadt, Emily K. Meineke, Sara G. Prado
2017, Ecology and Evolution (7) 9890-9904
In light of global climate change, ecological studies increasingly address effects of temperature on organisms and ecosystems. To measure air temperature at biologically relevant scales in the field, ecologists often use small, portable temperature sensors. Sensors must be shielded from solar radiation to provide accurate temperature measurements, but our review...
A wideband magnetoresistive sensor for monitoring dynamic fault slip in laboratory fault friction experiments
Brian D. Kilgore
2017, Sensors (17) 1-29
A non-contact, wideband method of sensing dynamic fault slip in laboratory geophysical experiments employs an inexpensive magnetoresistive sensor, a small neodymium rare earth magnet, and user built application-specific wideband signal conditioning. The magnetoresistive sensor generates a voltage proportional to the changing angles of magnetic flux lines, generated by differential motion...
A new sulfur and carbon degassing inventory for the Southern Central American Volcanic Arc: The importance of accurate time-series datasets and possible tectonic processes responsible for temporal variations in arc-scale volatile emissions
Maarten de Moor, Christoph Kern, Geoffroy Avard, Cyril Muller, Sandro Aiuppa, Armando Saballos, Martha Ibarra, Peter LaFemina, Mario Protti, Tobias Fischer
2017, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (18) 4437-4468
This work presents a new database of SO2 and CO2 fluxes from the Southern Central American Volcanic Arc (SCAVA) for the period 2015–2016. We report ∼300 SO2 flux measurements from 10 volcanoes and gas ratios from 11 volcanoes in Costa Rica and Nicaragua representing the most extensive available assessment of this ∼500 km...
