Assessment of imperfect detection of blister rust in whitebark pine within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
Wilson J. Wright, Kathryn M. Irvine
2017, Natural Resource Report 2017/1457
We examined data on white pine blister rust (blister rust) collected during the monitoring of whitebark pine trees in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (from 2004-2015). Summaries of repeat observations performed by multiple independent observers are reviewed and discussed. These summaries show variability among observers and the potential for errors being...
The evolution of different maternal investment strategies in two closely related desert vertebrates
Joshua R. Ennen, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Roy C. Averill-Murray, Charles B. Yackulic, Mickey Agha, Caleb Loughran, Laura A. Tennant, Barry Sinervo
2017, Ecology and Evolution (7) 3177-3189
We compared egg size phenotypes and tested several predictions from the optimal egg size (OES) and bet-hedging theories in two North American desert-dwelling sister tortoise taxa, Gopherus agassizii and G. morafkai, that inhabit different climate spaces: relatively unpredictable and more predictable climate spaces, respectively. Observed patterns in both species differed from...
A multi-scale evaluation of pack stock effects on subalpine meadow plant communities in the Sierra Nevada
Steven R. Lee, Eric L. Berlow, Steven M. Ostoja, Matthew L. Brooks, Alexandre Génin, John R. Matchett, Stephen C. Hart
2017, PLoS ONE (12) 1-20
We evaluated the influence of pack stock (i.e., horse and mule) use on meadow plant communities in Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks in the Sierra Nevada of California. Meadows were sampled to account for inherent variability across multiple scales by: 1) controlling for among-meadow variability by using remotely sensed hydro-climatic...
New distributional records of the stygobitic crayfish Cambarus cryptodytes (Decapoda: Cambaridae) in the Floridan Aquifer System of southwestern Georgia
Dante B. Fenolio, Matthew L. Niemiller, Andrew G. Gluesenkamp, Anna M. McKee, Steven J. Taylor
2017, Southeastern Naturalist (16) 163-181
Cambarus cryptodytes (Dougherty Plain Cave Crayfish) is an obligate inhabitant of groundwater habitats (i.e., a stygobiont) with troglomorphic adaptations in the Floridan aquifer system of southwestern Georgia and adjacent Florida panhandle, particularly in the Dougherty Plain and Marianna Lowlands. Documented occurrences of Dougherty Plain Cave Crayfish are spatially distributed as 2...
Predation by Acanthurus leucopareius on black-band disease in Kauai, Hawaii
Christina A. Kellogg, Amy West, Christina M. Runyon
2017, Bulletin of Marine Science (93) 891-892
No abstract available....
Five hydrologic and landscape databases for selected National Wildlife Refuges in the Southeastern United States
Gary R. Buell, Laura N. Gurley, Daniel L. Calhoun, Alexandria M. Hunt
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1018
This report serves as metadata and a user guide for five out of six hydrologic and landscape databases developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to describe data-collection, data-reduction, and data-analysis methods used to construct the databases and provides statistical and graphical...
Influence of trap modifications and environmental predictors on capture success of southern flying squirrels
Christopher N. Jacques, James S. Zweep, Mary E. Scheihing, Will T. Rechkemmer, Sean E. Jenkins, Robert W. Klaver, Shelli A. Dubay
2017, Wildlife Society Bulletin (41) 313-321
Sherman traps are the most commonly used live traps in studies of small mammals and have been successfully used in the capture of arboreal species such as the southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans). However, southern flying squirrels spend proportionately less time foraging on the ground, which necessitates above-ground trapping methods...
A geochemical examination of humidity cell tests
Ann Maest, D. Kirk Nordstrom
2017, Applied Geochemistry (81) 109-131
Humidity cell tests (HCTs) are long-term (20 to >300 weeks) leach tests that are considered by some to be the among the most reliable geochemical characterization methods for estimating the leachate quality of mined materials. A number of modifications have been added to the original HCT method, but the interpretation...
Model-based approaches to deal with detectability: a comment on Hutto (2016)
Tiago A. Marques, Len Thomas, Marc Kery, Steve T. Buckland, David L. Borchers, Eric Rexstad, Rachel M. Fewster, Darryl I. MacKenzie, J. Andrew Royle, Gurutzeta Guillera-Arroita, Colleen M. Handel, David C. Pavlacky Jr, Richard J. Camp
2017, Ecological Applications (27) 1694-1698
In a recent paper, Hutto (2016a) challenges the need to account for detectability when interpreting data from point counts. A number of issues with model-based approaches to deal with detectability are presented, and an alternative suggested: surveying an area around each point over which detectability is assumed certain. The article...
Synoptic sampling and principal components analysis to identify sources of water and metals to an acid mine drainage stream
Patrick Byrne, Robert L. Runkel, Katherine Walton-Day
2017, Environmental Science and Pollution Research (24) 17220-17240
Combining the synoptic mass balance approach with principal components analysis (PCA) can be an effective method for discretising the chemistry of inflows and source areas in watersheds where contamination is diffuse in nature and/or complicated by groundwater interactions. This paper presents a field-scale study in which synoptic sampling and PCA...
Migration trends of Sockeye Salmon at the northern edge of their distribution
Michael P. Carey, Christian E. Zimmerman, Kevin D. Keith, Merlyn Schelske, Charles Lean, David C. Douglas
2017, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (146) 791-802
Climate change is affecting arctic and subarctic ecosystems, and anadromous fish such as Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. are particularly susceptible due to the physiological challenge of spawning migrations. Predicting how migratory timing will change under Arctic warming scenarios requires an understanding of how environmental factors drive salmon migrations. Multiple mechanisms...
Differences in breeding bird assemblages related to reed canary grass cover cover and forest structure on the Upper Mississippi River
Eileen M. Kirsch, Brian R. Gray
2017, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (8) 260-271
Floodplain forest of the Upper Mississippi River provides habitat for an abundant and diverse breeding bird community. However, reed canary grass Phalaris arundinacea invasion is a serious threat to the future condition of this forest. Reed canary grass is a well-known aggressive invader of wetland systems in the northern tier...
Vegetation recovery in tidal marshes reveals critical slowing down under increased inundation
Jim van Belzen, Johan van de Koppel, Matthew L. Kirwan, Daphne van der Wal, Peter M. J. Herman, Vasilis Dakos, Sonia Kefi, Marten Scheffer, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Tjeerd J. Bouma
2017, Nature Communications (8)
A declining rate of recovery following disturbance has been proposed as an important early warning for impending tipping points in complex systems. Despite extensive theoretical and laboratory studies, this ‘critical slowing down’ remains largely untested in the complex settings of real-world ecosystems. Here, we provide both observational and experimental support...
Species distributions models in wildlife planning: agricultural policy and wildlife management in the great plains
Joseph J. Fontaine, Christopher Jorgensen, Erica F. Stuber, Lutz F. Gruber, Andrew A. Bishop, Jeffrey J. Lusk, Eric S. Zach, Karie L. Decker
2017, Wildlife Society Bulletin (41) 194-204
We know economic and social policy has implications for ecosystems at large, but the consequences for a given geographic area or specific wildlife population are more difficult to conceptualize and communicate. Species distribution models, which extrapolate species-habitat relationships across ecological scales, are capable of predicting population changes in distribution and...
The spectrum of persistent volcanic flank instability: A review and proposed framework based on Kīlauea, Piton de la Fournaise, and Etna
Michael P. Poland, Aline Peltier, Alessandro Bonaforte, Giuseppe Puglisi
2017, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (339) 63-80
Persistent motion of the south flank of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai'i, has been known for several decades, but has only recently been identified at other large basaltic volcanoes—namely Piton de la Fournaise (La Réunion) and Etna (Sicily)—thanks to the advent of space geodetic techniques. Nevertheless, understanding of long-term flank instability is...
The added value of time-variable microgravimetry to the understanding of how volcanoes work
Daniele Carbone, Michael P. Poland, Filippo Greco, Michel Diament
2017, Earth-Science Reviews (169) 146-179
During the past few decades, time-variable volcano gravimetry has shown great potential for imaging subsurface processes at active volcanoes (including some processes that might otherwise remain “hidden”), especially when combined with other methods (e.g., ground deformation, seismicity, and gas emissions). By supplying information on changes in the distribution of bulk...
Groundwater quality in the western San Joaquin Valley, California
Miranda S. Fram
2017, Fact Sheet 2017-3028
Groundwater provides more than 40 percent of California’s drinking water. To protect this vital resource, the State of California created the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The Priority Basin Project of the GAMA Program provides a comprehensive assessment of the State’s groundwater quality and increases public access to...
Groundwater quality in the Western San Joaquin Valley study unit, 2010: California GAMA Priority Basin Project
Miranda S. Fram
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5032
Water quality in groundwater resources used for public drinking-water supply in the Western San Joaquin Valley (WSJV) was investigated by the USGS in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) as part of its Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program Priority Basin Project. The WSJV includes...
Performance measures for a Mississippi River reintroduction into the forested wetlands of Maurepas Swamp
Ken W. Krauss, Gary P. Shaffer, Richard F. Keim, Jim L. Chambers, William B. Wood, Stephen B. Hartley
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5036
The use of freshwater diversions (river reintroductions) from the Mississippi River as a restoration tool to rehabilitate Louisiana coastal wetlands has been promoted widely since the first such diversion at Caernarvon became operational in the early 1990s. To date, aside from the Bonnet Carré Spillway (which is designed and operated...
Why does bee health matter? The science surrounding honey bee health concerns and what we can do about it
Marla S Spivak, Zac Browning, Mike Goblirsch, Katie Lee, Clint Otto, Matthew Smart, Judy Wu-Smart
2017, Report
A colony of honey bees is an amazing organism when it is healthy; it is a superorganism in many senses of the word. As with any organism, maintaining a state of health requires cohesiveness and interplay among cells and tissues and, in the case of a honey bee colony, the...
Marine ferromanganese encrustations: Archives of changing oceans
Andrea Koschinsky, James R. Hein
2017, Elements (13) 177-182
Marine iron–manganese oxide coatings occur in many shallow and deep-water areas of the global ocean and can form in three ways: 1) Fe–Mn crusts can precipitate from seawater onto rocks on seamounts; 2) Fe–Mn nodules can form on the sediment surface around a nucleus by diagenetic processes in sediment pore...
Collecting a better water-quality sample: Reducing vertical stratification bias in open and closed channels
William R. Selbig
2017, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 5th Federal Interagency Hydrologic Modeling Conference and the 10th Federal Interagency Sedimentation Conference
Collection of water-quality samples that accurately characterize average particle concentrations and distributions in channels can be complicated by large sources of variability. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed a fully automated Depth-Integrated Sample Arm (DISA) as a way to reduce bias and improve accuracy in water-quality concentration data. The DISA...
An updated geospatial liquefaction model for global application
Jing Zhu, Laurie G. Baise, Eric M. Thompson
2017, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (107) 1365-1385
We present an updated geospatial approach to estimation of earthquake-induced liquefaction from globally available geospatial proxies. Our previous iteration of the geospatial liquefaction model was based on mapped liquefaction surface effects from four earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, and Kobe, Japan, paired with geospatial explanatory variables including slope-derived VS30, compound...
Assessment of undiscovered continuous oil and gas resources in the Heath Formation, central Montana and western North Dakota, 2016
Ronald M. Drake II, Christopher J. Schenk, Timothy R. Klett, Phuong A. Le, Heidi M. Leathers, Michael E. Brownfield, Thomas M. Finn, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Kristen R. Marra, Marilyn E. Tennyson
2017, Fact Sheet 2017-3032
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 884 million barrels of oil and 106 billion cubic feet of gas in the North-Central Montana and Williston Basin Provinces of central Montana and western North Dakota....
Hydrogeologic framework and hydrologic conditions of the Piney Point aquifer in Virginia
E. Randolph McFarland
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5041
The Piney Point aquifer in Virginia is newly described and delineated as being composed of six geologic units, in a study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VA DEQ). The eastward-dipping geologic units include, in stratigraphically ascending order, thesand of the...
