Atoll groundwater movement and its response to climatic and sea-level fluctuations
Ferdinand K. J. Oberle, Peter W. Swarzenski, Curt D. Storlazzi
2017, Water (9)
Groundwater resources of low-lying atoll islands are threatened due to short-term and long-term changes in rainfall, wave climate, and sea level. A better understanding of how these forcings affect the limited groundwater resources was explored on Roi-Namur in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. As part of a 16-month study,...
Fine-resolution repeat topographic surveying of dryland landscapes using UAS-based structure-from-motion photogrammetry: Assessing accuracy and precision against traditional ground-based erosion measurements
Jeffrey K. Gillian, Jason W. Karl, Ahmed Elaksher, Michael C. Duniway
2017, Remote Sensing (9)
Structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry from unmanned aerial system (UAS) imagery is an emerging tool for repeat topographic surveying of dryland erosion. These methods are particularly appealing due to the ability to cover large landscapes compared to field methods and at reduced costs and finer spatial resolution compared to airborne laser scanning....
A digital reference collection for aquatic macroinvertebrates of North America
David Walters, Morgan A Ford, Robert E. Zuellig
2017, Freshwater Science (36) 693-697
Aquatic invertebrates are a key component of freshwater ecosystems, and understanding aquatic invertebrate taxonomy is a cornerstone of freshwater science. Physical reference collections of expertly identified voucher specimens are the ‘gold-standard’ used to confirm specimen identifications. However, most biologists lack access to such collections, which themselves tend to be highly...
Hydrologic impacts of landslide disturbances: Implications for remobilization and hazard persistence
Benjamin B. Mirus, Joel B. Smith, Rex L. Baum
2017, Water Resources Research (53) 8250-8265
Landslides typically alter hillslope topography, but may also change the hydrologic connectivity and subsurface water-storage dynamics. In settings where mobile materials are not completely evacuated from steep slopes, influences of landslide disturbances on hillslope hydrology and susceptibility to subsequent failures remain poorly characterized. Since landslides often recur at the site...
Assessing condition of macroinvertebrate communities and bed sediment toxicity in the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern, New York, USA
Brian Duffy, Scott D. George, Barry P. Baldigo, Alexander J. Smith
2017, Journal of Great Lakes Research (43) 890-898
The United States and Canada agreed to restore the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Great Lakes ecosystem under the first Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in 1972. The lowest reach of the Genesee River and the Rochester Embayment on Lake Ontario between Bogus Point and Nine Mile Point,...
Loads and yields of deicing compounds and total phosphorus in the Cambridge drinking-water source area, Massachusetts, water years 2009–15
Kirk P. Smith
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5047
The source water area for the drinking-water supply of the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, encompasses major transportation corridors, as well as large areas of light industrial, commercial, and residential land use. Because of the large amount of roadway in the drinking-water source area, the Cambridge water supply is affected by...
Risk assessment for the reintroduction of anadromous salmonids upstream of Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee Dams, Northeastern Washington
Jill M. Hardiman, Rachel B. Breyta, Craig A. Haskell, Carl O. Ostberg, James R. Hatten, Patrick J. Connolly
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1113
The Upper Columbia United Tribes (UCUT; Spokane, Colville, Kootenai, Coeur d’Alene, and Kalispel Tribes) and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife want to reintroduce anadromous salmonids to their historical range to restore ecosystem function and lost cultural and spiritual relationships in the upper Columbia River, northeastern Washington. The UCUT contracted...
Temporal variation in survival and recovery rates of lesser scaup: A response
Todd W. Arnold, Alan D. Afton, Michael J. Anteau, David N. Koons, Chris A. Nicolai
2017, Journal of Wildlife Management (81) 1142-1148
We recently analyzed long-term (1951–2011) continental band-recovery data from lesser scaup (Aythya affinis) and demonstrated that harvest rates declined through time, but annual survival rates exhibited no such trends; moreover, annual harvest and survival rates were uncorrelated for all age-sex classes. We therefore concluded that declining fecundity was most likely...
Selection of the InSight landing site
M. Golombek, D. Kipp, N. Warner, Ingrid J. Daubar, Robin L. Fergason, Randolph L. Kirk, R. Beyer, A. Huertas, Sylvain Piqueux, N.E. Putzig, B.A. Campbell, G. A. Morgan, C. Charalambous, W. T. Pike, K. Gwinner, F. Calef, D. Kass, M. A. Mischna, J. Ashley, C. Bloom, N. Wigton, T. Hare, C. Schwartz, H. Gengl, L. Redmond, M. Trautman, J. Sweeney, C. Grima, I. B. Smith, E. Sklyanskiy, M. Lisano, J. Benardini, S.E. Smrekar, P. Lognonne, W. B. Banerdt
2017, Space Science Reviews (211) 5-95
The selection of the Discovery Program InSight landing site took over four years from initial identification of possible areas that met engineering constraints, to downselection via targeted data from orbiters (especially Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Context Camera (CTX) and High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) images), to selection and certification via...
Effects of tow transit on the efficacy of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Electric Dispersal Barrier System
Jeremiah J. Davis, Jessica Z. LeRoy, Matthew R. Shanks, Patrick Ryan Jackson, Frank L. Engel, Elizabeth A. Murphy, Carey L. Baxter, Michael K. McInerney, Nicholas A. Barkowski
2017, Journal of Great Lakes Research (43) 1119-1131
In 2016, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers undertook a field study in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal near Romeoville, Illinois to determine the influence of tow transit on the efficacy of the Electric Dispersal Barrier System (EDBS) in preventing...
An examination of the effect of aerosolized permanone insecticide on zebra finch susceptibility to West Nile virus
Mark D. Jankowski, E. Moore Murray, Erik K. Hofmeister
2017, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (36) 3376-3386
West Nile virus is primarily maintained cryptically primarily in avian (Passerine) populations where it is transmitted by Culex spp. mosquitoes. Mosquito control measures currently include physical activities to reduce mosquito breeding sites, the application of mosquito larvicides, or aerosolized insecticides to kill adults (adulticides) when arboviral diseases such as West Nile...
USA National Phenology Network’s volunteer-contributed observations yield predictive models of phenological transitions
Theresa M. Crimmins, Michael A. Crimmins, Katherine L. Gerst, Alyssa H. Rosemartin, Jake Weltzin
2017, PLoS ONE (12) 1-17
In support of science and society, the USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN) maintains a rapidly growing, continental-scale, species-rich dataset of plant and animal phenology observations that with over 10 million records is the largest such database in the United States. Contributed voluntarily by professional and citizen scientists, these opportunistically collected...
Stress hormones predict a host superspreader phenotype in the West Nile virus system
Stephanie Gervasi, Sarah Burgan, Erik K. Hofmeister, Thomas R. Unnasch, Lynn B. Martin
2017, Proceedings of the Royal Society B (284)
Glucocorticoid stress hormones, such as corticosterone (CORT), have profound effects on the behaviour and physiology of organisms, and thus have the potential to alter host competence and the contributions of individuals to population- and community-level pathogen dynamics. For example, CORT could alter the rate of contacts among hosts, pathogens and...
A hydrologic drying bias in water-resource impact analyses of anthropogenic climate change
Paul Milly, Krista A. Dunne
2017, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (53) 822-838
For water-resource planning, sensitivity of freshwater availability to anthropogenic climate change (ACC) often is analyzed with “offline” hydrologic models that use precipitation and potential evapotranspiration (Ep) as inputs. Because Ep is not a climate-model output, an intermediary model of Ep must be introduced to connect the climate model to the...
Behavior of a wave-driven buoyant surface jet on a coral reef
Liv M. Herdman, James L. Hench, Oliver Fringer, Stephen G. Monismith
2017, Journal of Geophysical Research C: Oceans (122) 4088-4109
A wave-driven surface buoyant jet exiting a coral reef was studied in order to quantify the amount of water re-entrained over the reef crest. Both moored observations and Lagrangian drifters were used to study the fate of the buoyant jet. To investigate in detail the effects of buoyancy and along-shore...
Yolo Bypass Juvenile Salmon Utilization Study 2016—Summary of acoustically tagged juvenile salmon and study fish release, Sacramento River, California
Theresa L. Liedtke, William R. Hurst
2017, Data Series 1066
The Yolo Bypass is a flood control bypass in Sacramento Valley, California. Flood plain habitats may be used for juvenile salmon rearing, however, the potential value of such habitats can be difficult to evaluate because of the intermittent nature of inundation events. The Yolo Bypass Juvenile Salmon Utilization Study (YBUS)...
Studies of wolf x coyote hybridization via artificial insemination
L. David Mech, Cheryl S. Asa, Margaret Callahan, Bruce W. Christensen, Fran Smith, Julie K. Young
2017, PLoS ONE (12) 1-12
Following the production of western gray wolf (Canis lupus) x western coyote (Canis latrans) hybrids via artificial insemination (AI), the present article documents that the hybrids survived in captivity for at least 4 years and successfully bred with each other. It further reports that backcrossing one of the hybrids to...
QFASAR: Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis with R
Jeffrey F. Bromaghin
2017, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (8) 1158-1162
Knowledge of predator diets provides essential insights into their ecology, yet diet estimation is challenging and remains an active area of research.Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) is a popular method of estimating diet composition that continues to be investigated and extended. However, software to implement QFASA...
Long-term trends in midwestern milkweed abundances and their relevance to monarch butterfly declines
David N. Zaya, Ian S. Pearse, Gregory Spyreas
2017, BioScience (67) 343-356
Declines in monarch butterfly populations have prompted investigation into the sensitivity of their milkweed host plants to land-use change. Documented declines in milkweed abundance in croplands have spurred efforts to promote milkweeds in other habitats. Nevertheless, our current understanding of milkweed populations is poor. We used a long-term plant survey...
Bathymetric survey of the Cayuga Inlet flood-control channel and selected tributaries in Ithaca, New York, 2016
John F. Wernly, Elizabeth A. Nystrom, William F. Coon
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1109
From July 14 to July 20, 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of Ithaca, New York, and the New York State Department of State, surveyed the bathymetry of the Cayuga Inlet flood-control channel and the mouths of selected tributaries to Cayuga Inlet and Cayuga Lake in...
Three-dimensional hydrogeologic framework model of the Rio Grande transboundary region of New Mexico and Texas, USA, and northern Chihuahua, Mexico
Donald S. Sweetkind
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5060
As part of a U.S. Geological Survey study in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation, a digital three-dimensional hydrogeologic framework model was constructed for the Rio Grande transboundary region of New Mexico and Texas, USA, and northern Chihuahua, Mexico. This model was constructed to define the aquifer system geometry and...
U.S. Geological Survey sage-grouse and sagebrush ecosystem research annual report for 2017
Steven E. Hanser, editor(s)
2017, Circular 1436
The sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystem extends across a large portion of the Western United States, and the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is one of the iconic species of this ecosystem. Greater sage-grouse populations occur in 11 States and are dependent on relatively large expanses of sagebrush-dominated habitat. Sage-grouse populations have...
U.S. Geological Survey—Energy and wildlife research annual report for 2017
Mona Khalil, editor(s)
2017, Circular 1435
IntroductionTerrestrial and aquatic ecosystems provide valuable services to humans and are a source of clean water, energy, raw materials, and productive soils. The Nation’s food supply is more secure because of wildlife. For example, native pollinators enhance agricultural crops, and insect-eating bats provide pest control services worth billions of dollars...
The role of alluvial aquifer sediments in attenuating a dissolved arsenic plume
Brady A. Ziegler, Madeline E. Schreiber, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli
2017, Journal of Contaminant Hydrology (204) 90-101
In a crude-oil-contaminated sandy aquifer at the Bemidji site in northern Minnesota, biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons has resulted in release of naturally occurring As to groundwater under Fe-reducing conditions. This study used chemical extractions of aquifer sediments collected in 1993 and 2011–2014 to evaluate the relationship between Fe and As...
Evaluation of the U.S. Geological Survey Landsat burned area essential climate variable across the conterminous U.S. using commercial high-resolution imagery
Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Nicole M. Brunner, Yen-Ju G. Beal, Todd Hawbaker
2017, Remote Sensing (9) 1-24
The U.S. Geological Survey has produced the Landsat Burned Area Essential Climate Variable (BAECV) product for the conterminous United States (CONUS), which provides wall-to-wall annual maps of burned area at 30 m resolution (1984–2015). Validation is a critical component in the generation of such remotely sensed products. Previous efforts to...
