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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Frictional strength of wet and dry montmorillonite
Carolyn A. Morrow, Diane E. Moore, David A. Lockner
2017, Journal of Geophysical Research (122) 3392-3409
Montmorillonite is a common mineral in fault zones, and its low strength relative to other common gouge minerals is important in many models of fault rheology. However, the coefficient of friction, μ, varies with degree of saturation and is not well constrained in the literature due to the difficulty of...
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...
Synthesis centers as critical research infrastructure
Jill Baron, Alison Specht, Eric Garnier, Pamela Bishop, C. Andrew Campbell, Frank W. Davis, Bruno Fady, Dawn Field, Louis J. Gross, Siddeswara M. Guru, Benjamin S Halpern, Stephanie E. Hampton, Peter R. Leavitt, Thomas R. Meagher, Jean Ometto, John N. Parker, Richard Price, Casey H. Rawson, Allen Rodrigo, Laura A. Sheble, Marten Winter
2017, BioScience (67) 750-759
Demand for the opportunity to participate in a synthesis-center activity has increased in the years since the US National Science Foundation (NSF)–funded National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) opened its doors in 1995 and as more scientists across a diversity of scientific disciplines have become aware of what synthesis...
The 2008 Wells, Nevada earthquake sequence: Source constraints using calibrated multiple event relocation and InSAR
Jennifer Nealy, Harley M. Benz, Gavin P. Hayes, Eric Berman, William D. Barnhart
2017, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (107) 1107-1117
The 2008 Wells, NV earthquake represents the largest domestic event in the conterminous U.S. outside of California since the October 1983 Borah Peak earthquake in southern Idaho. We present an improved catalog, magnitude complete to 1.6, of the foreshock-aftershock sequence, supplementing the current U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Preliminary Determination of...
Climate change-induced vegetation shifts lead to more ecological droughts despite projected rainfall increases in many global temperate drylands
Britta Tietjen, Daniel R. Schlaepfer, John B. Bradford, William K. Laurenroth, Sonia A. Hall, Michael C. Duniway, Tamara Hochstrasser, Gensuo Jia, Seth M. Munson, David A. Pyke, Scott D. Wilson
2017, Global Change Biology (23) 2743-2754
Drylands occur world-wide and are particularly vulnerable to climate change since dryland ecosystems depend directly on soil water availability that may become increasingly limited as temperatures rise. Climate change will both directly impact soil water availability, and also change plant biomass, with resulting indirect feedbacks on soil moisture. Thus, the...
Denitrifying woodchip bioreactor and phosphorus filter pairing to minimize pollution swapping
Laura E. Christianson, Christine Lepine, Philip Sibrell, Chad J. Penn, Steven T. Summerfelt
2017, Water Research (121) 129-139
Pairing denitrifying woodchip bioreactors and phosphorus-sorbing filters provides a unique, engineered approach for dual nutrient removal from waters impaired with both nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). This column study aimed to test placement of two P-filter media (acid mine drainage treatment residuals and steel slag) relative to a denitrifying system...
Paleozoic and mesozoic GIS data from the Geologic Atlas of the Rocky Mountain Region: Volume 1
Aimee Graeber, Gregory L. Gunther, editor(s)
2017, Book
The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists (RMAG) is, once again, publishing portions of the 1972 Geologic Atlas of the Rocky Mountain Region (Mallory, ed., 1972) as a geospatial map and data package. Georeferenced tiff (Geo TIFF) images of map figures from this atlas has served as the basis for these...
Repeatability of testing a small broadband sensor in the Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory Underground Vault
Adam T. Ringler, Austin Holland, David C. Wilson
2017, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (107) 1557-1563
Variability in seismic instrumentation performance plays a fundamental role in our ability to carry out experiments in observational seismology. Many such experiments rely on the assumed performance of various seismic sensors as well as on methods to isolate the sensors from nonseismic noise sources. We look at the repeatability of...
Duckling survival of mallards in Southland, New Zealand
Erin Garrick, Courtney L. Amundson, Phillip J. Seddon
2017, Journal of Wildlife Management (81) 858-867
The southern portion of New Zealand's South Island is a productive area for mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) despite a notable lack of permanent or semi-permanent wetlands. Most broods are reared in pastures that may or may not be flooded with ephemeral water. In recent years, there has been an increased conversion...
Perturbational and nonperturbational inversion of Rayleigh-wave velocities
Matthew M. Haney, Victor C. Tsai
2017, Geophysics (82) F15-F28
The inversion of Rayleigh-wave dispersion curves is a classic geophysical inverse problem. We have developed a set of MATLAB codes that performs forward modeling and inversion of Rayleigh-wave phase or group velocity measurements. We describe two different methods of inversion: a perturbational method based on finite elements and a nonperturbational...
Nest-site selection and nest success of an Arctic-breeding passerine, Smith's Longspur, in a changing climate
Heather R. McFarland, Steve J. Kendall, Abby Powell
2017, The Condor (119) 85-97
Despite changes in shrub cover and weather patterns associated with climate change in the Arctic, little is known about the breeding requirements of most passerines tied to northern regions. We investigated the nesting biology and nest habitat characteristics of Smith's Longspurs (Calcarius pictus) in 2 study areas in the Brooks...
Efficacy of SpayVac® as a contraceptive in feral horses
James E. Roelle, Stephen S. Germaine, Albert J. Kane, Brian S. Cade
2017, Wildlife Society Bulletin (41) 107-115
ABSTRACT We tested the efficacy of 2 formulations of the immunocontraceptive SpayVac1, which packages the immunogen porcine zona pellucida (PZP) and an adjuvant in multilamellar liposomes, as a contraceptive in captive feral horses (Equus caballus) for 3 consecutive breeding seasons (Pauls Valley, OK, USA; 2012–2014) following a single inoculation. Annual...
Performance and application of a fluidized bed limestone reactor designed for control of alkalinity, hardness and pH at the Warm Springs Regional Fisheries Center
Barnaby J. Watten, Vincent A. Mudrak, Carlos Echevarria, Philip Sibrell, Steven T. Summerfelt, Claude E. Boyd
2017, Aquacultural Engineering (77) 97-106
Springs serving the Warm Springs Regional Fisheries Center, Warm Springs, Georgia, have pH, alkalinity, and hardness levels thatlie under the range required for successful fish propagation while free CO2 is well above allowable targets. We evaluate a pretreatment process that exploits limestone’s (CaCO3) ability to react away hydrogen ions (H+)...
