Flood of July 2016 in northern Wisconsin and the Bad River Reservation
Faith A. Fitzpatrick, Eric D. Dantoin, Naomi Tillison, Kara M. Watson, Robert J. Waschbusch, James D. Blount
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5029
Heavy rain fell across northern Wisconsin and the Bad River Reservation on July 11, 2016, as a result of several rounds of thunderstorms. The storms caused major flooding in the Bad River Basin and nearby tributaries along the south shore of Lake Superior. Rainfall totals were 8–10 inches or more...
Comparison of benthos and plankton for Waukegan Harbor Area of Concern, Illinois, and Burns Harbor-Port of Indiana non-Area of Concern, Indiana, in 2015
Barbara C. Scudder Eikenberry, Hayley T. Olds, Daniel J. Burns, Edward G. Dobrowolski, Kurt L. Schmude
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5039
During two seasonal sampling events in spring (June) and fall (August) of 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey collected benthos (benthic invertebrates) and plankton (zooplankton and phytoplankton) at three sites each in the Waukegan Harbor Area of Concern (AOC) in Illinois and in Burns Harbor-Port of Indiana, a non-AOC comparison site...
Effects of changes in pumping on regional groundwater-flow paths, 2005 and 2010, and areas contributing recharge to discharging wells, 1990–2010, in the vicinity of North Penn Area 7 Superfund site, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Lisa A. Senior, Daniel J. Goode
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5014
A previously developed regional groundwater flow model was used to simulate the effects of changes in pumping rates on groundwater-flow paths and extent of recharge discharging to wells for a contaminated fractured bedrock aquifer in southeastern Pennsylvania. Groundwater in the vicinity of the North Penn Area 7 Superfund site, Montgomery...
Geologic map of the Beacon Rock quadrangle, Skamania County, Washington
Russell C. Evarts, Robert J. Fleck
2017, Scientific Investigations Map 3367
The Beacon Rock 7.5′ quadrangle is located approximately 50 km east of Portland, Oregon, on the north side of the Columbia River Gorge, a scenic canyon carved through the axis of the Cascade Range by the Columbia River. Although approximately 75,000 people live within the gorge, much of the region...
Bioenergetics models to estimate numbers of larval lampreys consumed by smallmouth bass in Elk Creek, Oregon
Luke Schultz, Michael Heck, Brandon M Kowalski, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Kelly C. Coates, Jason B. Dunham
2017, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (37) 714-723
Nonnative fishes have been increasingly implicated in the decline of native fishes in the Pacific Northwest. Smallmouth Bass Micropterus dolomieu were introduced into the Umpqua River in southwest Oregon in the early 1960s. The spread of Smallmouth Bass throughout the basin coincided with a decline in counts of upstream-migrating Pacific...
Coastal circulation and water-column properties in the National Park of American Samoa, February–July 2015
Curt D. Storlazzi, Olivia Cheriton, Kurt J. Rosenberger, Joshua B. Logan, Timothy B. Clark
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1060
There is little information on the oceanography in the National Park of American Samoa (NPSA). The transport pathways for potentially harmful constituents of land-derived runoff, as well as larvae and other planktonic organisms, are driven by nearshore circulation patterns. To evaluate the processes affecting coral reef ecosystem health, it is...
Using a gradient in food quality to infer drivers of fatty acid content in two filter-feeding aquatic consumers
James H. Larson, William B. Richardson, Jonathan M. Vallazza, Lynn A. Bartsch, Michelle R. Bartsch
2017, Aquatic Sciences (79) 855-865
Inferences about ecological structure and function are often made using elemental or macromolecular tracers of food web structure. For example, inferences about food chain length are often made using stable isotope ratios of top predators and consumer food sources are often inferred from both stable isotopes and fatty acid (FA)...
Regional and temporal variability of melts during a Cordilleran magma pulse: Age and chemical evolution of the jurassic arc, eastern mojave desert, California
A.P. Barth, J.L. Wooden, David M. Miller, Keith A. Howard, Lydia Fox, Elizabeth R. Schermer, C.E. Jacobson
2017, Geological Society of America Bulletin (129) 429-448
Intrusive rock sequences in the central and eastern Mojave Desert segment of the Jurassic Cordilleran arc of the western United States record regional and temporal variations in magmas generated during the second prominent pulse of Mesozoic continental arc magmatism. U/Pb zircon ages provide temporal control for describing variations in rock...
System identification based on deconvolution and cross correlation: An application to a 20‐story instrumented building in Anchorage, Alaska
Weiping Wen, Erol Kalkan
2017, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (107) 718-740
Deconvolution and cross‐correlation techniques are used for system identification of a 20‐story steel, moment‐resisting frame building in downtown Anchorage, Alaska. This regular‐plan midrise structure is instrumented with a 32‐channel accelerometer array at 10 levels. The impulse response functions (IRFs) and correlation functions (CFs) are computed based on waveforms recorded from...
A note on adding viscoelasticity to earthquake simulators
Frederick Pollitz
2017, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (107) 468-474
Here, I describe how time‐dependent quasi‐static stress transfer can be implemented in an earthquake simulator code that is used to generate long synthetic seismicity catalogs. Most existing seismicity simulators use precomputed static stress interaction coefficients to rapidly implement static stress transfer in fault networks with typically tens of thousands of...
Unusual population attributes of invasive red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans) in Japan: do they have a performance advantage?
Mari Taniguchi, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Kanako Mine, Shintaro Ueno, Naoki Kamezaki
2017, Aquatic Invasions (12) 97-108
The slider turtle (Trachemys scripta Thunberg in Schoepff, 1792) is native to the USA and Mexico. Due to the popularity of their colorful hatchlings as pets, they have been exported worldwide and are now present on all continents, except Antarctica. Slider turtles are well-established in Japan and occupy aquatic habitats...
Intraspecific variability and reaction norms of forest understory plant species traits
Julia I. Burton, Steven Perakis, Sean C. McKenzie, Caitlin E. Lawrence, Klaus J. Puettmann
2017, Functional Ecology (31) 1881-1893
Trait-based models of ecological communities typically assume intraspecific variation in functional traits is not important, though such variation can change species trait rankings along gradients in resources and environmental conditions, and thus influence community structure and function.We examined the degree of intraspecific relative to interspecific variation, and reaction norms of...
Demographic consequences of nest box use for Red-footed Falcons Falco vespertinus in Central Asia
Evgeny A. Bragin, Alexander E. Bragin, Todd E. Katzner
2017, Ibis (159) 841-853
Nest box programs are frequently implemented for the conservation of cavity-nesting birds, but their effectiveness is rarely evaluated in comparison to birds not using nest boxes. In the European Palearctic, Red-footed Falcon Falco vespertinus populations are both of high conservation concern and are strongly associated with nest box programs in...
Snow and ice
Jeremy S. Littell, Stephanie A. McAfee, Shad O’Neel, Louis C. Sass, Evan Burgess, Steve Colt, Paul Clark
Gregory D. Hayward, Steve Colt, Monica L. McTeague, Teresa N. Hollingsworth, editor(s)
2017, General Technical Report PNW-GTR-950-3
Temperature and precipitation are key determinants of snowpack levels. Therefore, climate change is likely to affect the role of snow and ice in the landscapes and hydrology of the Chugach National Forest region.Downscaled climate projections developed by Scenarios Network for Alaska and Arctic Planning (SNAP) are useful for examining projected...
Nutrient feedbacks to soil heterotrophic nitrogen fixation in forests
Steven Perakis, Julie C. Pett-Ridge, Christina E. Catricala
2017, Biogeochemistry (134) 41-55
Multiple nutrient cycles regulate biological nitrogen (N) fixation in forests, yet long-term feedbacks between N-fixation and coupled element cycles remain largely unexplored. We examined soil nutrients and heterotrophic N-fixation across a gradient of 24 temperate conifer forests shaped by legacies of symbiotic N-fixing trees. We observed positive relationships among mineral...
Application of an unstructured 3D finite volume numerical model to flows and salinity dynamics in the San Francisco Bay-Delta
R.C. Martyr-Koller, H.W.J. Kernkamp, Anne A. Van Dam, Mick van der Wegen, Lisa Lucas, N. Knowles, B. Jaffe, T.A. Fregoso
2017, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science (192) 86-107
A linked modeling approach has been undertaken to understand the impacts of climate and infrastructure on aquatic ecology and water quality in the San Francisco Bay-Delta region. The Delft3D Flexible Mesh modeling suite is used in this effort for its 3D hydrodynamics, salinity, temperature and sediment dynamics, phytoplankton and...
Using high-throughput DNA sequencing, genetic fingerprinting, and quantitative PCR as tools for monitoring bloom-forming and toxigenic cyanobacteria in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2013 and 2014
Sara L. Caldwell Eldridge, Conner Driscoll, Theo W. Dreher
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5026
Monitoring the community structure and metabolic activities of cyanobacterial blooms in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, is critical to lake management because these blooms degrade water quality and produce toxic microcystins that are harmful to humans, domestic animals, and wildlife. Genetic tools, such as DNA fingerprinting by terminal restriction fragment...
USGS integrated drought science
Andrea C. Ostroff, Clint C. Muhlfeld, Patrick M. Lambert, Nathaniel L. Booth, Shawn L. Carter, Jason M. Stoker, Michael J. Focazio
2017, Circular 1430
Project Need and OverviewDrought poses a serious threat to the resilience of human communities and ecosystems in the United States (Easterling and others, 2000). Over the past several years, many regions have experienced extreme drought conditions, fueled by prolonged periods of reduced precipitation and exceptionally warm temperatures. Extreme drought has...
Amphibian terrestrial habitat selection and movement patterns vary with annual life-history period
Luke A. Groff, Aram J.K. Calhoun, Cynthia S. Loftin
2017, Canadian Journal of Zoology (95) 433-442
Identification of essential habitat is a fundamental component of amphibian conservation; however, species with complex life histories frequently move among habitats. To better understand dynamic habitat use, we evaluated Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus (LeConte, 1825)) habitat selection and movement patterns during the spring migration and foraging periods and described the spatiotemporal...
Spatio-temporal mapping of plate boundary faults in California using geodetic imaging
Andrea Donnellan, Ramon Arrowsmith, Stephen B. DeLong
2017, Geosciences (7) 1-26
The Pacific–North American plate boundary in California is composed of a 400-km-wide network of faults and zones of distributed deformation. Earthquakes, even large ones, can occur along individual or combinations of faults within the larger plate boundary system. While research often focuses on the primary and secondary faults, holistic study...
Variability of dissolved organic carbon in precipitation during storms at the Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory
Lidiia Iavorivska, Elizabeth W. Boyer, Jeffrey W. Grimm, Matthew P. Miller, David R. DeWalle, Kenneth J. Davis, Margot W. Kaye
2017, Hydrological Processes (31) 2935-2950
Organic compounds are removed from the atmosphere and deposited to the earth's surface via precipitation. In this study, we quantified variations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in precipitation during storm events at the Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory, a forested watershed in central Pennsylvania (USA). Precipitation samples were collected consecutively...
How misapplication of the hydrologic unit framework diminishes the meaning of watersheds
James M. Omernik, Glenn E. Griffith, Robert M. Hughes, James B. Glover, Marc H. Weber
2017, Environmental Management (60) 1-11
Hydrologic units provide a convenient but problematic nationwide set of geographic polygons based on subjectively determined subdivisions of land surface areas at several hierarchical levels. The problem is that it is impossible to map watersheds, basins, or catchments of relatively equal size and cover the whole country. The hydrologic unit...
Indicator-driven conservation planning across terrestrial, freshwater aquatic, and marine ecosystems of the south Atlantic, USA
Bradley A. Pickens, Rua S. Mordecai, C. Ashton Drew, Louise B. Alexander-Vaughn, Amy S. Keister, Hilary L.C. Morris, Jaime A. Collazo
2017, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (8) 219-233
Systematic conservation planning, a widely used approach to identify priority lands and waters, uses efficient, defensible, and transparent methods aimed at conserving biodiversity and ecological systems. Limited financial resources and competing land uses can be major impediments to conservation; therefore, participation of diverse stakeholders in the planning process is advantageous...
Mapping climate change refugia in the Sierra Nevada
Toni Lyn Morelli
2017, Newsletter
No abstract available....
Magnetic monitoring in Saguaro National Park
Jeffrey J. Love, Carol Finn, Yesenia C. Gamez Valdez, Don Swann
2017, Fact Sheet 2017-3035
On a sandy, arid plain, near the Rincon Mountain Visitor Center of Saguaro National Park, tucked in among brittlebush, creosote, and other hardy desert plants, is an unusual type of observatory—a small unmanned station that is used for monitoring the Earth’s variable magnetic field. Named for the nearby city of...
