Soil data for a thermokarst bog and the surrounding permafrost plateau forest, located at Bonanza Creek Long Term Ecological Research Site, Interior Alaska
Kristen L. Manies, Christopher C. Fuller, Miriam C. Jones, Mark P. Waldrop, John P. McGeehin
2017, Open-File Report 2016-1173
Peatlands play an important role in boreal ecosystems, storing a large amount of soil organic carbon. In northern ecosystems, collapse-scar bogs (also known as thermokarst bogs) often form as the result of ground subsidence following permafrost thaw. To examine how ecosystem carbon balance changes with the loss of permafrost, we...
Range-wide connectivity of priority areas for Greater Sage-Grouse: Implications for long-term conservation from graph theory
Michele R. Crist, Steven T. Knick, Steven E. Hanser
2017, The Condor (119) 44-57
The delineation of priority areas in western North America for managing Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) represents a broad-scale experiment in conservation biology. The strategy of limiting spatial disturbance and focusing conservation actions within delineated areas may benefit the greatest proportion of Greater Sage-Grouse. However, land use under normal restrictions outside...
Using groundwater age distributions to understand changes in methyl tert-butyl ether (MtBE) concentrations in ambient groundwater, northeastern United States
Bruce D. Lindsey, Joseph D. Ayotte, Bryant C. Jurgens, Leslie A. DeSimone
2017, Science of the Total Environment (579) 579-587
Temporal changes in methyl tert-butyl ether (MtBE) concentrations in groundwater were evaluated in the northeastern United States, an area of the nation with widespread low-level detections of MtBE based on a national survey of wells selected to represent ambient conditions. MtBE use in the U.S. peaked in 1999 and was...
Projected impacts of climate, urbanization, water management, and wetland restoration on waterbird habitat in California’s Central Valley
Elliott Matchett, Joseph P. Fleskes
2017, PLoS ONE (12)
The Central Valley of California is one of the most important regions for wintering waterbirds in North America despite extensive anthropogenic landscape modification and decline of historical wetlands there. Like many other mediterranean-climate ecosystems across the globe, the Central Valley has been subject to a burgeoning human population and expansion...
A detached eddy simulation model for the study of lateral separation zones along a large canyon-bound river
Laura V. Alvarez, Mark W. Schmeeckle, Paul E. Grams
2017, Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface (122) 25-49
Lateral flow separation occurs in rivers where banks exhibit strong curvature. In canyon-boundrivers, lateral recirculation zones are the principal storage of fine-sediment deposits. A parallelized,three-dimensional, turbulence-resolving model was developed to study the flow structures along lateralseparation zones located in two pools along the Colorado River in Marble Canyon. The model...
Water-quality, bed-sediment, and biological data (October 2014 through September 2015) and statistical summaries of data for streams in the Clark Fork Basin, Montana
Kent A. Dodge, Michelle I. Hornberger, Matthew A. Turner
2017, Open-File Report 2016-1201
Water, bed sediment, and biota were sampled in selected streams from Butte to near Missoula, Montana, as part of a monitoring program in the upper Clark Fork Basin of western Montana. The sampling program was led by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to...
State of the Salton Sea—A science and monitoring meeting of scientists for the Salton Sea
Douglas A. Barnum, Timothy Bradley, Michael Cohen, Bruce Wilcox, Gregor Yanega
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1005
IntroductionThe Salton Sea (Sea) is an ecosystem facing large systemic changes in the near future. Managers and stakeholders are seeking solutions to the decline of the Sea and have turned to the scientific community for answers. In response, scientists gathered in Irvine, California, to review existing science and propose scientific...
Changes in the Chemistry of Groundwater Reacted with CO2: Comparison of Laboratory Results with the ZERT Field Pilot
Yousif K. Kharaka, James J. Thordsen, Atosa A. Abedini, Sarah Beers, Burt Thomas
2017, Procedia Earth and Planetary Science (17) 241-244
As part of the ZERT program, sediments from two wells at the ZERT site, located in Bozeman, Montana, USA were reacted with a solution having the composition of local groundwater. A total of 50 water samples were collected from 7 containers placed for 15 days in a glove box with...
Multiscale guidance and tools for implementing a landscape approach to resource management in the Bureau of Land Management
Sarah K. Carter, Natasha B. Carr, Kevin H. Miller, David J.A. Wood, editor(s)
2017, Open-File Report 2016-1207
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is implementing a landscape approach to resource management (hereafter, landscape approach) to more effectively work with partners and understand the effects of management decisions. A landscape approach is a set of concepts and principles used to guide resource management when multiple stakeholders are involved...
Maps and grids of hydrogeologic information created from standardized water-well drillers’ records of the glaciated United States
E. Randall Bayless, Leslie D. Arihood, Howard W. Reeves, Benjamin J.S. Sperl, Sharon L. Qi, Valerie E. Stipe, Aubrey R. Bunch
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5105
As part of the National Water Availability and Use Program established by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in 2005, this study took advantage of about 14 million records from State-managed collections of water-well drillers’ records and created a database of hydrogeologic properties for the glaciated United States. The water-well drillers’...
Scientific monitoring plan in support of the selected alternative of the Glen Canyon Dam Long-Term Experimental and Management Plan
Scott P. Vanderkooi, Theodore A. Kennedy, David J. Topping, Paul E. Grams, David L. Ward, Helen C. Fairley, Lucas S. Bair, Joel B. Sankey, John C. Schmidt, Charles B. Yackulic
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1006
IntroductionThe purpose of this document is to describe a strategy by which monitoring and research data in the natural and social sciences will be collected, analyzed, and provided to the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), its bureaus, and to the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program (GCDAMP) in support...
Groundwater quality in the shallow aquifers of the Tulare, Kaweah, and Tule Groundwater Basins and adjacent highlands areas, Southern San Joaquin Valley, California
Miranda S. Fram
2017, Fact Sheet 2017-3001
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...
Status of the 3D Elevation Program, 2015
Larry J. Sugarbaker, Diane F. Eldridge, Allyson L. Jason, Vicki Lukas, David L. Saghy, Jason M. Stoker, Diana R. Thunen
2017, Open-File Report 2016-1196
The 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) is a cooperative activity to collect light detection and ranging (lidar) data for the conterminous United States, Hawaii, and U.S. territories; and interferometric synthetic aperture radar (IfSAR) elevation data for Alaska during an 8-year period. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and partner organizations acquire high-quality...
Sandhill crane roost selection, human disturbance, and forage resources
Aaron T. Pearse, Gary Krapu, David A. Brandt
2017, Journal of Wildlife Management (91) 477-486
Sites used for roosting represent a key habitat requirement for many species of birds because availability and quality of roost sites can influence individual fitness. Birds select roost sites based on numerous factors, requirements, and motivations, and selection of roosts can be dynamic in time and space because of various...
Age and growth comparisons of Hovsgol grayling (Thymallus nigrescens Dorogostaisky, 1923), Baikal grayling (T. baicalensis Dybowski, 1874), and lenok (Brachymystax lenok Pallas, 1773) in lentic and lotic habitats of Northern Mongolia
Pureviin Tsogtsaikhan, Budiin Mendsaikhan, Ganzorigiin Jargalmaa, Batsaikhanii Ganzorig, Brian Weidel, Christopher Filosa, Christopher Free, Talia Young, Olaf P. Jensen
2017, Journal of Applied Ichthyology (33) 108-115
Despite concern over the conservation status of many Mongolian salmonids and the importance of their ecological role in Mongolia's aquatic ecosystems, little is known about their basic biology. Hovsgol grayling (Thymallus nigrescens) is endemic to Lake Hovsgol, Mongolia and listed as endangered on the Mongolian Red List. Baikal grayling (T. baicalensis)...
Lake levels and water quality in comparison to fish mercury body burdens, Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota, 2013–15
Victoria G. Christensen, James H. Larson, Ryan P. Maki, Mark B. Sandheinrich, Mark E. Brigham, Claire Kissane, Jamie F. LeDuc
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5175
Within Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota, lake levels are controlled by a series of dams to support a variety of uses. Previous research indicates a link between these artificially maintained water levels, referred to as rule curves, and mercury concentrations in fish owing to the drying and rewetting of wetlands...
Southern sea otter range expansion and habitat use in the Santa Barbara Channel, California
M. Tim Tinker, Joseph A. Tomoleoni, Nicole LaRoche, Lizabeth Bowen, A. Keith Miles, Mike Murray, Michelle Staedler, Zachary Randell
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1001
The re-colonization of the Santa Barbara channel by sea otters brings these ESA-listed marine mammals closer to active oil and gas production facilities, shipping lanes and naturally occurring oil and gas seeps. However, the degree to which sea otters may actually be affected by human-caused oil spills or exposure to...
It's like night and day: Diel net-effects on Cercopagidae densities in the Laurentian Great Lakes
Patricia M. Dieter, David B. Bunnell, Jean V. Adams, Nicole M. Watson, Whitney Woelmer
2017, Journal of Great Lakes Research (43) 394-398
In the Laurentian Great Lakes, zooplankters are often sampled using standard ≤153 μm mesh nets without regard to the time of day they are collected. We sampled Cercopagidae during 2013–2014 in northern Lake Huron during day, dusk, and night using two different nets (a 0.5 m wide 153 μm mesh “standard” net and a...
Sparse targets in hydroacoustic surveys: Balancing quantity and quality of in situ target strength data
Mark R. DuFour, Christine M. Mayer, Patrick Kocovsky, Song Qian, David M. Warner, Richard T. Kraus, Christopher Vandergoot
2017, Fisheries Research (188) 173-182
Hydroacoustic sampling of low-density fish in shallow water can lead to low sample sizes of naturally variable target strength (TS) estimates, resulting in both sparse and variable data. Increasing maximum beam compensation (BC) beyond conventional values (i.e., 3 dB beam width) can recover more targets during data analysis; however, data quality...
The precipitation of indium at elevated pH in a stream influenced by acid mine drainage
Sarah Jane O. White, Fatima A. Hussain, Harold F. Hemond, Sarah A. Sacco, James P. Shine, Robert L. Runkel, Katherine Walton-Day, Briant A. Kimball
2017, Science of the Total Environment (574) 1484-1491
Indium is an increasingly important metal in semiconductors and electronics and has uses in important energy technologies such as photovoltaic cells and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). One significant flux of indium to the environment is from lead, zinc, copper, and tin mining and smelting, but little is known about its aqueous...
Synthesis of soil-hydraulic properties and infiltration timescales in wildfire-affected soils
Brian A. Ebel, John A. Moody
2017, Hydrological Processes (31) 324-340
We collected soil-hydraulic property data from the literature for wildfire-affected soils, ash, and unburned soils. These data were used to calculate metrics and timescales of hydrologic response related to infiltration and surface runoff generation. Sorptivity (S) and wetting front potential (Ψf) were significantly different (lower) in burned soils compared with...
Associations among habitat characteristics and meningeal worm prevalence in eastern South Dakota, USA
Christopher N. Jacques, Jonathan A. Jenks, Robert W. Klaver, Shelli A. Dubay
2017, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (53) 131-135
Few studies have evaluated how wetland and forest characteristics influence the prevalence of meningeal worm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis) infection of deer throughout the grassland biome of central North America. We used previously collected, county-level prevalence data to evaluate associations between habitat characteristics and probability of meningeal worm infection in white-tailed deer...
Signals of impending change
James B. Grace
2017, Nature Ecology & Evolution (1)
Society has an increasing awareness that there are finite limits to what we can expect the planet to absorb and still provide goods and services at current rates1....
Evaluation of nocturnal roost and diurnal sites used by whooping cranes in the Great Plains, United States
Aaron T. Pearse, Mary J. Harner, David M. Baasch, Greg D. Wright, Andrew J. Caven, Kristine L. Metzger
2017, Open-File Report 2016-1209
Endangered whooping cranes (Grus americana) of the Aransas-Wood Buffalo population migrate through the Great Plains twice each year. Although there is much interest in conservation and management for this species, information regarding characteristics of nocturnal roost sites used during migration has been limited and based largely on incidental observations. Using...
Automated identification of stream-channel geomorphic features from high‑resolution digital elevation models in West Tennessee watersheds
Jennifer M. Cartwright, Timothy H. Diehl
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5141
High-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) derived from light detection and ranging (lidar) enable investigations of stream-channel geomorphology with much greater precision than previously possible. The U.S. Geological Survey has developed the DEM Geomorphology Toolbox, containing seven tools to automate the identification of sites of geomorphic instability that may represent sediment...
