Seasonal survival of adult female mottled ducks
Jena A. Moon, David A. Haukos, Warren C. Conway
2017, Journal of Wildlife Management (81) 461-469
The mottled duck (Anas fulgivula) is a non-migratory duck dependent on coastal habitats to meet all of its life cycle requirements in the Western Gulf Coast (WGC) of Texas and Louisiana, USA. This population of mottled ducks has experienced a moderate decline during the past 2 decades. Adult survival has...
Evidence for strong lateral seismic velocity variation in the lower crust and upper mantle beneath the California margin
Voon Lai, Robert Graves, Shengji Wei, Don Helmberger
2017, Earth and Planetary Science Letters 202-211
Regional seismograms from earthquakes in Northern California show a systematic difference in arrival times across Southern California where long period (30–50 seconds) SH waves arrive up to 15 seconds earlier at stations near the coast compared with sites towards the east at similar epicentral distances. We attribute this time difference...
A comparison of age, size, and fecundity of harvested and reference White Sucker populations
Meg Begley, Stephen M. Coghlan Jr., Joseph D. Zydlewski
2017, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (37) 510-523
White Suckers Catostomus commersonii are an important source of fresh bait for the Maine lobster fishery. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife began issuing commercial harvest permits in 1991, without reporting requirements or limits on the number of permits. There is recent concern that overfishing may be occurring. To infer...
The future demographic niche of a declining grassland bird fails to shift poleward in response to climate change
Lisa A. McCauley, Christine Ribic, Lars Y. Pomara, Benjamin Zuckerberg
2017, Landscape Ecology (32) 807-821
ContextTemperate grasslands and their dependent species are exposed to high variability in weather and climate due to the lack of natural buffers such as forests. Grassland birds are particularly vulnerable to this variability, yet have failed to shift poleward in response to recent climate change...
Multiple models guide strategies for agricultural nutrient reductions
Donald Scavia, Margaret Kalcic, Rebecca Logsdon Muenich, Jennifer Read, Noel Aloysius, Isabella Bertani, Chelsie Boles, Remegio Confesor, Joseph DePinto, Marie Gildow, Jay Martin, Todd Redder, Dale M. Robertson, Scott P. Sowa, Yu-Chen Wang, Haw Yen
2017, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (15) 126-132
In response to degraded water quality, federal policy makers in the US and Canada called for a 40% reduction in phosphorus (P) loads to Lake Erie, and state and provincial policy makers in the Great Lakes region set a load-reduction target for the year 2025. Here, we configured five separate...
The deadly fisheries safety issue no one discusses
Scott A. Bonar
2017, Fisheries (April 2017)
No abstract available....
Hazus® estimated annualized earthquake losses for the United States
Kishor S. Jaiswal, Doug Bausch, Jesse Rozelle, John Holub, Sean McGowan
2017, Report
Large earthquakes can cause social and economic disruption that can be unprecedented to any given community, and the full recovery from these impacts may or may not always be achievable. In the United States (U.S.), the 1994 M6.7 Northridge earthquake in California remains the third costliest disaster in U.S. history;...
Using diets of Canis breeding pairs to assess resource partitioning between sympatric red wolves and coyotes
Joseph W. Hinton, Annaliese K. Ashley, Justin A. Dellinger, John L. Gittleman, Frank T. van Manen, Michael J. Chamberlain
2017, Journal of Mammalogy (98) 475-488
Foraging behaviors of red wolves (Canis rufus) and coyotes (Canis latrans) are complex and their ability to form congeneric breeding pairs and hybridize further complicates our understanding of factors influencing their diets. Through scat analysis, we assessed prey selection of red wolf, coyote, and congeneric breeding pairs formed by red...
Bacterial, fungal, and plant communities exhibit no biomass or compositional response to two years of simulated nitrogen deposition in a semiarid grassland
Theresa A. McHugh, Ember M. Morrissey, Rebecca C. Mueller, La Verne Gallegos-Graves, Cheryl R. Kuske, Sasha C. Reed
2017, Environmental Microbiology (19) 1600-1611
Nitrogen (N) deposition affects myriad aspects of terrestrial ecosystem structure and function, and microbial communities may be particularly sensitive to anthropogenic N inputs. However, our understanding of N deposition effects on microbial communities is far from complete, especially for drylands where data are comparatively rare. To address the need for...
Comparative life history of the south temperate Cape Penduline Tit (Anthoscopus minutus) and north temperate Remizidae species
Penn Lloyd, Bernhard D. Frauenknecht, Morne A. du Plessis, Thomas E. Martin
2017, Journal of Ornithology (158) 569-577
We studied the breeding biology of the south temperate Cape Penduline Tit (Anthoscopus minutus) in order to compare its life history traits with those of related north temperate members of the family Remizidae, namely the Eurasian Penduline Tit (Remiz pendulinus) and the Verdin (Auriparus...
Classification of California streams using combined deductive and inductive approaches: Setting the foundation for analysis of hydrologic alteration
Matthew I. Pyne, Daren M. Carlisle, Christopher P. Konrad, Eric D. Stein
2017, Ecohydrology (10)
Regional classification of streams is an early step in the Ecological Limits of Hydrologic Alteration framework. Many stream classifications are based on an inductive approach using hydrologic data from minimally disturbed basins, but this approach may underrepresent streams from heavily disturbed basins or sparsely gaged arid regions. An alternative is...
Community stability within the St. Marys River fish community: Evidence from trawl surveys
Jeffrey S. Schaeffer, Anjanette K. Bowen, David G. Fielder
2017, Journal of Great Lakes Research (43) 399-404
A trawl survey was conducted in the Saint Marys River during 2010–2011 and we compared our results to a prior trawl survey conducted during 1979–1983 to look for long-term changes in the fish community, especially in terms of changes induced by invasive species. We found no substantive temporal differences in...
2016 status of the Lake Ontario Lower Trophic levels
Kristen T. Holeck, Lars G. Rudstam, Christopher Hotaling, Russ McCullough, Dave Lemon, Web Pearsall, Jana Lantry, Mike Connerton, Steve LaPan, Zy Biesinger, Brian F. Lantry, Maureen Walsh, Brian Weidel
2017, Book chapter, Annual Report Bureau of Fisheries Lake Ontario Unit and St. Lawrence River Unit to Great Lakes Fishery Commission’s Lake Ontario Committee.
Significant Findings for Year 2016: 1) Offshore spring total phosphorus (TP) in 2016 was 6.2 μg/L, higher than 2014 and 2015 (4.0 and 4.2 μg/L); there was no significant decline 2001 - 2016. Offshore soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) was very low in 2016; Apr/May – Oct mean values were <1 μg/L....
Occurrence of cyanobacteria, microcystin, and taste-and-odor compounds in Cheney Reservoir, Kansas, 2001-16
Jennifer L. Graham, Guy M. Foster, Thomas J. Williams, Ariele R. Kramer, Theodore D. Harris
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5016
Cheney Reservoir, located in south-central Kansas, is one of the primary drinking-water supplies for the city of Wichita and an important recreational resource. Since 1990, cyanobacterial blooms have been present occasionally in Cheney Reservoir, resulting in increased treatment costs and decreased recreational use. Cyanobacteria, the cyanotoxin microcystin, and the taste-and-odor...
Twenty years of water-quality studies in the Cheney Reservoir Watershed, Kansas, 1996-2016
Jennifer L. Graham, Guy M. Foster, Ariele R. Kramer
2017, Fact Sheet 2017-3019
Since 1996, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the City of Wichita, has done studies in the Cheney Reservoir watershed to understand environmental effects on water-quality conditions. Early studies (1996–2001) determined subwatershed sources of contaminants, nutrient and sediment loading to Cheney Reservoir, changes in reservoir sediment quality over...
Semiautomatic approaches to account for 3-D distortion of the electric field from local, near-surface structures in 3-D resistivity inversions of 3-D regional magnetotelluric data
Brian D. Rodriguez
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1007
This report summarizes the results of three-dimensional (3-D) resistivity inversion simulations that were performed to account for local 3-D distortion of the electric field in the presence of 3-D regional structure, without any a priori information on the actual 3-D distribution of the known subsurface geology. The methodology used a...
A model integrating longshore and cross-shore processes for predicting long-term shoreline response to climate change
Sean Vitousek, Patrick L. Barnard, Patrick W. Limber, Li H. Erikson, Blake Cole
2017, Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface (122) 782-806
We present a shoreline change model for coastal hazard assessment and management planning. The model, CoSMoS-COAST (Coastal One-line Assimilated Simulation Tool), is a transect-based, one-line model that predicts short-term and long-term shoreline response to climate change in the 21st century. The proposed model represents a novel, modular synthesis of process-based...
Quantifying acoustic doppler current profiler discharge uncertainty: A Monte Carlo based tool for moving-boat measurements
David S. Mueller
2017, Conference Paper, Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
This paper presents a method using Monte Carlo simulations for assessing uncertainty of moving-boat acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) discharge measurements using a software tool known as QUant, which was developed for this purpose. Analysis was performed on 10 data sets from four Water Survey of Canada gauging...
A global threats overview for Numeniini populations: synthesising expert knowledge for a group of declining migratory birds.
James W. Pearce-Higgins, Daniel J. Brown, David J.T. Douglas, José A. Alves, Mariagrazia Bellio, Pierrick Bocher, Graeme M. Buchannan, Rob Clay, Jesse R. Conklin, Nicola Crockford, Peter Dann, Jaanus Elts, Christian Friis, Richard A. Fuller, Jennifer A. Gill, Ken Gosbell, James A. Johnson, Rocio Marquez-Ferrando, Jose A. Masero, David S. Melville, Spike Millington, Clive Minton, Taej Mundkur, Erika Nol, Hannes Pehlak, Theunis Piersma, Danny I. Rogers, Daniel R. Ruthrauff, Nathan R. Senner, Junid Nazeer Shah, Rob D. Sheldon, Sergej A. Soloviev, Pavel S. Tomkovich, Yvonne I. Verkuil
2017, Bird Conservation International (27) 6-34
The Numeniini is a tribe of 13 wader species (Scolopacidae, Charadriiformes) of which seven are Near Threatened or globally threatened, including two Critically Endangered. To help inform conservation management and policy responses, we present the results of an expert assessment of the threats that members of this taxonomic group face...
U.S. Geological Survey distribution of European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 data
Renee L. Pieschke
2017, Fact Sheet 2017-3026
A partnership established between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) allows for USGS storage and redistribution of images acquired by the MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) on the European Union's Sentinel-2 satellite mission. The MSI data are acquired from a pair of satellites, Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B, which...
Long-term spatial heterogeneity in mallard distribution in the Prairie pothole region
Adam K. Janke, Michael J. Anteau, Joshua D. Stafford
2017, Wildlife Society Bulletin (41) 116-124
The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of north-central United States and south-central Canada supports greater than half of all breeding mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) annually counted in North America and is the focus of widespread conservation and research efforts. Allocation of conservation resources for this socioeconomically important population would benefit from an...
Reconnaissance sedimentology of selected tertiary exposures in the upland region bordering the Yukon Flats basin, east-central Alaska
David L. LePain, Richard G. Stanley
2017, Preliminary Interpretive Report 2016-6
This report summarizes reconnaissance sedimentologic and stratigraphic observations made during six days of helicopter-supported fieldwork in 2002 on Tertiary sedimentary rocks exposed in the upland region around the flanks of the Yukon Flats basin in east-central Alaska (fig. 1). This project was a cooperative effort between the Alaska Division of...
Five-year external reviews of the eight Department of Interior Climate Science Centers: Alaska Climate Science Center
Mark Shasby, C. Andrew Dolloff, Jeffrey A. Hicke, Bruce G. Marcot, Bruce McCarl, Gerard McMahon, John M. Morton
2017, Report
This report primarily addresses the first two purposes of the review while providing comments on the third as identified by the science review team (SRT). A separate report of recommendations for the recompetition, based upon compiled observation from all three reviews conducted in 2016, was submitted to NCCWSC on April...
Effects of the biopesticide Zequanox® on reproduction and early development of the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas)
Diane L. Waller, James A. Luoma
2017, Management of Biological Invasions (8) 125-135
The biopesticide, Zequanox®, is registered for dreissenid mussel control in open water systems in the United States. Previous toxicity trials with nontarget organisms, including several young-of-the-year fish species and invertebrates, demonstrated selectivity of Zequanox for dreissenid mussels, but data are lacking on the treatment-related effects on reproduction and early life...
Field study suggests that sex determination in sea lamprey is directly influenced by larval growth rate
Nicholas S. Johnson, William D. Swink, Travis O. Brenden
2017, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (284)
Sex determination mechanisms in fishes lie along a genetic-environmental continuum and thereby offer opportunities to understand how physiology and environment interact to determine sex. Mechanisms and ecological consequences of sex determination in fishes are primarily garnered from teleosts, with little investigation into basal fishes. We tagged and released larval sea...
