Widespread occurrence and potential for biodegradation of bioactive contaminants in Congaree National Park, USA
Paul M. Bradley, William A. Battaglin, Jimmy M. Clark, Frank Henning, Michelle L. Hladik, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Celeste A. Journey, Jeffrey W. Riley, Kristin M. Romanok
2017, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (36) 3045-3056
Organic contaminants with designed molecular bioactivity, such as pesticides and pharmaceuticals, originate from human and agricultural sources, occur frequently in surface waters, and threaten the structure and function of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Congaree National Park in South Carolina (USA) is a vulnerable park unit due to its location downstream...
Younger-Dryas cooling and sea-ice feedbacks were prominent features of the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in Arctic Alaska
Benjamin V. Gaglioti, Daniel H. Mann, Matthew J. Wooller, Benjamin M. Jones, Gregory C. Wiles, Pamela Groves, Michael L. Kunz, Carson Baughman, Richard E. Reanier
2017, Quaternary Science Reviews (169) 330-343
Declining sea-ice extent is currently amplifying climate warming in the Arctic. Instrumental records at high latitudes are too short-term to provide sufficient historical context for these trends, so paleoclimate archives are needed to better understand the functioning of the sea ice-albedo feedback. Here we use the oxygen isotope values of...
The physical characteristics of the sediments on and surrounding Dauphin Island, Alabama
Alisha M. Ellis, Marci E. Marot, Christopher G. Smith, Cathryn J. Wheaton
2017, Data Series 1046
Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center collected 303 surface sediment samples from Dauphin Island, Alabama, and the surrounding water bodies in August 2015. These sediments were processed to determine physical characteristics such as organic content, bulk density, and grain-size. The environments where the...
The Surge, Wave, and Tide Hydrodynamics (SWaTH) network of the U.S. Geological Survey—Past and future implementation of storm-response monitoring, data collection, and data delivery
Richard J. Verdi, R. Russell Lotspeich, Jeanne C. Robbins, Ronald Busciolano, John R. Mullaney, Andrew J. Massey, William S. Banks, Mark A. Roland, Harry L. Jenter, Marie C. Peppler, Thomas P. Suro, Christopher E. Schubert, Mark R. Nardi
2017, Circular 1431
After Hurricane Sandy made landfall along the northeastern Atlantic coast of the United States on October 29, 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) carried out scientific investigations to assist with protecting coastal communities and resources from future flooding. The work included development and implementation of the Surge, Wave, and Tide...
Groundwater quality in the Bear Valley and Lake Arrowhead Watershed, California
Timothy M. Mathany, Carmen A. Burton, Miranda S. Fram
2017, Fact Sheet 2017-3037
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...
Comparison of size, terminal fall velocity, and density of bighead carp, silver carp, and grass carp eggs for use in drift modeling
Amy E. George, Tatiana Garcia, Duane Chapman
2017, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (146) 834-843
Invasive Asian carp established in the United States spawn in the turbulent water of rivers, and their eggs and early larvae develop while drifting in the current. The eggs, which are believed to perish if they settle before hatching, are slightly denser than water and are held in suspension by...
Global hotspots and correlates of alien species richness across taxonomic groups
Wayne Dawson, Dietmar Moser, Mark van Kleunen, Holger Kreft, Jan Pergl, Petr Pysek, Patrick Weigelt, Marten Winter, Bernd Lenzner, Tim M. Blackburn, Ellie Dyer, Phillip Cassey, Sally-Louise Scrivens, Evan P. Economo, Benoit Guenard, Cesar Capinha, Hanno Seebens, Pablo Garcia-Diaz, Wolfgang Nentwig, Emili Garcia-Berthou, Christine Casal, Nicholas E. Mandrak, Pam Fuller, Carsten Meyer, Franz Essl
2017, Nature Ecology & Evolution (1)
Human-mediated transport beyond biogeographic barriers has led to the introduction and establishment of alien species in new regions worldwide. However, we lack a global picture of established alien species richness for multiple taxonomic groups. Here, we assess global patterns and potential drivers of established alien species richness across eight taxonomic...
Mineral-deposit model for lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatites
Dwight Bradley, Andrew D. McCauley, Lisa L. Stillings
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5070-O
Lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites comprise a compositionally defined subset of granitic pegmatites. The major minerals are quartz, potassium feldspar, albite, and muscovite; typical accessory minerals include biotite, garnet, tourmaline, and apatite. The principal lithium ore minerals are spodumene, petalite, and lepidolite; cesium mostly comes from pollucite; and tantalum mostly comes from...
Status and understanding of groundwater quality in the Bear Valley and Lake Arrowhead Watershed Study Unit, 2010: California GAMA Priority Basin Project
Timothy M. Mathany, Carmen A. Burton
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5043
Groundwater quality in the 112-square-mile Bear Valley and Lake Arrowhead Watershed (BEAR) study unit was investigated as part of the Priority Basin Project (PBP) of the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The study unit comprises two study areas (Bear Valley and Lake Arrowhead Watershed) in southern California in...
The deep chlorophyll layer in Lake Ontario: Extent, mechanisms of formation, and abiotic predictors
Anne E. Scofield, James M. Watkins, Brian Weidel, Frederick J. Luckey, Lars G. Rudstam
2017, Journal of Great Lakes Research (43) 782-794
Epilimnetic production has declined in Lake Ontario, but increased production in metalimnetic deep chlorophyll layers (DCLs) may compensate for these losses. We investigated the spatial and temporal extent of DCLs, the mechanisms driving DCL formation, and the use of physical variables for predicting the depth and concentration of the deep...
Geologic map of the Strawberry Butte 7.5’ quadrangle, Meagher County, Montana
Mitchell W. Reynolds, Theodore R. Brandt
2017, Scientific Investigations Map 3379
The 7.5′ Strawberry Butte quadrangle in Meagher County, Montana near the southwest margin of the Little Belt Mountains, encompasses two sharply different geologic terranes. The northern three-quarters of the quadrangle are underlain mainly by Paleoproterozoic granite gneiss, across which Middle Cambrian sedimentary rocks rest unconformably. An ancestral valley of probable...
Reducing risk where tectonic plates collide
Joan S. Gomberg, K. A. Ludwig
2017, Fact Sheet 2017-3024
Most of the world’s earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, and volcanic eruptions are caused by the continuous motions of the many tectonic plates that make up the Earth’s outer shell. The most powerful of these natural hazards occur in subduction zones, where two plates collide and one is thrust beneath another. The...
Temporal patterns of migration and spawning of river herring in coastal Massachusetts
Julianne Rosset, Allison H. Roy, Benjamin I. Gahagan, Andrew R. Whiteley, Michael P. Armstrong, John J. Sheppard, Adrian Jordaan
2017, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (146) 1101-1114
Migrations of springtime Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus and Blueback Herring A. aestivalis, collectively referred to as river herring, are monitored in many rivers along the Atlantic coast to estimate population sizes. While these estimates give an indication of annual differences in the number of returning adults, links to the subsequent timing and duration of...
Reducing risk where tectonic plates collide—U.S. Geological Survey subduction zone science plan
Joan S. Gomberg, K. A. Ludwig, Barbara Bekins, Thomas M. Brocher, John Brock, Daniel S. Brothers, Jason D. Chaytor, Arthur D. Frankel, Eric L. Geist, Matthew M. Haney, Stephen H. Hickman, William S. Leith, Evelyn A. Roeloffs, William H. Schulz, Thomas W. Sisson, Kristi L. Wallace, Janet Watt, Anne M. Wein
2017, Circular 1428
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) serves the Nation by providing reliable scientific information and tools to build resilience in communities exposed to subduction zone earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, and volcanic eruptions. Improving the application of USGS science to successfully reduce risk from these events relies on whole community efforts, with...
Spatial and temporal variability in the effects of wildfire and drought on thermal habitat for a desert trout
Luke Schultz, Michael Heck, David Hockman-Wert, T Allai, Seth J. Wenger, Cook, Jason B. Dunham
2017, Journal of Arid Environments (145) 60-68
We studied how drought and an associated stressor, wildfire, influenced stream flow permanence and thermal regimes in a Great Basin stream network. We quantified these responses by collecting information with a spatially extensive network of data loggers. To understand the effects of wildfire specifically, we used data from 4 additional...
Biological soil crusts: Diminutive communities of potential global importance
Scott Ferrenberg, Colin Tucker, Sasha C. Reed
2017, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (15) 160-167
Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are widespread, diverse communities of cyanobacteria, fungi, lichens, and mosses living on soil surfaces, primarily in drylands. Biocrusts can locally govern primary production, soil fertility, hydrology, and surface energy balance, with considerable variation in these functions across alternate community states. Further, these communities have been implicated...
Earthquake source properties from instrumented laboratory stick-slip
Brian D. Kilgore, Arthur F. McGarr, Nicholas M. Beeler, David A. Lockner
Marion Y. Thomas, Thomas M. Mitchell, Harsha S. Bhat, editor(s)
2017, Book chapter, Fault zone dynamic processes: Evolution of fault properties during seismic rupture
Stick-slip experiments were performed to determine the influence of the testing apparatus on source properties, develop methods to relate stick-slip to natural earthquakes and examine the hypothesis of McGarr [2012] that the product of stiffness, k, and slip duration, Δt, is scale-independent and the same order as for earthquakes....
Shifting brucellosis risk in livestock coincides with spreading seroprevalence in elk
Angela Brennan, Paul C. Cross, Katie Portacci, Brandon M. Scurlock, William H. Edwards
2017, PLoS ONE (12)
Tracking and preventing the spillover of disease from wildlife to livestock can be difficult when rare outbreaks occur across large landscapes. In these cases, broad scale ecological studies could help identify risk factors and patterns of risk to inform management and reduce incidence of disease. Between 2002 and 2014, 21...
The finite, kinematic rupture properties of great-sized earthquakes since 1990
Gavin P. Hayes
2017, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (468) 94-100
Here, I present a database of >160 finite fault models for all earthquakes of M 7.5 and above since 1990, created using a consistent modeling approach. The use of a common approach facilitates easier comparisons between models, and reduces uncertainties that arise when comparing models generated by different authors,...
Large carnivore science: non-experimental studies are useful, but experiments are better
Benjamin L. Allen, Lee R. Allen, Henrik Andren, Guy Ballard, Luigi Boitani, Richard M. Engeman, Peter J. S. Fleming, Adam T. Ford, Peter M. Haswell, Rafal Kowalczyk, John D. C. Linnell, L. David Mech, Daniel M. Parker
2017, Food Webs (13) 49-50
We recently described the following six interrelated issues that justify questioning some of the discourse about the reliability of the literature on the ecological roles of large carnivores (Allen et al. In press): 1. The overall paucity of available data, 2. The reliability of carnivore population sampling techniques, 3. The general disregard for alternative hypotheses...
Elevation Difference and Bouguer Anomaly Analysis Tool (EDBAAT) User's Guide
Aaron M. Smittle, Thomas G. Shoberg
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1036
This report describes a software tool that imports gravity anomaly point data from the Gravity Database of the United States (GDUS) of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and University of Texas at El Paso along with elevation data from The National Map (TNM) of the U.S. Geological Survey that lie within...
Geophysics- and geochemistry-based assessment of the geochemical characteristics and groundwater-flow system of the U.S. part of the Mesilla Basin/Conejos-Médanos aquifer system in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, and El Paso County, Texas, 2010–12
Andrew P. Teeple
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5028
One of the largest rechargeable groundwater systems by total available volume in the Rio Grande/Río Bravo Basin (hereinafter referred to as the “Rio Grande”) region of the United States and Mexico, the Mesilla Basin/Conejos-Médanos aquifer system, supplies water for irrigation as well as for cities of El Paso, Texas; Las...
Groundwater resources of the Devils Postpile National Monument—Current conditions and future vulnerabilities
William C. Evans, Deborah Bergfeld
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5048
This study presents an extensive database on groundwater conditions in and around Devils Postpile National Monument. The database contains chemical analyses of springs and the monument water-supply well, including major-ion chemistry, trace element chemistry, and the first information on a list of organic compounds known as emerging contaminants. Diurnal, seasonal,...
Nearly 400 million people are at higher risk of schistosomiasis because dams block the migration of snail-eating river prawns
Susanne H. Sokolow, Isabel J. Jones, Merlijn M. T. Jocque, Diana La, Olivia Cords, Anika Knight, Andrea Lund, Chelsea L. Wood, Kevin D. Lafferty, Christopher M. Hoover, Phillip A. Collender, Justin V. Remais, David Lopez-Carr, Jonathan J. Fisk, Armand M. Kuris, Giulio A. De Leo
2017, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (372)
Dams have long been associated with elevated burdens of human schistosomiasis, but how dams increase disease is not always clear, in part because dams have many ecological and socio-economic effects. A recent hypothesis argues that dams block reproduction of the migratory river prawns that eat the snail hosts of schistosomiasis....
The role of paleoecology in restoration and resource management—The past as a guide to future decision-making: Review and example from the Greater Everglades Ecosystem, U.S.A
G. Lynn Wingard, Christopher E. Bernhardt, Anna Wachnicka
2017, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (5)
Resource managers around the world are challenged to develop feasible plans for sustainable conservation and/or restoration of the lands, waters, and wildlife they administer—a challenge made greater by anticipated climate change and associated effects over the next century. Increasingly, paleoecologic and geologic archives are being used to extend the period...
