High-resolution geophysical data from the Inner Continental Shelf: South of Martha's Vineyard and north of Nantucket, Massachusetts
Seth D. Ackerman, Laura L. Brothers, David S. Foster, Brian D. Andrews, Wayne E. Baldwin, William C. Schwab
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1168
The U.S. Geological Survey and the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management have cooperated to map approximately 185 square kilometers of the inner continental shelf south of Martha’s Vineyard and north of Nantucket, Massachusetts. This report contains geophysical data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey during a survey in 2013....
Collision and displacement vulnerability among marine birds of the California Current System associated with offshore wind energy infrastructure
Josh Adams, Emily C. Kelsey, Jonathan J. Felis, David M. Pereksta
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1154
With growing climate change concerns and energy constraints, there is an increasing need for renewable energy sources within the United States and globally. Looking forward, offshore wind-energy infrastructure (OWEI) has the potential to produce a significant proportion of the power needed to reach our Nation’s renewable energy goal. Offshore...
Decoupling processes and scales of shoreline morphodynamics
Cheryl J. Hapke, Nathaniel G. Plant, Rachel E. Henderson, William C. Schwab, Timothy R. Nelson
2016, Marine Geology (381) 42-53
Behavior of coastal systems on time scales ranging from single storm events to years and decades is controlled by both small-scale sediment transport processes and large-scale geologic, oceanographic, and morphologic processes. Improved understanding of coastal behavior at multiple time scales is required for refining models that predict potential erosion hazards...
Optimization of a sample processing protocol for recovery of Bacillus anthracis spores from soil
Erin E. Silvestri, David Feldhake, Dale Griffin, John T. Lisle, Tonya L. Nichols, Sanjiv Shah, A Pemberton, Frank W Schaefer III
2016, Journal of Microbiological Methods (130) 6-13
Following a release of Bacillus anthracis spores into the environment, there is a potential for lasting environmental contamination in soils. There is a need for detection protocols for B. anthracis in environmental matrices. However, identification of B. anthracis within a soil is a difficult task. Processing soil samples helps to...
Application of dimensionless sediment rating curves to predict suspended-sediment concentrations, bedload, and annual sediment loads for rivers in Minnesota
Christopher A. Ellison, Joel T. Groten, David L. Lorenz, Karl S. Koller
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5146
Consistent and reliable sediment data are needed by Federal, State, and local government agencies responsible for monitoring water quality, planning river restoration, quantifying sediment budgets, and evaluating the effectiveness of sediment reduction strategies. Heightened concerns about excessive sediment in rivers and the challenge to reduce costs and eliminate data gaps...
Water-level data for the Albuquerque Basin and adjacent areas, central New Mexico, period of record through September 30, 2015
Joseph E. Beman, Christina F. Bryant
2016, Data Series 1025
The Albuquerque Basin, located in central New Mexico, is about 100 miles long and 25–40 miles wide. The basin is hydrologically defined as the extent of consolidated and unconsolidated deposits of Tertiary and Quaternary age that encompasses the structural Rio Grande Rift between San Acacia to the south and Cochiti...
Sources, distributions and dynamics of dissolved organic matter in the Canada and Makarov Basins
Yuan Shen, Ronald Benner, Lisa L. Robbins, Jonathan Wynn
2016, Frontiers in Marine Science (3)
A comprehensive survey of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) was conducted in the Canada and Makarov Basins and adjacent seas during 2010–2012 to investigate the dynamics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the Arctic Ocean. Sources and distributions of DOM in polar surface waters were...
Mitigating amphibian chytridiomycosis in nature
Trenton W. J. Garner, Benedikt R. Schmidt, An Martel, Frank Pasmans, Erin L. Muths, Andrew A. Cunningham, Che Weldon, Matthew C. Fisher, Jaime Bosch
2016, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (371)
Amphibians across the planet face the threat of population decline and extirpation caused by the disease chytridiomycosis. Despite consensus that the fungal pathogens responsible for the disease are conservation issues, strategies to mitigate their impacts in the natural world are, at best, nascent. Reducing risk associated with the movement of...
Alternative approaches to vertebrate ecotoxicity tests in the 21st century: A review of developments over the last 2 decades and current status
Adam Lillicrap, Scott Belanger, Natalie Burden, David Du Pasquier, Michelle Embry, Marlies Halder, Mark Lampi, Lucy Lee, Teresa J. Norberg-King, Barnett A. Rattner, Kristin Schirmer, Paul Thomas
2016, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (35) 2637-2646
The need for alternative approaches to the use of vertebrate animals for hazard assessment of chemicals and pollutants has become of increasing importance. It is now the first consideration when initiating a vertebrate ecotoxicity test, to ensure that unnecessary use of vertebrate organisms is minimized wherever possible. For some regulatory...
Environmental factors influence lesser scaup migration chronology and population monitoring
Taylor A. Finger, Alan D. Afton, Michael L. Schummer, Scott A. Petrie, Shannon S. Badzinski, Michael A. Johnson, Michael L. Szymanski, Kevin J. Jacobs, Glenn H. Olsen, Mark Mitchell
2016, Journal of Wildlife Management (80) 1437-1449
Identifying environmental metrics specific to lesser scaup (Aythya affinis; scaup) spring migration chronology may help inform development of conservation, management and population monitoring. Our objective was to determine how environmental conditions influence spring migration of lesser scaup to assess the effectiveness of the Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey in...
A multi-decade record of high-quality fCO2 data in version 3 of the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT)
Dorothee Bakker, Camilla S. Landa, Benjamin Pfeil, Nicolas Metzl, Kevin O’Brien, Are Olsen, Karl Smith, Cathy Cosca, Sumiko Harasawa, Shin-ichiro Nakaoka, Stephen Jones, Yukihiro Nojiri, Tobias Steinhoff, Colm Sweeney, Ute Schuster, Taro Takahashi, Bronte Tilbrook, Chisato Wada, Rik Wanninkhof, Simone R. Alin, Carlos F. Balestrini, Leticia Barbero, Nicholas Bates, Alejandro A. Bianchi, Frederic Bonou, Jacqueline Boutin, Yann Bozec, Eugene F. Burger, Wei-Jun Cai, Robert D. Castle, Liqi Chen, Melissa Chierici, Kim Currie, Wiley Evans, Charles Featherstone, Richard Feely, Agneta Fransson, Catherine Goyet, Naomi Greenwood, Luke Gregor, Steven C. Hankin, Nick J. Hardman-Mountford, Jerome Harlay, Judith Hauck, Mario Hoppema, Matthew P. Humphreys, Christopher W. Hunt, Betty Huss, J. Severino P. Ibanhez, Truls Johannessen, Ralph F. Keeling, Vassilis Kitidis, Arne Kortzinger, Alex Kozyr, Evangelia Krasakopoulou, Akira Kuwata, Peter Landschutzer, Siv K. Lauvset, Nathalie Lefevre, Claire Lo Monaco, Ansley Manke, Jeremy T. Mathis, Liliane Merlivat, Frank J. Millero, Pedro M. S. Monteiro, David R. Munro, Akihiko Murata, Timothy Newberger, Abdirahman M. Omar, Tsuneo Ono, Kristina Paterson, David Pearce, Denis Pierrot, Lisa L. Robbins, Shu Saito, Joe Salisbury, Reiner Schlitzer, Bernd Schneider, Roland Schweitzer, Rainer Sieger, Ingunn Skjelvan, Kevin F. Sullivan, Stewart C. Sutherland, Adrienne J. Sutton, Kazuaki Tadokoro, Maciej Telszewski, Matthias Tuma, Steven M. A. C. van Heuven, Douglas Vandemark, Brian Ward, Andrew J. Watson, Suqing Xu
2016, Earth System Science Data (8) 383-413
The Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT) is a synthesis of quality-controlled f CO2 (fugacity of carbon dioxide) values for the global surface oceans and coastal seas with regular updates. Version 3 of SOCAT has 14.7 million f CO2 values from 3646 data sets covering the years 1957 to 2014. This...
Dynamic reusable workflows for ocean science
Richard P. Signell, Filipe Fernandez, Kyle Wilcox
2016, Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (4)
Digital catalogs of ocean data have been available for decades, but advances in standardized services and software for catalog search and data access make it now possible to create catalog-driven workflows that automate — end-to-end — data search, analysis and visualization of data from multiple distributed sources. Further, these workflows...
Food webs of the Delta, Suisun Bay and Suisun Marsh: an update on current understanding and possibilities for management
Larry R. Brown, Wim J. Kimmerer, Louise Conrad, Sarah Lesmeister, Anke Mueller-Solger
2016, San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science (14) 1-41
This paper reviews and highlights recent research findings on foodweb processes since an earlier review by Kimmerer et al. (2008). We conduct this review within a conceptual framework of the Delta-Suisun food web, which includes both temporal and spatial components. The temporal component is based on knowledge that the landscape...
Snake fungal disease: An emerging threat to wild snakes
Jeffrey M. Lorch, Susan Knowles, Julia S. Lankton, Kathy Michell, Jaime L. Edwards, Joshua M. Kapfer, Richard A. Staffen, Erik R. Wild, Katie Z. Schmidt, Anne Ballmann, Doug Blodgett, Terence M. Farrell, Brad M. Glorioso, Lisa A. Last, Steven J. Price, Krysten L. Schuler, Christopher Smith, James F. X. Wellehan Jr., David S. Blehert
2016, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (371)
Since 2006, there has been a marked increase in the number of reports of severe and often fatal fungal skin infections in wild snakes in the eastern USA. The emerging condition, referred to as snake fungal disease (SFD), was initially documented in rattlesnakes, where the infections were believed to pose...
Estimating selected low-flow frequency statistics and harmonic-mean flows for ungaged, unregulated streams in Indiana
Gary R. Martin, Kathleen K. Fowler, Leslie D. Arihood
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5102
Information on low-flow characteristics of streams is essential for the management of water resources. This report provides equations for estimating the 1-, 7-, and 30-day mean low flows for a recurrence interval of 10 years and the harmonic-mean flow at ungaged, unregulated stream sites in Indiana. These equations were developed...
Conserving the Greater Sage-grouse: A social-ecological systems case study from the California-Nevada region
Alison L Duvall, Alexander L. Metcalf, Peter S. Coates
2016, Rangeland Ecology and Management (70) 129-140
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) continues to serve as one of the most powerful and contested federal legislative mandates for conservation. In the midst of heated debates, researchers, policy makers, and conservation practitioners champion the importance of cooperative conservation and social-ecological systems approaches, which forge partnerships at multiple levels and...
Assessing conservation tools for an at-risk shorebird: Feasibility of headstarting for American Oystercatchers Haematopus palliatus
Samantha A. Collins, Felicia J. Sanders, Patrick G.R. Jodice
2016, Bird Conservation International (26) 451-465
Management of threatened and endangered populations of wildlife increasingly relies upon active intervention such as predator control, habitat manipulation, and ex situ breeding or care. One tool that has received consideration for the management of declining or threatened avian populations is headstarting, or the artificial incubation of eggs and...
Joint analysis of geodetic and earthquake fault-plane solution data to constrain magmatic sources: A case study from Kīlauea Volcano
Christelle Wauthier, Diana C. Roman, Michael P. Poland
2016, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (455) 38-48
A joint analysis of geodetic and seismic datasets from Kīlauea Volcano during a period of magmatic unrest in 2006 demonstrates the effectiveness of this combination for testing and constraining models of magma dynamics for a complex, multi-source system. At the end of 2003, Kīlauea's summit began a four-year-long period of...
Extending ordinal regression with a latent zero-augmented beta distribution
Kathryn M. Irvine, T.J. Rodhouse, Ilai. N. Keren
2016, Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics (21) 619-640
Ecological abundance data are often recorded on an ordinal scale in which the lowest category represents species absence. One common example is when plant species cover is visually assessedwithin bounded quadrats and then assigned to pre-defined cover class categories.We present an ordinal beta hurdle model that directly models ordinal category probabilitieswith a biologically realistic...
Weak support for disappearance and restricted emergence/persistence of highly pathogenic influenza A in North American waterfowl
Andrew M. Ramey, Erica Spackman, Mia Kim Torchetti, Thomas J. DeLiberto
2016, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (113) E6551-E6552
Krauss et al. (1) use lack of detection of highly pathogenic (HP) H5 clade 2.3.4.4 (henceforth "H5") influenza A viruses (IAVs) from >22,000 wild bird samples collected in North America in 2014–2015 to argue that HP H5 IAVs disappeared from waterfowl and that unresolved mechanisms restrict emergence and perpetuation of...
Assessment of hydrogeologic terrains, well-construction characteristics, groundwater hydraulics, and water-quality and microbial data for determination of surface-water-influenced groundwater supplies in West Virginia
Mark D. Kozar, Katherine S. Paybins
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5048
In January 2014, a storage tank leaked, spilling a large quantity of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol into the Elk River in West Virginia and contaminating the water supply for more than 300,000 people. In response, the West Virginia Legislature passed Senate Bill 373, which requires the West Virginia Department of Health and...
Changes in phosphorus concentrations and loads in the Assabet River, Massachusetts, October 2008 through April 2014
Jennifer G. Savoie, Leslie A. DeSimone, John R. Mullaney, Marc J. Zimmerman, Marcus C. Waldron
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5063
Treated effluent discharged from municipal wastewater-treatment plants to the Assabet River in central Massachusetts includes phosphorus, which leads to increased growth of nuisance aquatic plants that decrease the river’s water quality and aesthetics in impounded reaches during the growing season. To improve the river’s water quality and aesthetics, the U.S....
Estimating denning date of wolves with daily movement and GPS location fix failure
Patrick B. Walsh, Suresh Sethi, Bryce C. Lake, Buck A. Mangipane, Ryan Nielson, Stacey Lowe
2016, Wildlife Society Bulletin (40) 663-668
We used Global Positioning System (GPS) radiotelemetry data from 7 breeding female wolves (Canis lupus; n = 14 dennings) in 3 regions across Alaska, USA, during 2008–2011 to develop and compare methods for estimating the onset of denning, and thus infer timing of parturition. We developed and tested 2 estimators based on a...
Tearing the terroir: Details and implications of surface rupture and deformation from the 24 August 2014 M6.0 South Napa earthquake, California
Stephen B. DeLong, Andrea Donnellan, Daniel J. Ponti, Ron S. Rubin, James J. Lienkaemper, Carol S. Prentice, Timothy E. Dawson, Gordon G. Seitz, David P. Schwartz, Kenneth W. Hudnut, Carla M. Rosa, Alexandra J. Pickering, Jay W. Parker
2016, Earth and Space Science (3) 416-430
The Mw 6.0 South Napa earthquake of 24 August 2014 caused slip on several active fault strands within the West Napa Fault Zone (WNFZ). Field mapping identified 12.5 km of surface rupture. These field observations, near-field geodesy and space geodesy, together provide evidence for more than ~30 km of surface deformation with a...
3-D high-speed imaging of volcanic bomb trajectory in basaltic explosive eruptions
D. Gaudin, J Taddeucci, Bruce F. Houghton, Tim R. Orr, D. Andronico, E. Del Bello, U. Kueppers, T. Ricci, P. Scarlato
2016, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (17) 4268-4275
Imaging, in general, and high speed imaging in particular are important emerging tools for the study of explosive volcanic eruptions. However, traditional 2-D video observations cannot measure volcanic ejecta motion toward and away from the camera, strongly hindering our capability to fully determine crucial hazard-related parameters such as explosion directionality...
