Introduction to structuring decisions
David R. Smith
2020, Book chapter, Structured decision making: Case studies in natural resource management
Decision structuring, also known as decision framing, provides the foundation and roadmap for analyzing a decision. For decisions that warrant a systematic approach, structuring begins with identifying the problem for analysis, which sounds simple but can be deceptively difficult because decision problems are often ill-formed at the start....
Introduction to prediction and the value of information
David R. Smith
2020, Book chapter, Structured decision making: Case studies in natural resource management
Predicting the consequences of alternative actions in terms of the objectives is central to decision making. Modeling in the broadest sense, from simple to complex and based on data or expert judgment, comprises the essential toolkit for making decision-relevant predictions. Gaps in knowledge and the resulting uncertainty can...
Strategic conservation of an imperiled freshwater mussel, the Dwarf Wedgemussel, in North Carolina
David R. Smith, Sarah E McCrae
2020, Book chapter, Structured decision making: Case studies in natural resource management
To be effective, managers of imperiled species must face the unavoidable tradeoff between conservation benefits and constrained budgets and must not be paralyzed by scientific uncertainty. Decision analysis can help meet these challenges when used to develop cost-effective strategies to recover or improve the status of species. The U.S. Fish...
Spatial population structure of a widespread aquatic insect in the Colorado River Basin: Evidence for a Hydropsyche oslari species complex
Anya N. Metcalfe, Theodore A. Kennedy, Jane C. Marks, Aaron D. Smith, Jeffrey D. Muehlbauer
2020, Freshwater Science (39) 309-320
Structural connectivity and dispersal ability are important constraints on functional connectivity among populations. For aquatic organisms that disperse among stream corridors, the regional structure of a river network can, thus, define the boundaries of gene flow. In this study, we used mitochondrial DNA (mtCO1 barcoding gene) to examine the genetic...
Prioritizing uncertainties to improve management of a reintroduction program
Sarah J. Converse
Michael C. Runge, Sarah J. Converse, James E. Lyons, David R. Smith, editor(s)
2020, Book chapter, Structured decision making: Case studies in natural resource management
The success of wildlife reintroduction efforts rests on the demographic performance of released animals. Whooping Cranes in the eastern migratory population—reintroduced beginning in 2001—demonstrate adequate survival but poor reproduction. Managers and scientists have used an iterative process of learning and management to respond to this management challenge, but by 2015,...
Reserve network design for prairie-dependent taxa in South Puget Sound
Sarah J. Converse, Beth Gardner, Steve Morey
Michael C. Runge, Sarah J. Converse, James E. Lyons, David R. Smith, editor(s)
2020, Book chapter, Structured decision making: Case studies in natural resource management
Conserving species requires managing threats, including habitat loss. One approach to managing habitat loss is to identify and protect habitat in networks of reserves. Reserve network design is a type of resource allocation problem: how can we choose the most effective reserve network design given available resources? We undertook development...
A decision framework to analyze tide-gate options for restoration of the Herring River Estuary, Massachusetts
David R. Smith, Mitchell J. Eaton, Jill J. Gannon, Timothy P. Smith, Eric L. Derleth, Jonathan Katz, Kirk F. Bosma, Elise Leduc
2020, Open-File Report 2019-1115
The collective set of decisions involved with the restoration of degraded wetlands is often more complex than considering only ecological responses and outcomes. Restoration is commonly driven by a complex interaction of social, economic, and ecological factors representing the mandate of resource stewards and the values of stakeholders. The authors...
Earthquake early warning ShakeAlert 2.0: Public rollout
Monica Kohler, Deborah E. Smith, Jennifer Andrews, Angela I. Chung, Renate Hartog, Ivan Henson, Douglas D. Given, Robert Michael deGroot, Stephen Robert Guiwits
2020, Seismological Research Letters (91) 1763-1775
The ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning System is designed to automatically identify and characterize the initiation and rupture evolution of large earthquakes, estimate the intensity of ground shaking that will result, and deliver alerts to people and systems that may experience shaking, prior to the occurrence of shaking at their location....
Evaluation of restoration alternatives using water-budget tools for the Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge, northwestern Oregon
Stewart A. Rounds, T. Zach Freed, Daniel T. Snyder, Cassandra D. Smith, Micelis C. Doyle, Erin Holmes, Curt Mykut, Tim Mayer, Erin Stockenberg, Stephen L. Pilson
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5013
The lakebed in Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in northwestern Oregon was farmed for decades prior to the establishment of the refuge in 2013. Planning for restoration of these lands required extensive data collection and construction of a water budget and tools to design and evaluate potential restoration...
High-resolution airborne geophysical survey of the Shellmound, Mississippi area
Bethany L. Burton, Burke J. Minsley, Benjamin R. Bloss, Wade H. Kress, James R. Rigby, Bruce D. Smith
2020, Scientific Investigations Map 3449
In late February to early March 2018, the U.S. Geological Survey acquired 2,364 line-kilometers (km) of airborne electromagnetic, magnetic, and radiometric data in the Shellmound, Mississippi study area. The purpose of this survey is to contribute high-resolution information about subsurface geologic structure to inform groundwater models, water resource infrastructure studies,...
Movement dynamics of smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) in a large river-tributary system
Tyler Wagner, Megan K. Schall, Timothy Wertz, Geoffrey D. Smith, Vicki S. Blazer
2019, Fisheries Management and Ecology (26) 590-599
Smallmouth bass, Micropterus dolomieu Lacepède, movement dynamics were investigated in a connected mainstem river-tributary system. Smallmouth bass moved large distances annually (n = 84 fish, average = 24.6 ± 25.9 km, range = 0.03 to 118 km) and had three peak movement periods (pre-spawn, post-spawn and overwintering). Movement into and out of tributaries was common, but the movement between mainstem river and...
Geographic-specific capture-recapture models reveal contrasting migration and survival rates of adult horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus)
Justin J. Bopp, Matthew Sclafani, David R. Smith, Kim McKown, Rachel Sysak, Robert Cerrato
2019, Estuaries and Coasts (42) 1570-1585
American horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) have varied migration patterns and harvesting pressure throughout their range, potentially leading to regional differences in population dynamics. Here, a multi-state mark–recapture model was used to estimate annual survival and exchange rates of adult horseshoe crabs across three geographic regions in Long Island, NY (South...
Science questions and knowledge gaps to study microbial transport and survival in Asian and African dust plumes reaching North America
Andrew C. Schuerger, David J. Smith, Dale W. Griffin, Daniel A. Jaffe, B. Wawrik, Susannah M. Burrows, Brent Christner, Cristina Gonzalez-Martin, Erin K. Lipp, David G. Schmale III, Hongbin Yu
2019, Aerobiologia (34) 425-435
The Sahara in North Africa and the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts in Asia are the primary sources of mobilized dust in the atmosphere, with regional or global airborne transport estimated at 2 to 5 billion tonnes per year. Annual Asian dust plumes take about 7 to 10 d to cross the...
A ship's ballasting history as an indicator of foraminiferal invasion potential--An example from Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA
Mary McGann, Gregory M. Ruiz, Anson H. Hines, George D. Smith
2019, Journal of Foraminiferal Research (49) 434-455
We investigated the potential role of ballast sediment from coastal and transoceanic oil tankers arriving and de-ballasting in Port Valdez as a vector for the introduction of invasive benthic foraminifera in Prince William Sound, Alaska. Forty-one ballast sediment samples were obtained in 1998-1999 from 11 oil tankers that routinely discharged...
Virus-like particle production in atmospheric eubacteria isolates
Nuria Teigell-Perez, Cristina Gonzalez-Martin, Basilio Valladares, David J. Smith, Dale W. Griffin
2019, Atmosphere (10)
Culturable eubacterial isolates were collected at various altitudes in Earth’s atmosphere to include ~1.5 m above ground in Tallahassee, Florida, USA, ~10.0 m above sea level over the mid-Atlantic ridge (~15oN), ~ 20 km above ground over the continental United States, ~20 km above sea level over the Pacific Ocean...
Geological and geophysical data for a three-dimensional view—Inside the San Juan and Silverton Calderas, Southern Rocky Mountains Volcanic Field, Silverton, Colorado
Douglas B. Yager, Eric D. Anderson, Maria Deszcz-Pan, Brian D. Rodriguez, Bruce D. Smith
2019, Fact Sheet 2019-3026
IntroductionThe San Juan-Silverton caldera complex located near Silverton, Colorado, in the Southern Rocky Mountains volcanic field is an ideal natural laboratory for furthering the understanding of shallow-to-deep volcanic-related mineral systems. Recent advances in geophysical data processing and three-dimensional (3D) model construction will help to characterize shallow properties important for understanding...
Geochemical and mineralogical maps, with interpretation, for soils of the conterminous United States
David B. Smith, Federico Solano, Laurel G. Woodruff, William F. Cannon, Karl J. Ellefsen
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5118
Between 2007 and 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a low-density (1 site per 1,600 square kilometers, 4,857 sites) geochemical and mineralogical survey of soils in the conterminous United States. The sampling protocol for the national-scale survey included, at each site, a sample from a depth of 0 to 5...
Long-term population dynamics of dreissenid mussels (Dreissena polymorpha and D. rostriformis): A cross-system analysis
David L. Strayer, Boris V. Adamovich, Rita Adrian, David C. Aldridge, Csilla Balogh, Lyubov E. Burlakova, Hannah Fried-Petersen, László G.-Tóth, Amy L. Hetherington, Thomas S. Jones, Alexander Y. Karatayev, Jacqueline B. Madill, Oleg A. Makarevich, J. Ellen Marsden, André L. Martel, Dan Minchin, Thomas F. Nalepa, Ruurd Noordhuis, Timothy J. Robinson, Lars G. Rudstam, Astrid N. Schwalb, David R. Smith, Alan D. Steinman, Jonathan M. Jeschke
2019, Ecosphere (10)
Dreissenid mussels (including the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha and the quagga mussel D. rostriformis) are among the world's most notorious invasive species, with large and widespread ecological and economic effects. However, their long‐term population dynamics are poorly known, even though these dynamics are critical to determining impacts and effective management. We gathered and analyzed...
Pesticides and pollinators: A socioecological synthesis
Douglas B. Sponsler, Christina M. Grozinger, Claudia Hitaj, Maj Rundlof, Cristina Botias, Aimee Code, Eric V. Lonsdorf, Andony P. Melthapoulos, David J. Smith, Sainath Suryanarayanan, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Neal M. Williams, Minghua Zhang, Margaret R. Douglas
2019, Science of the Total Environment (662) 1012-1027
The relationship between pesticides and pollinators, while attracting no shortage of attention from scientists, regulators, and the public, has proven resistant to scientific synthesis and fractious in matters of policy and public opinion. This is in part because the issue has been approached in a compartmentalized and intradisciplinary way, such that...
The Missouri groundwater-level observation network
David C. Smith
2019, Fact Sheet 2019-3009
The Missouri groundwater-level observation well network is a series of wells across the State of Missouri in which groundwater levels are monitored in real time and periodically. The wells monitor the water levels in multiple key aquifers, such as the Ozark aquifer in the Salem and Springfield Plateaus and the...
Impact of prey occupancy and other ecological and anthropogenic factors on Tiger distribution in Thailand’s Western Forest Complex
Somphot Duangchatrasiri, Pornkamol Jornburom, Sitthichai Jinamoy, Anak Pattanvibool, James E. Hines, Todd W. Arnold, John Fieberg, James L D Smith
2019, Ecology and Evolution (9) 2449-2458
Despite conservation efforts, large mammals such as tigers (Panthera tigris) and their main prey, gaur (Bos gaurus), banteng (Bos javanicus), and sambar (Rusa unicolor), are highly threatened and declining across their entire range. The only large viable source population of tigers in mainland Southeast Asia occurs in Thailand's Western Forest...
Evidence for interactions among environmental stressors in the Laurentian Great Lakes
Sigrid D. P. Smith, David B. Bunnell, G.A. Burton Jr., Jan J. H. Ciborowski, Alisha D. Davidson, Caitlin E. Dickinson, Lauren A. Eaton, Peter C. Esselman, Mary Anne Evans, Donna R. Kashian, Nathan F. Manning, Peter B. McIntyre, Thomas F. Nalepa, Alicia Perez-Fuentetaja, Alan D. Steinman, Donald G. Uzarski, J. David Allan
2019, Ecological Indicators (101) 203-211
Co-occurrence of environmental stressors is ubiquitous in ecosystems, but cumulative effects are difficult to predict for effective indicator development. Individual stressors can amplify (synergies) or lessen (antagonisms) each other's impacts or have fully independent effects (additive). Here we use the Laurentian Great Lakes, where a multitude of stressors have been...
Yellowstone’s birds are vital
Robert H. Diehl, Douglas W. Smith
2019, Yellowstone Science (27) 46-48
Traveling through Yellowstone National Park (YNP), visitors frequently stop to enjoy the park’s birds: small songbirds flitting about the willows, sandhill cranes engaged in their ritual mating dances, or myriad species of waterfowl loafing in one of the park's many wetlands. Typically while driving the roads of YNP, a majority...
Linkages between hydrology and seasonal variations of nutrients and periphyton in a large oligotrophic subalpine lake
Ramon C. Naranjo, Richard G. Niswonger, David Smith, Donald O. Rosenberry, Sudeep Chandra
Richard G. Niswonger, David Smith, Donald O. Rosenberry, Sudeep Chandra, editor(s)
2019, Journal of Hydrology (568) 877-890
Periphyton is important to lake ecosystems, contributing to primary production, nutrient cycling, and benthic metabolism. Increases in periphyton growth in lakes can be indicative of changes in water quality, shifts in ecosystem structure, and increases in nutrient fluxes. In oligotrophic lakes, conservationists are interested in characterizing the influence of hydrological...
Airborne bacteria in Earth’s lower stratosphere resemble taxa detected in the troposphere: results from a new NASA aircraft bioaerosol collector (ABC)
David J. Smith, Jayamary D. Ravichandar, Sunit Jain, Dale W. Griffin, Hongbin Yu, Qian Tan, James Thissen, Terry Lusby, Patrick Nicoll, Sarah Shedler, P. Martinez, Alejandro Osorio, Jason Lechniak, Samuel Choi, Kayleen Sabino, Kathryn Iverson, Luisa Chan, Crystal Jaing, John McGrath
2019, Frontiers in Microbiology (9)
Airborne microorganisms in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere remain elusive due to a lack of reliable sample collection systems. To address this problem, we designed, installed, and flight-validated a novel Aircraft Bioaerosol Collector (ABC) for NASA's C-20A that can make collections for microbiological research investigations up to altitudes of...
