The 3D Elevation Program: summary for West Virginia
William J. Carswell Jr.
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3017
Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the State of West Virginia, elevation data are critical for natural resources conservation, flood risk management, forest resources management, infrastructure and construction management, agriculture and...
Observing a catastrophic thermokarst lake drainage in northern Alaska
Benjamin M. Jones, Christopher D. Arp
2015, Permafrost and Periglacial Processes (26) 119-128
The formation and drainage of thermokarst lakes have reshaped ice-rich permafrost lowlands in the Arctic throughout the Holocene. North of Teshekpuk Lake, on the Arctic Coastal Plain of northern Alaska, thermokarst lakes presently occupy 22.5% of the landscape, and drained thermokarst lake basins occupy 61.8%. Analysis of remotely sensed imagery...
A review of infectious agents in polar bears (Ursus maritimus) and their long-term ecological relevance
Anna C. Fagre, Kelly A. Patyk, Pauline Nol, Todd C. Atwood, Karsten Hueffer, Colleen G. Duncan
2015, EcoHealth (12) 528-539
Disease was a listing criterion for the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2008; it is therefore important to evaluate the current state of knowledge and identify any information gaps pertaining to diseases in polar bears. We conducted a systematic literature review focused...
The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Pennsylvania
William J. Carswell Jr.
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3019
Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, elevation data are critical for natural resources conservation (including the effects of drilling for oil and natural gas), agriculture and precision...
The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Iowa
William J. Carswell Jr.
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3018
Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the State of Iowa, elevation data are critical for agriculture and precision farming, infrastructure and construction management, natural resources conservation, flood risk management, water supply...
Great (≥Mw8.0) megathrust earthquakes and the subduction of excess sediment and bathymetrically smooth seafloor
David W. Scholl, Stephe H. Kirby, Roland E. von Huene, Holly F. Ryan, Ray E. Wells, Eric L. Geist
2015, Geosphere (11) 236-265
Using older and in part flawed data, Ruff (1989) suggested that thick sediment entering the subduction zone (SZ) smooths and strengthens the trench-parallel distribution of interplate coupling. This circumstance was conjectured to favor rupture continuation and the generation of high-magnitude (≥Mw8.0) interplate thrust (IPT) earthquakes. Using larger and...
Evaluating the status of individuals and populations: Advantages of multiple approaches and time scales
Daniel H. Monson, Lizabeth Bowen
2015, Book chapter, Sea Otter Conservation
The assessment of population status is a central goal of applied wildlife research and essential to the field of wildlife conservation. “Population status” has a number of definitions, the most widely used having to do with the current trajectory of the population (i.e., growing, stable, or declining), or the...
Unusually loud ambient noise in tidewater glacier fjords: a signal of ice melt
Erin C. Pettit, Kevin M. Lee, Joel P. Brann, Jeffrey A. Nystuen, Preston S. Wilson, Shad O'Neel
2015, Geophysical Research Letters (42) 2309-2316
In glacierized fjords, the ice-ocean boundary is a physically and biologically dynamic environment that is sensitive to both glacier flow and ocean circulation. Ocean ambient noise offers insight into processes and change at the ice-ocean boundary. Here we characterize fjord ambient noise and show that the average noise levels are...
Resilience and risk: a demographic model to inform conservation planning for polar bears
Eric V. Regehr, Ryan H. Wilson, Karyn D. Rode, Michael C. Runge
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1029
Climate change is having widespread ecological effects, including loss of Arctic sea ice. This has led to listing of the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) and other ice-dependent marine mammals under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA). Methods are needed to evaluate the effects of climate change on population persistence to...
Life in the main channel: long-term hydrologic control of microbial mat abundance in McMurdo Dry Valley streams, Antarctica
Tyler J. Kohler, Lee F. Stanish, Steven W. Crisp, Joshua C. Koch, Daniel Liptzin, Jenny L. Baeseman, Diane M. McKnight
2015, Ecosystems (18) 310-327
Given alterations in global hydrologic regime, we examine the role of hydrology in regulating stream microbial mat abundance in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Here, perennial mats persist as a desiccated crust until revived by summer streamflow, which varies inter-annually, and has increased since the 1990s. We predicted high flows...
Distance measures and optimization spaces in quantitative fatty acid signature analysis
Jeffrey F. Bromaghin, Karyn D. Rode, Suzanne M. Budge, Gregory W. Thiemann
2015, Ecology and Evolution (6) 1249-1262
Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis has become an important method of diet estimation in ecology, especially marine ecology. Controlled feeding trials to validate the method and estimate the calibration coefficients necessary to account for differential metabolism of individual fatty acids have been conducted with several species from diverse taxa. However,...
Strain accumulation across the Prince William Sound asperity, Southcentral Alaska
James C. Savage, Jerry L. Svarc, Michael Lisowski
2015, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (120) 1820-1832
The surface velocities predicted by the conventional subduction model are compared to velocities measured in a GPS array (surveyed in 1993, 1995, 1997, 2000, and 2004) spanning the Prince William Sound asperity. The observed velocities in the comparison have been corrected to remove the contributions from postseismic (1964 Alaska earthquake)...
Uranium isotopes and dissolved organic carbon in loess permafrost: Modeling the age of ancient ice
Stephanie A. Ewing, James B. Paces, J.A. O'Donnell, M.T. Jorgenson, M.Z. Kanevskiy, George R. Aiken, Y. Shur, Jennifer W. Harden, Robert G. Striegl
2015, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (152) 143-165
The residence time of ice in permafrost is an indicator of past climate history, and of the resilience and vulnerability of high-latitude ecosystems to global change. Development of geochemical indicators of ground-ice residence times in permafrost will advance understanding of the circumstances and evidence of permafrost formation, preservation, and thaw...
Climate change implications in the northern coastal temperate rainforest of North America
Colin S. Shanley, Sanjay Pyare, Michael I. Goldstein, Paul B. Alaback, David M. Albert, Colin M. Beier, Todd J. Brinkman, Rick T. Edwards, Eran Hood, Andy MacKinnon, Megan V. McPhee, Trista Patterson, Lowell H. Suring, David Tallmon, Mark S. Wipfli
2015, Climate Change (130) 155-170
We synthesized an expert review of climate change implications for hydroecological and terrestrial ecological systems in the northern coastal temperate rainforest of North America. Our synthesis is based on an analysis of projected temperature, precipitation, and snowfall stratified by eight biogeoclimatic provinces and three vegetation zones. Five IPCC...
A plant toxin mediated mechanism for the lag in snowshoe hare population recovery following cyclic declines
Donald L. DeAngelis, John P. Bryant, Rongsong Liu, Stephen A. Gourley, Charles J Krebs, Paul B Reichardt
2015, Oikos (124) 796-805
A necessary condition for a snowshoe hare population to cycle is reduced reproduction after the population declines. But the cause of a cyclic snowshoe hare population's reduced reproduction during the low phase of the cycle, when predator density collapses, is not completely understood. We propose that moderate-severe browsing by snowshoe...
Pre-fieldwork surveys
Robert C. Witter
Ian Shennan, Antony J. Long, Benajamin P. Horton, editor(s)
2015, Book chapter, Handbook of sea-level research
In sea-level studies, initial surveys at the office or library can increase a project’s likelihood of success. Pre-fieldwork surveys should begin with a thorough review of prior research literature that appraises available data, identifies data gaps, and places the project objectives into a broader scientific context. Whereas peer reviewed journal...
Basement domain map of the conterminous United States and Alaska
Karen Lund, Stephen E. Box, Christopher S. Holm-Denoma, Carma A. San Juan, Richard J. Blakely, Richard W. Saltus, Eric D. Anderson, Ed DeWitt
2015, Data Series 898
The basement-domain map is a compilation of basement domains in the conterminous United States and Alaska designed to be used at 1:5,000,000-scale, particularly as a base layer for national-scale mineral resource assessments. Seventy-seven basement domains are represented as eighty-three polygons on the map. The domains are based on interpretations of...
U.S. Geological Survey activities related to American Indians and Alaska Natives: Fiscal years 2009 and 2010
Monique Fordham, Maria R. Montour
2015, Circular 1403
The U.S. Geological Survey is the earth and natural science bureau within the U.S. Department of the Interior. The U.S. Geological Survey provides impartial information on the health of our ecosystems and environment, the natural hazards that threaten us, the natural resources we rely on, the negative effects of climate...
Establishing a definition of polar bear (Ursus maritimus) health: A guide to research and management activities
Kelly A. Patyk, Colleen G. Duncan, Pauline Nol, C. Sonne, Kristin L. Laidre, Martyn E. Obbard, Øystein Wiig, Jon Aars, Eric V. Regehr, L. Gustafson, Todd C. Atwood
2015, Science of the Total Environment (514) 371-378
The meaning of health for wildlife and perspectives on how to assess and measure health, are not well characterized. For wildlife at risk, such as some polar bear (Ursus maritimus) subpopulations, establishing comprehensive monitoring programs that include health status is an emerging need. Environmental changes, especially loss of sea ice...
A genetic discontinuity in moose (Alces alces) in Alaska corresponds with fenced transportation infrastructure
Robert E. Wilson, Sean D. Farley, Thomas J. McDonough, Sandra L. Talbot, Perry S. Barboza
2015, Conservation Genetics (16) 791-800
The strength and arrangement of movement barriers can impact the connectivity among habitat patches. Anthropogenic barriers (e.g. roads) are a source of habitat fragmentation that can disrupt these resource networks and can have an influence on the spatial genetic structure of populations. Using microsatellite data, we evaluated whether observed genetic...
Beach ridges as paleoseismic indicators of abrupt coastal subsidence during subduction zone earthquakes, and implications for Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone paleoseismology, southeast coast of the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Harvey M. Kelsey, Robert C. Witter, Simon E. Engelhart, Richard W. Briggs, Alan R. Nelson, Peter J. Haeussler, D. Reide Corbett
2015, Quaternary Science Reviews (113) 147-158
The Kenai section of the eastern Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone straddles two areas of high slip in the 1964 great Alaska earthquake and is the least studied of the three megathrust segments (Kodiak, Kenai, Prince William Sound) that ruptured in 1964. Investigation of two coastal sites in the eastern part of...
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Restoration Project final report: Monitoring for evaluation of recovery and restoration of injured nearshore resources
Brenda E. Ballachey, James L. Bodkin, Kimberly A. Kloecker, Tom Dean, Heather A Colletti
2015, Report
In 2012, we completed three consecutive years of full field sampling in WPWS for EVOS Restoration Project 10100750. Nearshore monitoring was conducted in collaboration with the NPS SWAN I&M program and, beginning in 2012, as part of the EVOSTC GWA program. Data collection was done in accordance with standard operating procedures...
H7N9 influenza A virus in turkeys in Minnesota
Camille Lebarbenchon, J.C. Pedersen, Srinand Sreevatsan, Andrew M. Ramey, Vivien G. Dugan, R.A. Halpin, Paul A. Ferro, B. Lupiani, Shinichiro Enomoto, Rebecca L. Poulson, M. Smeltzer, Carol J. Cardona, S. Tompkins, D.E. Wentworth, D.E. Stallknecht, J. Brown
2015, Journal of General Virology (96) 269-276
Introductions of H7 Influenza A virus (IAV) from wild birds into poultry have been documented worldwide, resulting in varying degrees of morbidity and mortality. H7 IAV infection in domestic poultry has served as a source of human infection and disease. We report the detection of H7N9 subtype IAV in Minnesota...
Spatial genetic structure of bristle-thighed curlews (Numenius tahitiensis): Breeding area differentiation not reflected on the non-breeding grounds
Sarah A. Sonsthagen, T. Lee Tibbitts, Robert E. Gill Jr., Ian S. Williams, Sandra L. Talbot
2015, Conservation Genetics (16) 223-233
Migratory birds occupy geographically and ecologically disparate areas during their annual cycle with conditions on breeding and non-breeding grounds playing separate and important roles in population dynamics. We used data from nuclear microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA control region loci to assess the breeding and non-breeding spatial genetic structure of a...
Nest visits and capture events affect breeding success of Yellow-billed and Pacific loons
Brian D. Uher-Koch, Joel A. Schmutz, Kenneth G. Wright
2015, Condor (7) 121-129
Accurate estimates of breeding success are essential for understanding population dynamics and for managing populations. Unfortunately, research activities to collect these data can negatively impact the breeding success of the study species and bias estimates of breeding success. Despite the potential for negative impacts, few studies have documented the effect...
