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These publications showcase the significant science conducted in our Science Centers.

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Mineral resource of the month: Strontium

Strontium occurs commonly in nature, ranking as the 15th most abundant chemical element on Earth. Only two minerals contain sufficient strontium, however, to be used commercially to produce strontium compounds: Strontianite (strontium carbonate) has a higher strontium content, but celestite (strontium sulfate) is by far the most abundant strontium mineral.
Authors
Joyce A. Ober

Sources and sinks of carbon in boreal ecosystems of interior Alaska: a review

Boreal regions store large quantities of carbon but are increasingly vulnerable to carbon loss due to disturbance and climate warming. The boreal region, underlain by discontinuous permafrost, presents a challenging landscape for itemizing current and potential carbon sources and sinks in the boreal soil and vegetation. The roles of fire, forest succession, and the presence (or absence) of permafr
Authors
Thomas A. Douglas, Miriam C. Jones, Christopher A. Hiemstra

Development of dietary-based toxic reference values to assess the risk of chlorophacinone to non-target raptorial birds

Regulatory changes in the use of some second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides in parts of North America may result in expanded use of first-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (FGARs). Recent toxicological studies with captive raptors have demonstrated that these species are considerably more sensitive to the FGAR diphacinone than traditional avian wildlife test species (mallard, bobwhite).
Authors
Barnett A. Rattner, Rebecca S. Lazarus, S. L. Shultz, Katherine E. Horak, Benjamin G. Abbo, Steven F. Volker

The nation’s top 25 construction aggregates producers

U.S. production of construction aggregates in 2012 was 2.18 billion short tons valued at $17.6 billion, free on board (f.o.b.) at plant. In 2012, construction aggregates production remained virtually unchanged from the levels of the last two years because of a very slight increase compared with that of 2011 in the production of both construction sand and gravel and crushed stone. The average unit
Authors
Jason C. Willett

Biological effects-based tools for monitoring impacted surface waters in the Great Lakes: a multiagency program in support of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

There is increasing demand for the implementation of effects-based monitoring and surveillance (EBMS) approaches in the Great Lakes Basin to complement traditional chemical monitoring. Herein, we describe an ongoing multiagency effort to develop and implement EBMS tools, particularly with regard to monitoring potentially toxic chemicals and assessing Areas of Concern (AOCs), as envisioned by the G
Authors
Drew R. Ekman, Gerald T. Ankley, Vicki Blazer, Timothy W. Collette, Natàlia Garcia-Reyero, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Zachary G. Jorgensen, Kathy Lee, Pat M. Mazik, David H. Miller, Edward J. Perkins, Edwin T. Smith, Joseph E. Tietge, Daniel L. Villeneuve

Telescoping metamorphic isograds: Evidence from 40Ar/39A dating in the Orange-Milford belt, southern Connecticut

New 40Ar/39Ar ages for hornblende and muscovite from the Orange-Milford belt in southern Connecticut reflect cooling from Acadian amphibolite facies metamorphism between ∼380 to 360 Ma followed by retrograde recrystallization of fabric-forming muscovite and chlorite during lower greenschist facies Alleghanian transpression at ∼280 Ma. Reported field temperature and pressure gradients are improbabl
Authors
Michael J. Kunk, Gregory J. Walsh, Martha L. Growdon, Robert P. Wintsch

Surveillance theory applied to virus detection: a case for targeted discovery

Virus detection and mathematical modeling have gone through rapid developments in the past decade. Both offer new insights into the epidemiology of infectious disease and characterization of future risk; however, modeling has not yet been applied to designing the best surveillance strategies for viral and pathogen discovery. We review recent developments and propose methods to integrate viral and
Authors
Tiffany L. Bogich, Simon J. Anthony, James D. Nichols

Advances and applications of occupancy models

Summary: The past decade has seen an explosion in the development and application of models aimed at estimating species occurrence and occupancy dynamics while accounting for possible non-detection or species misidentification. We discuss some recent occupancy estimation methods and the biological systems that motivated their development. Collectively, these models offer tremendous flexibility, bu
Authors
Larissa Bailey, Darry I. MacKenzie, James D. Nichols

Descriptive and geoenvironmental model for Co-Cu-Au deposits in metasedimentary rocks

IntroductionThis report is a revised model for a specific type of cobalt-copper-gold (Co-Cu-Au) deposit that will be evaluated in the next U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessment of undiscovered mineral resources in the United States (see Ferrero and others, 2012). Emphasis is on providing an up-to-date deposit model that includes both geologic and geoenvironmental aspects. The new model presente
Authors
John F. Slack, Craig A. Johnson, J. Douglas Causey, Karen Lund, Klaus J. Schulz, John E. Gray, Robert G. Eppinger

Toxicokinetics and coagulopathy threshold of the rodenticide diphacinone in eastern screech-owls (Megascops asio)

In the United States, new regulations on second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides will likely be offset by expanded use of first-generation anticoagulant rodenticides. In the present study, eastern screech-owls (Megascops asio) were fed 10 µg diphacinone/g wet weight food for 7 d, and recovery was monitored over a 21-d postexposure period. By day 3 of exposure, diphacinone (DPN) was detected i
Authors
Barnett A. Rattner, K.E. Horak, Rebecca S. Lazarus, D.A. Goldade, J. J. Johnston

Sea-level change during the last 2500 years in New Jersey, USA

Relative sea-level changes during the last ∼2500 years in New Jersey, USA were reconstructed to test if late Holocene sea level was stable or included persistent and distinctive phases of variability. Foraminifera and bulk-sediment δ13C values were combined to reconstruct paleomarsh elevation with decimeter precision from sequences of salt-marsh sediment at two sites using a multi-proxy approach.
Authors
Andrew C. Kemp, Benjamin P. Horton, Christopher H. Vane, Christopher E. Bernhardt, D. Reide Corbett, Simon E. Engelhart, Shimon C. Anisfeld, Andrew C. Parnell, Niamh Cahill

Preliminary estimates of annual agricultural pesticide use for counties of the conterminous United States, 2010-11

This report provides preliminary estimates of annual agricultural use of 374 pesticide compounds in counties of the conterminous United States in 2010 and 2011, compiled by means of methods described in Thelin and Stone (2013). U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) county-level data for harvested-crop acreage were used in conjunction with proprietary Crop Reporting District (CRD)-level pesticide-u
Authors
Nancy T. Baker, Wesley W. Stone