Publications
These publications showcase the significant science conducted in our Science Centers.
Filter Total Items: 16779
Accommodating the role of site memory in dynamic species distribution models
First-order dynamic occupancy models (FODOMs) are a class of state-space model in which the true state (occurrence) is observed imperfectly. An important assumption of FODOMs is that site dynamics only depend on the current state and that variations in dynamic processes are adequately captured with covariates or random effects. However, it is often difficult to understand and/or measure the covari
Authors
Graziella Vittoria Direnzo, David A. W. Miller, Blake R. Hossack, Brent H. Sigafus, Paige E. Howell, Erin L. Muths, Evan H. Campbell Grant
Mineral commodity summaries 2021
IntroductionEach mineral commodity chapter of the 2021 edition of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Commodity Summaries (MCS) includes information on events, trends, and issues for each mineral commodity as well as discussions and tabular presentations on domestic industry structure, Government programs, tariffs, 5-year salient statistics, and world production and resources. The MCS is the
Authors
Using decision science for monitoring threatened western snowy plovers to inform recovery
Western Snowy Plovers (Charadrius nivosus nivosus) are federally listed under the US Endangered Species Act as Threatened. They occur along the US Pacific coastline and are threatened by habitat loss and destruction and excessive levels of predation and human disturbance. Populations have been monitored since the 1970s for distribution, reproduction, and survival. Since the species was federally l
Authors
Bruce G. Marcot, James E. Lyons, Daniel C Elbert, Laura Todd
Re‐purposing groundwater flow models for age assessments: Important characteristics
Groundwater flow model construction is often time‐consuming and costly, with development ideally focused on a specific purpose, such as quantifying well capture from water bodies or providing flow fields for simulating advective transport. As environmental challenges evolve, the incentive to re‐purpose existing groundwater flow models may increase. However, few studies have evaluated which charact
Authors
Paul F. Juckem, J. Jeffrey Starn
The role of hydrates, competing chemical constituents, and surface composition on CLNO2 formation
Atomic chlorine (Cl•) affects air quality and atmospheric oxidizing capacity. Nitryl chloride (ClNO2) – a common Cl• source–forms when chloride-containing aerosols react with dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5). A recent study showed that saline lakebed (playa) dust is an inland source of particulate chloride (Cl–) that generates high ClNO2. However, the underlying physiochemical factors responsible for o
Authors
Haley M. Royer, Dhruv Mitroo, Sarah M. Hayes, Savannah Haas, Kerri A Pratt, Patricia Blackwelder, Thomas E. Gill, Cassandra J. Gaston
Cloud-native repositories for big scientific data
Scientific data have traditionally been distributed via downloads from data server to local computer. This way of working suffers from limitations as scientific datasets grow toward the petabyte scale. A “cloud-native data repository,” as defined in this article, offers several advantages over traditional data repositories—performance, reliability, cost-effectiveness, collaboration, reproducibilit
Authors
Ryan Abernathey, Tom Augspurger, Anderson Banihirwe, Charles C. Blackmon-Luca, Timothy Crone, Chelle Gentemann, Joseph Hamman, Naomi Henderson, Chiara Lepore, Theo McCaie, Niall Robinson, Richard P. Signell
Phylogeographic genetic diversity in the white sucker hepatitis B Virus across the Great Lakes Region and Alberta, Canada
Hepatitis B viruses belong to a family of circular, double-stranded DNA viruses that infect a range of organisms, with host responses that vary from mild infection to chronic infection and cancer. The white sucker hepatitis B virus (WSHBV) was first described in the white sucker (Catostomus commersonii), a freshwater teleost, and belongs to the genus Parahepadnavirus. At present, the host range of
Authors
Cynthia R Adams, Vicki S. Blazer, Jim Sherry, Robert S. Cornman, Luke R. Iwanowicz
Computational methodology to analyze the effect of mass transfer rate on attenuation of leaked carbon dioxide in shallow aquifers
Exsolution and re-dissolution of CO2 gas within heterogeneous porous media are investigated using experimental data and mathematical modeling. In a set of bench-scale experiments, water saturated with CO2 under a given pressure is injected into a 2-D water-saturated porous media system, causing CO2 gas to exsolve and migrate upwards. A layer of fine sand mimicking a heterogeneity within a shallow
Authors
Radek Fucik, Jakub Solovsky, Michelle R. Plampin, Hao Wu, Jiri Mikyska, Tissa H. Illangasekare
Environmental and anthropogenic drivers of contaminants in agricultural watersheds with implications for land management
If not managed properly, modern agricultural practices can alter surface and groundwater quality and drinking water resources resulting in potential negative effects on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Exposure to agriculturally derived contaminant mixtures has the potential to alter habitat quality and negatively affect fish and other aquatic organisms. Implementation of conservation practices
Authors
Kelly L. Smalling, Olivia Devereux, Stephanie Gordon, Patrick J. Phillips, Vicki S. Blazer, Michelle Hladik, Dana W. Kolpin, Michael T. Meyer, Adam Sperry, Tyler Wagner
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, California Water Science Center, Central Midwest Water Science Center, Chesapeake Bay Activities, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Kansas Water Science Center, New Jersey Water Science Center, New York Water Science Center, Pennsylvania Water Science Center
Export of photolabile and photoprimable dissolved organic carbon from the Connecticut River
Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) impacts water quality, the carbon cycle, and the ecology of aquatic systems. Understanding what controls DOC is therefore critical for improving large-scale models and best management practices for aquatic ecosystems. The two main processes of DOC transformation and removal, photochemical and microbial DOC degradation, work in tandem to modify and remineralize DOC wi
Authors
B. Yoon, Jacob D. Hosen, Ethan Kyzivat, Jennifer H Fair, Lisa C. Weber, Kelly S. Aho, Rachel Lowenthal, Serena Matt, W. V. Sobczak, James B. Shanley, Jonathan Morrison, James E. Saiers, Aron Stubbins, Peter A. Raymond
Integrating sequence capture and restriction-site associated DNA sequencing to resolve recent radiations of pelagic seabirds
The diversification of modern birds has been shaped by a number of radiations. Rapid diversification events make reconstructing the evolutionary relationships among taxa challenging due to the convoluted effects of incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) and introgression. Phylogenomic data sets have the potential to detect patterns of phylogenetic incongruence, and to address their causes. However, the
Authors
Joan Ferrer Obiol, Helen F. James, R. Terry Chesser, Vincent Bretagnolle, Jacob González-Solís, Julio Rozas, Marta Riutort, Andreanna J. Welch
Water-level conditions in the confined aquifers of the New Jersey Coastal Plain, 2013
The Coastal Plain aquifers of New Jersey provide an important source of water for more than 3.5 million people. In 2013, groundwater withdrawals from 10 confined aquifers of the New Jersey Coastal Plain totaled about 190 million gallons per day. Steadily increasing withdrawals from the late 1800s to the early 1990s resulted in declining water levels and the formation of regional cones of depressio
Authors
Alison D. Gordon, Glen B. Carleton, Robert Rosman