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Composite estimation to combine spatially overlapping environmental monitoring surveys
Long-term environmental monitoring surveys are designed to achieve a desired precision (measured by variance) of resource conditions based on natural variability information. Over time, increases in resource variability and in data use to address issues focused on small areas with limited sample sizes require bolstering of attainable precision. It is often prohibitive to do this by increasing samp
Authors
Steven Garman, Cindy L. Yu, Yuyang Li
The effects of wastewater reuse on smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) relative abundance in the Shenandoah River Watershed, USA
Municipal and industrial wastewater effluent is an important source of water for lotic systems, especially during periods of low flow. The accumulated wastewater effluent flows—expressed as a percentage of total streamflow (ACCWW%)—contain chemical mixtures that pose a risk to aquatic life; fish may be particularly vulnerable when chronically exposed. Although there has been considerable focus on
Authors
Tyler Wagner, Paul McLaughlin, Kaycee E. Faunce, Samuel H. Austin, Kelly Smalling
Groundwater model of the Harney Basin, southeastern Oregon
Groundwater development, mainly for large-scale irrigation, has increased substantially in the Harney Basin of southeastern Oregon since 2010. Concurrently, some areas of the basin experienced groundwater-level declines of more than 100 feet, and some shallow wells have gone dry. The Oregon Water Resources Department has limited new groundwater development in the basin until an improved understand
Authors
Stephen B. Gingerich, Darrick E. Boschmann, Gerald H. Grondin, Halley J Schibel
Monitoring aquifer-storage change from artificial recharge with repeat microgravity along Santa Cruz River, Tucson, Arizona, 2019–22
The City of Tucson water utility, Tucson Water, began releasing treated effluent into the Santa Cruz River channel near downtown Tucson in 2019. This recharge project—the Heritage Project—is intended to create a reach of consistent flow in the channel and recharge water to the aquifer. Tracking the dispersal of recharged water is important for management decisions because groundwater movement depe
Authors
Libby M. Wildermuth, Jacob L. Conrad
Gulf killifish (Fundulus grandis) in the Pecos River: Unique life history traits in a nonnative, island population
Nonnative species may display unique life history traits when established in habitats with distinctive environmental and biotic contexts compared with their native ecosystems. Gulf killifish (Fundulus grandis), native to coastal habitats of the Gulf of Mexico, are established in several inland river systems where they pose a potential threat to native fishes. In the Pecos River, Texas, nonnative G
Authors
K.D. Delaune, A.A. Pease, Reynaldo Patiño, Connor L. Brown, M.A. Barnes
Assessing giant sequoia mortality and regeneration following high-severity wildfire
Fire is a critical driver of giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum [Lindl.] Buchholz) regeneration. However, fire suppression combined with the effects of increased temperature and severe drought has resulted in fires of an intensity and size outside of the historical norm. As a result, recent mega-fires have killed a significant portion of the world's sequoia population (13%–19%), and uncertain
Authors
David Nicolas Bertil Soderberg, Adrian Das, Nathan L. Stephenson, Marc D. Meyer, Christy A. Brigham, Joshua Flickinger
The value of marsh restoration for flood risk reduction in an urban estuary
The use of nature-based solutions (NBS) for coastal climate adaptation has broad and growing interest, but NBS are rarely assessed with the same rigor as traditional engineering solutions or with respect to future climate change scenarios. These gaps pose challenges for the use of NBS for climate adaptation. Here, we value the flood protection benefits of stakeholder-identified marsh restoration u
Authors
Rae M. Taylor-Burns, Chris Lowrie, Babak Tehranirad, Jeremy Lowe, Li H. Erikson, Patrick L. Barnard, Borja G. Reguero, Michael W. Beck
Inoculated biocrust cover and functions diverged over a gradient of soil textures and water availability
Restoring biological crust (biocrust) in disturbed drylands is challenging due to the difficult environmental conditions, such as limited soil moisture, low soil nutrients, and extreme temperatures, that impede growth. Understanding how the key components of biocrust—mosses, lichens, and cyanobacteria—react to different environmental factors informs the optimal timing, locations, and species compo
Authors
Kristina E. Young, Sasha C. Reed, Michael Morton, Matthew A. Bowker
Warm places, warm years, and warm seasons increase parasitizing of moose by winter ticks
Observed links between parasites, such as ticks, and climate change have aroused concern for human health, wildlife population dynamics, and broader ecosystem effects. The one-host life history of the winter tick (Dermacentor albipictus) links each annual cohort to environmental conditions during three specific time periods when they are predictably vulnerable: spring detachment from hosts, summer
Authors
Nicholas J. DeCesare, Richard B. Harris, M. P. Atwood, Eric A. Bergman, AB Courtemanch, Paul Cross, Gary Fralick, Kent Hersey, Mark A. Hurley, T Koser, Rebecca L. Levine, Kevin Monteith, Jesse Newby, Collin Peterson, Sarah M. Robertson, Benjamin Wise
Novel insights about petroleum systems from source and reservoir rock characterization, Cretaceous Deposits, Babouri-Figuil Basin, Northern Cameroon
The Babouri-Figuil Basin (BFB) is a frontier basin for petroleum in Cameroon. It belongs to the series of Cretaceous rift basins of the West and Central Rift System (WCARS), the origin of which is related to the opening of the South Atlantic. Within the same rift system, commercial hydrocarbon accumulations have been discovered in Chad, Sudan, Niger and, more recently, in Nigeria (Gongola Basin).
Authors
Manga Gaspard, Javin J. Hatcherian, Paul C. Hackley, Moise Bessong, Carole Bapowa, Henry Pougue, Arsene Meying
Characterizing future streamflows in Massachusetts using stochastic modeling—A pilot study
Communities throughout Massachusetts face the potential effects of climate change, ranging from more extreme rainfall to more pronounced and frequent droughts. Understanding the effects of climate change on hydrology is important to State and community officials to evaluate the potential effects on infrastructure and water systems. To better understand the effects of climate change on hydrology, t
Authors
Scott A. Olson, Ghazal Shabestanipour, Jonathan Lamontagne, Scott Steinschneider
ECCOE Landsat quarterly Calibration and Validation report—Quarter 3, 2023
Executive SummaryThe U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Calibration and Validation (Cal/Val) Center of Excellence (ECCOE) focuses on improving the accuracy, precision, calibration, and product quality of remote-sensing data, leveraging years of multiscale optical system geometric and radiometric calibration and characterization experience. The ECCOE Landsat Cal/Val Team
Authors
Md Obaidul Haque, Rajagopalan Rengarajan, Mark Lubke, Md Nahid Hasan, Ashish Shrestha, Jerad L. Shaw, Alex Denevan, Kathryn Ruslander, Esad Micijevic, Michael J. Choate, Cody Anderson, Kurt Thome, Ed Kaita, Julia Barsi, Raviv Levy, Jeff Miller, Leibo Ding