All Publications

Sand Hollow Reservoir in Washington County, Utah, was completed in March 2002 and is operated primarily for managed aquifer recharge by the Washington County Water Conservancy District. Sand Hollow Reservoir has remained nearly full since 2006 because of surface-water diversions of about 288,000 acre-feet (acre-ft) from 2002 through 2018. Groundwater levels in monitoring wells near the reservoir r

Improved consideration of the cultural benefits of ecosystem services (ES) requires attention to knowledge pluralism in addition to value pluralism. Theorists have increasingly argued that meaningful inclusion of cultural benefits of ES requires attention to plural values, beyond the individual, instrumental values associated with ecosystems. However, there has been little engagement around the ro

Improved consideration of the cultural benefits of ecosystem services (ES) requires attention to knowledge pluralism in addition to value pluralism. Theorists have increasingly argued that meaningful inclusion of cultural benefits of ES requires attention to plural values, beyond the individual, instrumental values associated with ecosystems. However, there has been little engagement around the ro

Plant macrofossils from packrat (Neotoma spp.) middens provide direct evidence of past vegetation changes in arid regions of North America. Here we describe the newest version (version 5.0) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) North American Packrat Midden Database. The database contains published and contributed data from 3,331 midden samples collected in southwest Canada, the western United Stat

In recent years, the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain (MRDP) has experienced the highest rates of wetland loss in the USA. Although the process of vertical drowning has been heavily studied in coastal wetlands, less is known about the relationship between elevation change and land loss in wetlands that are experiencing lateral erosion and the contribution of erosion to land loss in the MRDP. We qua

The relationship between exposure to inhaled inorganic particulate matter and risk for deployment-related lung disease in military personnel is unclear due in part to difficulties characterizing individual exposure to airborne hazards. We evaluated the association between self-reported deployment exposures and particulate matter (PM) contained in lung tissue from previously deployed personnel with

Many species of wildlife alter their daily activity patterns in response to co-occurring species as well as the surrounding environment. Often smaller or subordinate species alter their activity patterns to avoid being active at the same time as larger, dominant species to avoid agonistic interactions. Human development can complicate interspecies interactions, as not all wildlife respond to human

Growing evidence supports the hypothesis that temperate herbivores surf the green wave of emerging plants during spring migration. Despite the importance of autumn migration, few studies have conceptualized resource tracking of temperate herbivores during this critical season. We adapted the frost wave hypothesis (FWH), which posits that animals pace their autumn migration to reduce exposure to sn

Rapid warming and human exploitation threaten boreal forests. Understanding links among vegetation, climate, and people in this vast biome requires highly resolved long-term records that integrate regional inputs. We developed an 850-year pollen-based record of supraregional vegetation change using a southern Greenland ice core and atmospheric modeling that identified the boreal and mixed-conifer

This study uses data from the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover to document the facies of the Sutton Island member of the Murray formation, interpret paleoenvironments, and establish key stratigraphic transitions at Gale crater. Two facies associations were identified: Facies Association 1 (FA1) and Facies Association 2 (FA2). Individual facies in FA1 include planar-laminated mudstone with m

Bivalves such as oysters and clams have been farmed in intertidal zones across the Puget Sound region of the Salish Sea for thousands of years. The variety of gear types used on bivalve farms creates complex vertical structure and attachment points for aquatic epiphytes and invertebrates which increases habitat structural complexity, but may alter eelgrass cover in areas where bivalve farms and ee

Groundwater flow and particle tracking models are critical tools to simulate the natural system, contaminant fate and transport, and effects of remediation. Constrained optimization uses models to systematically explore the interplay between remedial design and contaminant fate, considering uncertainty. Sequential Linear Programming (SLP) provides a design alternative addressing a single goal (e.g