Publications
These publications showcase the significant science conducted in our Science Centers.
Filter Total Items: 16784
The role of citizen science in bird conservation: The Christmas Bird Count and Breeding Bird Survey
Many birders in the United States, Canada, and Mexico are critical participants in bird monitoring and conservation activities. This linkage between recreational birders and avian conservation surveys is not new. It was established long before the internet and long before any fast communication facilitated the connection of birders to scientists. It started because a few key individuals realized t
Authors
John R. Sauer, Gregory S. Butcher
Estimating true instead of apparent survival using spatial Cormack-Jolly-Seber models
Survival is often estimated from capture–recapture data using Cormack–Jolly–Seber (CJS) models, where mortality and emigration cannot be distinguished, and the estimated apparent survival probability is the product of the probabilities of true survival and of study area fidelity. Consequently, apparent survival is lower than true survival unless study area fidelity equals one. Underestimation of
Authors
Michael Schaub, J. Andrew Royle
Potential reduction in terrestrial salamander ranges associated with Marcellus shale development
Natural gas production from the Marcellus shale is rapidly increasing in the northeastern United States. Most of the endemic terrestrial salamander species in the region are classified as ‘globally secure’ by the IUCN, primarily because much of their ranges include state- and federally protected lands, which have been presumed to be free from habitat loss. However, the proposed and ongoing develop
Authors
Adrianne B. Brand, Amber N. M. Wiewel, Evan H. Campbell Grant
How much is new information worth? Evaluating the financial benefit of resolving management uncertainty
Conservation decision-makers face a trade-off between spending limited funds on direct management action, or gaining new information in an attempt to improve management performance in the future. Value-of-information analysis can help to resolve this trade-off by evaluating how much management performance could improve if new information was gained. Value-of-information analysis has been used e
Authors
Sean L. Maxwell, Jonathan R. Rhodes, Michael C. Runge, Hugh P. Possingham, Chooi Fei Ng, Eve McDonald Madden
Neoproterozoic–Cambrian stratigraphic framework of the Anti-Atlas and Ouzellagh promontory (High Atlas), Morocco
In the last two decades, great progress has been made in the geochronological, chrono- and chemostratigraphic control of the Neoproterozoic and Cambrian from the Anti-Atlas Ranges and the Ouzellagh promontory (High Atlas). As a result, the Neoproterozoic is lithostratigraphically subdivided into: (i) the Lkest-Taghdout Group (broadly interpreted at c. 800–690 Ma) representative of rift-to-passive
Authors
Jose Javier Alvaro, Fouad Benziane, Robert Thomas, Gregory J. Walsh, Abdelaziz Yazidi
Pesticide concentrations in frog tissue and wetland habitats in alandscape dominated by agriculture
Habitat loss and exposure to pesticides are likely primary factors contributing to amphibian decline in agricultural landscapes. Conservation efforts have attempted to restore wetlands lost through landscape modifications to reduce contaminant loads in surface waters and providing quality habitat to wildlife. The benefits of this increased wetland area, perhaps especially for amphibians, may be ne
Authors
Kelly L. Smalling, Rebecca Reeves, Erin L. Muths, Mark W. Vandever, William A. Battaglin, Michelle Hladik, Clay L. Pierce
Core data from offshore Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands
In 2008, as a collaborative effort between Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the U.S. Geological Survey, 20 giant gravity cores were collected from areas surrounding Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The regions sampled have had many large earthquake and landslide events, some of which are believed to have triggered tsunamis. The objective of this coring cruise, carried out aboard th
Authors
Shannon K. Hoy, Jason D. Chaytor, Uri S. ten Brink
Character, distribution, and ecological significance of storm wave-induced scour in Rhode Island Sound, USA
Multibeam bathymetry, collected during NOAA hydrographic surveys in 2008 and 2009, is coupled with USGS data from sampling and photographic stations to map the seabed morphology and composition of Rhode Island Sound along the US Atlantic coast, and to provide information on sediment transport and benthic habitats. Patchworks of scour depressions cover large areas on seaward-facing slopes and bathy
Authors
Katherine Y. McMullen, Lawrence J. Poppe, Castle E. Parker
Occurrence model for magmatic sulfide-rich nickel-copper-(platinum-group element) deposits related to mafic and ultramafic dike-sill complexes
Magmatic sulfide deposits containing nickel (Ni) and copper (Cu), with or without (±) platinum-group elements (PGE), account for approximately 60 percent of the world’s nickel production. Most of the remainder of the Ni production is derived from lateritic deposits, which form by weathering of ultramafic rocks in humid tropical conditions. Magmatic Ni-Cu±PGE sulfide deposits are spatially and gene
Authors
Klaus J. Schulz, Laurel G. Woodruff, Suzanne W. Nicholson, Robert R. Seal, Nadine M. Piatak, Val W. Chandler, John L. Mars
Population viability and connectivity of the Louisiana black bear (Ursus americanus luteolus)
In 1992, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) granted Ursus americanus luteolus (Louisiana black bear) threatened status under the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973, listing loss and fragmentation of habitat as the primary threats. A study was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the University of Tennessee, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and the
Authors
Jared S. Laufenberg, Joseph D. Clark
Digital Mapping Techniques '11–12 workshop proceedings
The Digital Mapping Techniques '11 (DMT'11) workshop was hosted by Virginia Division of Geology and Mineral Resources and The College of William & Mary, and coordinated by the National Geologic Map Database project. Conducted May 22-25 on the campus of The College of William & Mary, in Williamsburg, Virginia, it was attended by 77 technical experts from 30 agencies, universities, and private compa
Authors
David R. Soller
A landscape-based reconnaissance survey of estrogenic activity in streams of the upper Potomac, upper James,and Shenandoah Rivers, USA
Endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) are becoming of increasing concern in waterways of the USA and worldwide. What remains poorly understood, however, is how prevalent these emerging contaminants are in the environment and what methods are best able to determine landscape sources of EDCs. We describe the development of a spatially structured sampling design and a reconnaissance survey of estroge
Authors
John A. Young, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Adam J. Sperry, Vicki Blazer