Other Earth Sciences Commons^™

Bioaccessibility Tests Accurately Estimate Bioavailability Of Lead To Quail, W. Nelson Beyer, Nicholas T. Basta, Rufus L. Chaney, Paula F.P. Henry, David E. Mosby, Barnett A. Rattner, Kirk G. Scheckel, Daniel T. Sprague, John S. Weber

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Hazards of soil-borne lead (Pb) to wild birds may be more accurately quantified if the bioavailability of that Pb is known. To better understand the bioavailability of Pb to birds, the authors measured blood Pb concentrations in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) fed diets containing Pb-contaminated soils. Relative bioavailabilities were expressed by comparison with blood Pb concentrations in quail fed a Pb acetate reference diet. Diets containing soil from 5 Pb-contaminated Superfund sites had relative bioavailabilities from 33% to 63%, with a mean of approximately 50%. Treatment of 2 of the soils with phosphorus (P) significantly reduced the bioavailability …

A Personal Perspective On Searching For The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker: A 41-Year Quest, Paul W. Sykes Jr.

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

I first learned about the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (Patuxent) in Laurel, MD, while attending high school in the mid-1950s. Patuxent wildlife biologists Brooke Meanley, Chandler (Chan) S. Robbins, and Robert (Bob) E. Stewart, Sr., visited me at my parents’ home in Norfolk, VA. I was the compiler of the Norfolk County Christmas Bird Count (which included the eastern portion of the Virginia sector of the Dismal Swamp). As part of that count, we had for several years been estimating populations of red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) and common grackles (Quiscalus quiscula) in the millions. Patuxent was …

Patuxent’S Role In The Development Of The North American Breeding Bird Survey, John R. Sauer

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) is a roadside survey of the breeding birds of North America. The BBS provides data from the contiguous United States, Alaska, southern and central Canada, and northern Mexico. Begun in 1966 by Chandler (Chan) S. Robbins at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (Patuxent), and now jointly managed by Patuxent, the Canadian Wildlife Service, and the Mexican Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity, the survey is conducted primarily in June along more than 5,000 roadside survey routes that are surveyed once each year. Volunteer observers drive the 39.4-kilometer …

Patuxent’S Long-Term Research On Wolves, David L. Mech

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The gray wolf (Canis lupus) was one of the first species placed on the Endangered Species List in 1967. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 legally protected the wolf along with other listed species. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (Patuxent) in Laurel, MD, began its Endangered Wildlife Program in 1966, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) biologist Ray Erickson was assigned to lead it. In 1973, I was transferred to the program from Region 3 of the USFWS, having been employed there since 1969 to study wolves in Minnesota. Endangered Species Act protection of the wolf fostered its …

A Spatio-Temporal Comparison Of Avian Migration Phenology Using Citizen Science Data, Ali Arab, Jason R. Courter, Jessica Zelt

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The effects of climate change have wide-ranging impacts on wildlife species and recent studies indicate that birds’ spring arrival dates are advancing in response to changes in global climates. In this paper, we propose a spatio-temporal approach for comparing avian first arrival data for multiple species. As an example, we analyze spring arrival data for two long-distance migrants (Rubythroated Hummingbird Archilochus colubris; and Purple Martin Progne subis) in eastern North America from 2001–2010 using Citizen Science data. The proposed approach provides researchers with a tool to compare mean arrival dates while accounting for spatial and temporal variability. Our results show …

Phosphorus Retention In A Lowland Neotropical Stream Following An Eight-Year Enrichment Experiment, Gaston E. Small, Marcelo Ardón, John H. Duff, Alan P. Jackman, Alonso Ramírez, Frank J. Triska, Catherine M. Pringle

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Human alteration of the global P cycle has led to widespread P loading in freshwater ecosystems. Much research has been devoted to the capacity of wetlands and lakes to serve as long-term sinks for P inputs from the watershed, but we know much less about the potential of headwater streams to serve in this role. We assessed storage and retention of P in biotic and abiotic compartments after an 8-y experimental P addition to a 1st-order stream in a Neotropical wet forest. Sediment P extractions indicated that nearly all P storage was in the form of Fe- and Al-bound P …

Coherent Late-Holocene Climate-Driven Shifts In The Structure Of Three Rocky Mountain Lakes, Jeffrey R. Stone, Jasmine E. Saros, Gregory T. Pederson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Large-scale atmospheric pressure centers, such as the Aleutian and Icelandic Low, have a demonstrated relationship with physical lake characteristics in contemporary monitoring studies, but the responses to these phenomena are rarely observed in lake records. We observe coherent changes in the stratification patterns of three deep (>30 m) lakes inferred from fossil diatom assemblages as a response to shifts in the location and intensity of the Aleutian Low and compare these changes with similar long-term changes observed in the ¹⁸O record from the Yukon. Specifically, these records indicate that between 3.2 and 1.4 ka, the Aleutian Low shifted …

Using Satellite Vegetation And Compound Topographic Indices To Maphighly Erodible Cropland Buffers For Cellulosic Biofuel Cropdevelopments In Eastern Nebraska, Usa, Yingxin Gu, Bruce K. Wylie

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Cultivating annual row crops in high topographic relief waterway buffers has negative environmental effects and can be environmentally unsustainable. Growing perennial grasses such as switchgrass(Panicum virgatum L.) for biomass (e.g., cellulosic biofuel feedstocks) instead of annual row crops in these high relief waterway buffers can improve local environmental conditions (e.g., reduce soil erosion and improve water quality through lower use of fertilizers and pesticides) and ecosystem services (e.g.,minimize drought and flood impacts on production; improve wildlife habitat, plant vigor, and nitro-gen retention due to post-senescence harvest for cellulosic biofuels; and serve as carbon sinks). The main objectives of this …

Deep Subsurface Drip Irrigation Using Coal-Bed Sodic Water: Part Ii. Geochemistry, Carleton R. Bern, George N. Breit, Richard W. Healy, John W. Zupancic

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Waters with low salinity and high sodium adsorption ratios (SARs) present a challenge to irrigation because they degrade soil structure and infiltration capacity. In the Powder River Basin of Wyoming, such low salinity (electrical conductivity, EC 2.1 mS cm⁻¹) and high-SAR (54) waters are co-produced with coal-bed methane and some are used for subsurface drip irrigation (SDI). The SDI system studied mixes sulfuric acid with irrigation water and applies water year-round via drip tubing buried 92 cm deep. After six years of irrigation, SAR values between 0 and 30 cm depth (0.5–1.2) are only slightly increased over non-irrigated …

Geochemical Evidence For Seasonal Controls On The Transportation Of Holocene Loess, Matanuska Valley, Southern Alaska, Usa, Daniel R. Muhs, James R. Budahn, Gary Skipp, John P. Mcgeehin

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Loess is a widespread Quaternary deposit in Alaska and loess accretion occurs today in some regions, such as the Matanuska Valley. The source of loess in the Matanuska Valley has been debated for more than seven decades, with the Knik River and the Matanuska River, both to the east, being the leading candidates and the Susitna River, to the west, as a less favorable source. We report here new stratigraphic, mineralogic, and geochemical data that test the competing hypotheses of these river sources. Loess thickness data are consistent with previous studies that show that a source or sources lay to …

Retrospective: Adjusting Contaminant Concentrations In Bird Eggs To Account For Moisture And Lipid Loss During Their Incubation, Barnett A. Rattner, Stanley N. Wiemeyer, Lawrence J. Blus

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

By the 1960s, research and monitoring efforts on chlorinated

pesticide residues in tissues of wildlife were well

underway in North America and Europe. Conservationists

and natural resource managers were attempting to resolve

whether pesticide exposure and accumulated residues were

related to population declines in several species of predatory

and scavenging birds (e.g., bald eagle Haliaeetus

leucocephalus, peregrine falcon Falco peregrinus, brown

pelican Pelecanus occidentalis and osprey Pandion haliaetus).

The avian egg was a favored sampling matrix even

before the realization that eggshell thinning was linked to

population declines (Ratcliffe 1967; Hickey and Anderson

1968) and that the …

Component Greenhouse Gas Fluxes And Radiative Balance From Two Deltaic Marshes In Louisiana: Pairing Chamber Techniques And Eddy Covariance, Ken W. Krauss, Guerry O. Holm Jr., Brian C. Perez, David E. Mcwhorter, Nicole Cormier, Rebecca F. Moss, Darren J. Johnson, Scott C. Neubauer, Richard C. Raynie

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Coastal marshes take up atmospheric CO₂ while emitting CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O. This ability to sequester carbon (C) is much greater for wetlands on a per area basis than from most ecosystems, facilitating scientific, political, and economic interest in their value as greenhouse gas sinks. However, the greenhouse gas balance of Gulf of Mexico wetlands is particularly understudied. We describe the net ecosystem exchange (NEE_c) of CO₂ and CH₄ using eddy covariance (EC) in comparison with fluxes of CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O using …

Mapping Marginal Croplands Suitable For Cellulosic Feedstock Crops In The Great Plains, United States, Yingxin Gu, Bruce K. Wylie

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Growing cellulosic feedstock crops (e.g., switchgrass) for biofuel is more environmentally sustainable than cornbased ethanol. Specifically, this practice can reduce soil erosion and water quality impairment from pesticides and fertilizer, improve ecosystem services and sustainability (e.g., serve as carbon sinks), and minimize impacts on global food supplies. The main goal of this study was to identify high-risk marginal croplands that are potentially suitable for growing cellulosic feedstock crops (e.g., switchgrass) in the US Great Plains (GP). Satellitederived growing season Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, a switchgrass biomass productivity map obtained from a previous study, US Geological Survey (USGS) irrigation and crop …

Evaluating Methods To Establish Habitat Suitability Criteria: A Case Study In The Upper Delaware River Basin, Usa, H. S. Galbraith, C. J. Blakeslee, J. C. Cole, C. A. Talbert, K. O. Maloney

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Defining habitat suitability criteria (HSC) of aquatic biota can be a key component to environmental flow science. HSC can be developed through numerous methods; however, few studies have evaluated the consistency of HSC developed by different methodologies. We directly compared HSC for depth and velocity developed by the Delphi method (expert opinion) and by two primary literature meta-analyses (literature- derived range and interquartile range) to assess whether these independent methods produce analogous criteria for multiple species (rainbow trout, brown trout, American shad, and shallow fast guild) and life stages. We further evaluated how these two independently developed HSC affect calculations …

Evaluating Land Cover Influences On Model Uncertainties—A Case Study Of Cropland Carbon Dynamics In The Mid-Continent Intensive Campaign Region, Zhengpeng Li, Shuguang Liu, Xuesong Zhang, Tristram O. West, Stephen M. Ogle, Naijun Zhou

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

tQuantifying spatial and temporal patterns of carbon sources and sinks and their uncertainties acrossagriculture-dominated areas remains challenging for understanding regional carbon cycles. Character-istics of local land cover inputs could impact the regional carbon estimates but the effect has not beenfully evaluated in the past. Within the North American Carbon Program Mid-Continent Intensive (MCI)Campaign, three models were developed to estimate carbon fluxes on croplands: an inventory-basedmodel, the Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) model, and the General Ensemble biogeo-chemical Modeling System (GEMS) model. They all provided estimates of three major carbon fluxes oncropland: net primary production (NPP), net ecosystem production (NEP), and …

Processes Contributing To Resilience Of Coastal Wetlands To Sea-Level Rise, Camille L. Stagg, Ken W. Krauss, Donald R. Cahoon, Nicole Cormier, William H. Conner, Christopher M. Swarzenski

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The objectives of this study were to identify processes that contribute to resilience of coastal wetlands subject to rising sea levels and to determine whether the relative contribution of these processes varies across different wetland community types. We assessed the resilience of wetlands to sea-level rise along a transitional gradient from tidal freshwater forested wetland (TFFW) to marsh by measuring processes controlling wetland elevation. We found that, over 5 years of measurement, TFFWs were resilient, although some marginally, and oligohaline marshes exhibited robust resilience to sea-level rise. We identified fundamental differences in how resilience is maintained across wetland community types, …

Conserving California Condors In The 1980s, Noel F.R. Snyder

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

By the late 1970s, the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) was in serious trouble, with probably no more than about 30 birds left in existence, all in a mountainous region just north of Los Angeles that is vegetated mainly in chaparral and grasslands. All estimates of population size and trends offered since the early condor studies by Carl Koford in the 1930s and 1940s indicated a continuing decline toward extinction, and it appeared that few years were left before the species would be gone (see Koford, 1953; Wilbur, 1978). Evidently, the conservation steps that had been taken, including the …

Patuxent’S American Black Duck Studies From Chesapeake Bay To Maine And Beyond, Jerry R. Longcore

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The information in this chapter draws on published literature and unpublished reports written by staff members of the U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (Patuxent), during its 75-year history. Reports by Bureau of Biological Survey (Biological Survey) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) personnel are included because the research entity currently known as Patuxent was formerly administered by these agencies. Some of the cited reports were prepared by USFWS scientists while they were not working at Patuxent. Literature resulting from work at other Federal and State agencies and private and academic institutions that influenced research at Patuxent on …

The Migratory Bird And Habitat Research Laboratory And The Accelerated Research Program, Richard A. Coon

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (Patuxent) housed two important programs that were not supervised through the office of the Director of Patuxent during the 1960s and 1970s. Although they received administrative support from Patuxent, they were supervised from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) headquarters in Washington, D.C. One, the Migratory Bird Populations Station (MBPS), was established in 1961; the other, the Migratory Bird and Habitat Research Laboratory (MBHRL), was established in 1972 (Perry, 2004). This chapter briefly discusses MBPS and how some of its functions were transferred to MBHRL when this new laboratory was created.

Amino Acid Specific Stable Nitrogen Isotope Values In Avian Tissues: Insights From Captive American Kestrels And Wild Herring Gulls, C.E. Hebert, B.N. Popp, K.J. Fernie, C. Ka’Apu-Lyons, B.A. Rattner, N. Wallsgrove

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Through laboratory and field studies, the utility of amino acid compound-specific nitrogen isotope analysis (AA-CSIA) in avian studies is investigated. Captive American kestrels (Falco sparverius) were fed an isotopically characterized diet and patterns in δ15N values of amino acids (AAs) were compared to those in their tissues (muscle and red blood cells) and food. Based upon nitrogen isotope discrimination between diet and kestrel tissues, AAs could mostly be categorized as source AAs (retaining baseline δ15N values) and trophic AAs (showing 15N enrichment). Trophic discrimination factors based upon the source (phenylalanine, Phe) and trophic (glutamic acid, Glu) AAs were 4.1 (muscle) …

Non-Linear Responses Of Glaciated Prairie Wetlands To Climate Warming, W. Carter Johnson, Brett Werner, Glenn R. Guntenspergen

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The response of ecosystems to climate warming is likely to include threshold events when small changes in key environmental drivers produce large changes in an ecosystem. Wetlands of the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) are especially sensitive to climate variability, yet the possibility that functional changes may occur more rapidly with warming than expected has not been examined or modeled. The productivity and biodiversity of these wetlands are strongly controlled by the speed and completeness of a vegetation cover cycle driven by the wet and dry extremes of climate. Two thresholds involving duration and depth of standing water must be exceeded …

Pranked By Audubon: Constantine S. Rafinesque’S Description Of John James Audubon’S Imaginary Kentucky Mammals, Neal Woodman

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The North American naturalist Constantine S. Rafinesque spent much of the year 1818 engaged in a solo journey down the Ohio River Valley to explore parts of what was then the western United States. Along the way, he visited a number of fellow naturalists, and he spent more than a week at the Henderson, Kentucky, home of artist and ornithologist John James Audubon. During the succeeding two years, Rafinesque published descriptions of new species that resulted from his expedition, including eleven species of fishes that eventually proved to have been invented by Audubon as a prank on the credulous naturalist. …

Amino Acid Specific Stable Nitrogen Isotope Values In Avian Tissues: Insights From Captive American Kestrels And Wild Herring Gulls, C.E. Hebert, B.N. Popp, K.J. Fernie, C. Ka’Apu-Lyons, B.A. Rattner, N. Wallsgrove

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Through laboratory and field studies, the utility of amino acid compound-specific nitrogen isotope analysis (AA-CSIA) in avian studies is investigated. Captive American kestrels (Falco sparverius) were fed an isotopically characterized diet and patterns in δ15N values of amino acids (AAs) were compared to those in their tissues (muscle and red blood cells) and food. Based upon nitrogen isotope discrimination between diet and kestrel tissues, AAs could mostly be categorized as source AAs (retaining baseline δ15N values) and trophic AAs (showing 15N enrichment). Trophic discrimination factors based upon the source (phenylalanine, Phe) and trophic (glutamic acid, Glu) AAs were 4.1 (muscle) …

Non-Linear Responses Of Glaciated Prairie Wetlands To Climate Warming, W. Carter Johnson, Brett Werner, Glenn R. Guntenspergen

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The response of ecosystems to climate warming is likely to include threshold events when small changes in key environmental drivers produce large changes in an ecosystem. Wetlands of the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) are especially sensitive to climate variability, yet the possibility that functional changes may occur more rapidly with warming than expected has not been examined or modeled. The productivity and biodiversity of these wetlands are strongly controlled by the speed and completeness of a vegetation cover cycle driven by the wet and dry extremes of climate. Two thresholds involving duration and depth of standing water must be exceeded …

Pranked By Audubon: Constantine S. Rafinesque’S Description Of John James Audubon’S Imaginary Kentucky Mammals, Neal Woodman

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The North American naturalist Constantine S. Rafinesque spent much of the year 1818 engaged in a solo journey down the Ohio River Valley to explore parts of what was then the western United States. Along the way, he visited a number of fellow naturalists, and he spent more than a week at the Henderson, Kentucky, home of artist and ornithologist John James Audubon. During the succeeding two years, Rafinesque published descriptions of new species that resulted from his expedition, including eleven species of fishes that eventually proved to have been invented by Audubon as a prank on the credulous naturalist. …

The Vulnerability Of Indo-Pacific Mangrove Forests To Sea-Level Rise, Catherine E. Lovelock, Donald R. Cahoon, Daniel A. Friess, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Ken W. Krauss, Ruth Reef, Kerrylee Rogers, Megan L. Saunders, Frida Sidik, Andrew Swales, Neil Saintilan, Le Xuan Thuyen, Tran Triet

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Sea-level rise can threaten the long-term sustainability of coastal communities and valuable ecosystems such as coral reefs, salt marshes and mangroves^1,2. Mangrove forests have the capacity to keep pace with sea-level rise and to avoid inundation through vertical accretion of sediments, which allows them to maintain wetland soil elevations suitable for plant growth³. The Indo- Pacific region holds most of the world’s mangrove forests⁴, but sediment delivery in this region is declining, owing to anthropogenic activities such as damming of rivers⁵. This decline is of particular concern because the Indo-Pacific region is …

Sinkhole Vulnerability Mapping: Results From A Pilot Study In North Central Florida, Clint Kromhout, Alan E. Baker

Sinkhole Conference 2015

At the end of June in 2012, Tropical Storm Debby dropped a record amount of rainfall across Florida which triggered hundreds, if not thousands, of sinkholes to form which resulted in tremendous damage to property. The Florida Division of Emergency Management contracted with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Florida Geological Survey to produce a map depicting the state’s vulnerability to sinkhole formation. The three-year project began with a pilot study in three northern Florida counties: Columbia, Hamilton and Suwannee. Utilizing the statistical modeling method Weights of Evidence, results from the pilot study yielded a 93 percent success rate of …

A New Microenvironment For The Formation Of Clay Minerals: The Example Of Authigenic Halloysite-7Å And Gibbsite In A Stalactite From Agios Georgios Cave, Kilkis, North Greece, Elena Ifandi, Basilios Tsikouras, Dimitrios Papoulis, Konstantin Hatzipanagiotou, Aspasia Antonelou

International Journal of Speleology

An unusual authigenic origin for halloysite and gibbsite is reported in a stalactite from Agios Georgios Cave, Kilkis. This speleothem includes mostly pure calcite whereas minor areas of Mg-rich calcite and scarce dolomite are present in four growth phases. Abundant pores are created due to imperfect coalescence of the calcite crystals. Several of them contain detrital muscovite, which was presumably transferred from the dripping water, during the formation of speleothem and has been variably altered to halloysite. Several pores in the stalactite contain different mineral assemblages that we interpret as in situ: halloysite-7Å, halloysite + silica, gibbsite + silica and …

Short-Term Response Of Holcus Lanatus L. (Common Velvetgrass) To Chemical And Manual Control At Yosemite National Park, Usa, Laura J. Jones, Steven M. Ostoja, Matthew L. Brooks, Martin Hutten

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

One of the highest priority invasive species at both Yosemite and Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks is Holcus lanatus L. (common velvetgrass), a perennial bunchgrass that invades mid-elevation montane meadows. Despite velvetgrass being a high priority species, there is little information available on control techniques. The goal of this project was to evaluate the short-term response of a single application of common chemical and manual velvetgrass control techniques. The study was conducted at three montane sites in Yosemite National Park. Glyphosate spotspray treatments were applied at 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0% concentrations, and compared with hand pulling to evaluate …

Mid-Holocene Speleothem Climate Proxy Records From Florida And Belize, Anna L. Pollock

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As global temperatures rise due to anthropogenic climate change, water resources, thus economies, are threatened. A geologically recent period of increased temperatures is the mid-Holocene and an investigation of its climate may allow for a better understanding of future precipitation and changes to regional water resources. The regions of interest are tropical Northern Central America and subtropical North America with Belize and Florida representing each climate zone. By reconstructing mid-Holocene climate in Florida and Belize, I hope to provide a better understanding of how increased temperatures and a reduced latitudinal temperature gradient impacts both precipitation patterns and variability. Today, drivers …