Geology topics

S. Jones

Publications and source records attributed to S. Jones.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2026

The FunAqua dataset of global fungal biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems

Advances in high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies have accelerated research on aquatic microorganisms, their diversity, and ecological functions. This has also significantly advanced research on fungi that shape aquatic ecosystems and food webs. Here, we present the FunAqua dataset, which describes global fungal biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems based on eukaryotic long-read metabarcoding data from 1,076 sediment and 1,299 filtered water samples collected across 1,452 sampling sites in 87 countries. We targeted the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region. In total, 50,152 fungal OTUs were recorded. The sequencing data is accompanied by comprehensive sample metadata, including physicochemical data of water and sediments. The FunAqua dataset provides a new resource for analysing and better understanding the biodiversity of fungi in different types of aquatic habitats across biogeographical regions. The dataset described in this data paper will be periodically updated with additional metabarcoding data.

Scientific Data↗

USGS2024

Identifying and filling critical knowledge gaps can optimize financial viability of blue carbon projects in tidal wetlands

One of the world’s largest “blue carbon” ecosystems, Louisiana’s tidal wetlands on the US Gulf of Mexico coast, is rapidly being lost. Louisiana’s strong legal, regulatory, and monitoring framework, developed for one of the world’s largest tidal wetland systems, provides an opportunity for a programmatic approach to blue carbon accreditation to support restoration of these ecologically and economically important tidal wetlands. Louisiana’s coastal wetlands span ∼1.4 million ha and accumulate 5.5–7.3 Tg yr −1 of blue carbon (organic carbon), ∼6%–8% of tidal marsh blue carbon accumulation globally. Louisiana has a favorable governance framework to advance blue carbon accreditation, due to centralized restoration planning, long term coastal monitoring, and strong legal and regulatory frameworks around carbon. Additional restoration efforts, planned through Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan, over 50 years are projected to create, or avoid loss of, up to 81,000 ha of wetland. Current restoration funding, primarily from Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlements, will be fully committed by the early 2030s and additional funding sources are required. Existing accreditation methodologies have not been successfully applied to coastal Louisiana’s ecosystem restoration approaches or herbaceous tidal wetland types. Achieving financial viability for accreditation of these restoration and wetland types will require expanded application of existing blue carbon crediting methodologies. It will also require expanded approaches for predicting the future landscape without restoration, such as numerical modeling, to be validated. Additional methodologies (and/or standards) would have many common elements with those currently available but may be beneficial, depending on the goals and needs of both the state of Louisiana and potential purchasers of Louisiana tidal wetland carbon credits. This study identified twenty targeted needs that will address data and knowledge gaps to maximize financial viability of blue carbon accreditation for Louisiana’s tidal wetlands. Knowledge needs were identified in five categories: legislative and policy, accreditation methodologies and standards, soil carbon flux, methane flux, and lateral carbon flux. Due to the large spatial scale and diversity of tidal wetlands, it is expected that progress in coastal Louisiana has high potential to be generalized to similar wetland ecosystems across the northern Gulf of Mexico and globally.

Louisiana↗

USGS2023

Distribution of summer-habitat for the Indiana bat on the Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia

Hierarchical conservation and management of Indiana bat ( Myotis sodalis ) habitat may benefit from use of species distribution models. White-nose syndrome has caused additional declines for this endangered bat, requiring use of historical presence locations for habitat-related analy- ses. We created random forest presence/pseudo-absence models to assess the distribution and availability of Indiana bat habitat across the 670,000-ha Monongahela National Forest (MNF), West Virginia, USA. We collated historical roost and capture locations, both individually and in combination, to examine impacts of various biotic and abiotic predictors on roosting and foraging habitat of Indiana bats. Our final concordance map suggests that Indiana bat habitat was abundant (37.2% of the MNF) but localized, with predicted suitable areas often associated with edges of dry-calcareous forests. We observed significant variation between models, with the capture-only model independently identifying the greatest amount of potential habitat (47.8%). However, 21.9% of all potential Indiana bat habitat was identified by complete inter-model agreement. Our SDM outputs may assist land managers in identifying avoidance areas and new survey sites (i.e., capture and acoustic sampling) to support forest management activities.

West Viginia↗

USGS2023

Distribution of northern long-eared bat summer-habitat derived from historical data collected on the Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia, USA

Species distribution models enable resource managers to avoid and mitigate impacts to, or enhance habitat of, target species at the landscape level. Persistent declines of northern long-eared bats ( Myotis septentrionalis ) due to white-nose syndrome have made acquisition of contemporary data difficult. Therefore, use of legacy data may be necessary for creation of species distribution models. We used historical roost and capture records, both individually and in combination, to assess the distribution and availability of northern long-eared bat habitat across the 670,000-ha Monongahela Na- tional Forest (MNF), West Virginia, USA. We created random forest presence/pseudo-absence models to examine influences of various biotic and abi- otic predictors on both roosting and foraging presence locations of northern long-eared bats. Predicted northern long-eared bat habitat was abundant (43.1% of the MNF) and widely dispersed. Generally, all models suggested that northern long-eared bat habitat was characterized by interior forests containing linear edge features. We observed only 3.4% spatial overlap of habitat based on complete model agreement, but 38.5% of all habitat areas resulted from agreement between capture-only and combination models. Our models provide important assessments of habitat availability necessary for addressing state and federal conservation requirements on the MNF and adjacent eastern West Virginia mountains.

West Virginia↗

USGS2008

Compound-specific isotope analysis: Questioning the origins of a trichloroethene plume

Stable carbon isotope ratios of trichloroethene (TCE), cis-1,2- dichloroethene, and trans-1,2-dichloroethene were determined by use of gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectroscopy to determine whether compound-specific stable carbon isotopes could be used to help understand the origin and history of a TCE groundwater plume in Fort Worth, TX. Calculated ??13C values for total chlorinated ethenes in groundwater samples, which can approximate the ??13C of a spilled solvent if all degradation products are accounted for, were useful for determining whether separate lobes of the plume resulted from different sources. Most notably, values for one lobe, where tetrachloroethene (PCE) has been detected periodically, were outside the range for manufactured TCE but within the range for manufactured PCE, whereas values for a separate lobe, which is downgradient of reported TCE spills, were within the range for manufactured TCE. Copyright ?? Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Environmental Forensics↗

USGS2006

Comet 81P/wild 2 under a microscope

The Stardust spacecraft collected thousands of particles from comet 81P/Wild 2 and returned them to Earth for laboratory study. The preliminary examination of these samples shows that the nonvolatile portion of the comet is an unequilibrated assortment of materials that have both presolar and solar system origin. The comet contains an abundance of silicate grains that are much larger than predictions of interstellar grain models, and many of these are high-temperature minerals that appear to have formed in the inner regions of the solar nebula. Their presence in a comet proves that the formation of the solar system included mixing on the grandest scales.

Science↗

USGS2005

The Program for Regional and International Shorebird Monitoring (PRISM)

This report describes the "Program for Regional and International Shorebird Monitoring" (PRISM). PRISM is being implemented by a Canada-United States Shorebird Monitoring and Assessment Committee formed in 2001 by the Canadian Shorebird Working Group and the U.S. Shorebird Council. PRISM provides a single blueprint for implementing the shorebird conservation plans recently completed in Canada and the United States. The goals of PRISM are to (1) estimate the size of breeding population of 74 shorebird taxa in North America; (2) describe the distribution, abundance, and habitat relationships for each of these taxa; (3) monitor trends in shorebird population size; (4) monitor shorebird numbers at stopover locations, and; (5) assist local managers in meeting their shorebird conservation goals. PRISM has four main components: arctic and boreal breeding surveys, temperate breeding surveys, temperate non-breeding surveys, and neotropical surveys. Progress on, and action items for, each major component are described. The more important major tasks for immediate action are carrying out the northern surveys, conducting regional analyses to design the program of migration counts, and evaluating aerial photographic surveys for migration and winter counts.

General Technical Report↗

USGS2004

Habitat disturbance and the diversity and abundance of ants (Formicidae) in the Southeastern Fall-Line Sandhills

We examined habitat disturbance, species richness, equitability, and abundance of ants in the Fall-Line Sandhills, at Fort Benning, Georgia. We collected ants with pitfall traps, sweep nets, and by searching tree trunks. Disturbed areas were used for military training; tracked and wheeled vehicles damaged vegetation and soils. Highly disturbed sites had fewer trees, diminished ground cover, warmer soils in the summer, and more compacted soils with a shallower A-horizon. We collected 48 species of ants, in 23 genera (141,468 individuals), over four years of sampling. Highly disturbed areas had fewer species, and greater numbers of ants than did moderately or lightly disturbed areas. The ant communities in disturbed areas were also less equitable, and were dominated by Dorymyrmex smithi .

Georgia↗