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At least 289 records · Page 16Linked to original sources

USGS2010

Environmental flow studies of the Fort Collins Science Center— Cherry Creek, Arizona

At the request of the U.S. Forest Service, an instream flow assessment was conducted at Cherry Creek, Ariz., to investigate habitat for native and introduced fish species and to describe the beneficial use of a possible instream flow water right. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Fort Collins Science Center performed an intensive field study of two sections of Cherry Creek in September 2008 to provide base data for hydrodynamic simulation of the flow conditions in the stream. The USGS Arizona Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, at the University of Arizona School of Natural Resources, conducted a survey of the habitat requirements of the resident fish species in Cherry Creek and provided the habitat suitability criteria used in this study. The habitat suitability criteria were combined with hydrodynamic simulation results to quantify fish habitat for the full range of daily flow experienced in the creek and to produce maps of habitat occurrence for those flows. The flow record at the Cherry Creek stream gage was used to generate habitat response values over time. The long-term habitat response was incorporated into an Excel (Registered) spreadsheet to allow evaluation of habitat occurrence with and without an instream water right under different hypothetical water withdrawal scenarios. The spreadsheet displays information about the time sequence of habitat events, the duration of critical events, and habitat retention.

Arizona↗

USGS1989

Investigations of SPOT cartographic applications in the U.S. Geological Survey

The US Geological Survey has a longstanding commitment to the advancement of the technology and applications of remotely sensed data from civilian satellite systems. In the past, research based on satellite data was primarily directed toward natural resource and land use applications rather than cartographic applications. The availability of high-resolution, steroscopic data from the sensors on SPOT provides new opportunities for cartographic applications. The potential applications include production of satellite image and topographic maps, and generation of digital elevation data.

CISM Journal ACSGC↗

USGS2021

Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units program—2020 Year in review

Established in 1935, the Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units program (CRU program) is a unique cooperative partnership among State fish and wildlife agencies, universities, the Wildlife Management Institute, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Designed to meet the scientific needs of natural resource management agencies and the necessity for trained professionals in the growing field of wildlife management, the program has grown from the original 9 wildlife-only units to a program that today includes 40 Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units located on university campuses in 38 States. The partnerships that form each unit are some of the USGS’s strongest links to Federal and State land and natural resource agencies as mandated by the Cooperative Research and Training Units Act of 1960 (P.L. 86–686). This report highlights the activities and accomplishments of the program and its cooperators for calendar year 2020.

Circular↗

USGS2021

Using social values in the prioritization of research: Quantitative examples and generalizations

Identifying critical uncertainties about ecological systems can help prioritize research efforts intended to inform management decisions. However, exclusively focusing on the ecological system neglects the objectives of natural resource managers and the associated social values tied to risks and rewards of actions. I demonstrate how to prioritize research efforts for a harvested population by applying expected value of perfect information (EVPI) to harvest decisions made with a density-independent matrix population model. Research priorities identified by EVPI diverge from priorities identified by matrix elasticity analyses that ignore social utility. Using a density-dependent harvest model, the value of information about the intrinsic productivity of a population is shown to be sensitive to the socially determined penalty for implementing a harvest rate that deviates from the goal because of imperfection in estimation. Synthesis and applications . The effect of including social values into harvest decision-making depends on the assumed population model, uncertainty in population vital rates, and the particular form of the utility function used to represent risk/reward of harvest. EVPI analyses that include perceived utility of different outcomes can be used by managers seeking to optimize monitoring and research spending. Collaboration between applied ecologists and social scientists that quantitatively measure peoples' values is needed in many structured decision-making processes.

Ecology and Evolution↗

USGS2022

Murky waters: Divergent ways scientists, practitioners, and landowners evaluate beaver mimicry

Beaver mimicry is a fast-growing conservation technique to restore streams and manage water that is gaining popularity within the natural resource management community because of a wide variety of claimed socio-environmental benefits. Despite a growing number of projects, many questions and concerns about beaver mimicry remain. This study draws on qualitative data from 49 interviews with scientists, practitioners, and landowners, to explore the question of how beaver mimicry projects continue to be promoted and implemented, despite the lack of comprehensive scientific studies and unclear regulatory requirements. Specifically, we investigate how these three groups differentially assess the salience, credibility, and legitimacy of evidence for beaver mimicry and analyze how those assessments affect each group’s conclusions about the feasibility, desirability, and scalability of beaver mimicry. By highlighting the interaction between how someone assesses evidence and how they draw conclusions about an emerging natural resource management approach, we draw attention to the roles of experiential evidence and scientific data in debates over beaver mimicry. Our research emphasizes that understanding how different groups perceive salience, credibility, and legitimacy of scientific information is necessary for understanding how they make assessments about conservation and natural resource management strategies.

Ecology and Society↗

USGS2014

The Devonian Marcellus Shale and Millboro Shale

The recent development of unconventional oil and natural gas resources in the United States builds upon many decades of research, which included resource assessment and the development of well completion and extraction technology. The Eastern Gas Shales Project, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy in the 1980s, investigated the gas potential of organic-rich, Devonian black shales in the Appalachian, Michigan, and Illinois basins. One of these eastern shales is the Middle Devonian Marcellus Shale, which has been extensively developed for natural gas and natural gas liquids since 2007. The Marcellus is one of the basal units in a thick Devonian shale sedimentary sequence in the Appalachian basin. The Marcellus rests on the Onondaga Limestone throughout most of the basin, or on the time-equivalent Needmore Shale in the southeastern parts of the basin. Another basal unit, the Huntersville Chert, underlies the Marcellus in the southern part of the basin. The Devonian section is compressed to the south, and the Marcellus Shale, along with several overlying units, grades into the age-equivalent Millboro Shale in Virginia. The Marcellus-Millboro interval is far from a uniform slab of black rock. This field trip will examine a number of natural and engineered exposures in the vicinity of the West Virginia–Virginia state line, where participants will have the opportunity to view a variety of sedimentary facies within the shale itself, sedimentary structures, tectonic structures, fossils, overlying and underlying formations, volcaniclastic ash beds, and to view a basaltic intrusion.

GSA Field Guides↗

USGS2016

Proceedings of the 12th Biennial Conference of research on the Colorado Plateau

Introduction The Colorado Plateau is a physiographic region that encompasses 330,000 square kilometers in parts of four states in the southwestern United States (Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona). Known for its high deserts, the Colorado Plateau also includes isolated mountains, high plateaus, and rugged canyons. Not only is the region topographically diverse, but geologically, biologically, and culturally diverse as well. The landscape is managed by Federal entities including the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Forest Service; Tribal nations including the Navajo Nation, Kaibab Paiute, Mountain Ute, Southern Ute, Hopi, Zuni, Hualapai, Havasupai, and White Mountain Apache Tribes; State land and wildlife management agencies; and privately owned holdings, creating complex interactions and management challenges. Population growth, increased tourism to Federal and State lands, and energy development have increased water demands and altered land-use patterns, and these changes have emerged as management challenges facing the people working and living in the region. Climate change, particularly the ongoing drought, has exacerbated the effects of population growth, land-use change, and other stressors such as invasive species. As managers seek solutions to the challenges facing the region’s natural and cultural resources, the Biennial Conference of Science and Management of the Colorado Plateau has become an important venue for exchanging information about emerging management concerns and recent scientific research. Each biennial conference has sought to promote discussion, information sharing, and productive communication among the managers, scientists, students, administrators, tribal representatives, and others who attend the conference with the goal of enhancing the use of the best available science to manage the region’s incomparable natural and cultural resources. The publication and dissemination of a conference proceedings series expands the reach of the conference beyond those people in attendance and creates a record on the research presented. The idea of producing a conference proceedings, and its subsequent publication, first occurred in 1993 following the first biennial conference in 1991. A published volume of contributed papers has followed each subsequent biennial conference, including this volume. The venue for publishing proceedings has changed over the years and has included the National Park Service, the Government Printing Office, the U.S. Geological Survey, and University of Arizona Press. Recently, van Riper and others (2015) published a compilation of the abstracts from the 11 previous conference proceedings. Collectively, the proceedings highlight approximately 25 years of natural- and cultural-resources research, promoting the integration of research with resource management across the Colorado Plateau. This volume is freely downloadable by the public, thereby further expanding the influence of this conference beyond the Colorado Plateau. The 12th Biennial Conference held in Flagstaff, Arizona, from September 16 to 19, 2013, covered a range of topics in the physical, biological, and socio-cultural sciences. The conference was organized and hosted by Northern Arizona University’s ( NAU) Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research, the Colorado Plateau Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, and the U.S. Geological Survey Southwest Biological Science Center. Financial and in-kind support was provided by a wide range of organizations including the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Grand Canyon Trust, Colorado Plateau Research Station, and various NAU entities. NAU sponsors include the Landscape Conservation Initiative, School of Forestry, School of Earth Science and Environmental Sustainability, Office of the Provost, and Office of the Vice President of Research. Contributors to these proceedings include researchers and managers from Federal, State, and Tribal governments, universities, private entities, and non-profit organizations. In this regard, this conference has wide-ranging support and participation among private and public entities involved in the science and management of natural resources on the Colorado Plateau.

Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah↗

USGS1985

The use of natural waters as U.S. Geological Survey reference samples

The U.S. Geological Survey conducts research and collects hydrologic data relating to the Nation's water resources. Two water quality laboratories in Atlanta, Georgia, and Denver, Colorado, support the national research programs, and provide chemical analyses of natural waters for the data program. Additional chemical water quality data are provided by cooperator and contract laboratories. Continuous quality assurance efforts with these laboratories require several thousand reference samples each year. Reference samples approximating actual field samples provide the most realistic quality assurance for the laboratories. Seven types of natural matrix reference water samples are prepared for use in the Survey's quality assurance program. These include samples containing major constituents, trace metals, nutrients, herbicides, insecticides, trace metals in a water and suspended-sediment mixture, and precipitation (snowmelt). To prepare these reference samples, natural water is collected in plastic drums and the sediment is allowed to settle. The water is then filtered, selected constituents are added, and if necessary the water is acidified and sterilized by ultraviolet irradiation before bottling in plastic or glass. More than 1000 1-L samples of a given type may be prepared at a time. These reference samples are distributed twice yearly to more than 100 laboratories for chemical analysis. The most probable values for each constituent are determined by evaluating the data submitted by the laboratories using statistical techniques recommended by ASTM. A stockpile of several thousand reference samples is maintained by the preparation of new samples as needed. Periodically, some of these samples are submitted to laboratories as “unknowns”. When the analytical data for these samples are reported and evaluated, problem areas detected are promptly reported to the respective laboratory. Use of both identified and unidentified reference samples provides some of the quality assurance data necessary to ensure the continuing accuracy of chemical analyses obtained to support the Survey's basic water-data collection and research program activities.

Conference Paper↗

USGS2022

Evaluating the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission to bats in the context of wildlife research, rehabilitation, and control

Preventing wildlife disease outbreaks is a priority for natural resource agencies, and management decisions can be urgent, especially in epidemic circumstances. With the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, wildlife agencies were concerned whether the activities they authorize might increase the risk of viral transmission from humans to North American bats, but had a limited amount of time in which to make decisions. We describe how decision analysis provides a powerful framework to analyze and reanalyze complex natural resource management problems as knowledge evolves. Coupled with expert judgment and avenues for the rapid release of information, risk assessment can provide timely scientific information for evolving decisions. In April 2020, the first rapid risk assessment was conducted to evaluate the risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from humans to North American bats. Based on the best available information and relying heavily on expert judgment, the risk assessment found a small possibility of transmission during summer work activities. Following that assessment, additional knowledge and data emerged, such as bat viral challenge studies, that further elucidated the risks of human-to-bat transmission and culminated in a second risk assessment in the fall of 2020. We updated the first SARS-CoV-2 risk assessment with new management alternatives and new estimates of little brown bat ( Myotis lucifugus ) susceptibility, using findings from the fall 2020 assessment and other empirical studies. We found that new knowledge led to an 88% decrease in the median number of bats estimated to be infected per 1,000 encountered when compared to earlier results. The use of facemasks during, or a negative COVID-19 test or vaccination prior to, bat encounters further reduced those risks. Using a combination of decision analysis, expert judgment, rapid risk assessment, and efficient modes of information distribution, we provided timely science-based support to decision makers for summer bat work in North America.

Wildlife Society Bulletin↗

USGS2018

The U.S. Geological Survey’s Gas Hydrates Project

The Gas Hydrates Project at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) focuses on the study of methane hydrates in natural environments. The project is a collaboration between the USGS Energy Resources and the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Programs and works closely with other U.S. Federal agencies, some State governments, outside research organizations, and international partners. The USGS studies the formation and distribution of gas hydrates in nature, the potential of hydrates as an energy resource, and the interaction between methane hydrates and the environment. The USGS Gas Hydrates Project carries out field programs and participates in drilling expeditions to study marine and terrestrial gas hydrates. USGS scientists also acquire new geophysical data and sample sediments, the water column, and the atmosphere in areas where gas hydrates occur. In addition, project personnel analyze datasets provided by partners and manage unique laboratories that supply state-of-the-art analytical capabilities to advance national and international priorities related to gas hydrates.

Fact Sheet↗

USGS2009

Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

The Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) conducts integrated research to fulfill the Department of the Interior's responsibilities to the Nation's natural resources. Located on 600 acres along the James River Valley near Jamestown, North Dakota, the NPWRC develops and disseminates scientific information needed to understand, conserve, and wisely manage the Nation's biological resources. Research emphasis is primarily on midcontinental plant and animal species and ecosystems of the United States. During the center's 40-year history, its scientists have earned an international reputation for leadership and expertise on the biology of waterfowl and grassland birds, wetland ecology and classification, mammalian behavior and ecology, grassland ecosystems, and application of statistics and geographic information systems. To address current science challenges, NPWRC scientists collaborate with researchers from other U.S. Geological Survey centers and disciplines (Biology, Geography, Geology, and Water) and with biologists and managers in the Department of the Interior (DOI), other Federal agencies, State agencies, universities, and nongovernmental organizations. Expanding upon its scientific expertise and leadership, the NPWRC is moving in new directions, including invasive plant species, restoration of native habitats, carbon sequestration and marketing, and ungulate management on DOI lands.

Fact Sheet↗

USGS2020

Gaps and hotspots in the state of knowledge of pinyon-juniper communities

Pinyon-juniper (PJ) plant communities cover a large area across North America and provide critical habitat for wildlife, biodiversity and ecosystem functions, and rich cultural resources. These communities occur across a variety of environmental gradients, disturbance regimes, structural conditions and species compositions, including three species of juniper and two species of pinyon. PJ communities have experienced substantial changes in recent decades and identifying appropriate management strategies for these diverse communities is a growing challenge. Here, we surveyed the literature and compiled 441 studies to characterize patterns in research on PJ communities through time, across geographic space and climatic conditions, and among focal species. We evaluate the state of knowledge for three focal topics: 1) historical stand dynamics and responses to disturbance, 2) land management actions and their effects, and 3) potential future responses to changing climate. We identified large and potentially important gaps in our understanding of pinyon-juniper communities both geographically and topically. The effect of drought on Pinus edulis, the pinyon pine species in eastern PJ communities was frequently addressed, while few studies focused on drought effects on Pinus monophylla , which occurs in western PJ communities. The largest proportion of studies that examined land management actions only measured their effects for one year. Grazing was a common land-use across the geographic range of PJ communities yet was rarely studied. We found only 39 studies that had information on the impacts of anthropogenic climate change and most were concentrated on Pinus edulis . These results provide a synthetic perspective on PJ communities that can help natural resource managers identify relevant knowledge needed for decision-making and researchers design new studies to fill important knowledge gaps.

Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico,↗

USGS2025

Constraints and enablers for meaningful consideration of plural values through integration of cultural ecosystem services (CES) in decision-making

This chapter presents and applies five constraint/enabler categories that influence integration of the plural values of cultural ecosystem services (CES) in decision-making, highlighting how diverse forms of CES knowledge can intersect with decision making contexts. CES make foundational contributions to human well-being, and yet they are consistently underrepresented in research products intended to inform decision-making. In particular, the relational and holistic values associated with CES categories such as cultural identity and maintenance of knowledge systems have been inadequately conveyed through existing instrumental approaches to ecosystem service assessment and ecosystem valuation. In this chapter we detail (1) a spectrum of forms in which CES knowledge may be conveyed to inform decision-making and (2) constraints and enabling factors that influence whether plural CES values are meaningfully considered in decision-making. This chapter considers how these constraints/enablers commonly influence integration of distinct CES knowledge forms in natural resource management decision contexts. Examples are then offered from case study research on Elwha River dam removal decision-making (Washington state, USA). These examples illustrate that factors commonly constraining integration of diverse CES knowledge forms can transform into enablers for meaningful consideration of relational values and holistic value perspectives, alongside instrumental values. The chapter concludes with takeaways for decision-makers, managers, and those who hold CES knowledge and seek to convey plural CES values to inform decision-making.

Book chapter↗

USGS2009

Water-Resources Data and Hydrogeologic Setting at the Raleigh Hydrogeologic Research Station, Wake County, North Carolina, 2005-2007

Water-resources data were collected to describe the hydrologic conditions at the Raleigh hydrogeologic research station, located in the Piedmont Physiographic Province of North Carolina. Data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Division of Water Quality, from May 2005 through September 2007 are presented in this report. Three well clusters and four piezometers were installed at the Raleigh hydrogeologic research station along an assumed flow path from recharge to discharge areas. Each well cluster includes four wells to monitor the regolith, transition zone, and shallow and deep bedrock. Borehole, surface, and waterborne geophysics were conducted to examine the lithology and physical properties of the bedrock and to determine the aerial extent of near vertical diabase dikes. Slug tests were conducted in the wells at each cluster to determine the hydraulic conductivity of the formation tapped by each well. Periodic water-level altitudes were measured in all wells and in four piezometers. Continuous hourly water levels were measured in wells for variable periods of time during the study, and a surface-water gage collected 15-minute stage data from April to June 2006. In October 2005 and April 2006, water-quality samples were collected from a tributary and in all wells at the Raleigh hydrogeologic research station. Continuous water-quality data were collected hourly in three wells from December 2005 through January 2007 and every 15 minutes in the tributary from May to June 2006. In August 2006, streambed temperatures and drive-point ground-water samples were collected across lines of section spanning the Neuse River.

Open-File Report↗

USGS2007

Conservation biology for suites of species: Demographic modeling for Pacific island kingfishers

Conservation practitioners frequently extrapolate data from single-species investigations when managing critically endangered populations. However, few researchers initiate work with the intent of making findings useful to conservation efforts for other species. We presented and explored the concept of conducting conservation-oriented research for suites of geographically separated populations with similar natural histories, resource needs, and extinction threats. An example was provided in the form of an investigation into the population demography of endangered Micronesian kingfishers (Todiramphus cinnamominus). We provided the first demographic parameter estimates for any of the 12 endangered Pacific Todiramphus species, and used results to develop a population projection matrix model for management throughout the insular Pacific. Further, we used the model for elasticity and simulation analyses with demographic values that randomly varied across ranges that might characterize congener populations. Results from elasticity and simulation analyses indicated that changes in breeding adult survival exerted the greatest magnitude of influence on population dynamics. However, changes in nestling survival were more consistently correlated with population dynamics as demographic rates were randomly altered. We concluded that conservation practitioners working with endangered Pacific kingfishers should primarily focus efforts on factors affecting nestling and breeder survival, and secondarily address fledgling juveniles and helpers. Further, we described how the generalized base model might be changed to focus on individual populations and discussed the potential application of multi-species models to other conservation situations. ?? 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Biological Conservation↗

USGS2017

Coupling ecological and social network models to assess “transmission” and “contagion” of an aquatic invasive species

Network analysis is used to address diverse ecological, social, economic, and epidemiological questions, but few efforts have been made to combine these field-specific analyses into interdisciplinary approaches that effectively address how complex systems are interdependent and connected to one another. Identifying and understanding these cross-boundary connections improves natural resource management and promotes proactive, rather than reactive, decisions. This research had two main objectives; first, adapt the framework and approach of infectious disease network modeling so that it may be applied to the socio-ecological problem of spreading aquatic invasive species, and second, use this new coupled model to simulate the spread of the invasive Chinese mystery snail ( Bellamya chinensis ) in a reservoir network in Southeastern Nebraska, USA. The coupled model integrates an existing social network model of how anglers move on the landscape with new reservoir-specific ecological network models. This approach allowed us to identify 1) how angler movement among reservoirs aids in the spread of B . chinensis , 2) how B . chinensis alters energy flows within individual-reservoir food webs, and 3) a new method for assessing the spread of any number of non-native or invasive species within complex, social-ecological systems.

Journal of Environmental Management↗

USGS2009

Mesohaline submerged aquatic vegetation survey along the U.S. gulf of Mexico coast, 2001 and 2002: A salinity gradient approach

Distribution of marine submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV; i.e., seagrass) in the northern Gulf of Mexico coast has been documented, but there are nonmarine submersed or SAV species occurring in estuarine salinities that have not been extensively reported. We sampled 276 SAV beds along the gulf coast in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas in 2001 and 2002 in oligohaline to polyhaline (0 to 36 parts per thousand) waters to determine estuarine SAV species distribution and identify mesohaline SAV communities. A total of 20 SAV and algal species was identified and habitat characteristics such as salinity, water depth, pH, conductivity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, and sediment composition were collected. Fourteen SAV species occurred two or more times in our samples. The most frequently occurring species was Ruppia maritima L. (n = 148), occurring in over half of SAV beds sampled. Eleocharis sp. (n = 47), characterized with an emergent rather than submerged growth form, was a common genus in the SAV beds sampled. A common marine species was Halodule wrightii Asch. (n = 36). Nonindigenous species Myriophyllum spicatum L. (n = 31) and Hydrilla verticillata (L. f.) Royle (n = 6) were present only in oligohaline water. Analyzing species occurrence and environmental characteristics using canonical correspondence and two-way indicator species analysis, we identify five species assemblages distinguished primarily by salinity and depth. Our survey increases awareness of nonmarine SAV as a natural resource in the gulf, and provides baseline data for future research.

Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas↗

USGS1981

The EROS Data Center

The Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Program of the U.S. Department of the Interior, administered by the Geological Survey, was established in 1966 to apply remote-sensing techniques to the inventory, monitoring, and management of natural resources. To meet its primary objective, the EROS Program includes research and training in the interpretation and application of remotely sensed data and provides remotely sensed data at nominal cost to scientists, resource planners, managers, and the public.

South Dakota↗