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At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
USGS2013

Wetland Reserve Program enhances site occupancy and species richness in assemblages of anuran amphibians in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, USA

We measured amphibian habitat use to quantify the effectiveness of conservation practices implemented under the Wetland Reserve Program (WRP), an initiative of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. From February to June 2007, we quantified calling male anurans in cultivated cropland, former cultivated cropland restored through the WRP, and mature bottomland hardwood forest. Sites were located in two watersheds within the Mississippi Alluvial Valley of Arkansas and Louisiana, USA. We estimated detection probability and site occupancy within each land use category using a Bayesian hierarchical model of community species occurrence, and derived an estimate of species richness at each site. Relative to sites in cultivated cropland, nine of 1 l species detected were significantly more likely to occur at WRP sites and six were more likely to occur at forested sites. Species richness estimates were also higher for WRP and forested sites, compared to those in cultivated cropland. Almost half (45 %) of the species responded positively to both WRP and forested sites, indicating that patches undergoing restoration may be important transitional habitats. Wetland Reserve Program conservation practices are successful in restoring suitable habitat and reducing the impact of cultivation-induced habitat loss on amphibians in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley.

Arkansas;Louisiana↗
USGS2008

Metals and trace elements in giant garter snakes (Thamnophis gigas) from the Sacramento Valley, California, USA

The giant garter snake (GGS; Thamnophis gigas ) is a federally listed threatened species endemic to wetlands of the Central Valley of California. Habitat destruction has been the main factor in the decline of GGS populations, but the effects of contaminants on this species are unknown. To contribute to the recovery of these snakes, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began studies of the life history and habitat use of GGSs in 1995. During a series of investigations conducted from 1995 to the present, specimens of dead GGSs were opportunistically collected from the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge (CNWR), the Natomas Basin, and other sites in northern California. Whole snakes were stored frozen for potential future analysis. As funding became available, we analyzed tissues of 23 GGSs to determine the concentrations of total mercury (Hg) and other trace elements in livers and concentrations of Hg in brains and tail clips. Mercury concentrations (μg/g, wet weight) ranged from 0.08 to 1.64 in livers, 0.01 to 0.18 in brains, and 0.02 to 0.32 in tail clips. In livers, geometric mean concentrations (μg/g, dry weight) of arsenic (25.7) and chromium (1.02) were higher than most values from studies of other snakes. Mercury concentrations in tail clips were positively correlated with concentrations in livers and brains, with the most significant correlations occurring at the Natomas Basin and when Natomas and CNWR were combined. Results indicate the value of using tail clips as a nonlethal bioindicator of contaminant concentrations.

Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxico↗
USGS1997

Coal availability in the Hilight Quadrangle, Powder River Basin, Wyoming; a prototype study in a western coal field

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Geological Survey of Wyoming, and U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM), has produced an estimate of the amount of available coal in an area about 35 miles south of Gillette, Wyo., where the Wyodak coal bed is, in places, more than 100 ft thick. Available coal is the quantity of the total coal resource that is accessible for mine development under current regulatory, land-use, and technologic constraints. This first western coal availability study, of the Hilight 7 1/2-minute quadrangle, indicates that approximately 60 percent (2.7 billion short tons) of the total 4.4 billion tons of coal in-place in the quadrangle is available for development. (There has been no commercial mining in the Hilight quadrangle.) Approximately 67 percent (1.9 billion tons) of the Main Wyodak coal bed is considered available. All tonnage measurements in this report are given in short tons. Coal-development considerations in the quadrangle include dwellings, railroads, pipelines, power lines, wildlife habitat (eagles), alluvial valley floors, cemeteries, and the Hilight oil and gas field and gas plant. Some of these considerations could be mitigated so that surface mining of the coal may proceed; others could not be mitigated and would preclude mining in their vicinity. Other technological constraints that influence the availability of the coal include overburden thickness, coal beds too thin, and areas of clinker.

Montana, Wyoming↗
USGS2002

Forest restoration as ecological succession: should we speed it up or slow it down?

Recent assessments of afforestation of agricultural lands in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley imply the importance of quickly developing vertical forest structure to benefit 'wildlife.' We examine this assumption and find that animal species of interest as targets of proactive management, as well as targets of control, occur through the full successional sere. Different species of mammals and birds respond positively to the structure available at different times during succession. Thus, managers must decide on the species and communities they wish to favor. Early successional species, particularly those avian communities occurring during winter, have been heretofore considered only in passing. However, because they occur in areas where herbaceous plants dominate vegetation structure, these communities include species otherwise rare or absent from the landscape. Extensive afforestation in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley provides ephemeral habitat for birds that winter in herbaceous areas. Managers may wish to consider maintaining large tracts in herbaceous vegetation similar to that occurring 3-7 years after cessation of farming activities, as habitat for such birds.

Book chapter↗
USGS2017

A report on genetic affinities and relatedness of Agassiz’s desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) at opposite ends of the Coachella Valley in California

This report summarizes the results for mtDNA and STR genotyping of 41 desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) DNA samples from opposite sides of the Coachella Valley: one sample from the west side at the Mesa wind energy facility in the Whitewater Hills and the other from the mouth of Cottonwood Canyon in Joshua Tree National Park, both within the boundaries of the Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan. Additional samples were collected from tortoises on the northern bajadas of the Orocopia Mountains and from the Santa Rosa Mountains and those results will be presented at a later time in a scientific publication. We tested samples for their mtDNA haplotype and 25 STR loci previously used in other studies. We performed assignment testing to determine the genetic affinity of each individual to the geographic region of collection. Despite apparent isolation, both populations appear to be naturally occurring and do exhibit indications of having experienced increased genetic drift (resulting in increased homozygosity, increased inbreeding or a reduction of genetic diversity). The lack of strong evidence for genetic isolation suggests that long-term maintenance of unfragmented landscapes is an important part of tortoise conservation in the region.

California↗
USGS2000

Associations among fish assemblage structure and environmental variables in Willamette Basin streams, Oregon

As part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment Program, fish were collected from 24 selected stream sites in the Willamette Basin during 1993-1995 to determine the composition of the fish assemblages and their relation to the chemical and physical environment. Variance in fish relative abundance was greater among all sites than among spatially distinct reaches within a site (spatial variation) or among multiple sampled years at a site (temporal variation). Therefore, data from a single reach in an individual year was considered to be a reliable estimator of the fish assemblage structure at a site when the data were normalized by percent relative abundance. Multivariate classification and ordination were used to examine patterns in environmental variables and fish relative abundance over differing spatial scales (among versus within ecoregions). Across all ecoregions (all sites), fish assemblages were primarily structured along environmental gradients of water temperature and stream gradient (coldwater, high-gradient forested sites versus warmwater, low-gradient Willamette Valley sites); this pattern superseded patterns that were ecoregion specific. Water temperature, dissolved oxygen, and physical habitat (e.g., riparian canopy and percent riffles) were associated with patterns of fish assemblages across all ecoregions; however, pesticide and total phosphorus concentrations were more important than physical habitat within the Willamette Valley ecoregion. Consideration of stream site stratification (e.g., stream size, ecoregion, and stream gradient), identification of fish to species level (particularly the sculpin family), and detailed measurement of habitat, diurnal dissolved oxygen, and water temperature were critical in evaluating the composition of fish assemblages in relation to land use. In general, these low-gradient valley streams typical of other agricultural regions had poor riparian systems and showed increases in water temperature, nutrients, and fine grain sediments that were associated with degradation in the native fish assemblages. There was an association of high abundances of introduced species and high percent external abnormalities in medium-sized river sites of mixed land use and high abundances of tolerant species in small streams of predominantly agricultural land use.

Oregon↗
USGS2020

Outmigration survival of wild Chinook salmon smolts through the Sacramento River during historic drought and high water conditions

Populations of wild spring-run Chinook salmon in California’s Central Valley, once numbering in the millions, have dramatically declined to record low numbers. Dam construction, habitat degradation, and altered flow regimes have all contributed to depress populations, which currently persist in only a few tributaries to the Sacramento River. Mill Creek (Tehama County) continues to support these threatened fish, and contains some of the most pristine spawning and rearing habitat available in the Central Valley. Despite this pristine habitat, the number of Chinook salmon returning to spawn has declined to record low numbers, likely due to poor outmigration survival rates. From 2013-2017, 334 smolts were captured and acoustic tagged while out-migrating from Mill Creek, allowing for movement and survival rates to be tracked over 250 kilometers through the Sacramento River. During this study California experienced both a historic drought and record rainfall, resulting in dramatic fluctuations in year-to-year river flow and water temperature. Cumulative survival of tagged smolts from Mill Creek through the Sacramento River was 9.5% (±1.6) during the study, with relatively low survival during historic drought conditions in 2015 (4.9% ± 1.6) followed by increased survival during high flows in 2017 (42.3% ± 9.1). Survival in Mill Creek and the Sacramento River was modeled over a range of flow values, which indicated that higher flows in each region result in increased survival rates. Survival estimates gathered in this study can help focus management and restoration actions over a relatively long migration corridor to specific regions of low survival, and provide guidance for management actions in the Sacramento River aimed at restoring populations of threatened Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon.

California↗
USGS2006

Waste rice for waterfowl in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley

Flooded rice fields are important foraging habitats for waterfowl in the lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV). Waste rice previously was abundant in late autumn (140?492 kg/ha), but early planting and harvest dates in recent years may have increased losses of waste rice during autumn before waterfowl arrive. Research in Mississippi rice fields revealed waste-rice abundance decreased 79?99% during autumns 1995?1996. To determine if this trend existed throughout the MAV, we used multistage sampling (MSS) to estimate waste-rice abundance during September?December 2000?2002. Averaged over years, mean abundance of waste rice decreased 71% between harvest ((x) over bar = 271.0 kg/ha, CV = 13% n = 3 years) and late autumn ( (x) over bar = 78.4 kg/ha, CV = 15% n = 3). Among 15 models formulated to explain variation in rice abundance among fields and across years, the best model indicated abundance of waste rice in late autumn differed between harvester types (i.e., conventional > stripper header) and was positively related to initial waste-rice abundance after harvest. Because abundance of waste rice in late autumn was less than previous estimates in all 3 years, we concluded that waterfowl conservationists have overestimated carrying capacity of rice fields for wintering waterfowl by 52?83% and recommend 325 duck-use days/ha (DUDs) as a revised estimate. We suggest monitoring advances in rice harvest dates to determine when new surveys are warranted and recommend increased management of moist-soil wetlands to compensate for decreased rice abundance.

Journal of Wildlife Management↗
USGS2018

Assessment of water resources in areas that affect the habitat of the endangered Hine’s emerald dragonfly in the Lower Des Plaines River Valley, Illinois

Review of previous investigations indicates that potential decreases in groundwater recharge and increased groundwater extraction in the vicinity of the Lower Des Plaines River Valley in Will County, Illinois, may reduce the amount of groundwater flow in the Silurian aquifer in this area. Groundwater discharge from the Silurian aquifer to wetlands in the Lower Des Plaines River Valley plays an important role in sustaining the habitat of the endangered Hine’s emerald dragonfly (Somatochlora hineana). Groundwater modeling performed by previous investigators indicates that increasing the amount of water pumped from the aquifer in support of expanded quarry operations near the Lockport Prairie Nature Preserve has the potential to reduce groundwater discharge to the most productive Hine’s emerald dragonfly habitats in Illinois, potentially degrading the habitat. Model simulations indicate that mitigation procedures designed to artificially enhance groundwater recharge in the vicinity of dragonfly habitats near the Lockport Prairie Nature Preserve are likely to offset the effects of increased pumping. Several areas with smaller, often intermittent populations of Hine’s emerald dragonflies have been identified in other parts of the Lower Des Plaines River Valley and elsewhere in Illinois. Human activities have the potential to produce changes in hydrology and water quality that can threaten all of these habitats.

Illinois↗
USGS2010

Invertebrate mercury bioaccumulation in permanent, seasonal, and flooded rice wetlands within California's Central Valley

We examined methylmercury (MeHg) bioavailability in four of the most predominant wetland habitats in California's Central Valley agricultural region during the spring and summer: white rice, wild rice, permanent wetlands, and shallowly-flooded fallow fields. We sampled MeHg and total mercury (THg) concentrations in two aquatic macroinvertebrate taxa at the inlets, centers, and outlets of four replicated wetland habitats (8 wetlands total) during two time periods bounding the rice growing season and corresponding to flood-up and pre-harvest (96 total samples). In general, THg concentrations (mean ± standard error) in Notonectidae ( Notonecta , back swimmers; 1.18 ± 0.08 µg g − 1 dry weight [dw]) were higher than in Corixidae ( Corisella , water boatmen; 0.89 ± 0.06 µg g − 1 dw, MeHg: 0.74 ± 0.05 µg g − 1 dw). MeHg concentrations were correlated with THg concentrations in Corixidae ( R 2 = 0.80) and 88% of THg was in the MeHg form. Wetland habitat type had an important influence on THg concentrations in aquatic invertebrates, but this effect depended on the sampling time period and taxa. In particular, THg concentrations in Notonectidae, but not Corixidae, were higher in permanent wetlands than in white rice, wild rice, or shallowly-flooded fallow fields. THg concentrations in Notonectidae were higher at the end of the rice growing season than near the time of flood-up, whereas THg concentrations in Corixidae did not differ between time periods. The effect of wetland habitat type was more prevalent near the end of the rice growing season, when Notonectidae THg concentrations were highest in permanent wetlands. Additionally, invertebrate THg concentrations were higher at water outlets than at inlets of wetlands. Our results indicate that although invertebrate THg concentrations increased from the time of flood-up to draw-down of wetlands, temporarily flooded habitats such as white rice, wild rice, and shallowly-flooded fallow fields did not have higher THg or MeHg concentrations in invertebrates than permanent wetlands.

California↗
USGS2013

The Shoreline Management Tool—An ArcMap tool for analyzing water depth, inundated area, volume, and selected habitats, with an example for the lower Wood River Valley, Oregon

The Shoreline Management Tool is a geographic information system (GIS) based program developed to assist water- and land-resource managers in assessing the benefits and effects of changes in surface-water stage on water depth, inundated area, and water volume. Additionally, the Shoreline Management Tool can be used to identify aquatic or terrestrial habitat areas where conditions may be suitable for specific plants or animals as defined by user-specified criteria including water depth, land-surface slope, and land-surface aspect. The tool can also be used to delineate areas for use in determining a variety of hydrologic budget components such as surface-water storage, precipitation, runoff, or evapotranspiration. The Shoreline Management Tool consists of two parts, a graphical user interface for use with Esri™ ArcMap™ GIS software to interact with the user to define scenarios and map results, and a spreadsheet in Microsoft® Excel® developed to display tables and graphs of the results. The graphical user interface allows the user to define a scenario consisting of an inundation level (stage), land areas (parcels), and habitats (areas meeting user-specified conditions) based on water depth, slope, and aspect criteria. The tool uses data consisting of land-surface elevation, tables of stage/volume and stage/area, and delineated parcel boundaries to produce maps (data layers) of inundated areas and areas that meet the habitat criteria. The tool can be run in a Single-Time Scenario mode or in a Time-Series Scenario mode, which uses an input file of dates and associated stages. The spreadsheet part of the tool uses a macro to process the results from the graphical user interface to create tables and graphs of inundated water volume, inundated area, dry area, and mean water depth for each land parcel based on the user-specified stage. The macro also creates tables and graphs of the area, perimeter, and number of polygons comprising the user-specified habitat areas within each parcel. The Shoreline Management Tool is highly transferable, using easily generated or readily available data. The capabilities of the tool are demonstrated using data from the lower Wood River Valley adjacent to Upper Klamath and Agency Lakes in southern Oregon.

Oregon↗
USGS2016

Rare alluvial sands of El Monte Valley, California (San Diego County), support high herpetofaunal species richness and diversity, despite severe habitat disturbance

We characterized the species richness, diversity, and distribution of amphibians and reptiles inhabiting El Monte Valley, a heavily disturbed, alluvium-filled basin within the lower San Diego River in Lakeside, California. This rare habitat type in coastal southern California is designated as a critical sand resource by the state of California and is currently under consideration for a large-scale sand mining operation with subsequent habitat restoration. We conducted field surveys from June 2015 to May 2016 using drift fence lines with funnel traps, coverboard arrays, walking transects, and road driving. We recorded 1,208 total captures, revealing high species richness and diversity, but with marked unevenness in species' abundances. Snakes were the most species-rich taxonomic group (13 species representing 11 genera), followed by lizards (11 species representing 9 genera). After the southern Pacific rattlesnake ( Crotalus oreganus helleri ), the California glossy snake ( Arizona elegans occidentalis ) was the second most frequently detected snake species ( n = 23 captures). Amphibian species richness was limited to only three species in three genera. Despite the relatively limited 12-month sampling period, a longstanding drought, and severe habitat disturbance, our study demonstrates that El Monte Valley harbors a rich herpetofauna that includes many sensitive species.

California↗
USGS2020

Genes in space: What Mojave desert tortoise genetics can tell us about landscape connectivity

Habitat loss and fragmentation in the Mojave Desert have been increasing, which can create barriers to movement and gene flow leading to decreased populations of native species. Disturbance and degradation of Mojave desert tortoise habitat includes linear features (e.g. highways, railways, and a network of dirt roads), urbanized areas, and their associated infrastructure, mining activities, energy distribution systems, and most recently, utility-scale solar facilities. To evaluate the spatial genetic structure of tortoises in an area experiencing rapid habitat loss, we conducted field surveys from 2015-2017 and genotyped 299 tortoises at 20 microsatellite loci within and around Ivanpah Valley along the California/Nevada border. We used a Bayesian clustering analysis to examine population genetic structure across valley and mountain pass habitat. Spatial principal components analysis was included to further investigate population genetic structure with isolation-by-distance. To explicitly incorporate landscape features (e.g. habitat and anthropogenic linear barriers) we used maximum likelihood population effects. We assessed recent gene flow on the landscape through maximum likelihood pedigree analyses of relatedness. We detected three to four genetic clusters with high levels of admixture that generally corresponded to three valleys separated by mountain ranges, and a genetically distinguishable population in one mountain pass. Pedigree analyses showed second order relationships up to 60 km apart suggesting a greater range of interactions and inter-relatedness between individuals than previously suspected. Our results support historical gene flow with isolation-by-resistance, and reveal a genetic signal indicative of reduction in genetic connectivity across two parallel linear features (a railway and a highway). This work demonstrates the value of protecting connected tracts of functional habitat and the importance of connectivity research in conservation.

California, Nevada↗
USGS1993

Wetland modeling and information needs at Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge

The marshes in and around Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge (the Refuge) are extremely dynamic; expanding and contracting in size both seasonally, due to runoff and subsequent evapotranspiration, and over longer periods, due to climatic variation. The dynamic nature of these marshes results in a diversity of wetland habitats, which support a variety of migratory birds. To maintain this wetland diversity and control the loss of migratory bird habitat in the Lahontan Valley, the Refuge was established and currently manages a complex of marsh units. However, changes in the hydrology, and changes that will occur as a result of the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone and Truckee-Carson-Pyramid Lake Water Rights Settlement Act (Public Law 101-618, 104 Stat. 3389), greatly affect the Refuge's wetland management capability. In light of these changes, and the legal requirements associated with environmental impact assessments, the Refuge convened a workshop to discuss several aspects of wetland management in the Lahontan Valley. The workshop, described in this report, had three primary objectives: 1. discuss the types and relative proportions of primary wetland habitats that should be provided as described in the settlement act; 2. discuss wetland management models that might be developed to help manage these marshes under hydrologic regimes likely in the future; and 3. discuss future information and monitoring needs, including proposals for valley-wide biodiversity surveys, which would be helpful when considering withdrawn Bureau of Reclamation (BR) lands for possible incorporation into the Refuge. Several presentations at the beginning of the workshop provided a common basis for discussing these objectives. Refuge staff provided background on the history and past management. The Nature Conservatory discussed their role in the settlement act, proposals for valley-wide biodiversity surveys, and results of a literature review for Stillwater Marsh and the Lahontan Valley (Nachlinger 1993). Kay Fowler provided an historical context of changes in vegetation and waterbird use of the marshes based on her ethnography of the local Paiute Indians (Fowler 1993). Finally, Bob Elston discussed a model that predicts archaeological sites based on environmental variables (Raven and Elston 1989). The workshop was organized by staff from the Refuge and facilitated by the authors of this report. Participants included Ron Anglin, Bill Henry, Anne Janik, Cliff Creger, Fred Paveglio, and Mary Jo Elpers of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the Service); Jeff Baumgartner, Jan Nachlinger, Hope Humphries, and Graham Chisholm of The Nature Conservancy; David Yardas of the Environmental Defense Fund; David Robertson of Robertson Software, Inc.; Norm Saake, Terry Retterer, and Larry Neel of the Nevada Department of Wildlife; Lew Oring and Kay Fowler of the University of Nevada; and Robert Elston of Intermountain Research.

Report↗
USGS2016

Potential effects of drought on carrying capacity for wintering waterfowl in the Central Valley of California

We used the bioenergetics model TRUEMET to evaluate potential effects of California's recent drought on food supplies for waterfowl wintering in the Central Valley under a range of habitat and waterfowl population scenarios. In nondrought years in the current Central Valley landscape, food supplies are projected to be adequate for waterfowl from fall through early spring (except late March) even if waterfowl populations reach North American Waterfowl Management Plan goals. However, in all drought scenarios that we evaluated, food supplies were projected to be exhausted for ducks by mid- to late winter and by late winter or early spring for geese. For ducks, these results were strongly related to projected declines in winter-flooded rice fields that provide 45% of all the food energy available to ducks in the Central Valley in nondrought water years. Delayed flooding of some managed wetlands may help alleviate food shortages by providing wetland food resources better timed with waterfowl migration and abundance patterns in the Central Valley, as well as reducing the amount of water needed to manage these habitats. However, future research is needed to evaluate the impacts of delayed flooding on waterfowl hunting, and whether California's existing water delivery system would make delayed flooding feasible. Securing adequate water supplies for waterfowl and other wetland-dependent birds is among the greatest challenges facing resource managers in coming years, especially in the increasingly arid western United States.

Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management↗
USGS2009

Geologic Map of the Needles 7.5' quadrangle, California and Arizona

The Needles 7.5' quadrangle straddles the Colorado River in the southern part of the Mohave Valley, in Mohave County, Arizona, and San Bernardino County, California. The quadrangle contains part of the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge, sections of the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation, most of the city of Needles, and several major interstate highways and railroads. The quadrangle is underlain by structurally undeformed sediments of Pliocene and younger age that were deposited by the Colorado River, as well as alluvial fan deposits on the piedmonts that flank the Black Mountains (in Arizona) and the Sacramento Mountains (in California). Multiple cycles of aggradation of the Colorado River, each followed by episodes of downcutting, are recorded by Pliocene through historic deposits on the piedmonts that border the floodplain. Regionally, the complex stratigraphy related to the Colorado River has been the subject of geologic interest for over 150 years. The California and Arizona piedmont portions of the Needles quadrangle expose a subset of this incompletely understood stratigraphic record. Thus, the stratigraphic sequence presented on this map is a version of the stratigraphy of the Colorado River as interpreted locally. The deposits in the recently active Colorado River valley floor support riparian habitat and irrigated agriculture. The distributions of sand-rich channel deposits and mud-rich floodplain deposits in the valley are mapped on the basis of the history of the movement of the Colorado River in the quadrangle, which has been documented in sequential aerial photographs since 1937 and maps dating to 1857.

Arizona, California↗