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At least 451 records · Page 25Linked to original sources
USGS2021

Accelerating ecological sciences from above: Spatial contrastive learning for remote sensing

The rise of neural networks has opened the door for automatic analysis of remote sensing data. A challenge to using this machinery for computational sustainability is the necessity of massive labeled data sets, which can be cost-prohibitive for many non-profit organizations. The primary motivation for this work is one such problem; the efficient management of invasive species -- invading flora and fauna that are estimated to cause damages in the billions of dollars annually. As an ongoing collaboration with the New York Natural Heritage Program, we consider the use of unsupervised deep learning techniques for dimensionality reduction of remote sensing images, which can reduce sample complexity for downstream tasks and decreases the need for large labeled data sets. We consider spatially augmenting contrastive learning by training neural networks to correctly classify two nearby patches of a landscape as such. We demonstrate that this approach improves upon previous methods and naive classification for a large-scale data set of remote sensing images derived from invasive species observations obtained over 30 years. Additionally, we simulate deployment in the field via active learning and evaluate this method on another important challenge in computational sustainability -- landcover classification -- and again find that it outperforms previous baselines.

Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial I↗
USGS1974

Comparison of bacterial and phytoplankton populations under natural and laboratory conditions

Bacteria and blue-green algae were isolated from Oneida Lake, N.Y., and other sources. The blue-green algae Anabaena flos-aquae , Anabaena spiroides , Gloeotrichia echinulata , and Microcystis aeruginosa were grown under laboratory conditions and were separated into unialgal cultures. The bacterial population living in association with the unialgal blue-green algae differed significantly from the bacterial flora of Oneida Lake. Bacillus , Pseudomonas , Aeromonas , and Zoogloea were the most frequently occurring genera of bacteria from the lake, whereas Flavobacterium , Achromobacter , and Pseudomonas were the most common bacteria isolated from laboratory blue-green cultures. Nutritional and physiological characteristics of bacteria isolated in the laboratory were more uniform than those isolated from the lake.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey↗
USGS1977

Tertiary and Quaternary deposits at The Palisades, central Alaska

The Palisades of the Yukon River, located near the geographic center of Alaska, has long been an attraction to people traveling along the river. Numerous scientific field parties have viewed or visited the locality and published short accounts of their observations. The river bluffs are as much as 90 meters high and are composed of Tertiary lignite-rich sedimentary rocks and frozen Quaternary sand, silt, and gravel. Resampling and analysis of pollen show that the Tertiary rocks are Miocene rather than Miocene and Pliocene as previously thought. The Miocene flora, possessing a number of conifer and hardwood-tree types, was more varied than the present vegetation and indicates a warmer and wetter climate than at present. The area is frequently referred to as the boneyard because of the common occurrence of large bones of Pleistocene mammals within the frozen silts.

Alaska↗
USGS2022

Chapter 1: General conceptual model for climate change in the Upper San Francisco Estuary

This report is a collaboration by many state and federal agencies working in the Upper San Francisco Estuary to analyze the potential impacts of climate change to different ecosystems found here. Management stategies for ecological values in the face of climate change require reliable and focused information. In this technical report, our focus is on the Upper San Francisco Estuary (SFE), which contains the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun Bay. This area is home to three interconnected ecosystems: open water, floodplain, and tidal marsh. For this geographical area, we have decades of in-depth monitoring information and scientific investigations that have been successfully used to address a number of management needs. In 2019, the Interagency Ecological Program established a diverse work team to improve our ability to anticipate and respond to climate change impacts. The charge to the group was to: • synthesize science relevant to climate change, • determine important knowledge gaps, and • identify ecosystem metrics for climate change. We focus our analyses on the likely impacts of climate change on interconnected aquatic habitats. We illustrate how changes in habitats are likely to affect diverse species. In this report we describe ecological trends attributable to climate change and likely future impacts. We address four principal questions: 1. How have the habitats and biotic communities changed due to climatic trends and events? 2. How are estuarine habitats, flora, and fauna likely to change as climate change trends continue? 3. What are key metrics to document ecosystem change as a result of climate change? 4. How should our monitoring change to improve information value? Our work builds on the similar work of the San Francisco Baylands Goals Project (Goals Project 2015), which addressed climate change impacts to wetlands downstream of the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. We aim to contribute to an integrated baseline understanding of climate change impacts for the entire San Francisco Estuary.

California↗
USGS2023

The blue carbon reservoirs from Maine to Long Island, NY

In response to the New England Governor and Eastern Canadian Premier 2017 Climate Change Action Plan recommendation to “manage blue carbon resources to preserve and enhance their existing carbon reservoirs,” the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) convened a New England Blue Carbon Inventory Workgroup, comprised of a variety of federal, state, academic, and non-profit organizations to develop an inventory of blue carbon stocks from Maine to Long Island, New York. The Workgroup focused its inventory efforts on salt marshes and eelgrass meadows, leveraging existing habitat maps for geographic data. Existing data for soil organic carbon stocks were then used to calculate blue carbon stock estimates. For visual display purposes, sediment carbon heat maps were developed to highlight areas of greatest carbon accumulation. The habitat distribution and sediment carbon heat maps can be accessed on the Northeast Ocean Data Portal (www.northeastoceandata.org/eelgrass) which is a public source of expert-reviewed, interactive maps and data on the ocean ecosystem, economy, and culture of the northeastern United States and can be used to facilitate decision making by government agencies, tribal nations, businesses, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academic institutions, and individuals. Based on available data and Workgroup calculations, the target geographic area has an estimated 218,222 acres of eelgrass meadows, salt marsh and saline Phragmites, which are estimated to provide a reservoir of 7,523,568 megagrams of blue carbon, or the equivalent to the annual carbon emissions from over 5,944,024 passenger vehicles. Due to data limitations, the carbon stock estimate represents a mere fraction of the actual quantity of accumulated carbon in these habitats. The findings from the Workgroup’s efforts and the resulting map products can help inform land and coastal management policies, fisheries management, and climate change mitigation practices. Further refinements and expansion of data are needed, including more detailed habitat maps, deeper soil core data for soil organic carbon content, and inclusion of more marine flora into calculations.

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, ↗
USGS2009

Changes in macrolichens of Douglas County, Wisconsin

Macrolichens collected in Douglas County, Wisconsin in the 1940s, 1970s and 2009 are compared in order to determine floristic changes. Species sensitive to disturbance, land use change, and possibly climate that have changed over these time spans are identified and suggested for further monitoring. The total lichen flora of Douglas County is compared with Harris’ 1977 publication of the lichens of the Straits of Mackinac.

Wisconsin↗
USGS2023

An introduction to the evaluation of restoration for avian species at Caminada Headland and Whiskey Island in Louisiana

Barrier islands are crucial for protecting Louisiana’s coastal communities and ecosystems as they reduce coastal erosion and help safeguard native flora and fauna. Along the Louisiana shoreline, these islands are mostly long and thin, running parallel to the shoreline. The islands typically consist of the following components: 1) a sandy beach facing the Gulf of Mexico; 2) vegetated and non-vegetated dunes; 3) overwash areas; 4) swales; 5) upland shrubs; 6) wetland shrubs, such as black mangrove (Avicennia germinans); 7) backbay marshes; and 8) tidal flats. Dune vegetation and vegetation along the back-barrier help bind and collect sediment, which create and maintain wetlands on the north side of the barrier islands. Barrier islands provide various ecological services including: 1) buffering waves to decrease storm impacts; 2) protecting wetlands that provide suitable reproductive habitat and nursery grounds for fish and shellfish; and 3) providing critical habitat for birds and sea turtles (Barbier 2013).

Louisiana↗
USGS2001

Type characters of non-native plant species in Great Lakes national parks (USA)

Non-native plant species are increasing in frequency and abundance in many natural areas in the United States. In Midwestern National Parks, as much as one third of the flora may be non-native. It was hypothesized that botanical characters of these species could be used to typify them and improve the methods of predicting invasions. Data on 19 characters of 341 non-native species from the four Great Lakes national lakeshores (Apostle Islands, Indiana Dunes, Pictured Rocks, and Sleeping Bear Dunes) and invasive non-native species for the State of Wisconsin were collected and studied. For many of the species, little data could be found, but for 139 of them, data were collected for at least 80% of the characters. The frequencies of classes of the characters were tabulated and ranked to typify the most common non-native species. This led to a description of a 'type species' just for these four National Parks. Three species of Cirsium, including Canada (C. arvense), marsh (C. palustre) and bull thistle (C. vulgare), matched the type species better than other species. C. vulgare occurs in more National Parks than the other thistles.

Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin↗
USGS1995

Non-native animals on public lands

Non-native plants and animals have become part of our surroundings, in cities, agricultural areas, and wildlands. While there are many beneficial purposes for non-native animals, such as for food and sport hunting and as agricultural animals, the introduction of some has had major negative economic consequences (Palmer 1899), and adverse effects on native wildlife, plants, and habitats. The British ecologist Charles Elton, in a major review of introduced species, described the increasing number of invasions as constituting "one of the great historical convulsions in the world's flora and fauna" (Elton 1958, p. 31). Non-native species are significant problems on large areas of state and federal public lands, and areas set aside to protect native plant and animal communities are not immune to such harm. Science and conservation journals have devoted entire issues to the threats posed by non-native plants and animals in nature reserves (e.g., Usher et al. 1988). In a compilation of threats to U.S. national parks, non-native plants and animals were the most often reported threat, and were reported by the most areas; feral cats ( Felis catus ), feral dogs ( Canis familiaris ), and wild pigs ( Sus scrofa ) were the non-native animals cited most often (NPCA 1977). Non-native species present serious threats, but at the same time, coordinated efforts on public lands offer the best possibility for controlling some harmful non-native species, and protecting both native plant and animal communities and human interests and needs. We compiled information on non-native animals on public and private land-management areas by conducting a mail survey to assess their occurrence and management status in land-management areas. Survey results represent contributions from 937 national parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges, Bureau of Land Management field areas, and state and private land-management areas. The results reflect those species that land managers considered of greatest concern, and their general distribution on public lands. Non-native invertebrate animals, particularly forest insects and agricultural pests, cause severe economic and environmental damage as well (OTA 1993), but were not the focus of this survey.

Book chapter↗
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↗
USGS2007

Dynamics of cover, UV-protective pigments, and quantum yield in biological soil crust communities of an undisturbed Mojave Desert shrubland

Biological soil crusts are an integral part of dryland ecosystems. We monitored the cover of lichens and mosses, cyanobacterial biomass, concentrations of UV-protective pigments in both free-living and lichenized cyanobacteria, and quantum yield in the soil lichen species Collema in an undisturbed Mojave Desert shrubland. During our sampling time, the site received historically high and low levels of precipitation, whereas temperatures were close to normal. Lichen cover, dominated by Collema tenax and C. coccophorum , and moss cover, dominated by Syntrichia caninervis , responded to both increases and decreases in precipitation. This finding for Collema spp. at a hot Mojave Desert site is in contrast to a similar study conducted at a cool desert site on the Colorado Plateau in SE Utah, USA, where Collema spp. cover dropped in response to elevated temperatures, but did not respond to changes in rainfall. The concentrations of UV-protective pigments in free-living cyanobacteria at the Mojave Desert site were also strongly and positively related to rainfall received between sampling times ( R 2 values ranged from 0.78 to 0.99). However, pigment levels in the lichenized cyanobacteria showed little correlation with rainfall. Quantum yield in Collema spp. was closely correlated with rainfall. Climate models in this region predict a 3.5–4.0 °C rise in temperature and a 15–20% decline in winter precipitation by 2099. Based on our data, this rise in temperature is unlikely to have a strong effect on the dominant species of the soil crusts. However, the predicted drop in precipitation will likely lead to a decrease in soil lichen and moss cover, and high stress or mortality in soil cyanobacteria as levels of UV-protective pigments decline. In addition, surface-disturbing activities (e.g., recreation, military activities, fire) are rapidly increasing in the Mojave Desert, and these disturbances quickly remove soil lichens and mosses. These stresses combined are likely to lead to shifts in species composition and the local extirpation of some lichen or moss species. As these organisms are critical components of nutrient cycling, soil fertility, and soil stability, such changes are likely to reverberate throughout these ecosystems.

Mojave Desert↗
USGS2017

Moving forward in circles: Challenges and opportunities in modeling population cycles

Population cycling is a widespread phenomenon, observed across a multitude of taxa in both laboratory and natural conditions. Historically, the theory associated with population cycles was tightly linked to pairwise consumer–resource interactions and studied via deterministic models, but current empirical and theoretical research reveals a much richer basis for ecological cycles. Stochasticity and seasonality can modulate or create cyclic behaviour in non-intuitive ways, the high-dimensionality in ecological systems can profoundly influence cycling, and so can demographic structure and eco-evolutionary dynamics. An inclusive theory for population cycles, ranging from ecosystem-level to demographic modelling, grounded in observational or experimental data, is therefore necessary to better understand observed cyclical patterns. In turn, by gaining better insight into the drivers of population cycles, we can begin to understand the causes of cycle gain and loss, how biodiversity interacts with population cycling, and how to effectively manage wildly fluctuating populations, all of which are growing domains of ecological research.

Ecology Letters↗
USGS1981

Description and preliminary interpretation of core CL-80-2, Clear Lake, Lake County, California

Coring operations in the west basin of Clear Lake produced a regional Quaternary reference section to augment and extend a previous study of cores from Clear Lake. This report concerns 165.8—m—long core CL-80-2, which was continuously cored in 8.0 m of water and has a 65.0 percent recovery. The sedinents in core CL-80-2 are composed primarily of clayey and silty sapropelic mud that is similar to those presently being deposited in the lake. The core ended in coarse CO2—charged sand at 165.8 m. The age of sediment at the bottom of the core is inferred to be approximately 175,000 years.

California↗
USGS1982

Evaluation of a predictive ground-water solute-transport model at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Idaho

Aqueous chemical and radioactive wastes discharged to shallow ponds and to shallow or deep wells on the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) since 1952 have affected the quality of the ground water in the underlying Snake River Plain aquifer. The aqueous wastes have created large and laterally dispersed concentration plumes within the aquifer. The waste plumes with the largest areal distribution are those of chloride, tritium, and with high specific conductance values. The data from eight wells drilled near the southern INEL boundary during the summer of 1980 were used to evaluate the accuracy of a predictive modeling study completed in 1973, and to simulate 1980 positions of chloride and tritium plumes. Data interpretation from the drilling program indicates that the hydrogeologic characteristics of the subsurface rocks have marked effects on the regional ground-water flow regimen and, therefore, the movement of aqueous wastes. As expected, the waste plumes projected by the computer model for 1980, extended somewhat further downgradient than indicated by well data due to conservative worst-case assumptions in the model input and inaccurate approximations of subsequent waste discharge and aquifer recharge conditions. (USGS)

Idaho↗
USGS2010

Correlating seabird movements with ocean winds: linking satellite telemetry with ocean scatterometry.

Satellite telemetry studies of the movements of seabirds are now common and have revealed impressive flight capabilities and extensive distributions among individuals and species at sea. Linking seabird movements with environmental conditions over vast expanses of the world's open ocean, however, remains difficult. Seabirds of the order Procellariiformes (e.g., petrels, albatrosses, and shearwaters) depend largely on wind and wave energy for efficient flight. We present a new method for quantifying the movements of far-ranging seabirds in relation to ocean winds measured by the SeaWinds scatterometer onboard the QuikSCAT satellite. We apply vector correlation (as defined by Crosby et al. in J Atm Ocean Tech 10:355-367, 1993) to evaluate how the trajectories (ground speed and direction) for five procellariiform seabirds outfitted with satellite transmitters are related to ocean winds. Individual seabirds (Sooty Shearwater, Pink-footed Shearwater, Hawaiian Petrel, Grey-faced Petrel, and Black-footed Albatross) all traveled predominantly with oblique, isotropic crossing to quartering tail-winds (i.e., 105-165 degrees in relation to birds' trajectory). For all five seabirds, entire track line trajectories were significantly correlated with co-located winds. Greatest correlations along 8-day path segments were related to wind patterns during birds' directed, long-range migration (Sooty Shearwater) as well as movements associated with mega-scale meteorological phenomena, including Pacific Basin anticyclones (Hawaiian Petrel, Grey-faced Petrel) and eastward-propagating north Pacific cyclones (Black-footed Albatross). Wind strength and direction are important factors related to the overall movements that delineate the distribution of petrels at sea. We suggest that vector correlation can be used to quantify movements for any marine vertebrate when tracking and environmental data (winds or currents) are of sufficient quality and sample size. Vector correlation coefficients can then be used to assess population--or species-specific variability and used to test specific hypotheses related to how animal movements are associated with fluid environments.

Marine Biology↗