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Search indexed USGS publications on groundwater, aquifers, geologic maps, mineral resources and earthquakes. Explore source records by subject and place.

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At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
USGS2017

Sea turtles, light pollution, and citizen science: A preliminary report

Sea turtles are an important ecological resource for Gulf Islands National Seashore’s (Gulf Islands) waters and shorelines. Regionally, sea turtles face anthropogenic threats from situations such as entanglement in fishing gear and ingestion of marine debris, as well as possible changes in sex ratios due to increasing temperatures related to human-induced global warming. Locally, light pollution from residential, commercial, and industrial neighborhoods from nearby cities impacts the entirety of Gulf Islands, which spans 160 miles along the Gulf Coast, from Florida to Mississippi, and includes critical habitat for threatened and endangered sea turtles. Because light pollution has been hypothesized to negatively impact sea turtle nesting and hatchling survival, Gulf Islands undertook an effort to understand the relationship between light pollution and sea turtles and create unique educational and outreach opportunities by launching a citizen science program called Turtle Teens Helping in the Seashore (Turtle THIS). At the onset, the Turtle THIS program had two primary goals: quantify the association between light pollution and sea turtle nesting and hatching events using rigorous scientific methods; and initiate a citizen science volunteer program to provide youth with hands-on science and environmental stewardship roles, where they also gain employable skills and career opportunities. With multiple scientific hypotheses to consider, the development of a citizen science program became crucial. Such circumstances allowed Turtle THIS to grow a volunteer and intern program, quantify hypothesized light effects on sea turtles through developed methods, and begin to gather preliminary findings.

Florida↗
USGS2009

Total field sensor comparison

During the XIIIth IAGA Workshop (hereafter referred to as “the workshop"), several total field comparison measurements were conducted at the Boulder Magnetic Observatory (BOU). The purpose of these tests was to look for errors within the total field instruments which are considered “absolutes” instruments. The total field measurement is a critical component of the absolute measurement computation. Samples between two total field sensors, corresponding in time, were directly compared. Other methods for calibration exist for these sensors, including the use of frequency generators (Jankowski and Sucksdorff, 1996). This test was not utilized at this workshop.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2005

Establishing an analytical framework for calculating consistent and sensitive measures of the rate of biodiversity change

The Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) VIth Conference of the Parties (COP) and the World Summit on Sustainable Development agreed to a target to achieve a significant reduction of the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. The VIIth COP adopted a conceptual framework to facilitate the assessment of global progress toward 2010 and to encourage national and regional targets and indicators. However, most of the indicators identified are not and will not be adequately quantified at desired accuracy and with desired frequency by 2010. What is possible is the establishment of an analytic framework that can provide guidelines and baselines for biodiversity estimates that can steadily improve with time. A judicious combination of remotely sensed data, Geographic Information System data, ground samples, and expert knowledge of species trends and species’ use of habitats form a solid basis for assessing biodiversity. National development of sensitive, consistent, and affordable indicators that can contribute to the CBD global indicators requires access to a baseline set of global ecosystem, climate, topography, land cover, and human impact information. Fortunately, over the last ten years, a number of relevant information sources have become available. Such information, as well as appropriate methods for use, should be promoted and made highly accessible to countries and organizations that support the CBD. The NASA-Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Conservation Working Group is collaborating to evaluate and demonstrate the meaningful role remote sensing can play in developing biodiversity indicators to meet the targets specified. The Working Group members are evaluating indicators across a range of biomes and scales. The results are being synthesized in a handbook describing the use of remote sensing for monitoring the 2010 target to be published in 2006.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2006

Dealing with uncertainty and sensitivity issues in process-based models of carbon and nitrogen cycles in northern forest ecosystems

Many process-based models on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles have been developed for northern forest ecosystems. These models are widely used to evaluate the long-term decisions in forest management dealing with effects like particulate pollution, productivity and climate change. Regarding climate change, one of the key questions that have sensitive political implications is whether northern forests will sequester atmospheric C or not. Whilst many process-based models have been tested for accuracy by evaluating or validating against observed data, few have dealt with the complexity of the incorporated procedures to estimate uncertainties associated with model predictions or the sensitivity of these predictions to input factors in a systematic, inter-model comparison fashion. In general, models differ in their underlying attempts to match natural complexities with assumed or imposed model structure and process formulations to estimate model parameters, to gather data and to address issues on scope, scale and natural variations. Uncertainties may originate from model structure, estimation of model parameters, data input, representation of natural variation and scaling exercises. Model structure relates to the mathematical representation of the processes modelled and the type of state variables that a model contains. The modelling of partitioning among above- and below-ground C and N pools and the interdependence among these pools remain a major source of uncertainty in model structure and error propagation. Most soil C models use at least three state variables to represent the different types of soil organic matter (SOM). This approach results in creating three artificial SOM pools, assuming that each one contains C compounds with same turnover rate. In reality, SOM consists of many different types of C compounds with widely different turnover rates. Uncertainty in data and parameter estimates are closely linked. Data uncertainties are associated with high variations in estimating forest biomass, productivity and soil organic matter and may be incomplete for model initialization, calibration, validation and sensitivity analysis of generalized predictor models. The scale at which a model is being used also affects the level of uncertainty, as the errors in the prediction of the C and N dynamics differ from the site to the landscape levels and across climatic regions. If the spatial or temporal scale of a model application is changed, additional uncertainty arises from neglecting natural variability in system variables in time and space. Uncertainty issues are also intimately related to model validation and sensitivity analysis. The estimation of uncertainties is needed to inform decision process, in order to detect the possible corridor of development. Uncertainty in this context is an essential measure of quality for stakeholder and decision makers.

Conference Paper↗
USGS1878

Bulletin of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories: Volume IV, Number 3

Table of Contents ART. XXV.----Field-notes on Birds observed in Dakota and Montana along the Forty-ninth Parallel during the seasons of 1873 and 1874. By Dr. Elliott Coues, U.S.A., late Surgeon and Naturalist U.S. Northern Boundary Commission.....545-662 ART. XXVI.----Notes on a Collection of Fishes from the Rio Grande, at Brownsville, Texas-Continued. By D.S. Jordan, M.D......663-668 ART. XXVII.---Preliminary Studies on the North American Pyralidae. I. By A.R. Grote..... 669-706 ART. XXVIII.--Paleontological Papers No.6: Descriptions of New Species of Invertebrate Fossils from the Laramie Group. By C.A. White, M.D......707-720 ART. XXIX.----Paleontological Papers No.7: On the Distribution of Molluscan Species in the Laramie Group. By C. A. White, M.D......721-724 ART. XXX.-----On some Dark Shale recently discovered below the Devonian Limestones, at Independence, Iowa\; with a Notice of its Fossils and Description of New Species. By S. Calvin, Professor of Geology, State University of Iowa.....725-730 ART. XXXI.----On the Mineralogy of Nevada. By W.J. Hoffman, M.D......731-745

Report↗
USGS2001

Whooping cranes breeding at White Lake, Louisiana, 1939: observations by John J. Lynch, U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey

On 15 May 1939, John J. Lynch of the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey located 13 whooping cranes (Grus americana), including 2 prefledged young, during an aerial survey near White Lake in southwestern Louisiana. His observation was the last historic record of whooping cranes breeding in the wild in the United States, and it confirmed the presence of a nonmigratory breeding population along the Gulf Coast. While reviewing old U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service files at the National Archives in 1999, we located Lynch's original 1939 field note, 2 letters, 5 photographs, and a draft manuscript describing the discovery; 4 other related letters also were found. Because of their biological and historical interest, we have reproduced the documents in this paper. A thorough assessment of the White Lake marshes as a potential site for returning nonmigratory whooping cranes to southwestern Louisiana should be conducted.

Book chapter↗
USGS1994

Selected contributions to ground-water hydrology by C.V. Theis, and a review of his life and work

This publication highlights two previously unpublished papers by C.V. Theis; each is augmented with a discussion that explains why he wrote the paper, attempts to discern why he did not publish the paper, and amplifies the information with reference material not included by Theis. 'A Primer on Anisotropy' was written in the early 1970's to provide practicing hydrogeologists of the day with a method of analyzing ground-water problems involving anisotropic hydraulic-conductivity distribution without using tensor mathematics. The equations were developed for horizontal flow through dipping beds with differing conductivities parallel and perpendicular to the bedding and for flow through dipping beds having three different hydraulic conductivities, one perpendicular to the bedding and two others parallel to the bedding, at an angle to the strike of the beds. Although most colleagues who reviewed the primer in the early 1970's encouraged its publication enthusiastically, at least one suggested the addition of some examples in which the method would be demonstrated. Handwritten notes from Theis' files indicate that he may have worked on some examples and possibly other additions to the paper. The comments by Charles A. Appel include some examples of the primer's use and augment the presentation with references to relevant published papers, both those available to Theis but not cited by him, and subsequent publications. 'Aquifers, Ground-Water Bodies, and Hydrophers' was written in the early 1980's as an attempt to clarify the semantic and conceptual confusion in the use of the term aquifer, applied by some investigators to the saturated part of a permeable formation and by others to the entire permeable formation. The physical distinction between the aquifer and the ground-water body is emphasized, and the term hydropher is proposed to describe the saturated part of a permeable formation. Theis' interest in and familiarity with the French literature on ground water was the basis for a discussion of the French usage, which eschews the term aquifer. The analysis and critique of Theis' palzler explains the 1835 paper from which aquifer was reportedly derived, and provides further justification for the term hydropher. Theis' more important contributions to ground-water hydrology were outgrowths of his solutions to small local water problems based on field investigations. The biographical sketch, drawing extensively from a partial autobiography that Theis had dictated, reveals both the reasons for and the intellectual processes that led to his development of the nonequilibrium concept of ground-water hydraulics. The sketch also describes the background of the man, reviews his career, and portrays the admiration and respect he elicited from his colleagues and associates. The magnitude of Theis' contribution to the science of ground-water hydrology, to the appraisal of the water resources of New Mexico, and to the early research on ground disposal of radioactive wastes is evident from the bibliography of his writings, which includes 168 reports, many of them unpublished. The evolution of his thinking about the role of geologic inhomogeneities in mass transport, conceptualized but not quantified, was the major contribution of the latter part of his career.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1932

A method of estimating ground-water supplies based on discharge by plants and evaporation from soil: Results of investigations in Escalante Valley, Utah

Fluctuations of water levels in wells, if critically studied, may give much information as to the occurrence, movement, and quantity of available ground water. In some localities the ground-water level has been observed to decline during the day and to rise at night, the decline beginning at about the same hour every morning and the rise at about the same hour every night. This daily decline is due to the withdrawal of ground water from the zone of saturation by plants, and the rise at night is due to upward movement of water under slight artesian pressure from permeable beds of sand and gravel at some depth beneath the water table.

Utah↗
USGS1936

Water resources of the Edwards limestone in the San Antonio area, Texas

The water discharged from the large springs of San Antonio and most of the deep wells of the San Antonio area comes from a common reservoir in fissures and solution channels in the Edwards limestone. The water enters the limestone in a zone of outcrop along the Balcones escarpment, which crosses the northern parts of Bexar and Medina Counties and extends a long distance both to the east and west of these counties. It is estimated that the combined annual losses into the limestone from the Medina, Prio, Dry Prio, Nueces, and Sabinal Rivers and Hondo Creek may average as much as 150,000 acre-feet a year, the equivalent of a continuous flow of about 134,000,000 gallons a day. Smaller streams also contribute to the underground reservoir, and additional recharge is provided from rainfall on the outcrop of the limestone by direct penetration and by seepage from innumerable storm-water channels.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS2016

Quantifying fish swimming behavior in response to acute exposure of aqueous copper using computer assisted video and digital image analysis

Behavioral responses of aquatic organisms to environmental contaminants can be precursors of other effects such as survival, growth, or reproduction. However, these responses may be subtle, and measurement can be challenging. Using juvenile white sturgeon ( Acipenser transmontanus ) with copper exposures, this paper illustrates techniques used for quantifying behavioral responses using computer assisted video and digital image analysis. In previous studies severe impairments in swimming behavior were observed among early life stage white sturgeon during acute and chronic exposures to copper. Sturgeon behavior was rapidly impaired and to the extent that survival in the field would be jeopardized, as fish would be swept downstream, or readily captured by predators. The objectives of this investigation were to illustrate protocols to quantify swimming activity during a series of acute copper exposures to determine time to effect during early lifestage development, and to understand the significance of these responses relative to survival of these vulnerable early lifestage fish. With mortality being on a time continuum, determining when copper first affects swimming ability helps us to understand the implications for population level effects. The techniques used are readily adaptable to experimental designs with other organisms and stressors.

Journal of Visualized Experiments↗
USGS2010

Vulnerability of white spruce tree growth in interior Alaska in response to climate variability: Dendrochronological, demographic, and experimental perspectives

This paper integrates dendrochronological, demographic, and experimental perspectives to improve understanding of the response of white spruce ( Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) tree growth to climatic variability in interior Alaska. The dendrochronological analyses indicate that climate warming has led to widespread declines in white spruce growth throughout interior Alaska that have become more prevalent during the 20th century. Similarly, demographic studies show that white spruce tree growth is substantially limited by soil moisture availability in both mid- and late-successional stands. Interannual variability in tree growth among stands within a landscape exhibits greater synchrony than does growth of trees that occupy different landscapes, which agrees with dendrochronological findings that the responses depend on landscape position and prevailing climate. In contrast, the results from 18 years of a summer moisture limitation experiment showed that growth in midsuccessional upland stands was unaffected by moisture limitation and that moisture limitation decreased white spruce growth in floodplain stands where it was expected that growth would be less vulnerable because of tree access to river water. Taken together, the evidence from the different perspectives analyzed in this study clearly indicates that white spruce tree growth in interior Alaska is vulnerable to the effects of warming on plant water balance.

Alaska↗