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USGS2024

The National Ocean Biodiversity Strategy

President Biden has been clear that the ocean is central to life on Earth. As he has proclaimed, “the ocean powers millions of jobs; feeds and sustains us; and is a rejuvenating source of inspiration, exploration, and recreation.” The Biden-Harris Administration has worked hard to fulfill the President’s goal to protect and conserve at least 30% of U.S. waters by 2030. The ocean faces increased threats from warming, overfishing, increased acidity, and loss of biodiversity. It is now more important than ever to sustain the many benefits that the ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes provide, including food, a favorable climate, recreation, physical and mental health, and for many, a sense of cultural identity. Ocean life represents an irreplaceable heritage, the foundation of a habitable planet, and a vast trove of resources. Keeping our ocean healthy requires reliable information on the changing status of these living organisms, the drivers of biodiversity change, and options for effectively addressing those drivers. Over 2 million species are estimated to live in the ocean, yet only about 240,000 species have been described by scientists. Most of the ocean’s benefits result from those diverse species interacting with one another and the environment they create. To protect and conserve the ocean, we as a nation need to make better use of existing knowledge and prioritize acquiring new biodiversity knowledge to enable better policy and management decisions. The ability to monitor ocean species and habitats has expanded dramatically over the past decade, with innovations in technology, genomics, taxonomy, big data management and sharing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Yet large fractions of the U.S. ocean remain almost unknown. The National Ocean Biodiversity Strategy (strategy) reflects the urgent need to leverage these advances. The goals of this strategy must be guided by the nation’s diverse voices and ways of knowing, in order to maximize effective and equitable stewardship of the ocean’s diverse life and its benefits to people. The strategy is intended as a guiding document for government to advance three overarching goals: ● Goal 1: Drive delivery of ocean biodiversity knowledge at the national scale. Objectives include developing an Implementation Plan for achieving the strategy’s three goals; establishing a coordination mechanism to manage the implementation; and documenting gaps in biodiversity knowledge and the benefits of ocean biodiversity to people and economies. ● Goal 2: Strengthen tools and institutions to deliver ocean biodiversity knowledge. Objectives include establishing a robust information pipeline to support indicators and dynamic maps of ocean biodiversity, from the coasts to the deep sea. This pipeline should include expanded observing systems and comprehensive data management; science and technology solutions to accelerate the availability of biodiversity information; and plans to leverage previous investments to rebuild and expand the nation’s human capital and infrastructure to sustain foundational taxonomy and biodiversity science. ● Goal 3: Protect, conserve, restore, and sustainably use ocean biodiversity. Objectives include expanding the collection, delivery, and use of biodiversity knowledge to inform actions that advance ocean protection, conservation, restoration, and sustainable development. Government should lead in establishing and incentivizing diverse partnerships across scales and sectors to implement those actions and should educate and involve the public to discover and value the nation’s diverse ocean life. Achieving these goals will require commitments across society: new federal and private investments, coordination across sectors to address climate and equity challenges, and engagement of Indigenous Knowledge holders and frontline communities as full partners throughout planning and implementation. The Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology (SOST) IWG-Biodiversity will begin developing an Implementation Plan to describe and direct specific actions to implement the strategy. Successful implementation of the strategy will harmonize and expand collection and delivery of timely knowledge on ocean life to all of society. The strategy will also enable evidence-based management and protection of the ocean. Advancing the strategy will build human and institutional capital and partnerships that support both existing mandates and new needs to rebuild and sustain biodiversity, achieve healthy ocean ecosystems, and manage living resources. Implementing the strategy will deliver knowledge for monitoring, modeling, forecasting, and assessments that support food security, public health, and cultural values, and that more effectively protect, conserve, and restore nature.

Report↗
USGS2016

U.S. Geological Survey science for the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative—2015 annual report

This is the eighth annual report highlighting U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) science and decision-support activities conducted for the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI). The activities address specific management needs identified by WLCI partner agencies. In 2015, USGS scientists continued 24 WLCI projects in 5 categories: (1) acquiring and analyzing resource-condition data to form a foundation for understanding and monitoring landscape conditions and projecting changes; (2) using new technologies to improve the scope and accuracy of landscape-scale monitoring and assessments, and applying them to monitor indicators of ecosystem conditions and the effectiveness of on-the-ground habitat projects; (3) conducting research to elucidate the mechanisms that drive wildlife and habitat responses to changing land uses; (4) managing and making accessible the large number of databases, maps, and other products being developed; and (5) coordinating efforts among WLCI partners, helping them to use USGS-developed decision-support tools, and integrating WLCI outcomes with future habitat enhancement and research projects. Of the 24 projects, 21 were ongoing, including those that entered new phases or more in-depth lines of inquiry, 2 were new, and 1 was completed. A highlight of 2015 was the WLCI science conference sponsored by the USGS, Bureau of Land Management, and National Park Service in coordination with the Wyoming chapter of The Wildlife Society. Of 260 participants, 41 were USGS professionals representing 13 USGS science centers, field offices, and Cooperative Wildlife Research Units. Major themes of USGS presentations included using new technologies for developing more efficient research protocols for modeling and monitoring natural resources, researching effects of energy development and other land uses on wildlife species and habitats of concern, and modeling species distributions, population trends, habitat use, and effects of land-use changes. There was also a special session on the effectiveness of Wyoming’s Sage-Grouse Executive Order. Combined, USGS presentations provided WLCI partners with a wealth of information and conservation tools. The project completed in 2015 yielded an index of important agricultural lands in the WLCI region. The index improves upon existing measures of agricultural productivity and provides planners and managers with additional values to consider when making decisions about land use and conservation actions. The two new projects include an analysis of satellite imagery to quantify sagebrush productivity and mortality, and an evaluation of how groundwater and small streams interact in the upper Green River Basin. Initiated in response to concern among WLCI partners that large areas of sagebrush appear to have died recently, the sagebrush study objectives are to assess effects of these mortality events on overall sagebrush ecosystem productivity, evaluate the feasibility of using satellite imagery to detect patterns in sagebrush mortality over time, and identify factors driving these mortality events. The groundwater-streamflow interaction study is being conducted by hydrologists and fish ecologists to better understand how groundwater-streamflow interactions are affected by energy-resource development and how native fish communities are affected by these factors. Expected outcomes of both new projects will provide WLCI partners with additional information and decision-support tools. Highlights of ongoing science foundation activities included simulations of nine alternative build-out scenarios for oil and gas development and an associated online fact sheet that explains how the simulations were conducted, with an applied example for the Atlantic Rim. Also completed in 2015 was an update of the USGS online inventory of mineral resources data, and publication of a USGS uranium resource survey for the WLCI region. Combined, the outcomes of this work provide decisionmakers and managers with important baseline information for existing and (or) future planning and monitoring efforts. Terrestrial monitoring activities in 2015 emphasized the use of satellite data in combination with other technologies and field data to monitor, assess, and (or) forecast distribution patterns and (or) trends in sagebrush ecosystems, seasonal and migration stopover habitats used by mule deer and elk, and semi-arid aspen woodlands. Several professional papers detailing new monitoring models and results have been published. Combined, this and related work will help managers understand distribution patterns and trends among priority habitats, identify areas in need of restoration or conservation, and monitor the effectiveness of habitat-management actions. Aquatic monitoring activities entailed not only the new groundwater-streamflow interaction study already mentioned, but also continued monitoring with streamgages paired with nearby wells in the Green River Basin to assess groundwater effects on streamflow and surface water temperatures. A map that portrays groundwater levels and general direction of flow in the Green River Basin was published as well . Overall, outcomes of USGS hydrological research and monitoring will inform WLCI partners about water resources in the WLCI region and help to explain fish-community responses to energy-resource development. In 2015, USGS terrestrial wildlife ecologists continued to make crucial strides towards better understanding wildlife species responses to energy-resource development and other land-use changes. This body of research includes six taxa that require or heavily depend on sagebrush habitats: sage-grouse, pygmy rabbits, 3 songbird species, and mule deer. Native fish communities are also being evaluated. Approaches include modeling and mapping wildlife species distributions, abundances, and trends; using satellite and other technologies to track wildlife seasonal movements; conducting successive phases of research that build on the knowledge gained through prior phases to reveal the specific factors or thresholds that drive population- or individual-level responses to changes; and conducting population viability analyses. Additionally, wildlife habitat association models for pygmy rabbit and sage-grouse were combined with the oil and gas build-out scenarios to project species responses to alternative energy development scenarios. Outcomes of the wildlife response research are helping decisionmakers and managers identify specific factors that contribute to species population trends, the potential for spatial overlap between important wildlife habitats and proposed energy-resource development, locations of priority habitats for restoration and conservation, and more. Data and WLCI Web site management highlights of 2015 included not only ongoing software upgrades, but also an update of the datasets displayed in two of the online products developed for the WLCI effort: (1) a map of 15,532 oil and natural gas well pad scars and other features associated with oil and gas extraction, and (2) a map of oil and gas, oil shale, uranium, and solar energy production, both for southwestern Wyoming. In addition, a map viewer was developed for a previously published map of coal and wind production in relation to sage-grouse distribution and core management areas in southwestern Wyoming. Combined, these maps place valuable decision-support tools in the hands of WLCI partners. The USGS coordination efforts on behalf of the WLCI in 2015 included significant work on planning and executing the WLCI science conference. They also included ongoing efforts to support Local Project Development Teams and the WLCI Coordination Team (CT) with developing conservation priorities and strategies, identifying priority areas for future conservation actions, supporting the evaluation and ranking of conservation projects, and evaluating the ways in which proposed habitat projects relate to WLCI priorities. In 2015, the USGS also assisted the WLCI CT with updating the WLCI Conservation Action Plan.

Wyoming↗
USGS2002

U.S. Geological Survey Activities Related to American Indians and Alaska Natives Fiscal Year 2002

Information is a resource for Native American governments, communities, organizations, and people. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides technical expertise, reports, and other impartial information sources that benefit Native Americans interested in subsistence issues, water, land use, and the health of many parts of the environment. Native self-sufficiency, economic development, and conservation are cultivated through Native decisions informed with USGS data and analyses. The USGS works in cooperation with American Indian and Alaska Native governments, conducting research on water and mineral resources, animals and plants of environmental, economic, or subsistence importance, natural hazards, and geologic resources. Digital data on cartography, mineral resources, streamflow, biota, and other topics are available to American Indian and Alaska Native individuals and institutions. The USGS recognizes the need to learn from and share knowledge with Native peoples. This report describes most of the activities that the USGS conducted with American Indian and Alaska Native governments, educational institutions, and individuals during Federal Fiscal Year 2002. Some of these USGS activities were carried out in concert with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Others were conducted by Tribes, Tribal organizations, professional societies, and the USGS. A growing number of Tribal governments, educational institutions, and other Tribal organizations have begun using geographic information systems and other digital technologies in recent years. As Tribes become more interested in and more adept at managing digital information, they are seeking relevant data from the USGS more frequently. Using digital technologies provides Tribal governments with additional means of managing lands and resources for the benefit of current and future generations. The USGS recognizes the need to make its information available to Tribal governments, and to work with those governments and other institutions to advance data management capabilities. The USGS also recognizes that Tribal institutions have varying needs, interests, and capacities. The USGS strives to be sensitive to the unique circumstances of each of these institutions while supporting their self-driven evolution. The USGS is responding to these needs by increasing the transfer of scientific information to American Indian and Alaska Native governments and by training employees of those governments to conduct scientific studies and improve scientific data management. The USGS is also encouraging American Indians and Alaska Natives to pursue careers in science and seeking ways to hire Indian and Native students. By identifying, improving, and disseminating information about available hiring mechanisms, the USGS is working to make hiring such students easier, and, therefore, more likely, for USGS managers. The U.S. Geological Survey is the Federal science bureau within the Department of the Interior (DoI). The USGS is non-regulatory and is not a significant manager of Federal or Trust lands or assets. However, as described in this report, there are several types of USGS activities that involve American Indians, Alaska Natives, and their lands. One type of activity is the course of formal studies, conducted through existing USGS programs, that involves collection of specific types of data as well as investigative and research projects. These projects typically last 2 or 3 years, although a few are parts of longer-term activities. Some projects are funded through cooperative agreements, from monies provided to the USGS by individual Tribal governments, or by the BIA. The USGS provides matching funds for cooperative projects. These formal projects may also receive funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Indian Health Service (part of the Department of Health and Human Services), or other Federal agencies. The USGS routinely works with its sister bureaus in the Department of the Interior to provide the scientific information and expertise needed to meet the Department's science priorities. Within this context, the USGS and the BIA are cooperating to use USGS information resources to benefit American Indian and Alaska Native peoples and their lands. The second type of USGS activity is less formal, based on initiatives designed and conducted by USGS employees. Frequently involving educational activities, these endeavors are prompted by employee interests, often as collateral issues, that result from one or more USGS employees identifying and responding to an observed need. In these activities, USGS employees help fulfill a mission of the USGS--to prove scientific relevance--while helping their fellow citizens. Increasingly, some of the educational activities are becoming parts of formal USGS projects. USGS employees have also taken the initiative in assisting American Indians and Alaska Natives through participation in several organizations that were created to foster awareness of science among Native peoples and to help build support and communication networks. One such group is the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES). This group sponsors an annual national meeting in which USGS employees participate. USGS employees join this organization on a voluntary basis, bringing the benefits of this expanded network to the USGS, as many employees do with other professional organizations. Each part of the USGS has identified an American Indian/Alaska Native liaison. The USGS has a regional organizational structure, with Western, Central, and Eastern Regions. The regions work in concert with specific scientific disciplines to conduct the scientific mission of the USGS. The regional structure is intended to bring us closer to our customers; we hope that Native Americans and Alaska Natives will use the contacts listed at the end of this report.

Report↗
USGS2022

Landsat data ecosystem case study: Actor perceptions of the use and value of landsat

It is well-known that Earth observation (EO) data plays a critical role in scientific understanding about the global environment. There is also growing support for the use of EO data to provide context-specific insights, with significant implications for their use in decision support systems. Technological development over recent years, including cloud computing infrastructure, machine learning techniques, and rapid expansion of the velocity, volume, and variety of space-borne data sources, offer huge potential to provide solutions to the myriad environmental problems facing society and the planet. The USGS/NASA Landsat Program, the longest continuously gathered source of land surface data, has played a central role in our understanding of environmental change, particularly for its contribution of longitudinal products that offer greater context for present research and decision support activities. The challenge facing the Landsat and EO data community, however, now lies in moving beyond context-specific knowledge generation to translating such knowledge into tangible value for society. Drawing from an open data ecosystem framework and qualitative social science methods, we map the Landsat data ecosystem (LDE) and the relationships linking multiple actors responsible for processing, indexing, analyzing, synthesizing, and translating raw Landsat data into information that is useful, useable, and used by end users in particular social-environmental contexts. Both the role of Big Data and associated technologies are discussed as they relate to the ultimate use of Landsat-derived information products to guide decision-making, and key data ecosystem characteristics that shape the likelihood of these products’ use are highlighted.

Frontiers in Environmental Science↗
USGS2006

Evidence for the aquatic binding of arsenate by natural organic matter-suspended Fe(III)

Dialysis experiments with arsenate and three different NOM samples amended with Fe(III) showed evidence confirming the formation of aquatic arsenate-Fe(III)-NOM associations. A linear relationship was observed between the amount of complexed arsenate and the Fe(III) content of the NOM. The dialysis results were consistent with complex formation through ferric iron cations acting as bridges between the negatively charged arsenate and NOM functional groups and/or a more colloidal association, in which the arsenate is bound by suspended Fe(III)-NOM colloids. Sequential filtration experiments confirmed that a significant proportion of the iron present at all Fe/C ratios used in the dialysis experiments was colloidal in nature. These colloids may include larger NOM species that are coagulated by the presence of chelated Fe(III) and/or NOM-stabilized ferric (oxy)hydroxide colloids, and thus, the solution-phase arsenate-Fe(III)-NOM associations are at least partially colloidal in nature. ?? 2006 American Chemical Society.

Environmental Science & Technology↗
USGS2006

Widespread presence of naturally occurring perchlorate in high plains of Texas and New Mexico

Perchlorate (ClO4-) occurrence in groundwater has previously been linked to industrial releases and the historic use of Chilean nitrate fertilizers. However, recently a number of occurrences have been identified for which there is no obvious anthropogenic source. Groundwater from an area of 155 000 km2 in 56 counties in northwest Texas and eastern New Mexico is impacted by the presence of ClO4-. Concentrations were generally low (<4 ppb), although some areas are impacted by concentrations up to 200 ppb. ClO4- distribution is not related to well type (public water system, domestic, agricultural, or water-table monitoring) or aquifer (Ogallala, Edward Trinity High Plains, Edwards Trinity Plateau, Seymour, or Cenozoic). Results from vertically nested wells strongly indicate a surface source. The source of ClO4- appears to most likely be atmospheric deposition. Evidence supporting this hypothesis primarily relates to the presence of ClO 4- in tritium-free older water, the lack of relation between land use and concentration distribution, the inability of potential anthropogenic sources to account for the estimated mass of ClO4-, and the positive relationship between conserved anions (e.g., IO3-, Cl-, SO4-2) and ClO4-. The ClO4- distribution appears to be mainly related to evaporative concentration and unsaturated transport. This process has led to higher ClO4- and other ion concentrations in groundwater where the water table is relatively shallow, and in areas with lower saturated thickness. Irrigation may have accelerated this process in some areas by increasing the transport of accumulated salts and by increasing the number of evaporative cycles. Results from this study highlight the potential for ClO4- to impact groundwater in arid and semiarid areas through long-term atmospheric deposition. ?? 2006 American Chemical Society.

Environmental Science & Technology↗
USGS2009

Semivolatile organic compounds in residential air along the Arizona - Mexico border

Concerns about indoor air quality and the potential effects on people living in these environments are increasing as more reports about the toxicities and the potential indoor air exposure levels of household-use chemicals and chemicals fromhousingandfurnishingmanufactureinairarebeingassessed. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry was used to confirm numerous airborne contaminants obtained from the analysis of semipermeable membrane devices deployed inside of 52 homes situated along the border between Arizona and Mexico. We also describe nontarget analytes in the organochlorine pesticide fractions of 12 of these homes; this fraction is also the most likelytocontainthebroadestscopeofbioconcentratablechemicals accumulated from the indoor air. Approximately 400 individual components were identified, ranging from pesticides to a wide array of hydrocarbons, fragrances such as the musk xylenes, flavors relating to spices, aldehydes, alcohols, esters and phthalate esters, and other miscellaneous types of chemicals. The results presented in this study demonstrate unequivocally that the mixture of airborne chemicals present indoors is far more complex than previously demonstrated. ?? 2009 American Chemical Society.

Environmental Science & Technology↗
USGS2006

Anaerobic biotransformation of roxarsone and related N-substituted phenylarsonic acids

Large quantities of arsenic are introduced into the environment through land application of poultry litter containing the organoarsenical feed additive roxarsone (3-nitro-4-hydroxyphenylarsonic acid). The objective of this study was to evaluate the bioconversion of roxarsone and related N-substituted phenylarsonic acid derivatives under anaerobic conditions. The results demonstrate that roxarsone is rapidly transformed in the absence of oxygen to the corresponding aromatic amine, 4-hydroxy-3-aminophenylarsonic acid (HAPA). The formation of HAPA is attributable to the facile reduction of the nitro group. Electron-donating substrates, such as hydrogen gas, glucose, and lactate, stimulated the rate of nitro group reduction, indicating a microbial role. During long-term incubations, HAPA and the closely related 4-aminophenylarsonic acid (4-APA) were slowly biologically eliminated by up to 99% under methanogenic and sulfate-reducing conditions, whereas little or no removal occurred in heat-killed inoculum controls. Arsenite and, to a lesser extent, arsenate were observed as products of the degradation. Freely soluble forms of the inorganic arsenical species accounted for 19-28% of the amino-substituted phenylarsonic acids removed. This constitutes the first report of a biologically catalyzed rupture of the phenylarsonic group under anaerobic conditions. ?? 2006 American Chemical Society.

Environmental Science & Technology↗
USGS2005

A modified beam-to-earth transformation to measure short-wavelength internal waves with an acoustic Doppler current profiler

The algorithm used to transform velocity signals from beam coordinates to earth coordinates in an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) relies on the assumption that the currents are uniform over the horizontal distance separating the beams. This condition may be violated by (nonlinear) internal waves, which can have wavelengths as small as 100-200 m. In this case, the standard algorithm combines velocities measured at different phases of a wave and produces horizontal velocities that increasingly differ from true velocities with distance from the ADCP. Observations made in Massachusetts Bay show that currents measured with a bottom-mounted upward-looking ADCP during periods when short-wavelength internal waves are present differ significantly from currents measured by point current meters, except very close to the instrument. These periods are flagged with high error velocities by the standard ADCP algorithm. In this paper measurements from the four spatially diverging beams and the backscatter intensity signal are used to calculate the propagation direction and celerity of the internal waves. Once this information is known, a modified beam-to-earth transformation that combines appropriately lagged beam measurements can be used to obtain current estimates in earth coordinates that compare well with pointwise measurements. ?? 2005 American Meteorological Society.

Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology↗
USGS2009

Trends in concentrations and use of agricultural herbicides for Corn Belt rivers, 1996-2006

Trends in the concentrations and agricultural use of four herbicides (atrazine, acetochlor, metolachlor, and alachlor) were evaluated for major rivers of the Corn Belt for two partially overlapping time periods: 1996-2002 and 2000-2006. Trends were analyzed for 11 sites on the mainstems and selected tributaries in the Ohio, Upper Mississippi, and Missouri River Basins. Concentration trends were determined using a parametric regression model designed for analyzing seasonal variability, flow-related variability, and trends in pesticide concentrations(SEAWAVE-Q).TheSEAWAVE-Qmodel accounts for the effect of changing flow conditions in order to separate changes caused by hydrologic conditions from changes caused by other factors, such as pesticide use. Most of the trends in atrazine and acetochlor concentrations for both time periods were relatively small and nonsignificant, but metolachlor and alachlor were dominated by varying magnitudes of concentration downtrends. Overall, with trends expressed as a percent change per year, trends in herbicide concentrations were consistent with trends in agricultural use; 84 of 88 comparisons for different sites, herbicides, and time periods showed no significant difference between concentration trends and agricultural use trends. Results indicate that decreasing use appears to have been the primary cause for the concentration downtrends during 1996-2006 and that, while there is some evidence that nonuse management factors may have reduced concentrations in some rivers, reliably evaluating the influence of these factors on pesticides in large streams and rivers will require improved, basin-specific information on both management practices and use over time. ?? 2009 American Chemical Society.

Environmental Science & Technology↗
USGS2017

Synthesis centers as critical research infrastructure

Demand for the opportunity to participate in a synthesis-center activity has increased in the years since the US National Science Foundation (NSF)–funded National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) opened its doors in 1995 and as more scientists across a diversity of scientific disciplines have become aware of what synthesis centers provide. The NSF has funded four synthesis centers, and more than a dozen new synthesis centers have been established around the world, some following the NSF model and others following different models suited to their national funding environment ( http://synthesis-consortium.org ). Scientific synthesis integrates diverse data and knowledge to increase the scope and applicability of results and yield novel insights or explanations within and across disciplines (Pickett et al. 2007 , Carpenter et al. 2009 ). The demand for synthesis comes from the pressing societal need to address grand challenges related to global change and other issues that cut across multiple societal sectors and disciplines and from recognition that substantial added scientific value can be achieved through the synthesis-based analysis of existing data. Demand also comes from groups of scientists who see exciting opportunities to generate new knowledge from interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration, often capitalizing on the increasingly large volume and variety of available data (Kelling et al. 2009 , Bishop et al. 2014 , Specht et al. 2015b ). The ever-changing nature of societal challenges and the availability of data with which to address them suggest there will be an expanding need for synthesis. However, we are now entering a phase in which government support for some existing synthesis centers has ended or will be ending soon, forcing those centers to close or develop new operational models, approaches, and funding streams. We argue here that synthesis centers play such a unique role in science that continued long-term public investment to maximize benefits to science and society is justified. In particular, we argue that synthesis centers represent community infrastructure more akin to research vessels than to term-funded centers of science and technology (e.g., NSF Science and Technology Centers). Through our experience running synthesis centers and, in some cases, developing postfederal funding models, we offer our perspective on the purpose and value of synthesis centers. We present case studies of different outcomes of transition plans and argue for a fundamental shift in the conception of synthesis science and the strategic funding of these centers by government funding agencies.

BioScience↗
USGS2009

A look at construction aggregates production

Construction aggregates are defined as the combination of crushed stone and construction sand and gravel. Aggregates are one of the most accessible natural resources on Earth and one of the fundamental building blocks of our society. They have been used from the earliest times of our civilization for a variety of applications that have increased in number and complexity with time and technological progress. Despite the relatively low but increasing unit value of its basic products, the construction aggregates industry is a major contributor to and an indicator of the economic well-being of the nation.

Stone, Sand & Gravel Review↗
USGS2021

Progress in protecting air travel from volcanic ash clouds

The Eyjafjallajökull eruption of 2010 demonstrated the far-reaching impact of ash clouds and the vulnerability of our jet-based society to them, prompting a review of procedures to detect, warn, and forecast ash cloud hazards to aviation. The years since 2010 have seen marked improvements in satellite technology, more accurate ash-dispersion models that integrate simulations with observations, and more thoroughly vetted and harmonized procedures for forecasting and communicating hazards. In the coming decade, we expect these trends to continue, with formal warning products migrating from text and simplified maps to 4D data streams. This paper details some of these advancements and challenges ahead.

Bulletin of Volcanology↗
USGS2008

Atmospherically deposited PBDEs, pesticides, PCBs, and PAHs in western U.S. National Park fish: Concentrations and consumption guidelines

Concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were measured in 136 fish from 14 remote lakes in 8 western U.S. National Parks/Preserves between 2003 and 2005 and compared to human and wildlife contaminant health thresholds. A sensitive (median detection limit, -18 pg/g wet weight), efficient (61% recovery at 8 ng/g), reproducible (4.1% relative standard deviation (RSD)), and accurate (7% deviation from standard reference material (SRM)) analytical method was developed and validated for these analyses. Concentrations of PCBs, hexachlorobenzene, hexachlorocyclohexanes, DDTs, and chlordanes in western U.S. fish were comparable to or lower than mountain fish recently collected from Europe, Canada, and Asia. Dieldrin and PBDE concentrations were higher than recent measurements in mountain fish and Pacific Ocean salmon. Concentrations of most contaminants in western U.S. fish were 1-6 orders of magnitude below calculated recreational fishing contaminant health thresholds. However, lake average contaminant concentrations in fish exceeded subsistence fishing cancer thresholds in 8 of 14 lakes and wildlife contaminant health thresholds for piscivorous birds in 1of 14 lakes. These results indicate that atmospherically deposited organic contaminants can accumulate in high elevation fish, reaching concentrations relevant to human and wildlife health. ?? 2008 American Chemical Society.

Environmental Science & Technology↗
USGS2008

Persistence of pathogenic prion protein during simulated wastewater treatment processes

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs, prion diseases) are a class of fatal neurodegenerative diseases affecting a variety of mammalian species including humans. A misfolded form of the prion protein (PrP TSE) is the major, if not sole, component of the infectious agent. Prions are highly resistant to degradation and to many disinfection procedures suggesting that, if prions enter wastewater treatment systems through sewers and/or septic systems (e.g., from slaughterhouses, necropsy laboratories, rural meat processors, private game dressing) or through leachate from landfills that have received TSE-contaminated material, prions could survive conventional wastewater treatment Here, we report the results of experiments examining the partitioning and persistence of PrPTSE during simulated wastewater treatment processes including activated and mesophilic anaerobic sludge digestion. Incubation with activated sludge did not result in significant PrPTSE degradation. PrPTSE and prion infectivity partitioned strongly to activated sludge solids and are expected to enter biosolids treatment processes. A large fraction of PrPTSE survived simulated mesophilic anaerobic sludge digestion. The small reduction in recoverable PrPTSE after 20-d anaerobic sludge digestion appeared attributable to a combination of declining extractability with time and microbial degradation. Our results suggest that if prions were to enter municipal wastewater treatment systems, most would partition to activated sludge solids, survive mesophilic anaerobic digestion, and be present in treated biosolids. ?? 2008 American Chemical Society.

Environmental Science & Technology↗
USGS2012

Lidar base specification

In late 2009, a $14.3 million allocation from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for new light detection and ranging (lidar) elevation data acquisition prompted the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Geospatial Program (NGP) to develop a common minimum specification for all lidar data acquired for The National Map. Released as a working draft in 2010 and formally published in 2012, the USGS–NGP Lidar Base Specification (LBS) was quickly embraced by numerous States, counties, and foreign countries as the foundation for their own lidar specifications. Prompted by a growing appreciation for the wide applicability and inherent value of lidar, a consortium of Federal agencies commissioned the National Enhanced Elevation Assessment (NEEA) study in 2010 to quantify the costs and benefits of a national lidar program. Published in 2012, the NEEA report documented a substantial return on such an investment, defined five quality levels (QL) for elevation data, and recommended an 8-year collection cycle of QL2 lidar data as the optimum balance of benefit and affordability. In response to the study, the USGS–NGP established the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) in 2013 as the interagency vehicle through which the NEEA recommendations could be realized. Lidar is a quickly evolving technology and much has changed in the industry since the previous version of the Lidar Base Specification (LBS) was published. Lidar data have improved in accuracy and spatial resolution, the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing has revised the geospatial accuracy standards, industry standard file formats have been expanded, additional applications for lidar have become accepted, and the need for interoperable data across collections has been realized. This revision to the LBS addresses some of those changes and provides continued guidance towards a nationally consistent lidar dataset. Note Future versions of the Lidar base specification will be released online at https://www.usgs.gov/3DEP/lidarspec .

Techniques and Methods↗
USGS2016

Undergraduate research projects help promote diversity in the geosciences

A workforce that draws from all segments of society and mirrors the ethnic, racial, and gender diversity of the United States population is important. The geosciences (geology, hydrology, geospatial sciences, environmental sciences) continue to lag far behind other science, technology, engineering and mathematical (STEM) disciplines in recruiting and retaining minorities (Valsco and Valsco, 2010). A report published by the National Science Foundation in 2015, “Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering” states that from 2002 to 2012, less than 2% of the geoscience degrees were awarded to African-American students. Data also show that as of 2012, approximately 30% of African-American Ph.D. graduates obtained a bachelor’s degree from a Historic Black College or University (HBCU), indicating that HBCUs are a great source of diverse students for the geosciences. This paper reviews how an informal partnership between Tennessee State University (a HBCU), the U.S. Geological Survey, and Mammoth Cave National Park engaged students in scientific research and increased the number of students pursuing employment or graduate degrees in the geosciences.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2005

Climate dependency of tree growth suppressed by acid deposition effects on soils in Northwest Russia

Increased tree growth in temperate and boreal forests has been proposed as a direct consequence of a warming climate. Acid deposition effects on nutrient availability may influence the climate dependency of tree growth, however. This study presents an analysis of archived soil samples that has enabled changes in soil chemistry to be tracked with patterns of tree growth through the 20th century. Soil samples collected in 1926, 1964, and 2001, near St. Petersburg, Russia, showed that acid deposition was likely to have decreased root-available concentrations of Ca (an essential element) and increased root-available concentrations of Al (an inhibitor of Ca uptake). These soil changes coincided with decreased diameter growth and a suppression of climate-tree growth relationships in Norway spruce. Expected increases in tree growth from climate warming may be limited by decreased soil fertility in regions of northern and eastern Europe, and eastern North America, where Ca availability has been reduced by acidic deposition. ?? 2005 American Chemical Society.

Environmental Science & Technology↗