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At least 865 records · Page 48Linked to original sources

USGS2007

Applying radar technology to migratory bird conservation and management: Strengthening and expanding a collaborative

Executive Summary Understanding the factors affecting migratory bird and bat populations during all three phases of their life cycle—breeding, nonbreeding, and migration—is critical to species conservation planning. This includes the need for information about these species’ responses to natural challenges, as well as information about the effects of human activities and structures. Habitats and other resources critical to migrants during passage and stopover are being destroyed, degraded, and threatened by human activities. Birds and bats are also uniquely susceptible to human use of the airspace. Wind turbines, communication and power transmission towers, and other tall structures, known to cause bird and bat mortality, are being erected or proposed in increasing numbers across the country. In addition, the potential for bird/aircraft collisions poses human safety threats. Management and regulatory agencies, conservation organizations, and industry currently lack the information they need to meet their missions and statutory responsibilities. The biological data available from various radar technologies offer a unique opportunity to learn more about the spatiotemporal distribution patterns, flight characteristics, and habitat use of “aero-fauna.” Recognizing the opportunities presented by radar technologies, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and university partners collaborated first on individual projects and then in a broader, informal “collaborative” to coordinate their radar-related research and work together to develop the suite of products needed for conservation of birds and bats. Having produced two summary documents (Sojda and others, 2005; Ruth and others, 2005), the next objective was to convene a workshop for researchers, management and regulatory agencies, and other interested parties. The focus of this initial workshop was on strengthening the existing USGS-USFWS-university partnership and expanding the “collaborative” to include new Federal agency partners. The subject matter was centered on discussing available technologies, appropriate applications, management-related needs, and ways to strengthen collaborative research and conservation efforts. The workshop opened with presentations about the history of the “radar collaborative,” a description of the workshop objectives and focuses, and a summary of resource management and regulatory needs. Scientific presentations describing current research projects or subjects followed, given by USGS scientists, as well as scientists from other Federal agencies, academia, conservation and ornithological organizations, and a private contracting firm. Presenters addressed a wide variety of management issues including siting of wind-power facilities, bird/aircraft collisions, effects of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on bird migration, bird use of Conservation Reserve Program land, defining bird migration patterns at a broad regional scale, and associating migrant birds with their stopover habitats. Presentations described a variety of radar technologies including NEXRAD weather surveillance radar, modified mobile marine radar, military tracking radar, pencil beam radar, and dual polarization radar, as well as complementary techniques and analysis methods such as acoustic monitoring, thermal imaging, artificial intelligence, and individual-based modeling. Key issues, themes, and questions identified during the open discussions that followed fell into five main categories: (1) agency needs and challenges; (2) radar technology and applications—technical questions and issues; (3) tools and resources for managers and researchers; (4) standardization of protocols; and (5) collaborative opportunities. Participants identified the following management, regulatory, or business issues facing them which may be addressed with radar technologies: tall structures; wind turbines; identification and protection of key habitats; assessment of management activities; and bird/aircraft strikes. Participants frequently expressed the need for specific information about which radar technologies are best used for answering particular questions. User groups emphasized the importance of clear, defensible scientific information on which they can base their activities. In turn, researchers emphasized their need for clearly defined, specific questions from managers so that they can design and conduct the required research. Discussions about technical issues requiring further research and collaboration included target identity, ground-truthing, linking migrants to habitat, and standardized protocols for applied research. Workshop participants identified and endorsed a series of seven action items that would promote collaboration and begin to address key issues identified at the workshop: Action Item #1 : Establish a working subgroup to address large-scale surveillance radar standardization issues. Action Item #2 : Establish a working subgroup to address small-scale radar standardization issues. Action Item #3 : Bring management and regulatory agencies together to identify the three most important information needs for each key management issue relating to radar technologies. Action Item #4 : Develop Fact Sheet(s) to provide information about radar technology applications to migratory bird and bat conservation issues. Action Item #5 : Create a “radar collaborative” Website to provide information about radar biology applications, contacts, publications, and so forth. Action Item #6 : Formalize and expand the USGS-USFWS “radar collaborative.” Action Item #7 : Advance basic research, such as target identity and validation, which will support and improve our abilities to apply radar technologies to conservation objectives. There was considerable interest in expanding the “radar collaborative” to include those agencies, organizations, and industries represented at the workshop. It was felt that the publication of the workshop proceedings, implementation of action items, and additional future meetings or workshops will be crucial in strengthening the “radar collaborative” effort and promoting the use of these valuable technologies for conserving migratory species.

Open-File Report↗

USGS2010

Developing an Analytical Framework: Incorporating Ecosystem Services into Decision Making - Proceedings of a Workshop

The analytical framework for understanding ecosystem services in conservation, resource management, and development decisions is multidisciplinary, encompassing a combination of the natural and social sciences. This report summarizes a workshop on 'Developing an Analytical Framework: Incorporating Ecosystem Services into Decision Making,' which focused on the analytical process and on identifying research priorities for assessing ecosystem services, their production and use, their spatial and temporal characteristics, their relationship with natural systems, and their interdependencies. Attendees discussed research directions and solutions to key challenges in developing the analytical framework. The discussion was divided into two sessions: (1) the measurement framework: quantities and values, and (2) the spatial framework: mapping and spatial relationships. This workshop was the second of three preconference workshops associated with ACES 2008 (A Conference on Ecosystem Services): Using Science for Decision Making in Dynamic Systems. These three workshops were designed to explore the ACES 2008 theme on decision making and how the concept of ecosystem services can be more effectively incorporated into conservation, restoration, resource management, and development decisions. Preconference workshop 1, 'Developing a Vision: Incorporating Ecosystem Services into Decision Making,' was held on April 15, 2008, in Cambridge, MA. In preconference workshop 1, participants addressed what would have to happen to make ecosystem services be used more routinely and effectively in conservation, restoration, resource management, and development decisions, and they identified some key challenges in developing the analytical framework. Preconference workshop 3, 'Developing an Institutional Framework: Incorporating Ecosystem Services into Decision Making,' was held on October 30, 2008, in Albuquerque, NM; participants examined the relationship between the institutional framework and the use of ecosystem services in decision making.

Open-File Report↗

USGS2013

Spatial education: improving conservation delivery through space-structured decision making

Adaptive management is a form of structured decision making designed to guide management of natural resource systems when their behaviors are uncertain. Where decision making can be replicated across units of a landscape, learning can be accelerated, and biological processes can be understood in a larger spatial context. Broad-based partnerships among land management agencies, exemplified by Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (conservation partnerships created through the U.S. Department of the Interior), are potentially ideal environments for implementing spatially structured adaptive management programs.

Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management↗

USGS2024

Advancing at-risk species recovery planning in an era of rapid ecological change with a transparent, flexible, and expert-engaged approach

In the face of unprecedented ecological changes, the conservation community needs strategies to recover species at risk of extinction. On the Island of Maui, we collaborated with species experts and managers to assist with climate-resilient recovery planning for 36 at-risk native plant species by identifying priority areas for the management of recovery populations. To do this, we developed a tailored spatial conservation prioritization (SCP) approach distinguished by its emphasis on transparency, flexibility, and expert (TFE) engagement. Our TFE SCP approach consisted of 2 iterative steps: first, the generation of multiple candidate conservation footprints (i.e., prioritization solutions) with a flexible greedy algorithm that reflects conservation practitioners’ priorities and, second, the selection of an optimal conservation footprint based on the consideration of trade-offs in expert-agreed criteria among footprints. This process maximized buy-in by involving conservation practitioners and experts throughout, from setting goals to reviewing optimization data, defining optimization rules, and designating planning units meaningful to practitioners. We minimized the conservation footprint area necessary to meet recovery goals while incorporating species-specific measures of habitat suitability and climate resilience and retaining species-specific information for guiding recovery efforts. Our approach reduced the overall necessary conservation area by 36%, compared with selecting optimal recovery habitats for each species separately, and still identified high-quality habitat for individual species. Compared with prioritizr (an existing SCP tool), our approach identified a conservation area of equal size but with higher quality habitat. By integrating the strengths of existing techniques in a flexible and transparent design, our approach can address natural resource management constraints and provide outputs suitable for local recovery planning, consequently enhancing engagement and buy-in from conservation practitioners and experts. It demonstrates a step forward in making conservation planning more responsive to real-world complexities and helps reduce barriers to implementation for local conservation practitioners.

Hawaii↗

USGS2017

Temporary wetlands: Challenges and solutions to conserving a ‘disappearing’ ecosystem

Frequent drying of ponded water, and support of unique, highly specialized assemblages of often rare species, characterize temporary wetlands, such as vernal pools, gilgais, and prairie potholes. As small aquatic features embedded in a terrestrial landscape, temporary wetlands enhance biodiversity and provide aesthetic, biogeochemical, and hydrologic functions. Challenges to conserving temporary wetlands include the need to: (1) integrate freshwater and terrestrial biodiversity priorities; (2) conserve entire ‘pondscapes’ defined by connections to other aquatic and terrestrial systems; (3) maintain natural heterogeneity in environmental gradients across and within wetlands, especially gradients in hydroperiod; (4) address economic impact on landowners and developers; (5) act without complete inventories of these wetlands; and (6) work within limited or non-existent regulatory protections. Because temporary wetlands function as integral landscape components, not singly as isolated entities, their cumulative loss is ecologically detrimental yet not currently part of the conservation calculus. We highlight approaches that use strategies for conserving temporary wetlands in increasingly human-dominated landscapes that integrate top-down management and bottom-up collaborative approaches. Diverse conservation activities (including education, inventory, protection, sustainable management, and restoration) that reduce landowner and manager costs while achieving desired ecological objectives will have the greatest probability of success in meeting conservation goals.

Biological Conservation↗

USGS2005

High dispersal in a frog species suggests that it is vulnerable to habitat fragmentation

Global losses of amphibian populations are a major conservation concern and their causes have generated substantial debate. Habitat fragmentation is considered one important cause of amphibian decline. However, if fragmentation is to be invoked as a mechanism of amphibian decline, it must first be established that dispersal is prevalent among contiguous amphibian populations using formal movement estimators. In contrast, if dispersal is naturally low in amphibians, fragmentation can be disregarded as a cause of amphibian declines and conservation efforts can be focused elsewhere. We examined dispersal rates in Columbia spotted frogs ( Rana luteiventris ) using capture–recapture analysis of over 10 000 frogs in combination with genetic analysis of microsatellite loci in replicate basins. We found that frogs had exceptionally high juvenile dispersal rates (up to 62% annually) over long distances (>5 km), large elevation gains (>750 m) and steep inclines (36° incline over 2 km) that were corroborated by genetic data showing high gene flow. These findings show that dispersal is an important life-history feature of some amphibians and suggest that habitat fragmentation is a serious threat to amphibian persistence.

Montana↗

USGS2018

State-level freshwater mussel programs: Current status and a research framework to aid in mussel management and conservation

Despite increased focus on their ecology and conservation, freshwater mussels remain one of the most imperiled groups of aquatic organisms. We documented current management actions, resources, and challenges in managing freshwater mussels in the United States through a survey of state natural resource agencies. Approximately 85% of surveyed states ( N = 40) actively managed mussel populations. Common challenges to mussel conservation included limited funding, lack of public awareness, and poor understanding of habitat needs and risks. We present a research framework, currently underway in Missouri, to support a regional mussel conservation assessment whereby habitat needs are identified, risks are assessed, and standardized protocols are developed to monitor and detect trends in mussel assemblages and threats. The research framework conforms to the National Strategy for the Conservation of Native Freshwater Mollusks and is adaptable to other states. With full consideration of resource limitations, we explore how this framework can improve the effectiveness of mussel conservation efforts.

Fisheries↗

USGS2017

Using resilience and resistance concepts to manage persistent threats to sagebrush ecosystems and greater sage-grouse

Conservation of imperiled species often demands addressing a complex suite of threats that undermine species viability. Regulatory approaches, such as the US Endangered Species Act (1973), tend to focus on anthropogenic threats through adoption of policies and regulatory mechanisms. However, persistent ecosystem-based threats, such as invasive species and altered disturbance regimes, remain critical issues for most at-risk species considered to be conservation-reliant. We describe an approach for addressing persistent ecosystem threats to at-risk species based on ecological resilience and resistance concepts that is currently being used to conserve greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) and sagebrush ecosystems. The approach links biophysical indicators of ecosystem resilience and resistance with species-specific population and habitat requisites in a risk-based framework to identify priority areas for management and guide allocation of resources to manage persistent ecosystem-based threats. US federal land management and natural resource agencies have adopted this framework as a foundation for prioritizing sage-grouse conservation resources and determining effective restoration and management strategies. Because threats and strategies to address them cross-cut program areas, an integrated approach that includes wildland fire operations, postfire rehabilitation, fuels management, and habitat restoration is being used. We believe this approach is applicable to species conservation in other largely intact ecosystems with persistent, ecosystem-based threats.

Rangeland Ecology and Management↗

USGS2023

Cross-continental evaluation of landscape-scale drivers and their impacts to fluvial fishes: Understanding frequency and severity to improve fish conservation in Europe and the United States

Fluvial fishes are threatened globally from intensive human landscape stressors degrading aquatic ecosystems. However, impacts vary regionally, as stressors and natural environmental factors differ between ecoregions and continents. To date, a comparison of fish responses to landscape stressors over continents is lacking, limiting understanding of consistency of impacts and hampering efficiencies in conserving fishes over large regions. This study addresses these shortcomings through a novel, integrative assessment of fluvial fishes throughout Europe and the conterminous United States. Using large-scale datasets, including information on fish assemblages from more than 30,000 locations on both continents, we identified threshold responses of fishes summarized by functional traits to landscape stressors including agriculture, pasture, urban area, road crossings, and human population density. After summarizing stressors by catchment unit (local and network) and constraining analyses by stream size (creeks vs. rivers), we analyzed stressor frequency (number of significant thresholds) and stressor severity (value of identified thresholds) within ecoregions across Europe and the United States. We document hundreds of responses of fish metrics to multi-scale stressors in ecoregions across two continents, providing rich findings to aid in understanding and comparing threats to fishes across the study regions. Collectively, we found that lithophilic species and, as expected, intolerant species are most sensitive to stressors in both continents, while migratory and rheophilic species are similarly strongly affected in the United States. Also, urban land use and human population density were most frequently associated with declines in fish assemblages, underscoring the pervasiveness of these stressors in both continents. This study offers an unprecedented comparison of landscape stressor effects on fluvial fishes in a consistent and comparable manner, supporting conservation of freshwater habitats in both continents and worldwide.

Europe↗

USGS2022

Relationship of greater sage-grouse to natural and assisted recovery of key vegetation types following wildfire: Insights from scat

Megafires are creating severe conservation problems worldwide for wildlife that have obligate dependencies on plant species that are foundational but fire-intolerant. Wildfire-induced loss of native perennials and increases in exotic annual grasses threaten greater sage-grouse (GRSG, Centrocercus urophasianus ) in its sagebrush steppe habitat in western North America. Post-fire restoration using herbicides, seeding, and planting of native perennials such as sagebrush are common, but there are few assessments of GRSG response to the treatments. We measured the presence of GRSG scat and modeled the probability of GRSG presence (PrGRSG-scat ) in relation to variation in plot-level and landscape-level predictors, and land treatments, in an intensive, repeat sampling from 2017-2020 of 113,000-ha area burned in 2015 in the Soda Megafire (Oregon and Idaho, USA). GRSG scat was present in <200 of >8000 observations, as would be expected for a philopatric species (i.e., high fidelity to home site) returning to degraded habitat. PrGRSG-scat was positively associated with sagebrush presence at the plot-level and was positively related to elevation, lower-angle slopes, and proximity to sagebrush seedling outplant islands. The statistical significance of relationships of PrGRSG-scat to restoration treatments was marginal at best, with the largest effect being a positive response of PrGRSG-scat to pre-emergent herbicide sprayed to reduce exotic annual grasses. More time may be required for restored sagebrush steppe to meet GRSG needs or for GRSG to “adopt” the restored vegetation. Moreover, whereas scat is a convenient and non-invasive method to monitor GRSG, its post-fire scarcity weakens the strength of statistical inference on GRSG recovery patterns and response to restoration.

Restoration Ecology↗

USGS2014

Ecological change on California's Channel Islands from the Pleistocene to the Anthropocene

Historical ecology is becoming an important focus in conservation biology and offers a promising tool to help guide ecosystem management. Here, we integrate data from multiple disciplines to illuminate the past, present, and future of biodiversity on California's Channel Islands, an archipelago that has undergone a wide range of land-use and ecological changes. Our analysis spans approximately 20,000 years, from before human occupation and through Native American hunter–gatherers, commercial ranchers and fishers, the US military, and other land managers. We demonstrate how long-term, interdisciplinary research provides insight into conservation decisions, such as setting ecosystem restoration goals, preserving rare and endemic taxa, and reducing the impacts of climate change on natural and cultural resources. We illustrate the importance of historical perspectives for understanding modern patterns and ecological change and present an approach that can be applied generally in conservation management planning.

California↗

USGS2015

Hydrogeologic framework of the Santa Clara Valley, California

The hydrologic framework of the Santa Clara Valley in northern California was redefined on the basis of new data and a new hydrologic model. The regional groundwater flow systems can be subdivided into upper-aquifer and lower-aquifer systems that form a convergent flow system within a basin bounded by mountains and hills on three sides and discharge to pumping wells and the southern San Francisco Bay. Faults also control the flow of groundwater within the Santa Clara Valley and subdivide the aquifer system into three subregions. After decades of development and groundwater depletion that resulted in substantial land subsidence, Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD) and the local water purveyors have refilled the basin through conservation and importation of water for direct use and artificial recharge. The natural flow system has been altered by extensive development with flow paths toward major well fields. Climate has not only affected the cycles of sedimentation during the glacial periods over the past million years, but interannual to interdecadal climate cycles also have affected the supply and demand components of the natural and anthropogenic inflows and outflows of water in the valley. Streamflow has been affected by development of the aquifer system and regulated flow from reservoirs, as well as conjunctive use of groundwater and surface water. Interaquifer flow through water-supply wells screened across multiple aquifers is an important component to the flow of groundwater and recapture of artificial recharge in the Santa Clara Valley. Wellbore flow and depth-dependent chemical and isotopic data indicate that flow into wells from multiple aquifers, as well as capture of artificial recharge by pumping of water-supply wells, predominantly is occurring in the upper 500 ft (152 m) of the aquifer system. Artificial recharge represents about one-half of the inflow of water into the valley for the period 1970–1999. Most subsidence is occurring below 250 ft (76 m), and most pumpage occurs within the upper-aquifer system between 300 and 650 ft (between 91 and 198 m) below land surface. Overall, the natural quality of most groundwater in the Santa Clara Valley is good. Isotopic data indicate that artificial recharge is occurring throughout the shallower parts of the upper-aquifer system and that recent recharge (less than 50 yr old) occurs throughout most of the basin in the upper-aquifer system, but many of the wells in the center of the basin with deeper well screens do not contain tritium and recent recharge. Age dates indicate that the groundwater in the upper-aquifer system generally is less than 2000 yr old, and groundwater in the lower-aquifer system generally ranges from 16,700 to 39,900 yr old. Depth-dependent sampling indicates that wellbores are the main path for vertical flow between aquifer layers. Isotopic data indicate as much as 60% of water pumped from production wells originated as artificial recharge. Shallow aquifers not only contain more recent recharge but may be more susceptible to anthropogenic and natural contamination, as evidenced by trace occurrences of iron, nitrate, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in selected water-supply wells. Water-resource management issues are centered on sustaining a reliable and good-quality source of water to the residents and industries of the valley. While the basin has been refilled, increased demand owing to growth and droughts could result in renewed storage depletion and the related potential adverse effects of land subsidence and seawater intrusion. The new hydrologic model demonstrates the importance of the aquifer layering, faults, and stream channels in relation to groundwater flow and infiltration of recharge. This model provides a means to analyze water resource issues because it separates the supply and demand components of the inflows and outflows.

California↗

USGS2020

Molecular sequencing and morphological identification reveal similar patterns in native bee communities across public and private grasslands of eastern North Dakota

Bees play a key role in the functioning of human-modified and natural ecosystems by pollinating agricultural crops and wild plant communities. Global pollinator conservation efforts need large-scale and long-term monitoring to detect changes in species’ demographic patterns and shifts in bee community structure. The objective of this project was to test a molecular sequencing pipeline that would utilize a commonly used locus, produce accurate and precise identifications consistent with morphological identifications, and generate data that are both qualitative and quantitative. We applied this amplicon sequencing pipeline to native bee communities sampled across Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands and native grasslands in eastern North Dakota. We found the 28S LSU locus to be more capable of discriminating between species than the 18S SSU rRNA locus, and in some cases even resolved instances of cryptic species or morphologically ambiguous species complexes. Overall, we found the amplicon sequencing method to be a qualitatively accurate representation of the sampled bee community richness and species identity, especially when a well-curated database of known 28S LSU sequences is available. Both morphological identification and molecular sequencing revealed similar patterns in native bee community structure across CRP lands and native prairie. Additionally, a genetic algorithm approach to compute taxon-specific correction factors using a small subset of the most concordant samples demonstrated that a high level of quantitative accuracy could be possible if the specimens are fresh and processed soon after collection. Here we provide a first step to a molecular pipeline for identifying insect pollinator communities. This tool should prove useful for future national monitoring efforts as use of molecular tools becomes more affordable and as numbers of 28S LSU sequences for pollinator species increase in publicly-available databases.

North Dakota↗

USGS2012

Phosphorus and groundwater: Establishing links between agricultural use and transport to streams

Phosphorus is a highly reactive element that is essential for life and forms a variety of compounds in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In water, phosphorus may be present as the orthophosphate ion (PO 4 3- ) and is also present in all life forms as an essential component of cellular material. In natural ecosystems, phosphorus is derived from the erosion of rocks and is conserved for plant growth as it is returned to the soil through animal waste and the decomposition of plant and animal tissue; but in agricultural systems, a portion of the phosphorus is removed with each harvest, especially since phosphorus is concentrated in the seeds and fruit. Phosphorus is added to soil by using chemical fertilizers, manure, and composted materials. Agricultural use of chemical phosphorus fertilizer, in the United States, in 2008 was 4,247,000 tons, which is an increase of 25 percent since 1964 (http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/FertilizerUse/). Widely grown corn, soybeans, and wheat use the greatest amount of phosphorus fertilizer among agricultural crops. Phosphorus is largely retained in soil by a process called adsorption. Soils have a limited capacity to store phosphorus, and once the capacity of soil to adsorb phosphorus is exceeded, the excess will dissolve and move more freely with water either directly to a stream or downward to an aquifer. Surface-water runoff from rainstorms or excess irrigation is the primary way that phosphorus or soil containing phosphorus is transported to streams in most watersheds. There is a growing awareness that long-term over-application of manure and chemical fertilizer contributes to phosphorus movement into the groundwater system, resulting in a significant groundwater source of phosphorus to streams and lakes, as well as potential contamination of the groundwater resources. Leaching of applied fertilizer and surface runoff of phosphorus from the soil can contribute to excess growth of algae in downstream water bodies, a condition known as eutrophication. Excessive amounts of algae in eutrophic water bodies can cause large daily changes in the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water because oxygen concentrations tend to be high during daylight hours as a result of photosynthetic activity but then decrease at night. Low concentrations of dissolved oxygen can stress or kill sensitive species living in the water. This study examined concentrations and movement of phosphorus in the soils and groundwater in five agricultural settings across the United States characterized by differences in soil geochemistry, climate, irrigation usage, and cropping systems to assess potential phosphorus movement in the soil and groundwater under common agricultural conditions. The study design included assessment of a variety of agricultural practices, especially cropping patterns and irrigation, so that the factors that contribute to phosphorus movement to groundwater, or sequestration of the phosphorus to soil could be compared and examined. This type of information could potentially be used to formulate best management practices to limit the transport of phosphorus from the agricultural fields.

Fact Sheet↗

USGS2023

Help build the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US)

Introduction PAD-US provides a comprehensive geospatial database of protected and managed areas in the United States. We assemble known protected areas whose primary purpose is biodiversity conservation, as well as lands and waters that provide public access to nature. As a National Geospatial Data Asset (https://ngda-portfolio-community-geoplatform. hub.arcgis.com/), the PAD-US database (https://www.usgs.gov/programs/gap-analysis-project/science/protected-areas) is an aggregation of land and water management boundaries provided by authoritative sources and standardized into a common format

Fact Sheet↗

USGS1979

Preliminary report on the energy resource position of the Republic of Korea

The Republic of Korea has meager resources of energy minerals. Only hydroelectric power and coal were listed as sources of energy indigenous to Korea in the report of the 1967 World Energy Conference. Small reserves of thorium have been estimated and the discovery of uranium was reported in 1977 (A. W. Noonan, Jr., U.S. Department of State, written commun., 1977). Petroleum, natural gas, and geothermal energy sources possibly exist in South Korea, but their potential for development is not considered to be great. About 55 percent of the energy in the Republic is produced from petroleum, most of which is imported as crude and is refined in-country. Domestically produced coal supplies about 32 percent of the energy demand, hydroelectric power about 4 percent, and other sources (firewood, charcoal, and dung) about 9 percent. South Korea's latest energy program stresses construction of additional hydroelectric power installations, increased production of coal, initiation of energy production by atomic reactors, onshore and offshore exploration for petroleum and natural gas, generation of energy by tidal power, and energy savings through conservation (R. A. Stella, written commun., 1977).

Korean Penninsula↗

USGS2006

Geographic Information Systems Methods for Determining Drainage-Basin Areas, Stream-Buffered Areas, Stream Length, and Land Uses for the Neosho and Spring Rivers in Northeastern Oklahoma

Geographic Information Systems have many uses, one of which includes the reproducible computation of environmental characteristics that can be used to categorize hydrologic features. The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality are investigating Geographic Information Systems techniques to determine partial drainage-basin areas, stream-buffer areas, stream length, and land uses (drainage basin and stream characteristics) in northeastern Oklahoma. The U.S Geological Survey, in cooperation with Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, documented the methods used to determine drainage-basin and stream characteristics for the Neosho and Spring Rivers above Grand Lake Of the Cherokees in northeastern Oklahoma and calculated the characteristics. The drainage basin and stream characteristics can be used by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality to aid in natural-resource assessments.

Scientific Investigations Report↗

USGS2020

Uptake and toxicity of clothianidin to monarch butterflies from milkweed consumption

Recent concern for the adverse effects from neonicotinoid insecticides has centered on risk for insect pollinators in general and bees specifically. However, natural resource managers are also concerned about the risk of neonicotinoids to conservation efforts for the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and need additional data to help estimate risk for wild monarch butterflies exposed to those insecticides. In the present study, monarch butterfly larvae were exposed in the laboratory to clothianidin via contaminated milkweed plants from hatch until pupation, and the effects upon larval survival, larval growth, pupation success, and adult size were measured. Soils dosed with a granular insecticide product led to mean clothianidin concentrations of 10.8–2,193 ng/g in milkweed leaves and 5.8–58.0 ng/g in larvae. Treatment of soils also led to clothianidin concentrations of 2.6–5.1 ng/g in adult butterflies indicating potential for transfer of systemic insecticides from the soil through plants and larvae to adult butterflies. Estimated LC50s for total mortality (combined mortality of larvae and pupae) and EC50 for larval growth were variable but higher than the majority of concentrations reported in the literature for clothianidin contamination of leaves.

PeerJ↗