USGS Office of Communications
Science Picks — Leads, Feeds and Story Seeds
January 2008 Edition
For Release: UPON RECEIPT
Happy New Year — if your resolution is to give readers fascinating
science stories, the U.S. Geological Survey has just what you need. Got
questions about hypoxia die-offs in the Gulf of Mexico or curious about
Southern California wildfire impacts? This edition of Science Picks
answers those questions and so much more. Photos and Web links are
available to enhance your story. If you would like to receive Science
Picks via e-mail, would like to change the recipient or no longer want
to receive it, please e-mail dmakle@xxxxxxxxx
January Highlights:
· USGS Press Conference Planned on Die-Off-Causing Nutrient Delivery to
the Gulf of Mexico
· Earthquakes Claim 709 Lives in 2007
· Podcast: The Unusual Suspects
· Wildfire Woes for Those That Hop, Crawl, Swim and Eat a Lot
· The Fire's Out, but Danger Remains — Post-Wildfire Debris Flows
· Frog Tracks
· “Radio Active” Biologists Get the Skinny on a Rare Rail
· Now Available: Decades of Data on Coastal Change
· New Wildlife Disease News Map Tool
· USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Marks 25 Years of Kilauea Volcano
Eruption
· The USGS Offers New Insights on Bald Eagles
LEADS (top news, updates and happenings in natural science)
USGS Press Conference Planned on Die-Off-Causing Nutrient Delivery to
the Gulf of Mexico
The USGS is hosting a press conference to announce the results of a
study on nitrogen and phosphorus delivery to the Gulf of Mexico from the
Mississippi River Basin. Find out the geographic areas and the land use
practices that are the highest contributors of nutrients to the Gulf.
Who: Robert M. Hirsch, Associate Director for Water, USGS
Richard Alexander, Hydrologist and lead author of study, USGS
Benjamin H. Grumbles, Assistant Administrator for Water, EPA
Tim Petty, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science,
DOI
Where: The National Press Club
Murrow Room
529 14th Street NW
Washington, DC 20045
When: Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008
1:00p.m. - 2:00p.m.
Call in number: 800- 945-9434
For more information, contact Jennifer LaVista at (703) 648-4432 or
jlavista@xxxxxxxxx Also, look for the study in the journal Environmental
Science and Technology on Feb. 1. The article, along with frequently
asked questions, maps, other downloadable graphics and a podcast will go
live at 1p.m., today, and can be accessed at
http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/sparrow/gulf_findings.
Earthquakes Claim 709 Lives in 2007
At least 709 deaths resulted from earthquake activity worldwide in 2007,
according to the USGS and confirmed by the United Nations Office for
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. This is the fewest number of
casualties from earthquakes in a year since 2000, when 231 people were
killed. Most of the fatalities for the year — at least 514 — occurred
when a magnitude 8.0 earthquake hit Pisco, Peru, on Aug. 15. An
additional number of at least 4256 people were injured by earthquakes
during the year. Earthquakes caused casualties or damage in 23 countries
during 2007. Find out more about earthquakes in far-flung places. For
more information contact Heidi Koontz at
(303) 202-4763 or hkoontz@xxxxxxxxx
Podcast: The Unusual Suspects
In 2007, Web visitors requested almost 50,000 pages from the USGS
newsroom using the USGS Science Picks, this monthly media tip sheet.
Find out three of the most popular and intriguing topics of 2007 by
listening to episode 26 of CoreCast, the USGS Podcast, at usgs.gov/ USGS
CORECAST. You’ll hear about Louisiana coastal land loss, the dangerous
antics of the acrobatic Asian carp, and the unusual relationship with
between a plant, a fungus and a virus that sheds light on evolution. For
more information contact Denver Makle at (703) 648-4732 or
dmakle@xxxxxxxxx
Podcast: Wildfire Woes for Those That Swim, Hop, Crawl and Eat a Lot
The Southern California wildfires in late 2007 impacted more than
humans. Wildlife also suffered. Certain groups of animals seem to be
disproportionately affected by the fires, such as non-forest salamanders
and shrews. Scientists are also concerned about the steelhead rainbow
trout population in the Santa Ana Mountains of Orange County, Calif.,
because it may be the last genetically pure form of its kind in these
mountains. Listen to USGS Biologist Robert Fisher describe what USGS
scientists discovered about the wildfire impact on wildlife by listening
to episode 25 of CoreCast, the USGS podcast, at www.usgs.gov/corecast.
For more information, contact Clarice Nassif Ransom at (703) 648-4299 or
cransom@xxxxxxxxx
Podcast: The Fire's Out, but Danger Remains — Post-Wildfire Debris Flows
Once the smoke clears from a wildfire, the danger is not over. Other
hazards, such as flash floods and debris flows, now become the concern.
Watch a video of the Christmas Day, 2003, debris flow in Devore, Calif.,
taken by local citizen Howard Davis by visiting the USGS California
Water Science Center webpage, http://ca.water.usgs.gov/. You can also
listen to an interview with USGS research geologist Sue Cannon on
debris-flow dangers after wildfires in episode 22 of CoreCast, the USGS
podcast, at www.usgs.gov/corecast. For more information, contact Sue
Cannon at (303) 273-8604 or cannon@xxxxxxxxx
Frog Tracks
Home is where the heart is, and during the winter wet season (December
to March), California red-legged frogs head home to mate. But getting
back to breeding ponds and pools may mean a trek of about 150 meters
from areas where the frogs had dispersed during the nonbreeding dry
season (May to October). To find out more about how scientists track
frog movements and what they’ve learned about their habitat needs, visit
http://armi.usgs.gov/feature_red_legged_frog.asp, or contact Gary
Fellers at (415) 464-5185 or gary_fellers@xxxxxxxxx
“Radio Active” Biologists Get the Skinny on a Rare Rail
One of the greatest habitat threats to tidal wetlands in the San
Francisco Bay estuary is the invasion of smooth cordgrass, a species
native to the Atlantic coast. Invasive Spartina displaces and hybridizes
with native Pacific cordgrass, altering both the physical structure and
biological composition of tidal marshes, mud flats and creeks. The
endangered California clapper rail, a bird species that is one of the
least numerous and most sensitive indicators of tidal wetland health in
the San Francisco Bay estuary, inhabits multiple elevational tidal marsh
zones throughout the estuary, but the largest populations are found in
the South Bay, the region most heavily invaded by smooth cordgrass. USGS
scientists are using telemetry — remote tracking by radio frequency of
individual rails outfitted with transmitter backpacks — to reveal more
about this shy bird’s habitat needs. What they are learning will help
minimize impacts to rails and guide efforts to eradicate smooth
cordgrass in areas where the rails live. For more, see
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/dixon/rails/index.html, or contact Mike Casazza
at (707) 678-0682, x629 or mike_casazza@xxxxxxxxx
FEEDS (USGS tools and resources)
Now Available: Decades of Data on Coastal Change
The USGS National Wetlands Research Center in Lafayette, La., is
developing a special Web site and databases to collect data on coastal
change along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts from federal and state sources
that can be accessed immediately for scientific response. Among these
databases are NWRC’s own large spatial databases, including more than 70
years of wetland change data. These findings are being updated each fall
(after the spring and summer growing season of wetland plants) to
determine the recovery of vegetation that was either completely or
partially removed by the hurricanes’ surges and to determine how
vegetation may be changing in response to those surges. For more
information, contact John Barras at john_barras@xxxxxxxx or (225)
578-7486.
New Wildlife Disease News Map Tool
A new map tool is available from the USGS-NBII Wildlife Disease
Information Node, http://wildlifedisease.nbii.gov. Articles posted to
the Wildlife Disease News Digest, http://wdin.blogspot.com, in the
previous 45 days are displayed on a map based on their geographical
location. This allows readers to see the news happening both in their
area and worldwide. For more information, contact Catherine Puckett at
(352) 264-3532 or cpuckett@xxxxxxxxx
STORY SEEDS (points to ponder or investigate)
USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Marks 25 Years of Kilauea Volcano
Eruption
On Jan. 3, Kilauea Volcano on the island of Hawai‘i officially recorded
a mostly continuous 25-year period of eruption history. To recognize the
anniversary, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists will be presenting
public talks about different aspects of the 25-year eruption each
Tuesday evening in January as part of the “After Dark in the Park”
lecture series, sponsored by Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. See
http://www.nps.gov/havo/planyourvisit/events_adip.htm. During this
25-year period, Kilauea has produced lava covering 46 square miles of
the Puna District, both inside and outside of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National
Park, a volume equivalent to an amount that would cover the entire
District of Columbia to a depth of 62 ft. The eruption has destroyed 190
structures and nearly 9 miles of highway, and has been directly
responsible for the deaths of five sightseers. During the past several
years, more than 1.5 million visitors a year have witnessed the
spectacle of molten lava in the Park. For more information contact
Stephanie Hanna at (206) 220-4573 or shanna@xxxxxxxxx
The USGS Offers New Insights on Bald Eagles
A new analysis of wintering bald eagles shows increasing numbers
nationwide. The data, based on field counts of wintering bald eagles
from 1986 – 2005, includes surveys along standard routes in 43 states
and documents the highest level of increase in the Northeast United
States during the 20-year period of observations. In contrast, counts in
the Southwestern United States decreased markedly each year over the
same 20-year period. In 2007, the USGS established a partnership with
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to maintain the long-term, national
coordination of the Annual Midwinter Bald Eagle Survey, data analysis,
and reporting. The new USGS analysis is available at
http://ocid.nacse.org/nbii/eagles/, where users can get data and summary
information for individual survey routes and estimates of count trends
for different regions and states.
For more information contact Karen Steenhof at (208) 426-5206 or
Karen_steenhof@xxxxxxxxx
