USGS Science Picks for February 2008

[Clarice E Ransom <cransom@xxxxxxxx>]

USGS Office of Communications
Science Picks — Leads,
Feeds and Story Seeds 
February 2008 Edition

For Release: UPON RECEIPT

The President has proposed a budget
of $968.5 million for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in fiscal year
(FY) 2009. The FY 2009 budget focuses on the highest priorities for research
while ensuring that the USGS builds the expertise it needs to continue
answering the complex scientific questions that may arise. So, what is
the USGS funding going towards? This edition of Science Picks provides
a glimpse of USGS research (both current and future) that supports key
Departmental and Presidential priorities. 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@xxxxxxxx.

February Highlights:

·        How
Will the USGS Spend its Money?
·        Scientists
Drill 2,132 Foot Ice Core to Help Study 100,000 Years of Climate History
·        Bird
Flights and Accompanying Diseases Require No Passport
·        How
Much Water is Available for America?
·        Invasive
Snake Poses Threat to Florida’s Species
·        Desert
Tortoises Cope after Critical Habitat Burned
·        It's
in Their Blood - Mercury, That Is
·        Desert
Tortoises Exposed to and Affected by High Arsenic Levels
·        Mystery
of a Declining Migratory Sea Duck Population
·        Breeding
Bird Survey Sees Tequila Sunrise
·        New
Challenges Emerging for Water Resources Management 
·        Coastal
Resilience to Hurricane Impacts
·        Focusing
on Earth Imagery
·        CLIMATE:
An Early Warning System for Assessing Climate Effects
·        How
Will Everglades Restoration Affect Threatened Crocodiles?
·        Seeing
the Big Picture: Conservation in Sagebrush Ecosystems
·        The
Everglades Won’t Go Without Flow
·        What
Lived, Lives, and Will Live in the Oceans? 


LEADS (top news, updates
and happenings in natural science)

How Will the USGS Spend its
Money?

The President has proposed a budget
of $968.5 million for the USGS in FY 2009. With this proposed funding,
the USGS will provide timely, objective scientific information in support
of key Departmental and Presidential priorities, including Water for America,
Birds Forever, Healthy Lands, and Ocean and Coastal Frontiers. The USGS
will also strengthen their efforts in climate change studies, priority
ecosystems research and the development of a National Land Imaging Program.
For FY 2009, the proposed USGS budget includes a total of $9.5 million
for the Water for America Initiative, an increase of $8.2 million; a $1.0
million increase for the Birds Forever Initiative; a $3.5 million increase
to expand activities in support of the Healthy Lands Initiative; a $7 million
increase for the Ocean and Coastal Frontiers Initiative; and a $2 million
increase for a National Land Imaging Program. The FY 2009 budget also includes
a total of $26.6 million for global change and $10.4 million for priority
ecosystems studies. For more information, visit http://www.usgs.gov/budget/2009/2009index.asp
or contact Jessica Robertson at (703) 648-6624 or jrobertson@xxxxxxxx,
or Carla Burzyk at (703) 648-4443 or cburzyk@xxxxxxxx.

Scientists Drill 2,132 Foot
Ice Core to Help Study 100,000 Years of Climate History

After three weeks of round-the-clock
drilling for the National Science Foundation’s West Antarctic Ice Sheet
Divide Ice Core Project, scientists, engineers and technicians from multiple
U.S. institutions produced a 2,132-foot ice core. This is the first section
of what is hoped to be an 11,300-foot column of ice, just over two-miles
long, detailing 100,000 years of Earth’s climate history. With only 40
days a year when the weather is warm enough for drilling, fieldwork is
expected to be completed in January 2010. The core will be archived at
the National Ice Core Laboratory, which is run by the USGS with funding
from the National Science Foundation. For more information, visit http://nicl.usgs.gov/
or contact Heidi Koontz at (303) 202-4763 or hkoontz@xxxxxxxx.

Bird Flights and Accompanying
Diseases Require No Passport

A hunter in Mississippi recently
recovered a pintail duck originally banded in Japan eight years earlier,
illustrating the connectivity between the United States and Asia through
migratory birds. Highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 has previously
occurred in Japan, and scientists now have the opportunity to study whether
the North American and Asian pintail populations are exchanging avian influenza
viruses and whether it is possible for pintails to transmit these viruses
from Japan to North America. USGS scientists are undertaking detailed band-recovery
analyses with the Yamashina Institute of Ornithology in Tokyo, Japan; collaborating
with the University of Tokyo on a satellite telemetry study of summer distributions
of pintails wintering in Japan; and examining evidence of genetic exchange
among avian influenza viruses isolated from pintails in North America and
Asia. For additional information, visit http://alaska.usgs.gov/science/biology/avian_influenza/pdfs/Assessment_virus_movement_across_continents_v1_2.pdf
or contact Dirk Derksen at (907) 786-3531 or dirk_derksen@xxxxxxxx.

How Much Water is Available
for America?

Currently, there is no definite
answer regarding how much water is available for America’s use. To help
address this issue, the President’s FY 2009 budget proposes to increase
USGS funding by $9.5 million to assess the availability and use of our
nation’s water resources. USGS scientists will characterize current water
availability; how streamflows, groundwater and basin storage are changing
over time; and the amount of water that will be accessible for America’s
future. Funding will also support improving aquifer maps and refining the
rates of aquifer recharge, as well as reinstating 50 discontinued streamgages
and upgrading 350 streamgages to allow for better management during floods
and droughts. This research will help managers ensure a reliable water
supply, while balancing human and ecological needs for this limited resource.
A pilot study on water availability and use was conducted by the USGS in
the Great Lakes Basin, and additional information on this study can be
found at http://water.usgs.gov/wateravailability/greatlakes/.
For more information, call Jennifer LaVista at (703) 648-4432 or jlavista@xxxxxxxx.

Invasive Snake Poses Threat
to Florida’s Species

Invasive Burmese Python are now
present in the greater Everglades ecosystem and are expanding their range
in South Florida. These snakes, averaging up to 20 feet and 250 lbs, are
a threat to native species, including those that are federally threatened
and endangered. USGS scientists are collaborating with other agencies in
developing techniques and tools for detecting, capturing, and controlling
populations of giant constricting snakes in Florida. Scientists are also
conducting a risk assessment of invasion potential among several giant
constrictor species to help formulate policy to prevent further invasions
in the Everglades region, Key Largo, and other vulnerable habitats. For
more information, visit http://www.fort.usgs.gov/Research/research_tasks.asp?TaskID=2184
or contact Gordon Rodda at (970) 226-9471 or roddag@xxxxxxxx.

Desert Tortoises Cope after
Critical Habitat Burned

Two years ago, tens of thousands
of acres of habitat critical for desert tortoises were burned in fires
fueled primarily by invasive Mediterranean grasses. Scientists are currently
hot on tortoises’ tracks to study their adaptation to the surrounding
environment. In 2006, USGS scientists collaborated with the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Nevada Department of Wildlife
to research if and how the surviving tortoises are using habitats on and
near large burned sites in the Mojave Desert. Initial findings indicate
that tortoises on the border of the burned area are using both burned and
unburned habitat, and annual plants comprising the tortoise’s diet were
more abundant in burned areas. To learn more, contact Ken Nussear at (702)
564-4515 or knussear@xxxxxxxx.

It's in Their Blood — Mercury,
That Is

What do a variety of waterbirds
have in common in the San Francisco Bay-Delta? They share the legacy of
mercury contamination from historical mercury and gold mining in California.
They are also the focus of a collaborative project, to which USGS scientists
are contributing, investigating the risks that mercury poses to waterbirds
breeding within the estuary. Scientists are studying the area’s mercury
levels and dietary resources, as well as the effects on avian reproduction,
by tracking birds’ movement and habitat use, sampling bird blood and feathers,
monitoring nesting success, and examining chick movements and survival.
Initial findings show mercury concentrations in San Francisco Bay-Delta
waterbirds high enough to cause concern. For more information, visit http://www.werc.usgs.gov/davis/pdfs/Ackerman%20CalFed%20Bird%20Report16%20big.pdf
or contact Josh Ackerman at (530) 752-0485 or jackerman@xxxxxxxx.

Desert Tortoises Exposed to
and Affected by High Arsenic Levels

Desert tortoises spend much of
their lives in contact with dust, soil and sediments, including potentially
toxic elements. A study by USGS scientists on soil, stream sediment and
plant samples in the Mojave and Colorado deserts, inhabited by tortoises,
revealed abnormal concentrations of arsenic due to nearby mining of arsenic-rich
ores. Scientists also found that both shell and respiratory diseases in
desert tortoises are linked to arsenic exposure and that the outer layer
of a tortoise’s shell provides a chronological timeline of elements in
their environment. USGS scientists are continuing research in this area
by studying inhalation as a pathway for arsenic exposure and assessing
which particles are most likely to be airborne. For more information, visit
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/pubbriefs/berrypbjan2007b.html
or contact Kristin Berry at (951) 697-5361 or kristin_berry@xxxxxxxx,
Maurice Chaffee at (303) 236-1855 or mchaffee@xxxxxxxx,
or Andrea Foster at (650) 329-5437 or afoster@xxxxxxxx.


FEEDS (USGS tools and resources)

Mystery of a Declining Migratory
Sea Duck Population

To better understand the population
decline of surf scoters, a migratory sea duck, scientists are studying
their breeding and nonbreeding sites, as well as how food availability
in stop-over areas and contaminants accumulated in winter regions affect
reproduction. During 2005 and 2006, a USGS-led team tracked scoters from
their coastal wintering area in the San Francisco Bay to their nesting
areas 2000 miles away in Canada.
Currently, they are using nest
location data and satellite imagery to determine nesting habitat requirements
of these birds. USGS scientists also recently collaborated with Humboldt
State University, the California Department of Fish and Game, and the University
of California, Davis, to begin studying how the Cosco Busan oil spill in
the San Francisco Bay affected scoters’ winter survival. For more information,
visit http://www.werc.usgs.gov/sattrack/index.html
or contact John Takekawa at (707) 562-2000 or john_takekawa@xxxxxxxx,
or Susan Wainwright-De La Cruz at (707) 562-2004 or susan_wainwright@xxxxxxxx.

Breeding Bird Survey Sees Tequila
Sunrise

For more than 100 species that
breed in the United States and poorly surveyed areas of northern Mexico,
a lack of information from the Mexican side is an impediment to developing
the full population picture important for making biologically sound avian
conservation and management decisions. To fill this void, Mexico’s National
Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity has partnered with
the USGS and the Canadian Wildlife Service to expand their North American
Breeding Bird Survey into northern Mexico. This is a significant step toward
making this bird survey a truly North American program. To see the results
of the three-year pilot project, visit http://igsaceeswbdev01/bbs/bbsnews/MeetingProducts/Mexico-poster-NAOC(final).pdf.
 For more information, contact Keith Pardieck at (301) 497-5843 or
kpardieck@xxxxxxxx,
or Dave Ziolkowski at (301) 497-5753 or dziolkowski@xxxxxxxx.

New Challenges Emerging for
Water Resources Management

The world invests over $500 billion
per year in water infrastructure, but a basic principle that guides how
infrastructure decisions are made is now in doubt. Scientists and engineers
have long worked under the assumption that nature will behave in the future
the same way it has in the past, but changes in climate and land use are
likely to shift averages and extremes for rainfall, snowfall, evaporation
and streamflow. These are critical factors when planning for floods or
droughts, choosing the size of water reservoirs, or deciding how much water
to allocate for residential, industrial and agricultural uses. A team of
scientists and engineers, including USGS scientists, authored a recently
published article in Science magazine addressing the need for new
approaches to planning for and managing water resources. For more information,
contact Chris Milly at (609) 452-6507 or cmilly@xxxxxxxx.

Coastal Resilience to Hurricane
Impacts

Sediment-built barrier islands
and sediment-rich coastal wetlands are natural defenses against storm surge
from hurricanes. In 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita stripped the Gulf
Coast of its protective surface. As part of a visiting scientist exchange
with Delft Hydraulics, USGS scientists are currently working with students
from Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, to integrate U.S.
models with Dutch models (Delft3D and the new XBeach modelDelft) that forecast
coastal inundation and erosion during hurricanes. This effort will improve
understanding of how sediment is transported during hurricanes and ultimately
aid in long-term coastal planning.  For more information, visit http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/
or contact David Thompson at dthompson@xxxxxxxx
or (727) 803-8747, ext. 3079.

Focusing on Earth Imagery

The surface of the earth is changing
rapidly, with significant repercussions for people, the economy and the
environment. Remote-sensing satellites monitor the earth, providing images
which serve many purposes: from assessing the impact of natural disasters
to monitoring the impact of climate and other global changes. The President’s
FY 2009 budget request highlights the intent to create a National Land
Imaging Program within DOI to provide leadership and management for the
nation’s civil-operational land-imaging efforts. The USGS provides a portal
to the world’s largest archive of remotely sensed land data, which are
provided by the Landsat series of earth-observing satellites. To support
this Presidential priority, the USGS will continue to help preserve the
U.S. Landsat imaging archive and advance U.S. interests in new land imaging
technologies and applications. To learn more about the National Land Imaging
Program, visit http://remotesensing.usgs.gov/
or contact Ron Beck at beck@xxxxxxxx
or (605) 594-6550.


STORY SEEDS (points to ponder
or investigate)

CLIMATE: An Early Warning System
for Assessing Climate Effects

Whether looking at today or 50
years from now, land and resource managers are facing many challenges when
it comes to anticipating the potential effects of climate change on the
resources they manage. The USGS is developing CLIMATE, a national observation
and research network designed for tracking, understanding and responding
to the effects of climate change on the nation’s natural resources and
ecosystems at local, regional and national scales. This network will provide
land and resources managers with critical information needed to develop
adaptation and mitigation strategies. For more information, contact Peter
Murdoch at (518) 285-5663 or pmurdoch@xxxxxxxx.


How Will Everglades Restoration
Affect Threatened Crocodiles? 

The threatened American crocodile
is this country’s only crocodile species, and it resides in South Florida
and the Florida Keys. Planned restoration projects in Everglades National
Park will likely cause changes throughout the crocodile’s habitat, resulting
in potentially beneficial and harmful effects. For example, restoration
efforts may alter salinity levels, possibly impacting the animal’s nesting
areas. USGS scientists are creating simulation models of the South Florida
ecosystem to help protect the species, better understand their response
to restoration activities, and guide effective management decisions. For
more information, visit http://sofia.usgs.gov/projects/pop_model_croc/
or contact Tim Green at (352) 264-3556 or tgreen@xxxxxxxx.


Seeing the Big Picture: Conservation
in Sagebrush Ecosystems

Since European settlement, sagebrush
ecosystems have undergone dramatic changes as ever-increasing human populations
have expanded their use of these landscapes, including the recent surge
in energy development. Currently, little is known about the cumulative,
landscape-scale effects of habitat loss and energy extraction on wildlife
species of concern, such as sage-grouse. USGS scientists are collaboratively
working to mitigate the effects of land-use changes on the sagebrush ecosystem
and its wildlife by developing methods to map sagebrush cover and human
developments across Wyoming. Scientists are using field data to develop
statewide models and maps, assess the impacts of land-use change on sagebrush-dependent
wildlife, and identify key habitat needs for these species at the landscape
level. For more information, visit http://www.fort.usgs.gov/resources/research_briefs/Conservation_Sagebrush.asp
or contact Zack Bowen at (970) 226-9218 or bowenz@xxxxxxxx.

The Everglades Won’t Go Without
Flow

The Everglades is a vast resource
of unique and diverse biological communities, as well as a critical drinking
water source for humans in southeast Florida. USGS scientists and colleagues
are investigating surface water flow’s role in maintaining a sustainable
ecosystem, which is the key to implementing successful Everglades restoration.
Of particular interest is explaining the Everglades striking landscape
of high and low spots, referred to as ridges and sloughs, which support
the high diversity of plants and organisms.  Ridges and sloughs are
currently being eliminated due to interactions between shallow water depth,
plant growth, and sediment accretion in the relatively slow flowing waters
of the managed Everglades. Field experiments and modeling recently demonstrated
the importance of higher flow velocity in removing organic material from
sloughs and depositing it on ridges. These results explain the origin of
the patterned Everglades landscape and specify important hydrologic criteria
for successful restoration.  For more information, visit http://books.nap.edu/catalog/10758.html
or contact Jud Harvey at (703) 648-5876 or jwharvey@xxxxxxxx,
Greg Noe at gnoe@xxxxxxxx,
or Laurel Larsen at Laurel.Griggs@xxxxxxxxxxxx.

What Lived, Lives, and Will Live in the Oceans? 

Scientists are currently working to enhance the amount
of marine biological data — such as information on species distributions,
organism classification, images, maps and more — from all over the world
that is freely available online. The USGS recently participated in a workshop,
organized by the Census of Marine Life, to demonstrate the importance of
incorporating biological data into the Integrated Ocean Observing System.
Scientists are also discussing the advantages of making marine biological
data available to the observing system through the U.S. Ocean Biogeographic
Information System, which is housed by the USGS National Biological Information
Infrastructure (NBII).  For more information on NBII, visit www.nbii.gov
or contact Dr. Toral Patel-Weynand at (703) 648-4217 or tpatel-weynand@xxxxxxxx.