United States Department of the Interior

2 Classification of Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats of the United States This classification, to be used in a new inventory of wetlands and deepwater habitats of the United States, is intended to describe ecological taxa, arrange them in a system useful to resource managers, furnish units for mapping, and provide uniformity of concepts and terms. Wetlands are defined by plants (hydrophytes), soils (hydric soils), and frequency of flooding. Ecologically related areas of deep water, traditionally not consid-ered wetlands, are included in the classification as deepwater habitats. Systems form the highest level of the classification hierarchy; five are defined—Marine, Estuarine, Riverine, Lacustrine, and Palustrine. Marine and Estuarine Systems each have two Subsystems, Subtidal and Inter-tidal; the Riverine System has four Subsystems, Tidal, Lower Perennial, Upper Perennial, and Intermittent; the Lacustrine has two, Littoral and Limnetic; and the Palustrine has no Subsystems. Within the Subsystems, Classes are based on substrate material and flooding regime, or on vegetative life form. The same Classes may appear under one or more of the Systems or Subsystems. Six Classes are based on substrate and flooding regime: (1) Rock Bottom with a substrate of bedrock, boulders, or stones; (2) Unconsolidated Bottom with a substrate of cobbles, gravel, sand, mud, or organic material; (3) Rocky Shore

Artificial lights raise night sky luminance, creating the most visible effect of light pollution-artificial skyglow. Despite the increasing interest among scientists in fields such as ecology, astronomy, health care, and land-use planning, light pollution lacks a current quantification of its magnitude on a global scale. To overcome this, we present the world atlas of artificial sky luminance, computed with our light pollution propagation software using new high-resolution satellite data and new precision sky brightness measurements. This atlas shows that more than 80% of the world and more than 99% of the U.S. and European populations live under light-polluted skies. The Milky Way is hidden from more than one-third of humanity, including 60% of Europeans and nearly 80% of North Americans. Moreover, 23% of the world's land surfaces between 75°N and 60°S, 88% of Europe, and almost half of the United States experience light-polluted nights.

The ecosystem response to the 1989 spill of oil from the Exxon Valdez into Prince William Sound, Alaska, shows that current practices for assessing ecological risks of oil in the oceans and, by extension, other toxic sources should be changed. Previously, it was assumed that impacts to populations derive almost exclusively from acute mortality. However, in the Alaskan coastal ecosystem, unexpected persistence of toxic subsurface oil and chronic exposures, even at sublethal levels, have continued to affect wildlife. Delayed population reductions and cascades of indirect effects postponed recovery. Development of ecosystem-based toxicology is required to understand and ultimately predict chronic, delayed, and indirect long-term risks and impacts.

The ac power flow problem can be solved efficiently by Newton's method. Only five iterations, each equivalent to about seven of the widely used Gauss-Seidel method, are required for an exact solution. Problem dependent memory and time requirements vary approximately in direct proportion to problem size. Problems of 500 to 1000 nodes can be solved on computers with 32K core memory. The method, introduced in 1961, has been made practical by optimally ordered Gaussian elimination and special programming techniques. Equations, programming details, and examples of solutions of large problems are given.

Climate change is a pervasive and growing global threat to biodiversity and ecosystems. Here, we present the most up-to-date assessment of climate change impacts on biodiversity, ecosystems, and ecosystem services in the U.S. and implications for natural resource management. We draw from the 4th National Climate Assessment to summarize observed and projected changes to ecosystems and biodiversity, explore linkages to important ecosystem services, and discuss associated challenges and opportunities for natural resource management. We find that species are responding to climate change through changes in morphology and behavior, phenology, and geographic range shifts, and these changes are mediated by plastic and evolutionary responses. Responses by species and populations, combined with direct effects of climate change on ecosystems (including more extreme events), are resulting in widespread changes in productivity, species interactions, vulnerability to biological invasions, and other emergent properties. Collectively, these impacts alter the benefits and services that natural ecosystems can provide to society. Although not all impacts are negative, even positive changes can require costly societal adjustments. Natural resource managers need proactive, flexible adaptation strategies that consider historical and future outlooks to minimize costs over the long term. Many organizations are beginning to explore these approaches, but implementation is not yet prevalent or systematic across the nation.

Expansive clay soils have been encountered at the sites of structures throughout the western United States. Inasmuch as most of these structures are hydraulic, the normal difficulties encountered when expansive clays are present in the subgrade foundation are greatly magnified. As a result of some of the difficulties that have been experienced, considerable research testing has been undertaken so ·that expansive clays can be recognized and their potential swelling properties anticipated.

From information on pollution-tolerant algae compiled from reports from 165 authors, the genera and species most often referred to as significant fall into a relatively stable series. Diatoms, pigmented flagellates, green, and blue-green algae are all well represented among the pollution-tolerant genera and species. The top 8 genera are Euglena, Oscillatoria, Chlamydomonas, Scenedesmus, Chlorella, Nitzschia, Navicula, and Stigeoclonium, and the top 5 species, Euglena viridis, Nitzschia palea, Oscillatoria limosa, Scenedesmus quadricauda, and Oscillatoria tennis. In some genera, e.g., Euglena, a single species is far more significant than all others as a pollution-tolerant form. In other genera, e.g., Oscillatoria, only a slight difference distinguishes the pollution tolerance of 2 or more species. Algal genus and species pollution indices arc presented for use in rating water samples with high organic pollution.

Abstract Adsorption of phosphorus by soils from dilute solutions showed a closer agreement with the Langmuir isotherm than with the Freundlich isotherm. Constants calculated from the Langmuir isotherm and interpretations based upon the meaning of these constants permit a sound theoretical approach to some of the problems of phosphorus retention in soils. The adsorption maximum claculated from the Langmuir isotherm was closely correlated with the surface area of soils as measured by ethylene glycol retention. The correlation coefficients and regression equations were r = 0.98 and y = 0.276x + 3.47 for 10 alkaline soils, and r = 0.96 and y = 0.641x + 5.73 for 12 acid soils, where y = mg. P per 100 g. soil and x = mg. ethylene glycol retained per g. of soil. For a given surface area, i.e., 30 mg. glycol per g. soil, the acid soils held 2.17 times as much phosphorus as the alkaline soils. The average values of a second constant, k, derived from the slope and intercept values, were 0.92 and 4.39 for the alkaline and acid soils, respectively. As the value of this constant increases, the bonding energy of the soil for phosphorus increases. Thus, the acid soils retained more phosphorus per unit of surface area and also held the phosphorus with a greater bonding energy than the alkaline soils

We review the major conceptual developments that have occurred over the last 50 years concerning the factors that influence insect biodiversity in streams and examine how well empirical descriptions and theory match. Stream insects appear to respond to both spatial and temporal variation in physical heterogeneity. At all spatial scales, the data largely support the idea that physical complexity promotes biological richness, although exceptions to this relationship were found. These exceptions may be related to how we measure habitat complexity at finer spatial scales and to factors that influence regional richness, such as biogeographic history, at broader spatial scales. However, the degree to which local stream insect assemblages are influenced by regional processes is largely unknown.

Abstract Methanation, the hydrogenation of carbon oxides to methane. has been the subject of a large number of catalytic studies during the past 70 years. In the earliest work. that of Sabatier and Senderens [l]. nickel was found to be a very efficient catalyst. Nickel is still the material of choice in most investigations of methanation, although ruthenium, cobalt, and iron are also active.

Evaporation is a topic that crosses several disciplines, and comprehensive texts on the subject are rare. Evaporation Into the Atmosphere is, therefore, a welcome addition to the literature. The approach to the determination of evaporation varies significantly depending upon the constraints that control the system of interest. The oceanographer, for example, is concerned with evaporation from large bodies of water and tends to approach the problem from the aerodynamic or turbulent‐diffusion point of view. The hydrologist, on the other hand, is mainly interested in evaporation from the soil and water transpired by plants and may apply the aerodynamic approach to determine evapotranspiration from large homogeneous fields but will be forced to apply the water budget or various degrees of empirism in dealing with long‐term losses from heterogeneous basins. Finally, the water‐resources engineer concerned with water or energy losses from lakes, reservoirs, or streams, will seldomly apply a purely aerodynamic approach having found that the energy budget, semi‐empirical mass transfer, or other approaches best meet his needs.

A surplus-yield model of fishery dynamics which assumes the Gompertz growth function is developed, resulting in an implied exponential relationship between catch per unit effort and fishing effort, and in an asymmetrical yield curve. A maximum sustainable yield, predicted by the exponential model, is obtained from a population size which is about 37% of the environmentally limited maximum size. Three methods for estimating the parameters of the exponential model, adapted from those used for the linear model of Schaefer (1954, 1957), are presented. The exponential model is compared with the linear model using examples of the fisheries for the California sardine, Sardinops caerulea (Girard), and yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares (Bonnaterre) of the eastern tropical Pacific and western Atlantic Oceans. Management implications are discussed.

This manual documents the fuel modeling procedures of BEHAVE - a state-of-the-art wildland fire behavior prediction system. Described are procedures for collecting fuel data, using the data with the program, and testing and adjusting the fuel model.

Effective surface area on rough substrates for bacterial adhesion is examined by analyzing the solid area fraction of surfaces, where the bacterial medium is in contact with the solid surface.

Five moderate (magnitude 6) earthquakes with similar features have occurred on the Parkfield section of the San Andreas fault in central California since 1857. The next moderate Parkfield earthquake is expected to occur before 1993. The Parkfield prediction experiment is designed to monitor the details of the final stages of the earthquake preparation process; observations and reports of seismicity and aseismic slip associated with the last moderate Parkfield earthquake in 1966 constitute much of the basis of the design of the experiment.

To assess the potential impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on offshore ecosystems, 11 sites hosting deep-water coral communities were examined 3 to 4 mo after the well was capped. Healthy coral communities were observed at all sites >20 km from the Macondo well, including seven sites previously visited in September 2009, where the corals and communities appeared unchanged. However, at one site 11 km southwest of the Macondo well, coral colonies presented widespread signs of stress, including varying degrees of tissue loss, sclerite enlargement, excess mucous production, bleached commensal ophiuroids, and covering by brown flocculent material (floc). On the basis of these criteria the level of impact to individual colonies was ranked from 0 (least impact) to 4 (greatest impact). Of the 43 corals imaged at that site, 46% exhibited evidence of impact on more than half of the colony, whereas nearly a quarter of all of the corals showed impact to >90% of the colony. Additionally, 53% of these corals' ophiuroid associates displayed abnormal color and/or attachment posture. Analysis of hopanoid petroleum biomarkers isolated from the floc provides strong evidence that this material contained oil from the Macondo well. The presence of recently damaged and deceased corals beneath the path of a previously documented plume emanating from the Macondo well provides compelling evidence that the oil impacted deep-water ecosystems. Our findings underscore the unprecedented nature of the spill in terms of its magnitude, release at depth, and impact to deep-water ecosystems.

Ionic liquids are pure salts that are liquid under ambient conditions. As liquids composed solely of ions, the scientific consensus has been that ionic liquids have exceedingly high ionic strengths and thus very short Debye screening lengths. However, several recent experiments from laboratories around the world have reported data for the approach of two surfaces separated by ionic liquids which revealed remarkable long range forces that appear to be electrostatic in origin. Evidence has accumulated demonstrating long range surface forces for several different combinations of ionic liquids and electrically charged surfaces, as well as for concentrated mixtures of inorganic salts in solvent. The original interpretation of these forces, that ionic liquids could be envisioned as "dilute electrolytes," was controversial, and the origin of long range forces in ionic liquids remains the subject of discussion. Here we seek to collate and examine the evidence for long range surface forces in ionic liquids, identify key outstanding questions, and explore possible mechanisms underlying the origin of these long range forces. Long range surface forces in ionic liquids and other highly concentrated electrolytes hold diverse implications from designing ionic liquids for energy storage applications to rationalizing electrostatic correlations in biological self-assembly.

Simple anaerobic reactors were installed to treat metal-contaminated water in an underground coal mine and at a smelting residues dump in Pennsylvania. The reactors consisted of barrels and tanks filled with spent mushroom compost, within which bacterial sulfate reduction became established. Concentrations of Al, Cd, Fe, Mn, Ni, and Zn were typically lowered by over 95% as contaminated water flowed through the reactors. Cadmium, Fe, Ni, and some Zn were retained as insoluble metal sulfides following their reaction with bacterially generated H(2)S. Aluminum, Mn, and some Zn hydrolyzed and were retained as insoluble hydroxides or carbonates. Reactor effluents were typically circumneutral in pH and contained net alkalinity. The principal sources of alkalinity in the reactors were bacterial sulfate reduction and limestone dissolution. This article examines the chemistry of the reactor systems and the opportunities for enhancing their metal-retaining and alkalinity-generating potential.

Richter magnitude of local earthquakes may be conveniently estimated from signal duration using an empirical formula: M -0.87 + 2.00 log(r) + 0.0035 A A where M is an estimate of Richter magnitude, T, signal duration in seconds, and A, epicentral distance in kilometers. This magnitude scale was established by analyzing the relation between Richter magnitude, signal duration, and epicentral distance for 351 earthquakes in central California.

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are a mixture of a salt and a molecular hydrogen bond donor, which form a eutectic liquid with a depressed melting point. Quantum mechanical molecular dynamics (QM/MD) simulations have been used to probe the 1 : 2 choline chloride-urea (ChCl : U), choline chloride-ethylene glycol (ChCl : EG) and choline chloride-glycerol (ChCl : Gly) DESs. DES nanostructure and interactions between the ions is used to rationalise differences in DES eutectic point temperatures and viscosity. Simulations show that the structure of the bulk hydrogen bond donor is largely preserved for hydroxyl based hydrogen bond donors (ChCl:Gly and ChCl:EG), resulting in a smaller melting point depression. By contrast, ChCl:U exhibits a well-established hydrogen bond network between the salt and hydrogen bond donor, leading to a larger melting point depression. This extensive hydrogen bond network in ChCl:U also leads to substantially higher viscosity, compared to ChCl:EG and ChCl:Gly. Of the two hydroxyl based DESs, ChCl:Gly also exhibits a higher viscosity than ChCl:EG. This is attributed to the over-saturation of hydrogen bond donor groups in the ChCl:Gly bulk, which leads to more extensive hydrogen bond donor self-interaction and hence higher cohesive forces within the bulk liquid.