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Organization

Western Ecological Research Center
https://www.usgs.gov/centers/werc
Location
Modoc Hall, USGS
3020 State University Drive East
Sacramento , CA 95819
USA
Parent Organization: Office of the Southwest Regional Director
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One CSV file with data from basic field surveys of southern sea otters at five sites in California, USA, including (from north to south) Elkhorn Slough, Monterey, Big Sur, Piedras Blancas, and San Luis Obispo, are provided. These are the data used to fit models in Law et al. 2024 (full citation in the larger work) publication in Science. The data consist of otter age, sex, and size morphometrics, measured from sea otter captures; associated forage information collected by visual surveys; and hardness of forage prey species. Complete description of the study objectives, methods, field sites, and uses of these data for analyses and interpretations can be found in Law et al. 2024. Although it is well documented that...
This dataset contains mercury concentrations and locations of wintering red-legged kittiwakes in the western subartic Pacific Ocean. These data support the following publication: Fleishman, AB, RA Orben, N Kokubun, A Will, R Paredes, JT Ackerman, A Takahashi, AS Kitaysky, and SA Shaffer. 2019. Wintering in the Western Subarctic Pacific increases mercury contamination of red-legged kittiwakes. Environmental Science and Technology, in press.
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San Francisco Bay, California is considered a mercury-impaired watershed. Elevated concentrations of mercury are found in water and sediment as well as fish and estuarine birds. Sources of mercury to the watershed since 1845 include sediment-associated mercury from mercury mining, mercury losses from gold amalgamation activities in mines of the Sierra Nevada, aerial deposition of mercury from global and regional emissions to air, and the direct discharge of mercury to Bay waters associated with the urbanization and industrialization of the estuary. We assessed historical trends in mercury bioaccumulation by measuring mercury concentrations in feathers of the endangered California Ridgway’s rail (formerly California...
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Annual California Sea Otter Census - 2017 Spring Census Summary
The spring 2017 mainland sea otter count began on April 30, and although the shore-based counts were completed by May 12, 2017, the aerial counts were not completed until July 12, 2017. Overall viewing conditions this year were good, although not as good as conditions experienced during the 2016 spring census (View Score 2.4 versus 3.1, where 0=poor, 1=fair, 2=good, 3=very good, and 4=excellent). The surface canopies of kelp (Macrocystis sp.) were considered by most participants to be considerably below normal for this time of year in most areas of the mainland range. Sea otters along the mainland coast were surveyed from Pillar Point in San Mateo County in the north to Rincon Point in the south at the Santa Barbara/Ventura...
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Data for calculating population, collision and displacement vulnerability among marine birds of the California Current System associated with offshore wind energy infrastructure (ver. 2.0, June 2017)
The U.S. Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center (USGS-WERC) was requested by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to create a database for marine birds of the California Current System (CCS) that would allow quantification and species ranking regarding vulnerability to offshore wind energy infrastructure (OWEI). This was needed so that resource managers could evaluate potential impacts associated with siting and construction of OWEI within the California Current System section of the Pacific Offshore Continental Shelf, including California, Oregon, and Washington. Along with its accompanying Open File Report (OFR), this comprehensive database can be used (and modified or updated) to quantify...
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