Using GPS telemetry to determine roadways most susceptible to deer-vehicle collisions
David W. Kramer, Thomas J. Prebyl, James H. Stickles, David A. Osborn, Brian J. Irwin, Nathan P. Nibbelink, Robert J. Warren, Karl V. Miller
2016, Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (3) 253-260
More than 1 million wildlife-vehicle collisions occur annually in the United States. The majority of these accidents involve white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and result in >US $4.6 billion in damage and >200 human fatalities. Prior research has used collision locations to assess sitespecific as well as landscape features that contribute...
Detection of an enigmatic plethodontid Salamander using Environmental DNA
Todd W. Pierson, Anna M. McKee, Stephen F. Spear, John C. Maerz, Carlos D. Camp, Travis C. Glenn
2016, Copeia (104) 78-82
The isolation and identification of environmental DNA (eDNA) offers a non-invasive and efficient method for the detection of rare and secretive aquatic wildlife, and it is being widely integrated into inventory and monitoring efforts. The Patch-Nosed Salamander (Urspelerpes brucei) is a tiny, recently discovered species of plethodontid salamander known only...
Production of resident fish benefits from experimental salmon subsidies via direct and indirect pathways across stream-riparian boundaries
Scott F. Collins, Colden V. Baxter, Amy M. Marcarelli, Mark S. Wipfli
2016, Ecosphere (7)
Artificial additions of nutrients of differing forms such as salmon carcasses and analog pellets (i.e. pasteurized fishmeal) have been proposed as a means of stimulating aquatic productivity and enhancing populations of anadromous and resident fishes. Nutrient mitigation to enhance fish production in stream ecosystems assumes that the central pathway by...
Capsule- and disk-filter procedure
Stanley C. Skrobialowski
2016, Techniques of Water-Resources Investigations 9-A5
Capsule and disk filters are disposable, self-contained units composed of a pleated or woven filter medium encased in a polypropylene or other plastic housing that can be connected inline to a sample-delivery system (such as a submersible or peristaltic pump) that generates sufficient pressure (positive or negative) to force water...
Mercury transformation and release differs with depth and time in a contaminated riparian soil during simulated flooding
Brett Poulin, George R. Aiken, Kathryn L. Nagy, Alain Manceau, David P. Krabbenhoft, Joseph N. Ryan
2016, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (176) 118-138
Riparian soils are an important environment in the transport of mercury in rivers and wetlands, but the biogeochemical factors controlling mercury dynamics under transient redox conditions in these soils are not well understood. Mercury release and transformations in the Oa and underlying A horizons of a contaminated riparian soil were...
Reduced population variance in strontium isotope values informs domesticated turkey use at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, USA
Deanna N Grimstead, Amanda C Reynolds, Adam M Hudson, Nancy J Akins, Julio L. Betancourt
2016, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory (23) 127-149
Traditionally strontium isotopes (87Sr/86Sr) have been used as a sourcing tool in numerous archaeological artifact classes. The research presented here demonstrates that 87Sr/86Srbioapatite ratios also can be used at a population level to investigate the presence of domesticated animals and methods of management. The proposed methodology combines ecology, isotope geochemistry,...
Spatial patterns of native freshwater mussels in the Upper Mississippi River
Patricia R. Ries, Nathan R. De Jager, Steven J. Zigler, Teresa Newton
2016, Freshwater Science (35) 934-947
Multiple physical and biological factors structure freshwater mussel communities in large rivers, and their distributions have been described as clumped or patchy. However, few surveys of mussel populations have been conducted over areas large enough and at resolutions fine enough to quantify spatial patterns in their distribution. We used global...
Risk and efficacy of human-enabled interspecific hybridization for climate-change adaptation: Response to Hamilton and Miller (2016)
Ryan P. Kovach, Gordon Luikart, Winsor H. Lowe, Matthew C. Boyer, Clint C. Muhlfeld
2016, Conservation Biology (30) 428-430
Hamilton and Miller (2016) provide an interesting and provocative discussion of how hybridization and introgression can promote evolutionary potential in the face of climate change. They argue that hybridization—mating between individuals from genetically distinct populations—can alleviate inbreeding depression and promote adaptive introgression...
Thorium as a nuclear fuel
Bradley S. Van Gosen, Harikrishnan Tulsidas
Ian Hore-Lacy, editor(s)
2016, Book chapter, Uranium for nuclear power: Resources, mining and transformation to fuel
No abstract available....
Lake Ontario benthic prey fish assessment, 2015
Brian Weidel, Maureen Walsh, Jeremy P. Holden, Michael J. Connerton
2016, NYSDEC Lake Ontario Annual Report 2015-12b
Benthic prey fishes are a critical component of the Lake Ontario food web, serving as energy vectors from benthic invertebrates to native and introduced piscivores. Since the late 1970’s, Lake Ontario benthic prey fish status was primarily assessed using bottom trawl observations confined to the lake’s south shore, in waters...
Progress and challenges in coupled hydrodynamic-ecological estuarine modeling
Neil K. Ganju, Mark J. Brush, Brenda Rashleigh, Alfredo L. Aretxabaleta, Pilar del Barrio, Jason S. Grear, Lora A. Harris, Samuel J. Lake, Grant McCardell, James O'Donnell, David K. Ralston, Richard P. Signell, Jeremy Testa, Jamie M. P. Vaudrey
2016, Estuaries and Coasts (39) 311-332
Numerical modeling has emerged over the last several decades as a widely accepted tool for investigations in environmental sciences. In estuarine research, hydrodynamic and ecological models have moved along parallel tracks with regard to complexity, refinement, computational power, and incorporation of uncertainty. Coupled hydrodynamic-ecological models have been used to assess...
Breeding sites and winter site fidelity of Piping Plovers wintering in The Bahamas, a previously unknown major wintering area
Cheri Gratto-Trevor, Susan M. Haig, Mark P. Miller, Thomas D. Mullins, Sidney Maddock, Erin A. Roche, Predensa Moore
2016, Journal of Field Ornithology (87) 29-41
Most of the known wintering areas of Piping Plovers (Charadrius melodus) are along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States and into Mexico, and in the Caribbean. However, 1066 threatened/endangered Piping Plovers were recently found wintering in The Bahamas, an area not previously known to be important for...
Preliminary characterization of nitrogen and phosphorus in groundwater discharging to Lake Spokane, northeastern Washington, using stable nitrogen isotopes
Andrew S. Gendaszek, Stephen E. Cox, Andrew R. Spanjer
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1029
Lake Spokane, locally referred to as Long Lake, is a 24-mile-long section of the Spokane River impounded by Long Lake Dam that has, in recent decades, experienced water-quality problems associated with eutrophication. Consumption of oxygen by the decomposition of aquatic plants that have proliferated because of high nutrient concentrations has...
Dragonfly Mercury Project—A citizen science driven approach to linking surface-water chemistry and landscape characteristics to biosentinels on a national scale
Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Sarah J. Nelson, Willacker Jr., Colleen M. Flanagan Pritz, David P. Krabbenhoft
2016, Fact Sheet 2016-3005
Mercury is a globally distributed pollutant that threatens human and ecosystem health. Even protected areas, such as national parks, are subjected to mercury contamination because it is delivered through atmospheric deposition, often after long-range transport. In aquatic ecosystems, certain environmental conditions can promote microbial processes that convert inorganic mercury to...
LANDFIRE 2010—Updates to the national dataset to support improved fire and natural resource management
Kurtis J. Nelson, Donald G. Long, Joel A. Connot
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1010
The Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools (LANDFIRE) 2010 data release provides updated and enhanced vegetation, fuel, and fire regime layers consistently across the United States. The data represent landscape conditions from approximately 2010 and are the latest release in a series of planned updates to maintain currency of...
Elastic stress transmission and transformation (ESTT) by confined liquid: A new mechanics for fracture in elastic lithosphere of the earth
Xing-Wang Xu, Stephen Peters, Guang-He Liang, Bao-Lin Zhang
2016, Tectonophysics (672-673) 129-138
We report on a new mechanical principle, which suggests that a confined liquid in the elastic lithosphere has the potential to transmit a maximum applied compressive stress. This stress can be transmitted to the internal contacts between rock and liquid and would then be transformed into a normal compressive stress...
Marine disease impacts, diagnosis, forecasting, management and policy
Kevin D. Lafferty, Eileen E. Hofmann
2016, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (371)
As Australians were spending millions of dollars in 2014 to remove the coral-eating crown of thorns sea star from the Great Barrier Reef, sea stars started washing up dead for free along North America's Pacific Coast. Because North American sea stars are important and iconic predators in marine communities, locals...
Lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) suppression for bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) recovery in Flathead Lake, Montana, North America
Michael J. Hansen, Barry S Hansen, David A. Beauchamp
2016, Hydrobiologia (783) 317-334
Non-native lake trout Salvelinus namaycush displaced native bull trout Salvelinus confluentus in Flathead Lake, Montana, USA, after 1984, when Mysis diluviana became abundant following its introduction in upstream lakes in 1968–1976. We developed a simulation model to determine the fishing mortality rate on lake...
Long-term reactive nitrogen loading alters soil carbon and microbial community properties in a subalpine forest ecosystem
Claudia M. Boot, Ed K. Hall, Karolien Denef, Jill Baron
2016, Soil Biology and Biochemistry (92) 211-220
Elevated nitrogen (N) deposition due to increased fossil fuel combustion and agricultural practices has altered global carbon (C) cycling. Additions of reactive N to N-limited environments are typically accompanied by increases in plant biomass. Soil C dynamics, however, have shown a range of different responses to the addition of reactive...
Physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of selected headwater streams along the Allegheny Front, Blair County, Pennsylvania, July 2011–September 2013
Dennis J. Low, Robin A. Brightbill, Heather L. Eggleston, Jeffrey J. Chaplin
2016, Open-File Report 2015-1173
The Altoona Water Authority (AWA) obtains all of its water supply from headwater streams that drain western Blair County, an area underlain in part by black shale of the Marcellus Formation. Development of the shale-gas reservoirs will require new access roads, stream crossing, drill-pad construction, and pipeline installation, activities that...
Structure of the Hat Creek graben region: Implications for the structure of the Hat Creek graben and transfer of right-lateral shear from the Walker Lane north of Lassen Peak, northern California, from gravity and magnetic anomalies
Victoria E. Langenheim, Robert C. Jachens, Michael A. Clynne, L.J. Patrick Muffler
2016, Geosphere (12) 790-808
Interpretation of magnetic and new gravity data provides constraints on the geometry of the Hat Creek Fault, the amount of right-lateral offset in the area between Mt. Shasta and Lassen Peak, and confirmation of the influence of pre-existing structure on Quaternary faulting. Neogene volcanic rocks coincide with short-wavelength magnetic anomalies...
Surface-air mercury fluxes across Western North America: A synthesis of spatial trends and controlling variables
Chris S. Eckley, Michael Tate, Che-Jen Lin, Mae S. Gustin, Stephen Dent, Collin Eagles-Smith, Michelle A. Lutz, Kimberly Wickland, Bronwen Wang, John E. Gray, Grant Edwards, David P. Krabbenhoft, David B. Smith
2016, Science of the Total Environment (568) 651-665
Mercury (Hg) emission and deposition can occur to and from soils, and are an important component of the global atmospheric Hg budget. This paper focuses on synthesizing existing surface-air Hg flux data collected throughout the Western North American region and is part of a series of geographically focused Hg synthesis...
Distribution and diversity of tunicates utilizing eelgrass as substrate in the western North Atlantic between 39° and 47° north latitude (New Jersey to Newfoundland)
M R Carman, Phillip D Colarusso, Eric P Nelson, David W Grunden, Melisa C Wong, Cynthia McKenzie, Kyle Matheson, Jeffrey G. Davidson, Sophia Fox, Hilary A. Neckles, Holly Bayley, Stephen Schott, Jennifer A Dijkstra, Sarah Stewart-Clark
2016, Management of Biological Invasions (7) 51-57
Seagrass meadows are ecologically important habitats that are declining globally at an accelerating rate due to natural and anthropogenic stressors. Their decline is a serious concern as this habitat provides many ecosystem services. Eelgrass (Zostera marina) is the dominant seagrass species in the western North Atlantic. It has recently been...
Leaf development and demography explain photosynthetic seasonality in Amazon evergreen forests
Jin Wu, Lauren Albert, Aline Lopes, Natalia Restrepo-Coupe, Matthew Hayek, Kenia T. Wiedemann, Kaiyu Guan, Scott C. Stark, Bradley Christoffersen, Neill Prohaska, Julia V. Tavares, Suelen Marostica, Hideki Kobayashi, Maurocio L. Ferreira, Kleber Silva Campos, Rodrigo da Silva, Paulo M. Brando, Dennis G. Dye, Travis E. Huxman, Alfredo Huete, Bruce Nelson, Scott Saleska
2016, Science (351) 972-976
In evergreen tropical forests, the extent, magnitude, and controls on photosynthetic seasonality are poorly resolved and inadequately represented in Earth system models. Combining camera observations with ecosystem carbon dioxide fluxes at forests across rainfall gradients in Amazônia, we show that aggregate canopy phenology, not seasonality of climate drivers, is the...
Influence of vertical and lateral heat transfer on permafrost thaw, peatland landscape transition, and groundwater flow
Barret L. Kurylyk, Masaki Hayashi, William L. Quinton, Jeffrey M. McKenzie, Clifford I. Voss
2016, Water Resources Research (52) 1286-1305
Recent climate change has reduced the spatial extent and thickness of permafrost in many discontinuous permafrost regions. Rapid permafrost thaw is producing distinct landscape changes in the Taiga Plains of the Northwest Territories, Canada. As permafrost bodies underlying forested peat plateaus shrink, the landscape slowly transitions into unforested wetlands. The...
