Climate variables explain neutral and adaptive variation within salmonid metapopulations: The importance of replication in landscape genetics
Brian K. Hand, Clint C. Muhlfeld, Alisa A. Wade, Ryan Kovach, Diane C. Whited, Shawn R. Narum, Andrew P. Matala, Michael W. Ackerman, B. A. Garner, John S Kimball, Jack A. Stanford, Gordon Luikart
2016, Molecular Ecology (25) 689-705
Understanding how environmental variation influences population genetic structure is important for conservation management because it can reveal how human stressors influence population connectivity, genetic diversity and persistence. We used riverscape genetics modelling to assess whether climatic and habitat variables were related to neutral and adaptive patterns of genetic differentiation (population-specific...
Assessment of undiscovered gas resources of the Thrace Basin, Turkey, 2015
Christopher J. Schenk, Timothy R. Klett, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Janet K. Pitman, Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Phuong A. Le, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Tracey J. Mercier, Kristen R. Marra, Sarah J. Hawkins, Michael E. Brownfield
2016, Fact Sheet 2016-3001
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey assessed undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 787 billion cubic feet of conventional gas and 1,630 billion cubic feet of unconventional gas in the Thrace Basin, Turkey....
Thermokarst rates intensify due to climate change and forest fragmentation in an Alaskan boreal forest lowland
M. Lara, Helene Genet, A. David McGuire, Eugénie S. Euskirchen, Yujin Zhang, Dana R. N. Brown, M.T. Jorgenson, V. Romanovsky, Amy L. Breen, W.R. Bolton
2016, Global Change Biology (22) 816-829
Lowland boreal forest ecosystems in Alaska are dominated by wetlands comprised of a complex mosaic of fens, collapse-scar bogs, low shrub/scrub, and forests growing on elevated ice-rich permafrost soils. Thermokarst has affected the lowlands of the Tanana Flats in central Alaska for centuries, as thawing permafrost collapses forests that transition...
Spatial variations in immediate greenhouse gases and aerosol emissions and resulting radiative forcing from wildfires in interior Alaska
Shengli Huang, Heping Liu, Devendra Dahal, Suming Jin, Shuang Li, Shu-Guang Liu
2016, Theoretical and Applied Climatology (123) 581-592
Boreal fires can cool the climate; however, this conclusion came from individual fires and may not represent the whole story. We hypothesize that the climatic impact of boreal fires depends on local landscape heterogeneity such as burn severity, prefire vegetation type, and soil properties. To test this hypothesis, spatially explicit...
Dome growth at Mount Cleveland, Aleutian Arc, quantified by time-series TerraSAR-X imagery
Teng Wang, Michael P. Poland, Zhong Lu
2016, Geophysical Research Letters (42) 10614-10621
Synthetic aperture radar imagery is widely used to study surface deformation induced by volcanic activity; however, it is rarely applied to quantify the evolution of lava domes, which is important for understanding hazards and magmatic system characteristics. We studied dome formation associated with eruptive activity at Mount Cleveland, Aleutian Volcanic...
Post-eruptive inflation of Okmok Volcano, Alaska, from InSAR, 2008–2014
Feifei Qu, Zhong Lu, Michael P. Poland, Jeffrey T. Freymueller, Qin Zhang, Hyung-Sup Jung
2016, Remote Sensing (7) 16778-16794
Okmok, a ~10-km wide caldera that occupies most of the northeastern end of Umnak Island, is one of the most active volcanoes in the Aleutian arc. The most recent eruption at Okmok during July-August 2008 was by far its largest and most explosive since at least the early 19th century....
The 2014-2015 Pāhoa lava flow crisis at Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai‘i: Disaster avoided and lessons learned
Michael P. Poland, Tim R. Orr, James P. Kauahikaua, Steven R. Brantley, Janet L. Babb, Matthew R. Patrick, Christina A. Neal, Kyle R. Anderson, Loren Antolik, Matthew K. Burgess, Tamar Elias, Steven Fuke, Pauline Fukunaga, Ingrid A. Johanson, Marian Kagimoto, Kevan P. Kamibayashi, Lopaka Lee, Asta Miklius, William Million, Cyril J. Moniz, Paul G. Okubo, Andrew Sutton, T. Jane Takahashi, Weston A. Thelen, Willam Tollett, Frank A. Trusdell
2016, GSA Today (26) 4-10
Lava flow crises are nothing new on the Island of Hawai‘i, where their destructive force has been demonstrated repeatedly over the past several hundred years. The 2014–2015 Pāhoa lava flow crisis, however, was unique in terms of its societal impact and volcanological characteristics. Despite low effusion rates, a long-lived lava...
Conifer density within lake catchments predicts fish mercury concentrations in remote subalpine lakes
Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Garth Herring, Branden L. Johnson, Rick Graw
2016, Environmental Pollution (212) 279-289
Remote high-elevation lakes represent unique environments for evaluating the bioaccumulation of atmospherically deposited mercury through freshwater food webs, as well as for evaluating the relative importance of mercury loading versus landscape influences on mercury bioaccumulation. The increase in mercury deposition to these systems over the past century, coupled with their...
Endangered species management and ecosystem restoration: Finding the common ground
Michael L. Casazza, Cory T. Overton, Thuy-Vy D. Bui, Joshua M. Hull, Joy D. Albertson, Valary K. Bloom, Steven Bobzien, Jennifer McBroom, Marilyn Latta, Peggy Olofson, Tobias M. Rohmer, Steven E. Schwarzbach, Donald R. Strong, Erik Grijalva, Julian K. Wood, Shannon Skalos, John Y. Takekawa
2016, Ecology and Society (21)
Management actions to protect endangered species and conserve ecosystem function may not always be in precise alignment. Efforts to recover the California Ridgway’s Rail (Rallus obsoletus obsoletus; hereafter, California rail), a federally and state-listed species, and restoration of tidal marsh ecosystems in the San Francisco Bay estuary provide a prime...
Physical and chemical constraints limit the habitat window for an endangered mussel
Cara Campbell, Karen L. Prestegaard
2016, Hydrobiologia (772) 77-91
Development of effective conservation and restoration strategies for freshwater pearly mussels requires identification of environmental constraints on the distributions of individual mussel species. We examined whether the spatial distribution of the endangered Alasmidonta heterodon in Flat Brook, a tributary of the upper Delaware River, was constrained by water chemistry (i.e.,...
Does biodiversity protect humans against infectious disease? Reply
Chelsea L. Wood, Kevin D. Lafferty, Giulio DeLeo, Hillary S. Young, Peter J. Hudson, Armand M. Kuris
2016, Ecology (97) 543-546
The dilution effect is the sort of idea that everyone wants to be true. If nature protects humans against infectious disease, imagine the implications: nature's value could be tallied in terms of human suffering avoided. This makes a potent argument for conservation, convincing even to those who would otherwise be disinclined...
Reflectance spectroscopy (0.35–8 μm) of ammonium-bearing minerals and qualitative comparison to Ceres-like asteroids
Breanne L. Berg, Edward A. Cloutis, P. Beck, P. Vernazza, Janice L Bishop, Driss Takir, V. Reddy, D. Applin, Paul Mann
2016, Icarus (265) 218-237
Ammonium-bearing minerals have been suggested to be present on Mars, Ceres, and various asteroids and comets. We undertook a systematic study of the spectral reflectance properties of ammonium-bearing minerals and compounds that have possible planetary relevance (i.e., ammonium carbonates, chlorides, nitrates, oxalates, phosphates, silicates, and sulfates). Various synthetic and natural...
Continental Shelf Morphology and Stratigraphy Offshore San Onofre, CA: The Interplay Between Rates of Eustatic Change and Sediment Supply
Shannon Klotsko, Neal W. Driscoll, Graham Kent, Daniel S. Brothers
2016, Marine Geology (369) 116-126
New high-resolution CHIRP seismic data acquired offshore San Onofre, southern California reveal that shelf sediment distribution and thickness are primarily controlled by eustatic sea level rise and sediment supply. Throughout the majority of the study region, a prominent abrasion platform and associated shoreline cutoff are observed in the subsurface from...
Integrated risk and recovery monitoring of ecosystem restorations on contaminated sites
Michael J. Hooper, Stephen J. Glomb, David Harper, Timothy B. Hoelzle, Lisa M. McIntosh, David R. Mulligan
2016, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (12) 284-295
Ecological restorations of contaminated sites balance the human and ecological risks of residual contamination with the benefits of ecological recovery and the return of lost ecological function and ecosystem services. Risk and recovery are interrelated dynamic conditions, changing as remediation and restoration activities progress through implementation into long-term management and...
Characterization of gas hydrate distribution using conventional 3D seismic data in the Pearl River Mouth Basin, South China Sea
Xiujuan Wang, Jin Qiang, Timothy S. Collett, Hesheng Shi, Shengxiong Yang, Chengzhi Yan, Yuanping Li, Zhenzhen Wang, Duanxin Chen
2016, Interpretation (4) SA25-SA37
A new 3D seismic reflection data volume acquired in 2012 has allowed for the detailed mapping and characterization of gas hydrate distribution in the Pearl River Mouth Basin in the South China Sea. Previous studies of core and logging data showed that gas hydrate occurrence at high concentrations is controlled...
Prospecting for marine gas hydrate resources
Ray Boswell, Craig Shipp, Thomas Reichel, Dianna Shelander, Tetsuo Saeki, Matthew Frye, William Shedd, Timothy S. Collett, Daniel R. McConnell
2016, Interpretation (4) SA13-SA24
As gas hydrate energy assessment matures worldwide, emphasis has evolved away from confirmation of the mere presence of gas hydrate to the more complex issue of prospecting for those specific accumulations that are viable resource targets. Gas hydrate exploration now integrates the unique pressure and temperature preconditions for gas hydrate...
Estimating golden-cheeked warbler immigration: Implications for the spatial scale of conservation
A. Duarte, F.W. Weckerly, M. Schaub, Jeffrey S. Hatfield
2016, Animal Conservation (19) 65-74
Understanding the factors that drive population dynamics is fundamental to species conservation and management. Since the golden-cheeked warbler Setophaga chrysoparia was first listed as endangered, much effort has taken place to monitor warbler abundance, occupancy, reproduction and survival. Yet, despite being directly related to local population dynamics, movement rates have...
A typology of time-scale mismatches and behavioral interventions to diagnose and solve conservation problems
Robyn S. Wilson, David J. Hardisty, Rebecca S. Epanchin-Niell, Michael C. Runge, Kathryn L. Cottingham, Dean L. Urban, Lynn A. Maguire, Alan Hastings, Peter J. Mumby, Debra P. C. Peters
2016, Conservation Biology (30) 42-49
Ecological systems often operate on time scales significantly longer or shorter than the time scales typical of human decision making, which causes substantial difficulty for conservation and management in socioecological systems. For example, invasive species may move faster than humans can diagnose problems and initiate solutions, and climate systems may...
A decision support tool for adaptive management of native prairie ecosystems
Victoria M. Hunt, Sarah Jacobi, Jill J. Gannon, Jennifer E. Zorn, Clinton T. Moore, Eric V. Lonsdorf
2016, Interfaces (46) 334-344
The Native Prairie Adaptive Management initiative is a decision support framework that provides cooperators with management-action recommendations to help them conserve native species and suppress invasive species on prairie lands. We developed a Web-based decision support tool (DST) for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey...
Impacts of climate change on land-use and wetland productivity in the Prairie Pothole Region of North America
Benjamin S. Rashford, Richard M. Adams, Jun Wu, Richard A. Voldseth, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Brett Werner, W. Carter Johnson
2016, Regional Environmental Change (16) 515-526
Wetland productivity in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North America is closely linked to climate. A warmer and drier climate, as predicted, will negatively affect the productivity of PPR wetlands and the services they provide. The effect of climate change on wetland productivity, however, will not only depend on...
An assessment of the cultivated cropland class of NLCD 2006 using a multi-source and multi-criteria approach
Patrick Danielson, Limin Yang, Suming Jin, Collin G. Homer, Darrell Napton
2016, Remote Sensing (8)
We developed a method that analyzes the quality of the cultivated cropland class mapped in the USA National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2006. The method integrates multiple geospatial datasets and a Multi Index Integrated Change Analysis (MIICA) change detection method that captures spectral changes to identify the spatial distribution and...
Greenhouse gas fluxes from salt marshes exposed to chronic nutrient enrichment
Gail L. Chmura, Lisa Kellman, Lee van Ardenne, Glenn R. Guntenspergen
2016, PLoS ONE (11)
We assessed the impact of nutrient additions on greenhouse gas fluxes using dark static chambers in a microtidal and a macrotidal marsh along the coast of New Brunswick, Canada approximately monthly over a year. Both were experimentally fertilized for six years with varying levels of N and P. For unfertilized,...
Survival of female mallards along the Vermont-Quebec border region
Jerry R. Longcore, Daniel G. McAuley, Dennis M. Heisey, Christine M. Bunck, David A. Clugston
2016, Journal of Wildlife Management (80) 355-367
Understanding effects of location and timing of harvest seasons on mortality of ducks and geese from hunting is important in forming regulations that sustain viable waterfowl populations throughout their range. During 1990 and 1991 we alternately marked 80 hatching year (HY), female mallards along the Vermont–Quebec border; half with radio-transmitters...
Dynamic occupancy models for explicit colonization processes
Kristin M. Broms, Mevin Hooten, Devin S. Johnson, Res Altwegg, Loveday Conquest
2016, Ecology (97) 194-204
The dynamic, multi-season occupancy model framework has become a popular tool for modeling open populations with occupancies that change over time through local colonizations and extinctions. However, few versions of the model relate these probabilities to the occupancies of neighboring sites or patches. We present a modeling framework that incorporates...
Who Knew? Inconnu
F. Joseph Margraf
2016, Fisheries (41) 70-70
In 1999, I moved to Alaska to serve as unit leader of the U.S. Geological Survey Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and professor of fisheries in the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. What was unusual about this move was that before...
