Comparison of reintroduction and enhancement effects on metapopulation viability
Samniqueka J Halsey, Timothy J. Bell, Kathryn McEachern, Noel B. Pavlovic
2015, Restoration Ecology (23) 375-384
Metapopulation viability depends upon a balance of extinction and colonization of local habitats by a species. Mechanisms that can affect this balance include physical characteristics related to natural processes (e.g. succession) as well as anthropogenic actions. Plant restorations can help to produce favorable metapopulation dynamics and consequently increase viability; however,...
Resilience of ponderosa and lodgepole pine forests to mountain pine beetle disturbance and limited regeneration
Jenny S. Briggs, Todd Hawbaker, Don Vandendriesche
2015, Forest Science (61) 689-702
After causing widespread mortality in lodgepole pine forests in North America, the mountain pine beetle (MPB) has recently also affected ponderosa pine, an alternate host species that may have different levels of resilience to this disturbance. We collected field data in ponderosa pine- and lodgepole pine-dominated forests attacked by MPB...
Book review: Biology and conservation of North American tortoises
David Munoz, Christina M. Aiello
2015, Herpetological Review (46) 288-289
The charismatic North American tortoises hold a special place in our culture and natural history. Despite the perseverance of these tortoises over millions of years, biologists now question their ability to persist into the future. In light of documented declines, habitat loss, and numerous threats to tortoise populations, the editors...
The Penobscot River and environmental contaminants: Assessment of tribal exposure through sustenance lifeways
Valerie Marshall, Daniel Kusnierz, Robert Hillger, Joseph Ferrario, Thomas Hughes, Janet Diliberto, Carl E. Orazio, Robert W. Dudley, Christian Byrne, Richard Sugatt, Sarah Warren, David DeMarini, Adria Elskus, Steve Stodola, Steve Mierzykowski, Katie Pugh, Charles W. Culbertson
2015, Report
EPA in collaboration with the Penobscot Indian Nation, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USF&WS) collectively embarked on a four year research study to evaluate the environmental health of the riverine system by targeting specific cultural practices...
Influence of in ovo mercury exposure, lake acidity, and other factors on common loon egg and chick quality in Wisconsin
Kevin P. Kenow, Michael W. Meyer, Ronald Rossmann, Brian R. Gray, Michael T. Arts
2015, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (34) 1870-1880
A field study was conducted in Wisconsin (USA) to characterize in ovo mercury (Hg) exposure in common loons (Gavia immer). Total Hg mass fractions ranged from 0.17 mg/g to 1.23mg/g wet weight in eggs collected from nests on lakes representing a wide range of pH (5.0–8.1) and were modeled as...
Oyster reef restoration supports increased nekton biomass and potential commercial fishery value
Austin T. Humphries, Megan K. LaPeyre
2015, PeerJ (3) 1-19
Across the globe, discussions centered on the value of nature drive many conservation and restoration decisions. As a result, justification for management activities increasingly asks for two lines of evidence: (1) biological proof of augmented ecosystem function or service, and (2) monetary valuation of these services. For oyster reefs, which...
Metallogeny, exploitation and environmental impact of the Mt. Amiata mercury ore district (Southern Tuscany, Italy)
V. Rimondi, L. Chiarantini, P. Lattanzi, M. Benvenuti, M. Beutel, A. Colica, P. Costagliola, F. Di Benedetto, G. Gabbani, John E. Gray, E. Pandeli, G. Pattelli, M. Paolieri, G. Ruggieri
2015, Italian Journal of Geosciences (134) 323-336
The Mt. Amiata mining district (Southern Tuscany, Italy) is a world class Hg district, with a cumulate production of more than 100,000 tonnes of Hg, mostly occurring between 1870 and 1980. The Hg mineralization at Mt. Amiata is younger than 0.3 Ma, and is directly related to shallow hydrothermal...
Adult mortality probability and nest predation rates explain parental effort in warming eggs with consequences for embryonic development time
Thomas E. Martin, Juan C. Oteyza, Andy J. Boyce, Penn Lloyd, Riccardo Ton
2015, The American Naturalist (186) 223-236
Parental behavior and effort vary extensively among species. Life-history theory suggests that age-specific mortality could cause this interspecific variation, but past tests have focused on fecundity as the measure of parental effort. Fecundity can cause costs of reproduction that confuse whether mortality is the cause or the consequence of parental...
Valuing geospatial information: Using the contingent valuation method to estimate the economic benefits of Landsat satellite imagery
John B. Loomis, Steve Koontz, Holly M. Miller, Leslie A. Richardson
2015, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing (81) 647-656
While the U.S. government does not charge for downloading Landsat images, the images have value to users. This paper demonstrates a method that can value Landsat and other imagery to users. A survey of downloaders of Landsat images found: (a) established US users have a mean value of $912 USD...
Estimating global natural wetland methane emissions using process modelling: spatio-temporal patterns and contributions to atmospheric methane fluctuations
Qiuan Zhu, Changhui Peng, Huai Chen, Xiuqin Fang, Jinxun Liu, Hong Jiang, Yanzheng Yang, Gang Yang
2015, Global Ecology and Biogeography (24) 959-972
Aim The fluctuations of atmospheric methane (CH4) that have occurred in recent decades are not fully understood, particularly with regard to the contribution from wetlands. The application of spatially explicit parameters has been suggested as an effective method for reducing uncertainties in bottom-up approaches to wetland CH4 emissions,...
A global reference database from very high resolution commercial satellite data and methodology for application to Landsat derived 30 m continuous field tree cover data
Bruce Pengra, Jordan Long, Devendra Dahal, Stephen V. Stehman, Thomas R. Loveland
2015, Remote Sensing of Environment (165) 234-248
The methodology for selection, creation, and application of a global remote sensing validation dataset using high resolution commercial satellite data is presented. High resolution data are obtained for a stratified random sample of 500 primary sampling units (5 km × 5 km sample blocks), where the stratification based on Köppen...
Impact of fishing and stocking practices on Coregonid diversity
Orlane Anneville, Emilien Lasne, Jean Guillard, Reiner Eckmann, Jason D. Stockwell, Christian Gillet, Daniel L. Yule
2015, Food and Nutrition Sciences (6) 1045-1055
Fish species diversity can be lost through interacting stressors including habitat loss, stocking and overfishing. Although a multitude of stressors have played a role in the global decline of coregonid (Coregonus spp.) diversity, a number of contemporary studies have identified habitat loss stemming from eutrophication as the primary cause. Unfortunately,...
Ignimbrites to batholiths: integrating perspectives from geological, geophysical, and geochronological data
Peter W. Lipman, Olivier Bachmann
2015, Geosphere (11) 705-743
Multistage histories of incremental accumulation, fractionation, and solidification during construction of large subvolcanic magma bodies that remained sufficiently liquid to erupt are recorded by Tertiary ignimbrites, source calderas, and granitoid intrusions associated with large gravity lows at the Southern Rocky Mountain volcanic field (SRMVF). Geophysical data combined with geological constraints...
Factors affecting individual foraging specialization and temporal diet stability across the range of a large “generalist” apex predator
Adam E. Rosenblatt, James C. Nifong, Michael R. Heithaus, Frank J. Mazzotti, Michael S. Cherkiss, Brian M. Jeffery, Ruth M. Elsey, Rachel A. Decker, Brian R. Silliman, Louis J. Guillette Jr., Russell H. Lowers, Justin C. Larson
2015, Oecologia (178) 5-16
Individual niche specialization (INS) is increasingly recognized as an important component of ecological and evolutionary dynamics. However, most studies that have investigated INS have focused on the effects of niche width and inter- and intraspecific competition on INS in small-bodied species for short time periods, with less attention paid to...
Myths and facts on wastewater injection, hydraulic fracturing, enhanced oil recovery, and induced seismicity
Justin L. Rubinstein, Alireza Babaie Mahani
2015, Seismological Research Letters (86) 1060-1067
The central United States has undergone a dramatic increase in seismicity over the past 6 years (Fig. 1), rising from an average of 24 M≥3 earthquakes per year in the years 1973–2008 to an average of 193 M≥3 earthquakes in 2009–2014, with 688 occurring in 2014 alone. Multiple damaging earthquakes have...
Framework for modeling urban restoration resilience time in the aftermath of an extreme event
Varun Ramachandran, Suzanna K. Long, Thomas G. Shoberg, Steven Corns, Héctor Carlo
2015, Natural Hazards Review 1-11
The impacts of extreme events continue long after the emergency response has terminated. Effective reconstruction of supply-chain strategic infrastructure (SCSI) elements is essential for postevent recovery and the reconnectivity of a region with the outside. This study uses an interdisciplinary approach to develop a comprehensive framework to model resilience time....
Reducing fertilizer-nitrogen losses from rowcrop landscapes: Insights and implications from a spatially explicit watershed model
Eileen McLellan, Keith Schilling, Dale M. Robertson
2015, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (51) 1003-1019
We present conceptual and quantitative models that predict changes in fertilizer-derived nitrogen delivery from rowcrop landscapes caused by agricultural conservation efforts implemented to reduce nutrient inputs and transport and increase nutrient retention in the landscape. To evaluate the relative importance of changes in the sources, transport, and sinks of fertilizer-derived...
Evaluating a satellite-based seasonal evapotranspiration product and identifying its relationship with other satellite-derived products and crop yield: A case study for Ethiopia
Tsegaye Tadesse, Gabriel B. Senay, Getachew Berhan, Teshome Regassa, Shimelis Beyene
2015, International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation (40) 39-54
Satellite-derived evapotranspiration anomalies and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) products from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data are currently used for African agricultural drought monitoring and food security status assessment. In this study, a process to evaluate satellite-derived evapotranspiration (ETa) products with a geospatial statistical exploratory technique that uses NDVI,...
Floodplain complexity and surface metrics: influences of scale and geomorphology
Murray W. Scown, Martin C. Thoms, Nathan R. De Jager
2015, Geomorphology (245) 102-116
Many studies of fluvial geomorphology and landscape ecology examine a single river or landscape, thus lack generality, making it difficult to develop a general understanding of the linkages between landscape patterns and larger-scale driving variables. We examined the spatial complexity of eight floodplain surfaces in widely different geographic settings and...
Unifying research on the fragmentation of terrestrial and aquatic habitats: patches, connectivity and the matrix in riverscapes
Tibor Eros, Evan H. Campbell Grant
2015, Freshwater Biology (60) 1487-1501
While there is an increasing emphasis in terrestrial ecology on determining the influence of the area that surrounds habitat patches (the landscape ‘matrix’) relative to the characteristics of the patches themselves, research on these aspects in running waters is still rather underrepresented. Here we outline conceptual foundations of matrix...
Annual growth patterns of baldcypress (Taxodium distichum) along salinity gradients
Brenda L. Thomas, Thomas W. Doyle, Ken W. Krauss
2015, Wetlands (35) 831-839
The effects of salinity on Taxodium distichum seedlings have been well documented, but few studies have examined mature trees in situ. We investigated the environmental drivers of T. distichum growth along a salinity gradient on the Waccamaw (South Carolina) and Savannah (Georgia) Rivers. On each river, T. distichum increment cores were collected from...
Frac sand in the United States: a geological and industry overview
Mary Ellen Benson, Anna B. Wilson, Donald I. Bleiwas
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1107
A new mineral rush is underway in the upper Midwest of the United States, especially in Wisconsin and Minnesota, for deposits of high-quality frac sand that the mining industry calls “Northern White” sand or “Ottawa” sand. Frac sand is a specialized type of sand that is added to fracking fluids...
U.S. Geological Survey science for the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative—2014 annual report
Zachary H. Bowen, Cameron L. Aldridge, Patrick J. Anderson, Timothy J. Assal, Timothy T. Bartos, Laura R Biewick, Gregory K. Boughton, Anna D. Chalfoun, Geneva W. Chong, Marie K. Dematatis, Cheryl A. Eddy-Miller, Steven L. Garman, Steve Germaine, Collin G. Homer, Christopher Huber, Matthew J. Kauffman, Natalie Latysh, Daniel J. Manier, Cynthia P. Melcher, Alexander Miller, Kirk A. Miller, Edward M. Olexa, Spencer Schell, Annika W. Walters, Anna B. Wilson, Teal B. Wyckoff
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1091
This is the seventh report produced by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI) to detail annual activities conducted by the USGS for addressing specific management needs identified by WLCI partners. In FY2014, there were 26 projects, including a new one that was completed, two...
StreamStats in Georgia: a water-resources web application
Anthony J. Gotvald, Jonathan W. Musser
2015, Fact Sheet 2014-3027
Summary Part of the mission of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is to provide information on streamflow in the Nation's streams to help understand the Nation's water resources. Streamflow statistics are used by water managers, engineers, scientists, and others to protect people and property during floods and droughts, and to manage,...
Spread of the Rat Lungworm (Angiostrongylus cantonensis) in Giant African Land Snails (Lissachatina fulica) in Florida, USA
Deborah D. Iwanowicz, Lakyn R. Sanders, W. Bane Schill, Maniphet V Xayavong, Alexandre J da Silva, Yvonne Qvarnstrom, Trevor Smith
2015, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (51) 749-753
The rat lungworm (Angiostrongylus cantonensis) is a parasitic nematode that causes rat lungworm disease. It is the leading cause of eosinophilic meningitis and is a zoonotic health risk. We confirmed the presence of A. cantonensis using species-specific, quantitative PCR in 18 of 50 (36%) giant African land snails (Lissachatina fulica)...
