Energy demands for maintenance, growth, pregnancy, and lactation of female Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens)
Shawn R. Noren, Mark S. Udevitz, Chadwick V. Jay
2014, Physiological and Biochemical Zoology (87) 837-854
Decreases in sea ice have altered habitat use and activity patterns of female Pacific walruses Odobenus rosmarus divergens and could affect their energetic demands, reproductive success, and population status. However, a lack of physiological data from walruses has hampered efforts to develop the bioenergetics models required for fully understanding potential...
Predicting probability of occurrence and factors affecting distribution and abundance of three Ozark endemic crayfish species at multiple spatial scales
Matthew S. Nolen, Daniel D. Magoulick, Robert J. DiStefano, Emily M. Imhoff, Brian K. Wagner
2014, Freshwater Biology (59) 2374-2389
Crayfishes and other freshwater aquatic fauna are particularly at risk globally due to anthropogenic demand, manipulation and exploitation of freshwater resources and yet are often understudied. The Ozark faunal region of Missouri and Arkansas harbours a high level of aquatic biological diversity, especially in regard to endemic crayfishes....
Technical Note: Linking climate change and downed woody debris decomposition across forests of the eastern United States
Matthew B. Russell, Christopher W. Woodall, Anthony W. D’Amato, Shawn Fraver, John B. Bradford
2014, Biogeosciences (11) 6417-6425
Forest ecosystems play a critical role in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Forest carbon (C) is stored through photosynthesis and released via decomposition and combustion. Relative to C fixation in biomass, much less is known about C depletion through decomposition of woody debris, particularly under a changing climate. It is assumed...
Productivity of forest birds at Hakalau Forest NWR
Eben H. Paxton, George C Cummins, Steven J. Kendall
2014, Technical Report HCSU-056
Hawai‘i has some of the most endangered avian species in the world, which face numerous threats from habitat loss, disease, climate change, and introduced species. This report details the results of a two-year productivity study of all forest bird species at Hakalau National Wildlife Refuge, Hawai‘i Island. We found and...
Evaluating the long-term management of introduced ungulates to protect the palila, an endangered bird, and its criticial habitat in subalpine forest of Mauna Kea, Hawai'i
Paul C. Banko, Steven C. Hess, Paul G. Scowcroft, Chris Farmer, James D. Jacobi, Robert M. Stephens, Richard J. Camp, David L. Leonard Jr., Kevin W. Brinck, J.O. Juvik, S. P. Juvik
2014, Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research (46) 871-889
Under the multiple-use paradigm, conflicts may arise when protection of an endangered species must compete with other management objectives. To resolve such a conflict in the Critical Habitat of the endangered Hawaiian honeycreeper, palila (Loxioides bailleui), federal courts ordered the eradication of introduced ungulates responsible for damaging the māmane (Sophora...
A cross comparison of spatiotemporally enhanced springtime phenological measurements from satellites and ground in a northern U.S. mixed forest
Li Li, Mark D. Schwartz, Zhuosen Wang, Feng Gao, Crystal B. Schaaf, Bin Tan, Jeffrey T. Morisette, Xiaoyang Zhang
2014, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (52) 7513-7526
Cross comparison of satellite-derived land surface phenology (LSP) and ground measurements is useful to ensure the relevance of detected seasonal vegetation change to the underlying biophysical processes. While standard 16-day and 250-m Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) vegetation index (VI)-based springtime LSP has been evaluated in previous studies, it remains...
Distribution and prevalence of knemidokoptic mange in Hawai`i `Amakihi on the island of Hawaii
Jacqueline Gaudioso, Dennis LaPointe, Carter T. Atkinson, Chloe Apelgren
2014, Technical Report HCSU-055
Knemidokoptic mange was first observed on two Hawai‘i ‘Amakihi (Hemignathus virens) mist netted in Manuka Natural Area Reserve (NAR) on the Island of Hawai‘i in June 2007. Microscopic examination of skin scrapings from lesions of the infested individuals revealed the scaley-leg mite, Knemidokoptes jamaicensis. Continued surveillance at Manuka NAR (2007-2009)...
Catinaster virginianus sp. nov.: A new species of Catinaster from the middle Miocene Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain
Jean M. Self-Trail
2014, Journal of Nannoplankton Research (33) 49-57
High-resolution analysis of sediments from four coreholes associated with the Chesapeake Bay impact crater has resulted in the identification of a new species, Catinaster virginianus. This species is similar to Catinaster coalitus coalitus, but differs in having a proximal stem. The first occurrence of C. virginianus is in Zone NN5, and is older...
Transcriptomic analysis of the mussel Elliptio complanata identifies candidate stress-response genes and an abundance of novel or noncoding transcripts
Robert S. Cornman, Laura S. Robertson, Heather S. Galbraith, Carrie J. Blakeslee
2014, PLoS ONE (9)
Mussels are useful indicator species of environmental stress and degradation, and the global decline in freshwater mussel diversity and abundance is of conservation concern. Elliptio complanata is a common freshwater mussel of eastern North America that can serve both as an indicator and as an experimental model for understanding mussel...
Diverse coral communities in mangrove habitats suggest a novel refuge from climate change
Kimberly K. Yates, Caroline S. Rogers, James J. Herlan, Gregg R. Brooks, Nathan A. Smiley, Rebekka A. Larson
2014, Biogeosciences (11) 4321-4337
Risk analyses indicate that more than 90% of the world's reefs will be threatened by climate change and local anthropogenic impacts by the year 2030 under "business-as-usual" climate scenarios. Increasing temperatures and solar radiation cause coral bleaching that has resulted in extensive coral mortality. Increasing carbon dioxide reduces seawater pH,...
The impact of static stress change, dynamic stress change, and the background stress on aftershock focal mechanisms
Jeanne L. Hardebeck
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (119) 8239-8266
The focal mechanisms of earthquakes in Southern California before and after four M ≥ 6.7 main shocks provide insight into how fault systems respond to stress and changes in stress. The main shock static stress changes have two observed impacts on the seismicity: changing the focal mechanisms in a given location to favor...
Last interglacial plant macrofossils and climates from Ziegler Reservoir, Snowmass Village, Colorado, USA
Laura E. Strickland, Richard G. Baker, Robert S. Thompson, Dane M. Miller
2014, Quaternary Research (82) 553-566
Ninety plant macrofossil taxa from the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site near Snowmass Village, Colorado, record environmental changes at high elevation (2705 m asl) in the Rocky Mountains during the Last Interglacial Period. Present-day vegetation is aspen forest (Populus tremuloides) intermixed with species of higher (Picea, Abies) and lower (Artemisia, Quercus) elevations. Stratigraphic units 4–13...
Feeding habits of an endemic fish, Oxygymnocypris stewartii, in the Yarlung Zangbo River in Tibet, China
Bin Huo, Cong Xin Xie, Charles P. Madenjian, Bao Shan Ma, Xue Feng Yang, Hai Ping Huang
2014, Environmental Biology of Fishes (97) 1279-1293
Feeding habits of Oxygymnocypris stewartii were investigated based on monthly sampling in the Yarlung Zangbo River from August 2008 to August 2009. The gut contents of 194 individuals were analysed and quantified with numerical and gravimetric methods. This species can be considered a generalized and opportunistic predator feeding both on teleosts...
Prevalence of the amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) at Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, Arizona, USA
Brent H. Sigafus, Blake R. Hossack, Erin L. Muths, Cecil R. Schwalbe
2014, Herpetological Review (45) 41-42
Information on disease presence can be of use to natural resource managers, especially in areas supporting threatened and endangered species that occur coincidentally with species that are suspected vectors for disease. Ad hoc reports may be of limited utility (Muths et al. 2009), but a general sense of pathogen presence...
Beyond reducing fire hazard: fuel treatment impacts on overstory tree survival
Brandon M. Collins, Adrian J. Das, John J. Battles, Danny L. Fry, Kevin Krasnow, Scott L. Stephens
2014, Ecological Applications (24) 1879-1886
Fuel treatment implementation in dry forest types throughout the western United States is likely to increase in pace and scale in response to increasing incidence of large wildfires. While it is clear that properly implemented fuel treatments are effective at reducing hazardous fire potential, there are ancillary ecological effects that...
The fungus Trichophyton redellii sp. nov. causes skin infections that resemble white-nose syndrome of hibernating bats
Jeffrey M. Lorch, Andrew M. Minnis, Carol U. Meteyer, Jennifer A. Redell, J. Paul White, Heather M. Kaarakka, Laura K. Muller, David L. Lindner, Michelle L. Verant, Valerie I. Shearn-Bochsler, David S. Blehert
2014, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (51) 36-47
Before the discovery of white-nose syndrome (WNS), a fungal disease caused by Pseudogymnoascus destructans, there were no reports of fungal skin infections in bats during hibernation. In 2011, bats with grossly visible fungal skin infections similar in appearance to WNS were reported from multiple sites in Wisconsin, USA, a state outside...
Effects of prey abundance, distribution, visual contrast and morphology on selection by a pelagic piscivore
Adam G. Hansen, David A. Beauchamp
2014, Freshwater Biology (59) 2328-2341
Most predators eat only a subset of possible prey. However, studies evaluating diet selection rarely measure prey availability in a manner that accounts for temporal–spatial overlap with predators, the sensory mechanisms employed to detect prey, and constraints on prey capture.We evaluated the diet selection of cutthroat trout...
Predicting East African spring droughts using Pacific and Indian Ocean sea surface temperature indices
Christopher C. Funk, Andrew Hoell, Shraddhanand Shukla, Ileana Blade, Brant Liebmann, Jason B. Roberts, Franklin R. Robertson
2014, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (11) 3111-3136
In southern Ethiopia, Eastern Kenya, and southern Somalia poor boreal spring rains in 1999, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011 contributed to severe food insecurity and high levels of malnutrition. Predicting rainfall deficits in this region on seasonal and decadal time frames can help decision makers support disaster risk...
Population viability of Pediocactus brady (Cactaceae) in a changing climate
Daniel F. Shryock, Todd C. Esque, Lee Huges
2014, American Journal of Botany (101) 1944-1953
• Premise of the study: A key question concerns the vulnerability of desert species adapted to harsh, variable climates to future climate change. Evaluating this requires coupling long-term demographic models with information on past and projected future climates. We investigated climatic drivers of population growth using a 22-yr demographic model for Pediocactus bradyi,...
MTpy: A Python toolbox for magnetotellurics
Lars Krieger, Jared R. Peacock
2014, Computers & Geosciences (72) 167-175
We present the software package MTpy that allows handling, processing, and imaging of magnetotelluric (MT) data sets. Written in Python, the code is open source, containing sub-packages and modules for various tasks within the standard MT data processing and handling scheme. Besides the independent definition of classes and functions, MTpy provides wrappers and...
Identifying hazards associated with lava deltas
Michael P. Poland, Tim R. Orr
2014, Bulletin of Volcanology (76)
Lava deltas, formed where lava enters the ocean and builds a shelf of new land extending from the coastline, represent a significant local hazard, especially on populated ocean island volcanoes. Such structures are unstable and prone to collapse—events that are often accompanied by small explosions that can deposit boulders and...
Efficacy of plastic mesh tubes in reducing herbivory damage by the invasive nutria (Myocastor coypus) in an urban restoration site
Trevor R. Sheffels, Mark D. Systma, Jacoby Carter, Jimmy D. Taylor
2014, Northwest Science (88) 269-279
The restoration of stream corridors is becoming an increasingly important component of urban landscape planning, and the high cost of these projects necessitates the need to understand and address potential ecological obstacles to project success. The nutria(Myocastor coypus) is an invasive, semi-aquatic rodent native to South America that causes detrimental ecological...
Influence of nonnative and native ungulate biomass and seasonal precipitation on vegetation production in a Great Basin ecosystem
Linda Zeigenfuss, Kathryn A. Schoenecker, Jason I. Ransom, Drew A. Ignizio, Tracy Mask
2014, Western North American Naturalist (74) 286-298
The negative effects of equid grazers in semiarid ecosystems of the American West have been considered disproportionate to the influence of native ungulates in these systems because of equids' large body size, hoof shape, and short history on the landscape relative to native ungulates. Tools that can analyze the degree...
Evaluating potential effects of an industrial road on winter habitat of caribou in North-Central Alaska
Ryan H. Wilson, David D. Gustine, Kyle Joly
2014, Arctic (67) 472-482
Worldwide, some caribou (Rangifer tarandus) populations are experiencing declines due partially to the expansion of industrial development. Caribou can exhibit behavioral avoidance of development, leading to indirect habitat loss, even if the actual footprint is small. Thus, it is important to understand before construction begins how much habitat might be...
The spring migration of adult North American Ospreys
Mark S. Martell, Richard O. Bierregaard Jr., Brian E. Washburn, John E. Elliott, Charles J. Henny, Robert S. Kennedy, Iain MacLeod
2014, Journal of Raptor Research (48) 309-324
Most North American Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) are migratory, breeding in northern latitudes and migrating long distances to and from their wintering grounds in the tropics. Although fall migration patterns of North American Ospreys have been described and studied, very little has been published about the spring migration of these birds....
