Physics-based satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB) using Landsat OLI images
Minsu Kim, Jeffrey J. Danielson, Curt D. Storlazzi, Seonkyung Park
2024, Remote Sensing (16)
The estimation of depth in optically shallow waters using satellite imagery can be efficient and cost-effective. Active sensors measure the distance traveled by an emitted laser pulse propagating through the water with high precision and accuracy if the bottom peak intensity of the waveform is greater than the noise...
Wildfire probability estimated from recent climate and fine fuels across the big sagebrush region
Martin C. Holdrege, Daniel Rodolphe Schlaepfer, Kyle A. Palmquist, Michele R. Crist, Kevin E. Doherty, William K. Lauenroth, Thomas E. Remington, Karin L. Riley, Karen C. Short, John C. Tull, Lief A. Wiechman, John B. Bradford
2024, Fire Ecology (20)
BackgroundWildfire is a major proximate cause of historical and ongoing losses of intact big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) plant communities and declines in sagebrush obligate wildlife species. In recent decades, fire return intervals have shortened and area burned has increased in some areas, and habitat degradation is occurring where...
Polyphase stratabound scheelite-ferberite mineralization at Mallnock, Eastern Alps, Austria
Florian Altenberger, Joachim Krause, Niki E. Wintzer, Christoph Iglseder, Jasper Berndt, Kai Bachmann, Johann Raith
2024, Mineralium Deposita (59) 1109-1132
A peculiar type of stratabound tungsten mineralization in metacarbonate rocks was discovered and explored at Mallnock (Austria) during the late 1980s. It is the only tungsten occurrence in the Eastern Alps in which scheelite is associated with wolframite (96 mol% ferberite). The tungsten prospect is located...
Status of water-level altitudes and long-term and short-term water-level changes in the Chicot and Evangeline (undifferentiated) and Jasper aquifers, greater Houston area, Texas, 2023
Jason K. Ramage
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5003
Since the early 1900s, groundwater withdrawn from the primary aquifers that compose the Gulf Coast aquifer system—the Chicot, Evangeline, and Jasper aquifers—has been an important source of water in the greater Houston area, Texas. This report, prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District, City...
The past, present, and a future for native charr in Japan
K.D. Fausch, Kentaro Morita, Jun-ichi Tsuboi, Yoichiro Kanno, Shoichiro Yamamoto, Daisuke Kishi, Jason B. Dunham, Itsuro Koizumi, Koh Hasegawa, Mikio Inoue, Takuya Sato, Satoshi Kitano
2024, Ichthyological Research (71) 461-485
Charrs (Salvelinus) reach their southernmost distribution in Japan, and are uniquely adapted to the short, steep streams of this island archipelago. Southern Asian Dolly Varden (Salvelinus curilus) occur only in Hokkaido Island, whereas white-spotted charr (Salvelinus leucomaenis) range to southern Honshu. Both species diverged from an ancestral lineage during the...
Trends in colony sizes for five colonial waterbird species in the Atlantic Flyway
Zachary G. Loman, Cynthia S. Loftin, Caleb S. Spiegel, Ruth Boettcher
2024, Cooperator Science Series 155-2024
Robust estimates of colonial waterbird (CWB) breeding population trends are deficient owing to a lack of range wide, standardized survey efforts. Evaluating conservation priorities and effectiveness of management requires reliable trend estimates across multiple spatial scales. One potential data source for CWB trend estimation is the Colonial Waterbird Database, created...
Brief communication: Recent estimates of glacier mass loss for western North America from laser altimetry
Brian Menounos, Alex Gardner, Caitlyn Florentine, Andrew Fountain
2024, The Cryosphere (18) 889-894
Glaciers in western North American outside of Alaska are often overlooked in global studies because their potential to contribute to changes in sea level is small. Nonetheless, these glaciers represent important sources of freshwater, especially during times of drought. Differencing recent ICESat-2 data from a digital elevation model derived from...
Ursids evolved dietary diversity without major alterations in metabolic rates
Anthony M. Carnahan, Anthony M. Pagano, Amelia L. Christian, Karyn D. Rode, Charles T. Robbins
2024, Scientific Reports (14)
The diets of the eight species of ursids range from carnivory (e.g., polar bears, Ursus maritimus) to insectivory (e.g., sloth bears, Melursus ursinus), omnivory (e.g., brown bears, U. arctos), and herbivory (e.g., giant pandas, Ailuropoda melanoleuca). Dietary energy availability ranges from the high-fat, highly digestible, calorically dense diet of polar bears (~ 6.4 kcal digestible energy/g...
Geese migrating over the Pacific Ocean select altitudes coinciding with offshore wind turbine blades
Emily L. Weiser, Cory T. Overton, David C. Douglas, Michael L. Casazza, Paul L. Flint
2024, Journal of Applied Ecology (61) 951-962
Renewable energy facilities are a key part of mitigating climate change, but can pose threats to wild birds and bats, most often through collisions with infrastructure. Understanding collision risk and the factors affecting it can help minimize impacts on wild populations. For wind turbines, flight altitude is a major...
Sensitivity testing of marine turbidite age estimates along the Cascadia subduction zone
Lydia M. Staisch
2024, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (114) 1739-1753
9 earthquakes ruptured the full Cascadia subduction zone (CSZ) in the past 10 kyr, a hypothesis that relies on concurrent turbidite deposition generated from seismogenic strong ground motion along the ∼1100 km margin. Correlation of marine turbidite deposits is based on petrophysical characteristics and...
Long-term occupancy monitoring reveals value of moderate disturbance for an open-habitat specialist, the Stephens' kangaroo rat (Dipodomys stephensi)
Cheryl S. Brehme, Philip Robert Gould, Denise Clark, Robert N. Fisher
2024, Conservation Science and Practice (6)
For species of conservation concern, long-term monitoring is vital to properly characterize changes in population distribution and abundance over time. In addition, long-term monitoring guides management decisions by informing and evaluating the efficacy of management actions. A long-term monitoring initiative for the federally threatened...
Development and calibration of HEC–RAS hydraulic, temperature, and nutrient models for the Mohawk River, New York
Thomas P. Suro, Michal J. Niemoczynski, Anna Boetsma
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5005
In support of a preliminary analysis performed by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation that found elevated nutrient levels along selected reaches of the Mohawk River, a one-dimensional, unsteady hydraulic and water-quality model (Hydrologic Engineering Center River Analysis System Nutrient Simulation Module 1 [HEC–RAS NSM I]) was developed by...
Invasive species research—Science for prevention, detection, containment, and control
Paul J. Heimowitz, Patrick M. Kocovsky, James J. English
2024, Fact Sheet 2024-3001
IntroductionInvasive species research within the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Ecosystems Mission Area focuses on invasive plants, animals, and pathogens throughout the United States. USGS scientists provide science support to help solve the problems posed by these nonnative species while working with partners in the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI),...
What waterfowl hunters want: Exploring heterogeneity in hunting trip preferences
Katherine A. Sainsbury, Howard W. Harshaw, David C. Fulton, Nicholas W. Cole, Ashley A. Dayer, Jennie N. Duberstein, Andrew H. Raedeke, Rudy Schuster, Mark P. Vrtiska
2024, Wetlands (44)
Canadian and American waterfowl hunters were surveyed to identify their hunting trip preferences. Respondents were individuals that were now participating or had participated in waterfowl hunting, and most had hunted the majority of the last five years. We identified four latent classes of waterfowl hunters that varied in their preferences for...
Sediment budget of a Maumee River headwater tributary: How streambank erosion, streambed-sediment storage, and streambed-sediment source inform our understanding of legacy phosphorus
Tanja N. Williamson, Faith Fitzpatrick, Rebecca M. Kreiling, James D. Blount, Diana L. Karwan
2024, Journal of Soils and Sediments (24) 1447-1463
ObjectiveWe described source and phosphorus (P) retention potential of soft, fine-grained, streambed sediment and associated phosphorus (sed-P) during summer low-flow conditions. Combining in-channel, sed-P storage with relative age provided context on relevance to western Lake Erie Basin management goals.MethodsIn 2019, rapid geomorphic assessment (30 reaches) compared...
Monthly variation in home range of a steppe-dwelling raptor
Georgia H. Isted, Robert J. Thomas, Kevin S. Warner, Matthew J. Stuber, Ethan A. Ellsworth, Todd E. Katzner
2024, Conference Paper, Conservation of biological diversity and development of the network of specially protected natural areas: Materials of the International Scientific and Practical Conference
Birds in steppe landscapes change their behaviour over the annual cycle. We used GPS telemetry to track 12 steppe-dwelling adult Ferruginous Hawks (Buteo regalis) to understand how their home ranges varied across the year. Home range sizes of territorial adult hawks showed strong intra-annual variation, being smallest from April to...
Abundance estimates of Gunnison’s prairie dogs compared to the number of active burrows
Aaron N. Facka, Robert Charles Lonsinger, Gary W. Roemer
2024, Wildlife Society Bulletin (48)
Reliable estimates of prairie dog (Cynomys spp.) population size and distribution are critical for assessing the status of prairie dogs and for selecting sites to reintroduce black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes). The density of active prairie dog burrows has commonly been used as an index of prairie dog abundance. Indices derived from...
Immunomodulation in adult largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) exposed to a model estrogen or mixture of endocrine disrupting contaminants during early gonadal recrudescence
Jessica Kristin Leet, Catherine A. Richter, Rachel Claunch, Robert Gale, Donald E. Tillitt, Luke R. Iwanowicz
2024, Comparative Immunology Reports (6)
Disease outbreaks, skin lesions, fish kill events, and reproductive abnormalities have been observed in wild populations of Centrarchids in watersheds throughout the United States. Occurrence of synthetic and natural hormones from wastewater treatment plants and livestock operations, pesticides from agricultural land use, and phytoestrogens have been implicated as potential causes...
Fewer bowl traps and more hand netting can increase effective number of bee species and reduce excessive captures
Diane L. Larson, Nora P. Pennarola, Julia B. Leone, Jennifer L. Larson
2024, Ecology and Evolution (14)
Reports increasingly point to substantial declines in wild bee abundance and diversity, yet there is uncertainty about how best to measure these attributes in wild bee populations. Two commonly used methods are passive trapping with bee bowls or active netting of bees on flowers, but each of these has drawbacks....
Evaluating ecosystem protection and fragmentation of the world's major mountain regions
David M. Theobald, Aerin Jacobs, Paul R. Elsen, Erik A. Beever, Libby Ehlers, Jodi Hilty
2024, Conservation Biology (38)
Conserving mountains is important for protecting biodiversity because they have high beta diversity and endemicity, facilitate species movement, and provide numerous ecosystem benefits for people. Mountains are often thought to have lower levels of human modification and contain more protected area than surrounding lowlands. To...
Foraging behavior and age affect maternal transfer of mercury to northern elephant seal pups
Sarah H. Peterson, Michael G. Peterson, Josh T. Ackerman, Cathy Debier, Chandra Goetsch, Rachel R. Holser, Luis A. Huckstadt, Jennifer C. Johnson, Theresa R. Keates, Birgitte I. McDonald, Elizabeth A. McHuron, Daniel P. Costa
2024, Scientific Reports (14)
Deep ocean foraging northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) consume fish and squid in remote depths of the North Pacific Ocean. Contaminants bioaccumulated from prey are subsequently transferred by adult females to pups during gestation and lactation, linking pups to mercury contamination in mesopelagic food webs (200–1000 m...
Metabarcoding is (usually) more cost effective than seining or qPCR for detecting tidewater gobies and other estuarine fishes
Kevin D. Lafferty
2024, PeerJ (12)
Many studies have shown that environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling can be more sensitive than traditional sampling. For instance, past studies found a specific qPCR probe of a water sample is better than a seine for detecting the endangered northern tidewater goby, Eucyclogobius newberryi. Furthermore, a metabarcoding sample often detects more...
High inter-population connectivity and occasional gene flow between subspecies improves recovery potential for the endangered Least Bell’s Vireo
Amy G. Vandergast, Barbara E. Kus, Dustin A. Wood, Anna Mitelberg, Julia G. Smith, Elizabeth R. Milano
2024, Ornithological Applications (126)
Increasingly, genomic data are being used to supplement field-based ecological studies to help evaluate recovery status and trends in endangered species. We collected genomic data to address two related questions regarding the Least Bell’s Vireo (Vireo bellii), an endangered migratory songbird restricted to southern California riparian habitat for breeding....
Segment anything model can not segment anything: Assessing AI foundation model's generalizability in permafrost mapping
Wenwen Li, Chia-Yu Hsu, Sizhe Wang, Yezhou Yang, Hyunho Lee, Anna Liljedahl, Chandi Witharana, Yili Yang, Brendan M. Rogers, Samantha Arundel, Matthew B. Jones, Kenton McHenry, Patricia Solis
2024, Remote Sensing (16)
This paper assesses trending AI foundation models, especially emerging computer vision foundation models and their performance in natural landscape feature segmentation. While the term foundation model has quickly garnered interest from the geospatial domain, its definition remains vague. Hence, this paper will first introduce AI foundation models and their defining...
Forest fire, thinning, and flood in wildland-urban interface: UAV and lidar-based estimate of natural disaster impacts
Temuulen Ts. Sankey, Lauren Tango, Julia Tatum, Joel B. Sankey
2024, Landscape Ecology (39)
ContextWildland-urban interface (WUI) areas are facing increased forest fire risks and extreme precipitation events due to climate change, which can lead to post-fire flood events. The city of Flagstaff in northern Arizona, USA experienced WUI forest thinning, fire, and record rainfall events, which collectively contributed to large floods...
