Fisheries research and monitoring activities of the Lake Erie Biological Station, 2020
Kevin R. Keretz, Patrick Kocovsky, Richard Kraus, James Roberts, Joseph Schmitt
2021, Report
This report presents biomass-based summaries of fish communities in the West Basin of Lake Erie derived from USGS bottom trawl surveys conducted from 2013 to 2020 during June and September. The survey design provided temporal and spatial coverage that did not exist in the interagency trawl database, and thus complemented...
Status and trends of pelagic and benthic prey fish populations in Lake Michigan, 2020
Ralph William Tingley, David Bunnell, David Warner, Charles P. Madenjian, Patricia Dieter
2021, Report
Lakewide acoustic (AC) and bottom trawl (BT) surveys are conducted annually to generate indices of pelagic and benthic prey fish densities in Lake Michigan. The BT survey had been conducted each fall from 1973 through 2019 using 12-m trawls at depths ranging from 9 to 110 m and included...
Ambassador wolves participate In scientific research
Shannon Barber-Meyer, Lori Schmidt, Vicente Palacios, Barbara Marti-Domken
2021, International Wolf (2021) 4-8
The International Wolf Center wolves are famous for providing unique educational opportunities to visitors to Ely and to people around the globe. Less known, are the contributions these wolves make to scientific research. Recently the Center’s Exhibit Pack were subjects of behavioral and acoustic research....
Diel patterns of predation and fledging at nests of four species of grassland songbirds
Christine Ribic, David J. Rugg, Kevin Ellison, Nicola Koper, Pamela J. Pietz
2021, Ecology and Evolution (11) 6913-6926
Although it is common for nestlings to exhibit a strong bias for fledging in the morning, the mechanisms underlying this behavior are not well understood. Avoiding predation risk has been proposed as a likely mechanism by a number of researchers. We used video surveillance records from studies of grassland birds...
Life-history theory provides a framework for detecting resource limitation: A test of the Nutritional Buffer Hypothesis
Brett R. Jesmer, Matthew Kauffman, Alyson B. Courtemanch, Steve Kilpatrick, Timothy Thomas, Jeff Yost, Kevin L. Monteith, Jacob R. Goheen
N. Thompson Hobbs, editor(s)
2021, Ecological Applications (31) 1-18
For ungulates and other long-lived species, life-history theory predicts that nutritional reserves are allocated to reproduction in a state-dependent manner because survival is highly conserved. Further, as per capita food abundance and nutritional reserves decline (i.e., density dependence intensifies), reproduction and recruitment become increasingly sensitive to weather. Thus, the degree...
Coffee plantations, hurricanes and avian resiliency: Insights from occupancy, and local colonization and extinction rates in Puerto Rico
Amarilys D. Irizarry, Jaime A. Collazo, J. Vandermeer, I. Perfecto
2021, Global Ecology and Conservation (27)
Insights on impacts and resiliency of avian species with respect to hurricanes in the Caribbean have largely focused on responses measured in protected habitats. We assessed avian responses in non-protected habitat, specifically shade-restored coffee plantations, because their structural complexity retains many attributes of secondary forests, and may contribute to...
A roadmap for planetary caves science and exploration
Timothy N. Titus, J. Judson Wynne, Michael J. Malaska, Ali-akbar Agha-Mohammadi, Peter Buhler, E. Calvin Alexander Jr., James W. Ashley, Armando Azua-Bustos, Penelope J. Boston, Debra L. Buczkowski, Leroy Chiao, Glen E. Cushing, John DeDecker, Pablo de Leon, Cansu Demirel-Floyd, Jo de Waele, Alberto G. Fairen, Amos Frumkin, Gary L. Harris, Heather Jones, Laura H. Kerber, Erin J. Leonard, Richard J. Leveille, Kavya Manyapu, Matteo Massironi, Ana Z. Miller, John E. Mylroie, Bogdan P. Onac, Scott E. Parazynski, Cynthia B. Phillips, Charity M. Phillips-Lander, Thomas H. Prettyman, Haley M. Sapers, Francesco Sauro, Norbert Schorghofer, Dirk Schulze-Makuch, Jennifer Scully, Kyle Uckert, Robert V. Wagner, William L. Whittaker, Kaj E. Williams, Uland Y. Wong
2021, Nature Astronomy (5) 524-525
While researchers have pondered the possibility of extraterrestrial caves for more than 50 years, we have now entered the incipient phase of planetary caves exploration. Our knowledge of planetary caves varies from body to body. Earth represents the most advanced level of exploration, but many unanswered questions remain. Beyond Earth,...
A review of factors affecting PIT tag detection using mobile arrays and use of mobile antennas to detect PIT-tagged suckers in a wadeable Ozark stream
Douglas L. Zentner, Skylar Wolf, Shannon K. Brewer, Daniel E. Shoup
2021, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (41) 697-710
Advantages of passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags are their small size, longevity, and low-cost compared to other tags. PIT tags are often used in fisheries to study movement patterns, survival, or estimate population size. However, PIT tags are limited by their short detection distance. Mobile PIT antennas may increase the...
A framework for evaluating earthquake early warning for an infrastructure network: An idealized case study of a northern California rail system
Sarah E. Minson, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Stephen Wu, Shunta Noda
Huseyin Serdar Kuyuk, editor(s)
2021, Frontiers Earth Science Journal (9)
Earthquake early warning (EEW) systems provide a few to tens of seconds of warning before shaking hits a site. Despite the recent rapid developments of EEW systems around the world, the optimal alert response strategy and the practical benefit of using EEW are still open-ended questions, especially in areas where...
Post-white-nose syndrome passive acoustic sampling effort for determining bat species occupancy within the mid-Atlantic region
Sabrina M. Deeley, Nicholas J. Kalen, Samuel R. Freeze, Elaine L. Barr, W. Mark Ford
2021, Ecological Indicators (125) 1-9
We assessed the sampling effort requirements for detecting the presence of extant bat species following the impact of white-nose syndrome in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. We acoustically sampled 27,796 nights across 846 sites between 15 May and 15 August 2016–2018 within the District of Columbia, Maryland,...
A multi-tracer and well-bore flow profile approach to determine occurrence, movement, and sources of perchlorate in groundwater
Michael Wright, John A. Izbicki, Bryant C. Jurgens
Z. Zimeng Wang, editor(s)
2021, Applied Geochemistry (129) 1-18
The purpose of this study is to determine the occurrence, movement and sources of perchlorate in groundwater using a comprehensive set of environmental tracers coupled with discreet borehole data. Potential sources of perchlorate to groundwater at the study site have been attributed to waste disposal and industrial activities as well...
Devils Hole calcite was precipitated at ±1°C stable aquifer temperatures during the last half million years
David Bajnai, Tyler B. Coplen, Katharina Methner, Niklas Loffler, Emilija Krsnik, Jens Fiebig
2021, Geophysical Research Letters (48)
Subaqueous carbonates from the Devils Hole caves (southwestern USA) provide a continuous Holocene to Pleistocene North American paleoclimate record. The accuracy of this record relies on two assumptions: That carbonates precipitated close to isotope equilibrium and that groundwater temperature did not change significantly in the last 570 thousand years. Here, we...
Native mammalian predators can depredate adult Burmese Pythons in Florida
Matthew F. McCollister, Jillian Maureen Josimovich, Austin Lee Fitzgerald, Deborah K. Jansen, Andrea Faye Currylow
2021, Southeastern Naturalist (20) N55-N59
Invasive predators are of conservation concern because they contribute to species declines and extinctions worldwide. Interactions of native fauna and invasive predators can be complex, but understanding these relationships can guide management and restoration. Observations of these interactions are especially important for invaders with low detectability like Python bivittatus (Burmese Python) where...
A survey of storm-induced seaward-transport features observed during the 2019 and 2020 hurricane seasons
Jin-Si R. Over, Jenna A. Brown, Christopher R. Sherwood, Christie Hegermiller, Phillipe Alan Wernette, Andrew C. Ritchie, Jonathan A. Warrick
2021, Shore and Beach (89) 31-40
Hurricanes are known to play a critical role in reshaping coastlines, but often only impacts on the open ocean coast are considered, ignoring seaward-directed forces and responses. The identification of subaerial evidence for storm-induced seaward transport is a critical step towards understanding its impact on coastal resiliency. The visual features,...
Watersheds and drainage networks
Larry Stanislawski, Ethan J. Shavers
2021, Book chapter, The geographic information science & technology body of knowledge
This topic is an overview of basic concepts about how the distribution of water on the Earth, with specific regard to watersheds, stream and river networks, and waterbodies are represented by geographic data. The flowing and non-flowing bodies of water on the earth’s surface...
New interpretations of the ages and origins of the Hawkeye Granite Gneiss and Lyon Mountain Granite Gneiss, Adirondack Mountains, NY: Implications for the nature and timing of Mesoproterozoic plutonism, metamorphism, and deformation
John N. Aleinikoff, Gregory J. Walsh, Ryan J. McAleer
2021, Precambrian Research (358)
The Hawkeye Granite Gneiss and Lyon Mountain Granite Gneiss are widespread Mesoproterozoic plutonic rocks that occur in the amphibolite- to granulite-facies Adirondack Highlands of northern New York, USA. The strongly deformed Hawkeye Granite Gneiss, previously dated by zircon multi-grain thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) U-Pb analyses at about 1100 Ma,...
Ecological effects of climate-driven salinity variation in the San Francisco Estuary: Can we anticipate and manage the coming changes?
Cameron K Chalambor, Edward S. Gross, Edwin D. Grosholz, Ken M Jeffries, John L. Largier, Stephen D. McCormick, Ted Sommer, Jonathan P Velotta, Andrew Whitehead
2021, San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science (19) article 3
Climate change-driven sea level rise and altered precipitation regimes are predicted to alter patterns of salt intrusion within the San Francisco Estuary. A central question is: Can we use existing knowledge and future projections to predict and manage the anticipated ecological impacts?...
Quarterly wildlife mortality report April 2021
Bryan J. Richards, Robin E. Russell, Anne Ballmann
2021, Newsletter
The USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) Quarterly Mortality Report provides brief summaries of epizootic mortality and morbidity events by quarter. The write-ups, highlighting epizootic events and other wildlife disease topics of interest, are published in the Wildlife Disease Association quarterly newsletter. A link is provided in this WDA newsletter...
Vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning for projected changes in water quality and quantity for protected areas in the upper Midwest
Kristen L. Bouska, John Delaney
2021, Report
Climate change and the extreme weather associated with it can be a major challenge to natural resource managers charged with the protection, restoration, recovery, and management of wetlands and wildlife habitats. Forecasting the potential impacts of climate changes will be important for decision-makers and land managers seeking to minimize impacts...
3-D Modeling of the Duluth Complex from geophysical data
Dana E. Peterson, Paul A. Bedrosian, Carol A. Finn
2021, Conference Paper, 67th Institute on Lake Superior Geology Proceedings
The Mesoproterozoic Duluth Complex in northeastern Minnesota is one of the major plutonic components of the Midcontinent Rift System and hosts a variety of copper-nickel sulfide and platinum-group element deposits. The Duluth Complex is composed of a series of individual mafic and felsic intrusions emplaced 1110-1098 Ma within Paleoproterozoic sedimentary...
Integration of geophysical evidence suggests that anorthosite composes a significant portion of Grand Marais ridge, an inferred basement high in western Lake Superior
V. J. Grauch, Samuel J. Heller
2021, Conference Paper, Institute on Lake Superior Geology: Proceedings 2021
The Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) is expressed geophysically by a semi-linear, regional gravity high that trends across the Midcontinent and Great Lakes region of North America. The gravity high is interrupted by two prominent, semi-circular gravity lows, which have been interpreted from modeling and seismic-reflection sections as basement highs of...
Field evaluation of an improved solid TFM formulation for use in treating small tributary streams
James A. Luoma, Nicholas Robertson, Justin Schueller, Nicholas Schloesser, Todd Johnson, Todd J. Severson, Matthew J Meulemans, Erica Muelemans
2021, Report
A solid lampricide formulation containing 23% 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM) as the active ingredient was developed in the mid-1980s for use in small tributaries of dendritic streams during routine treatments to kill larval sea lamprey. This TFM bar formulation was designed to use a matrix of commercially prepared surfactants that would dissolve...
Alaska landbird montoring survey: Alaska regional protocol framework for monitoring landbirds using point counts
Colleen M. Handel, Steven M. Matsuoka, Melissa N. Cady, Diane A. Granfors
2021, Report
Alaska provides habitat for 143 species of landbirds that occur regularly in the state, about half of which breed predominantly north of the border between the contiguous United States and Canada. The road-based North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) provides some data on population trends in Alaska, but most northern...
Using tree-rings to unravel avalanche frequency and associated climate drivers in the northern Rocky Mountains
Erich Peitzsch
2021, Newsletter, Earth Science Matters
No abstract available....
Improving species status assessments under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and implications for multispecies conservation challenges worldwide
Reed Noss, Jennifer M. Cartwright, Dwayne Estes, Theo Witsell, Gregg Elliott, Daniel S. Adams, Matthew A. Albrecht, Ryan Boyles, Patrick Comer, Chris Doffitt, JoVonn G. Hill, William C. Hunter, Wesley M. Knapp, Mike Marshall, Jason R. Singhurst, Christopher Tracey, Jeffrey L. Walck, Alan Weakley
2021, Conservation Biology (35) 1715-1724
Despite its successes, the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) has proven challenging to implement due to funding limitations, workload backlog, and other problems. As threats to species survival intensify and as more species come under threat, the need for the ESA and similar conservation laws and policies in other countries...
