Immune and sex-biased gene expression in the threatened Mojave desert tortoise, Gopherus agassizii
Cindy Xu, Greer A. Dolby, K. Kristina Drake, Todd Esque, Kenro Kusumi
2020, PLoS ONE (15)
The immune system of ectotherms, particularly non-avian reptiles, remains poorly characterized regarding the genes involved in immune function, and their function in wild populations. We used RNA-Seq to explore the systemic response of Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) gene expression to three levels of Mycoplasma infection to better understand the host response...
Distribution and transport of Olympia oyster, Ostrea lurida, larvae in northern Puget Sound, Washington, USA
S.K. Grossman, Eric E. Grossman, Julie S. Barber, S.K. Gamblewood, Sean C. Crosby
2020, Journal of Shellfish Research (39) 215-233
As efforts for restoring Olympia oyster (Ostrea lurida) populations have expanded, there is an increased need to understand local factors that could influence the long-term success of these projects. To address concerns over potential limitations to recruitment at a restoration site in northern Puget Sound, Washington, USA, a study was...
Mineral deposits of the Mesoproterozoic Midcontinent Rift system in the Lake Superior region – A space and time classification
Laurel G. Woodruff, Klaus J. Schulz, Suzanne W. Nicholson, Connie L. Dicken
2020, Ore Geology Reviews (126)
The Mesoproterozoic Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) of North America hosts a diverse suite of magmatic and hydrothermal mineral deposits in the Lake Superior region where rift rocks are exposed at or near the surface. Historically, hydrothermal deposits, such as Michigan’s native copper deposits and the White Pine sediment-hosted stratiform...
Developing post-alert messaging for ShakeAlert, the earthquake early warning system for the West Coast of the United States of America
Sara K. McBride, Ann Bostrom, Jeannette Sutton, Robert Michael deGroot, Annemarie S. Baltay Sundstrom, Brian Terbush, Paul Bodin, Maximilian Dixon, Emily Holland, Ryan Arba, Paul C. Laustsen, Sophia Liu, Margaret J. Vinci
2020, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (50)
As ShakeAlert, the earthquake early warning system for the West Coast of the U.S., begins its transition to operational public alerting, we explore how post-alert messaging might represent system performance. Planned post-alert messaging can provide timely, crucial information to both emergency managers and ShakeAlert operators as well as calibrate expectations...
Genetic and environmental indicators of climate change vulnerability for desert bighorn sheep
Tyler G. Creech, Clinton W. Epps, John D. Wehausen, Rachel S. Crowhurst, Jef R. Jaeger, Kathleen Longshore, Brandon Holton, William B. Sloan, Ryan J. Monello
2020, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (8)
Assessments of organisms’ vulnerability to potential climatic shifts are increasingly common. Such assessments are often conducted at the species level and focused primarily on the magnitude of anticipated climate change (i.e., climate exposure). However, wildlife management would benefit from population-level assessments that also incorporate measures of local or...
Flood-frequency estimation for very low annual exceedance probabilities using historical, paleoflood, and regional information with consideration of nonstationarity
Karen R. Ryberg, Kelsey A. Kolars, Julie E. Kiang, Meredith L. Carr
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5065
Streamflow estimates for floods with an annual exceedance probability of 0.001 or lower are needed to accurately portray risks to critical infrastructure, such as nuclear powerplants and large dams. However, extrapolating flood-frequency curves developed from at-site systematic streamflow records to very low annual exceedance probabilities (less than 0.001) results in...
Development of regional skew coefficients for selected flood durations in the Columbia River Basin, northwestern United States and British Columbia, Canada
Greg D. Lind, Jonathan R. Lamontagne, Adam J. Stonewall
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5073
Flood-frequency (hereinafter frequency) estimates provide information used to design, operate, and maintain hydraulic structures such as bridges and dams. Failures of these structures could cause catastrophic loss of property, life, or both. In addition to frequency estimates that use annual peak streamflow, frequency estimates of flood durations are required to...
Reducing water scarcity by improving water productivity in the United States
Landon Marston, Gambhir Lamsal, Zachary H. Ancona, Peter V Caldwell, Brian Richter, Benjamin Ruddell, Richard Rushforth, Kyle F. Davis
2020, Environmental Research Letters (15)
Nearly one-sixth of U.S. river basins are unable to consistently meet societal water demands while also providing sufficient water for the environment. Water scarcity is expected to intensify and spread as populations increase, new water demands emerge, and climate changes. Improving water productivity by meeting realistic benchmarks for all water...
Groundwater upwelling regulates thermal hydrodynamics and salmonid movements during high-temperature events at a montane tributary confluence
Thomas David Ritter, Alexander V. Zale, Grant Grisak, Michael J. Lance
2020, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (149) 600-619
The Smith River is a popular recreational sport fishery in western Montana, but salmonid abundances there are thought to be artificially limited by riparian land-use alterations, irrigation water withdrawals, and high summer water temperatures. We used integrated networks of temperature loggers, PIT tag antenna stations, and in situ temperature mapping...
Stratigraphic units of shallow unconsolidated deposits in Deadwood, South Dakota, delineated by real-time kinematic surveys
Wyatt S. Tatge, Colton J. Medler, William G. Eldridge, Joshua F. Valder
2020, Scientific Investigations Map 3459
The City of Deadwood, South Dakota, has been working on a new archeological investigation in preparation for economic growth and expansion within the city limits, through the Deadwood Historic Preservation Office. During the excavation process, buried artifacts and historical features from the late 1800s have been uncovered. The stratigraphy of...
Vegetation responses to Quaternary volcanic and hydrothermal disturbances in the Northern Rocky Mountains and Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (USA)
Christopher Schiller, Cathy Whitlock, Mio Alt, Lisa Ann Morgan Morzel
2020, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (559)
Volcanic and hydrothermal processes produce disturbances by diverse mechanisms and ecological responses are varied. New and published pollen records from the Northern Rocky Mountains and Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem document the response of vegetation to three different types of volcanic...
Holocene paleoclimate change in the western US: The importance of chronology in discerning patterns and drivers
Susan Zimmerman, David Wahl
2020, Quaternary Science Reviews (246)
Sediment in lakes and meadows forms a powerful archive that can be used to reconstruct environmental change through time. Reconstructions of lake level, of chemical, biological, and hydrological conditions, and of surrounding vegetation provide detailed information about past climate conditions, both locally and regionally. Indeed, most of our current knowledge...
Large stocks of peatland carbon and nitrogen are vulnerable to permafrost thaw
Gustaf Hugelius, Julie Loisel, Sarah Chadburn, Robert B. Jackson, Miriam C. Jones, Glen MacDonald, Maija Marushchak, David Olefeldt, Maara S. Packalen, Matthias B. Siewert, Claire C. Treat, Merritt Turetsky, Carolina Voigt, Zicheng Yu
2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (117) 20438-20446
Over many millennia, northern peatlands have accumulated large amounts of carbon and nitrogen, thus cooling the global climate. Over shorter timescales, peatland disturbances can trigger losses of peat and release of greenhouses gases. Despite their importance to the global climate, peatlands remain poorly mapped, and the vulnerability of...
Measuring basal force fluctuations of debris flows using seismic recordings and empirical green's functions
Kate E. Allstadt, Maxime Farin, Richard M. Iverson, Maciej Obryk, Jason W. Kean, Victor C. Tsai, Thomas D Rapstine, Matthew Logan
2020, Journal of Geophysical Research Earth Surface (125)
We present a novel method for measuring the fluctuating basal normal and shear stresses of debris flows by using along‐channel seismic recordings. Our method couples a simple parameterization of a debris flow as a seismic source with direct measurements of seismic path effects using empirical Green's functions generated with a...
Spatial ecology and resource selection of eastern box turtles
Katie A Harris, Joseph D. Clark, R. Dwayne Elmore, Craig A. Harper
2020, Journal of Wildlife Management (84) 1590-1600
Eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina) are widely distributed throughout the eastern United States. Although once common throughout much of its distribution, the species has experienced declines in local populations. Understanding resource selection is important for the conservation of this species; however, few data exist on...
Effects of inundation duration on southeastern Louisiana oyster reefs
Danielle A. Marshall, Megan La Peyre
2020, Experimental Results (1)
Understanding the effects of predicted rising sea levels, combined with changes in precipitation and freshwater inflow on key estuarine ecosystem engineers such as the eastern oyster would provide critical information to inform restoration design and predictive models. Using oyster ladders with shell bags placed at three heights to capture a...
Effects of urbanization on water quality in the Edwards aquifer, San Antonio and Bexar County, Texas
Stephen P. Opsahl, MaryLynn Musgrove, Keith E. Mecum
2020, Fact Sheet 2020-3028
OverviewContinuous water-quality monitoring data and chemical analysis of surface-water and groundwater samples collected during 2017–19 in the recharge zone of the Edwards aquifer were used to develop a better understanding of the surface-water/groundwater connection in and around Bexar County in south-central Texas. This fact sheet is provided to inform water-resource...
Temporal and spatial variability of water quality in the San Antonio segment of the Edwards aquifer recharge zone, Texas, with an emphasis on periods of groundwater recharge, September 2017–July 2019
Stephen P. Opsahl, MaryLynn Musgrove, Keith E. Mecum
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5033
Ongoing urbanization on the Edwards aquifer recharge zone in the greater San Antonio area raises concern about the potential adverse effects on the public water supply from development. To address this concern, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of San Antonio, studied patterns of temporal and spatial...
Identifying mangrove-coral habitats in the Florida Keys
Christina A. Kellogg, Ryan P. Moyer, Mary Jacobsen, Kimberly K. Yates
2020, PeerJ (8)
Coral reefs are degrading due to many synergistic stressors. Recently there have been a number of global reports of corals occupying mangrove habitats that provide a supportive environment or refugium for corals, sheltering them by reducing stressors such as oxidative light stress and low pH. This study used satellite imagery...
Longer-lived tropical songbirds reduce breeding activity as they buffer impacts of drought
Thomas E. Martin, James C. Mouton
2020, Nature Climate Change (10) 953-958
Droughts are expected to increase in frequency and severity with climate change. Population impacts of such harsh environmental events are theorized to vary with life history strategies among species. However, existing demographic models generally do not consider behavioural plasticity that may modify the impact of harsh...
Exploring methane behavior in Marcellus Shale micropores via contrast matching neutron scattering
Aaron M. Jubb, Leslie F. Ruppert, Tristan G. A. Youngs, Thomas Headen
2020, Energy & Fuels (34) 10926-10932
Petroleum in shale reservoirs is hosted in organic matter and mineral pores as well as in natural fractures and voids. For thermally mature plays, e.g., the Marcellus Shale, methane and other light alkane gases are thought to be primarily contained in organic matter pores with radii ≦50 nm. Thus, in...
Hydrothermal alteration on composite volcanoes: Mineralogy, hyperspectral imaging and aeromagnetic study of Mt Ruapehu, New Zealand
Gabor Kereszturi, Lauren N. Schaefer, Craig A. Miller, Stuart Mead
2020, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (21)
Prolonged volcanic activity can induce surface weathering and hydrothermal alteration that is a primary control on edifice instability, posing a complex hazard with its challenges to accurately forecast and mitigate. This study uses a frequently active composite volcano, Mt Ruapehu, New Zealand, to develop a conceptual model of surface weathering...
Impact of smallmouth bass predation on subyearling fall Chinook salmon over a broad river continuum
Kenneth Tiffan, John M Erhardt, Rulon J. Hemingway, Brad Bickford, Tobyn Rhodes
2020, Environmental Biology of Fishes (103) 1231-1246
Smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) predation on subyearling fall Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) was examined in the Snake River (USA) to identify seasonal and habitat-related changes in bass diets, and associated subyearling consumption and loss in various riverine and impounded reaches. Smallmouth bass diets reflected opportunistic foraging...
Pesticides and their degradates in groundwater reflect past use and current management strategies, Long Island, New York, USA
Irene Fisher, Patrick J. Phillips, Banu Bayraktar, Shirley Chen, Brendan A. McCarthy, Mark W. Sandstrom
2020, Science of the Total Environment (752)
Long Island, New York, has a mix of urban/suburban to agricultural/horticultural land use and nearly 3 million residents that rely on a sole-source aquifer for drinking water. The analysis of shallow groundwater (<40 m below land surface) collected from 54 monitoring wells across Long Island detected 53 pesticides or pesticide degradates....
2,200-Year tree-ring and lake-sediment based snowpack reconstruction for the northern Rocky Mountains highlights the historic magnitude of recent snow drought
Spruce W. Schoenemann, Justin Martin, Gregory T. Pederson, David B. McWethy
2020, Quaternary Science Advances (2)
In recent decades, Rocky Mountain accumulated snowpack levels have experienced rapid declines, yet long-term records of snowpack prior to the installation of snowpack observation stations in the early and mid 20th century are limited. To date, a small number of tree-ring based reconstructions of April 1 Snow Water Equivalent (SWE)...
