The influence of snow cover, air temperature, and groundwater flow on the active-layer thermal regime of Arctic hillslopes drained by water tracks
Caitlin R Rushlow, Audrey H Sawyer, Clifford I. Voss, Sarah E Godsey
2020, Hydrogeology Journal (28) 2057-2069
Permafrost in Arctic watersheds limits soil biological activity to a thin, seasonally thawed active layer that contributes water to streams. In many hillslopes, relatively wet drainage features called water tracks have distinct freeze-thaw patterns that affect groundwater flow and storage, and thus the export of heat...
Protecting the wildland-urban interface in California: Greenbelts vs thinning for wildfire threats to homes
Jon Keeley, Greg Rubin, Teresa J. Brennan, Bernadette Piffard
2020, Bulletin, Southern California Academy of Sciences (119) 35-47
This study utilized native chaparral and sage scrub shrubs to evaluate the impact of light summer irrigation on live fuel moisture content (LFMC) and predicted fire behavior. As to be expected LFMC varied markedly throughout the year being over 100% in winter in all species and treatments but differed markedly...
Mitigation ponds offer drought resiliency for western spadefoot (Spea hammondii) populations
Katherine L. Baumberger, Adam R. Backlin, Elizabeth Gallegos, Cynthia Joan Hitchcock, Robert N. Fisher
2020, Bulletin, Southern California Academy of Sciences (119) 6-17
Synergistic effects of habitat loss, drought, and climate change exacerbate amphibian declines. In southern California urbanization continues to convert natural habitat, while prolonged drought reduces surface water availability. Protection of biodiversity may be provided through mitigation; however, the long-term effectiveness of different strategies is often unreported. As a...
Emergence of a zoonotic pathogen in a coastal marine sentinel: Capillaria hepatica (syn. Calodium hepaticum)-associated hepatitis in southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis)
Melissa A. Miller, Padraig J Duignan, Erin Dodd, Francesca Batac, Michelle M. Staedler, Joseph A. Tomoleoni, Michael J. Murray, Heather Harris, Chris Gardiner
2020, Frontiers in Marine Science (7)
Capillaria hepatica is a globally distributed zoonotic nematode parasite that most commonly infects feral and native rats. Soil contact, pica, and living in close proximity to rat populations are risk factors for human infection. Larval nematodes and eggs that were morphologically consistent with C. hepatica were observed microscopically in livers of stranded southern...
Developmental ecomorphology of the epibranchial organ of the silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix
Karly E. Cohen, Amy E. George, Duane Chapman, John H. Chick, L. Patricia Hernandez
2020, Journal of Fish Biology (97) 527-536
Silver carp regularly consume and digest particles of food as small as 5 μm. This ability drives their efficient consumption of phytoplankton and because they feed low on the food chain they have an important place in aquaculture worldwide. In North America, where they are considered invasive, silver carp deplete...
Estimation of metademographic rates and landscape connectivity for a conservation-reliant anuran
Adam Duarte, James Peterson, Christopher Pearl, Jennifer Christine Rowe, Brome McCreary, Stephanie Galvan, Michael J. Adams
2020, Landscape Ecology (35) 1459-1479
ContextAmphibian conservation efforts commonly assume populations are tied to waterbodies that collectively function as a metapopulation. This assumption is rarely evaluated, and there is a need to understand the degree of connectivity among patches to appropriately define, manage, and conserve biological populations.ObjectivesOur objectives were to quantify...
Looking where it’s hard to see: A case study documenting rare Eucyclogobius newberryi presence in a California lagoon
Terra L Dressler, Kevin D. Lafferty, Christopher L. Jerde, Tom L. Dudley
2020, Journal of Fish Biology (97) 572-576
Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis is increasingly used for biomonitoring and research of fish populations and communities by environmental resource managers and academic researchers. Although managers are much interested in expanding the use of eDNA as a survey technique, they are sceptical about both its utility (given that information is often...
Peak ground velocity spatial variability revealed by dense seismic array in southern California
Christopher E Johnson, Debi Kilb, Annemarie S. Baltay Sundstrom, Frank Vernon
2020, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (125)
Understanding and modeling variability of ground motion is essential for building accurate and precise ground motion prediction equations, which can net site‐specific characterization and reduced hazard levels. Here, we explore the spatial variability in peak ground velocity (PGV) at Sage Brush Flats along the San Jacinto Fault in southern California....
Reservoir fish habitats: A perspective on coping with climate change
Leandro E. Miranda, G. Coppola, J. Boxrucker
2020, Reviews in Fisheries Science & Aquaculture (20) 478-498
Climate change is the defining environmental problem for our generation. The effects of climate change are increasingly evident and are anticipated to profoundly affect our ability to conserve fish habitats and fish assemblages. Reservoirs are important structures for coping with projected shifts in water supply, but they also provide refuge...
Freshwater neurotoxins and concerns for human, animal, and ecosystemhealth: A review of anatoxin-a and saxitoxin
Victoria Christensen, Eakalak Khan
2020, Science of the Total Environment (736) 1-17
Toxic cyanobacteria are a concern worldwide because they can adversely affect humans, animals, and ecosystems. However, neurotoxins produced by freshwater cyanobacteria are understudied relative to microcystin. Thus, the objective of this critical review was to provide a comprehensive examination of the modes of action, production, fate, and occurrence of the...
Freshwater crabs (Decapoda: Pseudothelphusidae) increase rates of leaf breakdown in a neotropical headwater stream
Carol Yang, Seth J. Wenger, Amanda Rugenski, Ingo S. Wehrtmann, Scott Connelly, Mary Freeman
2020, Freshwater Biology (65) 1673-1684
Freshwater crabs are the largest macroconsumers in many neotropical headwater streams, but few studies have examined their roles in ecosystem processes such as leaf litter breakdown. As omnivorous macroconsumers, freshwater crabs affect multiple trophic levels. They may directly increase leaf breakdown through fragmentation and consumption or indirectly decrease breakdown...
Linking subsurface to surface using gas emission and melt inclusion data at Mount Cleveland volcano, Alaska
Cynthia Werner, Daniel J. Rasmussen, Terry Plank, Peter J. Kelly, Christoph Kern, Taryn Lopez, Jonas Gliss, John Power, Diana Roman, Pavel Izbekov, John J. Lyons
2020, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (21)
Mount Cleveland is one of Alaska's most active volcanoes, yet little is known about the magmatic system driving persistent and dynamic volcanic activity. Volcanic gas and melt inclusion (MI) data from 2016 were combined to investigate shallow magmatic processes. SO2 emission rates were between 166 and 324 t/day and the H2O/SO2 was 600 ± 53,...
Managing invasive plants on Great Plains grasslands: A discussion of current challenges
John F. Gaskin, Erin Espeland, Casey D. Johnson, Diane L. Larson, Jane M. Mangold, Rachel A. McGee, Chuck Milner, Shishir Paudel, Dean E. Pearson, Lora B. Perkins, Chadley W. Prosser, Justin B. Runyon, Sharlene E. Sing, Zachary A. Sylvain, Amy Symstad, Daniel R. Tekiela
2020, Rangeland Ecology and Management (78) 235-249
The Great Plains of North America encompass approximately 1,300,000 km2 of land from Texas to Saskatchewan. The integrity of these lands is under continual assault by long-established and newly-arrived invasive plant species, which can threaten native species and diminish land values and ecological goods and services by degrading desired grassland resources....
Sediments and the sea floor of the continental shelves and coastal waters of the United States—About the usSEABED integrated sea-floor-characterization database, built with the dbSEABED processing system
Brian J. Buczkowski, Jane A. Reid, Chris J. Jenkins
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1046
Since the second half of the 20th century, there has been an increase in scientific interest, research effort, and information gathered on the geologic sedimentary character of the continental margins of the United States. Data and information from thousands of sources have increased our scientific understanding of the character of...
Sand dunes, modern and ancient, on southern Colorado Plateau tribal lands, southwestern USA
Margaret Hiza
2020, Book chapter, Inland Dunes of North America
A mantle of both active and stable aeolian sand covers approximately 34,000 km2 of northern Arizona, western New Mexico and southern Utah on the southern Colorado Plateau. From west to east, these deposits can be subdivided into the Kaibab-Moenkopi dunes, Chinle Valley dunes, and Chaco dunes, all...
Mercury in fish from streams and rivers in New York State: Spatial patterns, temporal changes, and environmental drivers
Karen Riva-Murray, Wayne Richter, N. Roxanna Razavi, Douglas A. Burns, Lisa B Cleckner, Mark Burton, Scott D. George, Douglas A. Freehafer
2020, Ecotoxicology (29) 1686-1708
Mercury (Hg) concentrations in freshwater fish across the state of New York frequently exceed guidelines considered harmful to humans and wildlife, but statewide distribution and temporal changes are not well known for the state’s streams and rivers. We analyzed existing data to describe recent spatial patterns, identify key environmental drivers,...
Short- and long-term responses of riparian cottonwoods (Populus spp.) to flow diversion: Analysis of tree-ring radial growth and stable carbon isotopes
Derek M. Schook, Jonathan M. Friedman, Craig A. Stricker, Adam Z. Csank, David J. Cooper
2020, Science of the Total Environment (735)
Long duration tree-ring records with annual precision allow for the reconstruction of past growing conditions. Investigations limited to the most common tree-ring proxy of ring width can be difficult to interpret, however, because radial growth is affected by multiple environmental processes. Furthermore, studies of living trees may miss important effects...
Effects of climate and land-use changes on fish catches across lakes at a global scale
Y. Kao, Mark W. Rogers, David Bunnell, I. G. Cowx, S. S. Qian, O. Anneville, Beard Jr., A. Brinker, J. R. Britton, R. Chura-Crusz, N. J. Gownaris, J. R. Jackson, K. Kangur, J. Kolding, A.A. Lukin, Abigail Lynch, N. Mercado-Silva, R. Moncayo-Estrada, F. J. Njaya, I. Ostrovsky, L.G. Rudstam, A. L. E. Sandstrom, Y. Sato, Humberto Siguayro-Mamani, A. Thorpe, P. A. M. van Zwieten, P. Volta, Y. Q. Wang, A. Weiperth, O. L. F. Weyl, Joelle D. Young
2020, Nature Communications (11)
Globally, our knowledge on lake fisheries is still limited despite their importance to food security and livelihoods. Here we show that fish catches can respond either positively or negatively to climate and land-use changes, by analyzing time-series data (1970–2014) for 31 lakes across five continents. We find that effects of...
Precipitation runoff modeling system (PRMS) as part of an integrated hydrologic model for the Osage Nation, northeastern Oklahoma, 1915–2014
Joseph A. Hevesi, Randall T. Hanson, Jason R. Masoner
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5030
Executive SummaryThe Osage Nation lacks a comprehensive tribal water plan to describe the quality and quantity of water resources in the Osage Nation, a 2,304-square-mile (mi2) area of rolling pastures, tallgrass prairie, and mixed woodlands in northeastern Oklahoma. A tribal water plan can be used to help manage the sustainable...
Evaluation of the impacts of radio-marking devices on feral horses and burros in a captive setting
Kathryn A. Schoenecker, Sarah R. B. King, Gail C. Collins
2020, Human Wildlife Interactions (14) 73-86
Radio-collars and other radio-marking devices have been invaluable tools for wildlife managers for >40 years. These marking devices have improved our understanding of wildlife spatial ecology and demographic parameters and provided new data facilitating model development for species conservation and management. Although these tools have been used on virtually all...
Hydrothermal activity in the southwest Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field
Shaul Hurwitz, R. Blaine McCleskey, Deborah Bergfeld, Sara Peek, David Susong, David A. Roth, Jefferson Hungerford, Erin B White, Lauren Harrison, Behnaz Hosseini, R. Greg Vaughan, Andrew G. Hunt, James B. Paces
2020, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (21)
In the past two decades, the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service have studied hydrothermal activity across the Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field (YPVF) to improve the understanding of the magmatic-hydrothermal system and to provide a baseline for detecting future anomalous activity. In 2017 and 2018 we sampled water...
The historic events at Kilauea Volcano in 2018: Summit collapse, rift zone eruption, and Mw 6.9 earthquake: Preface to the special issue
Matthew R. Patrick, Ingrid A. Johanson, Thomas Shea, Greg Waite
2020, Bulletin of Volcanology (82)
Kīlauea Volcano, on the Island of Hawaiʻi, has had a prominent role in the science of volcanology, and a long history of generating new insights into how volcanoes operate (Tilling et al. 2014; Garcia 2015). Native Hawaiians shared ideas on the behavior of the volcano with early Western visitors...
Quantifying trends in arsenic, nitrate, and dissolved solids from selected wells in Utah
Olivia L. Miller
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5047
Groundwater makes up a primary portion of the water supply in many parts of Utah, with annual withdrawals estimated at more than 1,000,000 acre-feet per year. Increases to groundwater withdrawal and land use may negatively impact water availability. Ensuring availability of clean water requires understanding how water quality has changed...
Decision analysis for managing public natural resources
Michael C. Runge, Ellen A Bean
2020, Book chapter, Structured decision making: Case studies in natural resource management
Examples like the Grand Canyon story are becoming more common—agencies and stakeholders are increasingly using decision tools to help navigate complex decisions regarding natural resources. Several books and many papers have made the case for the use of decision analysis in natural resource management settings and have described the tools...
Hydro-morphological characterization of coral reefs for wave runup prediction
Fred Scott, Jose A.A. Antolinez, Robert T. McCall, Curt D. Storlazzi, Ad Reiners, Stuart Pearson
2020, Frontiers in Marine Science (7)
Many coral reef-lined coasts are low-lying with elevations <4 m above mean sea level. Climate-change-driven sea-level rise, coral reef degradation, and changes in storm wave climate will lead to greater occurrence and impacts of wave-driven flooding. This poses a significant threat to their coastal communities. While greatly at risk, the...
