Overcoming the data limitations in landslide susceptibility modelling
Jacob Bryson Woodard, Benjamin B. Mirus
2025, Science Advances (11)
Data-driven models widely used for assessing landslide susceptibility are severely limited by the landslide and environmental data needed to create them. They rely on inventories of past landslide locations, which are difficult to collect and often nonrepresentative. Furthermore, susceptibility maps are most needed in regions without the means to assemble...
A Cftr-independent, Ano1-rich seawater-adaptive ionocyte in sea lamprey gills
Ciaran A. Shaughnessy, Daniel J Hall, Jessica L. Norstog, Andre Barany, Amy M. Regish, Diogo Ferreira-Martins, Jason P. Breves, Lisa M. Komoroske, Stephen D. McCormick
2025, Journal of Experimental Biology (228)
All ionoregulating marine fishes examined to date utilize seawater-type ionocytes expressing the apical Cl- channel, cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (Cftr) to secrete Cl−. We performed transcriptomic, molecular, and functional studies to identify Cl− transporters in the seawater-type ionocytes of sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus). Gill cftr expression was minimal or undetectable in larvae...
Cancer risk and estimated lithium exposure in drinking groundwater in the US
Jiajun Luo, Liange Zheng, Zhihao Jin, Yuqing Yang, William I. Krakowka, Eric Hong, Melissa A. Lombard, Joseph D. Ayotte, Habibul Ahsan, Jayant M. Pinto, Briseis Aschebrook-Kilfoy
2025, JAMA Network Open (8)
Importance Lithium is a naturally occurring element in drinking water and is commonly used as a mood-stabilizing medication. Although clinical studies have reported associations between receiving lithium treatment and reduced cancer risk among patients with bipolar disorder, to our knowledge, the association between environmental lithium exposure and cancer risk has never...
Conservation translocation immediately reverses decline in imperiled sage-grouse populations
Mary B. Meyerpeter, Peter S. Coates, Megan C. Milligan, Brian G. Prochazka, Kade D. Lazenby, Steve Abele, John C. Tull, Katherine Miller, Jesse L. Kolar, Steven R. Mathews, David K. Dehlgren, David J. Delehanty
2025, Biological Conservation (304)
Conservation translocation (hereafter translocation), the intentional movement of organisms from one location to another as a management tool, can be an extremely useful conservation action to increase the abundance of isolated populations following successful habitat restoration. However, managers seek to weigh the benefits against costs to the source population from...
Range-wide ecology, conservation, and research needs for yellow lampmussel (Lampsilis cariosa)
Stefanie J. Farrington, Christina Amy Murphy, David Perkins, Allison H. Roy
2025, Hydrobiologia (852) 2729-2754
The freshwater mussel yellow lampmussel (Lampsilis cariosa) is declining throughout its range along the Atlantic Slope of the eastern United States and Canada, and the species is a target for proactive conservation to avoid federal listing. This paper synthesizes information about the ecology (physiology and life history, host fishes, and...
The relative influence of climate extremes and species richness on the temporal variability of bird communities
Samantha M. Cady, Samuel D. Fuhlendorf, Craig A. Davis, Barney Luttbeg, Caleb Powell Roberts, Scott Loss
2025, Ecology (106)
Understanding the relationship between biodiversity and ecological stability is increasingly urgent as rapid species extinction continues. Though evidence of positive diversity–stability relationships is accumulating, empirical results are inconsistent, and effect sizes tend to be small, raising questions about relative contributions of intrinsic (i.e., species composition/interactions) and extrinsic (i.e., environmental) drivers...
Spatially explicit capture-recapture using fecal DNA to estimate elk population abundance and growth in western North Carolina, USA
Jessica L. Braunstein, Joseph D. Clark, Benjamin C. Augustine, Caleb R. Hickman, Justin McVey, Joseph G. Yarkovich
2025, Journal of Wildlife Management (89)
In an effort to restore extirpated elk to their historical range, 52 elk were reintroduced to Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) in North Carolina, USA, during 2001 and 2002. Since their reintroduction, elk numbers have increased, and elk have extended their range beyond GRSM boundaries. We used spatially explicit...
Current distribution of the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) in the United States
Brett Alexander DeGregorio, Anant Deshwal
2025, Diversity (17)
The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus: hereafter armadillo) was first recorded in the United States (U.S.) in the state of Texas in 1849 and has been expanding its range northward and eastward since then. With the widespread adoption of participatory science as well as the proliferation of nationwide wildlife game...
Short-term ecological effects of solar energy development depend on plant community, soil type, and disturbance intensity
Claire C Karban, Seth M. Munson, Lara A. Kobelt, Jeffrey E. Lovich
2025, Journal of Applied Ecology (62) 945-957
Solar energy is rapidly growing to decarbonize the electrical grid. Maintaining ecosystem function with solar energy generation can be promoted through construction methods that minimize negative impacts on soils and vegetation. However, the disturbance created by less-impactful construction methods at utility-scale solar energy (USSE) facilities and the ecosystem responses...
Community estimate of global glacier mass changes from 2000 to 2023
GlaMBIE Team, Michael Zemp, Livia Jakob, Ines Dussaillant, Samuel U. Nussbaumer, Noel Gourmelen, Sophie Dubber, A. Geruo, Sahra Abdullahi, Liss M. Andreassen, Etienne Berthier, Atanu Bhattacharya, Alejandro Blazquez, Laura Boehm Vock, Tobias Bolch, Jason Box, Matthias H. Braun, Fanny Brun, Eric Cicero, William Colgan, Nicolas Eckert, D. Farinotti, Caitlyn Florentine, Dana Floricioiu, Alex Gardner, Christopher Harig, Javed Hassan, Romain Hugonnet, Matthias Huss, Tómas Jóhannesson, Chia-Chun Angela Liang, Chang-Qing Ke, Shfaqat Abbas, Owen King, Marin Kneib, Lukas Krieger, Fabien Maussion, Enrico Mattea, Robert McNabb, Brian Menounos, Evan Miles, Geir Moholdt, Johan Nilsson, F. Palsson, Julia Pfeffer, Livia Piermattei, Stephen Plummer, Andreas Richter, Ingo Sasgen, Lilian Schuster, Thorsten Seehaus, Xiaoyi Shen, Christian Sommer, Tyler Sutterley, Desiree Treichler, Isabella Velicogna, Bert Wouters, Harry Zekollari, Whyjay Zheng
2025, Nature (639) 382-388
Glaciers are indicators of ongoing anthropogenic climate change1. Their melting leads to increased local geohazards<a...
Confronting debris-flow hazards after wildfire
Ann Youberg, Luke McGuire, N. S. Oakley, Francis K. Rengers, Autym Shafer
2025, Eos, American Geophysical Union (106)
No abstract available....
Implications of physics-based M9 ground motions on liquefaction-induced damage in the Cascadia Subduction Zone: Looking forward and backward
Ryan A. Rasanen, Alex R. Grant, Andrew James Makdisi, Brett W. Maurer, Erin A. Wirth
2025, Earthquake Spectra
Given the likelihood of future M9 Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) earthquakes, various estimates of the resulting, regional ground motions have been made, including a suite of 30 physics-based simulations that reflect key modeling uncertainties. However, because the last CSZ interface rupture occurred in 1700 CE, the shaking expected in such...
Investigating the influence of Diadematidae scuticociliatosis on host microbiome composition
Brayan Vilanova-Cuevas, Christopher M. DeRito, Isabella T. Ritchie, Christina A. Kellogg, James S. Evans, Alizee Zimmermann, Stacey M. Williams, Marilyn E. Brandt, Moriah L. B. Sevier, Samuel Gittens, Kayla A. Budd, Matthew Warham, William C. Sharp, Gabriel A. Delgado, Alwin Hylkema, Kimani A. Kitson-Walters, Jean-Pascal Quod, Mya Breitbart, Ian Hewson
2025, mSystems (10)
Mass mortality of Diadematidae urchins, caused by the Diadema antillarum scuticociliatosis Philaster clade (DScPc), affected the Caribbean in spring 2022 and subsequently spread to the eastern Mediterranean, Red Sea, and western Indian Ocean. A key question around Diadematidae scuticociliatosis (DSc), the disease caused by the scuticociliate, is whether the urchin microbiome varies between...
Not just corticosterone: Further characterization of the endocrine response of Kemp’s ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys kempii) reveals elevated plasma aldosterone concentrations during field capture events
Charles J. Innis, Katherine M. Graham, Cody R. Mott, Kristen Hart, David Roche, Michael Cherkiss, Elizabeth A. Burgess
2025, Animals (15)
To develop safe and effective management policies, it is important to understand the physiologic effects of fishing interactions and scientific research methods on endangered marine species. In the present study, validated assays for plasma corticosterone, free thyroxine (fT4), and aldosterone were used to assess the endocrine status of 61 presumed...
Integrated patterns of residence and movement create testable hypotheses about fish feeding migrations
Martha E. Mather, Ryland B. Taylor, Joseph M. Smith, Kayla M. Boles
2025, Scientific Reports (15)
Developing and testing alternate hypotheses about patterns, mechanisms, and consequences of movement in geographically-large, heterogeneous, natural systems can advance the scientific understanding of animal migration and benefit the conservation of most mobile species. Within organismal movement trajectories, different combinations of residence and movement are predicted from existing ecological theories (e.g....
Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources of the Greater Caspian area, 2022
Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Phuong A. Le, Andrea D. Cicero, Ronald M. Drake II, Thomas M. Finn, Sarah E. Gelman, Jane S. Hearon, Benjamin G. Johnson, Jenny H. Lagesse, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Kira K. Timm
2025, Fact Sheet 2024-3047
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 34.3 billion barrels of oil and 320 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Greater Caspian area....
Quantifying regional ecological dynamics using agency monitoring data, ecological site descriptions, and ecological site groups
Michael C. Duniway, Anna C. Knight, Travis W. Nauman, Tara B.B. Bishop, Sarah E. McCord, Nicholas P. Webb, C. Jason Williams, Joel T. Humphries
2025, Rangeland Ecology & Management (99) 119-142-142
Information about what ecological conditions are likely, causes or drivers of degradation, and potential management actions to restore degraded lands may support land conservation and restoration decisions. State-and-transition models (STMs) describe persistent plant and ecological conditions that are possible (the “state”) within a given abiotic setting and drivers or actions...
Reduction of red bed sedimentary rocks in connection with energy metal ore formation: A case study from the Sinbad seep, Mesa County, Colorado
Isabel Barton, Jon P. Thorson, Susan Hall, Robert A. Zielinski, Jennifer McIntosh, Ji-Hyun Kim
2025, Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (42) 1177-1197
The Paradox Basin’s Sinbad seep is a modern analog for ancient bleaching of red bed sediments by introduced alkaline, reducing brines. This bleaching, involving reductive alteration of former red beds, is essential ground preparation that enables the altered rocks to trap Cu, U, and V from later oxidized fluids, forming...
Re-evaluating the tectonic affinity of Proterozoic crustal provinces in the Southwest USA: Detrital zircon evidence for a Laurentian source for the Yavapai and Mojave Provinces
Ian William Hillenbrand, Amy K. Gilmer, Wayne R. Premo, Michael L. Williams, Michael J. Jercinovic
2025, Geological Society of America Bulletin (137) 2965-2981
Models for crustal growth commonly involve the accretion of dominantly juvenile crust to continental margins. However, tracking the provenance and tectonic affinity of dominantly juvenile crustal provinces is challenging. This difficulty is highlighted by uncertainty over whether the Yavapai and Mojave Provinces, part of the >1300-km-wide system of Proterozoic orogens...
Increased heterozygosity and body condition result from admixed translocation of the threatened Mogollon Narrow-headed Gartersnake (Thamnophis rufipunctatus)
Dustin A. Wood, Bruce L. Christman, Randy D. Jennings, Jonathan P. Rose, Erika M. Nowak, Justin Schofer, Amy G. Vandergast
2025, Conservation Genetics (26) 403-418
Enhancing gene flow through translocations can be a useful tool in recovering small and isolated populations. However, it is not devoid of genetic risks, such as outbreeding depression in future generations, that can have negative consequences in terms of the establishment and mean fitness of the population. Studies that monitor...
Apatite geo-thermochronology and geochemistry constrain Oligocene-Miocene growth and geodynamics of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau
Chao Guo, Zhiyong Zhang, Richard O. Lease, Marco Malusa, David Chew, Haijian Lu, Lin Wu, Dunfeng Xiang, Nan Wang, Bernhard Grasemann, Wenjiao Xiao
2025, Geophysical Research Letters (52)
Understanding the geodynamics of plateau evolution requires examining the spatial and temporal aspects of mountain building in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, which are still under debate. Here we integrate apatite geo-thermochronological and geochemical data from the Oligocene-Miocene succession of the Xunhua Basin to elucidate the evolution of the regional topography....
Application of transcriptomics concentration-response modeling for prioritization of contaminants detected in tributaries of the North American Great Lakes
Jenna Cavallin, Kendra Bush, Steven R. Corsi, Laura DeCicco, Kevin Flynn, Alex Kasparek, Monique Hazimi, Erin Maloney, Peter Schuman, Daniel Villeneuve
2025, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (44) 1310-1321
As part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, chemical monitoring and surveillance efforts have detected approximately 330 chemicals in surface water of Great Lakes tributaries. There were 140 chemicals for which no empirical toxicity data were available. The aim of this study was to generate transcriptomic points of departure (tPODs)...
Reevaluating the depositional model of the Cenomanian–Turonian Bridge Creek Limestone Member near Pueblo, Colorado, U.S.A.: Roles of changing sedimentation rate on the formation of limestone–marl bedding couplets
Zhiyang Li, Jason A. Flaum
2025, Journal of Sedimentary Research (95) 186-208
Although interbedded limestone–marl couplets in many hemipelagic and pelagic deposits have been commonly attributed to orbital-driven climate cycles, the driving mechanisms of these couplets remain largely controversial. This situation arises from the fact that detailed sedimentologic and petrographic facies characteristics of these fine-grained deposits have rarely been examined closely. In...
Developing a probabilistic tsunami hazard assessment framework for Pacific sources: USGS Powell Center meeting summary
Jason R. Patton, Stephanie L Ross, Marie C. Eble, Christodoulos Kyriakopoulos, Patrick J. Lynett, DmitriyJ. Nicolsky, Kenneth Ryan, Hong Kie Thio, Rick I. Wilson, Baoning Wu
2025, Environmental & Engineering Geoscience (31) 67-76
Multi-organizational principal investigators formed a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Powell Center Working Group (WG), Tsunami Source Standardization for Hazards Mitigation in the United States, to develop a comprehensive series of sources capable of generating tsunamis that could impact U.S. state and territory coastal areas using probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis (PTHA)....
Does habitat or climate change drive species range shifts?
Toni Lyn Morelli, Michael T. Hallworth, Timothy Duclos, Adam Ells, Steven D. Faccio, Jane R. Foster, Kent P. McFarland, Keith Nislow, Joel Ralston, Mary Ratnaswamy, William V. Deluca, Alexej P.K. Siren
2025, Ecography (2025)
A primary prediction of climate change ecology is that species will track their climate niche poleward and upslope. However, studies have shown species responding in surprising ways. In this study, we aim to understand the impact of global change on species ranges by considering both climate and habitat changes. Using...
