Ecological risk assessment of Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) for the Great Lakes Basin
Cynthia S. Kolar, Becky Cudmore
2017, Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat Central and Arctic Region Science Advisory Report 2016/057
Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) is an herbivorous, freshwater fish that was first introduced in the United States in the early 1960s for use in biological control of aquatic vegetation. It has since escaped and dispersed through the Mississippi River basin towards the Great Lakes. To characterize the risk of Grass...
Water quality and natural resources in the Green River Basin
Brad D. Lee, Tanja N. Williamson, Angela S. Crain
2017, Book chapter, Water in Kentucky: Natural history, communities, and conservation
No abstract available....
Mapping tree canopy cover in support of proactive prairie grouse conservation in western North America
Michael J. Falkowski, Jeffrey S. Evans, David E. Naugle, Christian A. Hagen, Scott A. Carleton, Jeremy D. Maestas, Azad Henareh Khalyani, Aaron J. Poznanovic, Andrew J. Lawrence
2017, Rangeland Ecology and Management (70) 15-24
Invasive woody plant expansion is a primary threat driving fragmentation and loss of sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) and prairie habitats across the central and western United States. Expansion of native woody plants, including conifer (primarily Juniperus spp.) and mesquite (Prosopis spp.), over the past century is primarily attributable to wildfire suppression, historic periods of intensive...
Impacts of mesquite distribution on seasonal space use of lesser prairie-chickens
Matthew A. Boggie, Cody R. Strong, Daniel Lusk, Scott A. Carleton, William R. Gould, Randy L. Howard, Clay T. Nichols, Michael J. Falkowski, Christian A. Hagen
2017, Rangeland Ecology and Management (70) 68-77
Loss of native grasslands by anthropogenic disturbances has reduced availability and connectivity of habitat for many grassland species. A primary threat to contiguous grasslands is the encroachment of woody vegetation, which is spurred by disturbances that take on many forms from energy development, fire suppression, and grazing. These disturbances are...
The waterfall paradox: How knickpoints disconnect hillslope and channel processes, isolating salmonid populations in ideal habitats
Christine May, Joshua J. Roering, Kyle Snow, Kitty Griswold, Robert E. Gresswell
2017, Geomorphology (277) 228-236
Waterfalls create barriers to fish migration, yet hundreds of isolated salmonid populations exist above barriers and have persisted for thousands of years in steep mountainous terrain. Ecological theory indicates that small isolated populations in disturbance-prone landscapes are at greatest risk of extirpation because immigration and recolonization are not possible. On...
Diet patterns of island foxes on San Nicolas Island relative to feral cat removal
Brian L. Cypher, Erica C. Kelly, Francesca J. Ferrara, Charles A. Drost, Tory L. Westall, Brian Hudgens
2017, Pacific Conservation Biology (23) 180-188
Island foxes (Urocyon littoralis) are a species of conservation concern that occur on six of the Channel Islands off the coast of southern California. We analysed island fox diet on San Nicolas Island during 2006–12 to assess the influence of the removal of feral cats (Felis catus) on the food...
Investigating impacts of oil and gas development on greater sage-grouse
Adam Green, Cameron L. Aldridge, Michael S. O’Donnell
2017, Journal of Wildlife Management (81) 46-57
The sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystem is one of the largest ecosystems in western North America providing habitat for species found nowhere else. Sagebrush habitats have experienced dramatic declines since the 1950s, mostly due to anthropogenic disturbances. The greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is a sagebrush-obligate species that has experienced population declines over...
Trends in methyl tert-butyl ether concentrations in private wells in southeast New Hampshire: 2005 to 2015
Sarah Flanagan, Joseph P. Levitt, Joseph D. Ayotte
2017, Environmental Science & Technology (51) 1168-1175
In southeast New Hampshire, where reformulated gasoline was used from the 1990s to 2007, methyl tert-butyl ether (MtBE) concentrations ≥0.2 μg/L were found in water from 26.7% of 195 domestic wells sampled in 2005. Ten years later in 2015, and eight years after MtBE was banned, 10.3% continue to have MtBE....
Social-ecological outcomes in recreational fisheries: The interaction of lakeshore development and stocking
Jacob P. Ziegler, Elizabeth J. Golebie, Stuart E. Jones, Brian Weidel, Christopher T. Solomon
2017, Ecological Applications (27) 56-65
Many ecosystems continue to experience rapid transformations due to processes like land use change and resource extraction. A systems approach to maintaining natural resources focuses on how interactions and feedbacks among components of complex social‐ecological systems generate social and ecological outcomes. In recreational fisheries, residential shoreline development and fish stocking...
Geology of the Petersburg batholith, eastern Piedmont, Virginia
Brent E. Owens, Mark W. Carter, Christopher M. Bailey
2017, Book chapter, From the Blue Ridge to the beach Geological field excursions across Virginia
The 295-300 Ma Petersburg batholith in east-central Virginia forms one of the largest and northernmost of the Alleghanian plutonic complexes in the southern Appalachian Piedmont. The batholith is primarily composed of granite including massive and foliated (both magmatic and solid-state fabrics) varieties. The plutonic complex intruded medium-grade metamorphosed volcanic/plutonic rocks...
Geology along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia
Mark W. Carter, C. Scott Southworth, Richard P. Tollo, Arthur J. Merschat, Sara Wagner, Ava Lazor, John N. Aleinikoff
2017, Book chapter, From the Blue Ridge to the beach: Geological field excursions across Virginia
Detailed geologic mapping and new SHRIMP (sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe) U-Pb zircon, Ar/Ar, Lu-Hf, 14C, luminescence (optically stimulated), thermochronology (fission-track), and palynology reveal the complex Mesoproterozoic to Quaternary geology along the ~350 km length of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. Traversing the boundary of the central and southern Appalachians, rocks...
Effect of N fertilization and tillage on nitrous oxide (N2O) loss from soil under wheat production
Sheel Bansal, Ezra Aberle, Jasper Teboh, Szilvia Yuja, Mark Liebig, Jacob Meier, Alec Boyd
2017, Report, Carrington Research Extension Center Annual Report, A report of agricultural research and extension in central North Dakota, Vol 58
Nitrous oxide (N2O-N) is one of the most important gases in the atmosphere because it is 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in its ability to trap heat, and is a key chemical agent of ozone depletion. The amount of N2O-N emitted from agricultural fields can be quite high,...
An integrated moral obligation model for landowner conservation norms
Amit K. Pradhananga, Mae A. Davenport, David C. Fulton, Geoffrey M. Maruyama, Dean Current
2017, Society & Natural Resources: An International Journal (30) 212-227
This study applies an integrated moral obligation model to examine the role of environmental and cultural values, and beliefs in the activation of landowner conservation norms. Data for this study were collected through a self-administered survey of riparian landowners in two Minnesota watersheds: Sand Creek and Vermillion River watersheds. Study...
Lake Ontario benthic prey fish assessment, 2016
Brian Weidel, Maureen Walsh, Jeremy P. Holden, Michael J. Connerton
2017, NYSDEC Lake Ontario Annual Report 2016-12b
Benthic prey fishes are a critical component of the Lake Ontario food web, serving as energy vectors from benthic invertebrates to native and introduced piscivores. Beginning in 1978, Lake Ontario benthic prey fishes were assessed using bottom trawls collected from the lake’s south shore (depth range: 8 – 150 m)....
Fisheries research and monitoring activities of the Lake Erie Biological Station, 2016
Betsy L. Bodamer Scarbro, Richard T. Kraus, Patrick Kocovsky, Christopher Vandergoot
2017, Report
<span data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"We conducted a biomass-based assessment of the Lake Erie Western Basin fish community using data collected from 2013-2016 Western Basin (spring and autumn) bottom trawl surveys. Biomass of total catch per hectare has decreased 75 percent since 2013. Declines were observed across all functional groups, but most notable was...
Quantifying the relative contribution of an ecological reserve to conservation objectives
Kevin Aagaard, James E. Lyons, Wayne E. Thogmartin
2017, Global Ecology and Conservation (9) 142-147
Evaluating the role public lands play in meeting conservation goals is an essential step in good governance. We present a tool for comparing the regional contribution of each of a suite of wildlife management units to conservation goals. We use weighted summation (simple additive weighting) to compute a Unit Contribution...
Mudflat morphodynamics and the impact of sea level rise in South San Francisco Bay
Mick Van der Wegen, Bruce E. Jaffe, Amy C. Foxgrover, Dano Roelvink
2017, Estuaries and Coasts (40) 37-49
Estuarine tidal mudflats form unique habitats and maintain valuable ecosystems. Historic measurements of a mudflat in San Fancsico Bay over the past 150 years suggest the development of a rather stable mudflat profile. This raises questions on its origin and governing processes as well as on the mudflats’ fate under scenarios...
Improved vertical streambed flux estimation using multiple diurnal temperature methods in series
Dylan J. Irvine, Martin A. Briggs, Ian Cartwright, Courtney R. Scruggs, Laura K. Lautz
2017, Groundwater (55) 73-80
Analytical solutions that use diurnal temperature signals to estimate vertical fluxes between groundwater and surface water based on either amplitude ratios (Ar) or phase shifts (Δϕ) produce results that rarely agree. Analytical solutions that simultaneously utilize Ar and Δϕ within a single solution have more recently been derived, decreasing uncertainty...
A 600-year-long stratigraphic record of tsunamis in south-central Chile
Isabel Hong, Tina Dura, Lisa L. Ely, Benajamin P. Horton, Alan R. Nelson, Marco Cisternas, Daria Nikitina, Robert L. Wesson
2017, The Holocene (27) 39-51
The stratigraphy within coastal river valleys in south-central Chile clarifies and extends the region’s history of large, earthquakes and accompanying tsunamis. Our site at Quidico (38.1°S, 73.3°W) is located in an overlap zone between ruptures of magnitude 8–9 earthquakes in 1960 and 2010, and, therefore, records tsunamis originating from subduction-zone...
Influence of repeated prescribed fire on tree growth and mortality in Pinus resinosa forests, northern Minnesota
Alessandra Bottero, Anthony W. D’Amato, Brian J. Palik, Christel C. Kern, John B. Bradford, Sawyer S. Scherer
2017, Forest Science (63) 94-100
Prescribed fire is widely used for ecological restoration and fuel reduction in fire-dependent ecosystems, most of which are also prone to drought. Despite the importance of drought in fire-adapted forests, little is known about cumulative effects of repeated prescribed burning on tree growth and related response to drought. Using dendrochronological...
Accurate aging of juvenile salmonids using fork lengths
Suresh Sethi, Jonathon Gerken, Joshua Ashline
2017, Fisheries Research (185) 161-168
Juvenile salmon life history strategies, survival, and habitat interactions may vary by age cohort. However, aging individual juvenile fish using scale reading is time consuming and can be error prone. Fork length data are routinely measured while sampling juvenile salmonids. We explore the performance of aging juvenile fish based solely...
Summer habitat selection by Dall’s sheep in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska
Gretchen H. Roffler, Layne G. Adams, Mark Hebblewhite
2017, Journal of Mammalogy (98) 94-105
Sexual segregation occurs frequently in sexually dimorphic species, and it may be influenced by differential habitat requirements between sexes or by social or evolutionary mechanisms that maintain separation of sexes regardless of habitat selection. Understanding the degree of sex-specific habitat specialization is important for management of wildlife populations and the...
Implications of the earthquake cycle for inferring fault locking on the Cascadia megathrust
Frederick Pollitz, Eileen Evans
2017, Geophysical Journal International (209) 167-185
GPS velocity fields in the Western US have been interpreted with various physical models of the lithosphere-asthenosphere system: (1) time-independent block models; (2) time-dependent viscoelastic-cycle models, where deformation is driven by viscoelastic relaxation of the lower crust and upper mantle from past faulting events; (3) viscoelastic block models, a time-dependent...
Large decadal-scale changes in uranium and bicarbonate in groundwater of the irrigated western U.S
Karen R. Burow, Kenneth Belitz, Neil M. Dubrovsky, Bryant C. Jurgens
2017, Science of the Total Environment (586) 87-95
Samples collected about one decade apart from 1105 wells from across the U.S. were compiled to assess whether uranium concentrations in the arid climate are linked to changing bicarbonate concentrations in the irrigated western U.S. Uranium concentrations in groundwater were high in the arid climate in the western U.S, where...
Otoliths
James M. Long, Timothy B. Grabowski
Michael C. Quist, Daniel A. Isermann, editor(s)
2017, Book chapter, Age and growth of fishes: Principles and techniques
No abstract available....
