A global analysis of traits predicting species sensitivity to habitat fragmentation
Douglas Keinath, Daniel F. Doak, Karen E. Hodges, Laura R. Prugh, William F. Fagan, Cagan H. Sekercioglu, Stuart H. M. Buchart, Matthew J. Kauffman
2017, Global Ecology and Biogeography (26) 115-127
AimElucidating patterns in species responses to habitat fragmentation is an important focus of ecology and conservation, but studies are often geographically restricted, taxonomically narrow or use indirect measures of species vulnerability. We investigated predictors of species presence after fragmentation using data from studies around the world that included all four...
Remote measurement of surface-water velocity using infrared videography and PIV: a proof-of-concept for Alaskan rivers
Paul J. Kinzel, Carl J. Legleiter, Jonathan M. Nelson, Jeffrey S. Conaway
2017, Conference Paper, E-proceedings of the 37th IAHR World Congress
Thermal cameras with high sensitivity to medium and long wavelengths can resolve features at the surface of flowing water arising from turbulent mixing. Images acquired by these cameras can be processed with particle image velocimetry (PIV) to compute surface velocities based on the displacement of thermal features as they advect...
Spatial demographic models to inform conservation planning of golden eagles in renewable energy landscapes
J. David Wiens, Nathan H. Schumaker, Richard D. Inman, Todd C. Esque, Kathleen M. Longshore, Kenneth E. Nussear
2017, Journal of Raptor Research (51) 234-257
Spatial demographic models can help guide monitoring and management activities targeting at-risk species, even in cases where baseline data are lacking. Here, we provide an example of how site-specific changes in land use and anthropogenic stressors can be incorporated into a spatial demographic model to investigate effects on population dynamics...
Thumbnail‐based questionnaires for the rapid and efficient collection of macroseismic data from global earthquakes
Remy Bossu, Matthieu Landes, Frederic Roussel, Robert Steed, Gilles Mazet-Roux, Stacey S. Martin, Susan E. Hough
2017, Seismological Research Letters (88) 72-81
The collection of earthquake testimonies (i.e., qualitative descriptions of felt shaking) is essential for macroseismic studies (i.e., studies gathering information on how strongly an earthquake was felt in different places), and when done rapidly and systematically, improves situational awareness and in turn can contribute to efficient emergency response. In this...
Beaver colony density trends on the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, 1987 – 2013
Christine Ribic, Deahn M. Donner, Albert J. Beck, David J. Rugg, Sue Reinecke, Dan Eklund
2017, PLoS ONE (12) 1-15
The North American beaver (Castor canadensis) is a managed species in the United States. In northern Wisconsin, as part of the state-wide beaver management program, the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest removes beavers from targeted trout streams on U.S. Forest Service lands. However, the success of this management program has not been...
Hydrochemical determination of source water contributions to Lake Lungo and Lake Ripasottile (central Italy)
Claire Archer, Paula Noble, David Kreamer, Vincenzo Piscopo, Marco Petitta, Michael R. Rosen, Simon R. Poulson, Gianluca Piovesan, Scott Mensing
2017, Journal of Limnology (76) 326-342
Lake Lungo and Lake Ripasottile are two shallow (4-5 m) lakes located in the Rieti Basin, central Italy, that have been described previously as surface outcroppings of the groundwater table. In this work, the two lakes as well as springs and rivers that represent their potential source waters are characterized...
Detecting spatial regimes in ecosystems
Shana M. Sundstrom, Tarsha Eason, R. John Nelson, David G. Angeler, Chris Barichievy, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Nicholas A.J. Graham, Dean Granholm, Lance Gunderson, Melinda Knutson, Kirsty L. Nash, Trisha Spanbauer, Craig A. Stow, Craig R. Allen
2017, Ecology Letters (20) 19-32
Research on early warning indicators has generally focused on assessing temporal transitions with limited application of these methods to detecting spatial regimes. Traditional spatial boundary detection procedures that result in ecoregion maps are typically based on ecological potential (i.e. potential vegetation), and often fail to account for ongoing changes due...
Geochemical evidence for a complex origin for the Kelso dunes, Mojave National Preserve, California USA
Daniel R. Muhs, Nicholas Lancaster, Gary L. Skipp
2017, Geomorphology (276) 222-243
The Kelso Dune field in southern California is intriguing because although it is of limited areal extent (~ 100 km2), it has a wide variety of dune forms and contains many active dunes (~ 40 km2), which is unusual in the Mojave Desert. Studies over the past eight decades have concluded that the dunes...
Human footprint affects US carbon balance more than climate change
Dominique Bachelet, Ken Ferschweiler, Tim Sheehan, Barry Baker, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Zhiliang Zhu
2017, Book chapter, Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences
The MC2 model projects an overall increase in carbon capture in conterminous United States during the 21st century while also simulating a rise in fire causing much carbon loss. Carbon sequestration in soils is critical to prevent carbon losses from future disturbances, and we show that natural ecosystems store more...
Riparian soil development linked to forest succession above and below dams along the Elwha River, Washington, USA
Laura G Perry, Patrick B. Shafroth, Steven S. Perakis
2017, Ecosystems (20) 104-129
Riparian forest soils can be highly dynamic, due to frequent fluvial disturbance, erosion, and sediment deposition, but effects of dams on riparian soils are poorly understood. We examined soils along toposequences within three river segments located upstream, between, and downstream of two dams on the Elwha River to evaluate relationships...
New techniques to measure cliff change from historical oblique aerial photographs and structure-from-motion photogrammetry
Jonathan A. Warrick, Andy Ritchie, Gabrielle Adelman, Ken Adelman, Patrick W. Limber
2017, Journal of Coastal Research (33) 39-55
Oblique aerial photograph surveys are commonly used to document coastal landscapes. Here it is shown that adequate overlap may exist in these photographic records to develop topographic models with Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetric techniques. Using photographs of Fort Funston, California, from the California Coastal Records Project, imagery were combined with ground...
Spatio-temporal development of vegetation die-off in a submerging coastal marsh
Lennert Schepers, Matt L. Kirwan, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Stijn Temmerman
2017, Limnology and Oceanography (62) 137-150
In several places around the world, coastal marsh vegetation is converting to open water through the formation of pools. This is concerning, as vegetation die-off is expected to reduce the marshes' capacity to adapt to sea level rise by vegetation-induced sediment accretion. Quantitative analyses of the spatial and temporal development...
Status and trends in the Lake Superior fish community, 2016
Mark R. Vinson, Lori M. Evrard, Owen T. Gorman, Daniel L. Yule
2017, Report, Compiled reports to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission of the annual bottom trawl and acoustics surveys for 2016
In 2016, the Lake Superior fish community was sampled with daytime bottom trawls at 76 nearshore and 35 offshore stations. Spring and summer water temperatures in 2016 were warmer than average and considerably warmer than observed in 2014 and 2015. In the nearshore zone, a total of 17,449 individuals from...
Influence of restored koa in supporting bird communities
Richard J. Camp, Eben H. Paxton, Stephanie G. Yelenik
2017, Conference Paper, Acacia koa in Hawai‘i: facing the future. Proceedings of the 2016 Koa Symposium
Deforestation of Hawaiian forests has adversely impacted native wildlife, including forest birds, bats and arthropods. Restoration activities have included reforestation with the native koa (Acacia koa), a dominant canopy tree species that is easy to propagate, has high survivorship, and has fast growth rates. We review recent research describing the...
Using structural damage statistics to derive macroseismic intensity within the Kathmandu valley for the 2015 M7.8 Gorkha, Nepal earthquake
Sean McGowan, Kishor S. Jaiswal, David J. Wald
2017, Tectonophysics (714-715) 158-172
We make and analyze structural damage observations from within the Kathmandu valley following the 2015 M7.8 Gorkha, Nepal earthquake to derive macroseismic intensities at several locations including some located near ground motion recording sites. The macroseismic intensity estimates supplement the limited strong ground motion data in order to characterize the...
Changes in vocal repertoire of the Hawaiian crow, Corvus hawaiiensis,from past wild to current captive populations
Ann M. Tanimoto, Patrick J. Hart, Adam A. Pack, Richard Switzwer, Paul C. Banko, Donna L. Ball, Esther Sebastian-Gonzalez, Lisa Komarczyk, Miyako H. Warrington
2017, Animal Behaviour (123) 427-432
For most avian species, social behaviour is critically important for survival and reproductive success. Many social behaviours in birds are culturally transmitted, and as bird populations decline across the globe, important elements of these behaviours may be...
Water-level changes in the High Plains aquifer, Republican River Basin in Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska, 2002 to 2015
V. L. McGuire
2017, Scientific Investigations Map 3373
The High Plains aquifer underlies 111.8 million acres (about 175,000 square miles) in parts of eight States—Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. More than 95 percent of the water withdrawn from the High Plains aquifer is used for irrigation. Water-level declines began in parts of...
Warming and provenance limit tree recruitment across and beyond the elevation range of subalpine forest
Lara M. Kueppers, Erin Conlisk, Cristina Castanha, Andrew B. Moyes, Matthew J. Germino, Perry de Valpine, Margaret S. Torn, Jeffry B. Mitton
2017, Global Change Biology (23) 2383-2395
Climate niche models project that subalpine forest ranges will extend upslope with climate warming. These projections assume that the climate suitable for adult trees will be adequate for forest regeneration, ignoring climate requirements for seedling recruitment, a potential demographic bottleneck. Moreover, local genetic adaptation is expected to facilitate range expansion,...
Temporary wetlands: Challenges and solutions to conserving a ‘disappearing’ ecosystem
Aram J.K. Calhoun, David M. Mushet, Kathleen P. Bell, Dani Boix, James A. Fitzsimons, Francis Isselin-Nondedeu
2017, Biological Conservation (211) 3-11
Frequent drying of ponded water, and support of unique, highly specialized assemblages of often rare species, characterize temporary wetlands, such as vernal pools, gilgais, and prairie potholes. As small aquatic features embedded in a terrestrial landscape, temporary wetlands enhance biodiversity and provide aesthetic, biogeochemical, and hydrologic functions. Challenges to conserving...
Challenges with secondary use of multi-source water-quality data in the United States
Lori A. Sprague, Gretchen P. Oelsner, Denise M. Argue
2017, Water Research (110) 252-261
Combining water-quality data from multiple sources can help counterbalance diminishing resources for stream monitoring in the United States and lead to important regional and national insights that would not otherwise be possible. Individual monitoring organizations understand their own data very well, but issues can arise when their data are combined...
The practice of prediction: What can ecologists learn from applied, ecology-related fields?
Frank Pennekamp, Matthew Adamson, Owen L Petchey, Jean-Christophe Poggiale, Maira Aguiar, Bob W. Kooi, Daniel B. Botkin, Donald L. DeAngelis
2017, Ecological Complexity (32) 156-167
The pervasive influence of human induced global environmental change affects biodiversity across the globe, and there is great uncertainty as to how the biosphere will react on short and longer time scales. To adapt to what the future holds and to manage the impacts of global change, scientists need to...
Arsenite as an electron donor for anoxygenic photosynthesis: Description of three strains of Ectothiorhodospria from Mono Lake, California, and Big Soda Lake, Nevada
Shelley McCann, Alison Boren, Jaime Hernandez-Maldonado, Brendon Stoneburner, Chad W Saltikov, John F. Stolz, Ronald S. Oremland
2017, Life Sciences (7)
Three novel strains of photosynthetic bacteria from the family Ectothiorhodospiraceae were isolated from soda lakes of the Great Basin Desert, USA by employing arsenite (As(III)) as the sole electron donor in the enrichment/isolation process. Strain PHS-1 was previously isolated from a hot spring in Mono Lake, while strain MLW-1 was...
Excursions in fluvial (dis)continuity
Gordon E. Grant, James E. O'Connor, Elizabeth Safran
2017, Geomorphology (277) 145-153
Lurking below the twin concepts of connectivity and disconnectivity are their first, and in some ways, richer cousins: continuity and discontinuity. In this paper we explore how continuity and discontinuity represent fundamental and complementary perspectives in fluvial geomorphology, and how these perspectives inform and underlie our conceptions of connectivity...
Riparian spiders as sentinels of polychlorinated biphenyl contamination across heterogeneous aquatic ecosystems
Johanna M. Kraus, Polly P. Gibson, David M. Walters, Marc A. Mills
2017, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (36) 1278-1286
Riparian spiders are being used increasingly to track spatial patterns of contaminants in and fluxing from aquatic ecosystems.However, our understanding of the circumstances under which spiders are effective sentinels of aquatic pollution is limited. The present study tests the...
Hydrologic and geomorphic changes resulting from episodic glacial lake outburst floods: Rio Colonia, Patagonia, Chile
J. Jacquet, S.W. McCoy, Daniel Mcgrath, David Nimick, Mark Fahey, J. O’kuinghttons, B.A. Friesen, J. Leidich
2017, Geophysical Research Letters (44) 854-864
Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) are a prominent but poorly understood cryospheric hazard in a warming climate. We quantify the hydrologic and geomorphic response to 21 episodic GLOFs that began in April 2008 using multitemporal satellite imagery and field observations. Peak discharge exiting the source lake became progressively muted downstream....
