Ecological effects of the harvest phase of geoduck clam (Panopea generosa Gould, 1850) aquaculture on infaunal communities in southern Puget Sound, Washington USA.
Glenn R. VanBlaricom, Jennifer L. Eccles, Julian D. Olden, P. Sean Mcdonald
2015, Journal of Shellfish Research (34) 171-187
Intertidal aquaculture for geoducks (Panopea generosa Gould, 1850) is expanding in southern Puget Sound, Washington, where gently sloping sandy beaches are used for field culture. Geoduck aquaculture contributes significantly to the regional economy, but has become controversial because of a range of unresolved questions involving potential biological impacts on marine ecosystems....
Fisheries research and monitoring activities of the Lake Erie Biological Station, 2014
Betsy L. Bodamer Scarbro, William Edwards, Carrie Gawne, Patrick M. Kocovsky, Richard T. Kraus, Mark W. Rogers, Taylor Stewart
2015, Report, Compiled reports to the Great Lakes Fishery commission of the annual bottom trawl and acoustics surveys, 2014
In 2014, the USGS LEBS successfully completed large vessel surveys in all three of Lake Erie’s basins. Lake Erie Biological Station’s primary vessel surveys included the Western Basin Forage Fish Assessment and East Harbor Forage Fish Assessment as well as contributing to the cooperative multi-agency Central Basin Hydroacoustics Assessment, the...
Net ecosystem production and organic carbon balance of U.S. East Coast estuaries: A synthesis approach
Maria Herrmann, Raymond G. Najjar, W. Michael Kemp, Richard B. Alexander, Elizabeth W. Boyer, Wei-Jun Cai, Peter C. Griffith, Kevin D. Kroeger, S. Leigh McCallister, Richard A. Smith
2015, Global Biogeochemical Cycles (29) 96-111
Net ecosystem production (NEP) and the overall organic carbon budget for the estuaries along the East Coast of the United States are estimated. We focus on the open estuarine waters, excluding the fringing wetlands. We developed empirical models relating NEP to loading ratios of dissolved inorganic nitrogen to total organic...
Mottled duck (Anas fulvigula) movements in the Texas Chenier Plain Region
Jena A. Moon, David A. Haukos, Warren C. Conway
2015, Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (2) 255-267
As a surrogate species for Strategic Habitat Conservation, the mottled duck (Anas fulgivula) is an indicator species to coastal marsh health and function. Currently, biologists have a relatively poor understanding of regional mottled duck movements. We outfitted adult female mottled ducks with solar satellite transmitters during summer 2009–2011. Movement patterns...
Duckling survival, fecundity, and habitat selection of mottled duck broods on the upper Texas Gulf Coast
Elizabeth A. Rigby, David A. Haukos
2015, Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (2) 156-163
Mottled ducks (Anas fulvigula) on the western Gulf Coast have exhibited a steep population decline since the mid 1990s. Low rates of breeding incidence and nest success have been implicated in this decline, but duckling survival and the habitat needs of broods have not been previously investigated in this region....
Bayesian models: A statistical primer for ecologists
N. Thompson Hobbs, Mevin Hooten
2015, Book
Bayesian modeling has become an indispensable tool for ecological research because it is uniquely suited to deal with complexity in a statistically coherent way. This textbook provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the latest Bayesian methods—in language ecologists can understand. Unlike other books on the subject, this one emphasizes...
Broadening the regulated-river management paradigm: A case study of the forgotten dead zone hindering Pallid Sturgeon recovery
Christopher S. Guy, Hilary B. Treanor, Kevin M. Kappenman, Eric A. Scholl, Jason E. Ilgen, Molly A. H. Webb
2015, Fisheries (40) 6-14
The global proliferation of dams within the last half century has prompted ecologists to understand the effects of regulated rivers on large-river fishes. Currently, much of the effort to mitigate the influence of dams on large-river fishes has been focused on downriver effects, and little attention has been given to...
Geologic setting of the proposed Fallon FORGE Site, Nevada: Suitability for EGS research and development
James E. Faulds, Douglas Blankenship, Nicholas H. Hinz, Andrew Sabin, Josh Nordquist, Stephen H. Hickman, Jonathan M.G. Glen, Mack Kennedy, Drew Siler, Ann Robinson-Tait, Colin F. Williams, Peter Drakos, Wendy M. Calvin
2015, GRC Transactions (39) 293-302
The proposed Fallon FORGE site lies within and adjacent to the Naval Air Station Fallon (NASF) directly southeast of the town of Fallon, Nevada, within the large basin of the Carson Sink in west-central Nevada. The site is located on two parcels that include land owned by the NASF and...
Implementation of a framework for multi-species, multi-objective adaptive management in Delaware Bay
Conor P. McGowan, David R. Smith, James D. Nichols, James E. Lyons, John A. Sweka, Kevin Kalasz, Lawrence J. Niles, Richard Wong, Jeffrey Brust, Michelle C. Davis, Braddock Spear
2015, Biological Conservation (191) 759-769
Decision analytic approaches have been widely recommended as well suited to solving disputed and ecologically complex natural resource management problems with multiple objectives and high uncertainty. However, the difference between theory and practice is substantial, as there are very few actual resource management programs that represent formal applications of decision...
Contrasting fish assemblages in free-flowing and impounded tributaries to the Upper Delaware River: Implications for conserving biodiversity
Barry P. Baldigo, Mari-Beth Delucia, Walter D. Keller, George E. Schuler, Colin D. Apse, Tara Moberg
2015, Book chapter, Advances in Environmental Research
The Neversink River and the Beaver Kill in southeastern New York are major tributaries to the Delaware River, the longest undammed river east of the Mississippi. While the Beaver Kill is free flowing for its entire length, the Neversink River is subdivided by the Neversink Reservoir, which likely affects the...
Biodiversity influences plant productivity through niche–efficiency
Jingjing Liang, Mo Zhou, Patrick C. Tobin, A. David McGuire, Peter B. Reich
2015, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (112) 5738-5743
The loss of biodiversity is threatening ecosystem productivity and services worldwide, spurring efforts to quantify its effects on the functioning of natural ecosystems. Previous research has focused on the positive role of biodiversity on resource acquisition (i.e., niche complementarity), but a lack of study on resource utilization efficiency, a link...
Draft comprehensive conservation plan and environmental impact statement-Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
2015, Report
The Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge Complex, consisting of some of the newer properties in the National Wildlife Refuge System, is a work in progress. Offering unique assets to surrounding communities, these lands promise to become some of the premier urban wildlife refuges in the country. At the heart...
R for fledglings
Therese Donovan, Michelle Brown, Jonathan Katz
2015, Book
We’ve been asked to provide a short introduction to R and its utility in natural resource management. In this short introduction, we can guarantee one thing: you won’t learn R in a few days. That would be like learning to speak French in a few days. To actually learn R,...
Suspended-sediment dynamics in the tidal reach of a San Francisco Bay tributary
Gregory Shellenbarger, Maureen A. Downing-Kunz, David H. Schoellhamer
2015, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 17th physics of estuaries and coastal seas (PECS) conference
To better understand suspended-sediment transport in a tidal slough adjacent to a large wetland restoration project, we deployed continuously-measuring temperature, salinity, depth, turbidity, and velocity sensors since 2010, and added a dissolved-oxygen sensor in 2012, at a near-bottom location in Alviso Slough (Alviso, California USA). Alviso Slough is the downstream...
Early Permian conodont fauna and stratigraphy of the Garden Valley Formation, Eureka County, Nevada
Bruce R. Wardlaw, Dora M. Gallegos, Valery V. Chernykh, Walter S. Snyder
2015, Micropaleontology (61) 369-387
The lower part of the Garden Valley Formation yields two distinct conodont faunas. One of late Asselian age dominated by Mesogondolella and Streptognathodus and one of Artinskian age dominated by Sweetognathus with Mesogondolella. The Asselian fauna contains the same species as those found in the type area of the Asselian...
River corridor science: Hydrologic exchange and ecological consequences from bedforms to basins
Judson Harvey, Michael Gooseff
2015, Water Resources Research (51) 6893-6922
Previously regarded as the passive drains of watersheds, over the past 50 years, rivers have progressively been recognized as being actively connected with off-channel environments. These connections prolong physical storage and enhance reactive processing to alter water chemistry and downstream transport of materials and energy. Here we propose river corridor...
Management applications of discontinuity theory
David G. Angeler, Craig R. Allen, Chris Barichievy, Tarsha Eason, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Nicholas A.J. Graham, Dean Granholm, Lance H. Gunderson, Melinda Knutson, Kirsty L. Nash, R. John Nelson, Magnus Nystrom, Trisha Spanbauer, Craig A. Stow, Shana M. Sundstrom
2015, Journal of Applied Ecology (53) 688-698
Human impacts on the environment are multifaceted and can occur across distinct spatiotemporal scales. Ecological responses to environmental change are therefore difficult to predict, and entail large degrees of uncertainty. Such uncertainty requires robust tools for management to sustain ecosystem goods and services and maintain resilient ecosystems.We...
Analyzing high resolution topography for advancing the understanding of mass and energy transfer through landscapes: A review
Paola Passaiacquaa, Patrick Belmont, Dennis M. Staley, Jeffery Simley, J. Ramon Arrowsmith, Collin A. Bode, Christopher Crosby, Stephen DeLong, Nancy Glenn, Sara Kelly, Dimitri Lague, Harish Sangireddy, Keelin Schaffrath, David Tarboton, Thad Wasklewicz, Joseph Wheaton
2015, Earth-Science Reviews (148) 174-193
The study of mass and energy transfer across landscapes has recently evolved to comprehensive considerations acknowledging the role of biota and humans as geomorphic agents, as well as the importance of small-scale landscape features. A contributing and supporting factor to this evolution is the emergence over the last two...
Denitrification in the Mississippi River network controlled by flow through river bedforms
Jesus D. Gomez-Velez, Judson W. Harvey, M. Bayani Cardenas, Brian Kiel
2015, Nature Geoscience (8) 941-945
Increasing nitrogen concentrations in the world’s major rivers have led to over-fertilization of sensitive downstream waters. Flow through channel bed and bank sediments acts to remove riverine nitrogen through microbe-mediated denitrification reactions. However, little is understood about where in the channel network this biophysical process is most efficient, why certain...
Provenance and detrital zircon geochronologic evolution of lower Brookian foreland basin deposits of the western Brooks Range, Alaska, and implications for early Brookian tectonism
Thomas E. Moore, Paul B. O’Sullivan, Christopher J. Potter, Raymond A. Donelick
2015, Geosphere (11) 93-122
The Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous part of the Brookian sequence of northern Alaska consists of syntectonic deposits shed from the north-directed, early Brookian orogenic belt. We employ sandstone petrography, detrital zircon U-Pb age analysis, and zircon fission-track double-dating methods to investigate these deposits in a succession of thin...
Understanding protected area resilience: a multi-scale, social-ecological approach
Graeme S. Cumming, Craig R. Allen, Natalie C. Ban, Duan Biggs, Harry C. Biggs, David H.M Cumming, Alta De Vos, Graham Epstein, Michel Etienne, Kristine Maciejewski, Raphael Mathevet, Christine Moore, Mateja Nenadovic, Michael Schoon
2015, Ecological Applications (25) 299-319
Protected areas (PAs) remain central to the conservation of biodiversity. Classical PAs were conceived as areas that would be set aside to maintain a natural state with minimal human influence. However, global environmental change and growing cross-scale anthropogenic influences mean that PAs can no longer be thought of as ecological...
Plague bacterium as a transformer species in prairie dogs and the grasslands of western North America
David A. Eads, Dean E. Biggins
2015, Conservation Biology (29) 1086-1093
Invasive transformer species change the character, condition, form, or nature of ecosystems and deserve considerable attention from conservation scientists. We applied the transformer species concept to the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis in western North America, where the pathogen was introduced around 1900. Y. pestis transforms grassland ecosystems by severely depleting the abundance...
Thermokarst lake methanogenesis along a complete talik profile
J.K. Heslop, K.M. Walter Anthony, A. Sepulveda-Jauregui, K. Martinez-Cruz, A. Bondurant, G. Grosse, Miriam C. Jones
2015, Biogeosciences (12) 4317-4331
Thermokarst (thaw) lakes emit methane (CH4) to the atmosphere formed from thawed permafrost organic matter (OM), but the relative magnitude of CH4 production in surface lake sediments vs. deeper thawed permafrost horizons is not well understood. We assessed anaerobic CH4 production potentials from various depths along a 590 cm long...
Estimating bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) abundance using noninvasive sampling at a mineral lick within a National Park Wilderness Area
Kathryn A. Schoenecker, Mary Kay Watry, Laura E. Ellison, Michael A. Schwarz, Gordon Luikart
2015, Western North American Naturalist (75) 181-191
Conservation of species requires accurate population estimates. We used genetic markers from feces to determine bighorn sheep abundance for a herd that was hypothesized to be declining and in need of population status monitoring. We sampled from a small but accessible portion of the population's range where animals naturally congregate...
Determining origin in a migratory marine vertebrate: a novel method to integrate stable isotopes and satellite tracking
Hannah B. Vander Zanden, Anton D. Tucker, Kristen M. Hart, Margaret M. Lamont, Ikuko Fujisaki, David S. Addison, Katherine L. Mansfield, Katrina F. Phillips, Michael B. Wunder, Gabriel J. Bowen, Mariela Pajuelo, Alan B. Bolten, Karen A. Bjorndal
2015, Ecological Applications (25) 320-335
Stable isotope analysis is a useful tool to track animal movements in both terrestrial and marine environments. These intrinsic markers are assimilated through the diet and may exhibit spatial gradients as a result of biogeochemical processes at the base of the food web. In the marine environment, maps to predict...
