Legumes in prairie restoration: evidence for wide cross-nodulation and improved inoculant delivery
Elena Beyhaut, Diane L. Larson, Deborah L. Allan, Peter H. Graham
2014, Plant and Soil (377) 245-258
Background and aims Prairie restoration aims to create self-sustaining, resilient prairies that ameliorate biodiversity loss and soil deterioration associated with conversion of native grasslands to agriculture. Legumes are a key component of the nitrogen-limited prairie ecosystem. Evidence suggests that lack of suitable rhizobia may explain legume absence from restored prairies. This...
Reproductive ecology of American Oystercatchers nesting on shell rakes
Patrick G.R. Jodice, Janet M. Thibault, S.A. Collins, Mark D. Spinks, Felicia J. Sanders
2014, Condor (116) 588-598
Degradation of nesting habitat for coastal birds has led to the use of nontraditional nesting habitat. The American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) is listed as a "Species of High Concern'' by the U. S. Shorebird Conservation Plan and is declining in the southern portion of its U. S. breeding range, where...
Asian carp distribution in North America
K. Baerwaldt, Amy Benson, K. Irons
2014, Report
No abstract available....
Rhynchelmis subgenus Sutroa Eisen new rank, with two new species from western North America (Annelida, Clitellata, Lumbriculidae)
Steven V. Fend, James L. Carter
2014, Zootaxa (3760) 180-210
The lumbriculid Rhynchelmis subgenus Sutroa Eisen, 1888 new rank is defined for a group of Nearctic species having multiple diverticula originating at the spermathecal ducts and eversible penial bulbs. Characters are confirmed in specimens of the type species, Rhynchelmis (Sutroa) rostrata (Eisen, 1888), collected from the type locality. Rhynchelmis (Sutroa)...
2012 monitoring and tracking wet nitrogen deposition at Rocky Mountain National Park
Kristi Morris, Alisa Mast, Gregory Wetherbee, Jill Baron, Curt Taipale, Tamara Blett, David Gay, Jared Heath
2014, Natural Resource Report NPS/NRSS/ARD/NRR--2014/757
No abstract available....
Linking channel hydrology with riparian wetland accretion in tidal rivers
Scott H. Ensign, Gregory B. Noe, Cliff R. Hupp
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface (119) 28-44
The hydrologic processes by which tide affects river channel and riparian morphology within the tidal freshwater zone are poorly understood, yet are fundamental to predicting the fate of coastal rivers and wetlands as sea level rises. We investigated patterns of sediment accretion in riparian wetlands along the non-tidal through oligohaline...
Status of pelagic prey fishes in Lake Michigan, 2013
David M. Warner, Steven A. Farha, Timothy P. O’Brien, Lynn Ogilvie, Randall M. Claramunt, Dale Hanson
2014, Report
Acoustic surveys were conducted in late summer/early fall during the years 1992-1996 and 2001-2013 to estimate pelagic prey fish biomass in Lake Michigan. Midwater trawling during the surveys as well as target strength provided a measure of species and size composition of the fish community for use in scaling acoustic...
Trace element geochemistry (Li, Ba, Sr, and Rb) using Curiosity's ChemCam: early results for Gale crater from Bradbury Landing Site to Rocknest
Ann M. Ollila, Horton E. Newsom, Benton Clark III, Roger C. Wiens, Agnes Cousin, Jen G. Blank, Nicolas Mangold, Violaine Sautter, Sylvestre Maurice, Samuel M. Clegg, Olivier Gasnault, Olivier Forni, Robert Tokar, Eric Lewin, M. Darby Dyar, Jeremie Lasue, Ryan Anderson, Scott M. McLennan, John Bridges, Dave Vaniman, Nina Lanza, Cecile Fabre, Noureddine Melikechi, Glynis M. Perett, John L. Campbell, Penelope L. King, Bruce Barraclough, Dorothea Delapp, Stephen Johnstone, Pierre-Yves Meslin, Anya Rosen-Gooding, Josh Williams
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets (119) 255-285
The ChemCam instrument package on the Mars rover, Curiosity, provides new capabilities to probe the abundances of certain trace elements in the rocks and soils on Mars using the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy technique. We focus on detecting and quantifying Li, Ba, Rb, and Sr in targets analyzed during the first...
The influence of light, stream gradient, and iron on Didymosphenia geminata bloom development in the Black Hills, South Dakota
Daniel A. James, Kyle Mosel, Steven R. Chipps
2014, Hydrobiologia (721) 117-127
The aquatic nuisance species Didymosphenia geminata was first documented in Rapid Creek of South Dakota’s Black Hills during 2002. Since then, blooms have occurred primarily in a 39-km section of Rapid Creek while blooms were rarely observed in other Black Hills streams. In this study, we evaluated factors related to...
Bioavailability and bioaccumulation of metal-based engineered nanomaterials in aquatic environments: Concepts and processes
Samuel N. Luoma, Farhan R. Khan, Marie-Noele Croteau
2014, Book chapter, Frontiers of nanoscience: Nanoscience and the environment
Bioavailability of Me-ENMs to aquatic organisms links their release into the environment to ecological implications. Close examination shows some important differences in the conceptual models that define bioavailability for metals and Me-ENMs. Metals are delivered to aquatic animals from Me-ENMs via water, ingestion, and incidental surface exposure. Both metal released...
Spatially explicit modeling to evaluate regional stream water quality
Stephen D. Preston, Richard B. Alexander, Gregory Schwarz, Richard A. Smith
2014, Book chapter, Comprehensive water quality and purification
Spatially referenced regressions on watershed attributes (SPARROW) models have been developed and applied over the past two decades to address the need for large-scale, spatially explicit information on stream water quality conditions. The strength of SPARROW models is that they describe the primary environmental processes that affect the supply and transport of...
Minimal changes in heart rate of incubating American Oystercatchers (Haematopus palliatus) in response to human activity
Tracy E. Borneman, Eli T. Rose, Theodore R. Simons
2014, The Condor (116) 493-503
An organism's heart rate is commonly used as an indicator of physiological stress due to environmental stimuli. We used heart rate to monitor the physiological response of American Oystercatchers (Haematopus palliatus) to human activity in their nesting environment. We placed artificial eggs with embedded microphones in 42 oystercatcher nests to...
Human infrastructure and invasive plant occurrence across rangelands of southwestern Wyoming, U.S.A.
Daniel J. Manier, Cameron L. Aldridge, Michael S. O’Donnell, Spencer Schell
2014, Rangeland Ecology and Management (67) 160-172
Although human influence across rural landscapes is often discussed, interactions between the native, natural systems and human activities are challenging to measure explicitly. We assessed the distribution of introduced, invasive species as related to anthropogenic infrastructure and environmental conditions across southwestern Wyoming. to discern...
Dry forest restoration and unassisted native tree seedling recruitment at Auwahi, Maui
Arthur C. Medeiros, E. I. von Allmen, C.G. Chimera
2014, Pacific Science (68) 33-45
Efforts to restore highly degraded but biologically significant forests draw from a limited toolbox. With less than 10% of their former distribution remaining, Hawaiian dry forests, though critically endangered, remain important biological and cultural refugia. At restoration onset (1997), vegetation of restoration and control areas of degraded Auwahi dry forest,...
Influence of sediment presence on freshwater mussel thermal tolerance
Jennifer M. Archambault, W. Gregory Cope, Thomas J. Kwak
2014, Freshwater Science (33) 56-65
Median lethal temperature (LT50) data from water-only exposures with the early life stages of freshwater mussels suggest that some species may be living near their upper thermal tolerances. However, evaluation of thermal sensitivity has never been conducted in sediment. Mussels live most of their lives burrowed in sediment, so understanding...
Size of age-0 crappies (Pomoxis spp.) relative to reservoir habitats and water levels
Levi J. Kaczka, Leandro E. Miranda
2014, Journal of Freshwater Ecology (29) 525-534
Variable year-class strength is common in crappie Pomoxis spp. populations in many reservoirs, yet the mechanisms behind this variability are poorly understood. Size-dependent mortality of age-0 fishes has long been recognized in the population ecology literature; however, investigations about the effects of environmental factors on age-0 crappie size are lacking....
Remarkable movements of an American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) in Florida
Michael S. Cherkiss, Frank J. Mazzotti, Lindsey Hord, Mario Aldecoa
2014, Southeastern Naturalist (13) N52-N56
Here we present the remarkable movements of an individual Crocodylus acutus (American Crocodile) over a 14-year period. The crocodile was originally marked in Homestead, FL as a young-of-the-year in 1999, and was later recaptured multiple times more than 388 km away along the southwest coast of Florida. After several relocations...
Sampling characteristics and calibration of snorkel counts to estimate stream fish populations
D. Weaver, Thomas J. Kwak, Kenneth Pollock
2014, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (34) 1159-1166
Snorkeling is a versatile technique for estimating lotic fish population characteristics; however, few investigators have evaluated its accuracy at population or assemblage levels. We evaluated the accuracy of snorkeling using prepositioned areal electrofishing (PAE) for estimating fish populations in a medium-sized Appalachian Mountain river during fall 2008 and summer 2009....
Habitat characteristics of North American tortoises
Kenneth E. Nussear, Tracey D. Tuberville
2014, Book chapter, Biology and conservation of North American tortoises
North American tortoises are distributed in semi-arid and temperate deserts and coastal regions of the southern United States and Mexico. The five species currently recognized each have specific habitat requirements, which they fulfill through their selection of, and interaction with unique habitat constituents. In this chapter we discuss the physiographic...
Fractionation of fulvic acid by iron and aluminum oxides: influence on copper toxicity to Ceriodaphnia dubia
Kathleen S. Smith, James F. Ranville, Emily K. Lesher, Daniel J. Diedrich, Diane M. McKnight, Ruth M. Sofield
2014, Environmental Science & Technology (48) 11934-11943
This study examines the effect on aquatic copper toxicity of the chemical fractionation of fulvic acid (FA) that results from its association with iron and aluminum oxyhydroxide precipitates. Fractionated and unfractionated FAs obtained from streamwater and suspended sediment were utilized in acute Cu toxicity tests on ,i>Ceriodaphnia dubia. Toxicity test...
Preliminary data used to assess the accuracy of estimating female white-tailed deer diel birthing-season home ranges using only daytime locations
Shannon M. Barber-Meyer, L. David Mech
2014, Wildlife Biology in Practice (10) 62-68
Because many white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) home-range and habitat-use studies rely only on daytime radio-tracking data, we were interested in whether diurnal data sufficiently represented diel home ranges. We analyzed home-range and core-use size and overlap of 8 adult-female Global-Positioning-System-collared deer during May and June 2001 and 2002 in the...
Panarchy: theory and application
Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Lance H. Gunderson, Crawford S. Holling
2014, Ecosystems (17) 578-589
The concept of panarchy provides a framework that characterizes complex systems of people and nature as dynamically organized and structured within and across scales of space and time. It has been more than a decade since the introduction of panarchy. Over this period, its invocation in peer-reviewed literature has been...
Influence of riparian and watershed alterations on sandbars in a Great Plains river
Jeffrey M. Fischer, Craig P. Paukert, M.L. Daniels
2014, River Research and Applications (31) 1140-1150
Anthropogenic alterations have caused sandbar habitats in rivers and the biota dependent on them to decline. Restoring large river sandbars may be needed as these habitats are important components of river ecosystems and provide essential habitat to terrestrial and aquatic organisms. We quantified factors within the riparian zone of the...
Spatially explicit modeling of lesser prairie-chicken lek density in Texas
Jennifer M. Timmer, M.J. Butler, Warren Ballard, Clint W. Boal, Heather A. Whitlaw
2014, Journal of Wildlife Management (78) 142-152
As with many other grassland birds, lesser prairie-chickens (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) have experienced population declines in the Southern Great Plains. Currently they are proposed for federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. In addition to a history of land-uses that have resulted in habitat loss, lesser prairie-chickens now face a new...
Density and abundance of Wilson's snipe Gallinago delicata in winter in the Lower Mississippi Flyway, USA
James M. Carroll, David G. Krementz
2014, Wildlife Biology (20) 108-114
Wilson's snipe Gallinago delicata is one of the least studied North American game birds, and information on snipe populations and abundance is mostly unknown. We conducted roadside surveys stratified at the township level in the lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV) in Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana, as well as the Red...
