Using fish community and population indicators to assess the biological condition of streams and rivers of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, USA
Kelly O. Maloney, Kevin P. Krause, Matthew J. Cashman, Wesley M. Daniel, Benjamin P. Gressler, Daniel J. Wieferich, John A. Young
2022, Ecological Indicators (134)
The development of indicators to assess relative freshwater condition is critical for management and conservation. Predictive modeling can enhance the utility of indicators by providing estimates of condition for unsurveyed locations. Such approaches grant understanding of where “good” and “poor” conditions occur and provide insight into landscape contexts supporting such conditions....
Institutional barriers to actionable science: Perspectives from decision support tool creators
Olivia Pearman, Amanda E. Cravens
2022, Environmental Science and Policy (128) 317-325
Scholars have identified a ‘usability gap’ between science and its ability to inform real-world decisions as well as a range of factors that facilitate or impede attempts to span the usability gap with information products. However, most attention has focused on barriers...
Translational science education through citizen science
Allison M. Young, Elizabeth F. van Mantgem, Alexis Garretson, Christine Noel, Toni Lyn Morelli
2022, Frontiers in Environmental Science (9)
Guided by the six elements of Translational Ecology (TE; i.e., decision-framing, collaboration, engagement, commitment, process, and communication), we showcase the first explicit example of a Translational Science Education (TSE) effort in the coastal redwood ecosystem of Humboldt County, CA. Using iNaturalist, a flexible and free citizen science/crowdsourcing app, we worked...
Multimineral petrophysics of thermally immature Eagle Ford Group and Cretaceous mudstones, U.S. Geological Survey Gulf Coast 1 research wellbore in central Texas
Lauri A. Burke, Justin E. Birdwell, Stanley T. Paxton
2022, Interpretation (10) T151-T165
Traditional petrophysical methods to evaluate organic richness and mineralogy using gamma-ray and resistivity log responses are not diagnostic in source rocks. We have developed a deterministic, nonproprietary method to quantify formation variability in total organic carbon (TOC) and three key mudrock mineralogical components of nonhydrocarbon-bearing...
Factors influencing the post-release movements of translocated fishers: Implications for translocation success
Jeffrey C. Lewis, Patricia J. Happe, Kurt Jenkins, David J. Manson
2022, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (13) 50-67
Long distance, post-release movements of translocated wildlife can be a key factor limiting translocation success. Yet, for many species, we have little or no understanding of factors that influence post-release movements. Translocations have been important for recovering fisher Pekania pennanti populations across the southern portion...
A scalable model-independent iterative data assimilation tool for sequential and batch estimation of high dimensional model parameters and states
Ayman H. Alzraiee, Jeremy T. White, Matthew Knowling, Randall J. Hunt, Michael N. Fienen
2022, Environmental Modelling & Software (150)
Ensemble-based data assimilation (DA) methods have displayed strong potential to improve model state and parameter estimation across several disciplines due to their computational efficiency, scalability, and ability to estimate uncertainty in the dynamic states and the parameters. However, a barrier to adoption of ensemble DA methods remains. Namely, there is currently a...
Estimating the pelagic ocean’s benefits to humanity can enhance ocean governance
Lida Teneva, Aaron L. Strong, Vera Agostini, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Evangelina G Drakou, Zachary H. Ancona, Kristina Gjerde, Andrew C Hume, Nicholas Jickling
2022, Marine Policy (136)
The human footprint on the global ocean is ever-increasing, particularly with new ways to grow food in the ocean, new technologies in marine energy production as a way to resolve climate change, and transport and commerce expanding across the ocean. Yet, human activities in...
Parameterizing an aeolian erosion model for rangelands
Brandon L. Edwards, Nicholas P. Webb, Magda Galloza, Justin W. Van Zee, Ericha M. Courtright, Bradley F. Cooper, Loretta J Metz, Jeffrey E. Herrick, Gregory S Okin, Michael C. Duniway, John Tatarko, Negussie Tedala, Daniel N Moriasi, Beth A. Newingham, Frederick B Pierson, David Toledo, Scott Van Pelt
2022, Aeolian Research (54)
Aeolian processes are fundamental to arid and semi-arid ecosystems, but modeling approaches are poorly developed for assessing impacts of management and environmental change on sediment transport rates over meaningful spatial and temporal scales. For model estimates to provide value, estimates of sediment flux that...
Low occurrence of multi-antimicrobial and heavy metal resistance in Salmonella enterica from wild birds in the United States
Yezhi Fu, Nkuchia M M’ikanatha, Chris A Whitehouse, Heather Tate, Andrea Ottensen, Jeffrey M. Lorch, David S. Blehert, Brenda M. Berlowski-Zier, Edward G. Dudley
2022, Environmental Microbiology (24) 1380-1394
Wild birds are common reservoirs of Salmonella enterica. Wild birds carrying resistant S. enterica may pose a risk to public health as they can spread the resistant bacteria across large spatial scales within a short time. Here, we whole-genome sequenced 375 S. enterica strains from wild birds collected in 41 U.S. states during 1978–2019 to examine bacterial...
Modern reporting methods for angler tag-return studies:Trends in data quality, choice of method, and future considerations
A.T. Taylor, A.M. Pepper, B. Chapagain, O. Joshi, James M. Long
2022, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (42) 189-199
Angler tag-return studies are a cornerstone of fisheries research, providing insights into individual movements and estimates of exploitation, among many other applications. However, the data generated from these studies is dependent upon effective communication between anglers and scientists. As technological advances are adopted by anglers, little research has been directed...
Identifying translocation sites for a climate relict population of Finescale Dace
Evan C.J. Booher, Annika W. Walters
2022, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (151) 245-259
Translocation is a management strategy that seeks to address threats to fish and wildlife populations by establishing new populations in ecologically suitable areas. Populations of Finescale Dace Chrosomus neogaeus in the Great Plains may benefit from translocation, as they exhibit a climate relict natural history that has led to a disjunct distribution...
The MODFLOW Application Programming Interface for simulationcontrol and software interoperability
Joseph D. Hughes, Martijn J. Russcher, Christian D. Langevin, Eric D. Morway, Richard R. McDonald
2022, Environmental Modelling & Software (148)
The MODFLOW API allows other programs to control MODFLOW and interactively change variables without having to modify the source code. The MODFLOW API is based on the Basic Model Interface (BMI), which is a set of conventions that define how...
A review of algal toxin exposures on reserved federal lands and among trust species in the United States
Zachary R. Laughrey, Victoria Christensen, Robert J. Dusek, Sarena Senegal, Julia S. Lankton, Tracy Ziegler, Lee C. Jones, Daniel K. Jones, Brianna Williams, Stephanie E. Gordon, Gerald A. Clyde, Erich B Emery, Keith A. Loftin
2022, Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology (52) 4284-4307
Associated health effects from algal toxin exposure are a growing concern for human and animal health. Algal toxin poisonings may occur from contact with or consumption of water supplies or from ingestion of contaminated animals. The U.S. Federal Government owns or holds in trust about 259 million...
Ergodic site response model for subduction zone regions
Grace Alexandra Parker, Jonathan P. Stewart
2022, Earthquake Spectra (38) 841-864
We present an ergodic site response model with regional adjustments for use with subduction zone ground-motion models. The model predicts site amplification of peak ground acceleration, peak ground velocity, and 5% damped pseudo-spectral accelerations of the orientation-independent horizonal component for oscillator periods from 0.01 to 10 s. The...
Palaeoceanographic changes in the late Pliocene promoted rapid diversification in pelagic seabirds
Joan Ferrer-Obiol, Helen F. James, R. Terry Chesser, Vincent Bretagnolle, Jacob Gonzalez-Solis, Julio Rozas, Andreanna J. Welch, Marta Riutort
2022, Journal of Biogeography (49) 171-188
AimPalaeoceanographic changes can act as drivers of diversification and speciation, even in highly mobile marine organisms. Shearwaters are a group of globally distributed and highly mobile pelagic seabirds. Despite a recent well-resolved phylogeny, shearwaters have controversial species limits, and show periods of both slow and rapid diversification....
What determines the effectiveness of Pinyon-Juniper clearing treatments? Evidence from the remote sensing archive and counter-factual scenarios
Stephen E. Fick, Travis W. Nauman, Colby C. Brungard, Michael C. Duniway
2022, Forest Ecology and Management (505)
In the intermountain western US, expansion of Pinyon (Pinus edulis) and Juniper (Juniperus spp.) woodlands (PJ) into grasslands and shrublands is a pervasive phenomenon, and an example of the global trend towards enhanced woody growth in drylands. Due to the perceived impacts of these...
Seismotectonic analysis of the 2019–2020 Puerto Rico sequence: The value of absolute earthquake relocations in improved interpretations of active tectonics
C.W. Cromwell, K.P. Furlong, E.A. Bergman, Harley M. Benz, William L. Yeck, M. Herman
2022, Seismological Research Letters (93) 544-554
We present a new catalog of calibrated earthquake relocations from the 2019–2020 Puerto Rico earthquake sequence related to the 7 January 2020 Mw 6.4 earthquake that occurred offshore of southwest Puerto Rico at a depth of 15.9 km. Utilizing these relocated earthquakes and associated moment tensor...
Quantifying the influence of different biocrust community states and their responses to warming temperatures on soil biogeochemistry in field and mesocosm studies
Scott Ferrrenberg, Colin L Tucker, Robin H. Reibold, Armin J. Howell, Sasha C. Reed
2022, Geoderma (409)
Biocrusts influence soil biogeochemistry by fixing carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) and through leachate inputs to soils. Functional rates can vary among biocrust community states and in response to edaphic properties, heterotrophic microbial activity, and global change. Using soils and biocrusts from the Colorado Plateau, Utah, USA, we aimed to...
Empirically validated drought vulnerability mapping in the mixed conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada
Adrian Das, Michele R Slaton, Jeffrey Mallory, Gregory P. Asner, Roberta E. Martin, Paul Hardwick
2022, Ecological Applications (32)
Severe droughts are predicted to become more frequent in the future, and the consequences of such droughts on forests can be dramatic, resulting in massive tree mortality, rapid change in forest structure and composition, and substantially increased risk of catastrophic fire. Forest managers have tools at their disposal to try...
Complex demographic responses to contrasting climate drivers lead to divergent population trends across the range of a threatened alpine plant
Lucas Fortini, Paul Krushelnycky, Donald Drake, Forest Starr, Kim Starr, Charles G. Chimera
2022, Global Ecology and Conservation (33)
Alpine plants are likely to be particularly vulnerable to climate change because of their restricted distributions and sensitivity to rapid environmental shifts occurring in high-elevation ecosystems. The well-studied Haleakalā silversword (‘āhinahina, Argyroxiphium sandwicense subsp. macrocephalum) already exhibits substantial climate-associated population decline, and offers the opportunity to...
Capacity of two Sierra Nevada rivers for reintroduction of anadromous salmonids: Insights from a high-resolution view
David A. Boughton, Lee R. Harrison, Sara N. John, Rosealea M. Bond, Colin L. Nicol, Carl J. Legleiter, Ryan T. Richardson
2022, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (151) 13-41
Historically, anadromous steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss and spring-run Chinook Salmon O. tshawytscha used high-elevation rivers in the Sierra Nevada of California but were extirpated in the 20th century by construction of impassable dams. Plans to reintroduce the fish by opening migratory passage across the dams and reservoirs can only succeed if...
Visualizing social-ecological intensities for management of recreation visitors in a multiuse system
O. A. DaRugna, C. J. Chizinski, Kevin L. Pope, L. A. Powell, M. A. Kaemik
2022, Journal of Environmental Management (304)
Accounting for the variation of visitor conflicts and ecological disturbance of outdoor recreation activities across space and time can cause difficulty for managers seeking to make decisions in social-ecological systems (SESs). We develop a method to quantify and visualize social and ecological intensities resulting from outdoor recreation. We demonstrate the utility of...
Crowding, climate, and the case for social distancing among trees
Tucker J. Furniss, Adrian Das, Phillip J. van Mantgem, Nathan L. Stephenson, James A. Lutz
2022, Ecological Applications (32)
In an emerging era of megadisturbance, bolstering forest resilience to wildfire, insects, and drought has become a central objective in many western forests. Climate has received considerable attention as a driver of these disturbances, but few studies have examined the complexities of climate–vegetation–disturbance interactions. Current strategies for creating resilient forests...
Both real-time and long-term environmental data perform well in predicting shorebird distributions in managed habitat
Erin Conlisk, Gregory Golet, Mark Reynolds, Blake Barbaree, Kristin Sesser, Kristin B. Byrd, Sam Veloz, Matt Reiter
2022, Ecological Applications (32)
Highly mobile species, such as migratory birds, respond to seasonal and inter-annual variability in resource availability by moving to better habitats. Despite the recognized importance of resource thresholds, species distribution models typically rely on long-term average habitat conditions, mostly because large-extent, temporally-resolved, environmental data are difficult...
Velocity-porosity relations in carbonate and siliciclastic subduction zone input materials
Tamara Nicole Jeppson, Hiroko Kitajima
2022, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (23)
The mechanical, physical, and frictional properties of incoming materials play an important role in subduction zone structure and slip behavior because these properties influence the strength of the accretionary wedge and megathrust plate boundary faults. Incoming sediment sections often show an increase in compressional wave speed (Vp) and a decrease...
