Consequences of migratory coupling of predators and prey when mediated by human actions
Navinder J. Singh, Fraucke Ecke, Todd E. Katzner, Sumanta Bagchi, Per Sandstrom, Birger Hornfeldt
2021, Diversity and Distributions (27) 1848-1860
AimAnimal migrations influence ecosystem structure, dynamics and persistence of predator and prey populations. The theory of migratory coupling postulates that aggregations of migrant prey can induce large-scale synchronized movements in predators, and this coupling is consequential for the dynamics of ecological communities. The degree to which humans...
Translational invasion ecology: Bridging research and practice to address one of the greatest threats to biodiversity
Toni Lyn Morelli, Carrie Brown-Lima, Jenica M. Allen, Evelyn M. Beaury, Emily J. Fusco, Audrey Barker-Plotkin, Brittany B. Laginhas, Brendan Quirion, Bridget Griffin, Blair McLaughlin, Lara Munro, Nancy Olmstead, Julie Richburg, Bethany A. Bradley
2021, Biological Invasions (23) 3323-3335
Effective natural resource management and policy is contingent on information generated by research. Conversely, the applicability of research depends on whether it is responsive to the needs and constraints of resource managers and policy makers. However, many scientific fields including invasion ecology suffer from a disconnect...
Human-polar bear interactions
Todd C. Atwood, James Wilder
Randall W. Davis, Anthony M. Pagano, editor(s)
2021, Book chapter, Ethology and behavioral ecology of sea otters and polar bears
Human-wildlife interactions (HWI) are driven fundamentally by overlapping space and resources. As competition intensifies, the likelihood of interaction and conflict increases. In turn, conflict may impede conservation efforts by lowering social tolerance of wildlife, especially when human-wildlife conflict (HWC) poses a threat to human safety and economic well-being. Thus, mitigating...
Sea otter foraging behavior
Randall W. Davis, James L. Bodkin
2021, Book chapter, Ethology and behavioral ecology of sea otters and polar bears
Sea otters are marine specialists but diet generalists, which feed primarily on benthic mega-invertebrates (i.e., body dimension >1 cm). They locate and capture epibenthic and infaunal prey with their forepaws by relying on vision and tactile sensitivity during short-duration dives (generally <2 min) in shallow waters (routine dives <30 m and maximum dive depth...
Evaluating corticosterone as a biomarker for amphibians exposed to increased salinity and ambient corticosterone
Brian J. Tornabene, Blake R. Hossack, Erica J Crespi, Creagh W Breuner
2021, Conservation Physiology (9)
Physiological biomarkers are commonly used to assess the health of taxa exposed to natural and anthropogenic stressors. Glucocorticoid (GC) hormones are often used as indicators of physiological stress in wildlife because they affect growth, reproduction and survival. Increased salinity from human activities negatively influences amphibians and their corticosterone (CORT; the...
The petrologic and degassing behavior of sulfur and other magmatic volatiles from the 2018 eruption of Kīlauea, Hawaiʻi: Melt concentrations, magma storage depths, and magma recycling
Allan Lerner, Paul J. Wallace, Thomas Shea, Adrien Mourey, Peter J. Kelly, Patricia A. Nadeau, Tamar Elias, Christoph Kern, Laura E. Clor, Cheryl Gansecki, R. Lopaka Lee, Lowell Moore, Cynthia A. Werner
2021, Bulletin of Volcanology (83)
Kīlauea Volcano’s 2018 lower East Rift Zone (LERZ) eruption produced exceptionally high lava effusion rates and record-setting SO2 emissions. The eruption involved a diverse range of magmas, including primitive basalts sourced from Kīlauea’s summit reservoirs. We analyzed LERZ matrix glasses, melt inclusions, and host minerals to identify...
Active Mars: A dynamic world
Colin M. Dundas, Patricio Becerra, Shane Byrne, Matthew Chojnacki, Ingrid J. Daubar, Serina Diniega, Candice J. Hansen, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, Margaret E. Landis, Alfred S. McEwen, Ganna Portyankina, Adomas Valantinas
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets (126)
Mars exhibits diverse surface changes at all latitudes and all seasons. Active processes include impact cratering, aeolian sand and dust transport, a variety of slope processes, changes in polar ices, and diverse effects of seasonal CO2 frost. The extent of surface change has been surprising and indicates that...
Vulnerability of Pacific salmon to invasion of northern pike (Esox lucius) in Southcentral Alaska
Chase S. Jalbert, Jeffrey A. Falke, Andres Lopez, Kristine J. Dunker, Adam Sepulveda, Peter A. H. Westley
2021, PLoS ONE (16)
The relentless role of invasive species in the extinction of native biota requires predictions of ecosystem vulnerability to inform proactive management strategies. The worldwide invasion and range expansion of predatory northern pike (Esox lucius) has been linked to the decline of native...
Earthquake source mechanisms and stress field variations associated with wastewater-induced seismicity in southern Kansas, USA
Amandine Amemotou, Patricia Martinez-Garzon, Grzegorz Kwiatek, Justin Rubinstein, Marco Bohnhoff
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research (126)
The strong increase of seismicity rates in the contiguous USA over the last 10 years is linked to the injection of huge amounts of wastewater from oil and gas production in unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs. We calculated 549 moment tensors of induced earthquakes (MW ≤ 4.9) in southern Kansas to study...
Insights on geochemical, isotopic, and volumetric compositions of produced water from hydraulically fractured Williston Basin oil wells
Tanya J. Gallegos, Colin A. Doolan, Rodney R. Caldwell, Mark A Engle, Matthew S. Varonka, Justin E. Birdwell, Glenn D. Jolly, Tyler B. Coplen, Thomas A. Oliver
2021, Environmental Science and Technology (55) 10025-10034
Tracing produced water origins from wells hydraulically fractured with freshwater-based fluids is sometimes predicated on assumptions that (1) each geological formation contains compositionally unique brine and (2) produced water from recently hydraulically fractured wells resembles fresher meteoric water more so than produced water from older wells. These assumptions are not...
Elk monitoring in Mount Rainier and Olympic National Parks: 2008-2017 synthesis report
Kurt Jenkins, B. C. Lubow, P. J. Happe, K. Braun, J. Boetsch, W. Baccus, T. Chestnut, D. J. Vales, B. J. Moeller, M. Tirhi, E. Holman, P. C. Griffin
2021, Natural Resource Report NPS/NCCN/NRR-2021/2284
In 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began collaborating with the National Park Service (NPS)-North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN), the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe (MIT), Puyallup Tribe of Indians (PTOI), and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to develop a standard survey protocol for monitoring long-term changes in the...
What is the effect of poaching activity on wildlife species?
Jennifer F. Moore, Eustrate Uzabaho, Abel Musana, Prosper Uwingell, James E. Hines, James D. Nichols
2021, Ecological Applications (31)
Poaching is a pervasive threat to wildlife, yet quantifying the direct effect of poaching on wildlife is rarely possible because both wildlife and threat data are infrequently collected concurrently. In this study, we used poaching data collected through the Management Information System (MIST) and wildlife camera trap data collected by...
Wetlands
Brian Tangen, Sheel Bansal
2021, Report, Recarbonizing global soils – A technical manual of recommended management practices
During the last decades, soil organic carbon (SOC) attracted the attention of a much wider array of specialists beyond agriculture and soil science, as it was proven to be one of the most crucial components of the earth’s climate system, which has a great potential to be managed by humans....
Predicting water temperature dynamics of unmonitored lakes with meta-transfer learning
Jared Willard, Jordan Read, Alison P. Appling, Samantha K. Oliver, Xiaowei Jia, Vipin Kumar
2021, Water Resources Research (57)
Most environmental data come from a minority of well-monitored sites. An ongoing challenge in the environmental sciences is transferring knowledge from monitored sites to unmonitored sites. Here, we demonstrate a novel transfer-learning framework that accurately predicts depth-specific temperature in unmonitored lakes (targets) by borrowing models from well-monitored lakes (sources). This...
Exploring GPS observations of postseismic deformation following the 2012 MW7.8 Haida Gwaii and 2013 MW7.5 Craig, Alaska Earthquakes: Implications for viscoelastic Earth structure
Katherine A. Guns, Frederick Pollitz, Thorne Lay, Han Yue
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (126)
The Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault (QC-FF) system off the coast of British Columbia and southeast Alaska is a highly active dextral strike-slip plate boundary that accommodates ∼50 mm/yr of relative motion between the Pacific and North America plates. Nine MW ≥ 6.7 earthquakes have occurred along the QC-FF system since 1910, including a MS(G-R)8.1 event in...
National Park Service Vegetation Mapping Inventory Program: Great Smoky Mountains National Park vegetation mapping project
Kevin D. Hop, Andrew C. Strassman, Stephanie Sattler, Rickie White, Milo Pyne, Tom Govus, Jennifer Dieck
2021, Natural Resource Report 2021/2285
The National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Mapping Inventory (VMI) Program is an effort to classify, describe, and map existing vegetation communities in national park units throughout the United States. The NPS VMI Program is managed by the NPS Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Inventory and Monitoring Program and provides baseline...
Context-dependent deep learning
Roy M. Turner, Cyndy Loftin, Alex Revello, Logan R. Kline, Meredith Lewis, Salimeh Yasai-Sekeh
2021, Modeling and Using Context (4)
Explicitly representing an agent’s context has been shown to have many benefits, which should also apply to machine learning. In this paper, we describe an approach to do this called context-dependent deep learning (CDDL), which is based on earlier work in context-mediated behavior (CMB) that uses contextual schemas (c-schemas) to...
Alaska Landbird Conservation Plan
Travis L. Booms, Melissa N. Cady, Cheryl A. Carrothers, Lucas H. DeCicco, Maureen L. de Zeeuw, Melanie J. Flamme, Julie Hagelin, Colleen M. Handel, James A. Johnson, Matthew D. Kirchoff, Michelle L. Kissling, Stephen B. Lewis, Steven M. Matsuoka, Debora A. Nigro, Deborah E. Perkins, Heather M. Renner, Susan E. Savage, Kristine M. Sowl, Susan M. Sharbaugh, Iain J Stenhouse, Caroline R. Van Hemert
Colleen M. Handel, Iain Stenhouse, Steven M. Matsuoka, editor(s)
2021, Report
Alaska is a land of extremes. The diversity of its avifauna reflects the heterogeneity of its landscape, with more than 500 species of birds recorded in the state. Species inhabiting primarily terrestrial habitats, known collectively as landbirds, constitute the largest and most ecologically diverse component of the Alaska avifauna. Habitats...
Assessing recovery of spectacled eiders using a Bayesian decision analysis
K.D. Dunham, E.E. Osnas, C. Frost, J.B. Fischer, J. Barry Grand
2021, PLoS ONE (16)
Assessing species status and making classification decisions under the Endangered Species Act is a critical step towards effective species conservation. However, classification decisions are liable to two errors: i) failing to classify a species as threatened or endangered that should be classified (underprotection), or ii) classifying a species as threatened...
Knowledge synthesis of Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow science
Allison Benscoter, Saira Haider, Kelly G. Guilbeau, Stephanie Romanach
2021, Report
This report represents a literature review of science conducted on the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow (Ammospiza maritima mirabilis, hereafter “CSSS” or “spar-row”). This information can be used as a foundation for the upcoming Species Status Assessment and for updating the CSSS Recovery Plan. This report focuses on areas of interest...
Economic geology and environmental characteristics of antimony deposits
Robert R. Seal, II
2021, Book chapter, Antimony
Antimony is commonly listed as a critical mineral, particularly in the United States and European Union [1]. Its criticality, or supply risk, is derived from a combination of economic vulnerability, disruption potential of supply, and trade exposure [2].Disruption potential relates a country’s ability and willingness to supply a commodity. Commodities...
Climate change scenario planning for resource stewardship at Wind Cave National Park
Amber N. Runyon, Gregor W. Schuurman, Brian W. Miller, Amy Symstad, Amanda Hardy
2021, Natural Resource Report NPS/NRSS/NRR—2021/2274
This report explains scenario planning as a climate change adaptation tool in general, then describes how it was applied to Wind Cave National Park as the second part of a pilot project to dovetail climate change scenario planning with National Park Service (NPS) Resource Stewardship Strategy development. In the orientation...
A tale of two valleys: Endangered species policy and the fate of the giant gartersnake
Brian J. Halstead, Patricia Valcarcel, Richard Kim, Anna Jordan, Jonathan P. Rose, Shannon Skalos, Gabriel Reyes, Julia Ersan, Michael L. Casazza, Allison Essert, Alexandria M Fulton
2021, California Fish and Wildlife 264-283
By the mid-20th Century, giant gartersnakes (Thamnophis gigas) had lost more than 90% of their Central Valley marsh habitat and were extirpated from more than two-thirds of their range. This massive habitat loss led to their inclusion in the inaugural list of rare species under the California Endangered Species Act...
2020 Status of the Lake Ontario lower trophic levels
Kristen T. Holeck, Lars G. Rudstam, Christopher Hotaling, Dave Lemon, Web Pearsall, Jana Lantry, Mike Connerton, Chris Legard, Zy Biesinger, Brian F. Lantry, Brian Weidel, Brian O’Malley
2021, Book chapter, NYSDEC Lake Ontario annual report 2020
Significant Findings for Year 2020: Note that due to covid-19 restrictions, offshore sampling was limited in 2020.1) May – Oct total phosphorus (TP) in 2020 was 10.6 µg/L (offshore) and 7.7 µg/L (nearshore), higher than the long-term (1995-2019) average in the offshore (6.2 µg/L) and close to average in the...
Geophysical insights into Paleoproterozoic tectonics along the southern margin of the Superior Province, central Upper Peninsula, Michigan
Benjamin J. Drenth, William F. Cannon, Klaus Schulz, Robert A. Ayuso
2021, Conference Paper, Proceedings: Volume 67, part 1: Programs and abstracts
No abstract available....