Inclusion of pesticide transformation products is key to estimating pesticide exposures and effects in small U.S. streams
Barbara Mahler, Lisa H. Nowell, Mark W. Sandstrom, Paul M. Bradley, Kristin M. Romanok, Christopher Konrad, Peter Van Metre
2021, Environmental Science and Technology (55) 4740-4752
Improved analytical methods can quantify hundreds of pesticide transformation products (TPs), but understanding of TP occurrence and potential toxicity in aquatic ecosystems remains limited. We quantified 108 parent pesticides and 116 TPs in more than 3 700 samples from 442 small streams in mostly urban basins across five major regions of...
Commentary: The role of geodetic algorithms for earthquake early warning in Cascadia
Jeffrey J. McGuire, Sarah E. Minson, Jessica R. Murray, Benjamin A. Brooks
2021, Geophysical Research Letters (48)
The ShakeAlert earthquake early warning (EEW) system issues public alerts in California and will soon extend to Oregon and Washington. The Cascadia subduction zone presents significant new challenges and opportunities for EEW. Initial publications suggested that EEW algorithms based on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data could provide improved warning...
Partitioning and transformation of organic and inorganic phosphorus among dissolved, colloidal and particulate phases in a hypereutrophic freshwater estuary
Bin Yang, Hui Lin, Sarah L Bartlett, Erin M Houghton, Dale M. Robertson, Laodong Guo
2021, Water Research (196)
Phosphorus (P) loadings to the Great Lakes have been regulated for decades, but re-eutrophication and seasonal hypoxia have recently been increasingly reported. It is of paramount importance to better understand the fate, transformation, and biogeochemical cycling processes of different P species across the river-lake interface....
Argentine Black and White Tegu (Salvator merianae) can survive the winter under semi-natural conditions well beyond their current invasive range
Scott Michael Goetz, David A. Steen, Melissa A. Miller, Craig Guyer, Jack Kottwitz, John F. Roberts, Emmett Blankenship, Phillip R. Pearson, Daniel A. Warner, Robert Reed
2021, PLoS ONE (16)
The Argentine Black and White Tegu (Salvator merianae, formerly Tupinambis merianae) is a large lizard from South America. Now established and invasive in southern Florida, and it poses threats to populations of many native species. Models suggest much of the southern United States may contain suitable temperature regimes for this species,...
Efficacy of detection canines for avian botulism surveillance and mitigation
Michelle H Reynolds, Kyoko N Johnson, Eleni Schvaneveldt, Dan L Dewy, Kim J Uyehara, Steven C. Hess
2021, Conservation Science and Practice (3)
Hawai'i's endangered waterbirds have experienced epizootics caused by ingestion of prey that accumulated a botulinum neurotoxin produced by the anaerobic bacterium Clostridium botulinum (avian botulism; Type C). Waterbird carcasses, necrophagous flies, and their larvae initiate and spread avian botulism, a food-borne paralytic disease lethal to waterbirds. Each new carcass has potential to...
Probabilities of detecting submersed aquatic vegetation species using a rake method may vary with biomass
Brian R. Gray
2021, Aquatic Botany (171)
Levels of submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) are commonly assessed using a modified garden rake. However, the utility of the rake sampling method relative to methods that are typically viewed as more definitive (and expensive) such as snorkeling and coring remains a matter of debate. This study explores whether probabilities of...
Development and validation of a spatially-explicit agent-based model for space utilization by African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) based on determinants of movement
Stephanie G. Diaz, Donald L. DeAngelis, Michael S. Gaines, Andrew Purdon, Michael A. Mole, Rudi J. van Aarde
2021, Ecological Modelling (447)
African elephants (Loxodonta africana) are well-studied and inhabit diverse landscapes that are being transformed by both humans and natural forces. Most tools currently in use are limited in their ability to predict how elephants will respond to novel changes in the environment. Individual-, or agent-based modeling (ABM), may extend current methods in...
UAV-based estimate of snow cover dynamics: Optimizing semi-arid forest structure for snow persistence
Adam Belmonte, Temuulen T. Sankey, Joel Biedermann, John B. Bradford, Scott J Goetz, Thomas Kolb
2021, Remote Sensing (13)
Seasonal snow cover in the dry forests of the American West provides essential water resources to both human and natural systems. The structure of trees and their arrangement across the landscape are important drivers of snow cover distribution across these forests, varying widely in both space and time. We used...
Characterizing stress orientations in southern Kansas
Robert Skoumal, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Kayla A. Kroll, Justin Rubinstein, Devin McPhillips
2021, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (3) 1445-1454
Induced seismicity predominantly occurs along faults that are optimally oriented to the local principal compressive stress direction, and the characterization of these stress orientations is an important component of understanding seismic hazards. The seismicity rate in southern Kansas rapidly increased in 2013 primarily due to the disposal of large volumes...
Fish habitat use and food web structure following pond and plug restoration of a Montane Meadow in the Sierra Nevada, California
Lora Tennant, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, James Willacker, Matthew Johnson
2021, Northwest Naturalist (102) 30-42
Montane meadows are areas of high biodiversity and provide many important ecosystem services; however, degradation of 40–60% of these habitats in the Sierra Nevada region of California has left many of these areas impaired. The “pond-and-plug” meadow-restoration technique is 1 type of treatment implemented...
Temperature‐associated decreases in demographic rates of Afrotropical bird species over 30 years
Monte Neate-Clegg, Thomas Stanley, Cagen Sekerciouglu, William Newmard
2021, Global Change Biology (27) 2254-2268
Tropical mountains harbor globally significant levels of biodiversity and endemism. Climate change threatens many tropical montane species, yet little research has assessed the effects of climate change on the demographic rates of tropical species, particularly in the Afrotropics. Here, we report on the demographic rates of...
Augmented normalized difference water index for improved monitoring of surface water
Arash Modaresi Rad, Jason R. Kreitler, Mojitaba Sadegh
2021, Environmental Modeling and Software (140)
We present a comprehensive critical review of well-established satellite remote sensing water indices and offer a novel, robust Augmented Normalized Difference Water Index (ANDWI). ANDWI employs an expanded set of spectral bands, RGB, NIR, and SWIR1-2, to maximize the contrast between water and non-water pixels. Further, we implement a dynamic thresholding method, the...
Global Changes in 20-year, 50-year and 100-year River Floods
Louise Slater, Gabriele Villarini, Stacey A. Archfield, Daniel R. Faulkner, R. N. Lambe, A. Khouakhi, Jiabo Yin
2021, Geophysical Research Letters (48)
Concepts like the 100-year flood event can be misleading if they are not updated to reflect significant changes over time. Here, we model observed annual maximum daily streamflow using a nonstationary approach to provide the first global picture of changes in: (a) the magnitudes of the 20-,...
U.S. Geological Survey migratory bird science, 2020–21
Aaron T. Pearse, Mark H. Sherfy, Mark Wimer, Mona Khalil, Mark T. Wiltermuth
2021, Circular 1480
Bird conservation as an endeavor engages a broad range of partners and a coordinated effort across State and Federal agencies, nongovernment organizations, universities and, at times, international partnerships. To understand information needs and respond to the many challenges in bird conservation, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists participate in Flyway...
Continent-wide tree fecundity driven by indirect climate effects
James S. Clark, Robert A. Andrus, Melaine Aubry-Kientz, Yves Bergeron, Michal Bogdziewicz, Don C. Bragg, Dale G. Brockway, Natalie L. Cleavitt, Susan Cohen, Benoit Courbaud, Robert Daley, Adrian Das, Michael Dietze, Timothy J. Fahey, Istem Fer, Jerry F. Franklin, Catherine A. Gehring, Gregory S. Gilbert, Catheryn H Greenberg, Qinfeng Guo, Janneke Hille Ris Lambers, Ines Ibanez, Jill F. Johnstone, Christopher L. Kilner, Johannes MH Knops, Walter D. Koenig, Georges Kunstler, Jalene M. LaMontagne, Kristin L Legg, Jordan Luongo, James A. Lutz, Diana Macias, Eliot J. B. McIntire, Yassine Messaoud, Christopher M. Moore, Emily V. Moran, Orrin B Myers, Chase Nunez, Robert Parmenter, Scott Pearson, Renata Poulton Kamakura, Ethan Ready, Miranda D. Redmond, Chantal D. Reid, Kyle C. Rodman, C. Lane Scher, Wiliam H Schlesinger, Amanda M Schwantes, Erin Shanahan, Shubhi Sharma, Michael A. Steele, Nathan L. Stephenson, Samantha Sutton, Jennifer J. Swenson, Margaret Swift, Thomas T. Veblen, Amy V. Whipple, Thomas G. Whitham, Andreas P. Wion, Kai Zhu, Roman Zlotin
2021, Nature Communications (12)
Indirect climate effects on tree fecundity that come through variation in size and growth (climate-condition interactions) are not currently part of models used to predict future forests. Trends in species abundances predicted from meta-analyses and species distribution models will be misleading if they depend on the...
Inconsistent browning of northeastern U.S. lakes despite increased precipitation and recovery from acidification
Jean-Francois Lapierre, Sarah M. Collins, Samantha K. Oliver, Emily H. Stanley, Tyler Wagner
2021, Ecosphere (12)
Multiple studies have reported widespread browning of Northern Hemisphere lakes. Most examples are from boreal lakes that have experienced limited human influence, and browning has alternatively been attributed to changes in atmospheric deposition, climate, and land use. To determine the extent and possible causes of browning...
Migrating whooping cranes avoid wind-energy infrastructure when selecting stopover habitat
Aaron T. Pearse, Kristine L. Metzger, David A. Brandt, Jill A. Shaffer, Mark T. Bidwell, Wade C. Harrell
2021, Ecological Applications (31)
Electricity generation from renewable-energy sources has increased dramatically worldwide in recent decades. Risks associated with wind-energy infrastructure are not well understood for endangered whooping cranes or other vulnerable crane populations. From 2010 to 2016, we monitored 57 whooping cranes with remote-telemetry devices in the United States Great Plains to determine...
Assessment of peak flow scaling and Its effect on flood quantile estimation in the United Kingdom
Giuseppe Formetta, Thomas M. Over, Elizabeth Stewart
2021, Water Resources Research (57)
Regional flood frequency analysis (RFFA) methods are essential tools to assess flood hazard and plan interventions for its mitigation. They are used to estimate flood quantiles when the at‐site record of streamflow data is not available or limited. One commonly used RFFA method is the index flood method (IFM), which...
Prioritizing landscapes for grassland bird conservation with hierarchical community models
Adrian Pierre-Frederic Monroe, David R. Edmunds, Cameron L. Aldridge, Matthew J Holloran, Timothy J Assal, Alison G Holloran
2021, Landscape Ecology (36) 1023-1038
ContextGiven widespread population declines of birds breeding in North American grasslands, management that sustains wildlife while supporting rancher livelihoods is needed. However, management effects vary across landscapes, and identifying areas with the greatest potential bird response to conservation is a pressing research need.ObjectivesWe developed a hierarchical...
Slip distribution and rupture history of the August 11, 2012, double earthquakes in Ahar – Varzaghan, Iran, using joint inversion of teleseismic broadband and local strong motion data
Atefeh Saltanatpouri, Stephen H. Hartzell, Habib Rahimi, Rahmatollah Rouhollahi, Rouholla Amiri Fard
2021, Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors (313)
We use combined teleseismic and strong motion data sets to investigate finite-fault slip models for a double of earthquakes that occurred on August 11, 2012, in northwestern Iran near the cities of Ahar and Varzaghan. The data include teleseismic P-waveforms retrieved from broadband seismic stations located between 30°–94° from...
Cyanotoxin mixture models: Relating environmental variables and toxin co-occurrence to human exposure risk
Victoria Christensen, Erin A. Stelzer, Barbara C. Scudder Eikenberry, Hayley T. Olds, Jaime F. LeDuc, Ryan P. Maki, Jack E. Norland, Eakalak Khan
2021, Journal of Hazardous Materials (415)
Toxic cyanobacterial blooms, often containing multiple toxins, are a serious public health issue. However, there are no known models that predict a cyanotoxin mixture (anatoxin-a, microcystin, saxitoxin). This paper presents two cyanotoxin mixture models (MIX) and compares them to two microcystin (MC) models from data collected in 2016–2017 from three...
Simulation of dissolved organic carbon flux in the Penobscot Watershed, Maine
Shabnam Rouhani, Crystal B. Schaaf, Thomas G. Huntington, Janet Choate
2021, Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology (21) 256-270
Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is an important component of the carbon cycle as a measure of the hydrological transport of carbon between terrestrial carbon pools into soil pools and eventually into streams. As a result, changes in DOC in rivers and streams may indicate alterations in the storage of terrestrial...
Population density, distribution, and trends of landbirds in the National Park of American Samoa, Ta‘ū and Tutuila Units (2011–2018)
Seth Judge, Richard J. Camp, Visa Vaivai, Patrick J. Hart
2021, Report
The National Park of American Samoa (NPSA) was surveyed for landbirds from June through July, 2018. Surveys were conducted using point-transect distance sampling methods to estimate bird densities. This information provides the second datum in the time-series of landbird monitoring for long-term trends in landbird distribution, density, and abundance within...
The making of the NEAM Tsunami Hazard Model 2018 (NEAMTHM18)
Roberto Basili, Beatriz Brizuela, Andre Herrero, Sarfraz Iqbal, Stefano Lorito, Francesco Emanuele Maesano, Shane Murphy, Paolo Perfetti, Fabrizio Romano, Antonio Scala, Jacopo Selva, Matteo Taroni, Mara Monica Tiberti, Hong Kie Thio, R. Tonini, Manuela Volpe, Sylfest Glimsdal, Carl B. Harbitz, Finn Lovholt, Maria Ana Baptista, Fernando Carrilho, Luis M. A. Matias, Rachid Omira, Andrey Babeyko, Andreas Hoechner, Mucahit Gurbuz, Onur Pekcan, A. Yalciner, Miquel Canals, Galderic Lastras, Apostolos Agalos, Gerassimo Papadapoulos, Ioanna Triantafyllou, Sabah Benchekroun, Hedi Agrebi Jaouadi, Samir Ben Abdallah, Atef Bouallegue, Hassene Hamdi, Foued Oueslati, A. Amato, Alberto Armigliato, Jorn Behrens, Gareth Davies, Daniela Di Bucci, Mauro Dolce, Eric L. Geist, Jose Manuel Gonzalez Vida, Mauricio Gonzalez, Jorges Macias Sanchez, C. Meletti, Ceren Ozer Sozdinler, Marco Pagani, Tom Parsons, Jascha Polet, William Power, Mathilde B. Sorensen, Andrey Zaytsev
2021, Frontiers in Earth Science (8)
The NEAM Tsunami Hazard Model 2018 (NEAMTHM18) is a probabilistic hazard model for tsunamis generated by earthquakes. It covers the coastlines of the North-eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and connected seas (NEAM). NEAMTHM18 was designed as a three-phase project. The first two phases were dedicated to the model development...
The role of surges during periods of very shallow water on sediment transport over tidal flats
Qian Zhang, Zheng Gong, Changkuan Zhang, Jessica R. Lacy, Bruce E. Jaffe, Beibei Xu, Xindi Chen
2021, Frontiers in Marine Science (8)
Periods of very shallow water (water depth in the order of 10 cm) occur daily on tidal flats because of the propagation of tides over very gently sloping beds, leading to distinct morphodynamical phenomena. To improve the understanding of the characteristics of velocity and suspended sediment concentration (SSC)...
