Understanding constraints on submersed vegetation distribution in a large, floodplain river: The role of water level fluctuations, water clarity and river geomorphology
Alicia Carhart, John Kalas, James T. Rogala, Jason J. Rohweder, Deanne C. Drake, Jeffrey N. Houser
2021, Wetlands (41)
Aquatic vegetation is a key component of large floodplain river ecosystems. In the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS), there is a long-standing interest in restoring aquatic vegetation in areas where it has declined or disappeared. To better understand what constrains vegetation distribution in large river ecosystems and inform ongoing efforts...
Using the Landsat Burned Area products to derive fire history relevant for fire management and conservation in the state of Florida, southeastern USA
Casey Teske, Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Todd Hawbaker, Joe Noble, J. Kevin Hires
2021, Fire (4)
Development of comprehensive spatially explicit fire occurrence data remains one of the most critical needs for fire managers globally, and especially for conservation across the southeastern United States. Not only are many endangered species and ecosystems in that region reliant on frequent fire, but fire risk analysis, prescribed fire planning,...
Stochastic inversion of gravity, magnetic, tracer, lithology, and fault data for geologically realistic structural models: Patua Geothermal Field case study
Ahinoam Pollack, Trenton T. Cladouhos, Michael W. Swyer, Drew L. Siler, Tapan Mukerji, Roland N. Horne
2021, Geothermics (95)
Financial risk due to geological uncertainty is a major barrier for geothermal development. Production from a geothermal well depends on the unknown location of subsurface geological structures, such as faults that contain hydrothermal fluids. Traditionally, geoscientists collect many different datasets, interpret the...
Comparative rhyolite systems: Inferences from vent patterns and eruptive episodicities: Eastern California and Laguna del Maule
Edward Hildreth
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research (126)
Distilling my experience in having field mapped in detail the volcanic fields at Laguna del Maule and Long Valley and having worked out their time-volume-composition magmatic histories, I compare and contrast the postglacial rhyolites of the former with six multi-vent eruptive sequences of rhyolite in California....
Responses of vertebrate wildlife to oil and natural gas development: Patterns and frontiers
Anna D. Chalfoun
2021, Current Landscape Ecology Reports (6) 71-84
Purpose of ReviewAnthropogenic activities can lead to the loss, fragmentation, and alteration of wildlife habitats. I reviewed the recent literature (2014–2019) focused on the responses of avian, mammalian, and herpetofaunal species to oil and natural gas development, a widespread and still-expanding land use worldwide....
Pathology of Lagovirus europaeus GI.2/RHDV2/b (rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2) in native North American lagomorphs
Julia S. Lankton, Susan Knowles, Saskia Keller, Valerie I. Shearn-Bochsler, Hon S. Ip
2021, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (57) 694-700
Rabbit hemorrhagic disease, a notifiable foreign animal disease in the US, was reported for the first time in wild native North American lagomorphs in April 2020 in the southwestern US. Affected species included the desert cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii), mountain cottontail (Sylvilagus nuttallii), black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus), and antelope jackrabbit (Lepus...
Methodology and technical input for the 2021 review and revision of the U.S. Critical Minerals List
Nedal T. Nassar, Steven M. Fortier
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1045
Pursuant to Section 7002 (“Mineral Security”) of Title VII (“Critical Minerals”) of the Energy Act of 2020 (Public Law 116–260, December 27, 2020, 116th Cong.), the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, is tasked with reviewing and revising the methodology used to evaluate...
Book Review: “From catastrophe to recovery: Stories of fisheries management successes” Krueger, C. C., Taylor, W. M., and Youn, S. J., editors
Joseph D. Zydlewski
2021, Fisheries Magazine (46) 340
No abstract available....
Legacy contaminant-stable isotope-age relationships in Lake Ontario year-class Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus)
James J. Pagano, James J. Garner, Brian Weidel, Daryl J. McGoldrick, Maureen G. Walsh, Thomas M. Holsen
2021, Journal of Great Lakes Research (47) 1086-1096
Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) are the preferred prey species of the top piscivore predators in the Lake Ontario food web and are an essential constituent in the bioaccumulation of persistent organic contaminants. Year-class samples collected in 2016 represent the alewife age ranges of 2015 (Age-01) sequentially dating back to 2008 (Age-08). The most abundant...
Mapping out a future for ungulate migrations
Matthew J. Kauffman, Francesca Cagnacci, Simon Chamaille-Jammes, Mark Hebblewhite, J. Grant C. Hopcraft, Jerod A. Merkle, Thomas Mueller, Atle Mysterud, Wibke Peters, Christiane Roettger, Alethea Steingisser, James Meacham, Kasahun Abera, Jan Adamczewski, Ellen O. Aikens, Hattie Bartlam-Brooks, Emily Bennitt, Joel Berger, Charlotte Boyd, Steeve D. Cote, Lucie Debeffe, Andrea S. Dekrout, Nandintsetseg Dejid, Emiliano Donadio, Luthando Dziba, William F. Fagan, Claude Fischer, S. Focardi, J. M. Fryxell, Richard W. S. Fynn, Chris Geremia, Benito A. Gonzalez, Anne Gunn, E. Gurarie, Marco Heurich, Jodi A. Hilty, Mark Hurley, Aran Johnson, Kyle Joly, Petra Kaczensky, Corinne J. Kendall, Pavel Kochkarev, Leonid Kolpaschikov, Rafal Kowalczyk, Frank van Langeveld, V. Li Binbin, Alex L. Lobora, Anne Loison, Tinaapi H. Madiri, David P. Mallon, Pascal Marchland, Rodrigo A. Medellin, Erling Meisingset, Evelyn Merrill, Arthur D. Middleton, Kevin Monteith, Malik Morjan, Thomas A. Morrison, Steffen Mumme, Robin Naidoo, A.J. Novaro, Joseph O. Ogutu, Kirk A. Olson, Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, Ovejero Ramiro J.A., Norman Owen-Smith, Antti Paasivaara, Craig Packer, Danilla Panchenko, Luca Pedrotti, Andrew J. Plumptre, Christer Moe Rolandsen, Sonia Said, Albert Salemgareyev, Piotr Savchenko, Hall Sawyer, Moses Selebatso, Matthew Skroch, Erling J. Solberg, Jared A. Stabach, Olav Strand, Michael J. Suitor, Yasuyuki Tachiki, Anne Trainor, Arnold Tshipa, M.Z. Virani, Carly Vynne, Stephanie Ward, George Wittemyer, Wenjing Xu, Steffen Zuther
2021, Science (372) 566-569
Migration of ungulates (hooved mammals) is a fundamental ecological process that promotes abundant herds, whose effects cascade up and down terrestrial food webs. Migratory ungulates provide the prey base that maintains large carnivore and scavenger populations and underpins terrestrial biodiversity (fig. S1). When ungulates move in large aggregations, their hooves,...
Correlation of porosity variations and rheological transitions on the southern Cascadia megathrust
Hao Guo, Jeffrey J. McGuire, Haijiang Zhang
2021, Nature Geoscience (14) 341-348
The unknown onshore extent of megathrust earthquake rupture in the Cascadia subduction zone represents a key uncertainty in earthquake hazard for the Pacific Northwest that is governed by the physical state and mechanical properties of the plate interface. The Cascadia plate interface is segmented into an interseismically locked zone located...
TrendPowerTool: A lookup tool for estimating the statistical power of a monitoring program to detect population trends
Emily L. Weiser, James E. Diffendorfer, Laura Lopez-Hoffman, Darius J. Semmens, Wayne E. Thogmartin
2021, Conservation Science and Practice (3)
A simulation-based power analysis can be used to estimate the sample sizes needed for a successful monitoring program, but requires technical expertise and sometimes extensive computing resources. We developed a web-based lookup app, called TrendPowerTool (https://www.usgs.gov/apps/TrendPowerTool/), to provide guidance for ecological monitoring programs when resources are not...
Survival and growth of suckers in mesocosms at three locations within Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2018
Summer M. Burdick, Carla M. Conway, Carl O. Ostberg, Ryan J. Bart, Diane G. Elliott
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1036
Executive SummaryDue to high mortality in the first year or two of life, Lost River (Deltistes luxatus sp.) and Shortnose suckers (Chasmistes brevirostris sp.) in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon rarely reach maturity. In 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began the Sucker Assisted Rearing Program (SARP) to improve...
Hydraulic characterization of carbonate-rock and basin-fill aquifers near Long Canyon, Goshute Valley, northeastern Nevada
C. Amanda Garcia, Keith J. Halford, Philip M. Gardner, David W. Smith
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5021
Understanding groundwater flow and pumping effects near pending mining operations requires accurate subsurface hydraulic characterization. To improve conceptual models of groundwater flow and development in the complex hydrogeologic system near Long Canyon Mine, in northwestern Goshute Valley, northeastern Nevada, the U.S. Geological Survey characterized the hydraulic properties of carbonate...
Using next generation sequencing of alpine plants to improve fecal metabarcoding diet analysis for Dall’s sheep
Kelly E. Williams, Damian M. Menning, Eric J. Wald, Sandra L. Talbot, Kumi L. Rattenbury, Laura R. Prugh
2021, BMC Research Notes (14)
ObjectivesDall’s sheep (Ovis dalli dalli) are important herbivores in the mountainous ecosystems of northwestern North America, and recent declines in some populations have sparked concern. Our aim was to improve capabilities for fecal metabarcoding diet analysis of Dall’s sheep and other herbivores by contributing new sequence data for...
Responses of vertebrate wildlife to oil and natural gas development: Patterns and frontiers
Anna D. Chalfoun
2021, Current Landscape Ecology Reports (6) 71-84
Purpose of Review Anthropogenic activities can lead to the loss, fragmentation, and alteration of wildlife habitats. I reviewed the recent literature (2014–2019) focused on the responses of avian, mammalian, and herpetofaunal species to oil and natural gas development, a widespread and still-expanding land use worldwide. My primary goals were to...
eDNA metabarcoding outperforms traditional fisheries sampling and reveals fine-scale heterogeneity in a temperate freshwater lake
Rebecca R. Gehri, Wesley Larson, Kristen Gruenthal, Nicholas Sard, Yue Shi
2021, Environmental DNA (3) 919-929
Understanding biodiversity in aquatic systems is critical to ecological research and conservation efforts, but accurately measuring species richness using traditional methods can be challenging. Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding, which uses high-throughput sequencing and universal primers to amplify DNA from multiple species present in an environmental sample, has shown great promise...
Daily patterns of river herring (Alosa spp.) spawning migrations: Environmental drivers and variation among coastal streams in Massachusetts
Henry Legett, Adrian Jordaan, Allison H. Roy, John Sheppard, Marcelo Somos-Valenzuela, Michelle Staudinger
2021, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (150) 501-513
The timing of life history events in many plants and animals depends on the seasonal fluctuations of specific environmental conditions. Climate change is altering environmental regimes and disrupting natural cycles and patterns across communities. Anadromous fishes that migrate between marine and freshwater habitats to spawn are particularly sensitive to shifting...
Environmental DNA metabarcoding as a tool for biodiversity assessment and monitoring: Reconstructing established fish communities of north-temperate lakes and rivers
Peter T. Euclide, Yer Lor, Michael J. Spear, Tariq Tajjioui, M. Jake Vander Zanden, Wesley Larson, Jon Amberg
2021, Diversity and Distributions (27) 1966-1980
AimTo evaluate the ability of precipitation-based environmental DNA (eDNA) sample collection and mitochondrial 12S metabarcoding sequencing to reconstruct well-studied fish communities in lakes and rivers. Specific objectives were to 1) determine correlations between eDNA species detections and known community composition based on conventional field sampling, 2) compare...
Survival and contaminants in imperiled and common riverine fishes assessed with an in situ bioassay approach
C. A. Grieshaber, W. G. Cope, Thomas J. Kwak, T. N. Penland, R. J. Heise, J. M. Law
2021, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (40) 2206-2219
An in situ bioassay approach was used to determine whether aquatic contaminant stressors in a large Atlantic river ecosystem affect the survival of 3 fish species: the largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides, juveniles), the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas, adults), and the robust redhorse (Moxostoma robustum, juveniles). Hatchery-propagated fish were placed into...
Prehistoric earthquakes on the Banning strand of the San Andreas fault, North Palm Springs, California
Bryan A. Castillo, Sally F. McGill, Katherine M. Scharer, Doug Yule, Devin McPhillips, James McNeil, Sourav Saha, Nathan D. Brown, Seulgi Moon
2021, Geosphere (117) 685-710
We studied a paleoseismic trench excavated in 2017 across the Banning strand of the San Andreas fault and herein provide the first detailed record of ground-breaking earthquakes on this important fault in Southern California. The trench exposed an ~40-m-wide fault zone cutting through alluvial sand, gravel, silt, and clay deposits....
Measuring adrenal and reproductive hormones in hair from southern Beaufort Sea polar bears (Ursus maritimus)
Marilize Van der Walt, Lorin Neuman-Lee, Patricia Terletzky, Todd C. Atwood, Eric Gese, Susannah French
2021, General and Comparative Endocrinology (310)
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) use sea ice to access marine mammal prey. In Alaska’s Southern Beaufort Sea, the declining availability of sea ice habitat in summer and fall has reduced opportunities for polar bears to routinely hunt on the ice for seals, their primary prey. This reduced access to prey...
Riparian forests buffer the negative effects of cropland on macroinvertebrate diversity in lowland Amazonian streams
Nubia C.S. Marques, Kathi Jo Jankowski, Marcia N. Macedo, Leandro Juen, Ana Luiza-Andrade, Linda A. Deegan
2021, Hydrobiologia (848) 3503-3520
Riparian forests regulate stream ecosystems and biodiversity. Therefore, changes to riparian structure may threaten stream ecosystem function by triggering taxonomic and functional changes to aquatic communities. Because macroinvertebrate assemblages are sensitive to environmental changes, they can be effective indicators of stream integrity in disturbed landscapes. To...
Stopover ecology of red knots in southwestern James Bay during southbound migration
Amie MacDonald, Paul Smith, Christian Friis, James E. Lyons, Yves Aubry, Erica Nol
2021, Journal of Wildlife Management (85) 932-944
Many shorebirds rely on small numbers of staging sites during long annual migrations. Numerous shorebird species are declining and understanding the importance of these staging sites is important for successful conservation. We surveyed endangered rufa red knots (Calidris canutus rufa) staging in James Bay, Ontario, Canada, during southbound migration in...
Runoff response to directional land cover change across reference basins in the conterminous United States
Kul Bikram Khand, Gabriel B. Senay
2021, Advances in Water Resources (153)
Land cover change plays a critical role in influencing hydrological responses. Change in land cover has impacted runoff across basins with substantial human interference; however, the impacts in basins with minimal human interference have been studied less. In this study, we investigated the impacts of directional land cover changes (forest...
