Heat as a groundwater tracer in shallow and deep heterogeneous media: Analytical solution, spreadsheet tool, and field applications
Barret L. Kurylyk, Dylan J. Irvine, Sean K. Carey, Martin A. Briggs, Dale D. Werkema, Mariah Bonham
2017, Hydrological Processes (31) 2648-2661
Groundwater flow advects heat, and thus, the deviation of subsurface temperatures from an expected conduction‐dominated regime can be analysed to estimate vertical water fluxes. A number of analytical approaches have been proposed for using heat as a groundwater tracer, and these have typically assumed a homogeneous medium. However, heterogeneous thermal...
Population characteristics and the influence of discharge on Bluehead Sucker and Flannelmouth Sucker
Zachary B. Klein, Matthew J. Breen, Michael C. Quist
2017, Copeia (105) 375-388
Rivers are among some of the most complex and important ecosystems in the world. Unfortunately, many fishes endemic to rivers have suffered declines in abundance and distribution suggesting that alterations to lotic environments have negatively influenced native fish populations. Of the 35 fishes native to the Colorado River basin (CRB),...
Habitat associations of juvenile Burbot in a tributary of the Kootenai River
Zachary S. Beard, Michael C. Quist, Ryan S. Hardy, Tyler J. Ross
2017, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (146) 1008-1015
Burbot Lota lota in the lower Kootenai River, Idaho, have been the focus of extensive conservation efforts, particularly conservation aquaculture. One of the primary management strategies has been the release of Burbot into small tributaries in the Kootenai River basin, such as Deep Creek. Since 2012, approximately 12,000 juvenile Burbot have been...
Puffins reveal contrasting relationships between forage fish and ocean climate in the North Pacific
William J. Sydeman, John F. Piatt, Sarah Ann Thompson, Marisol Garcia-Reyes, Scott A. Hatch, Mayumi L. Arimitsu, Leslie Slater, Jeffrey C. Williams, Nora A. Rojek, Stephani G. Zador, Heather M. Renner
2017, Fisheries Oceanography (26) 379-395
Long-term studies of predator food habits (i.e., ‘predator-based sampling’) are useful for identifying patterns of spatial and temporal variability of forage nekton in marine ecosystems. We investigated temporal changes in forage fish availability and relationships to ocean climate by analyzing diet composition of three puffin species (horned puffin Fratercula corniculata, tufted...
Tributary use by imperiled Flannelmouth and Bluehead Suckers in the upper Colorado River Basin
Gregory S. Fraser, Dana L. Winkelman, Kevin R. Bestgen, Kevin G. Thompson
2017, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (146) 858-871
Habitat alterations and establishment of nonnative fishes have reduced the distributions of Flannelmouth Sucker Catostomus latipinnis and Bluehead Sucker C. discobolus to less than 50% of their historical ranges in the Colorado River basin. Tributaries are sometimes less altered than main-stem habitat in the basin and may be important to support various life history...
Seven recommendations to make your invasive alien species data more useful
Quentin J. Groom, Tim Adriaens, Peter Desmet, Annie Simpson, Aaike De Wever, Ioannis Bazos, Ana Cristina Cardoso, Lucinda Charles, Anastasia Christopoulou, Anna Gazda, Harry Helmisaari, Donald Hobern, Melanie Josefsson, Frances Lucy, Dragana Marisavljevic, Tomasz Oszako, Jan Pergl, Olivera Petrovic-Obradovic, Celine Prevot, Hans Peter Ravn, Gareth Richards, Alain Roques, Helen Roy, Marie-Anne A. Rozenberg, Riccardo Scalera, Elena Tricarico, Teodora Trichkova, Diemer Vercayie, Argyro Zenetos, Sonia Vanderhoeven
2017, Frontiers in Applied Mathematics and Statistics (3) 1-8
Science-based strategies to tackle biological invasions depend on recent, accurate, well-documented, standardized and openly accessible information on alien species. Currently and historically, biodiversity data are scattered in numerous disconnected data silos that lack interoperability. The situation is no different for alien species data, and this obstructs efficient retrieval, combination, and...
A cosmopolitan late Ediacaran biotic assemblage: new fossils from Nevada and Namibia support a global biostratigraphic link
E. F. Smith, L. L. Nelson, S. M. Tweedt, H. Zeng, Jeremiah B. Workman
2017, Proceedings of the Royal Society B (284) 1-10
Owing to the lack of temporally well-constrained Ediacaran fossil localities containing overlapping biotic assemblages, it has remained uncertain if the latest Ediacaran (ca 550–541 Ma) assemblages reflect systematic biological turnover or environmental, taphonomic or biogeographic biases. Here, we report new latest Ediacaran fossil discoveries from the lower member of the Wood...
An “EAR” on environmental surveillance and monitoring: A case study on the use of Exposure–Activity Ratios (EARs) to prioritize sites, chemicals, and bioactivities of concern in Great Lakes waters
Brett R. Blackwell, Gerald T. Ankley, Steven R. Corsi, Laura A. DeCicco, Kieth A. Houck, Richard S. Judson, Shibin Li, Matthew T. Martin, Elizabeth Murphy, Anthony L. Schroeder, Edwin R. Smith, Joe Swintek, Daniel L. Villeneuve
2017, Environmental Science & Technology (51) 8713-8724
Current environmental monitoring approaches focus primarily on chemical occurrence. However, based on concentration alone, it can be difficult to identify which compounds may be of toxicological concern and should be prioritized for further monitoring, in-depth testing, or management. This can be problematic because toxicological characterization is lacking for many emerging...
Spatiotemporal analysis of changes in lode mining claims around the McDermitt Caldera, northern Nevada and southern Oregon
Joshua A. Coyan, Michael L. Zientek, Mark J. Mihalasky
2017, Natural Resources Research (26) 319-337
Resource managers and agencies involved with planning for future federal land needs are required to complete an assessment of and forecast for future land use every ten years. Predicting mining activities on federal lands is difficult as current regulations do not require disclosure of exploration results. In these cases, historic...
10Be dating of late Pleistocene megafloods and Cordilleran Ice Sheet retreat in the northwestern United States
Andrea M. Balbas, Aaron M. Barth, Peter U. Clark, Jorie Clark, Marc A. Caffee, Jim E. O'Connor, Victor R. Baker, Kevin Konrad, Bruce Bjornstad
2017, Geology (45) 583-586
During the late Pleistocene, multiple floods from drainage of glacial Lake Missoula further eroded a vast anastomosing network of bedrock channels, coulees, and cataracts, forming the Channeled Scabland of eastern Washington State (United States). However, the timing and exact pathways of these Missoula floods remain poorly constrained, thereby limiting our...
Seasonal fecundity and costs to λ are more strongly affected by direct than indirect predation effects across species
Joseph A. LaManna, Thomas E. Martin
2017, Ecology (98) 1829-1838
Increased perceived predation risk can cause behavioral and physiological responses to reduce direct predation mortality, but these responses can also cause demographic costs through reduced reproductive output. Such indirect costs of predation risk have received increased attention in recent years, but the relative importance of direct vs. indirect predation costs...
Complex networks of functional connectivity in a wetland reconnected to its floodplain
Laurel G. Larsen, Susan Newman, Colin Saunders, Judson Harvey
2017, Water Resources Research (53) 6089-6108
Disturbances such as fire or flood, in addition to changing the local magnitude of ecological, hydrological, or biogeochemical processes, can also change their functional connectivity—how those processes interact in space. Complex networks offer promise for quantifying functional connectivity in watersheds. The approach resolves connections between nodes in space based on...
Estimating ages of Utah chubs by use of pectoral fin rays, otoliths, and scales
Kayla M Griffin, Zachary S. Beard, John M. Flinders, Michael C. Quist
2017, Western North American Naturalist (77) 189-194
Utah chub Gila atraria is native to the Upper Snake River system in Wyoming and Idaho and to the Lake Bonneville Basin in Utah and southeastern Idaho. However, the Utah chub has been introduced into many other waterbodies in the western United States, where it competes with ecologically and economically important species....
Species’ traits help predict small mammal responses to habitat homogenization by an invasive grass
Joseph P. Ceradini, Anna D. Chalfoun
2017, Ecological Applications (27) 1451-1465
Invasive plants can negatively affect native species, however, the strength, direction, and shape of responses may vary depending on the type of habitat alteration and the natural history of native species. To prioritize conservation of vulnerable species, it is therefore critical to effectively predict species’ responses to invasive plants, which...
Life history migrations of adult Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout in the upper Yellowstone River
Brian D. Ertel, Thomas E. McMahon, Todd M. Koel, Robert E. Gresswell, Jason Burckhardt
2017, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (37) 743-755
Knowledge of salmonid life history types at the watershed scale is increasingly recognized as a cornerstone for effective management. In this study, we used radiotelemetry to characterize the life history movements of Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri in the upper Yellowstone River, an extensive tributary that composes nearly half of the...
Glacierized headwater streams as aquifer recharge corridors, subarctic Alaska
Anna K. Lilledahl, Anne Gadeke, Shad O’Neel, T. A. Gatesman, T. A. Douglas
2017, Geophysical Research Letters (44) 6876-6885
Arctic river discharge has increased in recent decades although sources and mechanisms remain debated. Abundant literature documents permafrost thaw and mountain glacier shrinkage over the past decades. Here we link glacier runoff to aquifer recharge via a losing headwater stream in subarctic Interior Alaska. Field measurements in Jarvis Creek (634 km2),...
Population dynamics of brown trout (Salmo trutta) in Spruce Creek Pennsylvania: A quarter-century perspective
Gary D. Grossman, Robert F. Carline, Tyler Wagner
2017, Freshwater Biology (62) 1143-1154
We examined the relationship between density-independent and density-dependent factors on the demography of a dense, relatively unexploited population of brown trout in Spruce Creek Pennsylvania between 1985 and 2011.Individual PCAs of flow and temperature data elucidated groups of years with multiple high flow versus multiple low flow...
Species distribution models for a migratory bird based on citizen science and satellite tracking data
Christopher L. Coxen, Jennifer K. Frey, Scott A. Carleton, Daniel P. Collins
2017, Global Ecology and Conservation (11) 298-311
Species distribution models can provide critical baseline distribution information for the conservation of poorly understood species. Here, we compared the performance of band-tailed pigeon (Patagioenas fasciata) species distribution models created using Maxent and derived from two separate presence-only occurrence data sources in New Mexico: 1) satellite tracked birds and 2) observations...
Use of spatial capture–recapture to estimate density of Andean bears in northern Ecuador
Santiago Molina, Angela K. Fuller, Dana J. Morin, J. Andrew Royle
2017, Ursus (28) 117-126
The Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus) is the only extant species of bear in South America and is considered threatened across its range and endangered in Ecuador. Habitat loss and fragmentation is considered a critical threat to the species, and there is a lack of knowledge regarding its distribution and abundance....
Grassland bird productivity in warm season grass fields in southwest Wisconsin
Carolyn M. Byers, Christine Ribic, David W. Sample, John D. Dadisman, Michael Guttery
2017, The American Midland Naturalist (178) 47-63
Surrogate grasslands established through federal set-aside programs, such as U.S. Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), provide important habitat for grassland birds. Warm season grass CRP fields as a group have the potential for providing a continuum of habitat structure for breeding birds, depending on how the fields are...
Nitrogenase activity by biological soil crusts in cold sagebrush steppe ecosystems
Stacy G. Schwabedissen, Kathleen A. Lohse, Sasha C. Reed, Ken A. Aho, Timothy S. Magnuson
2017, Biogeochemistry (134) 57-76
In drylands worldwide, biological soil crusts (BSC) form a thin photosynthetic cover across landscapes, and provide vital benefits in terms of stabilizing soil and fixing nitrogen (N) and carbon (C). Numerous studies have examined the effects of climate and disturbance on BSC functions; however, few have characterized these responses in...
A proposal for amending administrative law to facilitate adaptive management
Robin K. Craig, J.B. Ruhl, Ellie Brown, Byron K. Williams
2017, Environmental Research Letters (12) 1-17
In this article we examine how federal agencies use adaptive management. In order for federal agencies to implement adaptive management more successfully, administrative law must adapt to adaptive management, and we propose changes in administrative law that will help to steer the current process out of a dead end. Adaptive...
Lake nutrient stoichiometry is less predictable than nutrient concentrations at regional and sub-continental scales
Sarah M. Collins, Samantha K. Oliver, Jean-Francois Lapierre, Emily H. Stanley, John R. Jones, Tyler Wagner, Patricia A. Soranno
2017, Ecological Applications (27) 1529-1540
Production in many ecosystems is co-limited by multiple elements. While a known suite of drivers associated with nutrient sources, nutrient transport, and internal processing controls concentrations of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) in lakes, much less is known about whether the drivers of single nutrient concentrations can also explain spatial...
A new species of freshwater eel-tailed catfish of the genus Tandanus (Teleostei: Plotosidae) from coastal rivers of mid-northern New South Wales, Australia
Stuart A. Welsh, Dean R. Jerry, Damien Burrows, Meaghan L. Rourke
2017, Copeia (105) 229-236
Tandanus bellingerensis, new species, is described based on specimens from four river drainages (Bellinger, Macleay, Hastings, and Manning rivers) of the mid-northern coast of New South Wales, Australia. Previously, three species were recognized in the genus Tandanus: T. tropicanus of the wet tropics region of northeast Queensland, T. tandanus of the Murray-Darling drainage and coastal...
Comparison of American Fisheries Society (AFS) standard fish sampling techniques and environmental DNA for characterizing fish communities in a large reservoir
Christina R. Perez, Scott A. Bonar, Jon J. Amberg, Bridget Ladell, Christopher B. Rees, William T. Stewart, Curtis J. Gill, Chris Cantrell, Anthony Robinson
2017, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (37) 1010-1027
Recently, methods involving examination of environmental DNA (eDNA) have shown promise for characterizing fish species presence and distribution in waterbodies. We evaluated the use of eDNA for standard fish monitoring surveys in a large reservoir. Specifically, we compared the presence, relative abundance, biomass, and relative percent composition of Largemouth Bass Micropterus...
