Nitrapyrin in streams: The first study documenting off-field transport of a nitrogen stabilizer compound
Emily E. Woodward, Michelle Hladik, Dana W. Kolpin
2016, Environmental Science & Technology Letters (3) 387-392
Nitrapyrin is a bactericide that is co-applied with fertilizer to prevent nitrification and enhance corn yields. While there have been studies of the environmental fate of nitrapyrin, there is no documentation of its off-field transport to streams. In 2016, 59 water samples from 11 streams across Iowa were analyzed for...
mizuRoute version 1: A river network routing tool for a continental domain water resources applications
Naoki Mizukami, Martyn P. Clark, Kevin Sampson, Bart Nijssen, Yixin Mao, Hilary McMillan, Roland J. Viger, Steven L. Markstrom, Lauren E. Hay, Ross Woods, Jeffrey R. Arnold, Levi D. Brekke
2016, Geoscientific Model Development (9) 2223-2238
This paper describes the first version of a stand-alone runoff routing tool, mizuRoute. The mizuRoute tool post-processes runoff outputs from any distributed hydrologic model or land surface model to produce spatially distributed streamflow at various spatial scales from headwater basins to continental-wide river systems. The tool can utilize both traditional...
Interagency Pacific marten (Martes caurina) distribution study on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington
Katie Moriarty, Betsy Howell, Connor Morozumi, Patti Happe, Kurt J. Jenkins, Keith B. Aubry
2016, Report
The objective of this study was to determine if the Pacific marten (Martes caurina) still occurs on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. We reviewed recent records of marten observations on the Olympic Peninsula since 1998, and conducted new surveys in undersampled regions of the Olympic Peninsula during...
Using continuous underway isotope measurements to map water residence time in hydrodynamically complex tidal environments
Bryan D. Downing, Brian A. Bergamaschi, Carol Kendall, Tamara E. C. Kraus, Kate J. Dennis, Jeffery A. Carter, Travis von Dessonneck
2016, Environmental Science & Technology (50) 13387-13396
Stable isotopes present in water (δ2H, δ18O) have been used extensively to evaluate hydrological processes on the basis of parameters such as evaporation, precipitation, mixing, and residence time. In estuarine aquatic habitats, residence time (τ) is a major driver of biogeochemical processes, affecting trophic subsidies and conditions in fish-spawning habitats....
Baseline reference range for trace metal concentrations in whole blood of wild and managed West Indian Manatees (Trichechus manatus) in Florida and Belize
Noel Y. Takeuchi, Michael T. Walsh, Robert K. Bonde, James A. Powell, Dean A. Bass, Joseph C. Gaspard, David S. Barber
2016, Aquatic Mammals (42) 440-453
The West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) is exposed to a number of anthropogenic influences, including metals, as they inhabit shallow waters with close proximity to shore. While maintaining homeostasis of many metals is crucial for health, there is currently no baseline reference range that can be used to make clinical...
Modeling the effects of land cover and use on landscape capability for urban ungulate populations
H. Brian Underwood, Chellby R. Kilheffer
Robert A. Francis, James D. A. Millington, Michael A. Chadwick, editor(s)
2016, Book chapter
Expanding ungulate populations are causing concerns for wildlife professionals and residents in many urban areas worldwide. Nowhere is the phenomenon more apparent than in the eastern US, where urban white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations are increasing. Most habitat suitability models for deer have been developed in rural areas...
A biographical memoir of Donald Edward White
L.J. Patrick Muffler
2016, Article
Donald E. White was a leading scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey, where his career was devoted almost entirely to the study of hydrothermal processes in the Earth’s crust, from the dual perspectives of active geothermal systems and of extinct hydrothermal systems now represented only by ore deposits and alteration...
Trace elements at the intersection of marine biological and geochemical evolution
Leslie J. Robbins, Stefan V. Lalonde, Noah J. Planavsky, Camille A. Partin, Christopher T. Reinhard, Brian Kendall, Clint Scott, Dalton S. Hardisty, Benjamin C. Gill, Daniel S. Alessi, Christopher L. Dupont, Mak A. Saito, Sean A. Crowe, Simon W. Poulton, Andrey Bekker, Timothy W. Lyons, Kurt O. Konhauser
2016, Earth-Science Reviews (163) 323-348
Life requires a wide variety of bioessential trace elements to act as structural components and reactive centers in metalloenzymes. These requirements differ between organisms and have evolved over geological time, likely guided in some part by environmental conditions. Until recently, most of what was understood regarding trace element concentrations in...
Response of fish assemblages to decreasing acid deposition in Adirondack Mountain lakes
Barry P. Baldigo, Karen Roy, Charles T. Driscoll
2016, NYSERDA Report 17-01
The CAA and other federal regulations have clearly reduced emissions of NOx and SOx, acidic deposition, and the acidity and toxicity of waters in the ALTM lakes, but these changes have not triggered widespread recovery of brook trout populations or fish communities. The lack of detectable biological recovery appears to...
Application of activity sensors for estimating behavioral patterns
Caleb P. Roberts, James W. Cain III, Robert D. Cox
2016, Wildlife Society Bulletin (40) 764-771
The increasing use of Global Positioning System (GPS) collars in habitat selection studies provides large numbers of precise location data points with reduced field effort. However, inclusion of activity sensors in many GPS collars also grants the potential to remotely estimate behavioral state. Thus, only using GPS collars to collect...
Assessing Brook Trout populations in headwater streams of the Adirondack Mountains using environmental DNA -- Summary report
Barry P. Baldigo, Scott D. George, Lee Ann Sporn, Jacob Ball
2016, NYSERDA Report 17-02
This project evaluated standard fish-survey and environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling methods to determine the ability of eDNA to accurately predict the presence and abundance of resident Brook Trout populations in 40 headwater streams mainly in the western Adirondack Mountains during 2014–2015 (Figure 2). Standard 3-pass electrofishing surveys found that Brook...
Modeling the effects of tile drain placement on the hydrologic function of farmed prairie wetlands
Brett Werner, John Tracy, W. Carter Johnson, Richard A. Voldseth, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Bruce Millett
2016, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (52) 1482-1492
The early 2000s saw large increases in agricultural tile drainage in the eastern Dakotas of North America. Agricultural practices that drain wetlands directly are sometimes limited by wetland protection programs. Little is known about the impacts of tile drainage beyond the delineated boundaries of wetlands in upland catchments that may...
Avoiding decline: Fostering resilience and sustainability in midsize cities
Craig R. Allen, Hannah E. Birge, Shannon Bartelt-Hunt, Rebecca A. Bevans, Jessica Burnett, Barbara Cosens, Ximing Cai, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Igor Linkov, Elizabeth A. Scott, Mark D. Solomon, Daniel R. Uden
2016, Sustainability (8)
Eighty-five percent of United States citizens live in urban areas. However, research surrounding the resilience and sustainability of complex urban systems focuses largely on coastal megacities (>1 million people). Midsize cities differ from their larger counterparts due to tight urban-rural feedbacks with their immediate natural environments that result from heavy...
Trading shallow safety for deep sleep: Juvenile green turtles select deeper resting sites as they grow
Kristen M. Hart, Connor F. White, Autumn R. Iverson, Nick Whitney
2016, Endangered Species Research (31) 61-73
To better protect endangered green sea turtles Chelonia mydas, a more thorough understanding of the behaviors of each life stage is needed. Although dive profile analyses obtained using time-depth loggers have provided some insights into habitat use, recent work has shown that more fine-scale monitoring of body movements is needed...
Occurrence and effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the St. Croix River
Sarah M. Elliott, Kathy Lee
2016, Report
The St. Croix River is one of the last undisturbed, large floodplain rivers in the upper Mississippi River System. The Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway encompasses 255 river miles from the St. Croix Flowage and Namekagon River to the confluence of the St. Croix River with the Mississippi River at...
Population-specific life histories contribute to metapopulation viability
Samniqueka J. Halsey, Timothy J. Bell, Kathryn McEachern, Noel B. Pavlovic
2016, Ecosphere (7) 1-13
Restoration efforts can be improved by understanding how variations in life-history traits occur within populations of the same species living in different environments. This can be done by first understanding the demographic responses of natural occurring populations. Population viability analysis continues to be useful to species management and conservation with...
A new strategy for earthquake focal mechanisms using waveform-correlation-derived relative polarities and cluster analysis: Application to the 2014 Long Valley Caldera earthquake swarm
David R. Shelly, Jeanne L. Hardebeck, William L. Ellsworth, David P. Hill
2016, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (121) 8622-8641
In microseismicity analyses, reliable focal mechanisms can typically be obtained for only a small subset of located events. We address this limitation here, presenting a framework for determining robust focal mechanisms for entire populations of very small events. To achieve this, we resolve relative P and S wave polarities between...
The relative contributions of disease and insects in the decline of a long-lived tree: a stochastic demographic model of whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis)
Erik S Jules, Jenell I. Jackson, Phillip J. van Mantgem, Jennifer S. Beck, Michael P. Murray, E. April Sahara
2016, Forest Ecology and Management (381) 144-156
Pathogens and insect pests have become increasingly important drivers of tree mortality in forested ecosystems. Unfortunately, understanding the relative contributions of multiple mortality agents to the population decline of trees is difficult, because it requires frequent measures of tree survival, growth, and recruitment, as well as the incidence of mortality...
Indications of a positive feedback between coastal development and beach nourishment
Scott Armstrong, Eli D. Lazarus, Patrick W. Limber, Evan B. Goldstein, Curtis Thorpe, Rhoda Ballinger
2016, Earth's Future (4) 626-635
Beach nourishment, a method for mitigating coastal storm damage or chronic erosion by deliberately replacing sand on an eroded beach, has been the leading form of coastal protection in the U.S. for four decades. However, investment in hazard protection can have the unintended consequence of encouraging development in places especially...
Shallow and deep controls on lava lake surface motion at Kīlauea Volcano
Matthew R. Patrick, Tim R. Orr, Don Swanson, Einat Lev
2016, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (328) 247-261
Lava lakes provide a rare window into magmatic behavior, and lake surface motion has been used to infer deeper properties of the magmatic system. At Halema'uma'u Crater, at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano, multidisciplinary observations for the past several years indicate that lava lake surface motion can be broadly divided...
Statistically extracted fundamental watershed variables for estimating the loads of total nitrogen in small streams
Scott C. Kronholm, Paul D. Capel, Silvia Terziotti
2016, Environmental Modeling & Assessment (21) 681-690
Accurate estimation of total nitrogen loads is essential for evaluating conditions in the aquatic environment. Extrapolation of estimates beyond measured streams will greatly expand our understanding of total nitrogen loading to streams. Recursive partitioning and random forest regression were used to assess 85 geospatial, environmental, and watershed variables across 636...
Satellite-derived temperature data for monitoring water status in a floodplain forest of the Upper Sabine River, Texas
Mary Grace T. Lemon, Scott T. Allen, Brandon L. Edwards, Sammy L. King, Richard F. Keim
2016, Southeastern Naturalist (15) 90-102
Decreased water availability due to hydrologic modifications, groundwater withdrawal, and climate change threaten bottomland hardwood (BLH) forest communities. We used satellite-derived (MODIS) land-surface temperature (LST) data to investigate spatial heterogeneity of canopy temperature (an indicator of plant-water status) in a floodplain forest of the upper Sabine River for 2008–2014. High...
Individual, group, and environmental influences on helping behavior in a social carnivore
David E. Ausband, Michael S. Mitchell, Sarah B. Bassing, Andrea T. Morehouse, Douglas W. Smith, Daniel R. Stahler, Jennifer Struthers
2016, Ethology (122) 963-972
Variation in group composition and environment can affect helping behavior in cooperative breeders. Understanding of how group size, traits of individuals within groups, food abundance, and predation risk simultaneously influence helping behavior is limited. We evaluated pup-guarding behavior in gray wolves (Canis lupus) to assess how differences in individuals, groups,...
87Sr/86Sr isotope ratio analysis by laser ablation MC-ICP-MS in scales, spines, and fin rays as a nonlethal alternative to otoliths for reconstructing fish life history
Malte Willmes, Justin J. G. Glessner, Scott A. Carleton, Paul C. Gerrity, James A. Hobbs
2016, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (73) 1852-1860
Strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) in otoliths are a well-established tool to determine origins and movement patterns of fish. However, otolith extraction requires sacrificing fish, and when working with protected or endangered species, the use of nonlethal samples such as scales, spines, and fin rays is preferred. Unlike otoliths that are...
Climate-induced warming of lakes can be either amplified or suppressed by trends in water clarity
Kevin C. Rose, Luke A. Winslow, Jordan S. Read, Gretchen J. A. Hansen
2016, Limnology and Oceanography Letters (1) 44-53
Climate change is rapidly warming aquatic ecosystems including lakes and reservoirs. However, variability in lake characteristics can modulate how lakes respond to climate. Water clarity is especially important both because it influences the depth range over which heat is absorbed, and because it is changing in many lakes. Here, we...
