Discovery of alunite in Cross crater, Terra Sirenum, Mars: Evidence for acidic, sulfurous waters
Bethany L. Ehlmann, Gregg A. Swayze, Ralph E. Milliken, John F. Mustard, Roger N. Clark, Scott L. Murchie, George N. Breit, James J. Wray, Brigitte Gondet, Francois Poulet, John Carter, Wendy M. Calvin, William Benzel, Kimberly D. Seelos
2016, American Mineralogist (101) 1527-1542
Cross crater is a 65 km impact crater, located in the Noachian highlands of the Terra Sirenum region of Mars (30°S, 158°W), which hosts aluminum phyllosilicate deposits first detected by the Observatoire pour la Minéralogie, L’Eau, les Glaces et l’Activitié (OMEGA) imaging spectrometer on Mars Express. Using high-resolution data from...
Hibernal habitat selection by Wood Frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus) in a northern New England montane landscape
Luke A. Groff, Aram J.K. Calhoun, Cynthia S. Loftin
2016, Journal of Herpetology (50) 559-569
Poikilothermic species, such as amphibians, endure harsh winter conditions via freeze-tolerance or freeze-avoidance strategies. Freeze-tolerance requires a suite of complex, physiological mechanisms (e.g., cryoprotectant synthesis); however, behavioral strategies (e.g., hibernal habitat selection) may be used to regulate hibernaculum temperatures and promote overwintering survival. We investigated the hibernal ecology of the...
Large herbivores surf waves of green-up during spring
Jerod Merkle, Kevin L. Monteith, Ellen O. Aikens, Matthew M. Hayes, Kent Hersey, Arthur D. Middleton, Brendan Oates, Hall Sawyer, Brandon Scurlock, Matthew J. Kauffman
2016, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (283) 1-8
The green wave hypothesis (GWH) states that migrating animals should track or ‘surf’ high-quality forage at the leading edge of spring green-up. To index such high-quality forage, recent work proposed the instantaneous rate of green-up (IRG), i.e. rate of change in the normalized difference vegetation index over time. Despite this...
Depredation of the California Ridgway’s rail: Causes and distribution
Michael L. Casazza, Cory T. Overton, Thuy-Vy D. Bui, John Y. Takekawa, Angela M. Merritt, J.M. Hull
2016, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 27th Vertebrate Pest Conference
We studied the causes of mortality for the California Ridgway’s rail at multiple tidal marshes in the San Francisco Bay Estuary, California. We radio-marked 196 individual rails and examined the evidence from 152 recovered California Ridgway’s rail mortalities from our radio-marked sample and determined plausible cause of death from a...
Potential carbon emissions dominated by carbon dioxide from thawed permafrost soils
Christina Schädel, Martin K.-F. Bader, Edward A.G. Schuur, Christina Biasi, Rosvel Bracho, Petr Capek, Sarah De Baets, Katerina Diakova, Jessica Ernakovich, Cristian Estop-Aragones, David E. Graham, Iain P. Hartley, Colleen M. Iversen, Evan S. Kane, Christian Knoblauch, Massimo Lupascu, Pertti J. Martikainen, Susan M. Natali, Richard J. Norby, Jonathan A. O’Donnell, Taniya Roy Chowdhury, Hana Santruckova, Gaius Shaver, Victoria L. Sloan, Claire C. Treat, Merritt R. Turetsky, Mark P. Waldrop, Kimberly P. Wickland
2016, Nature Climate Change (6) 950-953
Increasing temperatures in northern high latitudes are causing permafrost to thaw, making large amounts of previously frozen organic matter vulnerable to microbial decomposition. Permafrost thaw also creates a fragmented landscape of drier and wetter soil conditions that determine the amount and form (carbon dioxide (CO2), or methane (CH4)) of carbon (C) released...
Bayesian nitrate source apportionment to individual groundwater wells in the Central Valley by use of elemental and isotopic tracers
Katherine M Ransom, Mark N. Grote, Amanda Deinhart, Gary Eppich, Carol Kendall, Matthew E. Sanborn, A. Kate Sounders, Joshua Wimpenny, Qing-zhu Yin, Megan B. Young, Thomas Harter
2016, Water Resources Research (52) 5577-5597
Groundwater quality is a concern in alluvial aquifers that underlie agricultural areas, such as in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Shallow domestic wells (less than 150 m deep) in agricultural areas are often contaminated by nitrate. Agricultural and rural nitrate sources include dairy manure, synthetic fertilizers, and septic waste....
Contemporary deformation in the Yakima fold and thrust belt estimated with GPS
Robert McCaffrey, Robert W. King, Ray E. Wells, Matthew Lancaster, M. Meghan Miller
2016, Geophysical Journal International (207) 1-11
Geodetic, geologic and palaeomagnetic data reveal that Oregon (western USA) rotates clockwise at 0.3 to 1.0° Ma−1 (relative to North America) about an axis near the Idaho–Oregon–Washington border, while northeast Washington is relatively fixed. This rotation has been going on for at least 15 Ma. The Yakima fold and thrust...
Probability distributions of bed load particle velocities, accelerations, hop distances, and travel times informed by Jaynes's principle of maximum entropy
David Furbish, Mark Schmeeckle, Rina Schumer, Siobhan Fathel
2016, Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface (121) 1373-1390
We describe the most likely forms of the probability distributions of bed load particle velocities, accelerations, hop distances, and travel times, in a manner that formally appeals to inferential statistics while honoring mechanical and kinematic constraints imposed by equilibrium transport conditions. The analysis is based on E. Jaynes's elaboration of...
Rapid response, monitoring, and mitigation of induced seismicity near Greeley, Colorado
William L. Yeck, A.F Sheehan, Harley M. Benz, Matthew Weingarten, Jenny Nakai
2016, Seismological Research Letters (87) 837-847
On 1 June 2014 (03:35 UTC), an Mw 3.2 earthquake occurred in Weld County, Colorado, a historically aseismic area of the Denver–Julesburg basin. Weld County is a prominent area of oil and gas development, including many high‐rate class II wastewater injection wells. In the days following the earthquake, the University of...
Design and testing of a mesocosm-scale habitat for culturing the endangered Devils Hole Pupfish
Olin Feuerbacher, Scott A. Bonar, Paul J. Barrett
2016, North American Journal of Aquaculture (78) 259-269
aptive propagation of desert spring fishes, whether for conservation or research, is often difficult, given the unique and often challenging environments these fish utilize in nature. High temperatures, low dissolved oxygen, minimal water flow, and highly variable lighting are some conditions a researcher might need to recreate to simulate their...
Structure of high latitude currents in global magnetospheric-ionospheric models
M Wiltberger, E. J. Rigler, V Merkin, J. G Lyon
2016, Space Science Reviews (206) 575-598
Using three resolutions of the Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry global magnetosphere-ionosphere model (LFM) and the Weimer 2005 empirical model we examine the structure of the high latitude field-aligned current patterns. Each resolution was run for the entire Whole Heliosphere Interval which contained two high speed solar wind streams and modest interplanetary magnetic field...
The statistical power to detect cross-scale interactions at macroscales
Tyler Wagner, C. Emi Fergus, Craig A. Stow, Kendra S. Cheruvelil, Patricia A. Soranno
2016, Ecosphere (7)
Macroscale studies of ecological phenomena are increasingly common because stressors such as climate and land-use change operate at large spatial and temporal scales. Cross-scale interactions (CSIs), where ecological processes operating at one spatial or temporal scale interact with processes operating at another scale, have been documented in a variety of...
National Park Service Vegetation Mapping Inventory Program: Natchez Trace Parkway vegetation mapping project report
Kevin D. Hop, Andrew C. Strassman, Carl Nordman, Milo Pyne, Rickie White, Joseph Jakusz, Erin E. Hoy, Jennifer Dieck
2016, Natural Resource Report NPS/GULN/NRR—2016/1255
The National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Mapping Inventory (VMI) Program is an effort to classify, describe, and map existing vegetation of national park units for the NPS Natural Resource Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program. The NPS VMI Program is managed by the NPS I&M Division and provides baseline vegetation information...
Reply to “Comment on ‘Ground motions from the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake constrained by a detailed assessment of macroseismic data’ by Stacey S. Martin, Susan E. Hough, and Charleen Hung” by Andrea Tertulliani, Laura Graziani, Corrado Castellano, Alessandra Maramai, and Antonio Rossi
Stacey S. Martin, Susan E. Hough
2016, Seismological Research Letters (87) 957-962
We thank Andrea Tertulliani and his colleagues for their interest in our article on the 2015 Gorkha earthquake (Martin, Hough, et al., 2015), and for their comments pertaining to our study (Tertulliani et al., 2016). Indeed, as they note, a comprehensive assessment of macroseismic effects for an earthquake with far‐reaching...
Community fisheries in eastern South Dakota: Angler demographics, use, and factors influencing satisfaction
Michael J. Greiner, David O. Lucchesi, Steven R. Chipps, Larry M. Gigliotti
2016, Human Dimensions of Wildlife (21) 254-263
We surveyed anglers on five community fishing lakes near Brookings, South Dakota to assess angler use and satisfaction. The community lakes attracted younger anglers when compared to statewide and national averages. Overall, satisfaction was generally high (74%) among anglers fishing community lakes. Logistic regression analysis showed that harvest rate, anglers...
Dermocystidium sp. infection in Blue Ridge Sculpin captured in Maryland
Vicki S. Blazer, Nathaniel P. Hitt, Craig D. Snyder, Erin Snook, Cynthia R. Adams
2016, Journal of Aquatic Animal Health (28) 143-149
Raised pale cysts were observed on Blue Ridge Sculpin Cottus caeruleomentum during stream fish community surveys in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland. When examined histologically, preserved sculpin exhibited multiple cysts containing spherical endospores with a refractile central body characteristic of Dermocystidiumspp. Cysts were not observed on the gills or internally. The...
Climate change effects on North American inland fish populations and assemblages
Abigail J. Lynch, Bonnie Myers, Cindy Chu, Lisa A. Eby, Jeffrey A. Falke, Ryan P. Kovach, Trevor J. Krabbenhoft, Thomas J. Kwak, John Lyons, Craig P. Paukert, James E. Whitney
2016, Fisheries (41) 346-361
Climate is a critical driver of many fish populations, assemblages, and aquatic communities. However, direct observational studies of climate change impacts on North American inland fishes are rare. In this synthesis, we (1) summarize climate trends that may influence North American inland fish populations and assemblages, (2) compile 31 peer-reviewed...
Accretionary lapilli: what’s holding them together?
Paul M. Adams, David K. Lynch, David C. Buesch
2016, Conference Paper, Going LOCO: Investigations along the Lower Colorado River: 2016 Desert Symposium Field Guide and Proceedings
Accretionary lapilli from Tagus cone, Isla Isabela, Galápagos were analyzed using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) techniques. Our main findings are (1) the lapilli formed and hardened in a few minutes while still aloft in the dispersing eruption column. (2) Palagonite rinds developed first on the...
Infectious diseases of wolves in Yellowstone
Emily S. Almberg, Paul C. Cross, Peter J. Hudson, Andrew P. Dobson, Douglas W. Smith, Daniel R. Stahler
2016, Yellowstone Science (24) 47-49
The summer of 2005 began with such promise for wolves in Yellowstone. The population had been at an all-time high the last few years, and the wolves appeared to be in good condition. Several packs had been particularly busy during the breeding season, and early summer pup counts suggested another...
Effects of seasonal weather on breeding phenology and reproductive success of alpine ptarmigan in Colorado
Gregory T. Wann, Cameron L. Aldridge, Clait E. Braun
2016, PLoS ONE (11) 1-16
Animal populations occurring at high elevations are often assumed to be in peril of extinctions or local extirpations due to elevational-dispersal limitations and thermoregulatory constraints as habitats change and warm. However, long-term monitoring of high-elevation populations is uncommon relative to those occurring at lower elevations, and evidence supporting this assumption...
Seasonal sediment dynamics shape temperate bedrock reef communities
Jared D. Figurski, Jan Freiwald, Steve I. Lonhart, Curt D. Storlazzi
2016, Marine Ecology Progress Series (552) 19-29
Mobilized seafloor sediment can impact benthic reef communities through burial, scour, and turbidity. These processes are ubiquitous in coastal oceans and, through their influence on the survival, fitness, and interactions of species, can alter the structure and function of benthic communities. In northern Monterey Bay, California, USA, as much as...
Contrasts between channels and backwaters in a large, floodplain river: Testing our understanding of nutrient cycling, phytoplankton abundance, and suspended solids dynamics
Jeffrey N. Houser
2016, Freshwater Science (35) 457-473
In floodplain rivers, variability in hydraulic connectivity interacts with biogeochemistry to determine the distribution of suspended and dissolved substances. Nutrient, chlorophyll a, and suspended solids data spanning longitudinal (5 study reaches across 1300 river km), lateral (main channel and backwaters), and temporal (1994–2011) gradients in the Upper Mississippi River (UMR)...
Spawning site fidelity of wild and hatchery lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) in northern Lake Huron
Thomas Binder, Stephen C. Riley, Christopher Holbrook, Michael J. Hansen, Roger A. Bergstedt, Charles R. Bronte, Ji He, Charles C. Krueger
2016, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (73) 18-34
Fidelity to high-quality spawning sites helps ensure that adults repeatedly spawn at sites that maximize reproductive success. Fidelity is also an important behavioural characteristic to consider when hatchery-reared individuals are stocked for species restoration, because artificial rearing environments may interfere with cues that guide appropriate spawning site selection. Acoustic telemetry...
Tracking the timing of subduction and exhumation using 40Ar/39Ar phengite ages in blueschist- and eclogite-facies rocks (Sivrihisar, Turkey)
Katherine F. Fornash, Michael A. Cosca, Donna L. Whitney
2016, Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology (171) 1-37
Geochronologic studies of high-pressure/low-temperature rocks can be used to determine the timing and rates of burial and exhumation in subduction zones by dating different stages of the pressure–temperature history. In this study, we present new in situ UV laser ablation 40Ar/39Ar phengite ages from a suite of lawsonite blueschist- and...
Validation of a stream and riparian habitat assessment protocol using stream salamanders in the southwest Virginia coalfields
Sara E. Sweeten, W. Mark Ford
2016, Journal of the American Society of Mining and Reclamation (5) 45-66
Within the central Appalachia Coalfields, the aquatic impacts of large-scale land uses, such as surface mining, are of particular ecological concern. Identification and quantification of land use impacts to aquatic ecosystems are a necessary first step to aid in mitigation of negative consequences to biota. However, quantifying physical environmental quality...
