Environmental controls on spatial patterns in the long-term persistence of giant kelp in central California
Mary Alida Young, Kyle C. Cavanaugh, Tom W. Bell, Peter T. Raimondi, Christopher A. Edwards, Patrick T. Drake, Li H. Erikson, Curt D. Storlazzi
2016, Ecology (86) 45-60
As marine management is moving towards the practice of protecting static areas, it is 44 important to make sure protected areas capture and protect persistent populations. Rocky reefs in 45 many temperate areas worldwide serve as habitat for canopy forming macroalgae and these 46 structure forming species of kelps (order...
The Iquique earthquake sequence of April 2014: Bayesian modeling accounting for prediction uncertainty
Zacharie Duputel, Junle Jiang, Romain Jolivet, Mark Simons, Luis Rivera, Jean-Paul Ampuero, Bryan Riel, Susan E Owen, Angelyn W Moore, Sergey V Samsonov, Francisco Ortega Culaciati, Sarah E. Minson
2016, Geophysical Research Letters (42) 7949-7957
The subduction zone in northern Chile is a well-identified seismic gap that last ruptured in 1877. On 1 April 2014, this region was struck by a large earthquake following a two week long series of foreshocks. This study combines a wide range of observations, including geodetic, tsunami, and...
Generic reclassification and species boundaries in the rediscovered freshwater mussel ‘Quadrula’ mitchelli (Simpson in Dall, 1896)
John M. Pfeiffer III, Nathan A. Johnson, Charles R. Randklev, Robert G. Howells, James D. Williams
2016, Conservation Genetics (17) 279-292
The Central Texas endemic freshwater mussel, Quadrula mitchelli (Simpson in Dall, 1896), had been presumed extinct until relict populations were recently rediscovered. To help guide ongoing and future conservation efforts focused on Q. mitchelli we set out to resolve several uncertainties regarding its evolutionary history, specifically its unknown generic...
Assessing accuracy and precision for field and laboratory data: a perspective in ecosystem restoration
Martin A. Stapanian, Timothy E Lewis, Craig J. Palmer, Molly Middlebrook Amos
2016, Restoration Ecology (24) 18-26
Unlike most laboratory studies, rigorous quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) procedures may be lacking in ecosystem restoration (“ecorestoration”) projects, despite legislative mandates in the United States. This is due, in part, to ecorestoration specialists making the false assumption that some types of data (e.g. discrete variables such as species identification and...
Animal movement constraints improve resource selection inference in the presence of telemetry error
Brian M. Brost, Mevin Hooten, Ephraim M. Hanks, Robert J. Small
2016, Ecology (96) 2590-2597
Multiple factors complicate the analysis of animal telemetry location data. Recent advancements address issues such as temporal autocorrelation and telemetry measurement error, but additional challenges remain. Difficulties introduced by complicated error structures or barriers to animal movement can weaken inference. We propose an approach for obtaining resource selection inference from...
An evaluation of unsupervised and supervised learning algorithms for clustering landscape types in the United States
Jochen Wendel, Barbara P. Buttenfield, Larry V. Stanislawski
2016, Cartography and Geographic Information Science (43) 233-249
Knowledge of landscape type can inform cartographic generalization of hydrographic features, because landscape characteristics provide an important geographic context that affects variation in channel geometry, flow pattern, and network configuration. Landscape types are characterized by expansive spatial gradients, lacking abrupt changes between adjacent classes; and as having a limited number...
Evaluating abundance and trends in a Hawaiian avian community using state-space analysis
Richard J. Camp, Kevin W. Brinck, P. M. Gorresen, Eben H. Paxton
2016, Bird Conservation International (26) 225-242
Estimating population abundances and patterns of change over time are important in both ecology and conservation. Trend assessment typically entails fitting a regression to a time series of abundances to estimate population trajectory. However, changes in abundance estimates from year-to-year across time are due to both true variation in population...
A new method for discovering behavior patterns among animal movements
Y. Wang, Ze Luo, John Y. Takekawa, Diann J. Prosser, Y. Xiong, S. Newman, X. Xiao, N. Batbayar, Kyle A. Spragens, S. Balachandran, B. Yan
2016, International Journal of Geographical Information Science (30) 929-947
Advanced satellite tracking technologies enable biologists to track animal movements at fine spatial and temporal scales. The resultant data present opportunities and challenges for understanding animal behavioral mechanisms. In this paper, we develop a new method to elucidate animal movement patterns from tracking data. Here, we propose the notion of...
Human activities cause distinct dissolved organic matter composition across freshwater ecosystems
Clayton J. Williams, Paul C. Frost, Ana M. Morales-Williams, James H. Larson, William B. Richardson, Aisha S. Chiandet, Marguerite A. Xenopoulos
2016, Global Change Biology (22) 613-626
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition in freshwater ecosystems is influenced by interactions between physical, chemical, and biological processes that are controlled, at one level, by watershed landscape, hydrology, and their connections. Against this environmental template, humans may strongly influence DOM composition. Yet, we lack a comprehensive understanding of DOM composition...
Blind identification of the Millikan Library from earthquake data considering soil–structure interaction
S. F. Ghahari, F. Abazarsa, O. Avci, Mehmet Çelebi, E. Taciroglu
2016, Structural Control and Health Monitoring (23) 684-706
The Robert A. Millikan Library is a reinforced concrete building with a basement level and nine stories above the ground. Located on the campus of California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena California, it is among the most densely instrumented buildings in the U.S. From the early dates of its...
Precipitation regime classification for the Mojave Desert: Implications for fire occurrence
Jerry Tagestad, Matthew L. Brooks, Valerie Cullinan, Janelle Downs, Randy McKinley
2016, Journal of Arid Environments (124) 388-397
Long periods of drought or above-average precipitation affect Mojave Desert vegetation condition, biomass and susceptibility to fire. Changes in the seasonality of precipitation alter the likelihood of lightning, a key ignition source for fires. The objectives of this study were to characterize the relationship between recent, historic, and future precipitation...
Seasonal temperature and precipitation regulate brook trout young-of-the-year abundance and population dynamics
Yoichiro Kanno, Kasey C. Pregler, Nathaniel P. Hitt, Benjamin Letcher, Daniel Hocking, John E. B. Wofford
2016, Freshwater Biology (61) 88-99
Abundance of the young‐of‐the‐year (YOY) fish can vary greatly among years and it may be driven by several key biological processes (i.e. adult spawning, egg survival and fry survival) that span several months. However, the relative influence of seasonal weather patterns on YOY abundance is poorly understood.We assessed the...
Restoration of impaired ecosystems: An ounce of prevention or a pound of cure? introduction, overview, and key messages from a SETAC-SER workshop
Aida M. Farag, Ruth N. Hull, Will H. Clements, Steve Glomb, Diane L. Larson, Ralph G. Stahl, Jenny Stauber
2016, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (12) 247-252
A workshop on Restoration of Impaired Ecosystems was held in Jackson, Wyoming, in June 2014. Experts from Australia, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States in ecotoxicology, restoration, and related fields from both the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry and the Society for Ecological Restoration convened to...
Behavioural response of adult sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) to predator and conspecific alarm cues: evidence of additive effects
Richard T. Di Rocco, Istvan Imre, Nicholas S. Johnson, Grant B Brown
2016, Hydrobiologia (767) 279-287
Sea lampreys Petromyzon marinus, an invasive pest in the Upper Great Lakes, avoid odours that represent danger in their habitat. These odours include conspecific alarm cues and predator cues, like 2-phenylethylamine hydrochloride (PEA HCl), which is found in the urine of mammalian predators. Whether conspecific alarm cues and predator cues...
Two Holocene paleofire records from Peten, Guatemala: Implications for natural fire regime and prehispanic Maya land use
Lysanna Anderson, David B. Wahl
2016, Global and Planetary Change (138) 82-92
Although fire was arguably the primary tool used by the Maya to alter the landscape and extract resources, little attention has been paid to biomass burning in paleoenvironmental reconstructions from the Maya lowlands. Here we report two new well-dated, high-resolution records of biomass burning based on analysis of macroscopic fossil...
Evaluating the adequacy of a reference site pool for ecological assessments in environmentally complex regions
Peter R. Ode, Andrew C. Rehn, Raphael D. Mazor, Kenneth C. Schiff, Eric D. Stein, Jason May, Larry R. Brown, David B. Herbst, D.D. Gillette, Kevin Lunde, Charles P. Hawkins
2016, Freshwater Science (35) 237-248
Many advances in the field of bioassessment have focused on approaches for objectively selecting the pool of reference sites used to establish expectations for healthy waterbodies, but little emphasis has been placed on ways to evaluate the suitability of the reference-site pool for its intended applications (e.g., compliance assessment vs...
Relationships of maternal body size and morphology with egg and clutch size in the diamondback terrapin, Malaclemys terrapin (Testudines: Emydidae)
Maximilian M. Kern, Jacquelyn C. Guzy, Jeffrey E. Lovich, J. Whitfield Gibbons, Michael E. Dorcas
2016, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society (117) 295-304
Because resources are finite, female animals face trade-offs between the size and number of offspring they are able to produce during a single reproductive event. Optimal egg size (OES) theory predicts that any increase in resources allocated to reproduction should increase clutch size with minimal effects on egg size. Variations...
Improving conservation outcomes with a new paradigm for understanding species’ fundamental and realized adaptive capacity
Erik A. Beever, John O’Leary, Claudia Mengelt, Jordan M. West, Susan Julius, Nancy Green, Dawn Magness, Laura E. Petes, Bruce A. Stein, Adrienne B Nicotra, Jessica J Hellmann, Amanda L Robertson, Michelle D. Staudinger, Andrew A. Rosenberg, Eleanora Babij, Jean Brennan, Gregor W. Schuurman, Gretchen E Hofmann
2016, Conservation Letters (9) 131-137
Worldwide, many species are responding to ongoing climate change with shifts in distribution, abundance, phenology, or behavior. Consequently, natural-resource managers face increasingly urgent conservation questions related to biodiversity loss, expansion of invasive species, and deteriorating ecosystem services. We argue that our ability to address these questions is hampered by the...
Assessing variability in chemical acute toxicity of unionid mussels: Influence of intra- and inter-laboratory testing, life stage, and species
Sandy Raimondo, Crystal R. Lilavois, Larisa Lee, Tom Augspurger, Ning Wang, Christopher G. Ingersoll, Candice R. Bauer, Edward J. Hammer, Mace G. Barron
2016, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (35) 750-758
We developed a toxicity database for unionid mussels to examine the extent of intra- and inter-laboratory variability in acute toxicity tests with mussel larvae (glochidia) and juveniles; the extent of differential sensitivity of the two life stages; and the variation in sensitivity among commonly tested mussels (Lampsilis siliquoidea, Utterbackia imbecillis,...
Transforming ecosystems: When, where, and how to restore contaminated sites
Jason R. Rohr, Aida M. Farag, Marc W. Cadotte, William H. Clements, James R. Smith, Cheryl P. Ulrich, Richard Woods
2016, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (12) 273-283
Chemical contamination has impaired ecosystems, reducing biodiversity and the provisioning of functions and services. This has spurred a movement to restore contaminated ecosystems and develop and implement national and international regulations that require it. Nevertheless, ecological restoration remains a young and rapidly growing discipline and its intersection with toxicology is...
Pathogen exposure varies widely among sympatric populations of wild and domestic felids across the United States
Scott Carver, Sarah N. Bevins, Michael R. Lappin, Erin E. Boydston, Lisa M. Lyren, Mathew W. Alldredge, Kenneth A. Logan, Linda L. Sweanor, Seth P.D. Riley, Laurel E.K. Serieys, Robert N. Fisher, T. Winston Vickers, Walter M. Boyce, Roy McBride, Mark C. Cunnigham, Megan Jennings, Jesse S. Lewis, Tamika Lunn, Kevin R. Crooks, Sue VandeWoude
2016, Ecological Applications (26) 367-381
Understanding how landscape, host, and pathogen traits contribute to disease exposure requires systematic evaluations of pathogens within and among host species and geographic regions. The relative importance of these attributes is critical for management of wildlife and mitigating domestic animal and human disease, particularly given rapid ecological changes, such as...
Bayesian data analysis in population ecology: motivations, methods, and benefits
Robert Dorazio
2016, Population Ecology (58) 31-44
During the 20th century ecologists largely relied on the frequentist system of inference for the analysis of their data. However, in the past few decades ecologists have become increasingly interested in the use of Bayesian methods of data analysis. In this article I provide guidance to ecologists who would like...
Multi‐season occupancy models identify biotic and abiotic factors influencing a recovering Arctic Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus tundrius population
Jason E. Bruggeman, Ted Swem, David E. Andersen, Patricia L. Kennedy, Debora Nigro
2016, Ibis (158) 61-74
Critical information for evaluating the effectiveness of management strategies for species of concern include distinguishing seldom occupied (or low‐quality) habitat from habitat that is frequently occupied and thus contributes substantially to population trends. Using multi‐season models that account for imperfect detection and a long‐term (1981–2002) dataset on migratory Arctic Peregrine...
Assessing the robustness of quantitative fatty acid signature analysis to assumption violations
Jeffrey F. Bromaghin, Suzanne M. Budge, Gregory W. Thiemann, Karyn D. Rode
2016, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (7) 51-59
Knowledge of animal diets can provide important insights into life history and ecology, relationships among species in a community and potential response to ecosystem change or perturbation. Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) is a method of estimating diets from data on the composition, or signature, of fatty acids stored...
In defense of Magnetite-Ilmenite Thermometry in the Bishop Tuff and its implication for gradients in silicic magma reservoirs
Bernard W Evans, Edward Hildreth, Olivier Bachmann, Bruno Scaillet
2016, American Mineralogist (101) 469-482
Despite claims to the contrary, the compositions of magnetite and ilmenite in the Bishop Tuff correctly record the changing conditions of T and fO2 in the magma reservoir. In relatively reduced (∆NNO < 1) siliceous magmas (e.g., Bishop Tuff, Taupo units), Ti behaves compatibly (DTi ≈ 2-3.5), leading to a decrease...
