Developing recreational harvest regulations for an unexploited lake trout population
Melissa A Lenker, Brian Weidel, Olaf P. Jensen, Christopher T. Solomon
2016, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (36) 385-397
Developing fishing regulations for previously unexploited populations presents numerous challenges, many of which stem from a scarcity of baseline information about abundance, population productivity, and expected angling pressure. We used simulation models to test the effect of six management strategies (catch and release; trophy, minimum, and maximum length limits; and...
Research needs to better understand Lake Ontario ecosystem function: A workshop summary
Thomas J. Stewart, Lars G. Rudstam, James M. Watkins, Timothy B. Johnson, Brian Weidel, Marten A. Koops
2016, Journal of Great Lakes Research (42) 1-5
Lake Ontario investigators discussed and interpreted published and unpublished information during two workshops to assess our current understanding of Lake Ontario ecosystem function and to identify research needs to guide future research and monitoring activities. The purpose of this commentary is to summarize key investigative themes and hypotheses that emerged...
Hydrogeology and groundwater quality at monitoring wells installed for the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan System and nearby water-supply wells, Cook County, Illinois, 1995–2013
Robert T. Kay
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5186
Groundwater-quality data collected from 1995 through 2013 from 106 monitoring wells open to the base of the Silurian aquifer surrounding the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP) System in Cook County, Illinois, were analyzed by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, to...
An overview of current applications, challenges, and future trends in distributed process-based models in hydrology
Simone Fatichi, Enrique R. Vivoni, Fred L Odgen, Valeriy Y Ivanov, Benjamin B. Mirus, David Gochis, Charles W Downer, Matteo Camporese, Jason H Davison, Brian A. Ebel, Norm Jones, Jon Kim, Giuseppe Mascaro, Richard G. Niswonger, Pedro Restrepo, Riccardo Rigon, Chaopeng Shen, Mauro Sulis, David Tarboton
2016, Journal of Hydrology (537) 45-60
Process-based hydrological models have a long history dating back to the 1960s. Criticized by some as over-parameterized, overly complex, and difficult to use, a more nuanced view is that these tools are necessary in many situations and, in a certain class of problems, they are the most appropriate type of...
Relation of initial spacing and relative stand density indices to stand characteristics in a Douglas-fir plantation spacing trial
Robert O. Curtis, Sheel Bansal, Constance A. Harrington
2016, Research Paper PNW-RP-607
This report presents updated information on a 1981 Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco var. menziesii) plantation spacing trial at 33 years from planting. Stand statistics at the most recent measurement were compared for initial spacing of 1 through 6 meters and associated relative densities. There was no clear relationship...
Tidal hydrodynamics under future sea level rise and coastal morphology in the Northern Gulf of Mexico
Davina Passeri, Scott C. Hagen, Nathaniel G. Plant, Matthew V. Bilskie, Stephen C. Medeiros, Karim Alizad
2016, Earth's Future (4) 159-176
This study examines the integrated influence of sea level rise (SLR) and future morphology on tidal hydrodynamics along the Northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOM) coast including seven embayments and three ecologically and economically significant estuaries. A large-domain hydrodynamic model was used to simulate astronomic tides for present and future conditions...
Enriched groundwater seeps in two Vermont headwater catchments are hotspots of nitrate turnover
Amninder J. Kaur, Donald S. Ross, James B. Shanley, Anna R. Yatzor
2016, Wetlands (36) 237-249
Groundwater seeps in upland catchments are often enriched relative to stream waters, higher in pH, Ca2+ and sometimes NO3¯. These seeps could be a NO3¯ sink because of increased denitrification potential but may also be ‘hotspots’ for nitrification because of the relative enrichment. We compared seep soils with nearby well-drained...
Movement and survival of an amphibian in relation to sediment and culvert design
R.K Honeycutt, W.H. Lowe, Blake R. Hossack
2016, Journal of Wildlife Management (80) 761-770
Habitat disturbance from stream culverts can affect aquatic organisms by increasing sedimentation or forming barriers to movement. Land managers are replacing many culverts to reduce these negative effects, primarily for stream fishes. However, these management actions are likely to have broad implications for many organisms, including amphibians in small streams....
Evaluating potential artefacts of photo-reversal on behavioral studies with nocturnal invasive sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus)
Matthew Barnett, Istvan Imre, C. Michael Wagner, Richard T. Di Rocco, Nicholas S. Johnson, Grant E. Brown
2016, Canadian Journal of Zoology (94) 405-410
Sea lampreys (Petromyzon marinus L., 1758) are nocturnal, so experiments evaluating their behaviour to chemosensory cues have typically been conducted at night. However, given the brief timeframe each year that adult P. marinus are available for experimentation, we investigated whether P. marinus exposed to a 12 h shifted diurnal cycle (reversed photoperiod) could be tested...
Managing nutrients, water, and energy for producing more food with low pollution (MoFoLoPo); What would success look like?
Jill Baron
2016, Environmental Development (18) 52-53
Synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizer has enabled modern agriculture to greatly improve human nutrition during the 20th century, but it has also created unintended human health and environmental pollution challenges for the 21st century. Averaged globally, about half of the fertilizer N applied to farms is removed with the crops, while...
Multi-laboratory survey of qPCR enterococci analysis method performance in U.S. coastal and inland surface waters
Richard A. Haugland, Shawn Siefring, Manju Varma, Kevin H. Oshima, Mano Sivaganesan, Yiping Cao, Meredith Raith, John Griffith, Stephen B. Weisberg, Rachel T. Noble, A. Denene Blackwood, Julie Kinzelman, Tamara Anan’eva, Rebecca N. Bushon, Erin A. Stelzer, Valarie J. Harwood, Katrina V. Gordon, Christopher Sinigalliano
2016, Journal of Microbiological Methods (123) 114-125
Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) has become a frequently used technique for quantifying enterococci in recreational surface waters, but there are several methodological options. Here we evaluated how three method permutations, type of mastermix, sample extract dilution and use of controls in results calculation, affect method reliability among multiple laboratories...
Informing Lake Erie agriculture nutrient management via scenario evaluation
Donald Scavia, Margaret Kalcic, Rebecca Logsdon Muenich, Noel Aloysius, Jeffrey Arnold, Chelsie Boles, Remegio Confesor, Joseph DePinto, Marie Gildow, Jay Martin, Jennifer Read, Todd Redder, Dale M. Robertson, Scott P. Sowa, Yu-Chen Wang, Michael White, Haw Yen
2016, Report
Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have been increasing in extent and intensity in the western basin of Lake Erie. The cyanobacteria Microcystis produces toxins that pose serious threats to animal and human health, resulting in beach closures and impaired water supplies, and have even forced a “do not drink” advisory for...
Avian malaria in a boreal resident species: long-term temporal variability, and increased prevalence in birds with avian keratin disorder
Laura C. Wilkinson, Colleen M. Handel, Caroline R. Van Hemert, Claire Loiseau, Ravinder N. M. Sehgal
2016, International Journal for Parasitology (16) 281-290
The prevalence of vector-borne parasitic diseases is widely influenced by biological and ecological factors. Environmental conditions such as temperature and precipitation can have a marked effect on haemosporidian parasites (Plasmodium spp.) that cause malaria and those that cause other malaria-like diseases in birds. However, there have been few long-term studies monitoring...
Population size and stopover duration estimation using mark–resight data and Bayesian analysis of a superpopulation model
James E. Lyons, William L. Kendall, J. Andrew Royle, Sarah J. Converse, Brad A. Andres, Joseph B. Buchanan
2016, Biometrics (72) 262-271
We present a novel formulation of a mark–recapture–resight model that allows estimation of population size, stopover duration, and arrival and departure schedules at migration areas. Estimation is based on encounter histories of uniquely marked individuals and relative counts of marked and unmarked animals. We use a Bayesian analysis of a...
Detailed mapping and rupture implications of the 1 km releasing bend in the Rodgers Creek Fault at Santa Rosa, northern California
Suzanne Hecker, Victoria E. Langenheim, Robert Williams, Christopher S. Hitchcock, Stephen B. DeLong
2016, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (106) 575-594
Airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) topography reveals for the first time the trace of the Rodgers Creek fault (RCF) through the center of Santa Rosa, the largest city in the northern San Francisco Bay area. Vertical deformation of the Santa Rosa Creek floodplain expresses a composite pull‐apart basin beneath...
Seeded amplification of chronic wasting disease prions in nasal brushings and recto-anal mucosal associated lymphoid tissues from elk by real time quaking-induced conversion
Nicholas J. Haley, Chris Siepker, Laura L. Hoon-Hanks, Gordon Mitchell, W. David Walter, Matteo Manca, Ryan J. Monello, Jenny G. Powers, Margaret A. Wild, Edward A. Hoover, Byron Caughey, Jurgen a. Richt
B.W. Fenwick, editor(s)
2016, Journal of Clinical Microbiology (54) 1117-1126
Chronic wasting disease (CWD), a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy of cervids, was first documented nearly 50 years ago in Colorado and Wyoming and has since been detected across North America and the Republic of Korea. The expansion of this disease makes the development of sensitive diagnostic assays and antemortem sampling techniques...
Seasonal habitat use of brook trout and juvenile steelhead in a Lake Ontario tributary
James H. Johnson, Ross Abbett, Marc A. Chalupnicki, Francis Verdoliva
2016, Journal of Freshwater Ecology (31) 239-249
Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) are generally restricted to headwaters in New York tributaries of Lake Ontario. In only a few streams are brook trout abundant in lower stream reaches that are accessible to adult Pacific salmonids migrating from the lake. Consequently, because of the rarity of native brook trout populations...
Occupancy dynamics in human-modified landscapes in a tropical island: implications for conservation design
Julissa I. Irizarry, Jaime A. Collazo, Stephen J. Dinsmore
2016, Diversity and Distributions (22) 410-421
AimAvian communities in human-modified landscapes exhibit varying patterns of local colonization and extinction rates, determinants of species occurrence. Our objective was to model these processes to identify habitat features that might enable movements and account for occupancy patterns in habitat matrices between the Guanica and Susua forest reserves. This knowledge...
Role of large- and fine-scale variables in predicting catch rates of larval Pacific lamprey in the Willamette Basin, Oregon
Luke Schultz, Mariah P. Mayfield, Gabe T. Sheoships, Lance A. Wyss, Benjamin J. Clemens, Steven L. Whitlock, Carl B. Schreck
2016, Ecology of Freshwater Fish (25) 261-271
Pacific lamprey Entosphenus tridentatus is an anadromous fish native to the Pacific Northwest of the USA. That has declined substantially over the last 40 years. Effective conservation of this species will require an understanding of the habitat requirements for each life history stage. Because its life cycle contains extended freshwater rearing (3–8 years), the...
Volcano deformation source parameters estimated from InSAR: Sensitivities to uncertainties in seismic tomography
Timothy Masterlark, Theodore Donovan, Kurt L. Feigl, Matthew M. Haney, Clifford H. Thurber, Sui Tung
2016, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (121) 3002-3016
The eruption cycle of a volcano is controlled in part by the upward migration of magma. The characteristics of the magma flux produce a deformation signature at the Earth's surface. Inverse analyses use geodetic data to estimate strategic controlling parameters that describe the position and pressurization of a magma chamber...
NHDPlus as a geospatial framework for SPARROW modeling
John W. Brakebill, Gregory E. Schwarz
2016, Impact Assessment Bulletin (18)
Successful water-resource management requires thorough knowledge and understanding of the relations among water-quality contaminate sources and the factors that affect the transport throughout a hydrologic system. Surface-water modeling is a valuable tool that can be applied to help advance and achieve the understanding of these dynamic relations. Spatially Referenced Regressions...
Isotopic incorporation and the effects of fasting and dietary lipid content on isotopic discrimination in large carnivorous mammals
Karyn D. Rode, Craig A. Stricker, Joy Erlenbach, Charles T. Robbins, Seth Cherry, Seth D. Newsome, Amy Cutting, Shannon Jensen, Gordon Stenhouse, Matt Brooks, Amy Hash, Nicole Nicassio
2016, Physiological and Biochemical Zoology (89) 182-197
There has been considerable emphasis on understanding isotopic discrimination for diet estimation in omnivores. However, discrimination may differ for carnivores, particularly species that consume lipid-rich diets. Here, we examined the potential implications of several factors when using stable isotopes to estimate the diets of bears, which can consume lipid-rich diets...
Does urban sprawl hold down upward mobility?
R. Ewing, Shima Hamidi, James B. Grace, Y. Wei
2016, Landscape and Urban Planning (148) 80-88
Contrary to the general perception, the United States has a much more class-bound society than other wealthy countries. The chance of upward mobility for Americans is just half that of the citizens of the Denmark and many other European countries. In addition to other influences, the built environment may contribute...
Increasing influence of air temperature on upper Colorado River streamflow
Connie A. Woodhouse, Gregory T. Pederson, Kiyomi Morino, Stephanie A. McAfee, Gregory J. McCabe
2016, Geophysical Research Letters (43) 2174-2181
This empirical study examines the influence of precipitation, temperature, and antecedent soil moisture on upper Colorado River basin (UCRB) water year streamflow over the past century. While cool season precipitation explains most of the variability in annual flows, temperature appears to be highly influential under certain conditions, with the role...
Low soil moisture during hot periods drives apparent negative temperature sensitivity of soil respiration in a dryland ecosystem: A multi-model comparison
Colin Tucker, Sasha C. Reed
2016, Biogeochemistry (128) 155-169
Arid and semiarid ecosystems (drylands) may dominate the trajectory of biosphere-to-atmosphere carbon (C) exchange, and understanding dryland CO2 efflux is important for C cycling at the global-scale. However, unknowns remain regarding how temperature and moisture interact to regulate dryland soil respiration (R s ), while ‘islands of fertility’ in drylands create spatially heterogeneous R s ....
