Visualizing wading bird optimal foraging decisions with aggregation behaviors using individual-based modeling
Simeon Yurek, Donald L. DeAngelis, Hyo Won Lee, Stephen Tennenbaum
2024, Ecological Modelling (493)
Foragers on patchy landscapes must efficiently balance time between searching for and consuming resources to meet their daily energetic requirements. Spatial aggregation foraging behaviors may improve foraging efficiency by sharing information on locations of resource hotspots. Wading birds are an example of patch foragers that form colonial aggregations during the...
Peak streamflow trends in Illinois and their relation to changes in climate, water years 1921–2020
Mackenzie K. Marti, Thomas M. Over
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5064-B
This report characterizes changes in peak streamflow in Illinois and the relation of these changes to climatic variability, and provides a foundation for future studies that can address nonstationarity in peak-flow frequency analysis in Illinois. Records of annual peak and daily streamflow at streamgages and gridded monthly climatic data (observed...
Evaluation of short-term mussel test for estimating toxicity
Ning Wang, James L. Kunz, Chris D. Ivey, Danielle M. Cleveland, Jeffery A. Steevens
2024, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (43) 2020-2025
Effect concentrations of ammonia, nickel, sodium chloride, and potassium chloride from short-term 7-day tests were compared to those from standard chronic 28-day toxicity tests with juvenile mussels (fatmucket, Lampsilis siliquoidea) to evaluate the sensitivities of the 7-day tests. The effect concentrations for nickel (59 µg Ni/L), chloride...
Catchment coevolution and the geomorphic origins of variable source area hydrology
David G Litwin, Gregory E. Tucker, Katherine R. Barnhart, Ciaran Harman
2024, Water Resources Research (60)
Features of landscape morphology—including slope, curvature, and drainage dissection—are important controls on runoff generation in upland landscapes. Over long timescales, runoff plays an essential role in shaping these same features through surface erosion. This feedback between erosion and runoff generation suggests that modeling long-term landscape evolution together...
Did steam boost the height and growth rate of the giant Hunga eruption plume?
Larry G. Mastin, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Shane Cronin
2024, Bulletin of Volcanology (86)
The eruption of Hunga volcano on 15 January 2022 produced a higher plume and faster-growing umbrella cloud than has ever been previously recorded. The plume height exceeded 58 km, and the umbrella grew to 450 km in diameter within 50 min. Assuming an umbrella thickness of...
Helpers show plasticity in their responses to breeder turnover
David Edward Ausband, Sarah B. Bassing
2024, Behavioral Ecology (35)
Nonbreeding helpers can greatly improve the survival of young and the reproductive fitness of breeders in many cooperatively breeding species. Breeder turnover, in turn, can have profound effects on dispersal decisions made by helpers. Despite its importance in explaining group size and predicting the population demography of cooperative breeders, our...
Delayed positive responses of snowshoe hares to prescribed burning in a fire-adapted ecosystem
Laura C. Gigliotti, Emily S. Boyd, Duane R. Diefenbach
2024, Animal Conservation
Wildlife populations near the periphery of a species’ range are vulnerable to changes in habitat conditions and climate. However, habitat management and maintenance can help with the persistence of these susceptible populations. Snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) populations near the southern extent of their range are at risk of extirpation because...
Uncertainty in ground-motion-to-intensity conversions significantly affects earthquake early warning alert regions
Jessie Saunders, Annemarie S. Baltay Sundstrom, Sarah E. Minson, Maren Bose
2024, The Seismic Record (4) 121-130
We examine how the choice of ground‐motion‐to‐intensity conversion equations (GMICEs) in earthquake early warning (EEW) systems affects resulting alert regions. We find that existing GMICEs can underestimate observed shaking at short rupture distances or overestimate the extent of low‐intensity shaking. Updated GMICEs that...
Conservation genetics of the endangered California Freshwater Shrimp (Syncaris pacifica): Watershed and stream networks define gene pool boundaries
Abdul M. Ada, Amy G. Vandergast, Robert N. Fisher, Darren Fong, Andrew J. Bohonak
2024, Conservation Genetics (25) 1021-1033
Understanding genetic structure and diversity among remnant populations of rare species can inform conservation and recovery actions. We used a population genetic framework to spatially delineate gene pools and estimate gene flow and effective population sizes for the endangered California Freshwater Shrimp Syncaris pacifica. Tissues of 101...
Diel temperature signals track seasonal shifts in localized groundwater contributions to headwater streamflow generation at network scale
David M. Rey, Danielle K. Hare, Jennifer H. Fair, Martin A. Briggs
2024, Journal of Hydrology (639)
Groundwater contributions to streamflow sustain aquatic ecosystem resilience; streams without significant groundwater inputs often have well-coupled air and water temperatures that degrade cold-water habitat during warm low flow periods. Widespread uncertainty in stream-groundwater connectivity across space and time has created disparate...
Artificial intelligence applied to big data reveals that lake invasions are predicted by human traffic and co-occurring invasions
Jessica L. Weir, Wesley Daniel, Kieran Hyder, Christian Skov, Paul A. Venturelli
2024, Biological Invasions (26) 3163-3178
Preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species is an important management action. Identifying the characteristics of lakes that are susceptible to invasion creates an opportunity for management groups to prioritize limited resources for high-risk areas. In this study, we leveraged big data from a popular fishing app and other publicly...
Reproducing age variability in grass carp egg samples from the lower Sandusky River, Ohio, USA, using an egg-drift model
David T. Soong, P. Ryan Jackson, Patrick M. Kocovsky, Lori Morrison, Tatiana Garcia, Santiago Santacruz, Cindy Chen, Zhenduo Zhu, Holly Susan Embke
2024, Journal of Great Lakes Research (50)
Invasive grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) are currently reproducing in several tributaries to Lake Erie and threatening the Great Lakes ecosystem and fisheries. Grass carp are pelagic river spawners whose fertilized eggs drift downstream from the spawning site, developing as they drift. Variability in spawning time and location together with nonuniform...
Responses of marginal and intrinsic water-use efficiency to changing aridity using FLUXNET observations
Koong Yi, Kimberly A. Novick, Quan Zhang, Lixin Wang, Taehee Hwang, Xi Yang, Kanishka Mallick, Martin Beland, Gabriel B. Senay, Dennis Baldocchi
2024, Journal of Geophysical Research Biogeosciences (129)
According to classic stomatal optimization theory, plant stomata are regulated to maximize carbon assimilation for a given water loss. A key component of stomatal optimization models is marginal water-use efficiency (mWUE), the ratio of the change of transpiration to the change in carbon assimilation. Although the mWUE is often assumed...
Variation in Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) eggshell thickness: DDT, measurement methods, and location
G. M. Santolo, Clint W. Boal
2024, Journal of Raptor Research (58) 1-9
We collected Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) eggshells from nests in the Tucson, Arizona, USA, area in the 1990s incidental to other activities and compared them to pre-DDT Cooper's Hawk eggshells (119 museum specimens from 14 states, 1894–1939) ranging from 0.284–0.402 mm (x̄= 0.348 mm, SD = 0.0243) and we also...
Accuracy assessment of three-dimensional point cloud data collected with a scanning total station on Shinnecock Nation Tribal lands in Suffolk County, New York
Michael L. Noll, William D. Capurso, Anthony Chu
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5027
A combined point cloud of about 85.6 million points was collected during 27 scans of a section of the western shoreline along the Shinnecock Peninsula of Suffolk County, New York, to document baseline geospatial conditions during July and October 2022 using a scanning total station. The three-dimensional accuracy of the...
Groundwater, surface-water, and water-chemistry data, Black Mesa area, northeastern Arizona—2019–2021
Jon P. Mason
2024, Open-File Report 2024-1019
The Navajo (N) aquifer is an extensive aquifer and the primary source of groundwater in the 5,400-square-mile Black Mesa area in northeastern Arizona. Water availability is an important issue in the Black Mesa area because of the arid climate, past industrial water use, and continued water requirements for municipal use...
Yellowstone Volcano Observatory 2023 annual report
Yellowstone Volcano Observatory
2024, Circular 1524
The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) monitors volcanic and hydrothermal activity associated with the Yellowstone magmatic system, carries out research into magmatic processes occurring beneath Yellowstone caldera, and issues timely warnings and guidance related to potential future geologic hazards. YVO is a collaborative consortium that includes the U.S. Geological Survey...
Identifying new invasive plants in the face of climate change: A focus on sleeper species
A.C. O'Uhuru, Toni Lyn Morelli, Annette E. Evans, J.D. Salva, B.A. Bradley
2024, Biological Invasions (26) 2989-3001
Sleeper populations are established populations of introduced species whose population growth is limited by one or more abiotic or biotic conditions. Sleeper populations pose an invasion risk if a change in those limiting conditions, such as climate change, enables population growth and invasion. With thousands of established introduced species, it...
Designing count-based studies in a world of hierarchical models
Quresh S. Latif, Jonathon Joseph Valente, Alison Johnston, Kayla L. Davis, Frank A. Fogarty, Adam W. Green, Gavin M. Jones, Matthias Leu, Nicole L. Michel, David C. Pavlacky Jr., Elizabeth A. Rigby, Clark S. Rushing, Jamie S. Sanderlin, Morgan W. Tingley, Qing Zhao
2024, Journal of Wildlife Management (88)
Advances in hierarchical modeling have improved estimation of ecological parameters from count data, especially those quantifying population abundance, distribution, and dynamics by explicitly accounting for observation processes, particularly incomplete detection. Even hierarchical models that account for incomplete detection, however, cannot compensate for data limitations stemming from poorly planned sampling. Ecologists...
National Aquatic Environmental DNA Strategy
Kelly D Goodwin, Mike Weise, Christopher P. Meyer, Masha Edmondson, Katie Fillingham, Dee Allen, Alicia Amerson, Meredith L. Barton, Abby Benson, Gabrielle Canonico, Zachary Gold, Jennifer Gumm, Margaret Hunter, Nina Joffe, Richard Lance, Alyse Larkin, Ricardo Letelier, Christine Lipsky, Dana McCoskey, Cheryl Morrison, Karen Clark, John A. Darling, Amelia-Juliette Demery, Meredith Everett, Colette Fletcher-Hoppe, Krista M. Nichols, Kim M. Parsons, James Price, Kimberly Puglise, Katie Scholl, Mike K Schwartz, Adam Sepulveda, Janet Shannon, Woody Turner, Timothy White
Katie Fillingham, Masha Edmondson, Elaine Shen, editor(s)
2024, Report
Aquatic life is the engine of ecosystems and economies. In environments ranging from freshwater through marine, this biodiversity underpins the health, culture, opportunities, and economic wellbeing of the Nation -- from local communities to the entire country. The ability to evaluate the status, trends, and future projections of nature is...
Evaluation of coal mine drainage and associated precipitates for radium and rare earth element concentrations
Bonnie McDevitt, Charles A. III Cravotta, Ryan J. McAleer, John C Jackson, Aaron M. Jubb, Glenn D. Jolly, Benjamin C. Hedin, Nathaniel R. Warner
2024, Journal of International Coal Geology (289)
Coal mine drainage (CMD) and associated metal-rich precipitates have recently been proposed as unconventional sources of rare earth elements (REEs). However, the potential occurrence of radium (Ra), a known carcinogen, with the REE-bearing phases has not been investigated. We hypothesized...
The U.S. Geological Survey Ohio Water Microbiology Laboratory
Braden M. Lanier, Amie M.G. Brady, Jessica R. Cicale, Christopher M. Kephart, Lauren D. Lynch, Maxim W. Schroeder, Erin A. Stelzer
2024, Fact Sheet 2024-3004
The U.S. Geological Survey Ohio Water Microbiology Laboratory is a part of the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center. The mission of the laboratory is to provide microbiological data of public health significance from surface waters, groundwaters, and sediments for a variety of study objectives. The laboratory conducts internal projects, works with...
Bedrock geologic map of the Woodstock quadrangle, Grafton County, New Hampshire
Gregory J. Walsh, William C. Burton, Thomas R. Armstrong, E. Allen Crider Jr.
2024, Scientific Investigations Map 3522
The bedrock geology of the Woodstock 7.5-minute quadrangle consists of highly deformed metasedimentary rocks of the Central Maine trough, including the Silurian Rangeley and Perry Mountain Formations and the Devonian Littleton Formation. The central, northern, and eastern parts of the quadrangle are underlain by the oldest rocks in the area,...
Bees of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge—A preliminary report on a bee survey in a vulnerable semi-desert grassland of the Sonoran Desert
Kathryn A. Thomas, Angela M. Hoover, M. Kathryn Busby
2024, Open-File Report 2024-1032
Pollinators are vital to the continued existence and seed production of about 87.5 percent of all flowering plants (Ollerton and others, 2011). In the semi-desert grasslands of Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, in the Sonoran Desert of the United States, flowering forbs provide seed vital to the food base of...
Widespread occupancy of the endangered northern myotis on northeastern Atlantic Coastal Plain islands
Samantha Hoff, Brittany A. Mosher, Mandy Watson, Luanne Johnson, Elizabeth Olson, Danielle O’Dell, Casey J. Pendergast, Daniel A. Bogan, Carl J. Herzog, Wendy Christine Turner
2024, Endangered Species Research (54) 141-153
Northern myotis Myotis septentrionalis are one of the bat species most affected by white-nose syndrome (WNS), and disease-induced declines may cause compounding effects when combined with other threats such as habitat loss and fragmentation. Recent evidence suggests that peripheral populations are persisting in post-WNS years; however, the environmental factors that...
