Spatially explicit capture-recapture using fecal DNA to estimate elk population abundance and growth in western North Carolina, USA
Jessica L. Braunstein, Joseph D. Clark, Benjamin C. Augustine, Caleb R. Hickman, Justin McVey, Joseph G. Yarkovich
2025, Journal of Wildlife Management (89)
In an effort to restore extirpated elk to their historical range, 52 elk were reintroduced to Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) in North Carolina, USA, during 2001 and 2002. Since their reintroduction, elk numbers have increased, and elk have extended their range beyond GRSM boundaries. We used spatially explicit...
Current distribution of the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) in the United States
Brett Alexander DeGregorio, Anant Deshwal
2025, Diversity (17)
The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus: hereafter armadillo) was first recorded in the United States (U.S.) in the state of Texas in 1849 and has been expanding its range northward and eastward since then. With the widespread adoption of participatory science as well as the proliferation of nationwide wildlife game...
Short-term ecological effects of solar energy development depend on plant community, soil type, and disturbance intensity
Claire C Karban, Seth M. Munson, Lara A. Kobelt, Jeffrey E. Lovich
2025, Journal of Applied Ecology (62) 945-957
Solar energy is rapidly growing to decarbonize the electrical grid. Maintaining ecosystem function with solar energy generation can be promoted through construction methods that minimize negative impacts on soils and vegetation. However, the disturbance created by less-impactful construction methods at utility-scale solar energy (USSE) facilities and the ecosystem responses...
Community estimate of global glacier mass changes from 2000 to 2023
GlaMBIE Team, Michael Zemp, Livia Jakob, Ines Dussaillant, Samuel U. Nussbaumer, Noel Gourmelen, Sophie Dubber, A. Geruo, Sahra Abdullahi, Liss M. Andreassen, Etienne Berthier, Atanu Bhattacharya, Alejandro Blazquez, Laura Boehm Vock, Tobias Bolch, Jason Box, Matthias H. Braun, Fanny Brun, Eric Cicero, William Colgan, Nicolas Eckert, D. Farinotti, Caitlyn Florentine, Dana Floricioiu, Alex Gardner, Christopher Harig, Javed Hassan, Romain Hugonnet, Matthias Huss, Tómas Jóhannesson, Chia-Chun Angela Liang, Chang-Qing Ke, Shfaqat Abbas, Owen King, Marin Kneib, Lukas Krieger, Fabien Maussion, Enrico Mattea, Robert McNabb, Brian Menounos, Evan Miles, Geir Moholdt, Johan Nilsson, F. Palsson, Julia Pfeffer, Livia Piermattei, Stephen Plummer, Andreas Richter, Ingo Sasgen, Lilian Schuster, Thorsten Seehaus, Xiaoyi Shen, Christian Sommer, Tyler Sutterley, Desiree Treichler, Isabella Velicogna, Bert Wouters, Harry Zekollari, Whyjay Zheng
2025, Nature (639) 382-388
Glaciers are indicators of ongoing anthropogenic climate change1. Their melting leads to increased local geohazards<a...
Confronting debris-flow hazards after wildfire
Ann Youberg, Luke McGuire, N. S. Oakley, Francis K. Rengers, Autym Shafer
2025, Eos, American Geophysical Union (106)
No abstract available....
Implications of physics-based M9 ground motions on liquefaction-induced damage in the Cascadia Subduction Zone: Looking forward and backward
Ryan A. Rasanen, Alex R. Grant, Andrew James Makdisi, Brett W. Maurer, Erin A. Wirth
2025, Earthquake Spectra
Given the likelihood of future M9 Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) earthquakes, various estimates of the resulting, regional ground motions have been made, including a suite of 30 physics-based simulations that reflect key modeling uncertainties. However, because the last CSZ interface rupture occurred in 1700 CE, the shaking expected in such...
Investigating the influence of Diadematidae scuticociliatosis on host microbiome composition
Brayan Vilanova-Cuevas, Christopher M. DeRito, Isabella T. Ritchie, Christina A. Kellogg, James S. Evans, Alizee Zimmermann, Stacey M. Williams, Marilyn E. Brandt, Moriah L. B. Sevier, Samuel Gittens, Kayla A. Budd, Matthew Warham, William C. Sharp, Gabriel A. Delgado, Alwin Hylkema, Kimani A. Kitson-Walters, Jean-Pascal Quod, Mya Breitbart, Ian Hewson
2025, mSystems (10)
Mass mortality of Diadematidae urchins, caused by the Diadema antillarum scuticociliatosis Philaster clade (DScPc), affected the Caribbean in spring 2022 and subsequently spread to the eastern Mediterranean, Red Sea, and western Indian Ocean. A key question around Diadematidae scuticociliatosis (DSc), the disease caused by the scuticociliate, is whether the urchin microbiome varies between...
Not just corticosterone: Further characterization of the endocrine response of Kemp’s ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys kempii) reveals elevated plasma aldosterone concentrations during field capture events
Charles J. Innis, Katherine M. Graham, Cody R. Mott, Kristen Hart, David Roche, Michael Cherkiss, Elizabeth A. Burgess
2025, Animals (15)
To develop safe and effective management policies, it is important to understand the physiologic effects of fishing interactions and scientific research methods on endangered marine species. In the present study, validated assays for plasma corticosterone, free thyroxine (fT4), and aldosterone were used to assess the endocrine status of 61 presumed...
Integrated patterns of residence and movement create testable hypotheses about fish feeding migrations
Martha E. Mather, Ryland B. Taylor, Joseph M. Smith, Kayla M. Boles
2025, Scientific Reports (15)
Developing and testing alternate hypotheses about patterns, mechanisms, and consequences of movement in geographically-large, heterogeneous, natural systems can advance the scientific understanding of animal migration and benefit the conservation of most mobile species. Within organismal movement trajectories, different combinations of residence and movement are predicted from existing ecological theories (e.g....
Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources of the Greater Caspian area, 2022
Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Phuong A. Le, Andrea D. Cicero, Ronald M. Drake II, Thomas M. Finn, Sarah E. Gelman, Jane S. Hearon, Benjamin G. Johnson, Jenny H. Lagesse, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Kira K. Timm
2025, Fact Sheet 2024-3047
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 34.3 billion barrels of oil and 320 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Greater Caspian area....
Quantifying regional ecological dynamics using agency monitoring data, ecological site descriptions, and ecological site groups
Michael C. Duniway, Anna C. Knight, Travis W. Nauman, Tara B.B. Bishop, Sarah E. McCord, Nicholas P. Webb, C. Jason Williams, Joel T. Humphries
2025, Rangeland Ecology & Management (99) 119-142-142
Information about what ecological conditions are likely, causes or drivers of degradation, and potential management actions to restore degraded lands may support land conservation and restoration decisions. State-and-transition models (STMs) describe persistent plant and ecological conditions that are possible (the “state”) within a given abiotic setting and drivers or actions...
Reduction of red bed sedimentary rocks in connection with energy metal ore formation: A case study from the Sinbad seep, Mesa County, Colorado
Isabel Barton, Jon P. Thorson, Susan Hall, Robert A. Zielinski, Jennifer McIntosh, Ji-Hyun Kim
2025, Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (42) 1177-1197
The Paradox Basin’s Sinbad seep is a modern analog for ancient bleaching of red bed sediments by introduced alkaline, reducing brines. This bleaching, involving reductive alteration of former red beds, is essential ground preparation that enables the altered rocks to trap Cu, U, and V from later oxidized fluids, forming...
Re-evaluating the tectonic affinity of Proterozoic crustal provinces in the Southwest USA: Detrital zircon evidence for a Laurentian source for the Yavapai and Mojave Provinces
Ian William Hillenbrand, Amy K. Gilmer, Wayne R. Premo, Michael L. Williams, Michael J. Jercinovic
2025, Geological Society of America Bulletin (137) 2965-2981
Models for crustal growth commonly involve the accretion of dominantly juvenile crust to continental margins. However, tracking the provenance and tectonic affinity of dominantly juvenile crustal provinces is challenging. This difficulty is highlighted by uncertainty over whether the Yavapai and Mojave Provinces, part of the >1300-km-wide system of Proterozoic orogens...
Increased heterozygosity and body condition result from admixed translocation of the threatened Mogollon Narrow-headed Gartersnake (Thamnophis rufipunctatus)
Dustin A. Wood, Bruce L. Christman, Randy D. Jennings, Jonathan P. Rose, Erika M. Nowak, Justin Schofer, Amy G. Vandergast
2025, Conservation Genetics (26) 403-418
Enhancing gene flow through translocations can be a useful tool in recovering small and isolated populations. However, it is not devoid of genetic risks, such as outbreeding depression in future generations, that can have negative consequences in terms of the establishment and mean fitness of the population. Studies that monitor...
Apatite geo-thermochronology and geochemistry constrain Oligocene-Miocene growth and geodynamics of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau
Chao Guo, Zhiyong Zhang, Richard O. Lease, Marco Malusa, David Chew, Haijian Lu, Lin Wu, Dunfeng Xiang, Nan Wang, Bernhard Grasemann, Wenjiao Xiao
2025, Geophysical Research Letters (52)
Understanding the geodynamics of plateau evolution requires examining the spatial and temporal aspects of mountain building in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, which are still under debate. Here we integrate apatite geo-thermochronological and geochemical data from the Oligocene-Miocene succession of the Xunhua Basin to elucidate the evolution of the regional topography....
Application of transcriptomics concentration-response modeling for prioritization of contaminants detected in tributaries of the North American Great Lakes
Jenna Cavallin, Kendra Bush, Steven R. Corsi, Laura DeCicco, Kevin Flynn, Alex Kasparek, Monique Hazimi, Erin Maloney, Peter Schuman, Daniel Villeneuve
2025, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (44) 1310-1321
As part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, chemical monitoring and surveillance efforts have detected approximately 330 chemicals in surface water of Great Lakes tributaries. There were 140 chemicals for which no empirical toxicity data were available. The aim of this study was to generate transcriptomic points of departure (tPODs)...
Reevaluating the depositional model of the Cenomanian–Turonian Bridge Creek Limestone Member near Pueblo, Colorado, U.S.A.: Roles of changing sedimentation rate on the formation of limestone–marl bedding couplets
Zhiyang Li, Jason A. Flaum
2025, Journal of Sedimentary Research (95) 186-208
Although interbedded limestone–marl couplets in many hemipelagic and pelagic deposits have been commonly attributed to orbital-driven climate cycles, the driving mechanisms of these couplets remain largely controversial. This situation arises from the fact that detailed sedimentologic and petrographic facies characteristics of these fine-grained deposits have rarely been examined closely. In...
Developing a probabilistic tsunami hazard assessment framework for Pacific sources: USGS Powell Center meeting summary
Jason R. Patton, Stephanie L Ross, Marie C. Eble, Christodoulos Kyriakopoulos, Patrick J. Lynett, DmitriyJ. Nicolsky, Kenneth Ryan, Hong Kie Thio, Rick I. Wilson, Baoning Wu
2025, Environmental & Engineering Geoscience (31) 67-76
Multi-organizational principal investigators formed a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Powell Center Working Group (WG), Tsunami Source Standardization for Hazards Mitigation in the United States, to develop a comprehensive series of sources capable of generating tsunamis that could impact U.S. state and territory coastal areas using probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis (PTHA)....
Does habitat or climate change drive species range shifts?
Toni Lyn Morelli, Michael T. Hallworth, Timothy Duclos, Adam Ells, Steven D. Faccio, Jane R. Foster, Kent P. McFarland, Keith Nislow, Joel Ralston, Mary Ratnaswamy, William V. Deluca, Alexej P.K. Siren
2025, Ecography (2025)
A primary prediction of climate change ecology is that species will track their climate niche poleward and upslope. However, studies have shown species responding in surprising ways. In this study, we aim to understand the impact of global change on species ranges by considering both climate and habitat changes. Using...
Contrasting magnitude and timing of pulsed aqueous methylmercury bioaccumulation across a reservoir food web
James Willacker, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Austin K. Baldwin, Michael T. Tate, Brett A. Poulin, Jesse Naymik, David P. Krabbenhoft, Ralph Myers, James A. Chandler
2025, Environmental Science & Technology (59) 38884-3894
Water column hypoxia is a key process influencing methylmercury (MeHg) production and availability in waterbodies worldwide. During seasonal destratification, large, short-lived pulses of aqueous MeHg may be released into the subsequently mixed water column, but little is known about the fate of these pulses, particularly whether there are concomitant increases...
An early detection rapid response case study of the Black and White Tegu (Salvator merianae) and implications for a broader framework
Mark Robert Sandfoss, Amanda Marie Kissel, Lisa Marie McBride, Matthew Fox Metcalf, Sarah Rae Sherburne, Travis R. Mangione, Matthew McCollister, Amy A. Yackel Adams
2025, Management of Biological Invasions (16) 581-591
Documentation of successful early detection rapid response (EDRR) efforts is lacking from the scientific literature but is needed to inform invasive species response protocols. The Black and White tegu (Salvator merianae) has become established in several Florida counties and its spread is of significant conservation concern. It is of high...
Multispectral red-edge indices accurately estimate nitrogen content in winter cereal cover crops
Alison Thieme, Jyoti Jennewein, W. Dean Hively, Brian T. Lamb, Alicia Whitcraft, S.B. Mirsky, S.C. Reberg-Horton, C. Justice
2025, Agronomy Journal (117)
Winter cover crops reduce erosion and nutrient runoff from agricultural systems. Although cereal cover crops can decrease field nitrate leaching by 50%–95%, the magnitude of this reduction varies within and between fields, making it challenging to monitor the impact of cover crops on nitrate leaching at large spatial extents. Satellite...
Macroseismology
Susan E. Hough
Austin J. Elliott, Christoph Gruetzner, editor(s)
2025, Book chapter, Understanding past earthquakes
In this chapter I discuss the use of so-called macroseismic data, i.e., reports of damage and other effects of shaking on humans and the built environment, to improve the characterization of earthquakes and the ground motions they produce. Macroseismic data are critical not only to investigate earthquakes that occurred before...
Paleoseismology and paleogeodesy using coral microatolls
Belle E. Philibosian
Austin J. Elliott, Christoph Gruetzner, editor(s)
2025, Book chapter, Understanding past earthquakes
Establishing the rupture extent and slip distribution of individual paleo-earthquakes is vital for assessing fault behavior including the persistence of rupture segmentation, recurrence patterns, and similarity of successive events, key issues in both fault mechanics and hazard assessment. Techniques with high temporal and geodetic precision as well as a wide...
A high efficiency method for the extraction and quantitative analysis of 45 PFAS in whole fish
Sarah Balgooyen, Madelynn Scott, Brett R. Blackwell, Erin L. Pulster, Michael B. Mahon, Ryan F. Lepak, Will Backe
2025, Environmental Science & Technology (59) 3759-3770
This study describes and validates a new method for extracting perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from whole-body fish tissue, demonstrates that freeze-dry preservation of tissue conserves bioaccumulative PFAS, and details a method demonstration on Lake Michigan fish. While fish filets are more commonly analyzed for their significance to human health,...
