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Planning for sustainable landscapes is hampered by uncertainty in how species will respond to conservation actions amidst impacts from landscape and climate change. Planning decisions, including tradeoffs among competing species objectives, are complex. We developed a decision-support framework that integrates dynamic-landscape metapopulation models (DLMPs) and structured decision making (SDM) to...

Development in the southeastern U.S. coastal plain generates the need for a better understanding of how demographics (survival and abundance) of estuarine nekton respond to urbanization. Apparent survival and density of the dominant Atlantic coast salt marsh fish, Fundulus heteroclitus, were estimated in four North Carolina tidal creeks using...

Understanding the dynamics and physics of climate extremes will be a critical challenge for 21st century climate science. Increasing temperatures and saturation vapor pressures may exacerbate heat waves, droughts and precipitation extremes. Yet our ability to monitor temperature variations is limited and declining. Between 1983 and 2016 the number of...

Background: 3,3’-Dichlorobiphenyl (PCB-11) is a non-legacy PCB congener widely detected in environmental samples and has been detected in human serum, but its toxicity potential is poorly understood. Objectives: We measured PCB-11 in wild caught fish and assessed its embryotoxicity and interactions with the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (Ahr) pathway in developing zebrafish...

Irrigated agriculture and inland fisheries both make important contributions to food security, nutrition, livelihoods, and well-being. Typically, in modern irrigation systems, these components operate independently. Some practices, commonly associated with water use and intensification of crop production, can be in direct conflict with and have adverse impacts on fisheries. Food...

Observations of seismic anisotropy can provide direct constraints on the character of mantle flow in subduction zones, critical for our broader understanding of subduction dynamics. Here we present over 750 new SKS splitting measurements in the vicinity of Mount St. Helens in the Cascadia subduction zone using a combination of...

Since their designation in the 1980s, Areas of Concern (AOCs) around the Great Lakes have been the focus of multi-State and international cleanup efforts that were needed after decades of human activity resulted in severely contaminated sediment, water-quality degradation, loss of habitat for aquatic organisms, and impaired public use. Although...

American woodcock (Scolopax minor; woodcock) migratory connectivity (i.e., association between breeding and wintering areas) is largely unknown, even though current woodcock management is predicated on such associations. Woodcock are currently managed in the Eastern and Central management regions in the United States with the boundary between management regions analogous to...

Despite over a century of archaeological research, the nature and broader consequences of Classic Maya warfare remain poorly understood. Based on frequent epigraphic references and iconographic themes, Classic period (250-950 CE) Maya warfare has largely been viewed as ritualized and limited in scope. Evidence of warfare in the Terminal Classic...

De facto reuse is increasingly being studied among the variety of stressors that are relevant to drinking water systems that obtain their source water from surface waters. De facto reuse may influence the levels and types of precursors relevant to formation of disinfection by-products (DBPs) in surface water systems. DBPs such as trihalomethanes...

We collected Walleye Sander vitreus (May–October) from Bitter and Twin lakes, South Dakota to assess seasonal- and diet-related variation in tissue mercury (Hg) concentration. The average Hg concentration in Walleye was 43–68% higher in the spring for Bitter (p < 0.008) and Twin Lakes (p < 0.017) compared with summer or autumn months. Bioenergetics analysis of...

Estuaries provide vital nursery habitat for threatened Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) by promoting an ecological portfolio effect, whereby multiple habitat types and environmental strata maximize foraging opportunities for out-migrating salmon by varying the abundance and composition of prey through space and time. To study this portfolio effect, we evaluated the...

Forest ecosystems in eastern North America were in flux over the last several thousand years, well before Euro-American land clearance and the 20th-century onset of anthropogenic climate change. However, the magnitude and uncertainty of prehistoric vegetation change have been difficult to quantify because of the multiple ecological, dispersal, and sedimentary processes that govern the relationship...

Influenza A viruses are one of the most significant viral groups globally with substantial impacts on human, domestic animal and wildlife health. Wild birds are the natural reservoirs for these viruses, and active surveillance within wild bird populations provides critical information about viral evolution forming the basis of risk assessments...

Groundwater supplies 50% of drinking water worldwide, but compromised water quality from anthropogenic and geogenic contaminants can limit usage of groundwater as a drinking water source. Groundwater quality in the glacial aquifer system, USA (GLAC), is presented in the context of a hydrogeologic framework...

The connecting channels linking the Laurentian Great Lakes provide important migration routes, spawning grounds, and nursery habitat for fish, but their role as conduits between lakes for zooplankton is less understood. To address this knowledge gap in the St. Clair–Detroit River System (SCDRS), a comprehensive survey of crustacean zooplankton was...

This paper introduces a dataset containing consistent time-series measurements of anthropogenic activities potentially affecting stream quality across the conterminous United States and summarizes the most noteworthy trends from 61 variables in 16 categories. Data include measures of atmospheric deposition, agricultural production, livestock, urbanization, irrigation, land use, nutrients from fertilizer,...

The disjunct distribution of Cambarus monongalensis has led to speculation about its taxonomic status. An Appalachian Plateau population occurs in northern and central West Virginia and Southwestern Pennsylvania, and a mountain population occurs in the Allegheny Mountains and Ridge and Valley physiographic provinces of the Virginias. Herein we describe the mountain population as Cambarus fetzneri sp....

In the taxonomic world, the oaks are known as a rambunctious group, notorious for hybridizing. In this report, we present preliminary information to address the question of how much hybridization is occurring between bur oak and white oaks with which it is sympatric, through rangewide sampling of bur oak and...

Hurricane Sandy provided a unique opportunity to better understand the movements of Fire Island’s dense white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus borealis) herds. White-tailed deer inhabit all areas of Fire Island National Seashore and their high densities negatively affect native vegetation in several areas of the island, especially as disturbed areas attempt...

Since 2011, tropical beaches from Africa to Brazil, Central America, and the Caribbean have been inundated by tons of sargassum seaweed from a new equatorial source of pelagic sargassum in the Atlantic. In recent years the extraordinary accumulations of sargassum make this a nuisance algal bloom for tropical coasts. In...

Delaying species management reduces the chance of successful recovery, increases the risk of extinction, and can be expensive. Acting before major declines are realized affords access to a greater suite of cost-effective management actions to sustain populations, reducing the likelihood of declines warranting protected status. It is clear that reactive...

In the last twenty years, multiple large and small hydroelectric dams have begun to transform the Amazonian region, spawning a growing volume of academic research across diverse disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields. In this article, we offer a critical review of recent research related to hydropower and sustainability with a focus...

This report documents a Soil-Water-Balance (SWB) model that was developed for an area covering the Blue Ridge, Piedmont, and Mesozoic basin fractured-rock aquifers in Fauquier County, Virginia, for the calendar years 1996–2015. The SWB model includes an area of 1,498 square miles, divided into 1,076-square-foot (100-square-meter) grid cells on which...

Oak trees host an amazing diversity of insects, many of which specialize on Quercus species. Oak species and genotypes are commonly planted far from where an acorn was produced. Urban plantings, restoration sites, and plantings anticipating climate change each cause this to happen. What evidence exists that provenance of oak...