The Yellowstone River fish-kill: Fish health informs and is informed by vital signs monitoring
Patrick R. Hutchins, Adam J. Sepulveda, Lacey R. Hopper, Ken Staigmiller
2019, Yellowstone Science (27)
Trout are socioeconomically and ecologically important in the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA); yet these fish face numerous threats. Disease may begin to play a larger role in reducing fish populations, partly because many existing threats may interact to exacerbate the frequency, extent, and severity of fish diseases (Lafferty 2009). For...
Groundwater salinity and the effects of produced water disposal in the Lost Hills-Belridge oilfields, Kern County, California
Janice M. Gillespie, Tracy Davis, Michael J. Stephens, Lyndsay B. Ball, Matthew K. Landon
2019, Environmental Geosciences (26) 73-96
Increased oil and gas production in many areas has led to concerns over the effects these activities may be having on nearby groundwater quality. In this study we determine the lateral and vertical extent of groundwater with less than 10,000 milligrams per liter (mg/l) total dissolved solids (TDS) near...
Movement and apparent survival of acoustically tagged juvenile late-fall run chinook salmon released upstream of Shasta Reservoir, California
John Plumb, Amy C. Hansen, Noah S. Adams, Scott D. Evans, John Hannon
2019, San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science (17)
Stakeholder interests have spurred the reintroduction of the critically endangered populations of Chinook Salmon to tributaries upstream of Shasta Dam, in northern California. We released two groups of acoustically tagged, juvenile hatchery, late-fall Chinook Salmon to determine how juvenile salmon would distribute and survive. We measured travel times to Shasta...
Magmato-tectonic links: Ignimbrite calderas, regional dike swarms, and the transition from arc to rift in the Southern Rocky Mountains
Peter W. Lipman, Matthew J. Zimmerer
2019, Geosphere (15) 1893-1926
Radial and linear dike swarms in the eroded roots of volcanoes and along rift zones are sensitive structural indicators of conduit and eruption geometry that can record regional paleostress orientations. Compositionally diverse dikes and larger intrusions that radiate westward from the polycyclic Platoro caldera complex in the Southern Rocky Mountain...
Impacts to wildlife of wind energy siting and operation in the United States
Taber Allison, James E. Diffendorfer, Erin Baerwald, Julie Beston, David Drake, Amanda Hale, Cris Hein, Manuela M. Huso, Scott Loss, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Dale Strickland, Kate Williams, Virginia Winder
2019, Issues in Ecology 1-24
Electricity from wind energy is a major contributor to the strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel use and thus reduce the negative impacts of climate change. Wind energy, like all power sources, can have adverse impacts on wildlife. After nearly 25 years of focused research, these impacts...
Say what? Bivalent singing in Vermivora warblers
Gunnar R. Kramer, R. Kyle Pagel, Kate Maley, Cassandra Ziegler, Sean M. Peterson, David E. Andersen, David A. Buehler, Henry M. Streby
2019, Ecology (101)
No abstract available....
Energy intake rate influences survival of Black Oystercatcher Haematopus bachmani broods
B.H. Robinson, L.M. Phillips, Abby Powell
2019, Journal of Seabird Science and Conservation (47) 277-283
Black Oystercatchers Haematopus bachmani, a species of conservation concern, depend on marine intertidal prey resources. We examined diet, feeding rates, growth, and survival of Black Oystercatcher broods in southcentral Alaska, 2013-2014. To determine the importance of diet on brood survival, we modeled daily survival rates of broods as a function...
Rural-urban differences in hunting and birdwatching attitudes and participation
Emily J. Wilkins, Nicholas W. Cole, Holly M. Miller, Rudy Schuster, Ashley A. Dayer, Jennifer N. Duberstein, David C. Fulton, Howard W. Harshaw, Andrew H. Raedeke
2019, Human Dimensions of Wildlife (24) 530-547
Outdoor recreation facilitates important connections to nature and wildlife but is perceived differently across population segments. As such, we expected that current and past socio-demographic characteristics of individuals would influence intention to participate in outdoor recreation. We solicited 5,000 U.S. residents. (n = 1,030, 23% response) to describe their perceptions...
World’s largest dam removal reverses coastal erosion
Jonathan A. Warrick, Andrew W. Stevens, Ian M. Miller, Shawn R Harrison, Andrew C. Ritchie, Guy R. Gelfenbaum
2019, Scientific Reports (9)
Coastal erosion outpaces land generation along many of the world’s deltas and a significant percentage of shorelines, and human-caused alterations to coastal sediment budgets can be important drivers of this erosion. For sediment-starved and erosion-prone coasts, large-scale enhancement of sediment supply may be an important, but poorly understood, management option....
Characterization and load estimation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from selected Rio Grande tributary stormwater channels in the Albuquerque urbanized area, New Mexico, 2017–18
Zachary M. Shephard, Kathleen E. Conn, Kimberly R. Beisner, Alanna D. Jornigan, Christina F. Bryant
2019, Open-File Report 2019-1106
In cooperation with the New Mexico County of Bernalillo, the U.S. Geological Survey characterized potential polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentration and estimated loading into the Rio Grande from watersheds that are under the county’s jurisdiction. Water and sediment samples were collected in 2017–18 from six sites within four stormwater drainage basins...
Generalized potentiometric-surface map and groundwater flow directions in the Madison aquifer near Jewel Cave National Monument, South Dakota
Todd M. Anderson, William G. Eldridge, Joshua F. Valder, Michael E. Wiles
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5098
A generalized potentiometric-surface map of the Madison aquifer near Jewel Cave National Monument was constructed using water levels measured from calendar years 1988 to 2019 in 24 groundwater wells and 4 subterranean cave lakes interpreted to be in hydraulic connection with the aquifer. The map indicated that groundwater near Jewel...
Preliminary GIS representation of deep coal areas for carbon dioxide storage in the contiguous United States and Alaska
Kevin B. Jones, Laura E. Barnhart, Peter D. Warwick, Margo D. Corum
2019, Open-File Report 2018-1178
This report and its accompanying geospatial data outline many areas of coal in the United States beneath more than 3,000 ft of overburden. Based on depth, these areas may be targets for injection and storage of supercritical carbon dioxide. Additional areas where coal exists beneath more than 1,000 ft of...
Snakehead fishes (Channa spp.) in the USA
Amy Benson
2019, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the First International Snakehead Symposium, American Fisheries Society Symposium 89
The introduction of snakeheads from their origins in Asia is relatively recent to the conterminous United States with the first of many collections beginning in the late 1990s. For decades they have been commercially fished and aquacultured around the world for human food and, to a lesser degree, for the...
Management opportunities and research priorities for Great Plains grasslands
Deborah M Finch, Carolyn Baldwin, David P Brown, Katelyn P. Driscoll, Erica Fleishman, Paulette L. Ford, Brice Hanberry, Amy Symstad, Bill Van Pelt, Richard Zabel
2019, General Technical Report 398
The Great Plains Grassland Summit: Challenges and Opportunities from North to South was held April 10-11, 2018 in Denver, Colorado. The geographical focus for the summit was the entire Great Plains. The summit was designed to provide syntheses of information about key grassland topics of interest in the Great Plains;...
Discoveries and novel insights in ecology using structural equation modeling
Daniel C. Laughlin, James Grace
2019, Ecology and Evolution (12) 28-34
As we enter the era of data science (Lortie 2018), quantitative analysis methodologies are proliferating rapidly, leaving ecologists with the task of choosing among many alternatives. The use of structural equation modeling (SEM) by ecologists has increased in recent years, prompting us to ask users a number of questions about...
Dome formation on Ceres by sold-state flow analogous to terrestrial salt tectonics
Michael T. Bland, D. L Buczkowski, H. G. Sizemore, A. I. Ermakov, S. D King, M. M. Sori, C. A. Raymond, J. C. Castillo-Rogez, C. T. Russell
2019, Nature Geoscience (12) 797-801
The dwarf planet Ceres’s outer crust is a complex, heterogeneous mixture of ice, clathrates, salts and silicates. Numerous large domes on Ceres’s surface indicate a degree of geological activity. These domes have been attributed to cryovolcanism, but that is difficult to reconcile with Ceres’s small size and lack of long-lived...
Growth response of the ichthyotoxic haptophyte, Prymnesium parvum Carter, to changes in sulfate and fluoride concentrations
Rakib B. Rashel, Reynaldo Patino
2019, PLoS ONE (14) 1-19
Golden alga Prymnesium parvum Carter is a euryhaline, ichthyotoxic haptophyte (Chromista). Because of its presumed coastal/marine origin where SO42- levels are high, the relatively high SO42- concentration of its brackish inland habitats, and the sensitivity of marine chromists to sulfur deficiency, this study examined whether golden alga growth is sensitive...
Survival and movements of head‐started Mojave desert tortoises
J. A. Daly, K. A. Buhlmann, B. D. Todd, Clinton T. Moore, J. M. Peaden, T. D. Tuberville
2019, Journal of Wildlife Management (83) 1700-1710
Head‐starting is a conservation strategy in which young animals are protected in captivity temporarily before their release into the wild at a larger size, when their survival is presumably increased. The Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) is in decline, and head‐starting has been identified as one of several conservation measures...
The hydrologic system of the south Florida peninsula—Development and application of the Biscayne and Southern Everglades Coastal Transport (BISECT) model
Eric D. Swain, Melinda A. Lohmann, Carl R. Goodwin
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5045
The Biscayne and Southern Everglades Coastal Transport (BISECT) model was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey under the Greater Everglades Priority Ecosystem Studies Initiative to evaluate, both separately and in conjunction, the likely effects on surface-water stages and flows, hydroperiod, and groundwater levels and salinity in south Florida of (1)...
A collaborative approach to bridging the gap between wildlife managers and researchers
Jerod Merkle, Neil J. Anderson, Danna L. Baxley, Matthew Chopp, Laura C. Gigliotti, Justin A. Gude, Tyler M. Harms, Heather E. Johnson, Evelyn H. Merrill, Michael S. Mitchell, Tony W. Mong, Jerry Nelson, Andrew S. Norton, Michael J. Sheriff, Eric Tomasik, Kelly R. VanBeek
2019, Journal of Wildlife Management (83) 1644-1651
Although most wildlife professionals agree that science should inform wildlife management decisions, disconnect still exists between researchers and managers. If researchers are not striving to incorporate their findings into management decisions, support for research programs by managers can wane. If managers are not using research findings to inform management decisions,...
The importance of turtle populations to wetland restoration in the upper Mississippi embayment of the Mississippi Alluvial Valley
Max A Nickerson, Joseph C. Mitchell, Brad Glorioso
2019, Wetlands Ecology and Management (27) 683-692
The Upper Mississippi Embayment (UME) ecoregion covers approximately 141,895 km2 and historically supported 9,712,455 ha of bottomland deciduous forests, swamps, bayous, and rivers. Only about 500 ha (< 0.01%) of pre-settlement bottomland hardwood forest habitat in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) in the UME remained by the 1940s because the timber...
Climate-driven shifts in soil temperature and moisture regimes suggest opportunities to enhance assessments of dryland resilience and resistance
John B. Bradford, Daniel R. Schlaepfer, William K. Lauenroth, Kyle A. Palmquist, Jeanne C. Chambers, Jeremy D. Maestas, Steven B. Campbell
2019, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (7)
Assessing landscape patterns in climate vulnerability, as well as resilience and resistance to drought, disturbance, and invasive species, requires appropriate metrics of relevant environmental conditions. In dryland systems of western North America, soil temperature and moisture regimes have been widely utilized as an indicator of resilience to disturbance and resistance...
Comparison of physical to numerical mixing with different tracer advection schemes in estuarine environments
Tarandeep S. Kalra, Xiangyu Li, John C. Warner, W. R. Geyer, Hui Wu
2019, Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (10)
The numerical simulation of estuarine dynamics requires accurate prediction for the transport of tracers such as temperature and salinity. During the simulation of these processes, all numerical models introduce two kinds of tracer mixing: 1) by parameterizing the tracer eddy diffusivity through turbulence models leading to a source of physical...
Survival and recruitment dynamics of Black-legged Kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla at an Alaskan colony
Cyndy Loftin, Aly McKnight, Erik J. Blomberg, David B. Irons, Shawn T. McKinney
2019, Marine Ornithology: Journal of Seabird Research and Conservation (47) 209-222
The majority of seabirds breed colonially and exhibit considerable site fidelity over the course of their long lifespans. Initial colony selection can therefore have substantial fitness consequences; however, factors contributing to recruitment into colonies and subsequent fidelity remain unclear. We used multi-state capture-recapture models to test several hypotheses related to...
Clustered BSRs: Evidence for gas hydrate-bearing turbidite complexes in folded regions, example from the Perdido Fold Belt, northern Gulf of Mexico
Alexy Portnov, Ann Cook, Derek E. Sawyer, Chen Yang, Jess Hillman, William F. Waite
2019, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (528)
We describe previously undocumented but extensive gas hydrate accumulations in the mouth of Perdido Canyon in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The accumulations are located within central parts of structural domes (four-way closures) and are characterized by stacked, high-amplitude bottom simulating reflections (BSRs) that we call clustered BSRs. Seismic data...
