To forage or flee: Lessons from an elk migration near a protected area
Nathaniel Mikle, Tabitha A. Graves, Edward M. Olexa
2019, Ecosphere (10) 1-15
Alteration of wide-ranging wildlife migrations can drastically impact the structure and function of ecosystems, yet the causes and consequences of shifting migration patterns remain largely unknown. Management decisions made in one portion of a landscape may induce spatial and temporal shifts of wildlife use in another, creating tension among private,...
Rare earth element mineral deposits in the United States
Bradley S. Van Gosen, Philip L. Verplanck, Poul Emsbo
2019, Circular 1454
Because of their unique special chemical properties, many of the metals in the group of rare earth elements (REEs) have essential applications in 21st century technologies. Examples of products that use REEs are cell phones, computers, fluorescent and light-emitting-diode lights, flat-screen television and computer monitors, and in high-strength magnets used...
Environmental DNA sampling reveals high occupancy rates of invasive Burmese pythons at wading bird breeding aggregations in the central Everglades
Sophia C. M. Orzechowski, Peter C. Frederick, Robert M. Dorazio, Margaret Hunter
2019, PLoS ONE (14)
The Burmese python (Python bivittatus) is now established as a breeding population throughout south Florida, USA. However, the extent of the invasion, and the ecological impacts of this novel apex predator on animal communities are incompletely known, in large part because Burmese pythons (hereafter “pythons”) are extremely cryptic...
Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Best Management Practice Implementation in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, 1985–2014
Andrew J. Sekellick, Olivia H. Devereux, Jennifer L. D. Keisman, Jeffrey S. Sweeney, Joel D. Blomquist
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5171
Efforts to restore water quality in Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries often include extensive Best Management Practice (BMP) implementation on agricultural and developed lands. These BMPs include a variety of methods to reduce nutrient and sediment loads, such as cover crops, conservation tillage, urban filtering systems, and other practices.Estimates of...
Groundwater quality and nutrient trends near Marsing, southwestern Idaho, 2018
Kenneth D. Skinner
2019, Open-File Report 2019-1032
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, sampled groundwater from 15 wells during spring 2018 near the city of Marsing in rural northwestern Owyhee County, southwestern Idaho. Samples were analyzed for field parameters, nutrients, trace elements, major inorganics, and dissolved gas, including methane....
A landscape model of variable social-ecological fire regimes
Robert M Scheller, Alec Kretchun, Todd Hawbaker, Paul D. Henne
2019, Ecological Modelling (401) 85-93
Fire regimes are now recognized as the product of social processes whereby fire on any landscape is the product of human-generated drivers: climate change, historical patterns of vegetation manipulation, invasive species, active fire suppression, ongoing fuel management efforts, prescribed burning, and accidental ignitions. We developed a new fire...
Establishing an Agassiz’s Desert Tortoise monitoring program within the Coachella Valley multiple species habitat conservation plan area: Final report to the Coachella Valley conservation commission on work performed near the Orocopia Mountains
Jeffrey E. Lovich, Shellie R. Puffer, Kristy L. Cummings
2019, Book chapter, 2019 Annual Report: Coachella Valley multiple species conservation plan/natural community conservation plan
In support of the goals of the Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan and Natural Community Conservation Plan (CVMSHCP/NCCP), a population of Agassiz’s desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) was marked and studied to establish a desert tortoise monitoring program near the Orocopia Mountains beginning in early 2017 and ending in...
Biases in the literature on direct wildlife mortality from energy development
Scott R. Loss, Monica Dorning, James E. Diffendorfer
2019, BioScience (69) 348-359
Comparing environmental impacts of different energy sources can inform energy investments and environmental conservation. Direct wildlife mortality from energy development receives substantial public and scientific attention, but it is unclear whether rigorous comparisons of mortality among energy sources are possible. To address this question, we compared availability of mortality...
Hurricane Sandy impacts on coastal wetland resilience
Donald R. Cahoon, Jennifer H. Olker, Alice G. Yeates, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, James B. Grace, Susan C. Adamowicz, Shimon C. Anisfeld, Andrew H. Baldwin, Nels Barrett, Leah Beckett, Alice Benzecry, Linda K. Blum, David M. Burdick, William Crouch, Marci Cole Ekberg, Sarah Fernald, Kristin Wilson Grimes, Joseph Grzyb, Ellen Kracauer Hartig, Danielle A. Kreeger, Marit Larson, Scott Lerberg, James C. Lynch, Nicole Maher, Martha Maxwell-Doyle, Laura R. Mitchell, Jordan Mora, Victoria O’Neill, Angela Padeletti, Diann J. Prosser, Tracy Quirk, Kenneth B. Raposa, William G. Reay, Drexel Siok, Christopher Snow, Adam Starke, J. Court Stevenson, Lorie Staver, Vincent Turner
2019, Open-File Report 2018-1142
The goal of this research was to evaluate the impacts of Hurricane Sandy on surface elevation trends in estuarine marshes located across the northeast region of the United States from Virginia to Maine using data from an opportunistic (in other words, not strategic) and collaborative network (from here on, an...
Implementation of an occupancy-based monitoring protocol for a wide-spread and cryptic species, the New England cottontail Sylvilagus transitionalis
Colin P. Shea, Mitchell J. Eaton, Darryl I. MacKenzie
2019, Wildlife Research
Designing effective long-term monitoring strategies is essential for managing wildlife populations. Implementing a cost-effective, practical monitoring program is especially challenging for widespread but locally rare species. Early successional habitat preferred by the New England cottontail (NEC) has become increasingly rare and fragmented, resulting in substantial declines from their peak distribution...
Annual survival, site fidelity, and longevity in the eastern coastal population of the Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) based on a 20-year mark-recapture/resighting study
Paul W. Sykes, Mary Freeman, Joan J. Sykes, John T. Seginak, M. David Oleyar, Joshua P. Egan
2019, Wilson Journal of Ornithology (131) 96-110
A long-term study of annual survival, longevity, and site fidelity in the eastern coastal population of the Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) during the breeding season was conducted from 1999 through 2018 in the outer coastal plain of the southeastern Atlantic coast of the United States. Painted Buntings were uniquely color-banded...
The complex spatial distribution of trichloroethene and the probability of NAPL occurrence in the rock matrix of a mudstone aquifer
Allen M. Shapiro, Daniel J. Goode, Thomas E. Imbrigiotta, Michelle M. Lorah, Claire R. Tiedeman
2019, Journal of Contaminant Hydrology (233)
Methanol extractions for chloroethene analyses are conducted on rock samples from seven closely spaced coreholes in a mudstone aquifer that was subject to releases of the nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL) form of trichloroethene (TCE) between the 1950's and 1990's. Although TCE concentration in the rock matrix over the length of coreholes is dictated by proximity to subhorizontal bedding planefractures, elevated TCE concentrations in...
Optimizing historical preservation under climate change—An overview of the optimal preservation model and pilot testing at Cape Lookout National Seashore
Erin Seekamp, Max Post van der Burg, Sandra Fatoric, Mitchell J. Eaton, Xiao Xiao, Allie McCreary
2019, Open-File Report 2018-1180
Adapting cultural resources to climate-change effects challenges traditional cultural resource decision making because some adaptation strategies can negatively affect the integrity of cultural resources. Yet, the inevitability of climate-change effects—even given the uncertain timing of those effects—necessitates that managers begin prioritizing resources for climate-change adaptation. Prioritization imposes an additional management...
Revisiting the avian Eco-SSL for lead: Recommendations for revision
Bradley Sample, W. Nelson Beyer, Randall Wentsel
2019, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (15) 739-749
The avian ecological soil screening level (Eco-SSL) for lead (11 mg/kg) is within soil background concentrations for >90% of the US. Consequently, its utility as a soil screening level is limited. Site-specific ecological risk-based remedial goals for lead are frequently many times greater. Toxicity reference values (TRVs) play a major...
Regional protocol framework for the inventory and monitoring of breeding Atlantic Coast Piping Plovers
Erin King, Rachel A. Katz, Kate E. Iaquinto, Kevin J. Suir, M.J. Baldwin, A. Hecht
2019, Report
This regional protocol provides a framework for quantifying the number of breeding pairs and productivity of Atlantic Coast piping plover (Charadrius melodus) populations during the breeding season. A primary purpose of this protocol is to standardize piping plover monitoring during the breeding season. The survey techniques described herein involve repeated visual counts of adults,...
Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia motacilla) survival and site fidelity in an area undergoing shale gas development
Mack W. Frantz, Petra B. Wood, James Sheehan, Gregory George
2019, Wilson Journal of Ornithology (13) 84-95
We quantified Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia motacilla) site fidelity and apparent survival across a 6 year period in an area undergoing shale gas development.Waterthrush initially exhibited high site fidelity that declined over time. At the same time, the number of unpaired males defending territories increased as did natal fidelity. We identified...
Sampling designs for landscape-level eDNA monitoring programs using three-level occurrence models
Richard A. Erickson, Christopher M. Merkes, Erica L. Mize
2019, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (15) 760-771
Resource managers conduct landscape-level monitoring using environmental DNA (eDNA). These managers must contend with imperfect detection in samples and sub-samples (i.e., molecular analyses). This imperfect detection impacts their ability to both detect species and estimate occurrence. Although occurrence (synonymously occupancy) models can estimate these probabilities, most models and guidance for...
Novel ectoparasite infestation on Yuma ridgway's rails (Rallus obsoletus yumanensis)
Eamon J. Harrity, Courtney J. Conway
2019, Wilson Journal of Ornithology (131) 139-146
Yuma Ridgway's Rails (Rallus obsoletus yumanensis) are federally endangered birds endemic to wetlands throughout the Lower Colorado River Basin in Nevada, California, Arizona, and Mexico. The U.S. population has declined in recent years for unknown reasons. We documented a novel and severe chigger mite infestation in the Yuma Ridgway's Rails...
Stratigraphic occurrences of sub-polar planktic foraminifera in pleistocene sediments on the Lomonosov Ridge, Arctic Ocean
Matt O’Regan, Helen Coxall, Thomas M. Cronin, Richard Gyllencreutz, Martin Jakobsson, Stefanie Kaboth, Ludvig Lowemark, Steffen Wiers, Gabriel West
2019, Frontiers in Earth Science (7)
Turborotalita quinqueloba is a species of planktic foraminifera commonly found in the sub-polar North Atlantic along the pathway of Atlantic waters in the Nordic seas and sometimes even in the Arctic Ocean, although its occurrence there remains poorly understood. Existing data show that T. quinqueloba is scarce in Holocene sediments...
Future directions to escalate benefits of stepping-stone approach for conservation translocations
N.A. Lloyd, N.J. Hostetter, C.L. Jackson, Sarah J. Converse, A. Moehrenschlager
2019, Animal Conservation 122-123
Through a reintroduction case study on the critically endangered Vancouver Island marmot (Marmota vancouverensis), we introduced a ‘stepping-stone’ approach which utilizes the transition of released individuals among populations to maximize demographic growth potential (Lloyd et al. 2019). We greatly appreciate and hereby reflect on the thoughtful commentaries by Chauvenet...
Multidecadal geomorphic evolution of a profoundly disturbed gravel-bed river system—a complex, nonlinear response and its impact on sediment delivery
Jon J. Major, Shan Zheng, Adam R. Mosbrucker, Kurt R. Spicer, Tami Christianson, Colin R. Thorne
2019, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface (124) 1281-1309
A 2.5-km3 debris avalanche during the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens reset the fluvial landscape of upper North Fork Toutle River valley. Since then, a new drainage network has formed and evolved. Cross-section surveys repeated over nearly 40 years at 16 locations along a 20-km reach of river valley...
Skin and fin diseases
Pedro Smith, Diane Elliott, David W Bruno, Stephen A Smith
2019, Book chapter, Fish Diseases and Medicine
Fish are critically important to the welfare of this planet and its occupants, the health of both wild and captive fish populations paramount to our survival. This book presents the gross pathology of the most commonly encountered diseases and syndromes of fish in an organ system-based approach. It provides an...
Iron and sulfide nanoparticle formation and transport in nascent hydrothermal vent plumes
Alyssa J. Findlay, Emily Estes, Amy Gartman, Alexey Kamyshny, Mustafa Yucel, George W. Luther
2019, Nature Communications (10)
Deep-sea hydrothermal vents are a significant source of dissolved metals to the global oceans, producing midwater plumes enriched in metals that are transported thousands of kilometers from the vent source. Extensive particle precipitation upon emission of hydrothermal fluids, due to temperature and pH changes during mixing with ambient seawater, controls...
Bisphenol A and 17 alpha-ethinylestradiol-induced transgenerational differences in expression of osmoregulatory genes in the gill of medaka (Oryzias latipes)
Xuegeng Wang, Diamond Hill, Donald E. Tillitt, Ramji K. Bhandari
2019, Aquatic Toxicology (211) 227-234
Embryonic bisphenol A (BPA) and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) exposure can have far reaching health effects in fish, including adult onset transgenerational reproductive abnormalities, anxiety, and cardiac disorders. It is unknown whether these two environmental estrogens can induce transgenerational abnormalities in the gill. The present study examined transgenerational effects of BPA or...
Sediment storage and transport in the Nooksack River basin, northwestern Washington, 2006–15
Scott W. Anderson, Christopher P. Konrad, Eric E. Grossman, Christopher A. Curran
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5008
The Nooksack River is a dynamic gravel-bedded river in northwestern Washington, draining off Mount Baker and the North Cascades into Puget Sound. Working in cooperation with the Whatcom County Flood Control Zone District, the U.S. Geological Survey studied topographic, hydrologic, and climatic data for the Nooksack River basin to...
