Sandhill crane roost selection, human disturbance, and forage resources
Aaron T. Pearse, Gary Krapu, David A. Brandt
2017, Journal of Wildlife Management (91) 477-486
Sites used for roosting represent a key habitat requirement for many species of birds because availability and quality of roost sites can influence individual fitness. Birds select roost sites based on numerous factors, requirements, and motivations, and selection of roosts can be dynamic in time and space because of various...
Lake levels and water quality in comparison to fish mercury body burdens, Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota, 2013–15
Victoria G. Christensen, James H. Larson, Ryan P. Maki, Mark B. Sandheinrich, Mark E. Brigham, Claire Kissane, Jamie F. LeDuc
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5175
Within Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota, lake levels are controlled by a series of dams to support a variety of uses. Previous research indicates a link between these artificially maintained water levels, referred to as rule curves, and mercury concentrations in fish owing to the drying and rewetting of wetlands...
Age and growth comparisons of Hovsgol grayling (Thymallus nigrescens Dorogostaisky, 1923), Baikal grayling (T. baicalensis Dybowski, 1874), and lenok (Brachymystax lenok Pallas, 1773) in lentic and lotic habitats of Northern Mongolia
Pureviin Tsogtsaikhan, Budiin Mendsaikhan, Ganzorigiin Jargalmaa, Batsaikhanii Ganzorig, Brian Weidel, Christopher Filosa, Christopher Free, Talia Young, Olaf P. Jensen
2017, Journal of Applied Ichthyology (33) 108-115
Despite concern over the conservation status of many Mongolian salmonids and the importance of their ecological role in Mongolia's aquatic ecosystems, little is known about their basic biology. Hovsgol grayling (Thymallus nigrescens) is endemic to Lake Hovsgol, Mongolia and listed as endangered on the Mongolian Red List. Baikal grayling (T. baicalensis)...
Southern sea otter range expansion and habitat use in the Santa Barbara Channel, California
M. Tim Tinker, Joseph A. Tomoleoni, Nicole LaRoche, Lizabeth Bowen, A. Keith Miles, Mike Murray, Michelle Staedler, Zachary Randell
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1001
The re-colonization of the Santa Barbara channel by sea otters brings these ESA-listed marine mammals closer to active oil and gas production facilities, shipping lanes and naturally occurring oil and gas seeps. However, the degree to which sea otters may actually be affected by human-caused oil spills or exposure to...
Synthesis of soil-hydraulic properties and infiltration timescales in wildfire-affected soils
Brian A. Ebel, John A. Moody
2017, Hydrological Processes (31) 324-340
We collected soil-hydraulic property data from the literature for wildfire-affected soils, ash, and unburned soils. These data were used to calculate metrics and timescales of hydrologic response related to infiltration and surface runoff generation. Sorptivity (S) and wetting front potential (Ψf) were significantly different (lower) in burned soils compared with...
Evaluation of nocturnal roost and diurnal sites used by whooping cranes in the Great Plains, United States
Aaron T. Pearse, Mary J. Harner, David M. Baasch, Greg D. Wright, Andrew J. Caven, Kristine L. Metzger
2017, Open-File Report 2016-1209
Endangered whooping cranes (Grus americana) of the Aransas-Wood Buffalo population migrate through the Great Plains twice each year. Although there is much interest in conservation and management for this species, information regarding characteristics of nocturnal roost sites used during migration has been limited and based largely on incidental observations. Using...
The precipitation of indium at elevated pH in a stream influenced by acid mine drainage
Sarah Jane O. White, Fatima A. Hussain, Harold F. Hemond, Sarah A. Sacco, James P. Shine, Robert L. Runkel, Katherine Walton-Day, Briant A. Kimball
2017, Science of the Total Environment (574) 1484-1491
Indium is an increasingly important metal in semiconductors and electronics and has uses in important energy technologies such as photovoltaic cells and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). One significant flux of indium to the environment is from lead, zinc, copper, and tin mining and smelting, but little is known about its aqueous...
Automated identification of stream-channel geomorphic features from high‑resolution digital elevation models in West Tennessee watersheds
Jennifer M. Cartwright, Timothy H. Diehl
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5141
High-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) derived from light detection and ranging (lidar) enable investigations of stream-channel geomorphology with much greater precision than previously possible. The U.S. Geological Survey has developed the DEM Geomorphology Toolbox, containing seven tools to automate the identification of sites of geomorphic instability that may represent sediment...
Signals of impending change
James B. Grace
2017, Nature Ecology & Evolution (1)
Society has an increasing awareness that there are finite limits to what we can expect the planet to absorb and still provide goods and services at current rates1....
It's like night and day: Diel net-effects on Cercopagidae densities in the Laurentian Great Lakes
Patricia M. Dieter, David B. Bunnell, Jean V. Adams, Nicole M. Watson, Whitney Woelmer
2017, Journal of Great Lakes Research (43) 394-398
In the Laurentian Great Lakes, zooplankters are often sampled using standard ≤153 μm mesh nets without regard to the time of day they are collected. We sampled Cercopagidae during 2013–2014 in northern Lake Huron during day, dusk, and night using two different nets (a 0.5 m wide 153 μm mesh “standard” net and a...
Associations among habitat characteristics and meningeal worm prevalence in eastern South Dakota, USA
Christopher N. Jacques, Jonathan A. Jenks, Robert W. Klaver, Shelli A. Dubay
2017, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (53) 131-135
Few studies have evaluated how wetland and forest characteristics influence the prevalence of meningeal worm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis) infection of deer throughout the grassland biome of central North America. We used previously collected, county-level prevalence data to evaluate associations between habitat characteristics and probability of meningeal worm infection in white-tailed deer...
Sparse targets in hydroacoustic surveys: Balancing quantity and quality of in situ target strength data
Mark R. DuFour, Christine M. Mayer, Patrick Kocovsky, Song Qian, David M. Warner, Richard T. Kraus, Christopher Vandergoot
2017, Fisheries Research (188) 173-182
Hydroacoustic sampling of low-density fish in shallow water can lead to low sample sizes of naturally variable target strength (TS) estimates, resulting in both sparse and variable data. Increasing maximum beam compensation (BC) beyond conventional values (i.e., 3 dB beam width) can recover more targets during data analysis; however, data quality...
Inferring infection hazard in wildlife populations by linking data across individual and population scales
Kim M. Pepin, Shannon L. Kay, Ben D. Golas, Susan A. Shriner, Amy T. Gilbert, Ryan S. Miller, Andrea L. Graham, Steven Riley, Paul C. Cross, Michael D. Samuel, Mevin Hooten, Jennifer A. Hoeting, James O. Lloyd-Smith, Colleen T. Webb, Michael G. Buhnerkempe
2017, Ecology Letters (20) 275-292
Our ability to infer unobservable disease-dynamic processes such as force of infection (infection hazard for susceptible hosts) has transformed our understanding of disease transmission mechanisms and capacity to predict disease dynamics. Conventional methods for inferring FOI estimate a time-averaged value and are based on population-level processes. Because many pathogens exhibit...
Animal movement: Statistical models for telemetry data
Mevin Hooten, Devin S. Johnson, Brett T. McClintock, Juan M. Morales
2017, Book
The study of animal movement has always been a key element in ecological science, because it is inherently linked to critical processes that scale from individuals to populations and communities to ecosystems. Rapid improvements in biotelemetry data collection and processing technology have given rise to a variety of statistical methods...
Thermodynamic properties in the Fe(II)-Fe(III)-As(V)-HClO4–H2O and Fe(II)-Fe(III)-As(V)-HCl–H2O systems from 5 to 90 °C
Xiangyu Zhu, D. Kirk Nordstrom, R. Blaine McCleskey, Rucheng Wang, Xiancai Lu
2017, Chemical Geology (460) 37-45
Fe-As mineral solubility and associated aqueous species have been intensively studied because of the environmental need to immobilize arsenic. The thermodynamic data for aqueous iron-arsenic species are inadequately characterized, however. The <a class="topic-link" title="Learn more about Gibbs free energy from ScienceDirect's...
Can ozone be used to control the spread of freshwater Aquatic Invasive Species?
Riley P. Buley, Caleb T. Hasler, John A. Tix, C. D. Suski, Terrance D. Hubert
2017, Management of Biological Invasions (8) 13-24
The introduction of aquatic invasive species to non-native habitats can cause negative ecological effects and also billions of dollars in economic damage to governments and private industries. Once aquatic invasive species are introduced, eradication may be difficult without adversely affecting native species and habitats, urging resource managers to find preventative...
Methods for estimating selected low-flow frequency statistics and mean annual flow for ungaged locations on streams in North Georgia
Anthony J. Gotvald
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5001
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Environmental Protection Division, developed regional regression equations for estimating selected low-flow frequency and mean annual flow statistics for ungaged streams in north Georgia that are not substantially affected by regulation, diversions, or urbanization. Selected low-flow frequency statistics...
Coastal bathymetry data collected in 2013 from the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana
Nancy T. DeWitt, Jennifer L. Miselis, Jake J. Fredericks, Julie Bernier, Billy J. Reynolds, Kyle W. Kelso, David M. Thompson, James G. Flocks, Dana S. Wiese
2017, Data Series 1032
As part of the Barrier Island Evolution Research Project, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center conducted nearshore geophysical surveys around the northern Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, in July and August of 2013. The objective of the study is to better understand barrier-island geomorphic...
Life history plasticity does not confer resilience to environmental change in the mole salamander (Ambystoma talpoideum)
Courtney L. Davis, David A.W. Miller, Susan C. Walls, William J. Barichivich, Jeffrey W. Riley, Mary E. Brown
2017, Oecologia (183) 739-749
Plasticity in life history strategies can be advantageous for species that occupy spatially or temporally variable environments. We examined how phenotypic plasticity influences responses of the mole salamander, Ambystoma talpoideum, to disturbance events at the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge (SMNWR), FL, USA from 2009 to 2014. We observed periods...
Geochemical characteristics of igneous rocks associated with epithermal mineral deposits—A review
Edward A. du Bray
2017, Ore Geology Reviews (80) 767-783
Newly synthesized data indicate that the geochemistry of igneous rocks associated with epithermal mineral deposits varies extensively and continuously from subalkaline basaltic to rhyolitic compositions. Trace element and isotopic data for these rocks are consistent with subduction-related magmatism and suggest that the primary source magmas were generated by partial...
Gear comparison for sampling age-0 Mountain Whitefish in the Madison River, Montana
Jan K. Boyer, Christopher S. Guy, Molly A. H. Webb, Travis B. Horton, Thomas E. McMahon
2017, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (37) 189-195
The efficacy of various sampling gears for age-0 Mountain Whitefish Prosopium williamsoni is largely unknown, which makes it difficult to investigate recruitment and early life history dynamics for the species. We compared four gears: seine, backpack electrofisher, minnow trap, and lighted minnow trap. Gears were tested in backwaters, large channels,...
Multinomial N-mixture models improve the applicability of electrofishing for developing population estimates of stream-dwelling Smallmouth Bass
Robert Mollenhauer, Shannon K. Brewer
2017, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (37) 211-224
Failure to account for variable detection across survey conditions constrains progressive stream ecology and can lead to erroneous stream fish management and conservation decisions. In addition to variable detection’s confounding long-term stream fish population trends, reliable abundance estimates across a wide range of survey conditions are fundamental to establishing species–environment...
The contribution of rice agriculture to methylmercury in surface waters: A review of data from the Sacramento Valley, California
K. Christy Tanner, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Jacob Fleck, Kenneth W. Tate, Stephen A. McCord, Bruce A. Linquist
2017, Journal of Environmental Quality (46) 133-142
Methylmercury (MeHg) is a bioaccumulative pollutant produced in and exported from flooded soils, including those used for rice (Oriza sativa L.) production. Using unfiltered aqueous MeHg data from MeHg monitoring programs in the Sacramento River watershed from 1996 to 2007, we assessed the MeHg contribution from rice systems to the...
Local geology controlled the feasibility of vitrifying Iron Age buildings
Fabian B Wadsworth, Michael J Heap, David Damby, Kai-Uwe Hess, Jens Najorka, Jérémie Vasseur, Dominik Fahrner, Donald B Dingwell
2017, Scientific Reports 1-7
During European prehistory, hilltop enclosures made from polydisperse particle-and-block stone walling were exposed to temperatures sufficient to partially melt the constituent stonework, leading to the preservation of glassy walls called ‘vitrified forts’. During vitrification, the granular wall rocks partially melt, sinter viscously and densify, reducing inter-particle porosity. This process is...
Water resources of East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana
Vincent E. White, Lawrence B. Prakken
2017, Fact Sheet 2016-3069
Information concerning the availability, use, and quality of water in East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, is critical for proper water-resource management. The purpose of this fact sheet is to present information that can be used by water managers, parish residents, and others for stewardship of this vital resource. Information is presented...
