Bacterial community diversity of the deep-sea octocoral Paramuricea placomus
Christina A. Kellogg, Steve W. Ross, Sandra D. Brooke
2016, PeerJ (4)
Compared to tropical corals, much less is known about deep-sea coral biology and ecology. Although the microbial communities of some deep-sea corals have been described, this is the first study to characterize the bacterial community associated with the deep-sea octocoral, Paramuricea placomus. Samples from five colonies of P. placomus were...
First direct evidence of long-distance seasonal movements and hibernation in a migratory bat
Theodore J. Weller, Kevin T. Castle, Felix Liechti, Cris D. Hein, Michael R. Schirmacher, Paul M. Cryan
2016, Scientific Reports (6)
Understanding of migration in small bats has been constrained by limitations of techniques that were labor-intensive, provided coarse levels of resolution, or were limited to population-level inferences. Knowledge of movements and behaviors of individual bats have been unknowable because of limitations in size of tracking devices and methods to attach...
Primary production in the Delta: Then and now
James E. Cloern, April Robinson, Amy Richey, Letitia Grenier, Robin Grossinger, Katharyn E. Boyer, Jon Burau, Elizabeth A. Canuel, John F. DeGeorge, Judith Z. Drexler, Chris Enright, Emily R. Howe, Ronald Kneib, Anke Mueller-Solger, Robert J. Naiman, James L. Pinckney, Samuel M. Safran, David H. Schoellhamer, Charles A. Simenstad
2016, San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science (3)
To evaluate the role of restoration in the recovery of the Delta ecosystem, we need to have clear targets and performance measures that directly assess ecosystem function. Primary production is a crucial ecosystem process, which directly limits the quality and quantity of food available for secondary consumers such as invertebrates...
A case study on evaluating impacts of potential climate change on groundwater resources: Groundwater recharge in the Upper Colorado River Basin
Fred D. Tillman, Subhrendu Gangopadhyay, Tom Pruitt
2016, Report
An investigation of the change in groundwater recharge in response to potential climate change was performed for the UCRB using the SWB groundwater recharge model and downscaled climate data from the CMIP5 multi-model dataset. Climate projections from 97 downscaled CMIP5 datasets were assumed to be equally likely and recharge simulation results were combined. Results...
Field guide to Laramide basin evolution and drilling activity in North Park and Middle Park, Colorado
Marieke Dechesne, James C. Cole, Christopher B. Martin
2016, Mountain Geologist (53) 283-329
Overview of the geologic history of the North Park–Middle Park area and its past and recent drilling activity. Field trip stops highlight basin formation and the consequences of geologic configuration on oil and gas plays and development. The starting point is the west flank of the Denver Basin to compare...
Scaling relation between earthquake magnitude and the departure time from P wave similar growth
Shunta Noda, William L. Ellsworth
2016, Geophysical Research Letters (43) 9053-9060
We introduce a new scaling relation between earthquake magnitude (M) and a characteristic of initial P wave displacement. By examining Japanese K-NET data averaged in bins partitioned by Mw and hypocentral distance, we demonstrate that the P wave displacement briefly displays similar growth at the onset of rupture and that the...
Latest Pleistocene and Holocene glacial events in the Colonia valley, Northern Patagonia Icefield, southern Chile
David A. Nimick, Daniel Mcgrath, Shannon A. Mahan, Beverly A. Friesen, Jonathan Leidich
2016, Journal of Quaternary Science (31) 551-564
The Northern Patagonia Icefield (NPI) is the primary glaciated terrain worldwide at its latitude (46.5–47.5°S), and constraining its glacial history provides unique information for reconstructing Southern Hemisphere paleoclimate. The Colonia Glacier is the largest outlet glacier draining the eastern NPI. Ages were determined using dendrochronology, lichenometry, radiocarbon, cosmogenic 10Be and...
Variation of organic matter quantity and quality in streams at Critical Zone Observatory watersheds
Matthew P. Miller, Elizabeth W. Boyer, Diane M. McKnight, Michael G. Brown, Rachel S. Gabor, Carolyn T. Hunsaker, Lidiia Iavorivska, Shreeram Inamdar, Louis A. Kaplan, Dale W. Johnson, Henry Lin, William H. McDowell, Julia N. Perdrial
2016, Water Resources Research (52) 8202-8216
The quantity and chemical composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in surface waters influence ecosystem processes and anthropogenic use of freshwater. However, despite the importance of understanding spatial and temporal patterns in DOM, measures of DOM quality are not routinely included as part of large-scale ecosystem monitoring programs and variations...
Climate change and dissolved organic carbon export to the Gulf of Maine
Thomas G. Huntington, William M. Balch, George R. Aiken, Justin Sheffield, Lifeng Luo, Collin S. Roesler, Philip Camill
2016, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (121) 2700-2716
Ongoing climate change is affecting the concentration, export (flux), and timing of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) exported to the Gulf of Maine (GoM) through changes in hydrologic regime. DOC export was calculated for water years 1950 through 2013 for 20 rivers and for water years 1930 through 2013 for 14...
Testing fault growth models with low-temperature thermochronology in the northwest Basin and Range, USA
Magdalena A. E. Curry, Jason B. Barnes, Joseph P. Colgan
2016, Tectonics (35) 2467-2492
Common fault growth models diverge in predicting how faults accumulate displacement and lengthen through time. A paucity of field-based data documenting the lateral component of fault growth hinders our ability to test these models and fully understand how natural fault systems evolve. Here we outline a framework for using apatite...
Coastal deposits of heavy mineral sands; Global significance and US resources
Bradley S. Van Gosen, Donald I. Bleiwas, George M. Bedinger, Karl J. Ellefsen, Anjana K. Shah
2016, Mining Engineering (68) 36-43
Ancient and modern coastal deposits of heavy mineral sands (HMS) are the principal source of several heavy industrial minerals, with mining and processing operations on every continent except Antarctica. For example, HMS deposits are the main source of titanium feedstock for the titanium dioxide (TiO2) pigments industry, obtained from the...
Considerations for building climate-based species distribution models
David N. Bucklin, Mathieu Basille, Stephanie S. Romanach, Laura A. Brandt, Frank J. Mazzotti, James I. Watling
2016, Report
Climate plays an important role in the distribution of species. A given species may adjust to new conditions in-place, move to new areas with suitable climates, or go extinct. Scientists and conservation practitioners use mathematical models to predict the effects of future climate change on wildlife and plan for a...
First record of invasive Burmese Python oviposition and brooding inside an anthropogenic structure
Emma Hanslowe, Bryan Falk, Michelle A. M. Collier, Jillian Josimovich, Thomas Rahill, Robert Reed
2016, Southeastern Naturalist (15) 103-106
We discovered an adult female Python bivittatus (Burmese Python) coiled around a clutch of 25 eggs in a cement culvert in Flamingo, FL, in Everglades National Park. To our knowledge, this is the first record of an invasive Burmese Python laying eggs and brooding inside an anthropogenic structure in Florida....
Geologic history of Martian regolith breccia Northwest Africa 7034: Evidence for hydrothermal activity and lithologic diversity in the Martian crust
Francis M. McCubbin, Jeremy W. Boyce, Timea Novak-Szabo, Alison Santos, Romain Tartese, Nele Muttik, Gabor Domokos, Jorge A. Vazquez, Lindsay P. Keller, Desmond E. Moser, Douglas J. Jerolmack, Charles K. Shearer, Andrew Steele, Stephen M. Elardo, Zia Rahman, Mahesh Anand, Thomas Delhaye, Carl B. Agee
2016, Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets (121) 2120-2149
The timing and mode of deposition for Martian regolith breccia Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034 were determined by combining petrography, shape analysis, and thermochronology. NWA 7034 is composed of igneous, impact, and brecciated clasts within a thermally annealed submicron matrix of pulverized crustal rocks and devitrified impact/volcanic glass. The brecciated clasts...
Cultivation of a native alga for biomass and biofuel accumulation in coal bed methane production water
Logan H. Hodgskiss, Justin Nagy, Elliott P. Barnhart, Alfred B. Cunningham, Matthew W. Fields
2016, Algal Research (19) 63-68
Coal bed methane (CBM) production has resulted in thousands of ponds in the Powder River Basin of low-quality water in a water-challenged region. A green alga isolate, PW95, was isolated from a CBM production pond, and analysis of a partial ribosomal gene sequence indicated the isolate belongs to the Chlorococcaceae...
Trends in mercury wet deposition and mercury air concentrations across the U.S. and Canada
Peter S. Weiss-Penzias, David A. Gay, Mark E. Brigham, Matthew T. Parsons, Mae S. Gustin, Arnout ter Shure
2016, Science of the Total Environment (568) 546-556
This study examined the spatial and temporal trends of mercury (Hg) in wet deposition and air concentrations in the United States (U.S.) and Canada between 1997 and 2013. Data were obtained from the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) and Environment Canada monitoring networks, and other...
Linking field-based metabolomics and chemical analyses to prioritize contaminants of emerging concern in the Great Lakes basin
John M. Davis, Drew R. Ekman, Quincy Teng, Gerald T. Ankley, Jason P. Berninger, Jenna E. Cavallin, Kathleen M. Jensen, Michael D. Kahl, Anthony L. Schroeder, Daniel L. Villeneuve, Zachary G. Jorgenson, Kathy Lee, Timothy W. Collette
2016, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (35) 2493-2502
The ability to focus on the most biologically relevant contaminants affecting aquatic ecosystems can be challenging because toxicity-assessment programs have not kept pace with the growing number of contaminants requiring testing. Because it has proven effective at assessing the biological impacts of potentially toxic contaminants, profiling of endogenous metabolites (metabolomics)...
DOM composition and transformation in boreal forest soils: The effects of temperature and organic-horizon decomposition state
Jonathan A. O’Donnell, George R. Aiken, Kenna D. Butler, Francois Guillemette, David C. Podgorski, Robert G. M. Spencer
2016, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (121) 2727-2744
The boreal region stores large amounts of organic carbon (C) in organic-soil horizons, which are vulnerable to destabilization via warming and disturbance. Decomposition of soil organic matter (SOM) contributes to the production and turnover of dissolved organic matter (DOM). While temperature is a primary control on rates of SOM and...
Ontogenetic development of otoliths in Alligator Gar
James M. Long, Richard A. Snow
2016, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (145) 537-544
The Alligator Gar Atractosteus spatula is a species of conservation concern throughout its range, and better definition of otoliths during early development would aid understanding its life history and ecology. We conducted X-ray computed tomography scans, scanning electron microscopy, and light microscopy to examine the three pairs of otoliths and...
Seismic imaging beneath an InSAR anomaly in eastern Washington State: Shallow faulting associated with an earthquake swarm in a low-hazard area
William J. Stephenson, Jackson K. Odum, Charles W. Wicks Jr., Thomas L. Pratt, Richard J. Blakely
2016, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (106) 1461-1469
In 2001, a rare swarm of small, shallow earthquakes beneath the city of Spokane, Washington, caused ground shaking as well as audible booms over a five‐month period. Subsequent Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data analysis revealed an area of surface uplift in the vicinity of the earthquake swarm. To investigate...
Synthesising empirical results to improve predictions of post-wildfire runoff and erosion response
Richard A. Shakesby, John A. Moody, Deborah A. Martin, Peter R. Robichaud
2016, International Journal of Wildland Fire (25) 257-261
Advances in research into wildfire impacts on runoff and erosion have demonstrated increasing complexity of controlling factors and responses, which, combined with changing fire frequency, present challenges for modellers. We convened a conference attended by experts and practitioners in post-wildfire impacts, meteorology and related research, including modelling, to focus on...
Simulation modeling to explore the effects of length-based harvest regulations for Ictalurus fisheries
David R. Stewart, James M. Long, Daniel E. Shoup
2016, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (36) 1190-1204
Management of Blue Catfish Ictalurus furcatus and Channel Catfish I. punctatus for trophy production has recently become more common. Typically, trophy management is attempted with length-based regulations that allow for the moderate harvest of small fish but restrict the harvest of larger fish. However, the specific regulations used vary considerably...
Optimization of scat detection methods for a social ungulate, the wild pig, and experimental evaluation of factors affecting detection of scat
David A. Keiter, Fred L. Cunningham, Olin E. Rhodes Jr., Brian J. Irwin, James Beasley
2016, PLoS ONE (25)
Collection of scat samples is common in wildlife research, particularly for genetic capture-mark-recapture applications. Due to high degradation rates of genetic material in scat, large numbers of samples must be collected to generate robust estimates. Optimization of sampling approaches to account for taxa-specific patterns of scat deposition is,...
Flow reconstructions in the Upper Missouri River Basin using riparian tree rings
Derek M. Schook, Jonathan M. Friedman, Sara L. Rathburn
2016, Water Resources Research (52) 8159-8173
River flow reconstructions are typically developed using tree rings from montane conifers that cannot reflect flow regulation or hydrologic inputs from the lower portions of a watershed. Incorporating lowland riparian trees may improve the accuracy of flow reconstructions when these trees are physically linked to the alluvial water table. We...
Near-real-time cheatgrass percent cover in the Northern Great Basin, USA, 2015
Stephen P. Boyte, Bruce K. Wylie
2016, Rangelands (38) 278-284
Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) dramatically changes shrub steppe ecosystems in the Northern Great Basin, United States.Current-season cheatgrass location and percent cover are difficult to estimate rapidly.We explain the development of a near-real-time cheatgrass percent cover dataset and map in the Northern Great Basin for the current year (2015), display the...
