Mercury concentrations of bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) vary by sex
Charles P. Madenjian, James T. Francis, Jeffrey J. Braunscheidel, Joseph R. Bohr, Matthew J. Geiger, G. Mark Knottnerus
2015, Environments (2) 546-564
Patterns in relative differences in contaminant concentrations between the sexes across many species of fish may reveal clues for important behavioral and physiological differences between the sexes, and may also be useful in developing fish consumption advisories and efficient designs for programs meant to monitor contaminant levels in fish. We...
U.S. States and Territories National Tsunami Hazard Assessment: Historical record and sources for waves – Update
Paula K. Dunbar, Craig S. Weaver
2015, Report
The first U.S. Tsunami Hazard Assessment (Dunbar and Weaver, 2008) was prepared at the request of the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program (NTHMP). The NTHMP is a partnership formed between federal and state agencies to reduce the impact of tsunamis through hazard assessment, warning guidance, and mitigation. The assessment was...
New insight into California’s drought through open data
Emily K. Read, Mary Bucknell, Megan Hines, James M. Kreft, Jessica M. Lucido, Jordan S. Read, Carl Schroedl, David M. Sibley, Shirley Stephan, Ivan Suftin, Phethala Thongsavanh, Jamon Van Den Hoek, Jordan I. Walker, Martin R Wernimont, Luke A. Winslow, Andrew N. Yan
2015, BayGEO Journal (8)
Historically unprecedented drought in California has brought water issues to the forefront of the nation’s attention. Crucial investigations that concern water policy, management, and research, in turn, require extensive information about the quality and quantity of California’s water. Unfortunately, key sources of pertinent data are unevenly distributed and frequently hard...
Mineral potential tracts for polymetallic Pb-Zn-Cu vein deposits (phase V, deliverable 71): Chapter I in Second projet de renforcement institutionnel du secteur minier de la République Islamique de Mauritanie (PRISM-II)
Georges Beaudoin
2015, Open-File Report 2013-1280-I
In Mauritania, mineral occurrences of the polymetallic Pb-Zn-Cu vein deposit type are found near the Florence-El Khdar shear zone in northeast Mauritania. The deposits visited were deemed representative of other similar occurrences and consist of quartz veins with trace sulfides. The low sulfide and Pb-Zn-Cu content in the quartz veins...
Facing a changing world: Thermal physiology of American pikas (Ochotona princeps)
Hans W Otto, James A Wilson, Erik A. Beever
2015, Western North American Naturalist (75) 429-445
American pikas (Ochotona princeps) are of concern with respect to warming montane temperatures; however, little information exists regarding their physiological ability to adapt to warming temperatures. Previous studies have shown that pikas have high metabolism and low thermal conductance, which allow survival during cold winters. It has been hypothesized that...
GOES-derived fog and low cloud indices for coastal north and central California ecological analyses
Alicia A. Torregrosa, Cindy Combs, Jeff Peters
2015, Earth and Space Science (3) 46-67
Fog and low cloud cover (FLCC) changes the water, energy, and nutrient flux of coastal ecosystems. Easy-to-use FLCC data are needed to quantify the impacts of FLC on ecosystem dynamics during hot, dry Mediterranean climate summers. FLCC indices were generated from 26,000 hourly night and day FLCC maps derived from...
Interactive access to LP DAAC satellite data archives through a combination of open-source and custom middleware web services
Brian N. Davis, Jason Werpy, Aaron M. Friesz, Kevin Impecoven, Robert Quenzer, Tom Maiersperger, David J. Meyer
2015, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters (3) 8-20
Current methods of searching for and retrieving data from satellite land remote sensing archives do not allow for interactive information extraction. Instead, Earth science data users are required to download files over low-bandwidth networks to local workstations and process data before science questions can be addressed. New methods of extracting...
Rapid damage mapping for the 2015 M7.8 Gorkha earthquake using synthetic aperture radar data from COSMO-SkyMed and ALOS-2 satellites
Sang-Ho Yun, Kenneth W. Hudnut, Susan Owen, Frank Webb, Mark Simons, Patrizia Sacco, Eric Gurrola, Gerald Manipon, Cunren Liang, Eric Fielding, Pietro Milillo, Hook Hua, Alessandro Coletta
2015, Seismological Research Letters (86) 1549-1557
The 25 April 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha earthquake caused more than 8000 fatalities and widespread building damage in central Nepal. The Italian Space Agency’s COSMO–SkyMed Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite acquired data over Kathmandu area four days after the earthquake and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 SAR satellite...
Research data services in academic libraries: Data intensive roles for the future?
Carol Tenopir, Dane Hughes, Suzie Allard, Mike Frame, Ben Birch, Robert Sandusky, Madison L. Langseth, Andrew Lundeen
2015, Journal of eScience Librarianship (4)
Objectives: The primary objectives of this study are to gauge the various levels of Research Data Service academic libraries provide based on demographic factors, gauging RDS growth since 2011, and what obstacles may prevent expansion or growth of services. Methods: Survey of academic institutions through stratified random sample of ACRL library...
Raccoon spatial requirements and multi-scale habitat selection within an intensively managed central Appalachian forest
Sheldon F. Owen, Jacob L. Berl, John W. Edwards, W. Mark Ford, Petra Bohall Wood
2015, American Midland Naturalist (174) 87-95
We studied a raccoon (Procyon lotor) population within a managed central Appalachian hardwood forest in West Virginia to investigate the effects of intensive forest management on raccoon spatial requirements and habitat selection. Raccoon home-range (95% utilization distribution) and core-area (50% utilization distribution) size differed between sexes with males maintaining larger...
A predictive model to inform adaptive management of double-crested cormorants and fisheries in Michigan
Iyob Tsehaye, Michael L. Jones, Brian J. Irwin, David G. Fielder, James E. Breck, David R. Luukkonen
2015, Natural Resource Modeling (28) 348-376
The proliferation of double-crested cormorants (DCCOs; Phalacrocorax auritus) in North America has raised concerns over their potential negative impacts on game, cultured and forage fishes, island and terrestrial resources, and other colonial water birds, leading to increased public demands to reduce their abundance. By combining fish surplus production and bird functional...
Re-examination of sea lamprey control policies for the St. Marys River: Completion of an adaptive management cycle
Michael L. Jones, Travis O. Brenden, Brian J. Irwin
2015, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (72) 1538-1551
The St. Marys River (SMR) historically has been a major producer of sea lampreys (Petromyzon marinus) in the Laurentian Great Lakes. In the early 2000s, a decision analysis (DA) project was conducted to evaluate sea lamprey control policies for the SMR; this project suggested that an integrated policy of trapping,...
Evaluation of daily creel and minimum length limits for Black Crappies and Yellow Perch in Wisconsin
Kyle Mosel, Daniel A. Isermann, Jonathan F. Hansen
2015, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (35) 1-13
Harvest regulations for Black Crappie Pomoxis nigromaculatus and Yellow Perch Perca flavescens in the northern USA and Canada have not been thoroughly evaluated, and specific guidance regarding where minimum length limits (MLLs) might improve these fisheries is lacking. We examined whether: (1) transitioning from an aggregate statewide daily creel limit of 25 panfish to...
Effects of climate and plant phenology on recruitment of moose at the southern extent of their range
Kevin L. Monteith, Robert W. Klaver, Kent Hersey, A. Andrew Holland, Timothy P. Thomas, Matthew Kauffman
2015, Oecologia (178) 1137-1148
Climate plays a fundamental role in limiting the range of a species, is a key factor in the dynamics of large herbivores, and is thought to be involved in declines of moose populations in recent decades. We examined effects of climate and growing-season phenology on recruitment (8–9 months old) of...
Forecasting the effects of fertility control on overabundant ungulates: White-tailed deer in the National Capital Region
Ann M. Raiho, Mevin Hooten, Scott Bates, N. Thompson Hobbs
2015, PLoS ONE (10)
Overabundant populations of ungulates have caused environmental degradation and loss of biological diversity in ecosystems throughout the world. Culling or regulated harvest is often used to control overabundant species. These methods are difficult to implement in national parks, other types of conservation reserves, or in residential areas where public hunting...
Life-history tradeoffs and reproductive cycles in Spotted Owls
Ricka E. Stoelting, R. J. Gutierrez, William L. Kendall, M. Zachariah Peery
2015, The Auk (132) 46-64
The study of tradeoffs among life-history traits has long been key to understanding the evolution of life-history strategies. However, more recently, evolutionary ecologists have realized that reproductive costs have the potential to influence population dynamics. Here, we tested for costs of reproduction in the California Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis occidentalis), and...
Evidence for skipped spawning in a potamodromous cyprinid, humpback chub (Gila cypha), with implications for demographic parameter estimates
Kristen Nicole Pearson, William L. Kendall, Dana L. Winkelman, William R. Persons
2015, Fisheries Research (170) 50-59
Our findings reveal evidence for skipped spawning in a potamodromous cyprinid, humpback chub (HBC; Gila cypha ). Using closed robust design mark-recapture models, we found, on average, spawning HBC transition to the skipped spawning state (<img class="imgLazyJSB inlineImage" title="View the MathML source" src="http://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0165783615001563-si1.gif"...
Influence of ecological factors on prevalence of meningeal worm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis infection in South Dakota, USA
Christopher N. Jacques, Jonathan A. Jenks, Troy W. Grovenburg, Robert W. Klaver, Shelli A. Dubay
2015, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (51) 332-340
The meningeal worm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis) is a nematode parasite that commonly infects white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus; WTD) throughout the deciduous forest biome and deciduous-coniferous ecotone of eastern and central North America; the species is not known to occur west of the grassland biome of central North America. We used county-specific...
Guidelines for evaluating performance of oyster habitat restoration
Lesley P. Baggett, Sean P. Powers, Robert D. Brumbaugh, Loren D. Coen, Bryan M. DeAngelis, Jennifer K. Greene, Boze T. Hancock, Summer M. Morlock, Brian L. Allen, Denise L. Breitburg, David Bushek, Jonathan H. Grabowski, Raymond E. Grizzle, Edwin D. Grosholz, Megan K. LaPeyre, Mark W. Luckenbach, Kay A. McGraw, Michael F. Piehler, Stephanie R. Westby, Philine S. E. zu Ermgassen
2015, Restoration Ecology (23) 737-745
Restoration of degraded ecosystems is an important societal goal, yet inadequate monitoring and the absence of clear performance metrics are common criticisms of many habitat restoration projects. Funding limitations can prevent adequate monitoring, but we suggest that the lack of accepted metrics to address the diversity of restoration objectives also...
On the existence of maximum likelihood estimates for presence-only data
Trevor J. Hefley, Mevin Hooten
2015, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (6) 648-655
Presence-only data can be used to determine resource selection and estimate a species’ distribution. Maximum likelihood is a common parameter estimation method used for species distribution models. Maximum likelihood estimates, however, do not always exist for a commonly used species distribution model – the Poisson point process. We...
Adaptive management
Craig R. Allen, Ahjond S. Garmestani
Craig R. Allen, Ahjond S. Garmestani, editor(s)
2015, Book chapter, Adaptive management of social-ecological systems
Adaptive management is an approach to natural resource management that emphasizes learning through management where knowledge is incomplete, and when, despite inherent uncertainty, managers and policymakers must act. Unlike a traditional trial and error approach, adaptive management has explicit structure, including a careful elucidation of goals, identification of alternative management...
Using spatiotemporal statistical models to estimate animal abundance and infer ecological dynamics from survey counts
Paul B. Conn, Devin S. Johnson, Jay M. Ver Hoef, Mevin Hooten, Joshua M. London, Peter L. Boveng
2015, Ecological Monographs (85) 235-252
Ecologists often fit models to survey data to estimate and explain variation in animal abundance. Such models typically require that animal density remains constant across the landscape where sampling is being conducted, a potentially problematic assumption for animals inhabiting dynamic landscapes or otherwise exhibiting considerable spatiotemporal variation in density. We...
A guide to Bayesian model selection for ecologists
Mevin Hooten, N.T. Hobbs
2015, Ecological Monographs (85) 3-28
The steady upward trend in the use of model selection and Bayesian methods in ecological research has made it clear that both approaches to inference are important for modern analysis of models and data. However, in teaching Bayesian methods and in working with our research colleagues, we have noticed a...
Modeling multi-scale resource selection for bear rubs in northwestern Montana
Matthew J. Morgan, Mark Hebblewhite, Michael S. Mitchell, Jeffrey B. Stetz, Katherine C. Kendall, Ross T. Carlson
2015, Ursus (26) 28-39
Both black (Ursus americanus) and grizzly bears (U. arctos) are known to rub on trees and other objects, producing a network of repeatedly used and identifiable rub sites. In 2012, we used a resource selection function to evaluate hypothesized relationships between locations of 887 bear rubs in northwestern Montana, USA,...
Baseline blood Pb levels of black-necked stilts on the upper Texas coast
Thomas V. Riecke, Warren C. Conway, David A. Haukos, Jena A. Moon, Christopher E. Comer
2015, Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (95) 465-469
There are no known biological requirements for lead (Pb), and elevated Pb levels in birds can cause a variety of sub-lethal effects and mortality. Historic and current levels of Pb in mottled ducks (Anas fulvigula) suggest that environmental sources of Pb remain available on the upper Texas coast....
