Directly dated MIS 3 lake-level record from Lake Manix, Mojave Desert, California, USA
Marith C. Reheis, David M. Miller, John P. McGeehin, Joanna R. Redwine, Charles G. Oviatt, Jordon E. Bright
2015, Quaternary Research (83) 187-203
An outcrop-based lake-level curve, constrained by ~ 70 calibrated 14C ages on Anodonta shells, indicates at least 8 highstands between 45 and 25 cal ka BP within 10 m of the 543-m upper threshold of Lake Manix in the Mojave Desert of southern California. Correlations of Manix highstands with ice, marine, and speleothem records suggest that at...
Rising air and stream-water temperatures in Chesapeake Bay region, USA
Karen C. Rice, John D. Jastram
2015, Climatic Change (128) 127-138
Monthly mean air temperature (AT) at 85 sites and instantaneous stream-water temperature (WT) at 129 sites for 1960–2010 are examined for the mid-Atlantic region, USA. Temperature anomalies for two periods, 1961–1985 and 1985–2010, relative to the climate normal period of 1971–2000, indicate that the latter period was statistically significantly warmer...
Variably-saturated groundwater modeling for optimizing managed aquifer recharge using trench infiltration
Victor M. Heilweil, Jerome Benoit, Richard W. Healy
2015, Hydrological Processes (29) 310-319
Spreading-basin methods have resulted in more than 130 million cubic meters of recharge to the unconfined Navajo Sandstone of southern Utah in the past decade, but infiltration rates have slowed in recent years because of reduced hydraulic gradients and clogging. Trench infiltration is a promising alternative technique for increasing recharge...
Joint inversion of seismic and magnetotelluric data in the Parkfield Region of California using the normalized cross-gradient constraint
Ninfa L. Bennington, Haijiang Zhang, Cliff Thurber, Paul A. Bedrosian
2015, Pure and Applied Geophysics (172) 1033-1052
We present jointly inverted models of P-wave velocity (Vp) and electrical resistivity for a two-dimensional profile centered on the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD). Significant structural similarity between main features of the separately inverted Vp and resistivity models is exploited by carrying out a joint inversion of the...
Moving environmental DNA methods from concept to practice for monitoring aquatic macroorganisms
Caren S. Goldberg, Katherine M. Strickler, David S. Pilliod
2015, Biological Conservation (183) 1-3
The discovery that macroorganisms can be detected from their environmental DNA (eDNA) in aquatic systems has immense potential for the conservation of biological diversity. This special issue contains 11 papers that review and advance the field of eDNA detection of vertebrates and other macroorganisms, including studies of eDNA production, transport,...
Stafford fault system: 120 million year fault movement history of northern Virginia
David S. Powars, Rufus D. Catchings, J. Wright Horton Jr., J. Stephen Schindler, Milan J. Pavich
2015, GSA Special Papers (509) 407-431
The Stafford fault system, located in the mid-Atlantic coastal plain of the eastern United States, provides the most complete record of fault movement during the past ~120 m.y. across the Virginia, Washington, District of Columbia (D.C.), and Maryland region, including displacement of Pleistocene terrace gravels. The Stafford fault system is...
Zinc isotopic signatures in eight lake sediment cores from across the United States
Anita Thapalia, David Borrok, Peter C. Van Metre, Jennifer T. Wilson
2015, Environmental Science and Technology (49) 132-140
Zinc is an important trace element pollutant in urban environments; however, the extent of Zn contamination and the sources of urban Zn pollution are often unclear. We measured Zn concentrations and isotopes in sediment cores collected from eight lakes or reservoirs across the United States. We paired these data with...
Discussion and Review of “Seismology of the Oso-Steelhead landslide” by Hibert, Stark, and Ekstrom
Kate E. Allstadt
2015, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences C3274-C3283
In this study, Hibert et al. use the seismic waves generated by the disastrous 22 March 2014 landslide near Oso, Washington to investigate the dynamics of the event by combining long-period source inversions and short period analysis. Overall the paper is concise and well written and takes an innovative approach...
Dynamics of virus shedding and in situ confirmation of chelonid herpesvirus 5 in Hawaiian green turtles with Fibropapillomatosis
Thierry M. Work, Julie Dagenais, George H. Balazs, Nelli Schettle, Mathias Ackermann
2015, Veterinary Pathology (52) 1195-1201
Cancers in humans and animals can be caused by viruses, but virus-induced tumors are considered to be poor sites for replication of intact virions (lytic replication). Fibropapillomatosis (FP) is a neoplastic disease associated with a herpesvirus, chelonid herpesvirus 5 (ChHV5), that affects green turtles globally. ChHV5 probably replicates in epidermal...
Dispersal and selection mediate hybridization between a native and invasive species
Ryan P. Kovach, Clint C. Muhlfeld, Matthew C. Boyer, Winsor H. Lowe, Fred W. Allendorf, Gordon Luikart
2015, Proceedings of the Royal Society B (282)
Hybridization between native and non-native species has serious biological consequences, but our understanding of how dispersal and selection interact to influence invasive hybridization is limited. Here, we document the spread of genetic introgression between a native (Oncorhynchus clarkii) and invasive (Oncorhynchus mykiss) trout, and identify the mechanisms influencing genetic admixture....
Densovirus associated with sea-star wasting disease and mass mortality
Ian Hewson, Jason B. Button, Brent M. Gudenkauf, Benjamin Miner, Alisa L. Newton, Joseph K. Gaydos, Janna Wynne, Cathy L. Groves, Gordon Hendler, Michael Murray, Steven Fradkin, Mya Breitbart, Elizabeth Fahsbender, Kevin D. Lafferty, A. Marm Kilpatrick, C. Melissa Miner, Peter T. Raimondi, Lesanna L. Lahner, Carolyn S. Friedman, Stephen D. Danielson, Martin Haulena, Jeffrey Marliave, Colleen A. Burge, Morgan E. Eisenlord, C. Drew Harvell
2015, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (111) 17278-17283
Populations of at least 20 asteroid species on the Northeast Pacific Coast have recently experienced an extensive outbreak of sea-star (asteroid) wasting disease (SSWD). The disease leads to behavioral changes, lesions, loss of turgor, limb autotomy, and death characterized by rapid degradation (“melting”). Here, we present evidence from experimental challenge...
The effect of weather on morphometric traits of juvenile cliff swallows
Erin A. Roche, Mary Bomberger Brown, Charles R. Brown
2015, The Prairie Naturalist (46) 76-87
Episodes of food deprivation may change how nestling birds allocate energy to the growth of skeletal and feather morphological traits during development. Cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) are colonial, insectivorous birds that regularly experience brief periods of severe weather-induced food deprivation during the nesting season which may affect offspring development. We...
Predicting Brook Trout occurrence in stream reaches throughout their native range in the eastern United States
Jefferson Tyrell DeWeber, Tyler Wagner
2015, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (144) 11-24
The Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis is an important species of conservation concern in the eastern USA. We developed a model to predict Brook Trout population status within individual stream reaches throughout the species’ native range in the eastern USA. We utilized hierarchical logistic regression with Bayesian estimation to predict Brook...
Mycoplasma agassizii in Morafka's desert tortoise (Gopherus morafkai) in Mexico
Kristin H. Berry, Mary B. Brown, Mercy Vaughn, Timothy A. Gowan, Mary Ann Hasskamp, Ma. Cristina Melendez Torres
2015, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (51) 89-100
We conducted health evaluations of 69 wild and 22 captive Morafka's desert tortoises (Gopherus morafkai) in Mexico between 2005 and 2008. The wild tortoises were from 11 sites in the states of Sonora and Sinaloa, and the captive tortoises were from the state-managed Centro Ecológico de Sonora Zoo in Hermosillo...
Remote sensing of Sonoran Desert vegetation structure and phenology with ground-based LiDAR
Joel B. Sankey, Seth M. Munson, Robert H. Webb, Cynthia S.A. Wallace, Cesar M. Duran
2015, Remote Sensing (7) 342-359
Long-term vegetation monitoring efforts have become increasingly important for understanding ecosystem response to global change. Many traditional methods for monitoring can be infrequent and limited in scope. Ground-based LiDAR is one remote sensing method that offers a clear advancement to monitor vegetation dynamics at high spatial and temporal resolution. We...
The effect of dilution and the use of a post-extraction nucleic acid purification column on the accuracy, precision, and inhibition of environmental DNA samples
Anna M. Mckee, Stephen F. Spear, Todd W. Pierson
2015, Biological Conservation (183) 70-76
Isolation of environmental DNA (eDNA) is an increasingly common method for detecting presence and assessing relative abundance of rare or elusive species in aquatic systems via the isolation of DNA from environmental samples and the amplification of species-specific sequences using quantitative PCR (qPCR). Co-extracted substances that inhibit qPCR can lead...
The role of tidal marsh restoration in fish management in the San Francisco Estuary
Bruce Herbold, Donald Baltz, Larry R. Brown, Robin Grossinger, Wim J. Kimmerer, Peggy W. Lehman, Charles A. Simenstad, Carl Wilcox, Matthew L. Nobriga
2015, San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science (12)
Tidal marsh restoration is an important management issue in the San Francisco Estuary (estuary). Restoration of large areas of tidal marsh is ongoing or planned in the lower estuary (up to 6,000 ha, Callaway et al. 2011). Large areas are proposed for restoration in the upper estuary under the Endangered...
How much is new information worth? Evaluating the financial benefit of resolving management uncertainty
Sean L. Maxwell, Jonathan R. Rhodes, Michael C. Runge, Hugh P. Possingham, Chooi Fei Ng, Eve McDonald Madden
2015, Journal of Applied Ecology (52) 12-20
Conservation decision-makers face a trade-off between spending limited funds on direct management action, or gaining new information in an attempt to improve management performance in the future. Value-of-information analysis can help to resolve this trade-off by evaluating how much management performance could improve if new information was gained. Value-of-information analysis...
BET surface area distributions in polar stream sediments: Implications for silicate weathering in a cold-arid environment
Kristen R. Marra, Megan E Elwood Madden, Gerilyn S. Soreghan, Brenda L Hall
2015, Applied Geochemistry (52) 31-42
BET surface area values are critical for quantifying the amount of potentially reactive sediments available for chemical weathering and ultimately, prediction of silicate weathering fluxes. BET surface area values of fine-grained (<62.5 μm) sediment from the hyporheic zone of polar glacial streams in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica (Wright and...
Evaluating changes in stream fish species richness over a 50-year time-period within a landscape context
Stephen R. Midway, Tyler Wagner, Bryn H. Tracy, Gabriela M. Hogue, Wayne C. Starnes
2015, Environmental Biology of Fishes (98) 1295-1309
Worldwide, streams and rivers are facing a suite of pressures that alter water quality and degrade physical habitat, both of which can lead to changes in the composition and richness of fish populations. These potential changes are of particular importance in the Southeast USA, home to one of the richest...
Pesticide concentrations in frog tissue and wetland habitats in alandscape dominated by agriculture
Kelly L. Smalling, Rebecca Reeves, Erin L. Muths, Mark W. Vandever, William A. Battaglin, Michelle Hladik, Clay L. Pierce
2015, Science of the Total Environment (502) 80-90
Habitat loss and exposure to pesticides are likely primary factors contributing to amphibian decline in agricultural landscapes. Conservation efforts have attempted to restore wetlands lost through landscape modifications to reduce contaminant loads in surface waters and providing quality habitat to wildlife. The benefits of this increased wetland area, perhaps especially...
Climate-induced range contraction of a rare alpine aquatic invertebrate
J. Joseph Giersch, Steve Jordan, Gordon Luikart, Leslie A. Jones, F. Richard Hauer, Clint C. Muhlfeld
2015, Freshwater Science (34) 53-65
Climate warming poses a serious threat to alpine-restricted species worldwide, yet few studies have empirically documented climate-induced changes in distributions. The rare stonefly, Zapada glacier (Baumann and Gaufin), endemic to alpine streams of Glacier National Park (GNP), Montana, was recently petitioned for listing under the US Endangered Species Act because of climate-change-induced...
Testing the nutritional-limitation, predator-avoidance, and storm-avoidance hypotheses for restricted sea otter habitat use in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska
Nathan L. Stewart, Brenda Konar, M. Tim Tinker
2015, Oecologia (177) 645-655
Sea otters (Enhydra lutris) inhabiting the Aleutian Islands have stabilized at low abundance levels following a decline and currently exhibit restricted habitat-utilization patterns. Possible explanations for restricted habitat use by sea otters can be classified into two fundamentally different processes, bottom-up and top-down forcing. Bottom-up hypotheses argue that changes in the...
Character, distribution, and ecological significance of storm wave-induced scour in Rhode Island Sound, USA
Katherine Y. McMullen, Lawrence J. Poppe, Castle E. Parker
2015, Geo-Marine Letters (35) 135-144
Multibeam bathymetry, collected during NOAA hydrographic surveys in 2008 and 2009, is coupled with USGS data from sampling and photographic stations to map the seabed morphology and composition of Rhode Island Sound along the US Atlantic coast, and to provide information on sediment transport and benthic habitats. Patchworks of scour...
Scale-dependent feedbacks between patch size and plant reproduction in desert grassland
Lauren N. Svejcar, Brandon T. Bestelmeyer, Michael C. Duniway, Darren K. James
2015, Ecosystems (18) 146-153
Theoretical models suggest that scale-dependent feedbacks between plant reproductive success and plant patch size govern transitions from highly to sparsely vegetated states in drylands, yet there is scant empirical evidence for these mechanisms. Scale-dependent feedback models suggest that an optimal patch size exists for growth and reproduction of plants and...
