Evaluating an improved systems approach to wetland crediting: Consideration of wetland ecosystem services
Pamela Mason, Gregory E. Noe, Alicia Berlin, Denise Clearwater, Sally Claggett, Dave Goerman, Brooke J. Landry, Alison Santoro
2024, Report
The Chesapeake Bay Agreement (CBA) has numerous direct goals for improving habitat, living resources, and water quality, conserving lands, engaging communities and addressing a changing climate. To date, the progress toward the wetlands outcome (creation/ restoration of 85,000 acres and enhancement of 150,000 acres) has been very slow and the...
Snow avalanches are a primary climate-linked driver of mountain ungulate populations
Kevin White, Eran Hood, Gabriel Wolken, Erich Peitzsch, Yves Buhler, Katreen Wikstrom Jones, Chris Darimont
2024, Nature Communications Biology (7)
Snow is a major, climate-sensitive feature of the Earth’s surface and catalyst of fundamentally important ecosystem processes. Understanding how snow influences sentinel species in rapidly changing mountain ecosystems is particularly critical. Whereas effects of snow on food availability, energy expenditure, and predation are well documented, we...
Black carp Mylopharyngodon piceus (Richardson, 1846) mouth gape and size preference of a bivalve prey
Patrick Kroboth, Benjamin H. Stahlschmidt, Duane Chapman
2024, Journal of Applied Ichthyology (2024)
Black carp Mylopharyngodon piceus (Richardson, 1846) have been widely used as biological control of snails in aquaculture and were imported to the United States in the 1970s and 1980s for this purpose. Prior research emphasizes the species’ propensity to control gastropods, but since subsequent escape and establishment of black carp...
A multi-marker assessment of sewage contamination in streams using human-associated indicator bacteria, human-specific viruses, and pharmaceuticals
Peter L. Lenaker, Matthew A. Pronschinske, Steven R. Corsi, Joel P. Stokdyk, Hayley Olds, Deborah K. Dila, Sandra L. McLellan
2024, Science of the Total Environment (930)
Human sewage contaminates waterways, delivering excess nutrients, pathogens, chemicals, and other toxic contaminants. Contaminants and various sewage indicators are measured to monitor and assess water quality, but these analytes vary in their representation of sewage contamination and the inferences about water quality they support....
Evaluation of debris-flow building damage forecasts
Katherine R. Barnhart, Christopher R. Miller, Francis K. Rengers, Jason W. Kean
2024, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (24) 1459-1483
Reliable forecasts of building damage due to debris flows may provide situational awareness and guide land and emergency management decisions. Application of debris-flow runout models to generate such forecasts requires combining hazard intensity predictions with fragility functions that link hazard intensity with building damage....
Flooding-induced failure of an invasive Burmese Python nest in southern Florida
Mark Robert Sandfoss, Lisa Marie McBride, Gretchen Erika Anderson, Amanda Marie Kissel, Matthew McCollister, Christina M. Romagosa, Amy A. Yackel Adams
2024, Reptiles and Amphibians (31)
It is important to understand the factors affecting the reproductive success of an invasive species to estimate population size and develop management plans. There remains much we do not understand about the reproductive biology of invasive Burmese Pythons in both their native and invasive range. Oviposition site selection is an...
Methylmercury effects on birds: A review, meta-analysis, and development of toxicity reference values for injury assessment based on tissue residues and diet
Josh T. Ackerman, Sarah H. Peterson, Mark P. Herzog, Julie L. Yee
2024, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (43) 1195-1241
Birds are used as bioindicators of environmental mercury (Hg) contamination, and toxicity reference values are needed for injury assessments. We conducted a comprehensive review, summarized data from 168 studies, performed a series of Bayesian hierarchical meta-analyses, and developed new toxicity reference values for the...
Influence of organic matter thermal maturity on rare earth element distribution: A study of Middle Devonian black shales from the Appalachian Basin, USA
Shailee Bhattacharya, Shikha Sharma, Vikas Agrawal, Michael C. Dix, Giovanni Zanoni, Justin E. Birdwell, Albert S. Wylie Jr., Tom Wagner
2024, Energies (17)
This study focuses on understanding the association of rare earth elements (REE; lanthanides + yttrium + scandium) with organic matter from the Middle Devonian black shales of the Appalachian Basin. Developing a better understanding of the role of organic matter (OM) and thermal maturity in REE partitioning may help improve...
Prion forensics: A multidisciplinary approach to investigate CWD at an illegal deer carcass disposal site
Marc D. Schwabenlander, Jason C. Bartz, Michelle Carstensen, Alberto Fameli, Linda Glaser, Roxanne J. Larsen, Manci Li, Rachel L. Shoemaker, Gage Rowden, Suzanne Stone, W. David Walter, Tiffany M. Wolf, Peter A. Larsen
2024, Prion (18) 72-86
Infectious prions are resistant to degradation and remain infectious in the environment for several years. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) has been detected in cervids inhabiting North America, the Nordic countries, and South Korea. CWD-prion spread is partially attributed to carcass transport and disposal. We employed a forensic approach to investigate...
Special Contributing Area Loading Program user’s manual
Henry F. Doyle, Marian M. Domanski
2024, Open-File Report 2024-1021
The Special Contributing Area Loading Program (SCALP) is a hydrologic routing program that simulates reservoir routing through a linear-reservoir-in-series method. The Java version of SCALP was developed to replicate and replace the functionality of an older version of the program written in Fortran. SCALP models flow through three reservoirs in...
Automatic identification and quantification of volcanic hotspots in Alaska using HotLINK: The hotspot learning and identification network
Pablo Saunders-Shultz, Taryn Lopez, Hannah R. Dietterich, Tarsilo Girona
2024, Frontiers in Earth Science (12)
An increase in volcanic thermal emissions can indicate subsurface and surface processes that precede, or coincide with, volcanic eruptions. Space-borne infrared sensors can detect hotspots—defined here as localized volcanic thermal emissions—in near-real-time. However, automatic hotspot detection systems are needed to efficiently analyze the large quantities of data produced....
Post-fire reference densities for giant sequoia seedlings in a new era of high-severity wildfires
Nathan L. Stephenson, Anthony C. Caprio, David Nicolas Bertil Soderberg, Adrian Das, Eva Louisa Lopez, A. Park Williams
2024, Forest Ecology and Management (562)
Many forests globally are experiencing increases in large, high-severity wildfires, often with increasingly inadequate post-fire tree regeneration. To identify areas that might need post-fire planting, forest managers have a growing need for seedling reference densities – the natural seedling densities...
Evaluation of metrics and thresholds for use in national-scale river harmful algal bloom assessments
Sarah M. Stackpoole, Jacob Aaron Zwart, Jennifer L. Graham, Judson Harvey, Noah Schmadel, Jennifer C. Murphy
2024, Ecological Indicators (162)
The spatiotemporal distribution of harmful algal blooms (HABs) in rivers remains poorly understood, and there is an urgent need to develop a consistent set of metrics to better document HAB occurrences and forecast future events. Using data from seven sites in...
State of the data: Assessing the FAIRness of USGS data
Vivian B. Hutchison, Tamar Norkin, Lisa Zolly, Leslie Hsu
2024, Data Science Journal (23)
In response to recent shifts towards open science that emphasize transparency, reproducibility, and access to research data, the US Geological Survey (USGS) conducted a study to assess the degree to which USGS data assets meet the FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). The USGS designed and applied a...
Status of water quality in groundwater resources used for drinking-water supply in the southeastern San Joaquin Valley, 2013–15—California GAMA Priority Basin Project
Karen R. Burow, Jennifer L. Shelton, Miranda S. Fram
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5009
The California Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment Program Priority Basin Project (GAMA-PBP) investigated water quality of groundwater resources used for drinking-water supplies in the Madera-Chowchilla, Kings, Kaweah, Tule, and Tulare Lake groundwater subbasins of the southeastern San Joaquin Valley during 2013–15. The study focused primarily on groundwater resources used for...
Survival and growth of larval Pallid Sturgeon are improved by a live diet
Hilary B. Treanor, Christopher S. Guy, Jason E. Ilgen, Wendy M. Sealey, Addison T. Dove, Molly A. H. Webb
2024, North American Journal of Aquaculture (86) 332-339
ObjectiveConservation propagation facilities in the upper basin of the Missouri River are currently experiencing inconsistent survival of first-feeding larval Pallid Sturgeon Scaphirhynchus albus among genetic families (i.e., distinct male–female pairings). The inconsistent survival can have unintended negative consequences for genetic representation of Pallid Sturgeon that are returned to the...
Genetic evidence for the presence of wild-caught sturgeons in commercial markets in Georgia
Tamar Beridze, Shannon L. White, David C. Kazyak, Levan Ninua, Dewayne A. Fox, Arun Sethuraman, Tamar Edisherashvili, Bianca Roberts, Mikheil Potskhishvili, Michelle Klailova, Cort Anderson
2024, Diversity (16)
Sturgeons (Family: Acipenseridae) are among the most endangered taxa worldwide. Significant resources have been invested into the conservation of global sturgeon populations, including the development of commercial aquaculture programs. These programs are intended to improve conservation outcomes by reducing the harvest of wild populations while still meeting commercial demand for...
Cytology in cnidaria using Exaiptasia as a model
Thierry M. Work, Chutimon Singarkhan, Tina Weatherby
2024, Diseases of Aquatic Organisms (158) 37-53
A need exists for additional methods to examine cnidaria at the cellular level to aid our understanding of health, anatomy, and physiology of this important group of organisms. This need is particularly acute given that disease is emerging as a major factor in declines of ecologically important functional groups such...
Atmospheric river activity during the late Holocene exceeds modern range of variability in California
Clarke Alexandra Knight, Lysanna Anderson, Liubov S. Presnetsova, Marie Rhondelle Champagne, David Wahl
2024, Nature Communications Earth and Environment (5)
Atmospheric rivers are associated with some of the largest flood-producing precipitation events in western North America, particularly California. Insight into past extreme precipitation can be reconstructed from sedimentary archives on millennial timescales. Here we document atmospheric river activity near Leonard Lake, California, over 3,200 years, using...
Flexible migration and habitat use strategies of an endangered waterbird during hydrological drought
Aaron T. Pearse, Andrew J. Caven, David M. Baasch, Mark T. Bidwell, John A Conkin, David A. Brandt
2024, Conservation Science and Practice (6)
Wildlife species confront threats from climate and land use change, exacerbating the influence of extreme climatic events on populations and biodiversity. Migratory waterbirds are especially vulnerable to hydrological drought via reduced availability of surface water habitats. We assessed how whooping cranes (Grus americana) modified...
Ecological inferences on invasive carp survival using hydrodynamics and egg drift models
Ruichen Xu, Duane Chapman, Caroline M. Elliott, Bruce Call, Robert B. Jacobson, Binbin Yang
2024, Scientific Reports (14)
Bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis), silver carp (H. molitrix), black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus), and grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella), are invasive species in North America. However, they hold significant economic importance as food sources in China. The drifting stage of carp eggs has received great attention because egg...
Bathymetric and velocimetric surveys at highway bridges crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers on the periphery of Missouri, June 13–22, 2022
Richard J. Huizinga
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5032
Bathymetric and velocimetric data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Transportation, near seven bridges at six highway crossings of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers on the periphery of Missouri from June 13–22, 2022. A multibeam echosounder mapping system was used to obtain...
A hierarchical model for eDNA fate and transport dynamics accommodating low concentration samples
Ben Augustine, Patrick Ross Hutchins, Devin Nicole Jones-Slobodian, Jacob R. Williams, Eric Leinonen, Adam Sepulveda
2024, Preprint
Environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling is an increasingly important tool for answering ecological questions and informing aquatic species management; however, several factors currently limit the reliability of ecological inference from eDNA sampling. Two particular challenges are 1) determining species source location(s) and 2) accurately and precisely measuring low concentration eDNA samples...
Genetic structure of restored Brook Trout populations in the Southern Appalachian Mountains indicates successful reintroductions
Rebecca J. Smith, David C. Kazyak, Matt A. Kulp, Barbara A. Lubinski, Benjamin M. Fitzpatrick
2024, Conservation Genetics (25) 1007-1020
Wildlife reintroduction is an important conservation tool for threatened species, yet identifying appropriate source populations poses a challenge. In particular, the possibility of outbreeding depression is cited as a constraint limiting the range of candidate source populations for translocation. When multiple source lineages are mixed during reintroduction, genetic monitoring is...
Environmental DNA dynamics of three species of unionid freshwater mussels
Dannise Ruiz-Ramos, Nathan Thompson, Catherine A. Richter, Megan C. Voshage, Theresa M. Schreier, Christopher M. Merkes, Katy E. Klymus
2024, Environmental DNA (6)
North American freshwater mussels are of special conservation concern due to their high endemism and the multiple anthropogenic stressors affecting them. Of the over 300 species in North America, nearly one third of these species are federally listed as threatened or endangered. Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis has been successful in...
