Revisiting conservation units for the endangered mountain yellow-legged frog species complex (Rana muscosa, Rana sierrae) using multiple genomic methods
Allison Q. Byrne, Andrew P. Rothstein, Lydia L. Smith, Hannah Kania, Roland A. Knapp, Daniel M. Boiano, Cheryl J. Briggs, Adam R. Backlin, Robert N. Fisher, Erica Bree Rosenblum
2024, Conservation Genetics (25) 591-606
Insights from conservation genomics have dramatically improved recovery plans for numerous endangered species. However, most taxa have yet to benefit from the full application of genomic technologies. The mountain yellow-legged frog species complex, Rana muscosa and Rana sierrae, inhabits the Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse/Peninsular Ranges of California and Nevada....
Stochastic simulation of earthquake ground motions for the seismic assessment of monumental masonry structures: Source-based vs site-based approaches
Shaghayegh Karimzadeh, Marco F. Funari, Simon Szabó, S. M. Sajad Hussaini, Sanaz Rezaeian, Paulo B. Lourenço
2024, Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics (53) 303-330
Earthquakes are among the most destructive natural disasters and have resulted in a massive number of fatalities and economic losses all over the world. Simulated ground motion records are valuable, particularly for regions lacking seismic stations or with a limited history of large-magnitude earthquakes. Notably, a significant percentage of monumental...
Identifying predictors of translocation success in rare plant species
Joe Bellis, Oyomoare L. Osazuwa-Peters, Joyce Maschinski, Matthew J. Keir, Elliott W. Parsons, Thomas N. Kaye, Michael Kunz, Jennifer Possley, Eric Menges, Stacy A. Smith, Daniela Roth, Debbie Brewer, William E. Brumback, James J. Lange, Christal Niederer, Jessica B. Turner-Skoff, Megan Bontrager, Richard Braham, Michelle Coppoletta, Karen D. Holl, Paula Williamson, Timothy J. Bell, Jayne L. Jonas, Kathryn McEachern, Kathy L. Robertson, Sandra J. Birnbaum, Adam Dattilo, John J. Dollard Jr., Jeremie Fant, Wendy Kishida, Peter Lesica, Steven O. Link, Noel B. Pavlovic, Jackie Poole, Charlotte M. Reemts, Peter Stiling, David D. Taylor, Jonathan H. Titus, Priscilla J. Titus, Edith D. Adkins, Timothy Chambers, Mark W. Paschke, Katherine D. Heinman, Matthew A. Albrecht
2024, Conservation Biology (38)
The fundamental goal of a rare plant translocation is to create self-sustaining populations with the evolutionary resilience to persist in the long-term. Yet most plant translocation syntheses focus on a few factors influencing short-term benchmarks of success (e.g., survival and reproduction). Short-term benchmarks can be misleading when trying to infer...
Using down-scan capabilities from recreational-grade side-scan sonar systems to sample paddlefish and evaluate depth use in a reservoir
James M. Long, P. Joyce, L. Bruckerhoff, Robert Charles Lonsinger, W. Wolfenkoehler
2024, Article
Recreational-grade side-scan sonar (SSS) has only recently been applied to estimate abundance of Paddlefish Polyodon spathula, a large pelagic planktivore, in reservoirs. Current recreational-grade SSS units also have a dedicated down-scan channel, which may be useful for detecting Paddlefish in reservoirs because the range of depths they inhabit. We investigated the utility of...
Using multiple metal mixture models to predict toxicity of riverine sediment porewater to the benthic life stage of juvenile white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus)
Laurie S. Balistrieri
2024, Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (43) 62-73
Five metal mixture dose–response models were used to predict the toxicity of porewater to young sturgeon at areas of interest in the Upper Columbia River (WA, USA/BC, Canada) and to evaluate these models as tools for risk assessments. Dose components of metal mixture models...
Temperature thresholds for leaf damage from two extreme freeze events (2018 and 2021) near the northern range limit of black mangroves (Avicennia germinans) in southeastern North America
Simen Kaalstad, Michael Osland, Donna J. Devlin, C. Edward Proffitt, Laura Feher, Anna R. Armitage, Richard Day, Kathleen M. Swanson, Gordon Anderson, Brigid Berger, Just Cebrian, Karen L. Cummins, Kenneth H. Dunton, Ilka C. Feller, Alejandro Fierro-Cabo, Elena A. Flores, Andrew From, A. Randall Hughes, David A. Kaplan, Amy K. Langston, Melinda Martinez, Briana Martinez, Christopher J. Miller, Nathan G.F. Reaver, Colt R. Sanspree, Caitlin M. Snyder, Andrew P. Stetter, Jamie E. Thompson, Carlos Zamora-Tovar
2024, Estuaries and Coasts (47) 292-300
Extreme winter temperatures govern the northern range limit of black mangroves (Avicennia germinans) in southeastern North America. There is a pressing need for studies that advance our understanding of how extreme cold temperature events affect mangroves near their range limits. However, such events are infrequent and challenging to study at...
Long-term trends of local bird populations based on monitoring schemes: Are they suitable for justifying management measures?
Antonio J. Hernandez-Navarro, Francisco Robledano, María V. Jiménez-Franco, Andy Royle, José F. Calvo
2024, Journal of Ornithology (165) 355-367
Local biodiversity monitoring is important to assess the effects of global change, but also to evaluate the performance of landscape and wildlife protection, since large-scale assessments may buffer local fluctuations, rare species tend to be underrepresented, and management actions are usually implemented on local scales. We...
Expansive, positive changes to fish habitat diversity following the formation of a valley plug in a degraded desert river
Tansy T. Remiszewski, Phaedra E. Budy, William W. Macfarlane
2024, River Research and Applications (40) 116-128
Widespread hydrologic alterations have simplified in-stream habitats in rivers globally, driving population declines and extirpations of many native fishes. Here, we examine how rapid geomorphic change in a historically degraded desert river has influenced habitat diversification and ecosystem persistence. In 2010, a large reach of the degraded and simplified lower...
Rates of osmoconformation in triploid eastern oysters, and comparison to their diploid half-siblings
Sandra M. Casas, Devin Comba, Megan K. La Peyre, Scott Rikard, Jerome F. La Peyre
2024, Aquaculture (580)
Triploid eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) suffer greater mortalities than diploids in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico estuaries when extreme low salinities (< 5) and elevated temperatures (≥ 28 °C) coincide. To investigate potential causes, changes in plasma osmolality, hemolymph pH, valve opening and mortality in diploid and triploid oyster half-siblings were compared during a step-down gradual acclimation from...
Critical stakeholder engagement: The road to actionable science Is paved with scientists’ good intentions
Aparna Bamzai-Dodson, Amanda E. Cravens, Renee A. McPherson
2024, Annals of the American Association of Geographers (114) 1-20
To help stakeholders such as planners, resource managers, policymakers, and decision makers address environmental challenges in the Anthropocene, scientists are increasingly creating actionable science—science that is useful, usable, and used. Critical physical geography encourages the engagement of stakeholders in the creation of scientific knowledge to conduct actionable science and produce...
A nontarget, disturbance-resilient native species influences post-fire recovery and multiphasic herbicide-seeding outcomes in drylands threatened by exotic annual grasses
Chad Raymond Kluender, Matthew J. Germino
2024, Restoration Ecology (32)
Native species that are abundant and persistent across disturbance-succession cycles can affect recovery and restoration of plant communities, especially in drylands. In the sagebrush-steppe deserts of North America, restoring deep-rooted perennial bunchgrasses (DRPBGs) is key to the strategy for breaking an increasingly problematic cycle...
Disparate data streams together yield novel survival estimates of Alaska-breeding Whimbrels
Daniel R. Ruthrauff, Christopher M. Harwood, T. Lee Tibbitts, Vijay P. Patil
2024, Ibis (166) 622-632
Survival estimates are critical components of avian ecology. In well-intentioned efforts to maximize the utility of one's research, survival estimates often derive from data that were not originally collected for survival assessments, and such post hoc analyses may include unintentional biases. We estimated the survival of Whimbrels captured and marked at two...
Lack of strong responses to the Pacific marine heatwave by benthivorous marine birds indicates importance of trophic drivers
Brian H. Robinson, Heather A. Coletti, Brenda Ballachey, James L. Bodkin, Kimberly A. Kloecker, Sarah Beth Traiger, Daniel Esler
2024, Marine Ecology Progress Series (737) 215-226
The Pacific marine heatwave (PMH) of 2014-2016 was an intense, long-lasting environmental disturbance expressed throughout the north Pacific. While dramatic consequences of the PMH on pelagic food webs have been well documented, effects on nearshore food webs, i.e., those based on macroalgae primary productivity, benthic invertebrate intermediate consumers, and specialized...
Morphological differences between wild and hatchery-reared Bloater (Coregonus hoyi) from Lake Michigan, USA
Andrew Edgar Honsey, Yu-Chun Kao, Christopher Olds, David Bunnell
2024, Fisheries Management and Ecology (31)
Coregonines (ciscoes and whitefishes) are economically, ecologically, and culturally important fishes that are distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere. In the Laurentian Great Lakes, coregonines declined throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and managers have prioritized their restoration. A key restoration tool is reintroduction via stocking....
Experimental reduction of a primary nest predator fails to decrease nest predation rates of sagebrush songbirds
Ashleigh M. Rhea, Anna D. Chalfoun
2024, Ornithological Applications (126)
Brewer’s Sparrow (Spizella breweri), Sagebrush Sparrow (Artemisiospiza nevadensis), and Sage Thrasher (Oreoscoptus montanus)—during May to August 2019 in western Wyoming, USA, to assess whether nest predation risk was additive or compensatory, and whether nest predator removal could comprise a potentially effective management tool. Deer mouse removal did not affect...
Hepatotoxic response of perfluorooctane sulfonamide (PFOSA) in early life stage zebrafish (Danio rerio) is greater than perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS)
Rongrong Xuan, Xiaojian Qiu, Jiazhen Wang, Shai Liu, Jason Tyler Magnuson, Bentuo Xu, Wenhui Qui, Chunmiao Zheng
2024, Journal of Hazardous Materials (461)
Perfluorooctane sulfonamide (PFOSA), a typical perfluorooctane sulfonate precursor (PreFOS), has been detected in the aquatic environment globally. However, the effects of PFOSA at levels measured in the environment have not been well characterized in aquatic organisms. In this study, we evaluated the transcriptional, biochemical, histopathological, and morphological...
A comparison of summer, fall and winter estimates of monarch population size before and after milkweed eradication from crop fields in North America
John M. Pleasants, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Karen Oberhauser, Orley (Chip) Taylor, Carl Stenoien
2024, Insect Conservation and Diversity (17) 51-64
Measures of the area occupied by overwintering monarchs in México since the mid-1990s show a decline. Summer surveys of monarchs, however, do not show a similar decline. This discrepancy has led to the proposition that summer monarch numbers are actually stable and that increasing mortality during migration has led...
Using geospatial analysis to guide marsh restoration in Chesapeake Bay and beyond
Neil K. Ganju, Kate Ackerman, Zafer Defne
2024, Estuaries and Coasts (47) 1-17
Coastal managers are facing imminent decisions regarding the fate of coastal wetlands, given ongoing threats to their persistence. There is a need for objective methods to identify which wetland parcels are candidates for restoration, monitoring, protection, or acquisition due to limited resources and restoration techniques. Here,...
The patchwork governance of ecologically available water: A case study in the Upper Missouri Headwaters, Montana, United States
Amanda E. Cravens, Julia B. Goolsby, Theresa Jedd, Deborah J. Bathke, Shelley Crausbay, Ashley E Cooper, Jason B. Dunham, Tonya Haigh, Kimberly R. Hall, Michael J. Hayes, Jamie McEvoy, Rebecca L Nelson, Marketa Podebradska, Aaron R. Ramirez, Elliot Wickham, Dionne Zoanni
2024, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (60) 406-426
Institutional authority and responsibility for allocating water to ecosystems (“ecologically available water” [EAW]) is spread across local, state, and federal agencies, which operate under a range of statutes, mandates, and planning processes. We use a case study of the Upper Missouri Headwaters Basin in southwestern Montana, United States, to illustrate...
Beyond overlap: Considering habitat preference and fitness outcomes in the umbrella species concept
J. D. Carlisle, K. T. Smith, J. L. Beck, M. A. Murphy, Anna D. Chalfoun
2024, Animal Conservation (27) 212-225
Umbrella species and other surrogate species approaches to conservation provide an appealing framework to extend the reach of conservation efforts beyond single species. For the umbrella species concept to be effective, populations of multiple species of concern must persist in areas protected on behalf...
Relationships among rare plant communities and abiotic conditions in managed spring-fed arid wetlands
Antonio Cantu de Leija, Sammy L. King
2024, Restoration Ecology (32)
Spring-fed wetlands within arid and semiarid systems are hotspots for endemism and distribution of rare plants. Interactions among groundwater and the geomorphic and climatic features of the setting control the abiotic conditions, particularly soil salinity and moisture, that support these plants. However, water uncertainty and land use change challenge the...
Structured decision making remains underused in ecological restoration despite opportunities
Morgan L. Piczak, Jessica A. Robichaud, Peter Morrison, Andrew M. Rous, Ingeborg M. Mulder, Cassandra J. Hill, Tanya S. Prystay, Hanna Rosner-Katz, Kelly Filer Robinson, Joseph R. Bennett, Steven J. Cooke
2024, Environment Systems and Decisions (44) 1-15
Ecological restoration is considered an essential activity as we attempt to repair anthropogenic degradation. Yet, resources are limited and it is important that efforts focus on activities that are effective and yield successful restoration. Structured decision making (SDM) is an organized framework that is designed to...
Evaluation of fall-seeded cover crops for grassland nesting waterfowl in eastern South Dakota
Charles W. Gallman, Todd W. Arnold, Eric S. Michel, Joshua D. Stafford
2024, Wildlife Society Bulletin
The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) is the primary breeding ground for many species of North American waterfowl. The PPR was historically dominated by mixed and tallgrass prairies interspersed with wetlands, but >70% of the native grassland area has been lost due to widespread conversion to croplands. Cover cropping is a reemerging...
Nonlinear patterns of surface elevation change in coastal wetlands: The value of generalized additive models for quantifying rates of change
Laura Feher, Michael Osland, Darren Johnson, James Grace, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, David R. Stewart, Carlos A. Coronado-Molina, Fred H. Sklar
2024, Estuaries and Coasts (47) 1893-1902
In the face of accelerating climate change and rising sea levels, quantifying surface elevation change dynamics in coastal wetlands can help to develop a more complete understanding of the implications of sea-level rise on coastal wetland stability. The surface elevation table-marker horizon (SET-MH) approach has been...
Grassland Effectiveness Monitoring (GEM): A tiered approach for habitat treatment assessment across private lands incentive programs
Anna M. Matthews, Rebekah J. Rylander, Daniel Bunting, Michael C. Duniway, James J. Giocomo, Anna C. Knight, Adriana Leiva, Robert M. Perez, Kourtney Stonehouse, Derek Wiley, Don Wilhelm
2024, Conference Paper, America's Grasslands Conference: Reconnecting America's Grasslands
Introduction The decline of North American grasslands is a topic of increasing interest as agencies and organizations work to address subsequent declines in wildlife species, including grassland birds (Rosenberg et al. 2019), pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) (Gedir et al. 2015), and other grassland-dependent taxa. In response to grassland habitat loss, conservation...
