Spatial segregation between phenotypes of the diablotin black-capped petrel Pterodroma hasitata during the non-breeding period
Yvan G. Satgé, Brad Keitt, Chris Gaskin, J. Brian Patteson, Patrick G.R. Jodice
2024, Endangered Species Research (51) 183-201
Despite growing support for ecosystem-based approaches, conservation is mostly implemented at the species level. However, genetic differentiation exists within this taxonomic level, putting genetically distinct populations at risk of local extinction. In the diablotin black-capped petrel Pterodroma hasitata, an endangered gadfly petrel endemic to the Caribbean, 2 phenotypes have been described:...
Presence of hummock and hollow microtopography reflects shifting balances of shallow subsidence and root zone expansion along forested wetland river gradients
Ken Krauss, Gregory E. Noe, Jamie A. Duberstein, Nicole Cormier, Andrew From, Thomas Rossiter Doody, William H. Conner, Donald Cahoon, Darren Johnson
2024, Estuaries and Coasts (47) 1750-1763
Tidal freshwater forested wetlands (TFFWs) are in an active phase of transition to tidal marsh with sea level rise and salinity incursion along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States (U.S.). A prominent feature of TFFWs is hummock/hollow microtopography where hollows represent the flat,...
Accuracy and precision of sea-finding orientation as a function of dune proximity in hatchlings of two species of sea turtles
Shigetomo Hirama, Blair Witherington, Andrea Sylvia, Raymond Carthy
2024, Marine and Freshwater Research (74) 994-1001
Context: Sea turtle hatchlings generally emerge at night from nests on sand beaches and immediately orient using visual cues, which are believed to entail the difference in brightness between the light seen in the seaward direction and that seen in the duneward direction.Aim: The aim of this study was to understand how...
Estimating groundwater pumping for irrigation: A method comparison
Andrea E. Brookfield, Samuel Zipper, Anthony D. Kendall, Hoori Ajami, Jillian M. Deines
2024, Extramural-Authored Publication Paper
Effective groundwater management is critical to future environmental, ecological, and social sustainability and requires accurate estimates of groundwater withdrawals. Unfortunately, these estimates are not readily available in most areas due to physical, regulatory, and social challenges. Here, we compare four different approaches for estimating groundwater withdrawals for agricultural irrigation. We...
Horizontal integrity a prerequisite for vertical stability: Comparison of elevation change and the unvegetated-vegetated marsh ratio across southeastern USA coastal wetlands
Neil K. Ganju, Zafer Defne, Caroline Schwab, Michelle Moorman
2024, Estuaries and Coasts (47) 2135-2145
Surface elevation tables (SETs) estimate the vertical resilience of coastal wetlands to sea-level rise (SLR) and other stressors but are limited in their spatial coverage. Conversely, spatially integrative metrics based on remote sensing provide comprehensive spatial coverage of horizontal processes but cannot track elevation trajectory at high resolution. Here, we...
Toxicological effects assessment for wildlife in the 21st Century: Review of current methods and recommendations for a path forward
Thomas G. Bean, Val R. Beasley, Philippe Berny, Karen M. Eisenreich, John E. Elliott, Margaret L. Eng, Phyllis C. Fuchsman, Mark S. Johnson, Mason D. King, Rafael Mateo Soria, Carolyn B. Meyer, Christopher J. Salice, Barnett A. Rattner
2024, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (20) 699-724
Model species (e.g., granivorous gamebirds, waterfowl, passerines, domesticated rodents) have been used for decades in guideline laboratory tests to generate survival, growth and reproductive data for prospective Ecological Risk Assessments (ERAs) for birds and mammals, while officially adopted risk assessment schemes for amphibians and reptiles do not exist. There are...
Characterizing lung particulates using quantitative microscopy in coal miners with severe pneumoconiosis
Jeremy T. Hua, Carlyne D. Cool, Heather A. Lowers, Leonard H. T. Go, Lauren M. Zell-Baran, Emily A. Sarver, Kirsten S. Almberg, Kathy D. Pang, Susan M. Majka, Angela D. Franko, Naseema I. Vorajee, Robert A. Cohen, Cecil S. Rose
2024, Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (148) 327-335
Context.—Current approaches for characterizing retained lung dust using pathologists' qualitative assessment or scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) have limitations.Objective.—To explore polarized light microscopy coupled with image-processing software, termed quantitative microscopy–particulate matter (QM-PM), as a tool to characterize in situ dust in lung tissue of...
FloPy workflows for creating structured and unstructured MODFLOW models
Joseph D. Hughes, Christian D. Langevin, Scott R. Paulinski, Joshua Larsen, David Brakenhoff
2024, Groundwater (62) 124-139
FloPy is a popular Python package for creating, running, and post-processing MODFLOW-based groundwater flow and transport models. FloPy functionality has expanded to support the latest version of MODFLOW (MODFLOW 6) including support for unstructured grids. FloPy can be used to download MODFLOW-based and other executables for Linux, MacOS, and Windows...
Inconsistent citation of the Global Seismographic Network in scientific publications
Molly Staats, Kasey Aderhold, Katrin Hafner, Colleen Dalton, Megan Flanagan, Harriet Lau, Frederick Simons, Martin Vallée, Shawn Wei, William L. Yeck, Andy Frassetto, Robert Busby
2024, Seismological Research Letters (95) 1478-1485
The highly used Global Seismographic Network (GSN) is a pillar of the seismological research community and contributes to numerous groundbreaking publications. Despite its wide recognition, this survey found that the GSN is not consistently acknowledged in scientific literature and is underrepresented by roughly a factor of 3 in citation searches....
Toward a national eDNA strategy for the United States
Ryan Kelly, David M. Lodge, Kai Lee, Susanna Theroux, Adam Sepulveda, Chris Scholin, Joseph M. Craine, Elizabeth Allan, Krista M. Nichols, Kim M. Parsons, Kelly D Goodwin, Zachary Gold, Francisco P. Chavez, Rachel T. Noble, Cathryn Abbott, Melinda R. Baerwald, Amanda Naaum, Peter Thielen, Ariel Simons, Christopher L. Jerde, Jeffrey J. Duda, Margaret Hunter, John Hagan, Rachel Meyer, Joshua Steele, Mark Stoeckle, Holly Bik, Christopher Meyer, Eric D. Stein, Karen James, Austen Thomas, Elif Demir-Hilton, Molly Timmers, John Griffith, Michael J Weise, Steve Weisberg
2024, Environmental DNA (6)
Environmental DNA (eDNA) data make it possible to measure and monitor biodiversity at unprecedented resolution and scale. As use-cases multiply and scientific consensus grows regarding the value of eDNA analysis, public agencies have an opportunity to decide how and where eDNA data fit into their...
Obtaining and applying public data for training students in technical statistical writing: Case studies with data from U.S. Geological Survey and general ecological literature
Barb Bennie, Richard A. Erickson
2024, Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education (32) 217-226
Effective undergraduate statistical education requires training using real-world data. Textbook datasets seldom match the complexities and messiness of real-world data and finding these datasets can be challenging for educators. Consulting and industrial datasets often have nondisclosure agreements. Academic datasets often require subject area expertise beyond those of a general education...
Optimal management decisions are robust to unknown dynamics in an amphibian metapopulation plagued by disease
Brian D. Gerber, Brittany A. Mosher, Larissa L. Bailey, Erin Muths, Harry J. Crockett, Sarah J. Converse
2024, Animal Conservation (27) 65-77
Identifying conservation actions to recover threatened species can be challenging due to many ecological uncertainties. For example, major threats to a species' conservation are commonly known or suspected, but the specific impacts on population or metapopulation dynamics can be uncertain. This is frequently the...
Ice resource mapping on Mars
Nathaniel E Putzig, Gareth A Morgan, Hanna G Sizemore, David M Hollibaugh Baker, Eric I Petersen, Asmin V Pathare, Colin M. Dundas, Ali M Bramson, Samuel W Courville, Matthew R Perry, Stefano Nerozzi, Zachary M Bain, Rachel H Hoover, Bruce A Campbell, Marco Mastrogiuseppe, Michael T. Mellon, Roberto Seu, Isaac B. Smith
2024, Book chapter, Handbook of Space Resources
This chapter explains the rationale for considering shallowly buried (0 to >5 m depth) water ice in the mid-latitudes of Mars as a resource to support future human missions, and describes a NASA-funded effort to map that ice with existing orbital remote-sensing data. In recent decades, numerous studies have used...
Oligocene–Miocene northward growth of the Tibetan Plateau: Insights from intermontane basins in the West Qinling Belt, NW China
Yi-Peng Zhang, Wei-Tao Wang, Richard O. Lease, Renjie Zhou, Yue-Jun Wang, Yong-Gang Yan, Ying Wang, Wen-Jun Zheng, Bing-Xu Liu, Zhi-Gang Li, Hao Liang, Ge-Ge Hui, Chuang Sun, Qing-Ying Tian, Bin-Bin Xu, Pei-Zhen Zhang
2024, GSA Bulletin (136) 131-157
Growth of the Tibetan Plateau, Earth’s broadest and highest elevation collisional system, shapes orographic barriers, reorganizes drainage networks, and influences surface erosion and sediment delivery, whose changes in space and provenance feed back to intracontinental tectonic processes. Studies of interior basins within the...
Assessing potential habitat for freshwater mussels by transferring a habitat suitability model within the Ozark Ecoregion, Missouri
Jordan H. Hartman, Amanda E. Rosenberger, Kayla N. Key, Garth A. Lindner
2024, Freshwater Mollusk Biology and Conservation (26) 32-44
Habitat suitability models for freshwater mussels can inform conservation of these imperiled animals. Riverscape-scale hydrogeomorphic variables were previously used to predict suitable mussel habitat in the Meramec River basin, Missouri. We evaluated transferability of the Meramec River habitat suitability model to the Gasconade and Little Black rivers, in the Ozark...
Wall diffuser velocity effects on American shad (Alosa sapidissima) inside a fishway entrance channel
Kevin Mulligan, Marcia Rojas, Brett Towler, Bjorn Lake, Richard Palmer
2024, Journal of Ecohydraulics (9) 130-143
Attraction water for fishways is typically introduced through a diffuser inside the entrance channel, often through the floor or wall. In the spring of 2019, this laboratory study examined how 151 adult American Shad (Alosa sapidissima) responded to different gross velocities through a wall diffuser inside a full-scale fishway entrance...
Experimentally induced dieback conditions limit Phragmites australis growth
Wesley A. Bickford, Danielle S. Snow, McKenzie K.H. Smith, Kathryn L. Kingsley, James F. White, Kurt P. Kowalski
2024, Microorganisms (11)
Phragmites australis is a cosmopolitan grass species common in wetland ecosystems across the world. In much of North America, the non-native subspecies of Phragmites threatens wetland biodiversity, hinders recreation, and is a persistent problem for natural resource managers. In other parts of the world, populations are in decline, as Reed Die-Back...
Diversity, distribution, and methodological considerations of haemosporidian infections among Galliformes in Alaska
Faith De Amaral, Robert E. Wilson, Sarah A. Sonsthagen, Ravinder Sehgal
2024, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife (20) 122-132
Using samples spanning 10-degrees of latitude in Alaska, we provide the first comparative assessment of avian haemosporidia distribution of Arctic Alaska with subarctic host populations for four species of grouse and three species of ptarmigan (Galliformes). We found a high overall prevalence for at least one haemospordian genus (88%; N = 351/400), with spruce grouse (Canachites...
Diet composition and resource overlap of sympatric native and introduced salmonids across neighboring streams during a peak discharge event
Tanner L. Cox, Michael J. Lance, Lindsey K. Albertson, Michelle A. Briggs, Adeline J. Dutton, Alexander V. Zale
2024, PLoS ONE (18)
Species assemblages composed of non-native and native fishes are found in freshwater systems throughout the world, and interactions such as interspecific competition that may negatively affect native species are expected when non-native species are present. In the Smith River watershed, Montana, rainbow trout were introduced by 1930. Native mountain whitefish...
Soil elevation change in mangrove forests and marshes of the greater Everglades: A regional synthesis of surface elevation table-marker horizon (SET-MH) data
Laura Feher, Michael Osland, Karen L. McKee, Kevin R.T. Whelan, Carlos A. Coronado-Molina, Fred H. Sklar, Ken Krauss, Rebecca Howard, Donald Cahoon, James C. Lynch, Lukas Lamb-Wotton, Tiffany G. Troxler, Jeremy R. Conrad, Gordon Anderson, William C. Vervaeke, Thomas J. Smith III, Nicole Cormier, Andrew From, Larry Allain
2024, Estuaries and Coasts (47) 2027-2056
Coastal wetlands adapt to rising seas via feedbacks that build soil elevation, which lead to wetland stability. However, accelerated rates of sea-level rise can exceed soil elevation gain, leading to wetland instability and loss. Thus, there is a pressing need to better understand regional and landscape...
Evaluating risks associated with capture and handling of mule deer for individual-based, long-term research
Tayler N. LaSharr, Samantha P. H. Dwinnell, Brittany L. Wagler, Hall Sawyer, Rhiannon P. Jakopak, Anna C. Ortega, Luke R. Wilde, Matthew Kauffman, Katey S. Huggler, Patrick W. Burke, Miguel Valdez, Patrick Lionberger, Douglas G. Brimeyer, Brandon Scurlock, Jill Randall, Rusty C. Kaiser, Mark Thonhoff, Gary L. Fralick, Kevin L. Monteith
2024, Journal of Wildlife Management (87)
Capture and handling techniques for individual-based, long-term research that tracks the life history of animals by recapturing the same individuals for several years has vastly improved study inferences and our understanding of animal ecology. Yet there are corresponding risks to study animals associated with physical trauma or capture myopathy that...
Do pharmaceuticals in the environment pose a risk to wildlife?
Thomas G. Bean, Elizabeth A. Chadwick, Marta Herrero-Villar, Rafael Mateo, Vinny Naidoo, Barnett A. Rattner
2024, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (43) 595-610
The vast majority of knowledge related to the question of, “To what extent do pharmaceuticals in the environment pose a risk to wildlife?”, stems from the Asian vulture crisis (>99% decline of some species of old-world vultures on the Indian subcontinent related to the veterinary use of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory...
Lingering impacts of the 2014-2016 northeast Pacific marine heatwave on seabird demography in Cook Inlet, Alaska (USA)
Sarah K. Schoen, Mayumi L. Arimitsu, Caitlin Elizabeth Marsteller, John F. Piatt
2024, Marine Ecology Progress Series (737) 121-136
A protracted period (2014-2016) of anomalously warm water in the northeast Pacific Ocean precipitated an extensive die-off of common murres Uria aalge (hereafter ‘murres’) during 2015-2016, accompanied by reduced colony attendance and reproductive success of murres and black-legged kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla (‘kittiwakes’) starting in 2015. Most murres died of starvation following a large-scale...
Offspring sex ratios are male-biased reflecting sex-biased dispersal in Idaho, USA, wolves.
David Edward Ausband
2024, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology (76)
Offspring sex ratios can vary widely across species, and the reasons for such variation have long intrigued ecologists. For group-living animals, predicting offspring sex ratios as a function of group and environmental characteristics can be challenging. Additionally, mortality of group members can upend traditional theory used to explain offspring sex...
Nesting and post-fledging predation risk influence diel patterns of songbird fledging
Todd M. Jones, Scott J. Chiavacci, Thomas J. Benson, Michael P. Ward
2024, Ibis (166) 411-423
Among stages of avian ontogeny, the act of nest departure or fledging is an abrupt transition into a new environment and a major leap toward independence for offspring. In altricial birds, the timing of fledging is notable in that many species tend to fledge early in the morning. Past studies...
