Search Results

Since the mid-2000s, recruitment of Walleye Sander vitreus in some northern Wisconsin lakes has declined, potentially because of climate-induced changes in lake environments. Yellow Perch Perca flavescens is also an ecologically and culturally important fish species in this region, but mechanisms driving Yellow Perch recruitment are unclear because of a lack of targeted sampling....

Historically, the Monongahela, Tygart, and Cheat River watersheds in West Virginia were impaired by acidification from acid mine drainage and Walleye Sander vitreus were extirpated from these watersheds by the 1940s. Walleye were reestablished after water quality improvements following passage of environmental legislation and subsequent reintroduction efforts. We compared population characteristics, with...

Large-scale disturbances, such as wildfire, can markedly affect streams for years. As terrestrial areas within a watershed slowly recover, stream environments and biota can experience repeated and long-lasting challenges. In 2011, the Las Conchas wildfire burned 1/3 of the Valles Caldera National Preserve in...

IntroductionThe U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP) has published a strategic plan entitled “Renewing the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program as the Nation’s Authoritative Source for Modern Geologic Knowledge”. This plan provides the following vision, mission, and goals for the program for the years 2020–30:Vision: create...

Executive SummaryThe U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 21st-century science strategy 2020–30 promotes a bureau-wide strategy to develop and deliver an integrated, predictive science capability that works at the scales and timelines needed to inform societally relevant resource management and protection and public safety and environmental health decisions (U.S. Geological Survey, 2021)....

No abstract available....

The minimum distribution of gas hydrates on the U.S. Atlantic margin is from offshore South Carolina northward to the longitude of Shallop Canyon on the southern New England margin. Few wells have logged or sampled the gas hydrate zone on this margin, meaning that the presence of gas hydrates is...

Arctic coasts are vulnerable to the effects of climate change, including rising sea levels and the loss of permafrost, sea ice and glaciers. Assessing the influence of anthropogenic warming on Arctic coastal dynamics, however, is challenged by the limited availability of observational, oceanographic and environmental data. Yet, with the majority...

Repeated sampling of spatially distributed river chemistry can be used to assess the location, scale, and persistence of carbon and nutrient contributions to watershed exports. Here, we provide a comprehensive set of water chemistry measurements and ecohydrological metrics describing the biogeochemical conditions of permafrost-affected Arctic watersheds. These data were collected...

Madsen et al. question the reliability of calibrated radiocarbon ages associated with human footprints discovered recently in White Sands National Park, New Mexico, USA. On the basis of the geologic, hydrologic, stratigraphic, and chronologic evidence, we maintain that the ages are robust and conclude that the footprints date to between ~23,000...

Population projection models are important tools for conservation and management. They are often used for population status assessments, for threat analyses, and to predict the consequences of conservation actions. Although conservation decisions should be informed by science, critical decisions are often...

Models help decision-makers anticipate the consequences of policies for ecosystems and people; for instance, improving our ability to represent interactions between human activities and ecological systems is essential to identify pathways to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. However, use of...

Dry conditions during 2020 and 2021 affected the water supply within the Souris River Basin and highlighted the need for better understanding of the streamflow dynamics for managing the resource during low-flow conditions. In June 2021, a loss of streamflow was observed on the Souris River between U.S. Geological Survey...

Unoccupied Aerial Systems (UAS) can accommodate a variety of tools for mapping and monitoring hydrothermal systems (e.g., magnetic, gas, photogrammetry, and thermal infrared [TIR]). These platforms offer increased speed, coverage area, and uniformity compared to ground-based measurements, as well as lower flight height – and therefore higher resolution – than...

We present a new field measurement and numerical interpretation method (combined termed ‘test’) to parameterize the diffusion of trichloroethene (TCE) and its biodegradation products (DPs) from the matrix of sedimentary rock. The method uses a dual-packer system to interrogate a low-permeability section of the rock matrix adjacent to a previously...

Faults on microcontinents record the dynamic evolution of plate boundaries. However, most microcontinents are submarine and difficult to study. Here, we show that the southern part of the Isla Ángel de la Guarda (IAG) microcontinent, in the northern Gulf of California rift, is densely faulted by a...

Individual variation in behavior, particularly consistent among-individual differences (i.e., personality), has important ecological and evolutionary implications for population and community dynamics, trait divergence, and patterns of speciation. Nevertheless, individual variation in spatial behaviors, such as home range behavior, movement characteristics, or habitat use has yet to be incorporated into...

Herbicides are used as management tools to improve habitat for native plants and animals, but their application may also have harmful effects on the native community. The federally threatened Oregon silverspot butterfly (Speyeria = Argynnis zerene hippolyta) resides in remnant native grasslands along the Pacific Northwest coast. However, like many grasslands, many...

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) losses from agricultural areas have degraded the water quality of downstream rivers, lakes, and oceans. As a result, investment in the adoption of agricultural best management practices (BMPs) has grown, but assessments of their effectiveness at large spatial scales have lagged. This study applies regional...

Depressional wetlands are extremely sensitive to changes in temperature and precipitation, so understanding how wetland inundation dynamics respond to changes in climate is essential for describing potential effects on wildlife breeding habitat. Millions of depressional basins make up the largest wetland complex in North America known as the Prairie Pothole...

Ecologists have long sought to understand space use and mechanisms underlying patterns observed in nature. We developed an optimality landscape and mechanistic territory model to understand mechanisms driving space use and compared model predictions to empirical reality. We demonstrate our approach using grey wolves (Canis lupus). In the model, simulated...

This work investigates bituminite (amorphous sedimentary organic matter) in Upper Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay source rock via confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). These petrographic tools were used to provide better understanding of the nature of bituminite, which has been historically difficult to identify and differentiate from similar organic...

This study examined evidence of native fish passage through Brandon Road Lock and Dam (BRLD) on the Des Plaines River, Illinois, in light of proposed modifications to prevent the upstream passage of invasive carps. Direct evidence of upstream passage by native fishes at BRLD is...

Tidal marsh survival in the face of sea level rise (SLR) and declining sediment supply often depends on the ability of marshes to build soil vertically. However, numerical models typically predict survival under rates of SLR that far exceed field-based measurements of vertical accretion. Here, we...

The genetic composition of an individual can markedly affect its survival, reproduction, and ultimately fitness. As some wildlife populations become smaller, conserving genetic diversity will be a conservation challenge. Many imperiled species are already supported through population augmentation efforts and we often do not know if or how genetic diversity...