Changes in organic carbon source and storage with sea level rise-induced transgression in a Chesapeake Bay marsh
Rachel Van Allen, Kathryn M. Schreiner, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Joseph A. Carlin
2021, Estuaries and Coasts (261)
Organic matter (OM) accumulation in marsh soils affects marsh survival under rapid sea-level rise (SLR). This work describes the changing organic geochemistry of a salt marsh located in the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay that has transgressed inland with SLR over the past 35–75 years. Marsh soils and vegetation were...
Assessing potential stock structure of adult Coho Salmon in a small Alaska watershed: Quantifying run timing, spawning locations, and holding areas with radiotelemetry
M. E. Stratton, H. Finkle, Jeffrey A. Falke, P. A. H. Westley
2021, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (41) 1423-1435
Run timing and spatial locations of spawning habitats are often used to identify stocks for conservation planning or management of salmonid fishes. Although complex stock structure is most common within large watersheds with diverse habitats, even small drainages can produce multiple co-occurring spatially or temporally isolated populations or “stocks.” This...
Dynamics of green and blue water supply stress index across major global cropland basins
Kul Bikram Khand, Gabriel B. Senay, Stefanie Kagone, Gabriel Edwin Lee Parrish
2021, Frontiers in Climate (3)
Global food and water insecurity could be serious problems in the upcoming decades with growing demands from the increasing global population and more frequent effect of climatic extremes. As the available water resources are diminishing and facing continuous stress, it is crucial to monitor water demand and water availability to...
Integrating telemetry data at several scales with spatial capture–recapture to improve density estimates
Corey I Mitchell, Kevin T. Shoemaker, Todd Esque, Amy G. Vandergast, Steven J. Hromada, Kirsten E. Dutcher, Jill S. Heaton, Kenneth E. Nussear
2021, Ecosphere (12)
Accurate population estimates are essential for monitoring and managing wildlife populations. Mark–recapture sampling methods have regularly been used to estimate population parameters for rare and cryptic species, including the federally listed Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii); however, the methods employed are often plagued by violations of...
Corticosterone mediates a growth-survival tradeoff for an amphibian exposed to increased salinity
BJ Tornabene, Blake R. Hossack, EJ Crespi, CW Breuner
2021, Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A: Comparative Experimental Biology (335) 703-715
Life-history tradeoffs are common across taxa, but growth-survival tradeoffs—usually enhancing survival at a cost to growth—are less frequently investigated. Increased salinity (NaCl) is a prevalent anthropogenic disturbance that may cause a growth-survival tradeoff for larval amphibians. Although physiological mechanisms mediating tradeoffs are seldom investigated, hormones are prime...
Hawai‘i forest review: Synthesizing the ecology, evolution, and conservation of a model system
Kasey Barton, Andrea Westerband, Rebecca Ostertag, Elizabeth Stacy, Kawika Winter, Don Drake, Lucas Berio Fortini, Creighton M Litton, Susan Cordell, Paul Krushelnycky, Kapua Kawelo, Kealoha Feliciano, Gordon Bennett, Tiffany Knight
2021, Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics (52)
As the most remote archipelago in the world, the Hawaiian Islands are home to a highly endemic and disharmonic biota that has fascinated biologists for centuries. Forests are the dominant terrestrial biome in Hawai‘i, spanning complex, heterogeneous climates across substrates that vary...
Improving evaluation of nonlethal tools for carnivore management and conservation: Evaluating fladry to protect an endangered species from a generalist mesocarnivore
Rebecca Windell, Larissa L. Bailey, Julie K. Young, Travis M. Livieri, David A. Eads, Stewart Breck
Vincenzo Penteriani, Andrés Ordiz, editor(s)
2021, Animal Conservation (25) 125-136
Carnivore conservation and management are global research priorities focused on reversing population declines of imperiled species and identifying more effective and humane management of generalist carnivores with thriving populations. Nonlethal methods to mitigate conflict are increasingly used to advance conservation objectives; however, there is limited knowledge about the effectiveness of...
Evaluating the migration mortality hypothesis using monarch tagging data
Orley R. Taylor, John M. Pleasants, Ralph Grundel, Samuel Pecoraro, James P. Lovett, Ann Ryan
2021, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (8)
The decline in the eastern North American population of the monarch butterfly population since the late 1990s has been attributed to the loss of milkweed during the summer breeding season and the consequent reduction in the size of the summer population that migrates to central Mexico to overwinter (milkweed limitation...
Diet composition of Fishers (Pekania pennanti) reintroduced on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington
Patricia J. Happe, Shelby H. Pace, Laura R. Prugh, Kurt Jenkins, Jeffrey C. Lewis, Joan Hagar
2021, Northwestern Naturalist (102) 97-108
Knowledge of diet composition can inform management strategies and efforts to recover endangered carnivore populations in vacant portions of their historic ranges. One such species, the Fisher (Pekania pennanti), was extirpated in Washington State prior to any formal documentation of its food habits in the coastal coniferous forests of western...
Comparing geometric differences between Landsat Collection 1 to Collection 2 level-1 products
Michael J. Choate, Rajagopalan Rengarajan, Esad Micijevic, Mark Lubke
2021, Conference Paper, Proceedings volume 11829, Earth Observing Systems XXVI
In late 2020 the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began the distribution of Landsat products associated with their collection 2 reprocessing of the archive. Several changes were implemented within the Landsat Product Generation System (LPGS) and the calibration parameters applied to the Landsat imagery for the collection 2 processing. When comparing...
Preliminary assessment of the geometric improvements to the Landsat Collection-2 archive
Mark Lubke, Rajagopalan Rengarajan, Michael J. Choate
2021, Conference Paper, SPIE proceedings volume 11829, earth observing systems XXVI
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has completed processing of the historical Landsat archive to Collection-2 as of December of 2020 and has released it to the public. As part of Collection-2, several geometric changes have been implemented, including changes to the ground control points (GCPs) and elevation datasets. These datasets...
Climate change and other factors influencing the saguaro cactus
Don E. Swann, Daniel E. Winkler, Joshua L. Conver, Theresa Foley
2021, Newsletter
The saguaro cacti (Carnegiea gigantea [Engelm.] Britton & Rose) is one of the world’s most iconic plants and a symbol of the desert Southwest. It is the namesake of Saguaro National Park, which was created (initially as a national monument) in 1933 to study, interpret, and protect the “giant cactus” and...
Brown treesnake mortality after aerial application of toxic baits
Scott Michael Goetz, Eric T. Hileman, Melia G. Nafus, Amy A. Yackel Adams, Amanda R Bryant, Robert Reed, Shane R. Siers
2021, Journal of Wildlife Management (85) 1507-1514
Quantitative evaluation of control tools for managing invasive species is necessary to assess overall effectiveness and individual variation in treatment susceptibility. Invasive brown treesnakes (Boiga irregularis) on Guam have caused severe ecological and economic effects, pose a risk of accidental introduction to other islands, and are the...
Assessment of water-quality constituents monitored for total maximum daily loads in Johnson County, Kansas, January 2015 through December 2018
Brianna M. Leiker, Teresa J. Rasmussen, Patrick J. Eslick-Huff, Colin C. Painter
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5041
Stormwater discharges from municipalities are regulated by provisions in the Clean Water Act of 1972 to protect the Nation’s water resources from harmful pollutants. In 2014, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment issued new stormwater discharge permits for 17 municipalities in Johnson County, Kansas, in the northeastern part of...
Quaternary reelfoot fault deformation in the Obion River Valley, Tennessee, USA
Jaime Delano, Richard W. Briggs, Jessica Ann Thompson Jobe, Ryan D. Gold, Simon E. Engelhart
2021, Tectonics (40)
Blind reverse faults are challenging to detect, and earthquake records can be elusive because deep fault slip does not break the surface along readily recognized scarps. The blind Reelfoot fault in the New Madrid seismic zone in the central United States has been the subject of extensive...
Improving inferences about private land conservation by accounting for incomplete reporting
Matthew A. Williamson, Brett G. Dickson, Mevin Hooten, Rose A. Graves, Mark N. Lubell, Mark W. Schwartz
2021, Conservation Biology (35) 1174-1185
Private lands provide key habitat for imperiled species and are core components of function protected area networks; yet, their incorporation into national and regional conservation planning has been challenging. Identifying locations where private landowners are likely to participate in conservation initiatives can help avoid conflict and clarify trade-offs between ecological...
Reconnaissance study of the major and trace element content of bauxite deposits in the Arkansas bauxite region, Saline and Pulaski Counties, central Arkansas
Bradley S. Van Gosen, LaDonna M. Choate
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1073
The Arkansas bauxite district, which comprises about 275 square miles (710 square kilometers) of central Arkansas, produced an order of magnitude more bauxite and alumina than the other bauxite districts in the United States combined. Bauxite was mined in the region continuously from 1898 to 1982. These bauxites are laterite...
Concentration addition and independent action assessments of the binary mixtures of four toxicants on zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) mortality
Matthew T. Barbour, Justin R. Schueller, Todd J. Severson, Jeremy K. Wise, Matthew Meulemans, James A. Luoma, Diane L. Waller
2021, Aquatic Toxicology (238)
Researchers most often focus on individual toxicants when identifying effective chemical control agents for aquatic invasive species; however, toxicant mixtures may elicit synergistic effects. Synergistic effects may decrease required concentrations and shorten exposure durations for treatments. We investigated four toxicants (EarthTec QZ,...
SSA task force on diversity, equity, and inclusion: Toward a changing, inclusive future in earthquake science
Aaron A. Velasco, Kasey Aderhold, Richard Alfaro-Diaz, Wesley Brown, Mike Brudzinski, Margaret Fraiser, Monique M. Holt, Jim Mori, Gabriela Noriega, Katherine M. Scharer, Denise Templeton, Fabia Terra, Sherilyn Williams-Stroud
2021, Seismological Research Letters (92) 3267-3275
In the United States, a wide variety of studies show that the geoscience community does not reflect the broader societal makeup (e.g., Velasco and Jaurrieta de Velasco, 2010; Dutt, 2020; Howley, 2020). In fact, only about 10% of all Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Ph.D. degrees are awarded to...
Climate impacts on the Gulf of Maine ecosystem: A review of observed and expected changes in 2050 from rising temperatures
Andrew J. Pershing, Michael A. Alexander, Damian C. Brady, David Brickman, Enrique N. Curchitser, Anthony W. Diamond, Loren McClenachan, Kathy Mills, Owen Nichols, Daniel Pendleton, Nicholas Record, James Scott, Michelle Staudinger, Yanjun Wang
2021, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene (9)
The Gulf of Maine has recently experienced its warmest 5-year period (2015–2020) in the instrumental record. This warming was associated with a decline in the signature subarctic zooplankton species, Calanus finmarchicus. The temperature changes have also led to impacts on commercial species such as Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) and American lobster...
Groundwater quality and age of secondary bedrock aquifers in the glaciated portion of eastern Nebraska, 2016–18
Christopher M. Hobza, Amanda T. Flynn
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5055
The Eastern Nebraska Water Resources Assessment (ENWRA) project was initiated in 2006 to assist water managers by developing a hydrogeologic framework and water budget for the glaciated portion of eastern Nebraska. Within the ENWRA area, the primary groundwater sources for municipal, domestic, and irrigation water needs are provided by withdrawals...
Dynamic selection for forage quality and quantity in response to phenology and insects in an Arctic ungulate
Heather E. Johnson, Trevor Golden, Layne G. Adams, David Gustine, Elizabeth A. Lenart, Perry Barboza
2021, Ecology and Evolution (11) 11664-11688
Spatiotemporal variation in forage is a primary driver of ungulate behavior, yet little is known about the nutritional components they select, and how selection varies across the growing season with changes in forage quality and quantity. We addressed these uncertainties in barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus), which...
Spatiotemporal methane emission from global reservoirs
Matthew S Johnson, E Matthews, D Bastviken, Bridget R. Deemer, Jinyang Du, V Genovese
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (126)
Inland aquatic systems, such as reservoirs, contribute substantially to global methane (CH4) emissions; yet are among the most uncertain components of the total CH4 budget. Reservoirs have received recent attention as they may generate high CH4 fluxes. Improved quantification of these CH4 fluxes, particularly their spatiotemporal distribution, is key to...
Temporal variations of de facto wastewater reuse and disinfection by-products in public water systems in the Shenandoah River watershed, USA
Richard J Weisman, Larry B. Barber, Kaycee E. Faunce, Jennifer Rapp, Celso M Ferreira
2021, Water Practice &Technology (16) 1434-1445
Temporal variations of de facto wastewater reuse are relevant to public drinking water systems (PWSs) that obtain water from surface sources. Variations in wastewater discharge flows, streamflow, de facto reuse, and disinfection by-products (DBPs – trihalomethane-4 [THM4] and haloacetic acid-5 [HAA5]) over an 18-year period were examined at...
Geologic controls of slow-moving landslides near the U.S. West Coast
Yuankun Xu, William H. Schulz, Zhong Lu, Jinwook Kim, Kelli Wadsworth Baxstrom
2021, Landslides (18) 3353-3365
Slow-moving landslides, often with nearly imperceptible creeping motion, are an important landscape shaper and a dangerous natural hazard across the globe, yet their spatial distribution and geologic controls are still poorly known owing to a paucity of detailed, large-area observations. Here, we use interferometry of L-band satellite radar images to...
