Food web structure of the Lake Superior fish community in 2021–2022
Ariel N. Edwards, Shawn P. Sitar, Ashley H. Moerke, Jonathon P. Doubek, Daniel L. Yule, Dray D. Carl, Cory A. Goldsworthy, Ian C. Harding, S. Ben Michaels, Eric K. Berglund, Seth A. Moore, Brandon S. Gerig
2025, Journal of Great Lakes Research (51)
The trophic linkages and ecological requirements of the Lake Superior fish community have not been assessed on a whole lake scale in over a decade. Here, we investigated the trophic dynamics across multiple species and habitat zones of Lake Superior. From April to October of 2021 and 2022, a total...
Assessing the Feasibility of Reintroducing San Francisco Gartersnakes (Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia) to La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve, San Mateo County, California
Jonathan P. Rose, Elliot James Schoenig, Richard Kim, Allison M. Nguyen, Brian J. Halstead
2025, Open-File Report 2024-1073
Reintroductions are used worldwide to increase the viability of species and restore native ecological communities. The success of reintroductions is usually judged by the establishment of self-sustaining populations, restoration of naturally occurring ecological communities, and the species resuming its ecological function. Recovery for the endangered San Francisco gartersnake (SFGS,...
The relative influence of geographic and environmental factors on rare plant translocation outcomes
Joe Bellis, Matthew A. Albrecht, Joyce Maschinski, Sarah E. Dalrymple, Matthew J. Keir, Timothy Chambers, Jennifer Possley, Edith D. Adkins, Elliott W. Parsons, Michael Kunz, Carrie Radcliffe, Emily Coffey, Thomas N. Kaye, Cheryl L. Peterson, David Aaron, Sterling A. Herron, Eric Menges, Timothy J. Bell, Michelle Coppoletta, Caityn Elam, Mceachern A. Kathryn, Paula Williamson, Deanna Boensch, Megan Bontrager, Breeden Cooper, Noah Frade, Doria R. Gordon, Steven O. Link, Tara Littlefield, Shelia Murray, Ryan O’Dell, Noel B. Pavlovic, Charlotte M. Reemts, David D. Taylor, Jonathan H. Titus, Priscilla J. Titus, Tina A. Stanley, Katherine D. Heineman
2025, Journal of Applied Ecology (62) 638-650
Conservation translocations are an established method for reducing the extinction risk of plant species through intentional movement within or outside the indigenous range. Unsuitable environmental conditions at translocation recipient sites and a lack of understanding of species–environment relationships are often identified as critical barriers to translocation success. However, previous...
Predictive models are indeed useful for causal inference
James D. Nichols, Evan Cooch
2025, Ecology (106)
The subject of investigating causation in ecology has been widely discussed in recent years, especially by advocates of a structural causal model (SCM) approach. Some of these advocates have criticized the use of predictive models and model selection for drawing inferences about causation. We argue that the comparison of model-based...
Haunted Summerville: Ghostly lights or earthquake lights?
Susan E. Hough
2025, Seismological Research Letters
Among the colorful local lore in the Charleston, South Carolina, area, are a number of ghost stories, shared not only over campfires but also in published books. Among the most well-known of the stories is the tale of the Summerville Light. Local lore holds that a strange light...
Recovering the American horseshoe crab through a commitment to collaboration
David R. Smith, Mark Botton, Paul Shin
2025, Fisheries (50) 255-267
American horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus populations are recovering because of cooperation among diverse stakeholders and data-driven collective action. Limulus polyphemus is one of four extant species facing common threats, and conservation successes and limitations hold lessons applicable to all the species. We review the advancement in management and monitoring over recent decades, discuss the...
Variation in energetic balance among free-ranging polar bears during the spring mating and foraging season
Anthony M. Pagano, Stephen N. Atkinson, Louise C. Archer
2025, Arctic Science (11) 1-14
Large carnivores are capable of consuming substantial biomasses that can significantly alter their body mass and condition over short periods. Here we examine the intra-seasonal variation of polar bear (Ursus maritimus Phipps, 1774) body mass, energy intake, and condition in the spring from two subpopulations. We evaluate the biological and temporal...
Multiple dimensions define thresholds for population resilience of the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica
Megan K. La Peyre, H. Wang, Shaye E. Sable, Wei Wu, Bin Li, Devin Comba, Carlos Perez, Melanie Bates, Lauren M. Swam
2025, Ecology and Evolution (15)
A species' distribution depends on its tolerance to environmental conditions. These conditions are defined by a minimum, maximum, and optimal ranges of single and combined factors. Forays into environmental conditions outside the minimum or maximum tolerance of a species (i.e., thresholds) are predicted to have large effects on a species'...
The National Park Service Stratotype Inventory
Tim C. Henderson, Vince L. Santucci, Justin S. Tweet, Tim Connors, Nancy R. Stamm, Randall C. Orndorff, David R. Soller, Cullen Scheland
2025, Professional Paper 1879–2-B
Beginning in 2020, the National Park Service (NPS) began a systematic effort to document the occurrence of stratotypes exposed within, partially within, and near NPS administrative boundaries. The NPS stratotype inventory project represents an important component of a geologic resource inventory, as these designations are vital to our national geologic...
Slow slip detectability in seafloor pressure records offshore Alaska
Erik Fredrickson, Joan S. Gomberg, William Wilcock, Susan Hautala, Albert Hermann, H. Paul Johnson
2025, Journal of Geophysical Research (128)
In subduction zones worldwide, seafloor pressure data are used to observe tectonic deformation, particularly from megathrust earthquakes and slow slip events (SSEs). However, such measurements are also sensitive to oceanographic circulation-generated pressures over a range of frequencies that conflate with tectonic signals of interest. Using seafloor pressure and temperature data...
The effectiveness of harvest for limiting wildlife disease: Insights from 20 years of chronic wasting disease in Wyoming
Wynne Emily Moss, Justin Binfet, L. Embere Hall, Samantha E. Allen, William H. Edwards, Jessica E. Jennings-Gaines, Paul DELETE Cross
2025, Ecological Applications (35)
Effective, practical options for managing disease in wildlife populations are limited, especially after diseases become established. Removal strategies (e.g., hunting or culling) are used to control wildlife diseases across a wide range of systems, despite conflicting evidence of their effectiveness. This is especially true for chronic wasting disease (CWD), an...
Neonicotinoid exposure causes behavioral impairment and delayed mortality of the federally threatened American burying beetle, Nicrophorus americanus
Michael C. Cavallaro, Michelle L. Hladik, R. Shane McMurry, Samantha Hittson, Leon K. Boyles, W. Wyatt Hoback
2025, PLoS ONE (20)
Among the most immediate drivers of American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus Olivier) declines, nontarget toxicity to pesticides is poorly understood. Acute, episodic exposure to neonicotinoid insecticides at environmentally relevant concentrations is linked to negative impacts on beneficial terrestrial insect taxa. Beyond mortality, behavioral indicators of toxicity are often better suited to...
Fatal interactions: Pneumonia in bighorn lambs following experimental exposure to carriers of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae
Logan K. Weyand, Brandi L. Felts, E. Frances Cassirer, Jonathan A. Jenks, Daniel P. Walsh, Thomas E. Besser
2025, Journal of Clinical Microbiology (63)
We hypothesized that bighorn sheep ewes with chronic nasal Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae carriage are the source of infection that results in fatal lamb pneumonia. We tested this hypothesis in captive bighorn ewes at two study facilities over a 5-year period, by identifying carrier ewes and then comparing lamb fates in groups that did...
Hysteretic response of suspended-sediment in wildfire affected watersheds of the Pacific Northwest and Southern Rocky Mountains
Gregory D. Clark, Sheila F. Murphy, Katherine Skalak, David W. Clow, Garrett Alexander Akie, Kurt D. Carpenter, Sean E. Payne, Brian A. Ebel
2025, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (50)
Wildfires can have a profound impact on hydrosedimentary interactions, or the relationship between sediment and runoff, in forested headwater streams. Quantification of sediment-runoff dynamics at the event scale is integral for understanding source areas and transport of suspended-sediment through a watershed following wildfire. Here we used high-frequency turbidity and stream...
Post-fire recovery of sagebrush-steppe communities is better explained by elevation than climate-derived indicators of resistance and resilience
Cara Applestein, Matthew J. Germino
2025, Journal of Applied Ecology (62) 689-700
More landscapes require restoration than can feasibly be treated, and so decision-support tools to prioritize areas for treatment are needed. Moreover, restoration is complicated by the threat of biological invasion in disturbed areas, and so indicators of ecosystem resistance to invasion and resilience to disturbance (hereafter R&R) are important...
A case for assemblage-level conservation to address the biodiversity crisis
Michael W. Belitz, C.J. Campbell, Ryan G. Drum, Wendy Leuenberger, Toni Lyn Morelli, Kelly Nail, Vaughn Shirey, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Elise F. Zipken
2025, Nature Reviews Biodiversity (1) 134-143
Traditional conservation efforts have centred on safeguarding individual species, but these strategies have limitations in a world where entire ecosystems are rapidly changing. Ecosystem conservation can maintain critical ecological functions, but often lacks the detail necessary for the effective conservation of threatened or endangered species. The conservation of such species...
Modeling the impacts of sand placement strategies on barrier island evolution in a semi-enclosed bay system
Davina Passeri, Rangley C. Mickey, David M. Thompson, Michael Itzkin, Elizabeth Godsey, Matthew V. Bilskie, Alexander C. Seymour, Autumn C. Poisson, Jin Ikeda, Scott C. Hagen
2025, Coastal Engineering (197)
This study assesses the impacts of five proposed restoration actions at Little Dauphin Island, a low-lying relic spit in a semi-enclosed bay system on the Alabama coast. A Delft3D model is developed to simulate annual scale (five-year) sediment transport and resulting bed level changes. The model is validated with observed...
Relationship of atmospheric nitrogen deposition to soil nitrogen cycling along an elevation gradient in the Colorado Front Range
Deborah A. Repert, Ruth C. Heindel, Sheila F. Murphy, Kaitlyn M. Jeanis
2025, Earth's Future (13)
Microbial processing of atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition regulates the retention and mobilization of N in soils, with important implications for water quality. Understanding the links between N deposition, microbial communities, N transformations, and water quality is critical as N deposition shifts toward reduced N and remains persistently high in many...
Strong shaking from past Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquakes encoded in coastal landforms
Sean Richard LaHusen, Alex R. Grant, Jonathan P. Perkins, Devin McPhillips
2025, Geophysical Research Letters (52)
Strong earthquakes along subduction zones are often devastating events, but sparse records along some tectonic margins limit our understanding of seismic hazards. Constraining shaking intensities is critical, especially in subduction zones with infrequent but large-magnitude earthquakes like the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ), where the lack of recorded ground motions has...
Sulfur-to-iron ratio as a proxy for degree of organic sulfurization
Katherine L. French, Justin E. Birdwell
2025, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (26)
The degree of organic sulfurization is broadly relevant yet underreported. We present a statistically significant correlation between whole rock S/Fe and the measured degree of organic sulfurization in the thermally immature Cenomanian–Turonian Eagle Ford Group. This relationship shows a sink switch for sulfur from pyrite to organic matter. Excess iron...
Annual NLCD (National Land Cover Database)—The next generation of land cover mapping
U.S. Geological Survey
2025, Fact Sheet 2025-3001
Introduction The widely used National Land Cover Database (NLCD) has long been the foundational land cover source for scientists, resource managers, and decision makers across the United States.In 2024, a reinvention as Annual NLCD added the key improvement of annual time steps to show decades of change at a higher frequency...
Stratigraphic notes—Volume 2, 2025
Randall C. Orndorff, Nancy R. Stamm, David R. Soller, editor(s)
2025, Professional Paper 1879-2
This is the second volume in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) series of reports on stratigraphy entitled “Stratigraphic Notes,” which consists of short papers that highlight stratigraphic studies, changes in stratigraphic nomenclature, and explanations of stratigraphic names and concepts used on published geologic maps. “Stratigraphic Notes” is a long-term (multiyear),...
Simulating human behavior under earthquake early warning
Matthew Wood, Sara K. McBride, Xilei Zhao, Dare Baldwin, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Xiaojian Zhang, Nico Luco, Ruggiero Lovreglio, Tom Cova
2025, Heliyon (11)
Earthquakes are a rapid-onset hazard where advance planning and learning plays a key role in mitigating injuries and death to individuals. Recent advances in earthquake detection have resulted in the development of earthquake early warning (EEW) systems. These systems can provide advance warning to predetermined geographic regions that an earthquake...
Population genomics reveals local adaptation related to temperature variation in two stream frog species: Implications for vulnerability to climate warming
Brenna R. Forester, Amanda S. Cicchino, Alisha A. Shah, Austin B. Mudd, Eric C. Anderson, Jessen V. Bredeson, Andrew J. Crawford, Jason B. Dunham, Cameron K. Ghalambor, Erin L. Landguth, Brent W. Murray, Daniel Rokhsar, W. Chris Funk
2025, Molecular Ecology (34)
Identifying populations at highest risk from climate change is a critical component of conservation efforts. However, vulnerability assessments are usually applied at the species level, even though intraspecific variation in exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity play a crucial role in determining vulnerability. Genomic data can inform intraspecific vulnerability by identifying...
Evidence for nonlocal sediment transport on hillslopes from fault scarp morphology
Harrison J. Gray, Tyler Doane, Sylvia R. Nicovich, Christopher DuRoss, Ryan D. Gold
2025, Geology (53) 323-327
Hillslope sediment transport processes such as bioturbation, rainsplash, and granular mechanics occur across the entire planet. Yet, it remains uncertain how these small-scale processes act together to shape landscapes. Longstanding hillslope diffusion theory posits that hillslope processes are spatially limited, whereas new concepts of nonlocal sediment transport argue otherwise. However,...
