The influence of sea level rise on the regional interdependence of coastal infrastructure
Ruo-Quian Wang, Mark T. Stacey, Liv M. Herdman, Patrick L. Barnard, Li H. Erikson
2018, Earth's Future (6) 677-688
Sea level rise (SLR) is placing both immediate and long‐term pressures on coastal communities to take protective actions. Projects in the United States, and in many locations throughout the world, generally involve local jurisdictions raising the elevation of shoreline protection elements, with limited or no analysis of the feedback between...
Effects of water-level management and hatchery supplementation on kokanee recruitment in Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho
Steven L. Whitlock, Michael C. Quist, Andrew M. Dux
2018, Article
Resource managers have been attempting to recover the kokanee (Oncorhynchus nerka) population in Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho for more than three decades using an annual stocking program and an experimental water-level management strategy. This study evaluated the effect of both management actions on kokanee recruitment. A bootstrap-based generalized Ricker model...
Warming is driving decreases in snow fractions while runoff efficiency remains mostly unchanged in snow-covered areas of the western United States
Gregory J. McCabe, David M. Wolock, Melissa Valentin
2018, Journal of Hydrometeorology (19) 803-814
Winter snowfall and accumulation is an important component of the surface water supply in the western United States. In these areas, increasing winter temperatures T associated with global warming can influence the amount of winter precipitation P that falls as snow S. In this study we examine long-term trends in the fraction of winter P that falls...
Research, monitoring, and evaluation of emerging issues and measures to recover the Snake River fall Chinook salmon ESU
Kenneth Tiffan, John M. Plumb, Russell W. Perry, John Erhardt, Rulon J. Hemingway, Brad Bickford, Tobyn N. Rhodes, William P. Connor, Frank L. Mullins
2018, Report
The portion of the Snake River fall Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha ESU that spawns upstream of Lower Granite Dam transitioned from low to high abundance during 1992–2017 in association with U.S. Endangered Species Act recovery efforts and other federally mandated actions. This annual report focuses on (1) numeric and habitat...
Wetlands receiving water treated with coagulants improve water quality by removing dissolved organic carbon and disinfection byproduct precursors
Angela M. Hansen, Tamara E. C. Kraus, Sandra M. Bachand, William R. Horwath, Philip Bachand
2018, Science of the Total Environment (622-623) 603-613
Constructed wetlands are used worldwide to improve water quality while also providing critical wetland habitat. However, wetlands have the potential to negatively impact drinking water quality by exporting dissolved organic carbon (DOC) that upon disinfection can form disinfection byproducts (DBPs) like trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs). We used a replicated field-scale study located on organic rich...
Genetic structure in Elk persists after translocation
Lisa I Muller, Jennifer L. Murrow, Jason L. Lupardus, Joseph D. Clark, Joseph G. Yarkovich, William H. Stiver, E. Kim Delozier, Brittany L. Slabach, John L. Cox, Bradley F. Miller
2018, Journal of Wildlife Management (82) 1124-1134
Elk (Cervus canadensis) translocation success is thought to be facilitated by high post‐release herd cohesion and limited movements; both should ensure genetic mixing following release. Such mixing is important to reduce potential effects of inbreeding or genetic drift, which can be especially important in small founding...
Co‐occurrence dynamics of endangered Lower Keys marsh rabbits and free‐ranging domestic cats: Prey responses to an exotic predator removal program
Michael V. Cove, Beth Gardner, Theodore R. Simons, Allan F. O’Connell
2018, Ecology and Evolution (8) 4042-4052
The Lower Keys marsh rabbit (Sylvilagus palustris hefneri) is one of many endangered endemic species of the Florida Keys. The main threats are habitat loss and fragmentation from sea‐level rise, development, and habitat succession. Exotic predators such as free‐ranging domestic cats (Felis catus) pose an additional threat to these endangered...
Method to characterize inorganic particulates in lung tissue biopsies using field emission scanning electron microscopy
Heather A. Lowers, George N. Breit, Matthew Strand, Renee M. Pillers, Gregory P. Meeker, Todor I. Todorov, Geoffrey S. Plumlee, Ruth E. Wolf, Maura Robinson, Jane Parr, Robert J. Miller, Steve Groshong, Francis Green, Cecile Rose
2018, Toxicology Mechanisms and Methods (28) 475-487
Humans accumulate large numbers of inorganic particles in their lungs over a lifetime. Whether this causes or contributes to debilitating disease over a normal lifespan depends on the type and concentration of the particles. We developed and tested a protocol for in situ characterization of the types and distribution of inorganic particles...
Quantifying salinity and season effects on eastern oyster clearance and oxygen consumption rates
S.M. Casas, Romain Lavaud, Megan K. LaPeyre, L. A. Comeau, R. Filgueira, Jerome F. LaPeyre
2018, Marine Biology (165) 1-13
There are few data on Crassostrea virginica physiological rates across the range of salinities and temperatures to which they are regularly exposed, and this limits the applicability of growth and production models using these data. The objectives of this study were to quantify, in winter (17 °C) and summer (27 °C), the...
Fitting N-mixture models to count data with unmodeled heterogeneity: Bias, diagnostics, and alternative approaches
Adam Duarte, M. J. Adams, James T. Peterson
2018, Ecological Modelling (374) 51-59
Monitoring animal populations is central to wildlife and fisheries management, and the use of N-mixture models toward these efforts has markedly increased in recent years. Nevertheless, relatively little work has evaluated estimator performance when basic assumptions are violated. Moreover, diagnostics to identify when bias in parameter estimates from N-mixture models...
Seasonal food habits of introduced blue catfish in Lake Oconee, Georgia
Cecil A. Jennings, Geoffrey E. Mitchell, Chris Nelson
2018, Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (5) 39-45
Blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) are native to the Coosa River drainage in northwest Georgia but have been widely introduced outside of this range including Lake Oconee, a 7677-ha impoundment on the Oconee River in central Georgia. Blue catfish abundance and growth rates have increased dramatically since their introduction in Lake...
The non-linear, interactive effects of population density and climate drive the geographical patterns of waterfowl survival
Qing Zhao, G. Scott Boomer, William L. Kendall
2018, Biological Conservation (221) 1-9
On-going climate change has major impacts on ecological processes and patterns. Understanding the impacts of climate on the geographical patterns of survival can provide insights to how population dynamics respond to climate change and provide important information for the development of appropriate conservation strategies at regional scales. It is challenging to...
Molecular and morphometric analyses reveal cryptic diversity within freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae) of the western Gulf coastal drainages of the USA
Anna M. Pieri, Kentaro Inoue, Nathan A. Johnson, Chase H. Smith, John L. Harris, Clint Robertson, Charles R. Randklev
2018, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society (124) 261-277
Past geological processes and climate change affected current species distributions and the genetic structure of riverine fauna. Western Gulf of Mexico coastal rivers harbour four mussel species within the genus Fusconaia(Bivalvia: Unionida). The distributions of these species are unclear owing to their indistinguishable shell morphologies. Using molecular phylogenetic and Fourier morphometric...
Taiga bean goose: Harvest assessment for the Central Management Unit: 2018
Fred A. Johnson, Gitte Hoj Jensen, Mikko Alhainen, Anthony D. Fox, Jesper Madsen
2018, Report
In 2016 the European Goose Management International Working Group (EGM IWG) began development of an adaptive harvest management program for Taiga Bean Geese (TBG). In 2017, the EGM IWG adopted an interim harvest strategy consisting of a constant harvest rate (on adults) of 3% for the Central Management of Taiga...
Adaptive harvest management for the Svalbard population of pink-footed geese: 2018 progress summary
Fred A. Johnson, Gitte Hoj Jensen, Kevin K. Clausen, Jesper Madsen
2018, Report
This report describes progress on development and implementation of an adaptive harvest management program for maintaining the Svalbard population of Pink-footed Geese (Anser brachyrhynchus) near their target level (60,000) by providing sustainable harvests in Norway and Denmark. Specifically, this report provides an assessment of recent monitoring information and its implications...
Deformation of the Pacific/North America plate boundary at Queen Charlotte Fault: The possible role of rheology
Uri S. ten Brink, Nathaniel C. Miller, Brian D. Andrews, Daniel S. Brothers, Peter J. Haeussler
2018, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (123) 4223-4242
The Pacific/North America (PA/NA) plate boundary between Vancouver Island and Alaska is similar to the PA/NA boundary in California in its kinematic history and the rate and azimuth of current relative motion, yet their deformation styles are distinct. The California plate boundary shows a broad zone of parallel strike slip...
Enhancing quantitative approaches for assessing community resilience
W. C. Chuang, A.S. Garmestani, T. N. Eason, T. L. Spanbauer, H. B. Fried-Peterson, C. P. Roberts, Shana M. Sundstrom, J.L. Burnett, David G. Angeler, Brian C. Chaffin, L. Gunderson, Dirac Twidwell, Craig R. Allen
2018, Journal of Environmental Management (213) 353-362
Scholars from many different intellectual disciplines have attempted to measure, estimate, or quantify resilience. However, there is growing concern that lack of clarity on the operationalization of the concept will limit its application. In this paper, we discuss the theory, research development and quantitative approaches in ecological and community resilience....
Reduced arctic tundra productivity linked with landform and climate change interactions
Mark J. Lara, Ingmar Nitze, Guido Grosse, Philip Martin, A. David McGuire
2018, Scientific Reports (8)
Arctic tundra ecosystems have experienced unprecedented change associated with climate warming over recent decades. Across the Pan-Arctic, vegetation productivity and surface greenness have trended positively over the period of satellite observation. However, since 2011 these trends have slowed considerably, showing signs of browning in many regions. It is unclear what...
Wildlife habitat management on college and university campuses
Tierney Bosci, Paige S. Warren, Rick W. Harper, Stephen DeStefano
2018, Cities and the Environment (11) 1-14
With the increasing involvement of higher education institutions in sustainability movements, it remains unclear to what extent college and university campuses address wildlife habitat. Many campuses encompass significant areas of green space with potential to support diverse wildlife taxa. However, sustainability rating systems generally emphasize efforts like recycling and energy...
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Susitna Basin, southern Alaska, 2017
Richard G. Stanley, Christopher J. Potter, Kristen A. Lewis, Paul G. Lillis, Anjana K. Shah, Peter J. Haeussler, Jeffrey D. Phillips, Zenon C. Valin, Christopher J. Schenk, Timothy R. Klett, Michael E. Brownfield, Ronald M. Drake II, Thomas M. Finn, Seth S. Haines, Debra K. Higley, David W. Houseknecht, Phuong A. Le, Kristen R. Marra, Tracey J. Mercier, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Stanley T. Paxton, Ofori N. Pearson, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Cheryl A. Woodall, Margarita V. Zyrianova
2018, Fact Sheet 2018-3017
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently completed an assessment of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in the Susitna Basin of southern Alaska. Using a geology-based methodology, the USGS estimates that mean undiscovered volumes of about 2 million barrels of oil and nearly 1.7 trillion cubic feet of gas...
Forecasting an invasive species’ distribution with global distribution data, local data, and physiological information
Catherine S. Jarnevich, Nicholas E. Young, Marian Talbert, Colin Talbert
2018, Ecosphere (9) 1-12
Understanding invasive species distributions and potential invasions often requires broad‐scale information on the environmental tolerances of the species. Further, resource managers are often faced with knowing these broad‐scale relationships as well as nuanced environmental factors related to their landscape that influence where an invasive species occurs and potentially could occur....
A suite of exercises for verifying dynamic earthquake rupture codes
Ruth A. Harris, Michael Barall, Brad T. Aagaard, Shuo Ma, Daniel Roten, Kim Olsen, Benchun Duan, Dunyu Liu, Bin Luo, Kangchen Bai, Jean-Paul Ampuero, Yoshihiro Kaneko, Alice-Agnes Gabriel, Kenneth Duru, Thomas Ulrich, Stephanie Wollherr, Zheqiang Shi, Eric Dunham, Sam Bydlon, Zhenguo Zhang, Xiaofei Chen, Surendra N. Somala, Christian Pelties, Josue Tago, Victor Manuel Cruz-Atienza, Jeremy Kozdon, Eric Daub, Khurram Aslam, Yuko Kase, Kyle Withers, Luis Dalguer
2018, Seismological Research Letters (89) 1146-1162
We describe a set of benchmark exercises that are designed to test if computer codes that simulate dynamic earthquake rupture are working as intended. These types of computer codes are often used to understand how earthquakes operate, and they produce simulation results that include earthquake size, amounts of fault slip,...
Fusing MODIS with Landsat 8 data to downscale weekly normalized difference vegetation index estimates for central Great Basin rangelands, USA
Stephen P. Boyte, Bruce K. Wylie, Matthew B. Rigge, Devendra Dahal
2018, GIScience and Remote Sensing (55) 376-399
Data fused from distinct but complementary satellite sensors mitigate tradeoffs that researchers make when selecting between spatial and temporal resolutions of remotely sensed data. We integrated data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor aboard the Terra satellite and the Operational Land Imager sensor aboard the Landsat 8 satellite...
Density of American black bears in New Mexico
Matthew J. Gould, James W. Cain III, Gary W. Roemer, William R. Gould, Stewart Liley
2018, Journal of Wildlife Management (82) 775-788
Considering advances in noninvasive genetic sampling and spatially explicit capture–recapture (SECR) models, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish sought to update their density estimates for American black bear (Ursus americanus) populations in New Mexico, USA, to aide in setting sustainable harvest limits. We estimated black bear density in...
Landscape assessment of side channel plugs and associated cumulative side channel attrition across a large river floodplain
Ann Marie Reinhold, Geoffrey C. Poole, Robert G. Bramblett, Alexander V. Zale, David W. Roberts
2018, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (190) 1-15
Determining the influences of anthropogenic perturbations on side channel dynamics in large rivers is important from both assessment and monitoring perspectives because side channels provide critical habitat to numerous aquatic species. Side channel extents are decreasing in large rivers worldwide. Although riprap and other linear structures have been shown to...
