New summer areas and mixing of two greater sandhill crane populations in the Intermountain West
Daniel P. Collins, Blake A. Grisham, Courtenay M. Conring, Jeffrey M. Knetter, Warren C. Conway, Scott A. Carleton, Matthew A. Boggie
2016, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (7) 141-152
Population delineation throughout the annual life cycle for migratory birds is needed to formulate regional and national management and conservation strategies. Despite being well studied continentally, connectivity of sandhill crane Grus canadensis populations throughout the western portion of their North American range remains poorly described. Our objectives were to 1) use global...
Combined use of thermal methods and seepage meters to efficiently locate, quantify, and monitor focused groundwater discharge to a sand-bed stream
Donald O. Rosenberry, Martin A. Briggs, Geoffrey N. Delin, Danielle K. Hare
2016, Water Resources Research (52) 4486-4503
Quantifying flow of groundwater through streambeds often is difficult due to the complexity of aquifer-scale heterogeneity combined with local-scale hyporheic exchange. We used fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing (FO-DTS), seepage meters, and vertical temperature profiling to locate, quantify, and monitor areas of focused groundwater discharge in a geomorphically simple sand-bed stream....
Hierarchical species distribution models
Trevor J. Hefley, Mevin Hooten
2016, Current Landscape Ecology Reports (1) 87-97
Determining the distribution pattern of a species is important to increase scientific knowledge, inform management decisions, and conserve biodiversity. To infer spatial and temporal patterns, species distribution models have been developed for use with many sampling designs and types of data. Recently, it has been shown that count, presence-absence, and...
Patch occupancy of stream fauna across a land cover gradient in the southern Appalachians, USA
John R. Frisch, James T. Peterson, Kristen K. Cecala, John C. Maerz, C. Rhett Jackson, Ted L. Gragson, Catherine M. Pringle
2016, Hydrobiologia (773) 163-175
We modeled patch occupancy to examine factors that best predicted the prevalence of four functionally important focal stream consumers (Tallaperla spp., Cambarus spp.,Pleurocera proxima, and Cottus bairdi) among 37 reaches within the Little Tennessee River basin of the southern Appalachian Mountains, USA. We compared 34 models...
Trophic dynamics of shrinking Subarctic lakes: naturally eutrophic waters impart resilience to rising nutrient and major ion concentrations
Tyler Lewis, Mark S. Lindberg, Joel A. Schmutz, Patricia J. Heglund, Joshua H. Schmidt, Adam J. Dubour, Jennifer R. Rover, Mark R. Bertram
2016, Oecologia (181) 583-596
Shrinking lakes were recently observed for several Arctic and Subarctic regions due to increased evaporation and permafrost degradation. Along with lake drawdown, these processes often boost aquatic chemical concentrations, potentially impacting trophic dynamics. In particular, elevated chemical levels may impact primary productivity, which may in turn influence populations of primary...
The relative contribution of climate to changes in lesser prairie-chicken abundance
Beth E. Ross, David A. Haukos, Christian A. Hagen, James Pitman
2016, Ecosphere (7)
Managing for species using current weather patterns fails to incorporate the uncertainty associated with future climatic conditions; without incorporating potential changes in climate into conservation strategies, management and conservation efforts may fall short or waste valuable resources. Understanding the effects of climate change on species in the Great Plains of...
Change in numbers of resident and migratory shorebirds at the Cabo Rojo Salt Flats, Puerto Rico, USA (1985–2014)
Morgan A. Parks, Jaime A. Collazo, Jose A. Colon, Katsi R. Ramos Alvarez, Oscar Diaz
2016, Waterbirds (39) 209-214
North American migratory shorebirds have declined markedly since the 1980s, underscoring the importance of population surveys to conduct status and trend assessments. Shorebird surveys were conducted during three multi-year periods between 1985 and 2014 and used to assess changes in numbers and species composition at the Cabo Rojo Salt Flats,...
Measuring the relationship between sportfishing trip expenditures and anglers’ species preferences
James M. Long, Richard T. Melstrom
2016, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (36) 731-737
We examined the relationship between fishing trip expenditures and anglers’ species preferences from a survey of Oklahoma resident anglers conducted in 2014. Understanding patterns in fishing trip expenditures is important because a significant share of state wildlife agency revenue comes from taxes on purchases of fishing equipment. Presently, there is...
Planning for ex situ conservation in the face of uncertainty
Stefano Canessa, Sarah J. Converse, Matt West, Nick Clemann, Graeme Gillespie, Michael McFadden, Aimee J. Silla, Kirsten M Parris, Michael A McCarthy
2016, Conservation Biology (30) 599-609
Ex situ conservation strategies for threatened species often require long-term commitment and financial investment to achieve management objectives. We present a framework that considers the decision to adopt ex situ management for a target species as the end point of several linked decisions. We used a decision tree to intuitively...
Scientifically defensible fish conservation and recovery plans: Addressing diffuse threats and developing rigorous adaptive management plans
Kathleen G. Maas-Hebner, Carl B. Schreck, Robert M. Hughes, Alan Yeakley, Nancy Molina
2016, Fisheries (41) 276-285
We discuss the importance of addressing diffuse threats to long-term species and habitat viability in fish conservation and recovery planning. In the Pacific Northwest, USA, salmonid management plans have typically focused on degraded freshwater habitat, dams, fish passage, harvest rates, and hatchery releases. However, such plans inadequately address...
Development and use of mathematical models and software frameworks for integrated analysis of agricultural systems and associated water use impacts
K. R. Fowler, E.W. Jenkins, M. Parno, J.C. Chrispell, A. I. Colon, Randall T. Hanson
2016, AIMS Agriculture and Food (1) 208-226
The development of appropriate water management strategies requires, in part, a methodology for quantifying and evaluating the impact of water policy decisions on regional stakeholders. In this work, we describe the framework we are developing to enhance the body of resources available to policy makers, farmers, and other community members...
What do we really know about the role of microorganisms in iron sulfide mineral formation?
Aude A. Picard, Amy Gartman, Peter R. Girguis
2016, Frontiers in Earth Science (4)
Iron sulfide mineralization in low-temperature systems is a result of biotic and abiotic processes, though the delineation between these two modes of formation is not always straightforward. Here we review the role of microorganisms in the precipitation of extracellular iron sulfide minerals. We summarize the evidence that links sulfur-metabolizing microorganisms...
Emerging coral diseases in Kāne'ohe Bay, O'ahu, Hawai'i (USA): two major disease outbreaks of acute Montipora white syndrome
Greta S. Aeby, Sean Callahan, Evelyn F. Cox, Christina M. Runyon, Ashley Smith, Frank G. Stanton, Blake Ushijima, Thierry M. Work
2016, Diseases of Aquatic Organisms (119) 189-198
In March 2010 and January 2012, we documented 2 widespread and severe coral disease outbreaks on reefs throughout Kāne‘ohe Bay, Hawai‘i (USA). The disease, acute Montipora white syndrome (aMWS), manifested as acute and progressive tissue loss on the common reef coral M. capitata. Rapid visual surveys in 2010 revealed 338...
Ecology and control of an introduced population of Southern Watersnakes (Nerodia fasciata) in southern California
Robert Reed, Brian D Todd, Oliver J. Miano, Mark Canfield, Robert N. Fisher, Louanne McMartin
2016, Herpetologica (72) 130-136
Native to the southeastern United States, Southern Watersnakes (Nerodia fasciata) are known from two sites in California, but their ecological impacts are poorly understood. We investigated the ecology of Southern Watersnakes in Machado Lake, Harbor City, Los Angeles County, California, including an assessment of control opportunities. We captured 306 watersnakes...
First records of Canis dirus and Smilodon fatalis from the late Pleistocene Tule Springs local fauna, upper Las Vegas Wash, Nevada
Eric Scott, Kathleen B. Springer
2016, PeerJ (4)
Late Pleistocene groundwater discharge deposits (paleowetlands) in the upper Las Vegas Wash north of Las Vegas, Nevada, have yielded an abundant and diverse vertebrate fossil assemblage, the Tule Springs local fauna (TSLF). The TSLF is the largest open-site vertebrate fossil assemblage dating to the Rancholabrean North American Land Mammal Age...
Map visualization of groundwater withdrawals at the sub-basin scale
Daniel J. Goode
2016, Hydrogeology Journal (24) 1057-1065
A simple method is proposed to visualize the magnitude of groundwater withdrawals from wells relative to user-defined water-resource metrics. The map is solely an illustration of the withdrawal magnitudes, spatially centered on wells—it is not capture zones or source areas contributing recharge to wells. Common practice is to...
Making it and breaking it in the Midwest: Continental assembly and rifting from modeling of EarthScope magnetotelluric data
Paul A. Bedrosian
2016, Precambrian Research (278) 337-361
A three-dimensional lithospheric-scale resistivity model of the North American mid-continent has been estimated based upon EarthScope magnetotelluric data. Details of the resistivity model are discussed in relation to lithospheric sutures, defined primarily from aeromagnetic and geochronologic data, which record the southward growth of the Laurentian margin in the Proterozoic. The...
Cenozoic sea level and the rise of modern rimmed atolls
Michael Toomey, Andrew Ashton, Maureen E. Raymo, J. Taylor Perron
2016, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (451) 73-83
Sea-level records from atolls, potentially spanning the Cenozoic, have been largely overlooked, in part because the processes that control atoll form (reef accretion, carbonate dissolution, sediment transport, vertical motion) are complex and, for many islands, unconstrained on million-year timescales. Here we combine existing observations of atoll morphology and corelog stratigraphy...
Body size distributions signal a regime shift in a lake ecosystem
Trisha Spanbauer, Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler, Tarsha Eason, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Kirsty L. Nash, Jeffery R. Stone, Craig A. Stow, Shana M. Sundstrom
2016, Proceedings of the Royal Society B (283)
Communities of organisms, from mammals to microorganisms, have discontinuous distributions of body size. This pattern of size structuring is a conservative trait of community organization and is a product of processes that occur at multiple spatial and temporal scales. In this study, we assessed whether body size patterns serve as...
Extending Alaska's plate boundary: tectonic tremor generated by Yakutat subduction
Aaron G. Wech
2016, Geology (44) 587-590
The tectonics of the eastern end of the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone are complicated by the inclusion of the Yakutat microplate, which is colliding into and subducting beneath continental North America at near-Pacific-plate rates. The interaction among these plates at depth is not well understood, and further east, even less is...
Effects of repeated simulated removal activities on feral swine movements and space use
Justin W. Fischer, Dan McMurtry, Chad R. Blass, W. David Walter, Jeff Beringer, Kurt C. VerCauterren
2016, European Journal of Wildlife Research (62) 285-292
Abundance and distribution of feral swine (Sus scrofa) in the USA have increased dramatically during the last 30 years. Effective measures are needed to control and eradicate feral swine populations without displacing animals over wider areas. Our objective was to investigate effects of repeated simulated removal activities on feral...
Lithium brines: A global perspective
LeeAnn Munk, Scott Hynek, Dwight Bradley, David Boutt, Keith A. Labay, Hillary Jochens
Philip L. Verplanck, Murray W. Hitzman, editor(s)
2016, Book chapter, Rare earth and critical elements in ore deposits
Lithium is a critical and technologically important element that has widespread use, particularly in batteries for hybrid cars and portable electronic devices. Global demand for lithium has been on the rise since the mid-1900s and is projected to...
Building a subduction zone observatory
Joan S. Gomberg, Paul Bodin, Jody Bourgeois, Susan Cashman, Darrel Cowan, Kenneth C. Creager, Brendan Crowell, Alison Duvall, Arthur D. Frankel, Frank I. Gonzalez, Heidi Houston, Paul Johnson, Harvey Kelsey, Una Miller, Emily C. Roland, David Schmidt, Lydia M. Staisch, John Vidale, William Wilcock, Erin Wirth
2016, Eos, Earth and Space Science News
Subduction zones contain many of Earth’s most remarkable geologic structures, from the deepest oceanic trenches to glacier-covered mountains and steaming volcanoes. These environments formed through spectacular events: Nature’s largest earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions are born here....
The plant phenology monitoring design for the National Ecological Observatory Network
Sarah C Elmendorf, Katherine D. Jones, Benjamin I. Cook, Jeffrey M. Diez, Carolyn A.F. Enquist, Rebecca A. Hufft, Matthew O. Jones, Susan J. Mazer, Abraham J. Miller-Rushing, David J. P. Moore, Mark D. Schwartz, Jake F. Weltzin
2016, Ecosphere (7)
Phenology is an integrative science that comprises the study of recurring biological activities or events. In an era of rapidly changing climate, the relationship between the timing of those events and environmental cues such as temperature, snowmelt, water availability or day length are of particular interest. This article provides an...
Somatic growth dynamics of West Atlantic hawksbill sea turtles: a spatio-temporal perspective
Karen A. Bjorndal, Milani Chaloupka, Vincent S. Saba, Carlos E. Diez, Robert P. van Dam, Barry H. Krueger, Julia A. Horrocks, Armando J.B. Santos, Claudio Bellini, Maria A.G. Marcovaldi, Mabel Nava, Sue Willis, Brendan J. Godley, Shannon Gore, Lucy A. Hawkes, Andrew McGowan, Matthew J. Witt, Thomas B. Stringell, Amdeep Sanghera, Peter B. Richardson, Annette C. Broderick, Quinton Phillips, Marta C. Calosso, John A.B. Claydon, Janice Blumenthal, Felix Moncada, Gonzalo Nodarse, Yosvani Medina, Stephen G. Dunbar, Lawrence D. Wood, Cynthia J. Lagueux, Cathi L. Campbell, Anne B. Meylan, Peter A. Meylan, Virginia R. Burns Perez, Robin A. Coleman, Samantha Strindberg, Vicente Guzman-H, Kristen M. Hart, Michael S. Cherkiss, Zandy Hillis-Starr, Ian Lundgren, Ralf H. Boulon Jr., Stephen Connett, Mark E. Outerbridge, Alan B. Bolten
2016, Ecosphere (7) e01279
Somatic growth dynamics are an integrated response to environmental conditions. Hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) are long-lived, major consumers in coral reef habitats that move over broad geographic areas (hundreds to thousands of kilometers). We evaluated spatio-temporal effects on hawksbill growth dynamics over a 33-yr period and 24 study sites...
