Golden alga presence and abundance are inversely related to salinity in a high-salinity river ecosystem, Pecos River, USA
Natascha Israel, Matthew M. VanLandeghem, Shawn Denny, John Ingle, Reynaldo Patino
2014, Harmful Algae (39) 81-91
Prymnesium parvum (golden alga, GA) is a toxigenic harmful alga native to marine ecosystems that has also affected brackish inland waters. The first toxic bloom of GA in the western hemisphere occurred in the Pecos River, one of the saltiest rivers in North America. Environmental factors (water quality) associated with...
Science during crisis: the application of social science during major environmental crises
Gary Machlis, Kris Ludwig
Michael J. Manfredo, Jerry J. Vaske, Andreas Rechkemmer, Esther Duke, editor(s)
2014, Book chapter, Understanding society and natural resources: forging new strands in integration across the social sciences
Historical and contemporary experience suggests that science plays an increasingly critical role in governmental and institutional responses to major environmental crises. Recent examples include major western wildfires (2009), the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (2010), the Fukushima nuclear accident (2011), and Hurricane Sandy (2012). The application of science during such crises has...
Effects of low and high salinity regimes on seasonal gametogenesis of the ribbed mussel Geukensia granosissima in coastal Louisiana, USA
Aaron Honig, Megan K. LaPeyre, John Supan
2014, Sexuality and Early Development in Aquatic Organisms (1) 75-82
Benthic intertidal bivalves play an essential role in estuarine ecosystems by contributing to habitat provision, water filtration, and host vegetation productivity. As such, ecosystem level changes that impact population distributions and persistence of local bivalve populations may have large ecosystem level consequences, making it important to better understand the population...
Seasonal shifts in the diet of the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus), Fort Collins, Colorado
Ernest W. Valdez, Thomas J. O’Shea
2014, Southwestern Naturalist (59) 511-516
Recent analyses suggest that the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) may be less of a beetle specialist (Coleoptera) in the western United States than previously thought, and that its diet might also vary with temperature. We tested the hypothesis that big brown bats might opportunistically prey on moths by analyzing...
Petrologic insights into basaltic volcanism at historically active Hawaiian volcanoes
Rosalind T. Helz, David A. Clague, Thomas W. Sisson, Carl R. Thornber
Michael P. Poland, T. Jane Takahashi, Claire M. Landowski, editor(s)
2014, Professional Paper 1801-6
Study of the petrology of Hawaiian volcanoes, in particular the historically active volcanoes on the Island of Hawai‘i, has long been of worldwide scientific interest. When Dr. Thomas A. Jaggar, Jr., established the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) in 1912, detailed observations on basaltic activity at Kīlauea and Mauna Loa volcanoes...
One hundred volatile years of volcanic gas studies at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
A.J. Sutton, Tamar Elias
Michael P. Poland, T. Jane Takahashi, Claire M. Landowski, editor(s)
2014, Professional Paper 1801-7
The first volcanic gas studies in Hawai‘i, beginning in 1912, established that volatile emissions from Kīlauea Volcano contained mostly water vapor, in addition to carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide. This straightforward discovery overturned a popular volatile theory of the day and, in the same action, helped affirm Thomas A. Jaggar,...
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory: A natural laboratory for studying basaltic volcanism
Robert I. Tilling, James P. Kauahikaua, Steven R. Brantley, Christina A. Neal
Michael P. Poland, T. Jane Takahashi, Claire M. Landowski, editor(s)
2014, Professional Paper 1801-1
In the beginning of the 20th century, geologist Thomas A. Jaggar, Jr., argued that, to fully understand volcanic and associated hazards, the expeditionary mode of studying eruptions only after they occurred was inadequate. Instead, he fervently advocated the use of permanent observatories to record and measure volcanic phenomena—at and below...
Best practices for continuous monitoring of temperature and flow in wadeable streams
Jen Stamp, Anna I. Hamilton, Michelle Craddock, Laila Parker, Allison H. Roy, Daniel J. Isaak, Zachary Holden, Margaret Passmore, Britta Bierwagen
2014, Report
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) is working with its regional offices, states, tribes, river basin commissions and other entities to establish Regional Monitoring Networks (RMNs) for freshwater wadeable streams. To the extent possible, uninterrupted, biological, temperature and hydrologic data will be collected on an ongoing basis at...
Quantifying understorey vegetation in the US Lake States: a proposed framework to inform regional forest carbon stocks
Matthew B. Russell, Anthony W. D’Amato, Bethany K. Schulz, Christopher W. Woodall, Grant M. Domke, John B. Bradford
2014, Forestry (87) 629-638
The contribution of understorey vegetation (UVEG) to forest ecosystem biomass and carbon (C) across diverse forest types has, to date, eluded quantification at regional and national scales. Efforts to quantify UVEG C have been limited to field-intensive studies or broad-scale modelling approaches lacking field measurements. Although large-scale inventories of UVEG...
Characterizing lentic freshwater fish assemblages using multiple sampling methods
Jesse R. Fischer, Michael C. Quist
2014, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (186) 4461-4474
Characterizing fish assemblages in lentic ecosystems is difficult, and multiple sampling methods are almost always necessary to gain reliable estimates of indices such as species richness. However, most research focused on lentic fish sampling methodology has targeted recreationally important species, and little to no information is available regarding the influence...
Nitrogen cycling processes and microbial community composition in bed sediments in the Yukon River at Pilot Station
Deborah A. Repert, Jennifer C. Underwood, Richard L. Smith, Bongkeun Song
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (119) 2328-2344
Information on the contribution of nitrogen (N)-cycling processes in bed sediments to river nutrient fluxes in large northern latitude river systems is limited. This study examined the relationship between N-cycling processes in bed sediments and N speciation and loading in the Yukon River near its mouth at the Bering Sea....
Influence of habitat characteristics on shore-spawning kokanee
Steven L. Whitlock, Michael C. Quist, Andrew M. Dux
2014, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (143) 1404-1418
Sockeye Salmon Oncorhynchus nerka and kokanee (lacustrine Sockeye Salmon) commonly spawn in both lentic and lotic environments; however, the habitat requirements of shore spawners are virtually unknown relative to those of stream spawners. A laboratory experiment and an in situ incubation study were conducted to better understand the influence of habitat characteristics...
Trap configuration and spacing influences parameter estimates in spatial capture-recapture models
Catherine C. Sun, Angela K. Fuller, J. Andrew Royle
2014, PLoS ONE (9)
An increasing number of studies employ spatial capture-recapture models to estimate population size, but there has been limited research on how different spatial sampling designs and trap configurations influence parameter estimators. Spatial capture-recapture models provide an advantage over non-spatial models by explicitly accounting for heterogeneous detection probabilities among individuals that...
Space use and resource selection by foraging Indiana bats at the northern edge of their distribution
David S. Jachowski, Joshua B. Johnson, Christopher A. Dobony, John W. Edwards, W. Mark Ford
2014, Endangered Species Research (24) 149-157
Despite 4 decades of conservation concern, managing endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) populations remains a difficult wildlife resource issue facing natural resource managers in the eastern United States. After small signs of population recovery, the recent emergence of white-nose syndrome has led to concerns of local and/or regional extirpation of...
Ongoing drought-induced uplift in the western United States.
Adrian Antal Borsa, Duncan Carr Agnew, Daniel R. Cayan
2014, Science (345) 1587-1590
The western United States has been experiencing severe drought since 2013. The solid earth response to the accompanying loss of surface and near-surface water mass should be a broad region of uplift. We use seasonally adjusted time series from continuously operating global positioning system stations to measure this uplift, which...
Mercury and methylmercury stream concentrations in a Coastal Plain watershed: A multi-scale simulation analysis
Christopher D. Knightes, Heather E. Golden, Celeste A. Journey, Gary M. Davis, Paul Conrads, Mark Marvin-DiPasquale, Mark E. Brigham, Paul M. Bradley
2014, Environmental Pollution (187) 182-192
Mercury is a ubiquitous global environmental toxicant responsible for most US fish advisories. Processes governing mercury concentrations in rivers and streams are not well understood, particularly at multiple spatial scales. We investigate how insights gained from reach-scale mercury data and model simulations can be applied at broader watershed scales using...
Tectonic evolution of the Tualatin basin, northwest Oregon, as revealed by inversion of gravity data
Darcy McPhee, Victoria E. Langenheim, Ray E. Wells, Richard J. Blakely
2014, Geosphere (10) 264-275
The Tualatin basin, west of Portland (Oregon, USA), coincides with a 110 mGal gravity low along the Puget-Willamette lowland. New gravity measurements (n = 3000) reveal a three-dimensional (3-D) subsurface geometry suggesting early development as a fault-bounded pull-apart basin. A strong northwest-trending gravity gradient coincides with the Gales Creek fault,...
Natural hazards and risk reduction in Hawaii
James P. Kauahikaua, Robert I. Tilling
Michael P. Poland, T. Jane Takahashi, Claire M. Landowski, editor(s)
2014, Professional Paper 1801-10
Significant progress has been made over the past century in understanding, characterizing, and communicating the societal risks posed by volcanic, earthquake, and tsunami hazards in Hawai‘i. The work of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO), with a century-long commitment to serving the public with credible hazards information, contributed substantially to this...
Magma supply, storage, and transport at shield-stage Hawaiian volcanoes
Michael P. Poland, Asta Miklius, Emily K. Montgomery-Brown
Michael P. Poland, T. Jane Takahashi, Claire M. Landowski, editor(s)
2014, Professional Paper 1801-5
The characteristics of magma supply, storage, and transport are among the most critical parameters governing volcanic activity, yet they remain largely unconstrained because all three processes are hidden beneath the surface. Hawaiian volcanoes, particularly Kīlauea and Mauna Loa, offer excellent prospects for studying subsurface magmatic processes, owing to their accessibility...
Status of whitebarkpine in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: A step-trend analysis comparing 2004-2007 to 2008-2011
Erin Shanahan, Kathryn M. Irvine, Dave Roberts, Andrea R. Litt, Kristin Legg, Rob Daley, Nina Chambers
2014, Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/GRYN/NRTR—2014/917
Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) is a foundation and keystone species in upper subalpine environments of the northern Rocky Mountains that strongly influences the biodiversity and productivity of high-elevation ecosystems (Tomback et al. 2001, Ellison et al. 2005). Throughout its historic range, whitebark pine has decreased significantly as a major component...
Contaminants of legacy and emerging concern in largescale suckers (Catostomus macrocheilus) and the foodweb in the lower Columbia River, Oregon and Washington, USA
Elena B. Nilsen, Steven D. Zaugg, David A. Alvarez, Jennifer L. Morace, Ian R. Waite, Timothy D. Counihan, Jill M. Hardiman, Leticia Torres, Reynaldo Patino, Matthew G. Mesa, Robert Grove
2014, Science of the Total Environment (484) 344-352
We investigated occurrence, transport pathways, and effects of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants and other endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in aquatic media and the foodweb in the lower Columbia River. In 2009 and 2010, foodweb sampling at three sites along a gradient of contaminant exposure near Skamania (Washington), Columbia...
Factors affecting fat content in mottled ducks on the Upper Texas Gulf Coast
Brian Kearns, David A. Haukos, Patrick Walther, Warren C. Conway
2014, Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (2015) 274-280
Body condition, or an individual's ability to address metabolic needs, is an important measure of organism health. For waterfowl, body condition, usually some measure of fat, provides a useful proxy for assessing energy budgets during different life history periods and potentially is a measure of response to ecosystem changes. The...
Legitimization of regulatory norms: Waterfowl hunter acceptance of changing duck bag limits
Susan A. Schroeder, David C. Fulton, Jeffrey S. Lawrence, Steven D. Cordts
2014, Human Dimensions of Wildlife: An International Journal (19) 234-252
Few studies have examined response to regulatory change over time, or addressed hunter attitudes about changes in hunting bag limits. This article explores Minnesota waterfowl hunters’ attitudes about duck bag limits, examining attitudes about two state duck bag limits that were initially more restrictive than the maximum set by the...
Effect of hunter selectivity on harvest rates of radio-collared white-tailed deer in Pennsylvania
Frances E. Buderman, Duane R. Diefenbach, C.S. Rosenberry, Bret D. Wallingford, Eric S. Long
2014, Journal of Wildlife Management (78) 1456-1465
Radio transmitters are a commonly used tool for monitoring the fates of harvested species, although little research has been devoted to whether a visible radio transmitter changes a hunters' willingness to harvest that animal. We initially surveyed deer hunters to assess their willingness to harvest radio-collared deer and predicted radio...
What predicts support for antler point restrictions?
Susan A. Schroeder, Louis Cornicelli, David C. Fulton, Marrett D. Grund
2014, Human Dimensions of Wildlife: An International Journal (19) 301-318
Although considerable research has focused on satisfaction with recreation experiences, limited work has examined factors related to regulatory support. In 2005, an antler point restriction (APR) regulation was introduced for hunting white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Minnesota’s Itasca State Park. Hunter surveys were conducted following the 2005, 2006, 2007, and...
