Wildlife management is science based: Myth or reality?
Daniel J. Decker, John F. Organ, Ann Forstchen, Michael V. Schiavone, Angela K. Fuller
2018, The Wildlife Professional 30-32
In the January/February issue of The Wildlife Professional, a group of wildlife leaders discussed what they considered "myths" in wildlife management and invited other wildlife professionals to contribute their favorites. Here, five wildlife professionals take up that theme with their discussions of the scientific basis of...
Managing conflicts in the River of Grass
Stephanie S. Romanach, James M. Beerens, Larry Perez, Saira M. Haider, Leonard G. Pearlstine
2018, Solutions Journal (9)
Chances are, you would not pack up and move to a new home without first researching the neighborhood, reviewing your finances, and maybe investigating schools nearby. Similarly, you would not buy the first car you find on a magazine cover without first reviewing the technical specifications, exploring your options, and...
Metamodeling for groundwater age forecasting in the Lake Michigan Basin
Michael N. Fienen, B. Thomas Nolan, Leon J. Kauffman, Daniel T. Feinstein
2018, Water Resources Research (54) 4750-4766
Groundwater age is an important indicator of groundwater susceptibility to anthropogenic contamination and a key input to statistical models for forecasting water quality. Numerical models can provide estimates of groundwater age, enabling interpretation of measured age tracers. However, to extend to national‐scale groundwater systems where numerical models are not routinely...
Environmental controls, emergent scaling, and predictions of greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes in coastal salt marshes
Omar I. Abdul-Aziz, Khandker S. Ishitaq, Jianwu Tang, Serena Moseman-Valtierra, Kevin D. Kroeger, Meagan Gonneea Eagle, Jordan Mora, Kate Morkeski
2018, Journal of Geophysical Research G: Biogeosciences (123) 2234-2256
Coastal salt marshes play an important role in mitigating global warming by removing atmospheric carbon at a high rate. We investigated the environmental controls and emergent scaling of major greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) in coastal salt marshes by conducting data analytics and...
Biogeography of pelagic food webs in the North Pacific
John F. Piatt, Mayumi L. Arimitsu, William J. Sydeman, Sarah Ann Thompson, Heather Renner, Stephani Zador, David C. Douglas, Scott A. Hatch, Arthur B. Kettle, Jeffrey C. Williams
2018, Fisheries Oceanography (27) 366-380
The tufted puffin (Fratercula cirrhata) is a generalist seabird that breeds throughout the North Pacific and eats more than 75 different prey species. Using puffins as samplers, we characterized the geographic variability in pelagic food webs across the subarctic North Pacific from the composition of ~10,000 tufted puffin meals (~56,000...
USGS quarterly wildlife mortality report July 2018
Bryan J. Richards, Barbara L. Bodenstein, Anne Ballmann, Michelle St. Martin
2018, Wildlife Disease Association Newsletter 15-17
No abstract available....
Sensitivity of streamflow to climate change in California
Theodore E. W. Grantham, Daren M. Carlisle, Gregory J. McCabe, Jeanette K. Howard
2018, Climate Change (149) 427-441
Climate change is rapidly altering the global water cycle, exposing vulnerabilities in both social and environmental systems. However, uncertainty in future climate predictions makes it difficult to design and evaluate strategies for building climate resilience. In regions such as California, characterized by stressed water-supply systems, high natural climate variability, and...
Comparative nest survival of three sympatric loon species breeding in the Arctic
Brian D. Uher-Koch, Joshua C. Koch, Kenneth G. Wright, Joel A. Schmutz
2018, Journal of Avian Biology (49) 1-15
Identifying factors influencing nest survival among sympatric species is important for understanding and managing sources of variation in population dynamics of individual species. Three species of loons nest sympatrically in northern Alaska and differ in body size, life history characteristics, and population trends. We tested the effects of competition, nest...
Advances in sensitivity analysis of uncertainty to changes in sampling density when modeling spatially correlated attributes
Ricardo A. Olea
2018, Book chapter
A comparative analysis of distance methods, kriging and stochastic simulation is conducted for evaluating their capabilities for predicting fluctuations in uncertainty due to changes in spatially correlated samples. It is concluded that distance methods lack the most basic capabilities to assess reliability despite their wide acceptance. In contrast, kriging and...
Applying high-resolution imagery to evaluate restoration-induced changes in stream condition, Missouri River Headwaters Basin, Montana
Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Clifton Burt
2018, Remote Sensing (10) 1-28
Degradation of streams and associated riparian habitat across the Missouri River Headwaters Basin has motivated several stream restoration projects across the watershed. Many of these projects install a series of beaver dam analogues (BDAs) to aggrade incised streams, elevate local water tables, and create natural surface water storage by reconnecting...
Karst hydrogeology of Tuckaleechee Cove and the western Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee and North Carolina
Benjamin Miller, Mike Bradley, Teresa L. Brown
2018, Book chapter, Geology at Every Scale: Field Excursions for the 2018 GSA Southeastern Section Meeting, Geological Society of America Field Guide 50
The geology of Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) in Tennessee and North Carolina is dominated by siliciclastics and metamorphic strata. However, in the western portion of GRSM, a series of carbonate fensters (windows) expose the Lower Ordovician–age section of the Knox Group, a series of dolomite and limestone units...
Comparison of a prepositioned areal electrofishing device and fixed underwater videography for sampling riverine fishes
Philip R. Branigan, Michael C. Quist, Bradley B. Shepard, Susan C. Ireland
2018, Western North American Naturalist (78) 65-75
Prepositioned areal electrofishing devices (PAEDs) are used to evaluate microhabitat use by fishes because they minimize fright biases associated with traditional electrofishing techniques (e.g., boat electrofishing). Similarly, fixed underwater videography (FUV) is commonly used to minimize the effect of observers on fish behavior. The specific objectives of this research were...
Message in a bottle: The story of drifting plastic in the eastern Mediterranean Sea
Galia Pasternak, Dov Zviely, Asaf Ariel, Ehud Spanier, Christine Ribic
2018, Waste Management (77) 67-77
The Mediterranean Sea is a closed basin with limited water exchange through the Strait of Gibraltar, and sites along its shores show the greatest densities of marine debris in the world. Plastic bottles, which are a growing concern due to high consumption of soft drinks and bottled water, constitute most of...
Insights from long-term ungrazed and grazed watersheds in a salt desert Colorado Plateau ecosystem
Michael C. Duniway, Erika L. Geiger, Tamera J. Minnick, Susan L. Phillips, Jayne Belnap
2018, Rangeland Ecology and Management (71) 492-505
Dryland ecosystems cover over 41% of the earth’s land surface, and living within these important ecosystems are approximately 2 billion people, a large proportion of whom are subsistence agropastoralists. Improper grazing in drylands can negatively impact ecosystem productivity, soil conservation, hydrologic processes, downstream water quantity and quality, and ultimately human health...
Spatial spectroscopic models for remote exploration
David R. Thompson, Alberto Candela, David Wettergreen, E. Noe Dobrea, Gregg A. Swayze, Roger N Clark, Rebecca Greenberger
2018, Astrobiology (18) 934-954
Ancient hydrothermal systems are a high-priority target for a future Mars sample return mission because they contain energy sources for microbes and can preserve organic materials (Farmer, 2000; MEPAG Next Decade Science Analysis Group, <a id="B36R" class="tab-link" href="https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/ast.2017.1782#B36" data-tab="pane-pcw-references"...
Animal movement models for migratory individuals and groups
Mevin Hooten, Henry R. Scharf, Trevor J. Hefley, Aaron T. Pearse, Mitch D. Weegman
2018, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (9) 1692-1705
Animals often exhibit changes in their behaviour during migration. Telemetry data provide a way to observe geographic position of animals over time, but not necessarily changes in the dynamics of the movement process. Continuous‐time models allow for statistical predictions of the trajectory in the presence of measurement error and...
A revised Triassic stratigraphic framework for the Arctic Alaska Basin
Katherine J. Whidden, Julie A. Dumoulin, William A. Rouse
2018, AAPG Bulletin (102) 1171-1212
The Triassic Shublik Formation and the Triassic–Jurassic Otuk Formation are partially age-equivalent lithostratigraphic units that were deposited in the Arctic Alaska Basin (AAB). The Shublik Formation represents proximal deposition within the basin, with episodic siliciclastic input, whereas the Otuk Formation was deposited in the distal part of the basin, with...
Rearing performance of juvenile brown trout Salmo trutta fed a bioprocessed soybean meal diet with differing velocity regimes
Jill M. Voorhees, Michael Barnes, Steven R. Chipps, Michael Browne
2018, Open Journal of Animal Sciences (8) 303-328
This 121-day experiment evaluated the rearing performance of brown trout Salmo trutta fed one of two isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets (46% protein, 16% lipid) and reared at velocities of either 2.8 or 16.1 cm/s. Fishmeal was the primary protein source for the reference diet, which was compared to a bioprocessed...
An interim harvest strategy for Taiga Bean geese
Fred A. Johnson, Mikko Alhainen, Anthony D. Fox, Jesper Madsen
2018, Conference Paper, 2nd meeting of the AEWA European Goose Management International Working Group
In 2016 the AEWA European Goose Management International Working Group (EGM IWG) adopted document AEWA/EGM IWG 1.8 (Johnson et al. 2016), which contained initial elements of an Adaptive Harvest Management programme for Taiga Bean Geese. This report addresses a number of limitations with the population model presented in that document, and provides up-to-date population...
Landbird population trends in mountain and historical parks of the North Coast and Cascades Network: 2005–2016 synthesis
Chris Ray, James F. Saracco, Mandy Holmgren, Robert L. Wilkerson, Rodney B. Siegel, Kurt J. Jenkins, Jason I. Ransom, Patricia J. Happe, John R. Boetsch, Mark H. Huff
2018, Natural Resource Report NPS/NCCN/NRR—2018/1673
Long-term monitoring of landbird populations within the National Park Service (NPS) North Coast and Cascades Inventory and Monitoring Network (NCCN) began in 2005, with the goal of detecting trends to inform the conservation and management of landbirds and their habitats. Here we use 2005–2016 data from over 3500 point-count stations...
Simulation of less‐mobile porosity dynamics in contrasting sediment water interface porous media
Farzaneh MahmoodPoor Dehkordy, Martin A. Briggs, Frederick D. Day-Lewis, Amvrossios C. Bagtzoglou
2018, Hydrological Processes (32) 2030-2043
Considering heterogeneity in porous media pore size and connectivity is essential to predicting reactive solute transport across interfaces. However, exchange with less‐mobile porosity is rarely considered in surface water/groundwater recharge studies. Previous research indicates that a combination of pore‐fluid sampling and geoelectrical measurements can be used to quantify less‐mobile porosity...
Perspectives and future directions
Stephen DeStefano, Clint W. Boal
2018, Book chapter, Urban raptors: Ecology and conservation of birds of prey in cities
No abstract available....
Southeastern Deserts Bioregion
Matthew L. Brooks, Richard A. Minnich, John R. Matchett
Jan W. Van Wagtendonk, Neil G. Sugihara, Scott L. Stephens, Andrea E. Thode, Kevin E. Shaffer, Ann Fites-Kaufman, editor(s)
2018, Book chapter, Fire in California's Ecosystems
The Southeast Deserts Bioregion (desert bioregion) occupies the southeastern 27% of California (11,028,300 ha, 110,283 km2 or 27,251,610 ac) (Miles and Goudy 1997) (Map 18.1). The desert bioregion is within the basin and range geomorphic province of western North America, and includes two ecoregional provinces comprised of five ecological sections....
A multiscale natural community and species-level vulnerability assessment of the Gulf Coast, USA
Joshua S. Reece, Amanda Watson, Patricia (Soupy) Dalyander, C. Edwards, Laura Geselbracht, Megan K. LaPeyre, Blair Tirpak, John M. Tirpak, Mark Woodrey
2018, PLoS ONE (13)
Vulnerability assessments combine quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of species or natural communities to current and future threats. When combined with the economic, ecological or evolutionary value of the species, vulnerability assessments quantify the relative risk to regional species and natural communities and can...
River response to large‐dam removal in a Mediterranean hydroclimatic setting: Carmel River, California, USA
Lee R. Harrison, Amy E. East, Douglas P. Smith, Joshua B. Logan, Rosealea Bond, Colin L. Nicol, Thomas H. Williams, David A. Boughton, Kaitlyn Chow, Lauren Luna
2018, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (43) 3009-3021
Dam removal provides a valuable opportunity to measure the fluvial response to changes in both sediment supply and the processes that shape channel morphology. We present the first study of river response to the removal of a large (32‐m‐high) dam in a Mediterranean hydroclimatic setting, on the Carmel River, coastal...
