Potential effects of elevated base flow and midsummer spike flow experiments on riparian vegetation along the Green River
Jonathan M. Friedman
2018, Natural Resource Report NPS/NRSS/WRD/NRR—2018/1603
The Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program has requested experimental flow releases from Flaming Gorge Dam for (1) elevated summer base flows to promote larval endangered Colorado pikeminnow, and (2) midsummer spike flows to disadvantage spawning invasive smallmouth bass. This white paper explores the effects of these proposed flow...
Distinguishing values from science in decision making: Setting harvest quotas for mountain lions in Montana
Michael S. Mitchell, Hilary Cooley, Justin A. Gude, Jay Kolbe, J. Joshua Nowak, Kelly M. Proffitt, Sarah N. Sells, Mike Thompson
2018, Wildlife Society Bulletin (42) 13-21
The relative roles of science and human values can be difficult to distinguish when informal processes are used to make complex and contentious decisions in wildlife management. Structured Decision Making (SDM) offers a formal process for making such decisions, where scientific results and concepts can be disentangled from the values...
Response of beach-nesting American Oystercatchers to off-road vehicles: An experimental approach reveals physiological nuances and decreased nest attendance
Shilo K. Felton, Kenneth H. Pollock, Theodore R. Simons
2018, The Condor (120) 47-62
Shorebird populations face increasing challenges as rising sea levels and growing human populations constrain their breeding habitats. On recreational beaches, the nesting season often coincides with a season of high visitor use, increasing the potential for conflict, which may negatively influence beach-nesting shorebird species. We designed a field experiment to...
Stability and change in kelp forest habitats at San Nicolas Island
Michael C. Kenner, M. Tim Tinker
2018, Western North American Naturalist (78) 633-643
Kelp forest communities are highly variable over space and time. Despite this complexity it has been suggested that kelp forest communities can be classified into one of 2 states: kelp dominated or sea urchin dominated. It has been further hypothesized that these represent “alternate stable states” because a site can...
Evidence for regional nitrogen stress on chlorophyll a in lakes across large landscape and climate gradients
Christopher T. Filstrup, Tyler Wagner, Samantha K. Oliver, Craig A. Stow, Katherine E. Webster, Emily H. Stanley, John A. Downing
2018, Limnology and Oceanography (63) S324-S339
Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) commonly stimulate phytoplankton production in lakes, but recent observations from lakes from an agricultural region suggest that nitrate may have a subsidy‐stress effect on chlorophyll a (Chl a). It is unclear, however, how generalizable this effect might be. Here, we analyzed a large water quality dataset of 2385...
Ground ruptures attributed to groundwater overexploitation damaging Jocotepec city in Jalisco, Mexico: 2016 field excursion of IGCP-641
Pietro Teatini, Dora Carreon-Freyre, Gil Ochoa-Gonzalez, Shujun Ye, Devin L. Galloway, Martin Hernandez-Marin
2018, Episodes, Journal of International Geoscience (41) 69-73
IGCP Project 641 (Mechanisms, Monitoring and Modeling Earth Fissure generation and Fault activation due to subsurface Fluid exploitation – M3EF3) held its second international workshop from November 2 to 6, 2016, in Puerto Vallarta and included a two-day field trip to Guadalajara and Jocotepec in the Mexican state of Jalisco (Fig. 1a). M3EF3 is aimed...
Efficacy of otoliths and first dorsal spines for preliminary age and growth determination in Atlantic Tripletails
Russell T. Parr, Robert B. Bringolf, Cecil A. Jennings
2018, Marine and Coastal Fisheries: Dynamics, Management, and Ecosystem Science (10) 71-79
The Atlantic Tripletail Lobotes surinamensis is a popular sport fish for which age and growth data are scarce in general and nonexistent for Georgia (GA), USA, waters. These data are necessary to ensure that management regulations are adequate to protect this species, especially given its popularity as a sport fish. We evaluated...
Bottom trawl assessment of Lake Ontario prey fishes
Brian Weidel, Michael J. Connerton, Jeremy Holden
2018, Report, NYSDEC Lake Ontario Annual Report 2017
Managing Lake Ontario fisheries in an ecosystem-context requires prey fish community and population data. Since 1978, multiple annual bottom trawl surveys have quantified prey fish dynamics to inform management relative to published Fish Community Objectives. In 2017, two whole-lake surveys collected 341 bottom trawls (spring: 204, fall: 137), at depths...
Porosity of the Marcellus Shale: A contrast matching small-angle neutron scattering study
Jitendra Bahadur, Leslie F. Ruppert, Vitaliy Pipich, Richard Sakurovs, Yuri B. Melnichenko
2018, International Journal of Coal Geology (188) 156-164
Neutron scattering techniques were used to determine the effect of mineral matter on the accessibility of water and toluene to pores in the Devonian Marcellus Shale. Three Marcellus Shale samples, representing quartz-rich, clay-rich, and carbonate-rich facies, were examined using contrast matching small-angle neutron...
2017 Landsat Science Team Summer Meeting Summary
Christopher J. Crawford, Thomas R. Loveland, Michael A. Wulder, James R. Irons
2018, The Earth Observer (30) 21-25
The summer meeting of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)-NASA Landsat Science Team (LST) was held June 11-13, 2017, at the USGS’s Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center near Sioux Falls, SD. This was the final meeting of the Second (2012-2017) LST.1 Frank Kelly [EROS—Center Director] welcomed the attendees and...
Oil and gas development footprint in the Piceance Basin, western Colorado
Cericia D. Martinez, Todd M. Preston
2018, Science of the Total Environment (616-617) 355-362
Understanding long-term implications of energy development on ecosystem functionrequires establishing regional datasets to quantify past development and determine relationships to predict future development. The Piceance Basin in western Colorado has a history of energy production and development is expected to continue into the foreseeable future due to abundant natural gas...
Environmental contaminants of health-care origin: Exposure and potential effects in wildlife
Thomas Bean, Barnett A. Rattner
2018, Book chapter, Health care and environmental contamination
A diverse range of fauna could be exposed to active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) via diet, dermal absorption or bioconcentration. Low level exposures of free-ranging wildlife to APIs has only been demonstrated for a few pathways (e.g., ingestion of fish in estuaries by piscivorous birds), and many remain hypothetical (e.g., ingestion...
Monitoring Least Bitterns (Ixobrychis exilis) in Vermont: Detection probability and occupancy modeling
Aswini Cherukuri, Allan Strong, Therese M. Donovan
2018, Northeastern Naturalist (25) 56-71
Ixobrychus exillis (Least Bittern) is listed as a species of high concern in the North American Waterbird Conservation Plan and is a US Fish and Wildlife Service migratory bird species of conservation concern in the Northeast. Little is known about the population of Least Bitterns in the Northeast because of their...
High‐prevalence and low‐intensity Ichthyophonus infections in Pacific Halibut
Paul Hershberger, Jacob L. Gregg, Claude L. Dykstra
2018, Journal of Aquatic Animal Health (30) 13-19
Ichthyophonus occurred at high prevalence but low intensity in Pacific Halibut Hippoglossus stenolepis throughout the West Coast of North America, ranging from coastal Oregon to the Bering Sea. Infection prevalence in adults was variable on spatial and temporal scales, with the lowest prevalence typically occurring on the edges of the geographic range and...
Timber harvest as the predominant disturbance regime in northeastern U.S. forests: Effects of harvest intensification
Michelle L. Brown, Charles D. Canham, Lora Murphy, Therese M. Donovan
2018, Ecosphere (9) 1-19
Harvesting is the leading cause of adult tree mortality in forests of the northeastern United States. While current rates of timber harvest are generally sustainable, there is considerable pressure to increase the contribution of forest biomass to meet renewable energy goals. We estimated current harvest regimes for different forest types...
Golden Eagle Monitoring Plan for the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan
David Wiens, Patrick Kolar, Todd E. Katzner
2018, Report
This report describes options for monitoring the status and population trends of the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) within the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) area of Southern California in maintaining stable or increasing population in the planning area. The report profiles the ecology of golden eagles in the region...
Quantifying seining detection probability for fishes of Great Plains sand‐bed rivers
Robert Mollenhauer, Daniel R. Logue, Shannon K. Brewer
2018, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (147) 329-341
Species detection error (i.e., imperfect and variable detection probability) is an essential consideration when investigators map distributions and interpret habitat associations. When fish detection error that is due to highly variable instream environments needs to be addressed, sand‐bed streams of the Great Plains represent a unique challenge. We quantified seining...
Environmental risks and challenges associated with neonicotinoid insecticides
Michelle L. Hladik, Anson Main, Dave Goulson
2018, Environmental Science & Technology (52) 3329-3335
Neonicotinoid use has increased rapidly in recent years, with a global shift towards insecticide applications as seed coatings rather than aerial spraying. While the use of seed coatings can lessen the amount of overspray and drift, the near universal and prophylactic use of neonicotinoid seed coatings on major agricultural crops...
Fire and grazing influence site resistance to Bromus tectorum through their effects on shrub, bunchgrass and biocrust communities in the Great Basin (USA)
Lea A. Condon, David A. Pyke
2018, Ecosystems (21) 1416-1431
Shrubs, bunchgrasses and biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are believed to contribute to site resistance to plant invasions in the presence of cattle grazing. Although fire is a concomitant disturbance with grazing, little is known regarding their combined impacts on invasion resistance. We are the first to date to test the...
Species distribution modeling in regions of high need and limited data: waterfowl of China
Diann J. Prosser, Changqing Ding, R. Michael Erwin, Taej Mundkur, Jeffery D. Sullivan, Erle C. Ellis
2018, Avian Research (9) 1-14
BackgroundA number of conservation and societal issues require understanding how species are distributed on the landscape, yet ecologists are often faced with a lack of data to develop models at the resolution and extent desired, resulting in inefficient use of conservation resources. Such a situation...
History of state wildlife management in the United States
John F. Organ
2018, Book chapter, State wildlife management and conservation
No abstract available....
Anomalous bioaccumulation of lead in the earthworm Eisenoides lonnbergi (Michaelsen)
W. Nelson Beyer, Eton E. Codling, Michael A. Rutzke
2018, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (37) 914-919
Lead concentrations in soil organisms are usually well below those in the associated soil and tend to decrease with each higher trophic level in a food chain. Earthworms of the species Eisenoides lonnbergi provide an exception to this observation, accumulating very high concentrations of lead from acidic soils. Earthworms belonging to this...
Ecological drought: Accounting for the non-human impacts of water shortage in the Upper Missouri Headwaters Basin, Montana, USA
Jamie McEvoy, Deborah J. Bathke, Nina Burkardt, Amanda E. Cravens, Tonya Haigh, Kimberly R. Hall, Michael J. Hayes, Theresa Jedd, Marketa Podebradska, Elliot Wickham
2018, Resources (7) 1-16
Water laws and drought plans are used to prioritize and allocate scarce water resources. Both have historically been human-centric, failing to account for non-human water needs. In this paper, we examine the development of instream flow legislation and the evolution of drought planning to highlight the growing concern for the...
Understanding map projections
E. Lynn Usery
Alexander J. Kent, Peter Vujakovic, editor(s)
2018, Book chapter, The Routledge handbook of mapping and cartography
It has probably never been more important in the history of cartography than now that people understand how maps work. With increasing globalization, for example, world maps provide a key format for the transmission of information, but are often poorly used. Examples of poor understanding and use of projections and...
Anthropogenic enhancement of moderate-to-strong El Niño events likely contributed to drought and poor harvests in southern Africa during 2016
Chris Funk, Frank Davenport, Laura Harrison, Tamuka Magadzire, Gideon Galu, Guleid A. Artan, Shraddhanand Shukla, Diriba Korecha, Matayo Indeje, Catherine Pomposi, Denis Macharia, Gregory Husak, Faka Dieudonne Nsadisa
2018, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (99) S91-S94
In December–February (DJF) of 2015/16, a strong El Niño (Niño‑3.4 SST >29°C) contributed to a severe drought over southern Africa (SA; Funk et al. 2016). A 9-million ton cereal deficit resulted in 26 mil‑ lion people in need of humanitarian assistance (SADC 2016). While SA rainfall has a well-documented...
