Volcanic unrest and hazard communication in Long Valley Volcanic Region, California
David P. Hill, Margaret T. Mangan, Stephen R. McNutt
2017, Book chapter, Advances in volcanology
The onset of volcanic unrest in Long Valley Caldera, California, in 1980 and the subsequent fluctuations in unrest levels through May 2016 illustrate: (1) the evolving relations between scientists monitoring the unrest and studying the underlying tectonic/magmatic processes and their implications for geologic hazards, and (2) the challenges in communicating...
Downscaling wind and wavefields for 21st century coastal flood hazard projections in a region of complex terrain
Andrea C. O'Neill, Li H. Erikson, Patrick L. Barnard
2017, Earth and Space Science (4) 314-334
While global climate models (GCMs) provide useful projections of near-surface wind vectors into the 21st century, resolution is not sufficient enough for use in regional wave modeling. Statistically downscaled GCM projections from Multivariate Adaptive Constructed Analogues provide daily averaged near-surface winds at an appropriate spatial resolution for wave modeling within...
Microbial-sized, carboxylate-modified microspheres as surrogate tracers in a variety of subsurface environments: An overview
Ronald W. Harvey, David W. Metge, Denis R. LeBlanc
2017, Procedia Earth and Planetary Science (17) 372-375
Since 1986, fluorescent carboxylate-modified polystyrene/latex microspheres (FCM) have been co-injected into aquifers along with conservative tracers and viruses, bacteria, and (or) protozoa. Use of FCM has resulted in new information about subsurface transport behaviors of microorganisms in fractured crystalline rock, karst limestone, soils, and granular aquifers. FCM have been used...
PeRL: A circum-Arctic Permafrost Region Pond and Lake database
Sina Muster, Kurt Roth, Moritz Langer, Stephan Lange, Fabio Cresto Aleina, Annett Bartsch, Anne Morgenstern, Guido Grosse, Benjamin M. Jones, A. B. K. Sannel, Ylva Sjoberg, Frank Gunther, Christian Andresen, Alexandra Veremeeva, Prajna R. Lindgren, Frederic Bouchard, Mark J. Lara, Daniel Fortier, Simon Charbonneau, Tarmo A. Virtanen, Gustaf Hugelius, J. Palmtag, Matthias B. Siewert, William J. Riley, Charles Koven, Julia Boike
2017, Earth System Science Data (9) 317-348
Ponds and lakes are abundant in Arctic permafrost lowlands. They play an important role in Arctic wetland ecosystems by regulating carbon, water, and energy fluxes and providing freshwater habitats. However, ponds, i.e., waterbodies with surface areas smaller than 1. 0 × 104 m2, have not been inventoried on global and regional scales. The Permafrost...
Heat as a groundwater tracer in shallow and deep heterogeneous media: Analytical solution, spreadsheet tool, and field applications
Barret L. Kurylyk, Dylan J. Irvine, Sean K. Carey, Martin A. Briggs, Dale D. Werkema, Mariah Bonham
2017, Hydrological Processes (31) 2648-2661
Groundwater flow advects heat, and thus, the deviation of subsurface temperatures from an expected conduction‐dominated regime can be analysed to estimate vertical water fluxes. A number of analytical approaches have been proposed for using heat as a groundwater tracer, and these have typically assumed a homogeneous medium. However, heterogeneous thermal...
Geomorphology of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko
Samuel P. D. Birch, Y. Tang, A. G. Hayes, Randolph L. Kirk, D. Bodewitz, H. Campins, Y. Fernandez, R. de Freitas Bart, N. W. Kutsop, H. Sierks, J. M. Soderblom, S. W. Squyres, J.-B. Vincent
2017, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (469) S50-S67
We present a global geomorphological map of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P/C-G) using data acquired by the Rosetta Orbiter’s OSIRIS Narrow Angle Camera. The images used in our study were acquired between 2014 August and 2015 May, before 67P/C-G passed through perihelion. Imagery of the Southern hemisphere was included in our study, allowing us...
Seasonal movements and multiscale habitat selection of Whooping Crane (Grus americana) in natural and agricultural wetlands
Bradley A. Pickens, Sammy L. King, Phillip L. Vasseur, Sara E. Zimorski, Will Selman
2017, Waterbirds (40) 322-333
Eleven of 15 species of cranes (family: Gruidae) are considered vulnerable or endangered, and the increase of agriculture and aquaculture at the expense of natural wetlands and grasslands is a threat to Gruidae worldwide. A reintroduced population of Whooping Crane (Grus americana) was studied in coastal and agricultural wetlands of...
Challenges to oil spill assessment for seabirds in the deep ocean
J. Christopher Haney, Patrick G.R. Jodice, William Montevecchi, David C. Evers
2017, Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (73) 33-39
We synthesize impediments for evaluating effects to seabirds from open ocean hydrocarbon releases. Effects on seabirds from ship discharges, spills, and well blowouts often are poorly detected and monitored far from land. Regulatory regimes for ocean spills can result in monitoring efforts that are not entirely transparent. We illustrate how...
Landform features and seasonal precipitation predict shallow groundwater influence on temperature in headwater streams
Zachary C. Johnson, Craig D. Snyder, Nathaniel P. Hitt
2017, Water Resources Research (53) 5788-5812
Headwater stream responses to climate change will depend in part on groundwater‐surface water exchanges. We used linear modeling techniques to partition likely effects of shallow groundwater seepage and air temperature on stream temperatures for 79 sites in nine focal watersheds using hourly air and water temperature measurements collected during summer...
Autonomous acoustic recorders reveal complex patterns in avian detection probability
Sarah J. Thompson, Colleen M. Handel, Lance B. McNew
2017, Journal of Wildlife Management (81) 1228-1241
Avian point‐count surveys are typically designed to occur during periods when birds are consistently active and singing, but seasonal and diurnal patterns of detection probability are often not well understood and may vary regionally or between years. We deployed autonomous acoustic recorders to assess how avian availability for detection (i.e.,...
Genetic assessment of the effects of streamscape succession on coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch colonization in recently deglaciated streams
Kim T. Scribner, Chad Soiseth, Jeffrey J. McGuire, G. Kevin Sage, Lyman K. Thorsteinson, J. L. Nielsen, E. Knudsen
2017, Journal of Fish Biology (91) 195-218
Measures of genetic diversity within and among populations and historical geomorphological data on stream landscapes were used in model simulations based on approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) to examine hypotheses of the relative importance of stream features (geomorphology and age) associated with colonization events and gene flow for coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch breeding...
10Be dating of late Pleistocene megafloods and Cordilleran Ice Sheet retreat in the northwestern United States
Andrea M. Balbas, Aaron M. Barth, Peter U. Clark, Jorie Clark, Marc A. Caffee, Jim E. O'Connor, Victor R. Baker, Kevin Konrad, Bruce Bjornstad
2017, Geology (45) 583-586
During the late Pleistocene, multiple floods from drainage of glacial Lake Missoula further eroded a vast anastomosing network of bedrock channels, coulees, and cataracts, forming the Channeled Scabland of eastern Washington State (United States). However, the timing and exact pathways of these Missoula floods remain poorly constrained, thereby limiting our...
Physical response of a back-barrier estuary to a post-tropical cyclone
Alexis Beudin, Neil Kamal Ganju, Zafer Defne, Alfredo Aretxabaleta
2017, Journal of Geophysical Research C: Oceans (122) 5888-5904
This paper presents a modeling investigation of the hydrodynamic and sediment transport response of Chincoteague Bay (VA/MD, USA) to Hurricane Sandy using the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment-Transport (COAWST) modeling system. Several simulation scenarios with different combinations of remote and local forces were conducted to identify the dominant physical processes. While 80% of...
The interacting roles of climate, soils, and plant production on soil microbial communities at a continental scale
Mark P. Waldrop, JoAnn M. Holloway, David B. Smith, Martin B. Goldhaber, R. E. Drenovsky, K. M. Scow, R. Dick, Daniel M. Howard, Bruce K. Wylie, James B. Grace
2017, Ecology (98) 1957-1967
Soil microbial communities control critical ecosystem processes such as decomposition, nutrient cycling, and soil organic matter formation. Continental scale patterns in the composition and functioning of microbial communities are related to climatic, biotic, and edaphic factors such as temperature and precipitation, plant community composition, and soil carbon, nitrogen, and pH....
Puffins reveal contrasting relationships between forage fish and ocean climate in the North Pacific
William J. Sydeman, John F. Piatt, Sarah Ann Thompson, Marisol Garcia-Reyes, Scott A. Hatch, Mayumi L. Arimitsu, Leslie Slater, Jeffrey C. Williams, Nora A. Rojek, Stephani G. Zador, Heather M. Renner
2017, Fisheries Oceanography (26) 379-395
Long-term studies of predator food habits (i.e., ‘predator-based sampling’) are useful for identifying patterns of spatial and temporal variability of forage nekton in marine ecosystems. We investigated temporal changes in forage fish availability and relationships to ocean climate by analyzing diet composition of three puffin species (horned puffin Fratercula corniculata, tufted...
An “EAR” on environmental surveillance and monitoring: A case study on the use of Exposure–Activity Ratios (EARs) to prioritize sites, chemicals, and bioactivities of concern in Great Lakes waters
Brett R. Blackwell, Gerald T. Ankley, Steven R. Corsi, Laura A. DeCicco, Kieth A. Houck, Richard S. Judson, Shibin Li, Matthew T. Martin, Elizabeth Murphy, Anthony L. Schroeder, Edwin R. Smith, Joe Swintek, Daniel L. Villeneuve
2017, Environmental Science & Technology (51) 8713-8724
Current environmental monitoring approaches focus primarily on chemical occurrence. However, based on concentration alone, it can be difficult to identify which compounds may be of toxicological concern and should be prioritized for further monitoring, in-depth testing, or management. This can be problematic because toxicological characterization is lacking for many emerging...
Decadal declines in avian herbivore reproduction: density-dependent nutrition and phenological mismatch in the Arctic
Megan V. Ross, Ray T. Alisaukas, David C. Douglas, Dana K. Kellett
2017, Ecology (98) 1869-1883
A full understanding of population dynamics depends not only on estimation of mechanistic contributions of recruitment and survival, but also knowledge about the ecological processes that drive each of these vital rates. The process of recruitment in particular may be protracted over several years, and can depend on numerous ecological...
Evaluating population expansion of black bears using spatial capture-recapture
Catherine C. Sun, Angela K. Fuller, Matthew P. Hare, Jeremy E. Hurst
2017, Journal of Wildlife Management (81) 814-823
The population of American black bears (Ursus americanus) in southern New York, USA has been growing and expanding in range since the 1990s. This has motivated a need to anticipate future patterns of range expansion. We conducted a non-invasive, genetic, spatial capture-recapture (SCR) study to estimate black bear density and...
A new species of freshwater eel-tailed catfish of the genus Tandanus (Teleostei: Plotosidae) from coastal rivers of mid-northern New South Wales, Australia
Stuart A. Welsh, Dean R. Jerry, Damien Burrows, Meaghan L. Rourke
2017, Copeia (105) 229-236
Tandanus bellingerensis, new species, is described based on specimens from four river drainages (Bellinger, Macleay, Hastings, and Manning rivers) of the mid-northern coast of New South Wales, Australia. Previously, three species were recognized in the genus Tandanus: T. tropicanus of the wet tropics region of northeast Queensland, T. tandanus of the Murray-Darling drainage and coastal...
Lake nutrient stoichiometry is less predictable than nutrient concentrations at regional and sub-continental scales
Sarah M. Collins, Samantha K. Oliver, Jean-Francois Lapierre, Emily H. Stanley, John R. Jones, Tyler Wagner, Patricia A. Soranno
2017, Ecological Applications (27) 1529-1540
Production in many ecosystems is co-limited by multiple elements. While a known suite of drivers associated with nutrient sources, nutrient transport, and internal processing controls concentrations of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) in lakes, much less is known about whether the drivers of single nutrient concentrations can also explain spatial...
Comparison of American Fisheries Society (AFS) standard fish sampling techniques and environmental DNA for characterizing fish communities in a large reservoir
Christina R. Perez, Scott A. Bonar, Jon J. Amberg, Bridget Ladell, Christopher B. Rees, William T. Stewart, Curtis J. Gill, Chris Cantrell, Anthony Robinson
2017, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (37) 1010-1027
Recently, methods involving examination of environmental DNA (eDNA) have shown promise for characterizing fish species presence and distribution in waterbodies. We evaluated the use of eDNA for standard fish monitoring surveys in a large reservoir. Specifically, we compared the presence, relative abundance, biomass, and relative percent composition of Largemouth Bass Micropterus...
Spatiotemporal analysis of changes in lode mining claims around the McDermitt Caldera, northern Nevada and southern Oregon
Joshua A. Coyan, Michael L. Zientek, Mark J. Mihalasky
2017, Natural Resources Research (26) 319-337
Resource managers and agencies involved with planning for future federal land needs are required to complete an assessment of and forecast for future land use every ten years. Predicting mining activities on federal lands is difficult as current regulations do not require disclosure of exploration results. In these cases, historic...
Species’ traits help predict small mammal responses to habitat homogenization by an invasive grass
Joseph P. Ceradini, Anna D. Chalfoun
2017, Ecological Applications (27) 1451-1465
Invasive plants can negatively affect native species, however, the strength, direction, and shape of responses may vary depending on the type of habitat alteration and the natural history of native species. To prioritize conservation of vulnerable species, it is therefore critical to effectively predict species’ responses to invasive plants, which...
Grassland bird productivity in warm season grass fields in southwest Wisconsin
Carolyn M. Byers, Christine Ribic, David W. Sample, John D. Dadisman, Michael Guttery
2017, The American Midland Naturalist (178) 47-63
Surrogate grasslands established through federal set-aside programs, such as U.S. Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), provide important habitat for grassland birds. Warm season grass CRP fields as a group have the potential for providing a continuum of habitat structure for breeding birds, depending on how the fields are...
Use of spatial capture–recapture to estimate density of Andean bears in northern Ecuador
Santiago Molina, Angela K. Fuller, Dana J. Morin, J. Andrew Royle
2017, Ursus (28) 117-126
The Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus) is the only extant species of bear in South America and is considered threatened across its range and endangered in Ecuador. Habitat loss and fragmentation is considered a critical threat to the species, and there is a lack of knowledge regarding its distribution and abundance....
