Occupancy and abundance of Eleutherodactylus frogs in coffee plantations in Puerto Rico
Kelen D. Monroe, Jaime A. Collazo, Krishna Pacifici, Brian J. Reich, Alberto R. Puente-Rolon, Adam J. Terando
2017, Herpetologica (73) 297-306
Shaded coffee plantations are of conservation value for many taxa, particularly for resident avifauna in the face of extensive landscape changes. Yet, little is known about the value of coffee plantations for amphibians because there are scant demographic data to index their value among species with different habitat preferences. We...
Satellite-based water use dynamics using historical Landsat data (1984–2014) in the southwestern United States
Gabriel B. Senay, Matthew Schauer, MacKenzie Friedrichs, Naga Manohar Velpuri, Ramesh Singh
2017, Remote Sensing of Environment (202) 98-112
Remote sensing-based field-scale evapotranspiration (ET) maps are useful for characterizing water use patterns and assessing crop performance. The relative impact of climate variability and water management decisions are better studied and quantified using historical data that are derived using a set of consistent datasets and methodology. Historical (1984–2014) Landsat-based ET maps were generated for...
A hierarchical model for estimating the spatial distribution and abundance of animals detected by continuous-time recorders
Robert Dorazio, K. Ullas Karanth
2017, PLoS ONE (12) 1-18
MotivationSeveral spatial capture-recapture (SCR) models have been developed to estimate animal abundance by analyzing the detections of individuals in a spatial array of traps. Most of these models do not use the actual dates and times of detection, even though this information is readily available when using...
Is GPS telemetry location error screening beneficial?
Kirsten E. Ironside, David J. Mattson, Terence R. Arundel, Jered R. Hansen
2017, Wildlife Biology
The accuracy of global positioning system (GPS) locations obtained from study animals tagged with GPS monitoring devices has been a concern as to the degree it influences assessments of movement patterns, space use, and resource selection estimates. Many methods have been proposed for screening data to retain the most accurate...
Habitat degradation affects the summer activity of polar bears
Jasmine V. Ware, Karyn D. Rode, Jeffrey F. Bromaghin, David C. Douglas, Ryan H. Wilson, Eric V. Regehr, Steven C. Amstrup, George M. Durner, Anthony M. Pagano, Jay Olson, Charles T. Robbins, Heiko T Jansen
2017, Oecologia (184) 87-99
Understanding behavioral responses of species to environmental change is critical to forecasting population-level effects. Although climate change is significantly impacting species’ distributions, few studies have examined associated changes in behavior. Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) subpopulations have varied in their near-term responses to sea ice decline. We examined behavioral...
Arsenic and mercury contamination related to historical goldmining in the Sierra Nevada, California
Charles N. Alpers
2017, Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis (17) 92-100
Arsenic (As) is a naturally occurring constituent in low-sulphide gold-quartz vein deposits, the dominant deposit type for lode mines in the Sierra Nevada Foothills (SNFH) gold (Au) province of California. Concentrations of naturally occurring mercury (Hg) in the SNFH Au province are low, but extensive use...
Local and cross-seasonal associations of climate and land use with abundance of monarch butterflies Danaus plexippus
Sarah P. Saunders, Leslie Ries, Karen S. Oberhasuer, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Elise F. Zipkin
2017, Ecography (40) 001-012
Quantifying how climate and land use factors drive population dynamics at regional scales is complex because it depends on the extent of spatial and temporal synchrony among local populations, and the integration of population processes throughout a species’ annual cycle. We modeled weekly, site-specific summer abundance (1994–2013) of monarch butterflies...
Characterization of the juvenile green turtle (Chelonia mydas) microbiome throughout an ontogenetic shift from pelagic to neritic habitats
James T. Price, Frank V. Paladino, Margaret M. Lamont, Blair E. Witherington, Scott T. Bates, Tanya Soule
2017, PLoS ONE (12) 1-13
The gut microbiome of herbivorous animals consists of organisms that efficiently digest the structural carbohydrates of ingested plant material. Green turtles (Chelonia mydas) provide an interesting model of change in these microbial communities because they undergo a pronounced shift from a surface-pelagic distribution and omnivorous diet to a neritic distribution...
Long-term and widespread changes in agricultural practices influence ring-necked pheasant abundance in California
Peter S. Coates, Brianne E. Brussee, Kristy B. Howe, Joseph P. Fleskes, Ian Dwight, Daniel P. Connelly, Matt G. Meshriy, Scott C. Gardner
2017, Ecology and Evolution (7) 2546-2559
Declines in bird populations in agricultural regions of North America and Europe have been attributed to agricultural industrialization, increases in use of agrochemical application, and increased predation related to habitat modification. Based on count data compiled from Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) from 1974 to 2012, Christmas Bird Count (CBC) collected...
Estimating loss of Brucella abortus antibodies from age-specific serological data in elk
J. A. Benavides, D. Caillaud, B. M. Scurlock, E. J. Maichak, W.H. Edwards, Paul C. Cross
2017, EcoHealth (14) 234-243
Serological data are one of the primary sources of information for disease monitoring in wildlife. However, the duration of the seropositive status of exposed individuals is almost always unknown for many free-ranging host species. Directly estimating rates of antibody loss typically requires difficult longitudinal sampling of individuals following seroconversion. Instead,...
Performance and retention of lightweight satellite radio tags applied to the ears of polar bears (Ursus maritimus)
Oystein Wiig, Erik W. Born, Kristin L. Laidre, Rune Dietz, Mikkel Villum Jensen, George M. Durner, Anthony M. Pagano, Eric V. Regehr, Michelle St. Martin, Stephen N. Atkinson, Markus Dyck
2017, Animal Biotelemetry (5) 1-11
BackgroundSatellite telemetry studies provide information that is critical to the conservation and management of species affected by ecological change. Here we report on the performance and retention of two types (SPOT-227 and SPOT-305A) of ear-mounted Argos-linked satellite transmitters (i.e., platform transmitter terminal, or PTT) deployed...
Predicting wading bird and aquatic faunal responses to ecosystem restoration scenarios
James M. Beerens, Joel C. Trexler, Christopher P. Catano
2017, Restoration Ecology (25) S86-S98
In large-scale conservation decisions, scenario planning identifies key uncertainties of ecosystem function linked to ecological drivers affected by management, incorporates ecological feedbacks, and scales up to answer questions robust to alternative futures. Wetland restoration planning requires an understanding of how proposed changes in surface hydrology, water storage, and landscape connectivity...
Upper thermal limits of growth in brook trout and their relationship to stress physiology
Joseph G Chadwick, Stephen D. McCormick
2017, Journal of Experimental Biology (220) 3976-3987
Despite the threat of climate change, the physiological mechanisms responsible for reduced performance at high temperatures remain unclear for most species. Elevated but sublethal temperatures may act via endocrine and cellular stress responses to limit performance in important life-history traits such as growth. Here, brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) subjected to...
U.S. Geological Survey Karst Interest Group Proceedings, San Antonio, Texas, May 16–18, 2017
Eve L. Kuniansky, Lawrence E. Spangler, editor(s)
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5023
Introduction and AcknowledgmentsKarst aquifer systems are present throughout parts of the United States and some of its territories, and have developed in carbonate rocks (primarily limestone and dolomite) and evaporites (gypsum, anhydrite, and halite) that span an interval of time encompassing more than 550 million years. The depositional environments, diagenetic...
Climatology and interannual variability of boreal spring wet season precipitation in the eastern Horn of Africa and implications for its recent decline
Brant Liebmann, Ileana Blade, Dave Allured, Xiao-Wei Quan, Chris Funk, Martin P Hoerling, Andrew Hoell, Peter Peterson, Wassila Mamadou Thiaw
2017, Journal of Climate (30) 3867-3886
The 1981–2014 climatology and variability of the March–May eastern Horn of Africa boreal spring wet season are examined using precipitation, upper- and lower-level winds, low-level specific humidity, and convective available potential energy (CAPE), with the...
Potential human impacts of overlapping land-use and climate in a sensitive dryland: a case study of the Colorado Plateau, USA
Stella M. Copeland, John B. Bradford, Michael C. Duniway, Rudy Schuster
2017, Ecosphere (8) 1-25
Climate and land-use interactions are likely to affect future environmental and socioeconomic conditions in drylands, which tend to be limited by water resources and prone to land degradation. We characterized the potential for interactions between land-use types and land-use and climate change in a model dryland system, the Colorado Plateau,...
Comparative cophylogenetics of Australian phabine pigeons and doves (Aves: Columbidae) and their feather lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera)
Andrew D. Sweet, R. Terry Chesser, Kevin P. Johnson
2017, International Journal for Parasitology (47) 347-356
Host–parasite coevolutionary histories can differ among multiple groups of parasites associated with the same group of hosts. For example, parasitic wing and body lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) of New World pigeons and doves (Aves: Columbidae) differ in their cophylogenetic patterns, with body lice exhibiting higher phylogenetic congruence with their hosts than...
Using decision analysis to support proactive management of emerging infectious wildlife diseases
Evan H. Campbell Grant, Erin L. Muths, Rachel A. Katz, Stefano Canessa, M. J. Adams, Jennifer R. Ballard, Lee Berger, Cheryl J. Briggs, Jeremy T. H. Coleman, Matthew J. Gray, M. Camille Harris, Reid N. Harris, Blake R. Hossack, Kathryn P. Huyvaert, Jonathan E. Kolby, Karen R. Lips, Robert E. Lovich, Hamish I. McCallum, Joseph R. Mendelson III, Priya Nanjappa, Deanna H. Olson, Jenny G. Powers, Katherine L. D. Richgels, Robin E. Russell, Benedikt R. Schmidt, Annemarieke Spitzen-van der Sluijs, Mary Kay Watry, Douglas C. Woodhams, C. LeAnn White
2017, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (15) 214-221
Despite calls for improved responses to emerging infectious diseases in wildlife, management is seldom considered until a disease has been detected in affected populations. Reactive approaches may limit the potential for control and increase total response costs. An alternative, proactive management framework can identify immediate actions that reduce future impacts...
Challenges for creating a site-specific groundwater-use record for the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system (central USA) from 1900 to 2010
Katherine J. Knierim, Anna M. Nottmeier, Scott C. Worland, Drew A. Westerman, Brian R. Clark
2017, Hydrogeology Journal (25) 1779-1793
Hydrologic budgets to determine groundwater availability are important tools for water-resource managers. One challenging component for developing hydrologic budgets is quantifying water use through time because historical and site-specific water-use data can be sparse or poorly documented. This research developed a groundwater-use record for the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system (central...
Using tri-axial accelerometers to identify wild polar bear behaviors
Anthony M. Pagano, Karyn D. Rode, A. Cutting, M.A. Owen, S. Jensen, J.V. Ware, C.T. Robbins, George M. Durner, Todd C. Atwood, M.E. Obbard, K.R. Middel, G.W. Thiemann, T.M. Williams
2017, Endangered Species Research (32) 19-33
Tri-axial accelerometers have been used to remotely identify the behaviors of a wide range of taxa. Assigning behaviors to accelerometer data often involves the use of captive animals or surrogate species, as their accelerometer signatures are generally assumed to be similar to those of their wild counterparts. However, this has...
Carbon cycling in the mantled karst of the Ozark Plateaus, central United States
Katherine J. Knierim, Erik D. Pollock, Matthew D. Covington, Phillip D. Hays, Kristofor R. Brye
2017, Geoderma Regional (10) 64-76
The nature of carbon (C) cycling in the unsaturated zone where groundwater is in contact with abundant gas-filled voids is poorly understood. The objective of this study was to trace inorganic-C cycling in a karst landscape using stable-C isotopes, with emphasis on a shallow groundwater flow path through the soil,...
Sources, composition and spatial distribution of marine debris along the Mediterranean coast of Israel
Galia Pasternak, Dov Zviely, Christine Ribic, Asaf Ariel, Ehud Spanier
2017, Marine Pollution Bulletin (114) 1036-1045
Marine debris (litter) is a complex problem that affects human activities and the marine environment worldwide. The Clean Coast Program in Israel has had some success in keeping most of the coasts clean most of the time, but without understanding the mechanisms of accumulation of marine debris on the coasts...
Designing a global assessment of climate change on inland fishes and fisheries: knowns and needs
Craig P. Paukert, Abigail J. Lynch, T. Douglas Beard Jr., Yushun Chen, Steven J. Cooke, Michael S. Cooperman, Ian G. Cowx, Dana M. Infante, Lilian Ibengwe, Bonnie Myers, Phu Hoa Nguyen, Ian J. Winfield
2017, Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries (27) 393-409
To date, there are few comprehensive assessments of how climate change affects inland finfish, fisheries, and aquaculture at a global scale, but one is necessary to identify research needs and commonalities across regions and to help guide decision making and funding priorities. Broadly, the consequences of climate change on inland...
Variation in δ15N and δ13C values of forages for Arctic caribou: Effects of location, phenology and simulated digestion
Lindsey L. Vansomeren, Perry S. Barboza, David D. Gustine, M. Syndonia Bret-Harte
2017, Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry (31) 813-820
RationaleThe use of stable isotopes for dietary estimates of wildlife assumes that there are consistent differences in isotopic ratios among diet items, and that the differences in these ratios between the diet item and the animal tissues (i.e., fractionation) are predictable. However, variation in isotopic ratios and fractionation of δ13C...
Coastal bathymetry data collected in May 2015 from Fire Island, New York—Wilderness breach and shoreface
Timothy R. Nelson, Jennifer L. Miselis, Cheryl J. Hapke, Owen T. Brenner, Rachel E. Henderson, Billy J. Reynolds, Kathleen E. Wilson
2017, Data Series 1049
Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, conducted a bathymetric survey of Fire Island from May 6-20, 2015. The USGS is involved in a post-Hurricane Sandy effort to map and monitor the morphologic evolution of the wilderness breach as...
