A new biogeographically disjunct giant gecko (Gehyra: Gekkonidae: Reptilia) from the East Melanesian Islands
Paul M. Oliver, Jonathan R. Clegg, Robert N. Fisher, Stephen J. Richards, Peter N. Taylor, Merlijn M. T. Jocque
2016, Zootaxa (4208) 61-76
The East Melanesian Islands have been a focal area for research into island biogeography and community ecology. However, previously undescribed and biogeographically significant new species endemic to this region continue to be discovered. Here we describe a phylogenetically distinct (~20% divergence at the mitochondrial ND2 gene) and biogeographically disjunct new...
Status of scientific knowledge, recovery progress, and future research directions for the Gulf Sturgeon, Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi Vladykov, 1955
Kenneth J. Sulak, F Parauka, W. Todd Slack, T Ruth, Michael T. Randall, K Luke, M. F Mette, M. E Price
2016, Journal of Applied Ichthyology (32) 87-161
The Gulf Sturgeon, Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi, is an anadromous species of Acipenseridae and native to North America. It currently inhabits and spawns in the upper reaches of seven natal rivers along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico from the Suwannee River, Florida, to the Pearl River, Louisiana, during...
Impacts of short-rotation early-growing season prescribed fire on a ground nesting bird in the central hardwoods region of North America
H. Tyler Pittman, David G. Krementz
2016, PLoS ONE (11) 1-14
Landscape-scale short-rotation early-growing season prescribed fire, hereafter prescribed fire, in upland hardwood forests represents a recent shift in management strategies across eastern upland forests. Not only does this strategy depart from dormant season to growing season prescriptions, but the strategy also moves from stand-scale to landscape-scale implementation (>1,000 ha). This...
Environmental variability and population dynamics: Do European and North American ducks play by the same rules?
Hannu Poysa, Jukka Rintala, Douglas H. Johnson, Jukka Kauppinen, Esa Lammi, Thomas D. Nudds, Veli-Matti Vaananen
2016, Ecology and Evolution (6) 7004-7014
Density dependence, population regulation, and variability in population size are fundamental population processes, the manifestation and interrelationships of which are affected by environmental variability. However, there are surprisingly few empirical studies that distinguish the effect of environmental variability from the effects of population processes. We took advantage of a unique...
Water isotope systematics: Improving our palaeoclimate interpretations
M. D. Jones, S. Dee, L. Anderson, A. Baker, G. Bowen, D. Noone
2016, Quaternary Science Reviews (131) 243-249
The stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen, measured in a variety of archives, are widely used proxies in Quaternary Science. Understanding the processes that control δ18O change have long been a focus of research (e.g. Shackleton and Opdyke, 1973; Talbot, 1990 ; Leng, 2006). Both the dynamics of water isotope...
Space and habitat use by breeding Golden-winged Warblers in the central Appalachian Mountains
Mack W. Frantz, Kyle R. Aldinger, Petra Wood, Joseph Duchamp, Timothy Nuttle, Andrew Vitz, Jeffrey L. Larkin
2016, Book chapter, Golden-winged Warbler ecology, conservation, and habitat management (Studies in Avian Biology, volume 49)
Spot-mapping, or recording locations of observed use by territorial songbirds, is often used to delineate core breeding territories. However, a recent radiotelemetry study in Minnesota found that male Golden-winged Warblers (Vermivora chrysoptera) occurring in high-density populations used resources outside their spot-mapped territories. We compared differences in space use and quantified...
Arctic Research Plan: FY2017-2021
Sandy Starkweather, Martin O Jeffries, Simon Stephenson, Rebecca Anderson, Benjamin M. Jones, Rachel A. Loehman, Vanessa R. von Biela
2016, Report
The United States is an Arctic nation—Americans depend on the Arctic for biodiversity and climate regulation and for natural resources. America’s Arctic—Alaska—is at the forefront of rapid climate, environmental, and socio-economic changes that are testing the resilience and sustainability of communities and ecosystems. Research to increase fundamental understanding of these...
Spatially explicit models of full-season productivity and implications for landscape management of Golden-winged Warblers in the western Great Lakes Region
Sean M. Peterson, Henry M. Streby, David E. Andersen
2016, Book chapter, Golden-winged Warbler ecology, conservation, and habitat management (Studies in Avian Biology, volume 49)
The relationship between landscape structure and composition and full-season productivity (FSP) is poorly understood for most birds. For species of high conservation concern, insight into how productivity is related to landscape structure and composition can be used to develop more effective conservation strategies that increase recruitment. We monitored nest productivity...
Role for migratory wild birds in the global spread of avian influenza H5N8
The Global Consortium for H5N8 and Related Influenza Viruses, S. Ip
2016, Science (354) 213-217
Avian influenza viruses affect both poultry production and public health. A subtype H5N8 (clade 2.3.4.4) virus, following an outbreak in poultry in South Korea in January 2014, rapidly spread worldwide in 2014–2015. Our analysis of H5N8 viral sequences, epidemiological investigations, waterfowl migration, and poultry trade showed that long-distance migratory birds...
Geography and host species shape the evolutionary dynamics of U genogroup infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus
Allison Black, Rachel Breyta, Trevor Bedford, Gael Kurath
2016, Virus Evolution (2)
Infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) is a negative-sense RNA virus that infects wild and cultured salmonids throughout the Pacific Coastal United States and Canada, from California to Alaska. Although infection of adult fish is usually asymptomatic, juvenile infections can result in high mortality events that impact salmon hatchery programs and...
A cytosolic carbonic anhydrase molecular switch occurs in the gills of metamorphic sea lamprey
D. Ferreira-Martins, Stephen D. McCormick, A. Campos, M. Lopes-Marques, H. Osorio, J. Coimbra, L.F.C. Castro, Jonthan M Wilson
2016, Scientific Reports (6) 1-11
Carbonic anhydrase plays a key role in CO2 transport, acid-base and ion regulation and metabolic processes in vertebrates. While several carbonic anhydrase isoforms have been identified in numerous vertebrate species, basal lineages such as the cyclostomes have remained largely unexamined. Here we investigate the repertoire of cytoplasmic carbonic anhydrases in...
Landslide hazards and climate change: A perspective from the United States
Jeffrey A. Coe
2016, Book chapter, Slope safety preparedness for impact of climate change
No abstract available. ...
Novel picornavirus associated with avian keratin disorder in Alaskan birds
Maxine Zylberberg, Caroline R. Van Hemert, John P. Dumbacher, Colleen M. Handel, Tarik Tihan, Joseph L. DeRisi
2016, mBio (7) 1-10
Avian keratin disorder (AKD), characterized by debilitating overgrowth of the avian beak, was first documented in black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) in Alaska. Subsequently, similar deformities have appeared in numerous species across continents. Despite the widespread distribution of this emerging pathology, the cause of AKD remains elusive. As a result, it...
Mineral resources: Reserves, peak production and the future
Lawrence D. Meinert, Gilpin Robinson, Nedal T. Nassar
2016, Resources (5)
The adequacy of mineral resources in light of population growth and rising standards of living has been a concern since the time of Malthus (1798), but many studies erroneously forecast impending peak production or exhaustion because they confuse reserves with “all there is”. Reserves are formally defined as a subset...
Book Review: Penguins: The ultimate guide
Katie M. Dugger
2016, Wilson Journal of Ornithology (128) 212-214
No abstract available....
Measuring distance “as the horse runs”: Cross-scale comparison of terrain-based metrics
Barbara P. Buttenfield, M Ghandehari, S Leyk, Larry V. Stanislawski, M E Brantley, Yi Qiang
2016, Conference Paper
Distance metrics play significant roles in spatial modeling tasks, such as flood inundation (Tucker and Hancock 2010), stream extraction (Stanislawski et al. 2015), power line routing (Kiessling et al. 2003) and analysis of surface pollutants such as nitrogen (Harms et al. 2009). Avalanche risk is based on slope, aspect, and...
Pan-arctic trends in terrestrial dissolved organic matter from optical measurements
Paul J. Mann, Robert G. M. Spencer, Peter J. Hernes, Johan Six, George R. Aiken, Suzanne E. Tank, James W. McClelland, Kenna D. Butler, Rachael Y. Dyda, Robert M. Holmes
2016, Frontiers in Earth Science (4)
Climate change is causing extensive warming across Arctic regions resulting in permafrost degradation, alterations to regional hydrology and shifting amounts and composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) transported by streams and rivers. Here, we characterize the DOM composition and optical properties of the six largest Arctic rivers draining into the...
2016 update on induced earthquakes in the United States
Mark D. Petersen
2016, Book chapter, 2016 Britannica Book of the Year (A Review of 2015)
During the past decade people living in numerous locations across the central U.S. experienced many more small to moderate sized earthquakes than ever before. This earthquake activity began increasing about 2009 and peaked during 2015 and into early 2016. For example, prior to 2009 Oklahoma typically experienced 1 or...
Protecting national parks from air pollution effects: Making sausage from science and policy
Jill S. Baron, Tamara Blett, William C. Malm, Ruth Alexander, Holly Doremus
2016, Book chapter
The story of air pollution research, policy development, and management in national parks is a fascinating blend of cultural change, vision, interdisciplinary and interagency collaboration, and science-policy-management-stakeholder collaborations. Unable to ignore the loss of iconic vistas from regional haze and loss of fish from acid rain in the 1980s, the...
Prospects and limitations of citizen science in invasive species management: A case study with Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park
Bryan Falk, Raymond W. Snow, Robert Reed
2016, Southeastern Naturalist (15) 89-102
Citizen-science programs have the potential to contribute to the management of invasive species, including Python molurus bivittatus (Burmese Python) in Florida. We characterized citizen-science–generated Burmese Python information from Everglades National Park (ENP) to explore how citizen science may be useful in this effort. As an initial step, we compiled and...
Whitebark pine mortality related to white pine blister rust, mountain pine beetle outbreak, and water availability
Erin Shanahan, Kathryn M. Irvine, David P. Thoma, Siri K. Wilmoth, Andrew Ray, Kristin Legg, Henry Shovic
2016, Ecosphere (7)
Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) forests in the western United States have been adversely affected by an exotic pathogen (Cronartium ribicola, causal agent of white pine blister rust), insect outbreaks (Dendroctonus ponderosae, mountain pine beetle), and drought. We monitored individual trees from 2004 to 2013 and characterized stand-level biophysical conditions through...
Memorial to Robert Leland Smith 1920-2016
Charles R. Bacon
2016, Geological Society of America Memorials (45) 19-25
Robert L. Smith, renowned volcanologist and distinguished scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), was a world authority on ash-flow tuffs, silicic volcanism, and caldera structures. Bob died peacefully in Sacramento, California, June 17, 2016, a few days short of his ninety-sixth birthday. His publications on ash flows and their...
Defining resilience: A preliminary integrative literature review
Bonnie Wilt, Suzanna K. Long, Thomas G. Shoberg
2016, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Management 2016
The term “resilience” is ubiquitous in technical literature; it appears in numerous forms, such as resilience, resiliency, or resilient, and each use may have a different definition depending on the interpretation of the writer. This creates difficulties in understanding what is meant by ‘resilience’ in any given use case, especially...
Dissolved organic matter composition of Arctic rivers: Linking permafrost and parent material to riverine carbon
Jonathan A. O’Donnell, George R. Aiken, David K. Swanson, Panda Santosh, Kenna D. Butler, Andrew P. Baltensperger
2016, Global Biogeochemical Cycles (30) 1811-1826
Recent climate change in the Arctic is driving permafrost thaw, which has important implications for regional hydrology and global carbon dynamics. Permafrost is an important control on groundwater dynamics and the amount and chemical composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) transported by high-latitude rivers. The consequences of permafrost thaw for...
A novel, non-removal method for closing drainage tile for ecological restorations
Raymond Finocchiaro, Dave A. Azure, Michael A. Vargo
2016, Ecological Restoration (34) 273-276
This article discussing the use of a new method and approach for closing tile for hydrological restorations without removal of the tile pipe and allows for more flexibility in restoration design....
