Informing watershed connectivity barrier prioritization decisions: A synthesis
S. K. McKay, A. R. Cooper, M.W. Diebel, D. Elkins, G. Oldford, C. Roghair, Daniel J. Wieferich
2017, River Research and Applications (33) 847-862
Water resources and transportation infrastructure such as dams and culverts provide countless socio-economic benefits; however, this infrastructure can also disconnect the movement of organisms, sediment, and water through river ecosystems. Trade-offs associated with these competing costs and benefits occur globally, with applications in barrier addition (e.g. dam and road construction),...
Primary sources and toxicity of PAHs in Milwaukee-area streambed sediment
Austin K. Baldwin, Steven R. Corsi, Michelle A. Lutz, Christopher G. Ingersoll, Rebecca A. Dorman, Christopher Magruder, Matthew Magruder
2017, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (36) 1622-1635
High concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in streams can be a significant stressor to aquatic organisms. To understand the likely sources and toxicity of PAHs in Milwaukee-area streams, streambed sediment samples from 40 sites and parking lot dust samples from 6 sites were analyzed for 38 parent PAHs and...
Bed texture mapping in large rivers using recreational-grade sidescan sonar
Daniel Hamill, Joseph M. Wheaton, Daniel D. Buscombe, Paul E. Grams, Theodore S. Melis
2017, Conference Paper, River Flow 2016--Eighth International Conference on Fluvial Hydraulics
The size-distribution and spatial organization of bed sediment, or bed ‘texture’, is a fundamental attribute of natural channels and is one important component of the physical habitat of aquatic ecosystems. ‘Recreational-grade’ sidescan sonar systems now offer the possibility of imaging, and subsequently quantifying bed texture at high resolution with minimal...
A comprehensive survey of faults, breccias, and fractures in and flanking the eastern Española Basin, Rio Grande rift, New Mexico
Jonathan S. Caine, Scott A. Minor, V. J. S. Grauch, James R. Budahn, Tucker T. Keren
2017, Geosphere (13) 1566-1609
A comprehensive survey of geologic structures formed in the Earth’s brittle regime in the eastern Española Basin and flank of the Rio Grande rift, New Mexico, reveals a complex and protracted record of multiple tectonic events. Data and analyses from this representative rift flank-basin pair include measurements from 53 individual...
Trade-offs and efficiencies in optimal budget-constrained multispecies corridor networks
Bistra Dilkina, Rachel Houtman, Carla P. Gomes, Claire A. Montgomery, Kevin McKelvey, Katherine Kendall, Tabitha A. Graves, Michael K. Schwartz, Richard Bernstein
2017, Conservation Biology (31) 192-202
Conservation biologists recognize that a system of isolated protected areas will be necessary but insufficient to meet biodiversity objectives. Current approaches to connecting core conservation areas through corridors consider optimal corridor placement based on a single optimization goal: commonly, maximizing the movement for a target species across a network of...
Effects of varying obliquity on Martian sublimation thermokarst landforms
Colin M. Dundas
2017, Icarus (281) 115-120
Scalloped depressions in the Martian mid-latitudes are likely formed by sublimation of ice-rich ground. The stability of subsurface ice changes with the planetary obliquity, generally becoming less stable at lower axial tilt. As a result, the relative rates of sublimation and creep change over time. A landscape evolution model shows...
Spatially intensive sampling by electrofishing for assessing longitudinal discontinuities in fish distribution in a headwater stream
Celine Le Pichon, Evelyne Tales, Jerome Belliard, Christian E. Torgersen
2017, Fisheries Research (185) 90-101
Spatially intensive sampling by electrofishing is proposed as a method for quantifying spatial variation in fish assemblages at multiple scales along extensive stream sections in headwater catchments. We used this method to sample fish species at 10-m2 points spaced every 20 m throughout 5 km of a headwater stream in France. The...
Simple, efficient allocation of modelling runs on heterogeneous clusters with MPI
David I. Donato
2017, Environmental Modelling and Software (88) 48-57
In scientific modelling and computation, the choice of an appropriate method for allocating tasks for parallel processing depends on the computational setting and on the nature of the computation. The allocation of independent but similar computational tasks, such as modelling runs or Monte Carlo trials, among the nodes of a...
Estimating linear temporal trends from aggregated environmental monitoring data
Richard A. Erickson, Brian R. Gray, Eric A. Eager
2017, Ecological Indicators (74) 62-72
Trend estimates are often used as part of environmental monitoring programs. These trends inform managers (e.g., are desired species increasing or undesired species decreasing?). Data collected from environmental monitoring programs is often aggregated (i.e., averaged), which confounds sampling and process variation. State-space models allow sampling variation and process variations to...
Contribution of manipulable and non-manipulable environmental factors to trapping efficiency of invasive sea lamprey
Heather A. Dawson, Gale Bravener, Joshua Beaulaurier, Nicholas S. Johnson, Michael Twohey, Robert L. McLaughlin, Travis O. Brenden
2017, Journal of Great Lakes Research (43) 172-181
We identified aspects of the trapping process that afforded opportunities for improving trap efficiency of invasive sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) in a Great Lake's tributary. Capturing a sea lamprey requires it to encounter the trap, enter, and be retained until removed. Probabilities of these events depend on the interplay between...
Estuary-ocean connectivity: Fast physics, slow biology
Melanie Raimonet, James E. Cloern
2017, Global Change Biology (23) 2345-2357
Estuaries are connected to both land and ocean so their physical, chemical, and biological dynamics are influenced by climate patterns over watersheds and ocean basins. We explored climate-driven oceanic variability as a source of estuarine variability by comparing monthly time series of temperature and chlorophyll-a inside San Francisco Bay with...
A computational fluid dynamics modeling study of guide walls for downstream fish passage
Kevin Mulligan, Brett Towler, Alexander J. Haro, David P. Ahlfeld
2017, Ecological Engineering (99) 324-332
A partial-depth, impermeable guidance structure (or guide wall) for downstream fish passage is typically constructed as a series of panels attached to a floating boom and anchored across a water body (e.g. river channel, reservoir, or power canal). The downstream terminus of the wall is generally located nearby to a...
Estimating occurrence and detection probabilities for stream-breeding salamanders in the Gulf Coastal Plain
Jennifer Y. Lamb, J. Hardin Waddle, Carl P. Qualls
2017, Journal of Herpetology (51) 102-108
Large gaps exist in our knowledge of the ecology of stream-breeding plethodontid salamanders in the Gulf Coastal Plain. Data describing where these salamanders are likely to occur along environmental gradients, as well as their likelihood of detection, are important for the prevention and management of amphibian declines. We used presence/absence...
Multi-species coral Sr/Ca-based sea-surface temperature reconstruction using Orbicella faveolata and Siderastrea siderea from the Florida Straits
Jennifer A. Flannery, Julie N. Richey, Kaustubh Thirumalai, Richard Z. Poore, Kristine L. DeLong
2017, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (466) 100-109
We present new, monthly-resolved Sr/Ca-based sea-surface temperature (SST) records from two species of massive coral, Orbicella faveolata and Siderastrea siderea, from the Dry Tortugas National Park, FL, USA (DTNP). We combine these new records with published data from three additional S. siderea coral colonies to generate a 278-year long multi-species...
Computing spatial correlation of ground motion intensities for ShakeMap
Sarah Verros, David J. Wald, Charles Worden, Mike Hearne, Mahadevan Ganesh
2017, Computers & Geosciences (99) 145-154
Modeling the spatial correlation of ground motion residuals, caused by coherent contributions from source, path, and site, can provide valuable loss and hazard information, as well as a more realistic depiction of ground motion intensities. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) software package, ShakeMap, utilizes a deterministic empirical approach to estimate...
Spatially explicit modeling in ecology: A review
Donald L. DeAngelis, Simeon Yurek
2017, Ecosystems (20) 284-300
The use of spatially explicit models (SEMs) in ecology has grown enormously in the past two decades. One major advancement has been that fine-scale details of landscapes, and of spatially dependent biological processes, such as dispersal and invasion, can now be simulated with great precision, due to improvements in computer...
Soils mediate the impact of fine woody debris on invasive and native grasses as whole trees are mechanically shredded into firebreaks in piñon-juniper woodlands
Zachary T. Aanderud, Donald R. Schoolmaster Jr., Deborah Rigby, Jordon Bybee, Tayte Campbell, Bruce A. Roundy
2017, Journal of Arid Environments (137) 60-68
To stem wildfires, trees are being mechanically shredded into firebreaks with the resulting fine woody debris (FWD) potentially exerting immense control over soil and plants. We linked FWD-induced changes in microbial activity and nutrient availability to the frequency of Bromus tectorum and three native, perennial grasses across 31 piñon-juniper woodlands,...
Rare earth element behavior during groundwater – seawater mixing along the Kona Coast of Hawaii
Karen H. Johannesson, C. Dianne Palmore, Joseph Fackrell, Nancy G. Prouty, Peter W. Swarzenski, Darren A. Chevis, Katherine Telfeyan, Christopher D. White, David J. Burdige
2017, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (198) 229-258
Groundwater and seawater samples were collected from nearshore wells and offshore along the Kona Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii to investigate rare earth element (REE) behavior in local subterranean estuaries. Previous investigations showed that submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is the predominant flux of terrestrial waters to the coastal...
Can private land conservation reduce wildfire risk to homes? A case study in San Diego County, California, USA
Van Butsic, Alexandra D. Syphard, Jon E. Keeley, Avi Bar-Massada
2017, Landscape and Urban Planning (157) 161-169
The purchase of private land for conservation purposes is a common way to prevent the exploitation of sensitive ecological areas. However, private land conservation can also provide other benefits, one of these being natural hazard reduction. Here, we investigated the impacts of private land conservation on fire risk to homes...
Cryptic invasion of Northern Leopard Frogs (Rana pipiens) across phylogeographic boundaries and a dilemma for conservation of a declining amphibian
Ryan P. O’Donnell, Charles A. Drost, Karen E. Mock
2017, Biological Invasions (19) 1039-1052
Anthropogenic introduction of species is a major contributor to loss of biodiversity. Translocations within the range of a species are less frequently recognized, but have the potential for negative effects as well. Genetic mixing may lead to loss of local adaptations or further decline through outbreeding depression. These cryptic invasions...
Patterns and drivers for wetland connections in the Prairie Pothole Region, United States
Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Jay R. Christensen, Laurie C. Alexander
2017, Wetlands Ecology and Management (25) 275-297
Ecosystem function in rivers, lakes and coastal waters depends on the functioning of upstream aquatic ecosystems, necessitating an improved understanding of watershed-scale interactions including variable surface-water flows between wetlands and streams. As surface water in the Prairie Pothole Region expands in wet years, surface-water connections occur between many depressional wetlands...
A serosurvey of Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in Nevada, USA
Nancy L Sinai, Peter S. Coates, Katelyn M. Andrle, Chad Jefferis, C. Gabriel Sentíes–Cué, Maurice E. Pitesky
2017, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (53) 136-139
To better understand the potential avian diseases in Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in the Great Basin in Nevada, we collected 31 blood samples March–April 2014 and tested for antibodies to eight viruses and two bacteria. Specifically, sera were tested for antibodies to avian leukosis virus type A, B, and J...
Extinction debt as a driver of amphibian declines: An example with imperiled flatwoods salamanders
Raymond D Semiltsch, Susan C. Walls, William J. Barichivich, Katherine M. O’Donnell
2017, Journal of Herpetology (51) 12-18
A comprehensive view of population declines and their underlying causes is necessary to reverse species loss. Historically, in many cases, a narrow view may have allowed species declines to continue, virtually undetected, for long periods of time (perhaps even decades). We suggest that extinction debt is likely responsible for numerous...
AnimalFinder: A semi-automated system for animal detection in time-lapse camera trap images
Jennifer L. Price Tack, Brian S. West, Conor P. McGowan, Stephen S. Ditchkoff, Stanley J. Reeves, Allison Keever, J. Barry Grand
2017, Ecological Informatics (36) 145-151
Although the use of camera traps in wildlife management is well established, technologies to automate image processing have been much slower in development, despite their potential to drastically reduce personnel time and cost required to review photos. We developed AnimalFinder in MATLAB® to identify animal presence in time-lapse camera trap...
Removing sun glint from optical remote sensing images of shallow rivers
Brandon T. Overstreet, Carl J. Legleiter
2017, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (42) 318-333
Sun glint is the specular reflection of light from the water surface, which often causes unusually bright pixel values that can dominate fluvial remote sensing imagery and obscure the water-leaving radiance signal of interest for mapping bathymetry, bottom type, or water column optical characteristics. Although sun glint is ubiquitous in...
