Selecting focal species as surrogates for imperiled species using relative sensitivities derived from occupancy analysis
Amy Silvano, Craig Guyer, Todd Steury, J. Barry Grand
2017, Ecological Indicators (73) 302-311
Most imperiled species are rare or elusive and difficult to detect, which makes gathering data to estimate their response to habitat restoration a challenge. We used a repeatable, systematic method for selecting focal species using relative sensitivities derived from occupancy analysis. Our objective was to select suites of focal species...
Incorporating temporal heterogeneity in environmental conditions into a somatic growth model
Maria C. Dzul, Charles B. Yackulic, Josh Korman, Michael D. Yard, Jeffrey D. Muehlbauer
2017, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (74) 316-326
Evaluating environmental effects on fish growth can be challenging because environmental conditions may vary at relatively fine temporal scales compared to sampling occasions. Here we develop a Bayesian state-space growth model to evaluate effects of monthly environmental data on growth of fish that are observed less frequently (e.g., from mark-recapture...
Factors influencing movement of two migratory fishes within the tailrace of a large neotropical dam and their implications for hydropower impacts
F. M. Suzuki, Jason B. Dunham, L. G. M. Silva, C. B. M. Alves, P.S. Pompeu
2017, River Research and Applications (33) 514-523
Fish attempting to move upstream through hydroelectric dams can be trapped and killed in turbines. Understanding fish movement patterns can provide useful insights for how to manage dam operations to minimize fish kill in turbines. We evaluated the movements of two migratory fish (Curimba-Prochilodus argenteus and Mandi-Pimelodus maculatus) using acoustic...
Golden Eagle fatalities and the continental-scale consequences of local wind-energy generation
Todd E. Katzner, David M. Nelson, Melissa A. Braham, Jacqueline M. Doyle, Nadia B. Fernandez, Adam E. Duerr, Peter H. Bloom, Matthew C. Fitzpatrick, Tricia A. Miller, Renee C. E. Culver, Loan Braswell, J. Andrew DeWoody
2017, Conservation Biology (31) 406-415
Renewable energy production is expanding rapidly despite mostly unknown environmental effects on wildlife and habitats. We used genetic and stable isotope data collected from Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) killed at the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (APWRA) in California in demographic models to test hypotheses about the geographic extent and...
Reaction softening by dissolution–precipitation creep in a retrograde greenschist facies ductile shear zone, New Hampshire, USA
Ryan J. McAleer, David L. Bish, Michael J. Kunk, Karri R. Sicard, Peter M. Valley, Gregory J. Walsh, Bryan A. Wathen, R. P. Wintsch
2017, Journal of Metamorphic Geology (35) 95-119
We describe strain localization by a mixed process of reaction and microstructural softening in a lower greenschist facies ductile fault zone that transposes and replaces middle to upper amphibolite facies fabrics and mineral assemblages in the host schist of the Littleton Formation near Claremont, New Hampshire. Here, Na-poor muscovite and...
Brook trout use of thermal refugia and foraging habitat influenced by brown trout
Nathaniel P. Hitt, Erin Snook, Danielle L. Massie
2017, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (74) 406-418
The distribution of native brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in eastern North America is often limited by temperature and introduced brown trout (Salmo trutta), the relative importance of which is poorly understood but critical for conservation and restoration planning. We evaluated effects of brown trout on brook trout behavior and habitat...
A century of landscape disturbance and urbanization of the San Francisco Bay region affects the present-day genetic diversity of the California Ridgway’s rail (Rallus obsoletus obsoletus)
Dustin A. Wood, Thuy-Vy D. Bui, Cory T. Overton, Amy G. Vandergast, Michael L. Casazza, Joshua M. Hull, John Y. Takekawa
2017, Conservation Genetics (18) 131-146
Fragmentation and loss of natural habitat have important consequences for wild populations and can negatively affect long-term viability and resilience to environmental change. Salt marsh obligate species, such as those that occupy the San Francisco Bay Estuary in western North America, occupy already impaired habitats as result of human development...
Skeletal variation and taxonomic boundaries among mainland and island populations of the common treeshrew (Mammalia: Scandentia: Tupaiidae)
Eric J. Sargis, Neal Woodman, Natalie C. Morningstar, Tiffany N. Bell, Link E. Olson
2017, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society (120) 286-312
Treeshrews (order Scandentia) include 23 currently recognized species of small-bodied mammals from South and Southeast Asia. The taxonomy of the common treeshrew, Tupaia glis, which inhabits the Malay Peninsula south of the Isthmus of Kra, as well as a variety of offshore islands, has an extremely complicated history resulting from its...
Disentangling density-dependent dynamics using full annual cycle models and Bayesian model weight updating
Orin J. Robinson, Conor P. McGowan, Patrick K. Devers
2017, Journal of Applied Ecology (54) 670-678
Density dependence regulates populations of many species across all taxonomic groups. Understanding density dependence is vital for predicting the effects of climate, habitat loss and/or management actions on wild populations. Migratory species likely experience seasonal changes in the relative influence of density dependence on population processes such...
Legacy or colonization? Posteruption establishment of peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) on a volcanically active subarctic island.
Sarah A. Sonsthagen, J.C. Williams, Gary S. Drew, C.M. White, G. Kevin Sage, Sandra L. Talbot
2017, Ecology and Evolution (7) 107-114
How populations and communities reassemble following disturbances are affected by a number of factors, with the arrival order of founding populations often having a profound influence on later populations and community structure. Kasatochi Island is a small volcano located in the central Aleutian archipelago that erupted violently August 8, 2008,...
Filamentous hydrous ferric oxide biosignatures in a pipeline carrying acid mine drainage at Iron Mountain Mine, California
Amy J. Williams, Charles N. Alpers, Dawn Y. Sumner, Kate M. Campbell
2017, Geomicrobiology Journal (34) 193-206
A pipeline carrying acidic mine effluent at Iron Mountain, CA, developed Fe(III)-rich precipitate caused by oxidation of Fe(II)aq. The native microbial community in the pipe included filamentous microbes. The pipe scale consisted of microbial filaments, and schwertmannite (ferric oxyhydroxysulfate, FOHS) mineral spheres and filaments. FOHS filaments contained central lumina with...
Anoxic nitrate reduction coupled with iron oxidation and attenuation of dissolved arsenic and phosphate in a sand and gravel aquifer
Richard L. Smith, Douglas B. Kent, Deborah A. Repert, J. K. Böhlke
2017, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (196) 102-120
Nitrate has become an increasingly abundant potential electron acceptor for Fe(II) oxidation in groundwater, but this redox couple has not been well characterized within aquifer settings. To investigate this reaction and some of its implications for redox-sensitive groundwater contaminants, we conducted an in situ field study in a wastewater-contaminated aquifer...
Effect of body size and temperature on respiration of Galaxias maculatus (Pisces: Galaxiidae)
D. Milano, P.H. Vigliano, David A. Beauchamp
2017, New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research (52) 295-303
Body mass and temperature are primary determinants of metabolic rate in ectothermic animals. Oxygen consumption of post-larval Galaxias maculatus was measured in respirometry trials under different temperatures (5–21°C) and varying body masses (0.1–>1.5 g) spanning a relevant range of thermal conditions and sizes. Specific respiration rates (R in g O2 g−1...
Sea-level rise and coastal groundwater inundation and shoaling at select sites in California, USA
Daniel J. Hoover, Kingsley Odigie, Peter W. Swarzenski, Patrick L. Barnard
2017, Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies (11) 234-249
Study regionThe study region spans coastal California, USA, and focuses on three primary sites: Arcata, Stinson Beach, and Malibu Lagoon.Study focus1 m and 2 m sea-level rise (SLR) projections were used to assess vulnerability to SLR-driven groundwater emergence and shoaling at select low-lying, coastal sites in California. Separate...
Habitat selection by postbreeding female diving ducks: Influence of habitat attributes and conspecifics
Jane E. Austin, Shawn T. O’Neil, Jeffrey M. Warren
2017, Journal of Avian Biology (48) 295-308
Habitat selection studies of postbreeding waterfowl have rarely focused on within-wetland attributes such as water depth, escape cover, and food availability. Flightless waterfowl must balance habitat selection between avoiding predation risks and feeding. Reproductively successful female ducks face the greatest challenges because they begin the definitive prebasic molt at or...
Geomorphic change and sediment transport during a small artificial flood in a transformed post-dam delta: The Colorado River delta, United States and Mexico
Erich R. Mueller, John C. Schmidt, David J. Topping, Patrick B. Shafroth, Jesus Eliana Rodriguez-Burgueno, Jorge Ramírez-Hernández, Paul E. Grams
2017, Ecological Engineering (106) 757-775
The Colorado River delta is a dramatically transformed landscape. Major changes to river hydrology and morpho-dynamics began following completion of Hoover Dam in 1936. Today, the Colorado River has an intermittent and/or ephemeral channel in much of its former delta. Initial incision of the river channel in the upstream ∼50 km...
Lineage diversification of fringe-toed lizards (Phrynosomatidae: Uma notata complex) in the Colorado Desert: Delimiting species in the presence of gene flow
Andrew D. Gottscho, Dustin A. Wood, Amy G. Vandergast, Julio A. Lemos Espinal, John Gatesy, Tod Reeder
2017, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (106) 103-117
Multi-locus nuclear DNA data were used to delimit species of fringe-toed lizards of theUma notata complex, which are specialized for living in wind-blown sand habitats in the deserts of southwestern North America, and to infer whether Quaternary glacial cycles or Tertiary geological events were important in shaping the historical biogeography...
Custom map projections for regional groundwater models
Eve L. Kuniansky
2017, Groundwater (55) 255-260
For regional groundwater flow models (areas greater than 100,000 km2), improper choice of map projection parameters can result in model error for boundary conditions dependent on area (recharge or evapotranspiration simulated by application of a rate using cell area from model discretization) and length (rivers simulated with head-dependent flux boundary)....
Quantification of storm-induced bathymetric change in a back-barrier estuary
Neil K. Ganju, Steven E. Suttles, Alexis Beudin, Daniel J. Nowacki, Jennifer L. Miselis, Brian D. Andrews
2017, Estuaries and Coasts (40) 22-36
Geomorphology is a fundamental control on ecological and economic function of estuaries. However, relative to open coasts, there has been little quantification of storm-induced bathymetric change in back-barrier estuaries. Vessel-based and airborne bathymetric mapping can cover large areas quickly, but change detection is difficult because measurement errors can be larger...
Low-cost grass restoration using erosion barriers in a degraded African rangeland
David W Kimiti, Corinna Riginos, Jayne Belnap
2017, Restoration Ecology (25) 376-384
Rangeland degradation, typified by extensive bare ground and soil erosion, is a serious problem around the world. In sub-Saharan Africa, rangeland degradation threatens the food security of millions of people who depend on livestock and the region's large mammalian wildlife diversity. We tested the ability of five simple, low-cost erosion...
Mechanistic variables can enhance predictive models of endotherm distributions: The American pika under current, past, and future climates
Paul Mathewson, Lucas Moyer-Horner, Erik A. Beever, Natalie Briscoe, Michael T. Kearney, Jeremiah Yahn, Warren P. Porter
2017, Global Change Biology (23) 1048-1064
How climate constrains species’ distributions through time and space is an important question in the context of conservation planning for climate change. Despite increasing awareness of the need to incorporate mechanism into species distribution models (SDMs), mechanistic modeling of endotherm distributions remains limited in this literature. Using the American pika...
No evidence of infection or exposure to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenzas in peridomestic wildlife on an affected poultry facility
Daniel A. Grear, Robert J. Dusek, Daniel P. Walsh, Jeffrey S. Hall
2017, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (53) 37-45
We evaluated the potential transmission of avian influenza viruses (AIV) in wildlife species in three settings in association with an outbreak at a poultry facility: 1) small birds and small mammals on a poultry facility that was affected with highly pathogenic AIV (HPAIV) in April 2015; 2) small birds and...
Divergent life histories of invasive round gobies (Neogobius melanostomus) in Lake Michigan and its tributaries
Matthew Kornis, Brian Weidel, M. Jake Vander Zanden
2017, Ecology of Freshwater Fish (26) 563-574
Round gobies (Neogobius melanostomus) have invaded benthic habitats of the Laurentian Great Lakes and connected tributary streams. Although connected, these two systems generally differ in temperature (Great Lakes are typically colder), food availability (Dreissenid mussels are more prevalent in Great Lakes), and system size and openness. Here, we compare round...
Stochastic programming with a joint chance constraint model for reservoir refill operation considering flood risk
Bin Xu, Scott E. Boyce, Yu Zhang, Qiang Liu, Le Guo, Ping-An Zhong
2017, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management (143)
Reservoir refill operation modeling attempts to maximize a set of benefits while minimizing risks. The benefits and risks can be in opposition to each other, such as having enough water for hydropower generation while leaving enough room for flood protection. In addition to multiple objects, the uncertainty of streamflow can...
Barrier displacement on a neutral landscape: Towards a theory of continental biogeography
James S. Albert, Donald Schoolmaster, Victor Tagliacollo, Scott M. Duke-Sylvester
2017, Systematic Biology (66) 167-182
Macroevolutionary theory posits three processes leading to lineage diversification and the formation of regional biotas: dispersal (species geographic range expansion), speciation (species lineage splitting), and extinction (species lineage termination). The Theory of Island Biogeography (TIB) predicts species richness values using just two of these processes; dispersal and extinction. Yet...
