Propagating observation errors to enable scalable and rigorous enumeration of plant population abundance with aerial imagery
Andrii Zaiats, Trevor Caughlin, Jennyffer Cruz, David S. Pilliod, Megan E Cattau, Rongsong Liu, Richard Rachman, Maisha Maliha, Donna M. Delparte, John DF Clare
2024, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (15) 2074-2086
Estimating and monitoring plant population size is fundamental for ecological research, as well as conservation and restoration programs. High-resolution imagery has potential to facilitate such estimation and monitoring. However, remotely sensed estimates typically have higher uncertainty than field measurements, risking biased inference on...
Accounting for multiple uncertainties in a decision-support population viability assessment
Erica M. Christensen, Abigail Jean Lawson, E. Rivenbark, P.K. London, D. Castellanos, J.C. Culbertson, S.M. DeMay, C. Eakin, L.S. Pearson, K. Soileau, J. Hardin Waddle, Conor P. McGowan
2024, Biological Conservation (299)
Conservation and management decisions often must be made on strict timelines, based on the “best available information” regarding a species’ current and expected future status. Simulation models are valuable tools for predicting a species’ future status but must incorporate multiple types of uncertainty in order to provide a complete understanding...
Landsat geometric and radiometric calibration and characterization
Jerad Shaw, Cody Anderson, Mike Choate, Esad Micijevic
2024, Fact Sheet 2024-3039
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science Calibration and Validation (Cal/Val) Center of Excellence (ECCOE) focuses on improving the accuracy, precision, calibration, and product quality of remote-sensing data, leveraging years of multiscale optical system geometric and radiometric calibration and characterization experience. The ECCOE Landsat Cal/Val team...
Earth observation remote sensing tools—Assessing systems, trends, and characteristics
Simon J. Cantrell, Jeff Clauson, Cody Anderson
2024, Fact Sheet 2024-3040
With the ever-increasing number of civil and commercial remote-sensing satellite launches in recent years, the Earth Observation community needs to better understand the quality of new data products as they become available for scientific research purposes....
Peering into the eye of the sea lamprey: What can stable isotopes in lamprey eye lenses reveal about their life history?
Thomas M. Evans, Joseph D. Zydlewski
2024, Environmental Biology of Fishes (107) 1155-1169
The Atlantic sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) is an anadromous species which is a detritivore for years in freshwater, before metamorphosing into a juvenile and feeding parasitically at sea. However, their migratory patterns and marine ecology are poorly characterized. In other fishes, chemical analysis of calcified structures has aided in understanding...
Northern Mexican gartersnake demographics and movement ecology
Javan Mathias Bauder, Anthony Pawlicki, Matt Goode
2024, Cooperator Science Series CSS-158-2024
The northern Mexican gartersnake (Thamnophis eques; hereafter NMGS) is a federally threatened species occurring in riparian areas in central and southeast Arizona and west-central New Mexico. While previous studies have examined the ecology of this species in central Arizona, less is known about NMGS ecology in grassland landscapes of southeast...
Drivers of woody dominance across global drylands
Lucio Biancari, Martin R. Aguiar, David J. Eldridge, Gastón R. Oñatibia, Yoann Le Bagousse-Pinguet, Hugo Saiz, Nicolas Gross, Amy T. Austin, Victoria Ochoa, Beatriz Gozalo, Sergio Asensio, Emilio Guirado, Enrique Valencia, Miguel Berdugo, Cesar Plaza, Jaime Martinez-Valderrama, Betty J. Mendoza, Miguel García-Gómez, Mehdi Abedi, Rodrigo J. Ahumada, Julio M. Alcantara, Fateh Amghar, Jose D. Anadon, Valeria Aramayo, Tulio Arredondo, Maaike Y. Bader, Khadijeh Bahalkeh, Farah Ben Salem, Niels Blaum, Bazartseren Boldgiv, Matthew A. Bowker, Cristina Branquinho, Chongfeng Bu, Batbold Byambatsogt, Dianela A. Calvo, Andrea P. Castillo Monroy, Helena Castro, Patricio Castro-Quezada, Roukaya Chibani, Abel A. Conceição, Courtney M. Currier, David A. Donoso, Andrew David Dougill, Hamid Ejtehadi, Carlos I. Espinosa, Alex Fajardo, Mohammad Farzam, Daniela Ferrante, Lauchlan H. Fraser, Juan J. Gaitan, Laureano A. Gherardi, Elizabeth Gusman-Montalvan, Rosa M. Hernández-Hernández, Norbert Holzel, Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald, Frederic M. Hughes, Oswaldo Jadan-Maza, Florian Jeltsch, Anke Jentsch, Mengchen Ju, Kudzai F. Kaseke, Liana Kindermann, Melanie Kobel, Peter C. le Roux, Pierre Liancourt, Anja Linstadter, Jushan Liu, Michelle A. Louw, Gillian Maggs-Kolling, Oumarou Malam Issa, Eugene Marais, Pierre Margerie, Joao Vitor S. Messeder, Juan P. Mora, Gerardo Moreno, Seth M. Munson, Gabriel Oliva, Yolanda Pueyo, R. Emiliano Quiroga, Sasha C. Reed, Pedro J. Rey, Alexandra Rodriguez, Laura B. Rodriguez, Víctor Rolo, Jan C. Ruppert, Osvaldo E. Sala, Ayman Salah, Ilan Stavi, Colton R. A. Stephens, Anthony M. Swemmer, Alberto L. Teixido, Andrew D. Thomas, Heather L. Throop, Katja Tielborger, Samantha K. Travers, Liesbeth van den Brink, Viktoria Wagner, Wanyoike Wamiti, Deli Wang, Lixin Wang, Peter Wolff, Laura Yahdjian, Eli Zaady, Fernando T. Maestre
2024, Science Advances (10)
Increases in the abundance of woody species have been reported to affect the provisioning of ecosystem services in drylands worldwide. However, it is virtually unknown how multiple biotic and abiotic drivers, such as climate, grazing, and fire, interact to determine woody dominance across global drylands. We conducted a standardized field...
Tracking mangrove condition changes using dense Landsat time series
Xiucheng Yang, Zhe Zhu, Kevin D. Kroeger, Shi Qiu, Scott Covington, Jeremy R. Conrad, Zhiliang Zhu
2024, Remote Sensing of Environment (315)
Mangroves in tropical and subtropical coasts are subject to episodic disturbances, notably from severe storms, leading to potential widespread vegetation mortality. The ability of vegetation to recover varies, and with disturbances becoming more frequent and severe, it is vital to track and project vegetation responses to support management and policy...
Lake temperature and morphometry shape the thermal composition of recreational fishing catch
Lyndsie S. Wszola, Nicholas A. Sievert, Abigail J. Lynch, Holly Susan Embke, Anna L. Kaz, Matthew D. Robertson, Stephen R. Midway, Craig P. Paukert
2024, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (153) 746-762
ObjectiveManaging freshwater fisheries in warming lakes is challenging because climate change impacts anglers, fish, and their interactions.MethodsWe integrated recent models of current and future lake temperatures with recreational fisheries catch data from 587 lakes in three north-central U.S. states (Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin) to...
Reducing wastewater nitrogen loading by >90% with carbon-amended septic systems: A field demonstration in Barnstable (Cape Cod), Massachusetts
Laura Erban, Sara Wigginton, Brian Baumgaertel, Bryan Horsley, Timothy D. McCobb, Zee Crocker, Scott Horsley, Timothy Gleason
2024, Journal of Environmental Management (370)
Onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTS) are a major source of excess nutrients and co-pollutants in watersheds across the United States. In Barnstable County (Cape Cod), Massachusetts, effluent from septic systems and cesspools contributes approximately 80% of the controllable reactive nitrogen...
Previous reproductive success and environmental variation influence nest-site fidelity of a subarctic-nesting goose
Jordan M. Thompson, Brian D. Uher-Koch, Bryan L. Daniels, Thomas V. Riecke, Joel A. Schmutz, Benjamin S. Sedinger
2024, Ecology and Evolution (14)
Nest-site fidelity is a common strategy in birds and is believed to be adaptive due to familiarity with local conditions. Returning to previously successful nest sites (i.e., the win-stay lose-switch strategy) may be beneficial when habitat quality is spatially variable and temporally predictable; however, changes in environmental conditions may constrain...
When and where can coastal wetland restoration increase carbon sequestration as a natural climate solution?
Scott F. Jones, Ariane Arias-Ortiz, Dennis Baldocchi, Meagan J. Eagle, Daniel A. Friess, Catrina Gore, Gregory E. Noe, Stefanie Nolte, Patty Oikawa, Adina Paytan, Jacqueline L. Raw, Brian J. Roberts, Kerrylee Rogers, Charles A Schutte, Camille Stagg, Karen M. Thorne, Eric J. Ward, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Eric S. Yando
2024, Coastal Futures (2)
Coastal wetlands are hotspots of carbon sequestration, and their conservation and restoration can help to mitigate climate change. However, there remains uncertainty on when and where coastal wetland restoration can most effectively act as a Natural Climate Solution (NCS). Here, we synthesize current understanding to illustrate the requirements for coastal...
Predictive understanding of stream salinization in a developed watershed using machine learning
Jared David Smith, Lauren Elizabeth Koenig, Margaux Jeanne Sleckman, Alison P. Appling, Jeffrey M Sadler, Vincent T. DePaul, Zoltan Szabo
2024, Environmental Science and Technology (58) 18833
Stream salinization is a global issue, yet few models can provide reliable salinity estimates for unmonitored locations at the time scales required for ecological exposure assessments. Machine learning approaches are presented that use spatially limited high-frequency monitoring and spatially distributed discrete samples to estimate the daily...
Controls on the stratigraphic architecture of the US Atlantic margin: Processes forming the accommodation space
Guy Lang, Uri S. ten Brink, Deborah Hutchinson, Gregory S. Mountain, Uri Schattner
2024, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth (129)
Accommodation space governs the spatial and temporal distributions of sediments in continental margins. Mapping the sedimentation patterns, therefore, offers insights into the solid-Earth processes that shape accommodation space. We assembled an unprecedented amount of seismic and borehole data along the Eastern North American Margin and used it...
Breeding by western Yellow-billed Cuckoos in xeroriparian habitat in southeastern Arizona
Nicholas D. Beauregard, Tad C. Theimer, Charles A. Drost, Susan J. Sferra
2024, Journal of Field Ornithology (95)
The identification of occupied habitat is an important component of recovery efforts for threatened and endangered species. The western population of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus), federally listed as a threatened distinct population segment, has long been considered a riparian-obligate, yet recent survey efforts in southeastern Arizona have documented cuckoos...
A dataset of two-dimensional XBeach model set-up files for northern California
Andrea C. O'Neill, Cornelis M. Nederhoff, Li H. Erikson, Jennifer Anne Thomas, Patrick L. Barnard
2024, Data (9)
Here, we describe a dataset of two-dimensional (2D) XBeach model files that were developed for the Coastal Storm Modeling System (CoSMoS) in northern California as an update to an earlier CoSMoS implementation that relied on one-dimensional (1D) modeling methods. We provide details on the data and their application, such that...
Contemporary fires are less frequent but more severe in dry conifer forests of the southwestern United States
E. McClure, J.D. Cooper, C. Guiterman, Ellis Margolis, S. Parks
2024, Nature Communications Earth & Environment (5)
Wildfires in the southwestern United States are increasingly frequent and severe, but whether these trends exceed historical norms remains contested. Here we combine dendroecological records, satellite-derived burn severity, and field measured tree mortality to compare historical (1700-1880) and contemporary (1985-2020) fire regimes at tree-ring fire-scar sites...
Associations between Ornithodoros spp. ticks and Mojave Desert Tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) obtained from health assessment documents
Molly J. Bechtel, Jeffrey T. Foster, Todd Esque, Nathan C. Nieto, Kristina Drake, Mike B. Teglas
2024, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (60) 806-817
Soft ticks in the genus Ornithodoros occur throughout the Mojave Desert in southern Nevada, southeastern California, and parts of southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, USA, and are frequently observed parasitizing Mojave desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii). However, limited research exists examining the relationship between ticks and desert tortoises. Mojave desert tortoises are listed...
Perspectives on the future of ecology, evolution, and biodiversity from the Council on Microbial Sciences of the American Society for Microbiology
Denise M. Akob, A. Elizabeth Oates, Peter R. Girguis, Brian Badgley, Vaughn Cooper, Rachel Poretsky, Braden T. Tierney, Elena Litchman, Rachel J. Whitaker, Katrine L. Whiteson, C. Jessica E. Metcalf, Ecology Evolutionary and Biodiversity Retreat Participants
2024, mSphere (9)
The field of microbial ecology, evolution, and biodiversity (EEB) is at the leading edge of understanding how microbes shape our biosphere and influence the well-being of humankind. To that end, EEB is developing new tools to analyze the massive, complex, transdisciplinary datasets that result from such studies. The American Society...
Ten quick tips to get you started with Bayesian statistics
Olivier Gimenez, Andy Royle, Marc Kery, Chloe Nater
2024, Preprint
Bayesian statistics is a framework in which our knowledge about unknown quantities of interest (especially parameters) is updated with the information in observed data, though it can also be viewed as simply another method to fit a statistical model. It has become popular in many branches of biology. For context,...
Phenology forecasting models for detection and management of invasive annual grasses
Janet S. Prevey, Ian Pearse, Dana M. Blumenthal, Armin J. Howell, Julie A. Kray, Sasha C. Reed, Mitchell B. Stephenson, Catherine S. Jarnevich
2024, Ecosphere (10)
Non-native annual grasses can dramatically alter fire frequency and reduce forage quality and biodiversity in the ecosystems they invade. Effective management techniques are needed to reduce these undesirable invasive species and maintain ecosystem services. Well-timed management strategies, such as grazing, that are applied when...
Linking resource selection to population performance spatially to identify species' habitat across broad scales: An example of greater sage-grouse in a distinct population segment
Megan C. Milligan, Peter S. Coates, Brianne E. Brussee, Shawn T. O’Neil, Steven R. Mathews, Shawn P. Espinosa, Katherine Miller, Daniel A. Skalos, Lief A. Wiechman, Steve Abele, John Boone, Kristie Boatner, Heather Stone, Michael L. Casazza
2024, Ecology and Evolution (14)
Management decisions often focus on the habitat selection of marked individuals without considering the contribution to demographic performance in selected habitats. Because habitat selection is not always adaptive, understanding the spatial relationship between habitat selection and demographic performance is critical to management decisions. Mapping both habitat selection and demographic performance...
State of science, gap analysis, and prioritization for southeastern United States water-quality impacts from coastal storms—Fiscal year 2023 program report to the Water Resources Mission Area from the Water Availability Impacts of Extreme Events Program—Hurricanes
Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Tara L. Root, Matthew D. Petkewich, MaryLynn Musgrove, Amy C. Gill, J. Curtis Weaver, Christopher H. Conaway, Bruce D. Lindsey, Francis Parchaso, Noah Knowles, Elizabeth J. Tomaszewski
2024, Open-File Report 2024-1048
Tropical cyclones (coastal storm events that include tropical depressions, tropical storms, and hurricanes) cause landscape-scale disturbances that can lead to impaired water quality and thus reduce water availability for use. Stakeholders and scientists at local and national scales have illustrated a need for understanding these risks to water quality. A...
Hyperspectral Image Transects during Transient Events in Rivers (HITTER): Framework development and application to a tracer experiment on the Missouri River, USA
Carl J. Legleiter, Victoria Mary Scholl, Brandon James Sansom, Matthew Alexander Burgess
2024, Remote Sensing (19)
Rivers convey a broad range of materials, such as sediment, nutrients, and contaminants. Much of this transport can occur during or immediately after an episodic, pulsed event like a flood or an oil spill. Understanding the flow processes that influence the motion of these substances is important for managing water...
Quantification of threats to bats at localized spatial scales for conservation and management
Brian M. Myers, Drew Stokes, Kristine L. Preston, Robert N. Fisher, Amy G. Vandergast
2024, PLoSOne (19)
In a rapidly changing world, where species conservation needs vary by local habitat, concentrated conservation efforts at small spatial scales can be critical. Bats provide an array of value to the ecosystems they inhabit; many bat species are also of conservation concern. San Diego County, California,...
