Diet patterns of island foxes on San Nicolas Island relative to feral cat removal
Brian L. Cypher, Erica C. Kelly, Francesca J. Ferrara, Charles A. Drost, Tory L. Westall, Brian Hudgens
2017, Pacific Conservation Biology (23) 180-188
Island foxes (Urocyon littoralis) are a species of conservation concern that occur on six of the Channel Islands off the coast of southern California. We analysed island fox diet on San Nicolas Island during 2006–12 to assess the influence of the removal of feral cats (Felis catus) on the food...
Disentangling the complexities of how legumes and their symbionts regulate plant nitrogen access and storage
Sasha C. Reed
2017, New Phytologist (213) 478-480
Nitrogen (N) availability strongly influences the structure and function of ecosystems (e.g. Vitousek & Howarth, 1991), but only a relatively small number of microbial groups have the ability to convert the N2 in our atmosphere into biologically available forms.This process,...
Climate changes and wildfire alter vegetation of Yellowstone National Park, but forest cover persists
Jason A. Clark, Rachel A. Loehman, Robert E. Keane
2017, Ecosphere (8)
We present landscape simulation results contrasting effects of changing climates on forest vegetation and fire regimes in Yellowstone National Park, USA, by mid-21st century. We simulated potential changes to fire dynamics and forest characteristics under three future climate projections representing a range of potential future conditions using the FireBGCv2 model....
Mudflat morphodynamics and the impact of sea level rise in South San Francisco Bay
Mick Van der Wegen, Bruce E. Jaffe, Amy C. Foxgrover, Dano Roelvink
2017, Estuaries and Coasts (40) 37-49
Estuarine tidal mudflats form unique habitats and maintain valuable ecosystems. Historic measurements of a mudflat in San Fancsico Bay over the past 150 years suggest the development of a rather stable mudflat profile. This raises questions on its origin and governing processes as well as on the mudflats’ fate under scenarios...
Crop modeling applications in agricultural water management
Isaya Kisekka, Kendall C. DeJonge, Liwang Ma, Joel Paz, Kyle R. Douglas-Mankin
2017, Transactions of the ASABE (60) 1959-1964
This article introduces the fourteen articles that comprise the “Crop Modeling and Decision Support for Optimizing Use of Limited Water” collection. This collection was developed from a special session on crop modeling applications in agricultural water management held at the 2016 ASABE Annual International Meeting (AIM) in Orlando, Florida. In...
Mercury bioaccumulation in estuarine fishes: Novel insights from sulfur stable isotopes
James J. Willacker, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Joshua T. Ackerman
2017, Environmental Science & Technology (51) 2131-2139
Estuaries are transitional habitats characterized by complex biogeochemical and ecological gradients that result in substantial variation in fish total mercury concentrations (THg). We leveraged these gradients and used carbon (δ13C), nitrogen (δ15N), and sulfur (δ34S) stable isotopes to examine the ecological and biogeochemical processes underlying THg bioaccumulation in fishes from...
State of Great Lakes 2017 Technical Report: Indicators to assess the status and trends of the Great Lakes ecosystem
Dale Van Stempvoort, George Zhang, Christopher J. Hoard, John Spoelstra, Norman Granneman, Scott MacRitchie, Stacey Cherwaty
2017, Report
No abstract available....
Forest restoration at Redwood National Park: exploring prescribed fire alternatives to second-growth management: a case study
Eamon Engber, Jason Teraoka, Phillip J. van Mantgem
2017, General Technical Report PSW-GTR-258
Almost half of Redwood National Park is comprised of second-growth forests characterized by high stand density, deficient redwood composition, and low understory biodiversity. Typical structure of young redwood stands impedes the recovery of old-growth conditions, such as dominance of redwood (Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.), distinct canopy layers and diverse...
Pathogen transport in groundwater systems: Contrasts with traditional solute transport
Randall J. Hunt, William P. Johnson
2017, Hydrogeology Journal (25) 921-930
Water quality affects many aspects of water availability, from precluding use to societal perceptions of fit-for-purpose. Pathogen source and transport processes are drivers of water quality because they have been responsible for numerous outbreaks resulting in large economic losses due to illness and, in some cases, loss of life. Outbreaks...
Using structural damage statistics to derive macroseismic intensity within the Kathmandu valley for the 2015 M7.8 Gorkha, Nepal earthquake
Sean McGowan, Kishor S. Jaiswal, David J. Wald
2017, Tectonophysics (714-715) 158-172
We make and analyze structural damage observations from within the Kathmandu valley following the 2015 M7.8 Gorkha, Nepal earthquake to derive macroseismic intensities at several locations including some located near ground motion recording sites. The macroseismic intensity estimates supplement the limited strong ground motion data in order to characterize the...
Influence of restored koa in supporting bird communities
Richard J. Camp, Eben H. Paxton, Stephanie G. Yelenik
2017, Conference Paper, Acacia koa in Hawai‘i: facing the future. Proceedings of the 2016 Koa Symposium
Deforestation of Hawaiian forests has adversely impacted native wildlife, including forest birds, bats and arthropods. Restoration activities have included reforestation with the native koa (Acacia koa), a dominant canopy tree species that is easy to propagate, has high survivorship, and has fast growth rates. We review recent research describing the...
Changes in vocal repertoire of the Hawaiian crow, Corvus hawaiiensis,from past wild to current captive populations
Ann M. Tanimoto, Patrick J. Hart, Adam A. Pack, Richard Switzwer, Paul C. Banko, Donna L. Ball, Esther Sebastian-Gonzalez, Lisa Komarczyk, Miyako H. Warrington
2017, Animal Behaviour (123) 427-432
For most avian species, social behaviour is critically important for survival and reproductive success. Many social behaviours in birds are culturally transmitted, and as bird populations decline across the globe, important elements of these behaviours may be...
Water-level changes in the High Plains aquifer, Republican River Basin in Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska, 2002 to 2015
V. L. McGuire
2017, Scientific Investigations Map 3373
The High Plains aquifer underlies 111.8 million acres (about 175,000 square miles) in parts of eight States—Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. More than 95 percent of the water withdrawn from the High Plains aquifer is used for irrigation. Water-level declines began in parts of...
Temporary wetlands: Challenges and solutions to conserving a ‘disappearing’ ecosystem
Aram J.K. Calhoun, David M. Mushet, Kathleen P. Bell, Dani Boix, James A. Fitzsimons, Francis Isselin-Nondedeu
2017, Biological Conservation (211) 3-11
Frequent drying of ponded water, and support of unique, highly specialized assemblages of often rare species, characterize temporary wetlands, such as vernal pools, gilgais, and prairie potholes. As small aquatic features embedded in a terrestrial landscape, temporary wetlands enhance biodiversity and provide aesthetic, biogeochemical, and hydrologic functions. Challenges to conserving...
Warming and provenance limit tree recruitment across and beyond the elevation range of subalpine forest
Lara M. Kueppers, Erin Conlisk, Cristina Castanha, Andrew B. Moyes, Matthew J. Germino, Perry de Valpine, Margaret S. Torn, Jeffry B. Mitton
2017, Global Change Biology (23) 2383-2395
Climate niche models project that subalpine forest ranges will extend upslope with climate warming. These projections assume that the climate suitable for adult trees will be adequate for forest regeneration, ignoring climate requirements for seedling recruitment, a potential demographic bottleneck. Moreover, local genetic adaptation is expected to facilitate range expansion,...
Challenges with secondary use of multi-source water-quality data in the United States
Lori A. Sprague, Gretchen P. Oelsner, Denise M. Argue
2017, Water Research (110) 252-261
Combining water-quality data from multiple sources can help counterbalance diminishing resources for stream monitoring in the United States and lead to important regional and national insights that would not otherwise be possible. Individual monitoring organizations understand their own data very well, but issues can arise when their data are combined...
The practice of prediction: What can ecologists learn from applied, ecology-related fields?
Frank Pennekamp, Matthew Adamson, Owen L Petchey, Jean-Christophe Poggiale, Maira Aguiar, Bob W. Kooi, Daniel B. Botkin, Donald L. DeAngelis
2017, Ecological Complexity (32) 156-167
The pervasive influence of human induced global environmental change affects biodiversity across the globe, and there is great uncertainty as to how the biosphere will react on short and longer time scales. To adapt to what the future holds and to manage the impacts of global change, scientists need to...
Arsenite as an electron donor for anoxygenic photosynthesis: Description of three strains of Ectothiorhodospria from Mono Lake, California, and Big Soda Lake, Nevada
Shelley McCann, Alison Boren, Jaime Hernandez-Maldonado, Brendon Stoneburner, Chad W Saltikov, John F. Stolz, Ronald S. Oremland
2017, Life Sciences (7)
Three novel strains of photosynthetic bacteria from the family Ectothiorhodospiraceae were isolated from soda lakes of the Great Basin Desert, USA by employing arsenite (As(III)) as the sole electron donor in the enrichment/isolation process. Strain PHS-1 was previously isolated from a hot spring in Mono Lake, while strain MLW-1 was...
Excursions in fluvial (dis)continuity
Gordon E. Grant, James E. O'Connor, Elizabeth Safran
2017, Geomorphology (277) 145-153
Lurking below the twin concepts of connectivity and disconnectivity are their first, and in some ways, richer cousins: continuity and discontinuity. In this paper we explore how continuity and discontinuity represent fundamental and complementary perspectives in fluvial geomorphology, and how these perspectives inform and underlie our conceptions of connectivity...
Riparian spiders as sentinels of polychlorinated biphenyl contamination across heterogeneous aquatic ecosystems
Johanna M. Kraus, Polly P. Gibson, David M. Walters, Marc A. Mills
2017, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (36) 1278-1286
Riparian spiders are being used increasingly to track spatial patterns of contaminants in and fluxing from aquatic ecosystems.However, our understanding of the circumstances under which spiders are effective sentinels of aquatic pollution is limited. The present study tests the...
Hydrologic and geomorphic changes resulting from episodic glacial lake outburst floods: Rio Colonia, Patagonia, Chile
J. Jacquet, S.W. McCoy, Daniel Mcgrath, David Nimick, Mark Fahey, J. O’kuinghttons, B.A. Friesen, J. Leidich
2017, Geophysical Research Letters (44) 854-864
Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) are a prominent but poorly understood cryospheric hazard in a warming climate. We quantify the hydrologic and geomorphic response to 21 episodic GLOFs that began in April 2008 using multitemporal satellite imagery and field observations. Peak discharge exiting the source lake became progressively muted downstream....
Genetic and grade and tonnage models for sandstone-hosted roll-type uranium deposits, Texas Coastal Plain, USA
Susan M. Hall, Mark J. Mihalasky, Kathleen Tureck, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Mark Hannon
2017, Ore Geology Reviews (80) 716-753
The coincidence of a number of geologic and climatic factors combined to create conditions favorable for the development of mineable concentrations of uranium hosted by Eocene through Pliocene sandstones in the Texas Coastal Plain. Here 254 uranium occurrences, including 169 deposits, 73 prospects, 6 showings and 4 anomalies, have been...
Spatiotemporal patterns of duck nest density and predation risk: a multi-scale analysis of 18 years and more than 10,000 nests
Kevin M. Ringelman, John M. Eadie, Joshua T. Ackerman, Andrew Sih, Daniel L. Loughman, Gregory S. Yarris, Shaun L. Oldenburger, M. Robert McLandress
2017, Oikos (126) 332-338
Many avian species are behaviorally-plastic in selecting nest sites, and may shift to new locations or habitats following an unsuccessful breeding attempt. If there is predictable spatial variation in predation risk, the process of many individuals using prior experience to adaptively change nest sites may scale up to create shifting...
Scaling-up camera traps: monitoring the planet's biodiversity with networks of remote sensors
Robin Steenweg, Mark Hebblewhite, Roland Kays, Jorge A. Ahumada, Jason T. Fisher, Cole Burton, Susan E. Townsend, Chris Carbone, J. Marcus Rowcliffe, Jesse Whittington, Jedediah Brodie, J. Andrew Royle, Adam Switalski, Anthony P. Clevenger, Nicole Heim, Lindsey N. Rich
2017, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (15) 26-34
Countries committed to implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity's 2011–2020 strategic plan need effective tools to monitor global trends in biodiversity. Remote cameras are a rapidly growing technology that has great potential to transform global monitoring for terrestrial biodiversity and can be an important contributor to the call for measuring...
Effects of thermal maturation and thermochemical sulfate reduction on compound-specific sulfur isotopic compositions of organosulfur compounds in Phosphoria oils from the Bighorn Basin, USA
Geoffrey S. Ellis, Ward Said-Ahamed, Paul G. Lillis, Lubna Shawar, Alon Amrani
2017, Organic Geochemistry (103) 63-78
Compound-specific sulfur isotope analysis was applied to a suite of 18 crude oils generated from the Permian Phosphoria Formation in the Bighorn Basin, western USA. These oils were generated at various levels of thermal maturity and some experienced thermochemical sulfate reduction (TSR). This is the first study to examine the...
