North American sturgeon otolith morphology
Marc A. Chalupnicki, Dawn E. Dittman
2016, Copeia (104) 260-266
Accurate expedient species identification of deceased sturgeon (Acipenseridae) when external physical characteristic analysis is inconclusive has become a high priority due to the endangered or threatened status of sturgeon species around the world. Examination of otoliths has provided useful information to aid in population management, age and size-class analysis, understanding...
Diel diet of fantail darter in a tributary to Lake Ontario, New York, USA
Marc A. Chalupnicki, James H. Johnson
2016, Journal of Freshwater Ecology (31) 659-664
The foraging behavior of benthic fishes in streams is seldom examined but is vital to the health of the aquatic community. We examined the feeding ecology of the fantail darter (Etheostoma flaballere) in Trout Brook, a tributary of the Salmon River in central New York, USA. Of the six...
Stratigraphy of the north polar layered deposits of Mars from high-resolution topography
Patricio Becerra, Shane Byrne, Michael M. Sori, Sarah Sutton, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff
2016, Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets (121) 1445-1471
The stratigraphy of the layered deposits of the polar regions of Mars is theorized to contain a record of recent climate change linked to insolation changes driven by variations in the planet's orbital and rotational parameters. In order to confidently link stratigraphic signals to insolation periodicities, a description of the...
Analysis of seafloor change at Breton Island, Gosier Shoals, and surrounding waters, 1869–2014, Breton National Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana
James G. Flocks, Joseph F. Terrano
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1069
Characterizing bathymetric change in coastal environments is an important component in understanding shoreline evolution, especially along barrier island platforms. Bathymetric change is a function of the regional sediment budget, long-term wave and current patterns, and episodic impact from high-energy events such as storms. Human modifications may also cause changes in...
Archive of bathymetry and backscatter data collected in 2014 nearshore Breton and Gosier Islands, Breton National Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana
Nancy T. DeWitt, Jake J. Fredericks, James G. Flocks, Jennifer L. Miselis, Stanley D. Locker, Jack L. Kindinger, Julie Bernier, Kyle W. Kelso, Billy J. Reynolds, Dana S. Wiese, Trevor Browning
2016, Data Series 1005
As part of the Barrier Island Monitoring Project, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center conducted nearshore geophysical surveys off Breton and Gosier Islands, Louisiana, in July and August of 2014. To assist the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) with restoration...
Baseline coastal oblique aerial photographs collected from Navarre Beach, Florida, to Breton Island, Louisiana, September 18–19, 2015
Karen L. M. Morgan
2016, Data Series 1008
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as part of the National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards project, conducts baseline and storm-response photography missions to document and understand the changes in vulnerability of the Nation's coasts to extreme storms. On September 18–19, 2015, the USGS conducted an oblique aerial photographic survey...
Future frequencies of extreme weather events in the National Wildlife Refuges of the conterminous U.S.
Sebastian Martinuzzi, Andrew J. Allstadt, Brooke L. Bateman, Patricia J. Heglund, Anna M. Pidgeon, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Stephen J. Vavrus, Volker C. Radeloff
2016, Biological Conservation (201) 327-335
Climate change is a major challenge for managers of protected areas world-wide, and managers need information about future climate conditions within protected areas. Prior studies of climate change effects in protected areas have largely focused on average climatic conditions. However, extreme weather may have stronger effects on wildlife populations and...
The international river interface cooperative: Public domain flow and morphodynamics software for education and applications
Jonathan M. Nelson, Yasuyuki Shimizu, Takaaki Abe, Kazutake Asahi, Mineyuki Gamou, Takuya Inoue, Toshiki Iwasaki, Takaharu Kakinuma, Satomi Kawamura, Ichiro Kimura, Tomoko Kyuka, Richard R. McDonald, Mohamed Nabi, Makoto Nakatsugawa, Francisco J. Simoes, Hiroshi Takebayashi, Yasunori Watanabe
2016, Advances in Water Resources (93) 62-74
This paper describes a new, public-domain interface for modeling flow, sediment transport and morphodynamics in rivers and other geophysical flows. The interface is named after the International River Interface Cooperative (iRIC), the group that constructed the interface and many of the current solvers included in iRIC. The interface is entirely...
Multispecies cccupancy modeling as a tool for evaluating the status and distribution of Darters in the Elk River, Tennessee
Kathryn M. Potoka, Colin P. Shea, Phillip William Bettoli
2016, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (145) 1110-1121
Sixteen darter species, including the federally endangered Boulder Darter Etheostoma wapiti, are known to occur in the Elk River, a large, flow-regulated tributary of the Tennessee River, Tennessee–Alabama. Since the construction of Tims Ford Dam (TFD) in 1970, habitat modification caused by cold, hypolimnetic water releases and peak-demand hydropower generation...
Development and assessment of indices to determine stream fish vulnerability to climate change and habitat alteration
Nicholas A. Sievert, Craig P. Paukert, Yin-Phan Tsang, Dana M. Infante
2016, Ecological Indicators (67) 403-416
Understanding the future impacts of climate and land use change are critical for long-term biodiversity conservation. We developed and compared two indices to assess the vulnerability of stream fish in Missouri, USA based on species environmental tolerances, rarity, range size, dispersal ability and on the average connectivity of the streams...
Desert bighorn sheep lambing habitat: Parturition, nursery, and predation sites
Rebekah C. Karsch, James W. Cain III, Eric M. Rominger, Elise J. Goldstein
2016, Journal of Wildlife Management (80) 1069-1080
Fitness of female ungulates is determined by neonate survival and lifetime reproductive success. Therefore, adult female ungulates should adopt behaviors and habitat selection patterns that enhance survival of neonates during parturition and lactation. Parturition site location may play an important role in neonatal mortality of desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis...
Measuring, interpreting, and responding to changes in coral reefs: A challenge for biologists, geologist, and managers
Caroline S. Rogers, Jeff Miller
Dennis K. Hubbard, Caroline S. Rogers, Jere H. Lipps, George D. Stanley Jr., editor(s)
2016, Book chapter, Coral reefs at the crossroads
What, exactly, is a coral reef? And how have the world’s reefs changed in the last several decades? What are the stressors undermining reef structure and function? Given the predicted effects of climate change, do reefs have a future? Is it possible to “manage” coral reefs for resilience?...
Novel cell-based assay for detection of thyroid receptor beta-interacting environmental contaminants
Diana A. Stavreva, Lyuba Varticovski, Ludmila Levkova, Anuja A. George, Luke Davis, Gianluca Pegoraro, Vicki S. Blazer, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Gordon L. Hager
2016, Toxicology (368-369) 69-79
Even though the presence of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) with thyroid hormone (TH)-like activities in the environment is a major health concern, the methods for their efficient detection and monitoring are still limited. Here we describe a novel cell assay, based on the translocation of a green fluorescent protein (GFP)—tagged...
Effects of spray-dried Pseudomonas fluorescens, strain CL145A (Zequanox®) on reproduction and early development of the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas).
Diane L. Waller, James A. Luoma
2016, Report
The biopesticide, Zequanox®, is registered for dreissenid mussel control in open water systems. Previous toxicity trials with nontarget organisms, including young-of-the year of several fish species and invertebrates, demonstrated selectivity of Zequanox for dreissenids. However, data are lacking on its safety to reproductive and early life stages of fish. The...
Considering transient population dynamics in the conservation of slow life-history species: An application to the sandhill crane
Brian D. Gerber, William L. Kendall
2016, Biological Conservation (200) 228-239
The importance of transient dynamics of structured populations is increasingly recognized in ecology, yet these implications are not largely considered in conservation practices. We investigate transient and long-term population dynamics to demonstrate the process and utility of incorporating transient dynamics into conservation research and to better understand the population management...
Landscape effects of wildfire on permafrost distribution in interior Alaska derived from remote sensing
Dana R. N. Brown, M. Torre Jorgenson, Knut Kielland, David L. Verbyla, Anupma Prakash, Joshua C. Koch
2016, Remote Sensing (8) 1-22
Climate change coupled with an intensifying wildfire regime is becoming an important driver of permafrost loss and ecosystem change in the northern boreal forest. There is a growing need to understand the effects of fire on the spatial distribution of permafrost and its associated ecological consequences. We focus on the...
Transmission of influenza reflects seasonality of wild birds across the annual cycle
Nichola J. Hill, Brandt W. Meixell, Eric J. Ma, Mark S. Lindberg, Walter M. Boyce, Jonathan A. Runstadler
2016, Ecology Letters (19) 915-925
Influenza A Viruses (IAV) in nature must overcome shifting transmission barriers caused by the mobility of their primary host, migratory wild birds, that change throughout the annual cycle. Using a phylogenetic network of viral sequences from North American wild birds (2008–2011) we demonstrate a shift from intraspecific to interspecific transmission...
Synchrony of Piping Plover breeding populations in the U.S. Northern Great Plains
Erin A. Roche, Terry L. Shaffer, Colin M. Dovichin, Mark H. Sherfy, Michael J. Anteau, Mark T. Wiltermuth
2016, Condor (118) 558-570
Local populations that fluctuate synchronously are at a greater risk of extinction than those that do not. The closer the geographic proximity of populations, the more prone they are to synchronizing. Shorebird species select habitat broadly, and many breed across regions with diverse nesting habitat types. Under these conditions, nearby...
Overwintering strategies of migratory birds: a novel approach for estimating seasonal movement patterns of residents and transients
Viviana Ruiz-Gutierrez, William L. Kendall, James F. Saracco, Gary C. White
2016, Journal of Applied Ecology (53) 1035-1045
Our understanding of movement patterns in wildlife populations has played an important role in current ecological knowledge and can inform landscape conservation decisions. Direct measures of movement can be obtained using marked individuals, but this requires tracking individuals across a landscape or multiple sites.We demonstrate how movements...
Comment on “Geochemistry of buried river sediments from Ghaggar Plains, NW India: Multi-proxy records of variations in provenance, paleoclimate, and paleovegetation patterns in the late quaternary” by Ajit Singh, Debajyoti Paul, Rajiv Sinha, Kristina J. Thomsen, Sanjeev Gupta
Peter D. Clift, Liviu Giosan, Amy E. East
2016, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (455) 65-67
Singh et al. (2016) published a geochemical record of sediment compositions from the flood plain of the Ghaggar River in western India and use the changing provenance, particularly as traced by Nd isotope composition, to reconstruct how erosion patterns have changed over the past 100 k.y. In doing so they...
Damage and recovery assessment of the Philippines' mangroves following Super Typhoon Haiyan
Jordan Long, Chandra Giri, Jurgene H. Primavera, Mandar Trivedi
2016, Marine Pollution Bulletin (109) 734-743
We quantified mangrove disturbance resulting from Super Typhoon Haiyan using a remote sensing approach. Mangrove areas were mapped prior to Haiyan using 30 m Landsat imagery and a supervised decision-tree classification. A time sequence of 250 m eMODIS data was used to monitor mangrove condition prior to, and following, Haiyan. Based on...
Spawning and hatching of endangered Gila Chub in captivity
Andrew A. Schultz, Scott A. Bonar
2016, North American Journal of Aquaculture (78) 279-283
Information on reproductive characteristics of the endangered Gila Chub Gila intermedia is largely limited and qualitative, and culture techniques and requirements are virtually unknown. Here we provide the first published data on spawning and selected reproductive and developmental characteristics of Gila Chub. Fish were brought to the laboratory in March...
Adaptive harvest management for the Svalbard population of pink‐footed geese: 2016 progress summary: Technical Report from DCE – Danish Centre for Environment and Energy, No. 86
Fred A. Johnson, Jesper Madsen
2016, Report
This document describes progress to date on the development of an adaptive harvest management strategy for maintaining the Svalbard population of pink‐footed geese (Anser brachyrhynchus) near their agreed target level (60,000) by providing for sustainable harvests in Norway and Denmark. This report provides an assessment of the most recent monitoring information...
Field scale test of multi-dimensional flow and morphodynamic simulations used for restoration design analysis
Richard R. McDonald, Jonathan M. Nelson, Ryan L. Fosness, Peter O. Nelson
George Constantinescu, Marcelo H. Garcia, Dan Hanes, editor(s)
2016, Conference Paper, RiverFlow 2016
Two- and three-dimensional morphodynamic simulations are becoming common in studies of channel form and process. The performance of these simulations are often validated against measurements from laboratory studies. Collecting channel change information in natural settings for model validation is difficult because it can be expensive and under most channel forming...
sbtools: A package connecting R to cloud-based data for collaborative online research
Luke Winslow, Scott Chamberlain, Alison P. Appling, Jordan S. Read
2016, The R Journal (8) 387-398
The adoption of high-quality tools for collaboration and reproducible research such as R and Github is becoming more common in many research fields. While Github and other version management systems are excellent resources, they were originally designed to handle code and scale poorly to large text-based or binary datasets. A...
