Consequences of changes in vegetation and snow cover for climate feedbacks in Alaska and northwest Canada
Eugénie S. Euskirchen, A. P. Bennett, Amy L. Breen, Helene Genet, Michael A. Lindgren, Tom Kurkowski, A. David McGuire, T. Scott Rupp
2016, Environmental Research Letters (11) 1-19
Changes in vegetation and snow cover may lead to feedbacks to climate through changes in surface albedo and energy fluxes between the land and atmosphere. In addition to these biogeophysical feedbacks, biogeochemical feedbacks associated with changes in carbon (C) storage in the vegetation and soils may also influence climate. Here,...
DOM composition and transformation in boreal forest soils: The effects of temperature and organic-horizon decomposition state
Jonathan A. O’Donnell, George R. Aiken, Kenna D. Butler, Francois Guillemette, David C. Podgorski, Robert G. M. Spencer
2016, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (121) 2727-2744
The boreal region stores large amounts of organic carbon (C) in organic-soil horizons, which are vulnerable to destabilization via warming and disturbance. Decomposition of soil organic matter (SOM) contributes to the production and turnover of dissolved organic matter (DOM). While temperature is a primary control on rates of SOM and...
Testing fault growth models with low-temperature thermochronology in the northwest Basin and Range, USA
Magdalena A. E. Curry, Jason B. Barnes, Joseph P. Colgan
2016, Tectonics (35) 2467-2492
Common fault growth models diverge in predicting how faults accumulate displacement and lengthen through time. A paucity of field-based data documenting the lateral component of fault growth hinders our ability to test these models and fully understand how natural fault systems evolve. Here we outline a framework for using apatite...
Nannoplankton malformation during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum and its paleoecological and paleoceanographic significance
Timothy J. Bralower, Jean Self-Trail
2016, Paleoceanography (31) 1423-1439
The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is characterized by a transient group of nannoplankton, belonging to the genus Discoaster. Our investigation of expanded shelf sections provides unprecedented detail of the morphology and phylogeny of the transient Discoasterduring the PETM and their relationship with environmental change. We observe a much larger range...
Climate change and dissolved organic carbon export to the Gulf of Maine
Thomas G. Huntington, William M. Balch, George R. Aiken, Justin Sheffield, Lifeng Luo, Collin S. Roesler, Philip Camill
2016, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (121) 2700-2716
Ongoing climate change is affecting the concentration, export (flux), and timing of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) exported to the Gulf of Maine (GoM) through changes in hydrologic regime. DOC export was calculated for water years 1950 through 2013 for 20 rivers and for water years 1930 through 2013 for 14...
Efficacy of GPS cluster analysis for predicting carnivory sites of a wide-ranging omnivore: the American black bear
Sarah R. Kindschuh, James W. Cain III, David Daniel, Mark A. Peyton
2016, Ecosphere (7) 1-17
The capacity to describe and quantify predation by large carnivores expanded considerably with the advent of GPS technology. Analyzing clusters of GPS locations formed by carnivores facilitates the detection of predation events by identifying characteristics which distinguish predation sites. We present a performance assessment of GPS cluster analysis as applied...
Blood serum chemistry of wild Alaskan Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) with avian keratin disorder
Caroline R. Van Hemert, Colleen M. Handel
2016, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (52) 927-930
We measured serum chemistries in wild Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) from Alaska to test for potential differences associated with beak deformities characteristic of avian keratin disorder. Lower uric acid in affected birds was the only difference detected between groups, although sample sizes were small. This difference could be associated with...
Use of mineral/solution equilibrium calculations to assess the potential for carnotite precipitation from groundwater in the Texas Panhandle, USA
Anthony J. Ranalli, Douglas B. Yager
2016, Applied Geochemistry (73) 118-131
This study investigated the potential for the uranium mineral carnotite (K2(UO2)2(VO4)2·3H2O) to precipitate from evaporating groundwater in the Texas Panhandle region of the United States. The evolution of groundwater chemistry during evaporation was modeled with the USGS geochemical code PHREEQC using water-quality data from 100 groundwater wells downloaded from the...
Evaluating methods to establish habitat suitability criteria: A case study in the upper Delaware River Basin, USA
Heather S. Galbraith, Carrie J. Blakeslee, Jeffrey C. Cole, Colin Talbert, Kelly O. Maloney
2016, River Research and Applications (32) 1765-1775
Defining habitat suitability criteria (HSC) of aquatic biota can be a key component to environmental flow science. HSC can be developed through numerous methods; however, few studies have evaluated the consistency of HSC developed by different methodologies. We directly compared HSC for depth and velocity developed by the Delphi method...
Potential interactions among disease, pesticides, water quality and adjacent land cover in amphibian habitats in the United States
William A. Battaglin, Kelly L. Smalling, Chauncey W. Anderson, Daniel L. Calhoun, Tara E. Chestnut, Erin L. Muths
2016, Science of the Total Environment (566-567) 320-332
To investigate interactions among disease, pesticides, water quality, and adjacent land cover, we collected samples of water, sediment, and frog tissue from 21 sites in 7 States in the United States (US) representing a variety of amphibian habitats. All samples were analyzed for > 90 pesticides and pesticide degradates, and...
Simulation modeling to explore the effects of length-based harvest regulations for Ictalurus fisheries
David R. Stewart, James M. Long, Daniel E. Shoup
2016, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (36) 1190-1204
Management of Blue Catfish Ictalurus furcatus and Channel Catfish I. punctatus for trophy production has recently become more common. Typically, trophy management is attempted with length-based regulations that allow for the moderate harvest of small fish but restrict the harvest of larger fish. However, the specific regulations used vary considerably...
Climate change and indigenous peoples: A synthesis of current impacts and experiences
Kathryn Norton-Smith, Kathy Lynn, Karletta Chief, Karen Cozetto, Jamie Donatuto, Margaret Hiza, Linda Kruger, Julie Maldonado, Carson Viles, Kyle P. Whyte
2016, General Technical Report PNW-GTR-944
A growing body of literature examines the vulnerability, risk, resilience, and adaptation of indigenous peoples to climate change. This synthesis of literature brings together research pertaining to the impacts of climate change on sovereignty, culture, health, and economies that are currently being experienced by Alaska Native and American Indian tribes...
Regional land subsidence caused by the compaction of susceptible aquifer systems accompanying groundwater extraction
Devin L. Galloway, Stanley A. Leake
Vijay P. Singh, editor(s)
2016, Book chapter, Handbook of applied hydrology
Land subsidence includes both gentle downwarping and sudden sinking of segments of the land surface. Major anthropogenic causes of land subsidence are extraction of fluids including water, oil, and gas. Measurement and detec- tion of land subsidence include both ground-based and remotely sensed air- borne and space-based methods. Methods for measurement of subsidence at points...
Lateral and subsurface flows impact arctic coastal plain lake water budgets
Joshua C. Koch
2016, Hydrological Processes (30) 3918-3931
Arctic thaw lakes are an important source of water for aquatic ecosystems, wildlife, and humans. Many recent studies have observed changes in Arctic surface waters related to climate warming and permafrost thaw; however, explaining the trends and predicting future responses to warming is difficult without a stronger fundamental understanding of...
The timing of compositionally-zoned magma reservoirs and mafic 'priming' weeks before the 1912 Novarupta-Katmai rhyolite eruption
Brad S. Singer, Fidel Costa, Jason S. Herrin, Wes Hildreth, Judith Fierstein
2016, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (451) 125-137
The June 6, 1912 eruption of more than 13 km3 of dense rock equivalent (DRE) magma at Novarupta vent, Alaska was the largest of the 20th century. It ejected >7 km3 of rhyolite, ~1.3 km3 of andesite and ~4.6 km3 of dacite. Early ideas about the origin of pyroclastic flows...
Effects of lake trout refuges on lake whitefish and cisco in the Apostle Islands Region of Lake Superior
Chiara M. Zuccarino-Crowe, William W. Taylor, Michael J. Hansen, Michael J. Seider, Charles C. Krueger
2016, Journal of Great Lakes Research (42) 1092-1101
Lake trout refuges in the Apostle Islands region of Lake Superior are analogous to the concept of marine protected areas. These refuges, established specifically for lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) and closed to most forms of recreational and commercial fishing, were implicated as one of several management actions leading to successful...
Seismic evidence of glacial-age river incision into the Tahaa barrier reef, French Polynesia
Michael Toomey, Jonathan D. Woodruff, Andrew D. Ashton, J. Taylor Perron
2016, Marine Geology (380) 284-289
Rivers have long been recognized for their ability to shape reef-bound volcanic islands. On the time-scale of glacial–interglacial sea-level cycles, fluvial incision of exposed barrier reef lagoons may compete with constructional coral growth to shape the coastal geomorphology of ocean islands. However, overprinting of Pleistocene landscapes by Holocene erosion or...
Geology, selected geophysics, and hydrogeology of the White River and parts of the Great Salt Lake Desert regional groundwater flow systems, Utah and Nevada
Peter D. Rowley, Gary L. Dixon, James M. Watrus, Andrews G. Burns, Edward A. Mankinen, Edwin H. McKee, Keith T. Pari, E. Bartlett Ekren, William G. Patrick
John B. Comer, Paul C. Inkenbrandt, K.A. Krahulec, Michael L. Pinnell, editor(s)
2016, Book chapter, Resources and Geo- logy of Utah's West Desert
The east-central Great Basin near the Utah-Nevada border contains two great groundwater flow systems. The first, the White River regional groundwater flow system, consists of a string of hydraulically connected hydrographic basins in Nevada spanning about 270 miles from north to south. The northernmost basin is Long Valley...
Combining landscape variables and species traits can improve the utility of climate change vulnerability assessments
Christopher P. Nadeau, Angela K. Fuller
2016, Biological Conservation (202) 30-38
Conservation organizations worldwide are investing in climate change vulnerability assessments. Most vulnerability assessment methods focus on either landscape features or species traits that can affect a species vulnerability to climate change. However, landscape features and species traits likely interact to affect vulnerability. We compare a landscape-based assessment, a trait-based assessment,...
Walleye population and fishery responses after elimination of legal harvest on Escanaba Lake, Wisconsin
Justin M. Haglund, Daniel A. Isermann, Greg G. Sass
2016, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (36) 1315-1324
Implementing harvest regulations to eliminate or substantially reduce (≥90%) the exploitation of Walleyes Sander vitreus in recreational fisheries may increase population size structure, but these measures also could reduce angler effort because many Walleye anglers are harvest oriented. We analyzed data collected during 1995–2015 to determine whether Walleye population and fishery metrics...
Using smooth sheets to describe groundfish habitat in Alaskan waters, with specific application to two flatfishes
Mark Zimmermann, Jane A. Reid, Nadine E. Golden
2016, Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography (132) 210-226
In this analysis we demonstrate how preferred fish habitat can be predicted and mapped for juveniles of two Alaskan groundfish species – Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) and flathead sole (Hippoglossoides elassodon) – at five sites (Kiliuda Bay, Izhut Bay, Port Dick, Aialik Bay, and the Barren Islands) in the central...
Long-term deer exclusion has complex effects on a suburban forest understory
Edward K. Faison, David R. Foster, Stephen DeStefano
2016, Rhodora (118) 382-402
Herbivory by deer is one of the leading biotic disturbances on forest understories (i.e., herbs, small shrubs, and small tree seedlings). A large body of research has reported declines in height, abundance, and reproductive capacity of forbs and woody plants coupled with increases in abundance of graminoids, ferns, and exotic...
Fragmented patterns of flood change across the United States
Stacey A. Archfield, Robert M. Hirsch, A. Viglione, G. Blöschl
2016, Geophysical Research Letters (43) 10232-10239
Trends in the peak magnitude, frequency, duration, and volume of frequent floods (floods occurring at an average of two events per year relative to a base period) across the United States show large changes; however, few trends are found to be statistically significant. The multidimensional behavior of flood change across...
Circumpolar distribution and carbon storage of thermokarst landscapes
David Olefeldt, S. Goswami, G. Grosse, D. Hayes, G. Hugelius, P. Kuhry, A. David McGuire, V.E. Romanovsky, A. B. K. Sannel, E.A.G. Schuur, M.R. Turetsky
2016, Nature Communications (7) 1-11
Thermokarst is the process whereby the thawing of ice-rich permafrost ground causes land subsidence, resulting in development of distinctive landforms. Accelerated thermokarst due to climate change will damage infrastructure, but also impact hydrology, ecology and biogeochemistry. Here, we present a circumpolar assessment of the distribution of thermokarst landscapes, defined as...
Estimating mercury emissions resulting from wildfire in forests of the Western United States
Jackson Webster, Tyler J. Kane, Daniel Obrist, Joseph N. Ryan, George R. Aiken
2016, Science of Total Environment (568) 578-586
Understanding the emissions of mercury (Hg) from wildfires is important for quantifying the global atmospheric Hg sources. Emissions of Hg from soils resulting from wildfires in the Western United States was estimated for the 2000 to 2013 period, and the potential emission of Hg from forest soils was assessed as...
