Perpetuation of avian influenza from molt to fall migration in wild Swan Geese (Anser cygnoides): An agent-based modeling approach
John Takekawa, Chang-Yong Choi, Diann J. Prosser, Jeffery D. Sullivan, Nyambaya Batbayar, Xiangming Xiao
2025, Viruses (17)
Wild waterfowl are considered to be the reservoir of avian influenza, but their distinct annual life cycle stages and their contribution to disease dynamics are not well understood. Studies of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus have primarily focused on wintering grounds, where human and poultry densities are high...
Maintenance of genetic diversity despite population fluctuations in the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus)
Andrew J. Lawrence, Scott A. Carleton, Sara J. Oyler-McCance, Randy W. DeYoung, Clay T. Nichols, Timothy F. Wright
2025, Ecology and Evolution (15)
Assessments of genetic diversity, structure, history, and effective population size (N e) are critical for the conservation of imperiled populations. The lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) has experienced declines due to habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation in addition to substantial population fluctuations with unknown effects on genetic diversity. Our objectives were to:...
Recovering the American horseshoe crab through a commitment to collaboration
David R. Smith, Mark Botton, Paul Shin
2025, Fisheries (50) 255-267
American horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus populations are recovering because of cooperation among diverse stakeholders and data-driven collective action. Limulus polyphemus is one of four extant species facing common threats, and conservation successes and limitations hold lessons applicable to all the species. We review the advancement in management and monitoring over recent decades, discuss the...
Multiple dimensions define thresholds for population resilience of the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica
Megan K. La Peyre, H. Wang, Shaye E. Sable, Wei Wu, Bin Li, Devin Comba, Carlos Perez, Melanie Bates, Lauren M. Swam
2025, Ecology and Evolution (15)
A species' distribution depends on its tolerance to environmental conditions. These conditions are defined by a minimum, maximum, and optimal ranges of single and combined factors. Forays into environmental conditions outside the minimum or maximum tolerance of a species (i.e., thresholds) are predicted to have large effects on a species'...
Timing of and pressure-temperature constraints on deformation in the Toxaway dome, eastern Blue Ridge: Evidence for continuous deformation from the Neoacadian orogeny to the Alleghanian orogeny
Jamie S.F. Levine, Nicholas Edwin Powell, Gabriele Casale, Claire P. Martin
2025, Geosphere (21) 179-205
Many mountain belts are built through repeated collision, and in the case of orogenies closely spaced in time, determining when one orogeny ends and another begins can be challenging. The southern Appalachian mountains were formed by three mountain-building events closely spaced in time, including the Taconic (ca. 480–440 Ma), Neoacadian...
New 40Ar/39Ar eruption ages reveal an important temporal relationship between mafic and silicic volcanism in the Yellowstone Plateau volcanic field
Cole Messa, Kenneth Sims, Mark E. Stelten, Brandi Lawler, Mel Kuntz
2025, Geology (53) 317-322
The chronology of mafic eruptions and their temporal relation to rhyolitic volcanism in the Yellowstone Plateau volcanic field are poorly known, thereby limiting our understanding of the way(s) in which mafic magmatism drives rhyolitic activity. To address this, we measured 40Ar/39Ar eruption ages on 13 mafic samples collected from Henrys Fork...
Prospectivity mapping for geologic hydrogen
Sarah E. Gelman, Jane S. Hearon, Geoffrey S. Ellis
2025, Professional Paper 1900
Geologic, or naturally occurring, hydrogen has the potential to become a new, low-carbon, primary energy resource. Often referred to as “white” or “gold” hydrogen, this gas occurs naturally in the Earth’s subsurface, similar to petroleum resources. However, unlike petroleum, which releases carbon dioxide when burned, burning hydrogen only produces water...
Water use across the conterminous United States, water years 2010–20
Laura Medalie, Amy E. Galanter, Anthony J. Martinez, Althea A. Archer, Carol L. Luukkonen, Melissa A. Harris, Jonathan V. Haynes
2025, Professional Paper 1894-D
Withdrawals of water for human use are fundamental to the evaluation of the Nation’s water availability. This chapter provides an analysis of public supply, crop irrigation, and thermoelectric power water use for the conterminous United States (CONUS) during water years 2010–20. These three categories account for about 90 percent of...
Surficial geology and Quaternary tectonics of the Madison Valley and fault zone, Madison, Gallatin, and Beaverhead Counties, southwest Montana
Chester A. Ruleman, Theodore R. Brandt
2025, Scientific Investigations Map 3508
The north-northwest-striking Madison fault is approximately 95 kilometers in length, lying at the confluence of the northeastern Basin and Range province and the Yellowstone tectonic parabola. The fault zone consists primarily of west-dipping normal faults that have east-dipping antithetic faults, which create the Madison Valley graben and several northeast-trending intrabasin...
Endemic and invasive species: A history of distributional trends in the fish fauna of the lower New River drainage
Stuart A. Welsh, Daniel A. Cincotta, Nathaniel V. Owens, Jay R. Stauffer Jr.
2025, Water (17)
Invasive species are often central to conservation efforts, particularly when concerns involve potential impacts on rare, endemic native species. The lower New River drainage of the eastern United States is a watershed that warrants conservation assessment, as the system is naturally depauperate of native fish species and it is nearly...
Groundwater-level elevations in the Denver Basin bedrock aquifers and Upper Black Squirrel Creek alluvial aquifer, El Paso County, Colorado, 2021–24
Zachary D. Kisfalusi, Erin K. Hennessy, Jackson B. Sharp
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5123
El Paso County is the second-most populous county in Colorado and is projected to grow another 15 percent by 2030. Within El Paso County is the Upper Black Squirrel Creek Designated Groundwater Basin (Black Squirrel Basin), an area where surface water is scarce and water users rely primarily on groundwater...
Chemostratigraphy of the Cretaceous Hue Shale in Arctic Alaska: Exploring paleoceanographic controls on trace element enrichment, organic matter accumulation, and source-rock evolution
Palma J. Botterell, Margaret M. Sanders, David W. Houseknecht, Richard O. Lease, William A. Rouse, Katherine J. Whidden, Julie A. Dumoulin, Rebecca A. Smith, Christina A. DeVera, Brett J. Valentine
2025, Applied Geochemistry (180)
We document chemostratigraphy in an outcrop of late Albian to early Campanian (∼103–82 Ma) marine source rocks to better understand paleoenvironmental controls on trace element (TE) enrichment and organic matter accumulation in the distal Colville foreland basin of Arctic Alaska and how those drivers are linked to arc volcanism and successions...
An enigmatic wild passerine mortality event in the eastern United States
Sabrina S. Greening, Julie C. Ellis, Nicole L. Lewis, David B. Needle, Cristina M. Tato, Susan Knowles, Valerie I. Shearn-Bochsler, Jaimie L. Miller, Daniel A. Grear, Jeffrey M. Lorch, David S. Blehert, Caitlin Burrell, Lisa A. Murphy, Erica A. Miller, C. Brandon Ogbunugafor, Andrea J. Ayala, W. Kelley Thomas, Megan S. Kirchgessner, Christine Casey, Ethan P. Barton, Michael J. Yabsley, Eman Anis, Roderick B. Gagne, Patrice Klein, Cindy P. Driscoll, Chelsea Sykes, Robert H. Poppenga, Nicole M. Nemeth
2025, Veterinary Sciences (12)
The ability to rapidly respond to wildlife health events is essential. However, such events are often unpredictable, especially with anthropogenic disturbances and climate-related environmental changes driving unforeseen threats. Many events also are short-lived and go undocumented, making it difficult to draw on lessons learned from past investigations. We report on...
Reply to, “Comment on ‘The 1886 Charleston, South Carolina, earthquake: Relic railroad offset reveals rupture,’ by Roger Bilham and Susan E. Hough”
Roger Bilham, Susan E. Hough
2025, The Seismic Record (5) 23-34
We welcome this opportunity to respond to Pratt et al. (2024) (hereinafter P24). Bilham and Hough (2023) proposed a “first-cut” elastic deformation model for the 1886 earthquake, a quantitative source model constrained by identified coseismic constraints. A key observation was the measurement of a lateral offset of...
Bison population dynamics, harvest, and conflict potential under feedground management alternatives at the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming
Jonathan D. Cook, Margaret C. McEachran, Gavin G. Cotterill, Eric K Cole
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5119-D
Bison bison (bison) were once abundant across North America but declined due to overharvesting in the late 1800s. The reintroduced population in and around Jackson, Wyoming has averaged 485 individuals between 2018–2023 and is the subject of a planning process to inform management strategies that will guide the U.S. Fish...
Estimating the social and economic consequences of proposed management alternatives at the National Elk Refuge
Margaret C. McEachran, Andrew Don Carlos, Gavin G. Cotterill, Eric K Cole, Jonathan D. Cook
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5119-E
The National Elk Refuge (Refuge) is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and includes habitats for bison and elk. Bison and elk provide opportunities for wildlife-related recreation and contribute to the tourism industry in and around Jackson, Wyoming. Over the last century, the Refuge has provisioned supplemental feed...
Decision framing overview and performance of management alternatives for bison and elk feedground management at the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming
Jonathan D. Cook, Gavin G. Cotterill, Margaret McEachran, Tabitha A. Graves, Eric K. Cole, Paul C. Cross
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5119-A
This report was developed to evaluate the performance of a set of proposed alternatives for Cervus elaphus canadensis (elk) and Bison bison (bison) management at the National Elk Refuge in Wyoming, U.S.A., and to inform a National Environmental Policy Act Environmental Impact Statement focused on developing the next “Bison and...
Decision analysis in support of the National Elk Refuge bison and elk management plan
Jonathan D. Cook, Paul C. Cross, editor(s)
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5119
Preface This report was developed to evaluate the performance of a set of proposed alternatives for Cervus elaphus canadensis (elk) and Bison bison (bison) management at the National Elk Refuge (NER) in Wyoming, U.S.A., and to inform a National Environmental Policy Act Environmental Impact Statement focused on developing the next “Bison...
Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) use of a staging site in the Chesapeake Bay
Benjamin Springer, Jeffery D. Sullivan, Diann J. Prosser, Kyle Rambo, J. Jordan Price
2025, Northeastern Naturalist (31) 555-564
In 2021, we initiated fieldwork to assess the relative importance of a staging area for Sterna hirundo (Common Tern) at a pier at the confluence of the Patuxent River and Chesapeake Bay, MD. During the post-breeding periods of 2021 through 2023, we resighted 378 banded Common Terns at this staging area, with...
Map of topographic lineaments interpreted as recent surface ruptures along the Bennett Valley and Southern Maacama Fault Zones, Sonoma County, California
Suzanne Hecker
2025, Scientific Investigations Map 3529
This study documents lidar-illuminated topographic lineaments interpreted as evidence of recent surface fault ruptures and surface ruptures related to distributed deformation along the Bennett Valley Fault Zone and the southernmost Maacama Fault Zone in the northern San Francisco Bay area (fig. 1, on map sheet). Together, these fault zones form...
Post-fire sediment yield from a western Sierra Nevada watershed burned by the 2021 Caldor Fire
Amy E. East, Joshua B. Logan, Peter Dartnell, Helen Willemien Dow, Donald N. Lindsay, David B. Cavagnaro
2025, Earth and Space Science (12)
Watershed sediment yield commonly increases after wildfire, often causing negative impacts to downstream infrastructure and water resources. Post-fire erosion is important to understand and quantify because it is increasingly placing water supplies, habitat, communities, and infrastructure at risk as fire regimes intensify in a warming climate. However, measurements of post-fire...
Navigating new threats: Prey naivete in native mammals
Rebecca K. McKee, Kristen Hart, Spencer Zeitoune, Robert A. McCleery
2025, Journal of Animal Ecology (94) 210-219
1. Invasive predators pose a substantial threat to global biodiversity. Native prey species frequently exhibit naïveté to the cues of invasive predators, and this phenomenon may contribute to the disproportionate impact of invasive predators on prey populations. However, not all species exhibit naïveté, which has led to the generation of...
Spatiotemporal dynamics and habitat use of red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) on the southeastern United States Atlantic continental shelf
Nathan M. Bacheler, William F. Patterson III, Joseph H. Tarnecki, Kyle W. Shertzer, Jeffrey A. Buckel, Nathan J. Hostetter, Krishna Pacifici, Viviane Zulian, Walter J. Bubley
2025, Fisheries Research (281)
Red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) is an iconic marine fish species along the southeast United States coast. Despite its ecological and economic importance, surprisingly little is known about red snapper biology and habitat use on the southeast United States Atlantic continental shelf (SEUS). We used data from a long-term baited trap...
Population estimates and land cover use of wintering Mountain Plovers in Texas
James E. Lyons, Brad A. Andres, Kelli L. Stone, Allison K. Pierce, Kammie L. Kruse
2025, Journal of Field Ornithology (96)
Conservation of migratory birds throughout the full annual cycle requires a comprehensive understanding of abundance and distribution in interconnected breeding, migration, and wintering habitats. The Mountain Plover (Anarhynchus montanus) is a rare endemic breeder of the Rocky Mountain and Great Plains regions that migrates to wintering grounds in the southwestern...
Examining inter-regional and intra-seasonal differences in wintering waterfowl landscape associations among Pacific and Atlantic flyways
Matthew J. Hardy, Christopher K. Williams, Brian S. Ladman, Maurice E. Pitesky, Cory T. Overton, Michael L. Casazza, Elliott Matchett, Diann Prosser, Jeffrey J. Buler
2025, Journal of Avian Biology (2025)
The Central Valley of California (CVC) and Mid-Atlantic (MA) in the U.S. are both critical sites for nationwide food security, and many waterfowl species annually, especially during the winter, providing feeding and roosting locations for a variety of species. Mapping waterfowl distributions, using NEXRAD, may aid in the adaptive management...
