Small mammal communities in eastern redcedar forest
Christopher J. Reddin, David G. Krementz
2016, American Midland Naturalist (175) 113-119
Eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) is a fire-intolerant tree species that has encroached into grassland ecosystems throughout central and eastern North America. Many land managers are interested in removing eastern redcedar to restore native grasslands. We surveyed small mammals using mark-recapture methods in eastern redcedar forest, warm-season grassland, and oldfield habitats...
Establishing a baseline of estuarine submerged aquatic vegetation resources across salinity zones within coastal areas of the northern Gulf of Mexico
Eva R. Hillmann, Kristin DeMarco, Megan K. LaPeyre
2016, Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (3) 25-32
Coastal ecosystems are dynamic and productive areas that are vulnerable to effects of global climate change. Despite their potentially limited spatial extent, submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) beds function in coastal ecosystems as foundation species, and perform important ecological services. However, limited understanding of the factors controlling SAV distribution and abundance...
Dissolved oxygen: Chapter 6
David Senn, Maureen A. Downing-Kunz, Emily Novick
2016, Report, Lower South Bay nutrient synthesis
Dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration serves as an important indicator of estuarine habitat condition, because all aquatic macro-organisms require some minimum DO level to survive and prosper. The instantaneous DO concentration, measured at a specific location in the water column, results from a balance between multiple processes that add or remove...
An overview of environmental impacts and reclamation efforts at the Iron Mountain mine, Shasta County, California
James A Jacobs, Stephen M. Testa, Charles N. Alpers, D. Kirk Nordstrom
2016, Book chapter, Applied geology in California
No abstract available ...
Potentiometric surface and water-level difference maps of selected confined aquifers in Southern Maryland and Maryland’s Eastern Shore, 1975-2015
Stephen E. Curtin, Andrew W. Staley, David C. Andreasen
2016, Report
Key Results This report presents potentiometric-surface maps of the Aquia and Magothy aquifers and the Upper Patapsco, Lower Patapsco, and Patuxent aquifer systems using water levels measured during September 2015. Water-level difference maps are also presented for these aquifers. The water-level differences in the Aquia aquifer are shown using groundwater-level data...
Fisheries research and monitoring activities of the Lake Erie Biological Station, 2015
Betsy L. Bodamer Scarbro, W.H. Edwards, Patrick M. Kocovsky, Richard T. Kraus, M. R. Rogers, A. L. Schoonyan, T. R. Stewart
2016, Report
In 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Lake Erie Biological Station (LEBS) successfully completed large vessel surveys in all three of Lake Erie’s basins. Lake Erie Biological Station’s primary vessel surveys included the Western Basin Forage Fish Assessment and East Harbor Fish Community Assessment as well as contributing to the...
Forest structure of oak plantations after silvicultural treatment to enhance habitat for wildlife
Daniel J. Twedt, Cherrie-Lee P. Phillip, Michael P. Guilfoyle, R. Randy Wilson
Callie Jo Schweitzer, Wayne K. Clatterbuck, Christopher M. Oswalt, editor(s)
2016, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 18th Biennial Southern Silvicultural Research Conference
During the past 30 years, thousands of hectares of oak-dominated bottomland hardwood plantations have been planted on agricultural fields in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Many of these plantations now have closed canopies and sparse understories. Silvicultural treatments could create a more heterogeneous forest structure, with canopy gaps and...
Estuaries: Life on the edge: Chapter 19
James E. Cloern, Patrick L. Barnard, Erin Beller, John C. Callaway, Letitia Grenier, Edwin D. Grosholz, Robin Grossinger, Kathryn Hieb, James T. Holligaugh, Noah Knowles, Martha Sutula, Samuel Veloz, Kerstin Wasson, Alison Whipple
2016, Book chapter, Ecosystems of California
No abstract available....
Influence of land-atmosphere feedbacks on temperature and precipitation extremes in the GLACE-CMIP5 ensemble
Ruth Lorenz, Daniel Argueso, Markus G. Donat, Andrew J. Pitman, Bart van den Hurk, Alexis Berg, David M. Lawrence, Frederique Cheruy, Agnes Ducharne, Stefan Hagemann, Arndt Meier, Paul C.D. Milly, Sonia I Seneviratne
2016, Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres (121) 607-623
We examine how soil moisture variability and trends affect the simulation of temperature and precipitation extremes in six global climate models using the experimental protocol of the Global Land-Atmosphere Coupling Experiment of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, Phase 5 (GLACE-CMIP5). This protocol enables separate examinations of the influences of soil moisture...
Testing an attachment method for solar-powered tracking devices on a long-distance migrating shorebird
Ying-Chi Chan, Martin Brugge, T. Lee Tibbitts, Anne Dekinga, Ron Porter, Raymond H. G. Klaassen, Theunis Piersma
2016, Journal of Ornithology (157) 277-287
Small solar-powered satellite transmitters and GPS data loggers enable continuous, multi-year, and global tracking of birds. What is lacking, however, are reliable methods to attach these tracking devices to small migratory birds so that (1) flight performance is not impacted and (2) tags are retained during periods of substantial mass...
Modeling abundance using hierarchical distance sampling
J. Andrew Royle, Marc Kery
2016, Book chapter
In this chapter, we provide an introduction to classical distance sampling ideas for point and line transect data, and for continuous and binned distance data. We introduce the conditional and the full likelihood, and we discuss Bayesian analysis of these models in BUGS using the idea of data augmentation, which...
Wildfire may increase habitat quality for spring Chinook salmon in the Wenatchee River subbasin, WA, USA
Rebecca L. Flitcroft, Jeffrey A. Falke, Gordon H. Reeves, Paul F. Hessburg, Kris M. McNyset, Lee E. Benda
2016, Forest Ecology and Management (359) 126-140
Pacific Northwest salmonids are adapted to natural disturbance regimes that create dynamic habitat patterns over space and through time. However, human land use, particularly long-term fire suppression, has altered the intensity and frequency of wildfire in forested upland and riparian areas. To examine the potential...
Hydrologic effects on diameter growth phenology for Celtis laevigata and Quercus lyrata in the floodplain of the lower White River, Arkansas
Scott T. Allen, Wesley Cochran, Ken W. Krauss, Richard F. Keim, Sammy L. King
Callie Jo Schweitzer, Wayne K. Clatterbuck, Christopher M. Oswalt, editor(s)
2016, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 18th Biennial Southern Silvicultural Research Conference: USDA Forest Service General Technical Report SRS-212
Bottomland hardwood (BLH) forests represent an extensive wetland system in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley and southeastern USA, and it is currently undergoing widespread transition in species composition. One such transition involves increased establishment of sugarberry (Celtis laevigata), and decreased establishment of overcup oak (Quercus lyrata). The ecological mechanisms that control...
Consequences of seasonal variation in reservoir water level for predatory fishes: linking visual foraging and prey densities
Stephen L. Klobucar, Phaedra E. Budy
2016, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (73) 53-64
In reservoirs, seasonal drawdown can alter the physical environment and may influence predatory fish performance. We investigated the performance of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) in a western reservoir by coupling field measurements with visual foraging and bioenergetic models at four distinct states (early summer, mid-summer, late summer, and fall). The...
Predictive habitat models derived from nest-box occupancy for the endangered Carolina northern flying squirrel in the southern Appalachians
W. Mark Ford, A.M. Evans, Richard H. Odom, Jane L. Rodrigue, C.A. Kelly, Nicole Abaid, Corinne A. Diggins, Doug Newcomb
2016, Endangered Species Research (27) 131-140
In the southern Appalachians, artificial nest-boxes are used to survey for the endangered Carolina northern flying squirrel (CNFS; Glaucomys sabrinus coloratus), a disjunct subspecies associated with high elevation (>1385 m) forests. Using environmental parameters diagnostic of squirrel habitat, we created 35 a priori occupancy models in the program PRESENCE for boxes surveyed in...
Urban and suburban areas
Robert N. Fisher
2016, Book chapter, Habitat management guidelines for amphibians and reptiles of the Southwestern United States (PARC Technical Publication HMG-5)
No abstract available....
Viral lysis of photosynthesizing microbes as a mechanism for calcium carbonate nucleation in seawater
John T. Lisle, Lisa L. Robbins
2016, Frontiers in Microbiology (7)
Removal of carbon through the precipitation and burial of calcium carbonate in marine sediments constitutes over 70% of the total carbon on Earth and is partitioned between coastal and pelagic zones. The precipitation of authigenic calcium carbonate in seawater, however, has been hotly debated because despite being in a supersaturated...
Louisiana waterthrush and benthic macroinvertebrate response to shale gas development
Petra Wood, Mack W. Frantz, Douglas A. Becker
2016, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (7) 423-433
Because shale gas development is occurring over large landscapes and consequently is affecting many headwater streams, an understanding of its effects on headwater-stream faunal communities is needed. We examined effects of shale gas development (well pads and associated infrastructure) on Louisiana waterthrush Parkesia motacilla and benthic macroinvertebrate communities in 12...
Natural soil reservoirs for human pathogenic and fecal indicator bacteria
Maria L Boschiroli, Joseph Falkinham, Sabine Favre-Bonte, Sylvie Nazaret, Pascal Piveteau, Michael J. Sadowsky, Muruleedhara Byappanahalli, Pascal Delaquis, Alain Hartmann
2016, Book chapter, Manual of environmental microbiology
Soils receive inputs of human pathogenic and indicator bacteria through land application of animal manures or sewage sludge, and inputs by wildlife. Soil is an extremely heterogeneous substrate and contains meso- and macrofauna that may be reservoirs for bacteria of human health concern. The ability to detect and quantify bacteria...
Site effects in Port-au-Prince (Haiti) from the analysis of spectral ratio and numerical simulations.
Sadrac St. Fleur, Etienne Bertrand, Francoise Courboulex, Bernard Mercier de Lepinay, Anne Deschamps, Susan E. Hough, Giovanna Cultrera, Dominique Boisson, Claude Prepetit
2016, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (106) 1298-1315
To provide better insight into seismic ground motion in the Port‐au‐Prince metropolitan area, we investigate site effects at 12 seismological stations by analyzing 78 earthquakes with magnitude smaller than 5 that occurred between 2010 and 2013. Horizontal‐to‐vertical spectral ratio on earthquake recordings and a standard spectral ratio were applied to...
Comparative mitogenomic analyses of three North American stygobiont amphipods of the genus Stygobromus (Crustacea: Amphipoda)
Aaron W. Aunins, David L. Nelms, Christopher S. Hobson, Tim L. King
2016, Mitochondrial DNA Part B (1) 560-563
The mitochondrial genomes of three North American stygobiont amphipods Stygobromus tenuis potomacus, S. foliatus and S. indentatus collected from Caroline County, VA, were sequenced using a shotgun sequencing approach on an Illumina NextSeq500 (Illumina Inc., San Diego, CA). All three mitogenomes displayed 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNAs and two rRNAs typical of metazoans. While S. tenuis and S....
Addressing potential local adaptation in species distribution models: implications for conservation under climate change
Maria Helena Hallfors, Jishan Liao, Jason D. K. Dzurisin, Ralph Grundel, Marko Hyvarinen, Kevin Towle, Grace C. Wu, Jessica J. Hellmann
2016, Ecological Applications (26) 1154-1169
Species distribution models (SDMs) have been criticized for involving assumptions that ignore or categorize many ecologically relevant factors such as dispersal ability and biotic interactions. Another potential source of model error is the assumption that species are ecologically uniform in their climatic tolerances across their range. Typically, SDMs to treat...
Female sea lamprey shift orientation toward a conspecific chemical cue to escape a sensory trap
Cory O. Brant, Nicholas S. Johnson, Ke Li, Tyler J. Buchinger, Weiming Li
2016, Behavioral Ecology (27) 810-819
The sensory trap model of signal evolution hypothesizes that signalers adapt to exploit a cue used by the receiver in another context. Although exploitation of receiver biases can result in conflict between the sexes, deceptive signaling systems that are mutually beneficial drive the evolution of stable communication systems. However, female...
Water-quality effects on phytoplankton species and density and trophic state indices at Big Base and Little Base Lakes, Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, June through August, 2015
Lucas Driver, Billy Justus
2016, Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science (70) 88-95
Big Base and Little Base Lakes are located on Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, and their close proximity to a dense residential population and an active military/aircraft installation make the lakes vulnerable to water-quality degradation. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted a study from June through August 2015 to investigate the effects of water quality on...
Water-quality response to a high-elevation wildfire in the Colorado Front Range
M. Alisa Mast, Sheila F. Murphy, David W. Clow, Colin A. Penn, Graham A. Sexstone
2016, Hydrological Processes (30) 1811-1823
Water quality of the Big Thompson River in the Front Range of Colorado was studied for 2 years following a high‐elevation wildfire that started in October 2012 and burned 15% of the watershed. A combination of fixed‐interval sampling and continuous water‐quality monitors was used to examine the timing and magnitude of...
