Characterization of a novel hepadnavirus in the white sucker (Catostomus commersonii) from the Great Lakes Region of the USA
Cassidy M. Hahn, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Robert S. Cornman, Carla M. Conway, James R. Winton, Vicki S. Blazer
2015, Journal of Virology (89) 11801-11811
The white sucker Catostomus commersonii is a freshwater teleost often utilized as a resident sentinel. Here, we sequenced the full genome of a hepatitis B-like virus that infects white suckers from the Great Lakes Region of the USA. Dideoxysequencing confirmed the white sucker hepatitis B virus (WSHBV) has a circular...
Global patterns and environmental controls of perchlorate and nitrate co-occurrence in arid and semi-arid environments
W Andrew Jackson, J.K. Bohlke, Brian J. Andraski, Lynne S. Fahlquist, Laura M. Bexfield, Frank D. Eckardt, John B. Gates, Alfonso F. Davila, Christopher P. McKay, Balaji Rao, Ritesh Sevanthi, Srinath Rajagopalan, Nubia Estrada, Neil C. Sturchio, Paul B. Hatzinger, Todd A. Anderson, Greta J. Orris, Julio L. Betancourt, David A. Stonestrom, Claudio Latorre, Yanhe Li, Gregory J. Harvey
2015, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (164) 502-522
Natural perchlorate (ClO4−) is of increasing interest due to its wide-spread occurrence on Earth and Mars, yet little information exists on the relative abundance of ClO4− compared to other major anions, its stability, or long-term variations in production that may impact the observed distributions. Our objectives were to evaluate the...
Mineral Resource of the Month: Bromine
Emily Schnebele
2015, Earth (September 2015)
Bromine, along with mercury, is one of only two elements that are liquid at room temperature. Bromine is a highly volatile and corrosive reddish-brown liquid that evaporates easily and converts to a metal at extreme pressures — above about 540,000 times atmospheric pressure. Bromine occurs in seawater, evaporitic (salt) lakes...
Groundwater availability in the United States: the value of quantitative regional assessments
Kevin F. Dennehy, Thomas E. Reilly, William L. Cunningham
2015, Hydrogeology Journal (23) 1629-1632
The sustainability of water resources is under continued threat from the challenges associated with a growing population, competing demands, and a changing climate. Freshwater scarcity has become a fact in many areas. Much of the United States surface-water supplies are fully apportioned for use; thus, in some areas the only...
The forcing of monthly precipitation variability over Southwest Asia during the Boreal cold season
Andrew Hoell, Shraddhanand Shukla, Mathew Barlow, Forest Cannon, Colin Kelley, Christopher C. Funk
2015, Journal of Climate (28) 7038-7056
Southwest Asia, deemed as the region containing the countries of Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Pakistan, is water scarce and receives nearly 75% of its annual rainfall during8 the boreal cold season of November-April. The forcing of Southwest Asia precipitation has been previously examined for the entire boreal cold season from...
Mid-Cretaceous oblique rifting of West Antarctica: Emplacement and rapid cooling of the Fosdick Mountains migmatite-cored gneiss dome
Rory McFadden, Christian Teyssier, Christine Siddoway, Michael A. Cosca, C. Mark Fanning
2015, LITHOS (232) 306-318
In Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica, the Fosdick Mountains migmatite-cored gneiss dome was exhumed from mid- to lower middle crustal depths during the incipient stage of the West Antarctic Rift system in the mid-Cretaceous. Prior to and during exhumation, major crustal melting and deformation included transfer and emplacement of...
Demersal fish distribution and habitat use within and near Baltimore and Norfolk Canyons, U.S. Middle Atlantic Slope
Steve W. Ross, Mike Rhode, Andrea M. Quattrini
2015, Deep-Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers (103) 137-154
Numerous submarine canyons along the United States middle Atlantic continental margin support enhanced productivity, diverse and unique habitats, active fisheries, and are vulnerable to various anthropogenic disturbances. During two cruises (15 Aug–2 Oct 2012 and 30 Apr–27 May 2013), Baltimore and Norfolk canyons and nearby areas (including two cold seeps)...
High mercury wet deposition at a “clean Air” site in Puerto Rico
James B. Shanley, Mark A. Engle, Martha A. Scholl, David P. Krabbenhoft, Robert Brunette, Mark L. Olson, Mary E. Conroy
2015, Environmental Science & Technology (49) 12474-12482
Atmospheric mercury deposition measurements are rare in tropical latitudes. Here we report on seven years (April 2005 to April 2012, with gaps) of wet Hg deposition measurements at a tropical wet forest in the Luquillo Mountains, northeastern Puerto Rico, U.S. Despite receiving unpolluted air off the Atlantic Ocean from northeasterly...
Spring plant phenology and false springs in the conterminous US during the 21st century
Andrew J. Allstadt, Stephen J. Vavrus, Patricia J. Heglund, Anna M. Pidgeon, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Volker C. Radeloff
2015, Geophysical Research Letters (10)
The onset of spring plant growth has shifted earlier in the year over the past several decades due to rising global temperatures. Earlier spring onset may cause phenological mismatches between the availability of plant resources and dependent animals, and potentially lead to more false springs, when subsequent freezing temperatures damage...
Effects of elevated water temperature on physiological responses in adult freshwater mussels
Alissa M. Ganser, Teresa J. Newton, Roger J. Haro
2015, Freshwater Biology (60) 1705-1715
Freshwater mussels (order Unionoida) face multiple environmental stressors, which pose serious conservation challenges to this diverse assemblage of aquatic invertebrates. Of these stressors, elevated water temperature from global climate change and other anthropogenic sources may be the most ubiquitous and could be placing many mussel populations dangerously close...
Estimating annualized earthquake losses for the conterminous United States
Kishor S. Jaiswal, Douglas Bausch, Rui Chen, Jawhar Bouabid, Hope Seligson
2015, Earthquake Spectra (31) 221-243
We make use of the most recent National Seismic Hazard Maps (the years 2008 and 2014 cycles), updated census data on population, and economic exposure estimates of general building stock to quantify annualized earthquake loss (AEL) for the conterminous United States. The AEL analyses were performed using the Federal Emergency...
Upgrade of the New China Digital Seismograph Network
D. Anderson, J. Anderson, D. Ford, Lind S. Gee, G. Gyure, Charles R. Hutt, E. Kromer, B. Marshall, K. Persefield, Adam T. Ringler, M. Sharratt, Tyler Storm, David C. Wilson, D. Yang, Z. Zheng
2015, Seismological Research Letters (86) 1364-1373
No abstract available....
Grasshopper sparrow reproductive success and habitat use on reclaimed surface mines varies by age of reclamation
Petra Wood, Frank K. Ammer
2015, Wildlife Society Bulletin (39) 512-520
We studied 3 mountaintop mining–valley fill (MTMVF) complexes in southern West Virginia, USA to examine grasshopper sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum pratensis) demographic response to different age classes of mine land reclamation. For 71 nests monitored during the 2001–2002 breeding seasons, overall nest success (36%) was within the range of nest success...
Evaluation of the toxicity of sediments from the Anniston PCB Site to the mussel Lampsilis siliquoidea
Allison Schein, Jesse A. Sinclair, Donald D. MacDonald, Christopher G. Ingersoll, Nile E. Kemble, James L. Kunz
2015, Report
The Anniston Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) Site is located in the vicinity of the municipality of Anniston in Calhoun County, in the north-eastern portion of Alabama. Although there are a variety of land-use activities within the Choccolocco Creek watershed, environmental concerns in the area have focused mainly on releases of PCBs...
Defining conservation targets on a landscape-scale
A.M. Benscoter, Stephanie S. Romanach, Laura A. Brandt
2015, Report
Conservation planning, the process of deciding how to protect, conserve, enhance and(or) minimize loss of natural and cultural resources, is a fundamental process to achieve conservation success in a time of rapid environmental change. Conservation targets, the measurable expressions of desired resource conditions, are an important tool in biological planning...
Aquaculture disturbance impacts the diet but not ecological linkages of a ubiquitous predatory fish
Kathleen C. McPeek, P. Sean McDonald, Glenn VanBlaricom
2015, Estuaries and Coasts (38) 1520-1534
Aquaculture operations are a frequent and prominent cause of anthropogenic disturbance to marine and estuarine communities and may alter species composition and abundance. However, little is known about how such disturbances affect trophic linkages or ecosystem functions. In Puget Sound, Washington, aquaculture of the Pacific geoduck clam (Panopea...
Wetland occupancy of pond-breeding amphibians in Yosemite National Park, USA
Gary M. Fellers, Patrick M. Kleeman, David A.W. Miller
2015, Journal of North American Herpetology (2015) 22-33
We estimated wetland occupancy and population trends for three species of pond-breeding anurans in Yosemite National Park from 2007-2011. We used a double survey technique in which two observers independently surveyed each site on the same day. Double surveys allowed us to calculate detectability for the three most common anurans...
Sediment yields from small, steep coastal watersheds of California
Jonathan A. Warrick, John M. Melack, Blair M. Goodridge
2015, Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies (4) 516-534
Global inventories of sediment discharge to the ocean highlight the importance of small, steep watersheds (i.e., those having drainage areas less than 100,000 km2 and over 1000 m of relief) that collectively provide a dominant flux of sediment. The smallest of these coastal watersheds (e.g., those that have drainage areas...
Amphibole reaction rims as a record of pre-eruptive magmatic heating: An experimental approach
S. H. De Angelis, J. Larsen, Michelle L. Coombs, A. Dunn, Leslie A. Hayden
2015, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (426) 235-245
Magmatic minerals record the pre-eruptive timescales of magma ascent and mixing in crustal reservoirs and conduits. Investigations of the mineral records of magmatic processes are fundamental to our understanding of what controls eruption style, as ascent rates and magma mixing processes are well known to control and/or trigger potentially hazardous...
Developing nondestructive techniques for managing conflicts between fisheries and double-crested cormorant colonies
Yasuko Suzuki, Daniel D. Roby, Donald E. Lyons, Karen Courtot, Ken Collis
2015, Wildlife Society Bulletin (39) 764-771
Double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) have been identified as the source of significant mortality to juvenile salmonids (Oncorhynchus spp.) in the Columbia River Basin. Management plans for reducing the size of a large colony on East Sand Island (OR, USA) in the Columbia River estuary are currently being developed. We evaluated habitat...
Camera traps and mark-resight models: The value of ancillary data for evaluating assumptions
Arielle W. Parsons, Theodore R. Simons, Kenneth H. Pollock, Michael K. Stoskopf, Jessica J. Stocking, Allan F. O’Connell
2015, Journal of Wildlife Management (79) 1163-1172
Unbiased estimators of abundance and density are fundamental to the study of animal ecology and critical for making sound management decisions. Capture–recapture models are generally considered the most robust approach for estimating these parameters but rely on a number of assumptions that are often violated but rarely validated. Mark-resight models,...
Legacy effects of no-analogue disturbances alter plant community diversity and composition in semi-arid sagebrush steppe
Julie Ripplinger, Janet Franklin, Thomas C. Edwards Jr.
2015, Journal of Vegetation Science (26) 923-933
Questions(i) What role does the type of managed disturbance play in structuring sagebrush steppe plant communities? (ii) How does the composition of post-disturbance plant communities change with time since disturbance? (iii) Does plant community diversity change over time following managed disturbance?LocationField study within the sagebrush steppe ecosystem. Rich County, Utah,...
A food web modeling analysis of a Midwestern, USA eutrophic lake dominated by non-native Common Carp and Zebra Mussels
Michael E. Colvin, Clay Pierce, Timothy W. Stewart
2015, Ecological Modelling (312) 26-40
Food web modeling is recognized as fundamental to understanding the complexities of aquatic systems. Ecopath is the most common mass-balance model used to represent food webs and quantify trophic interactions among groups. We constructed annual Ecopath models for four consecutive years during the first half-decade of a zebra mussel invasion...
Linking resource selection and mortality modeling for population estimation of mountain lions in Montana
Hugh S. Robinson, Toni K. Ruth, Justin A. Gude, David Choate, Rich DeSimone, Mark Hebblewhite, Marc R. Matchett, Michael S. Mitchell, Kerry Murphy, Jim Williams
2015, Ecological Modelling (312) 11-25
To be most effective, the scale of wildlife management practices should match the range of a particular species’ movements. For this reason, combined with our inability to rigorously or regularly census mountain lion populations, several authors have suggested that mountain lions be managed in a source-sink or metapopulation framework. We...
Development of twelve microsatellite loci in the red tree corals Primnoa resedaeformis and Primnoa pacifica
Cheryl L. Morrison, Marcus J. Springmann, Kelsey Shroades, Robert P. Stone
2015, Conservation Genetics Resources (7) 763-765
A suite of tetra-, penta-, and hexa-nucleotide microsatellite loci were developed from Roche 454 pyrosequencing data for the cold-water octocorals Primnoa resedaeformis and P. pacifica. Twelve of 98 primer sets tested consistently amplified in 30 P. resedaeformis samples from Baltimore...
