Roosting and foraging social structure of the endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis)
Alexander Silvis, Andrew B. Kniowski, Stanley D. Gehrt, W. Mark Ford
2014, PLoS ONE (9) 1-12
Social dynamics are an important but poorly understood aspect of bat ecology. Herein we use a combination of graph theoretic and spatial approaches to describe the roost and social network characteristics and foraging associations of an Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) maternity colony in an agricultural landscape in Ohio, USA. We...
Cross-ecosystem impacts of stream pollution reduce resource and contaminant flux to riparian food webs
Johanna M. Kraus, Travis S. Schmidt, David Walters, Richard B. Wanty, Robert E. Zuellig, Ruth E. Wolf
2014, Ecological Applications (24) 235-243
The effects of aquatic contaminants are propagated across ecosystem boundaries by aquatic insects that export resources and contaminants to terrestrial food webs; however, the mechanisms driving these effects are poorly understood. We examined how emergence, contaminant concentration, and total contaminant flux by adult aquatic insects changed over a gradient of...
Merging remote sensing data and national agricultural statistics to model change in irrigated agriculture
Jesslyn F. Brown, Md Shahriar Pervez
2014, Agricultural Systems (127) 28-40
Over 22 million hectares (ha) of U.S. croplands are irrigated. Irrigation is an intensified agricultural land use that increases crop yields and the practice affects water and energy cycles at, above, and below the land surface. Until recently, there has been a scarcity of geospatially detailed information about irrigation that...
Home range and movements of American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) in an estuary habitat
Ikuko Fujisaki, Kristen M. Hart, Frank J. Mazzotti, Michael S. Cherkiss, Autumn R. Sartain-Iverson, Brian M. Jeffery, Jeffrey S. Beauchamp, Mathew J. Denton
2014, Animal Biotelemetry (2)
Background Understanding movement patterns of free-ranging top predators throughout heterogeneous habitat is important for gaining insight into trophic interactions. We tracked the movements of five adult American alligators to delineate their estuarine habitat use and determine drivers of their activity patterns in a seasonally-fluctuating environment. We also compared VHF- and satellite-tracks...
Suitability of coastal marshes as Whooping Crane (Grus americana) foraging habitat in southwest Louisiana, USA
Sung-Ryong Kang, Sammy L. King
2014, Waterbirds (37) 254-263
Foraging habitat conditions (i.e., water depth, prey biomass, digestible energy density) can be a significant predictor of foraging habitat selection by wading birds. Potential foraging habitats of Whooping Cranes (Grus americana) using marshes include ponds and emergent marsh, but the potential prey and energy availability in these habitat types have...
Climate, not atmospheric deposition, drives the biogeochemical mass-balance of a mountain watershed
Jill S. Baron, Jared Heath
2014, Aquatic Geochemistry (20) 167-181
Watershed mass-balance methods are valuable tools for demonstrating impacts to water quality from atmospheric deposition and chemical weathering. Owen Bricker, a pioneer of the mass-balance method, began applying mass-balance modeling to small watersheds in the late 1960s and dedicated his career to expanding the literature and knowledge of complex watershed...
Applications of spatial statistical network models to stream data
Daniel J. Isaak, Erin E. Peterson, Jay M. Ver Hoef, Seth J. Wenger, Jeffrey A. Falke, Christian E. Torgersen, Colin Sowder, E. Ashley Steel, Marie-Josée Fortin, Chris E. Jordan, Aaron S. Ruesch, Nicholas Som, Pascal Monestiez
2014, WIREs Water (1) 277-294
Streams and rivers host a significant portion of Earth's biodiversity and provide important ecosystem services for human populations. Accurate information regarding the status and trends of stream resources is vital for their effective conservation and management. Most statistical techniques applied to data measured on stream networks were developed for terrestrial...
An intercomparison of three methods for the large-scale isolation of oceanic dissolved organic matter
Nelson W. Green, E. Michael Perdue, George R. Aiken, Kenna D. Butler, Hongmei Chen, Thorsten Dittmar, Jutta Niggemann, Aron Stubbins
2014, Marine Chemistry (161) 14-19
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) was isolated from large volumes of deep (674 m) and surface (21 m) ocean water via reverse osmosis/electrodialysis (RO/ED) and two solid-phase extraction (SPE) methods (XAD-8/4 and PPL) at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA). By applying the three methods to common water samples, the efficiencies...
Re-evaluation of Yellowstone grizzly bear population dynamics not supported by empirical data: response to Doak & Cutler
Frank T. van Manen, Michael R. Ebinger, Mark A. Haroldson, Richard B. Harris, Megan D. Higgs, Steve Cherry, Gary C. White, Charles C. Schwartz
2014, Conservation Letters (7) 323-331
Doak and Cutler critiqued methods used by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST) to estimate grizzly bear population size and trend in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Here, we focus on the premise, implementation, and interpretation of simulations they used to support their arguments. They argued that population increases documented...
Influence of whitebark pine decline on fall habitat use and movements of grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
Cecily M. Costello, Frank T. van Manen, Mark A. Haroldson, Michael R. Ebinger, Steven L. Cain, Kerry A. Gunther, Daniel D. Bjornlie
2014, Ecology and Evolution (4) 2004-2018
When abundant, seeds of the high-elevation whitebark pine (WBP; Pinus albicaulis) are an important fall food for grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Rates of bear mortality and bear/human conflicts have been inversely associated with WBP productivity. Recently, mountain pine beetles (Dendroctonus ponderosae) have killed many cone-producing WBP...
Using cumulative diet data and stable isotope analysis to determine trophic position of walleye Sander vitreus in a large, complex system
Mark J. Fincel, Daniel A. James, Steven R. Chipps, Blake A. Davis
2014, Journal of Freshwater Ecology (29) 441-447
Diet studies have traditionally been used to determine prey use and food web dynamics, while stable isotope analysis provides for a time-integrated approach to evaluate food web dynamics and characterize energy flow in aquatic systems. Direct comparison of the two techniques is rare and difficult to conduct in large, species...
Model behavior and sensitivity in an application of the cohesive bed component of the community sediment transport modeling system for the York River estuary, VA, USA
Kelsey A. Fall, Courtney K. Harris, Carl T. Friedrichs, J. Paul Rinehimer, Christopher R. Sherwood
2014, Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (2) 413-436
The Community Sediment Transport Modeling System (CSTMS) cohesive bed sub-model that accounts for erosion, deposition, consolidation, and swelling was implemented in a three-dimensional domain to represent the York River estuary, Virginia. The objectives of this paper are to (1) describe the application of the three-dimensional hydrodynamic York Cohesive Bed Model,...
Evaluation of high-frequency mean streamwater transit-time estimates using groundwater age and dissolved silica concentrations in a small forested watershed
Norman E. Peters, Douglas A. Burns, Brent T. Aulenbach
2014, Aquatic Geochemistry (20) 183-202
Many previous investigations of mean streamwater transit times (MTT) have been limited by an inability to quantify the MTT dynamics. Here, we draw on (1) a linear relation (r 2 = 0.97) between groundwater 3H/3He ages and dissolved silica (Si) concentrations, combined with (2) predicted streamwater Si concentrations from a...
Reflections on a vision for integrated research and monitoring after 15 years
Peter S. Murdoch, Michael McHale, Jill Baron
2014, Aquatic Geochemistry (20) 363-380
In May of 1998, Owen Bricker and his co-author Michael Ruggiero introduced a conceptual design for integrating the Nation’s environmental research and monitoring programs. The Framework for Integrated Monitoring and Related Research was an organizing strategy for relating data collected by various programs, at multiple spatial and temporal scales, and...
Progress in data collection and dissemination in water resources – 1974-2014
Jerad D. Bales
2014, Water Resources Impact (16) 18-23
In the 50 years since the founding of the American Water Resources Association (AWRA), there has been tremendous and likely unforeseen progress in water-re- sources data collection and dissemination. Langford and Doyel (1974) (henceforth L&D) described progress during the decade following the founding of AWRA, and focused their description around...
Modeling the effects of source and path heterogeneity on ground motions of great earthquakes on the Cascadia Subduction Zone Using 3D simulations
Andrew Delorey, Arthur D. Frankel, Pengcheng Liu, William J. Stephenson
2014, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (104) 1430-1446
We ran finite‐difference earthquake simulations for great subduction zone earthquakes in Cascadia to model the effects of source and path heterogeneity for the purpose of improving strong‐motion predictions. We developed a rupture model for large subduction zone earthquakes based on a k−2 slip spectrum and scale‐dependent rise times by representing the...
Desert wetlands in the geologic record
Jeff S. Pigati, Jason A. Rech, Jay Quade, Jordon Bright
L. Edwards, A. Springer, editor(s)
2014, Earth-Science Reviews (132) 67-81
Desert wetlands support flora and fauna in a variety of hydrologic settings, including seeps, springs, marshes, wet meadows, ponds, and spring pools. Over time, eolian, alluvial, and fluvial sediments become trapped in these settings by a combination of wet ground conditions and dense plant cover. The result is a unique...
Nearshore energy subsidies support Lake Michigan fishes and invertebrates following major changes in food web structure
Benjamin A. Turschak, David B. Bunnell, Sergiusz J. Czesny, Tomas O. Hook, John Janssen, David M. Warner, Harvey A. Bootsma
2014, Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics (95) 1243-1252
Aquatic food webs that incorporate multiple energy channels (e.g. nearshore benthic or pelagic) with varying productivity and turnover rates convey stability to biological communities by providing multiple independent energy sources. Within the Lake Michigan food web, invasive dreissenid mussels have caused rapid changes to food web structure and potentially altered...
Relationships among walleye population characteristics and genetic diversity in northern Wisconsin Lakes
Matthew D. Waterhouse, Brian L. Sloss, Daniel A. Isermann
2014, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (143) 744-756
The maintenance of genetic integrity is an important goal of fisheries management, yet little is known regarding the effects of management actions (e.g., stocking, harvest regulations) on the genetic diversity of many important fish species. Furthermore, relationships between population characteristics and genetic diversity remain poorly understood. We examined relationships among...
Surface‐wave Green’s tensors in the near field
Matthew M. Haney, Hisashi Nakahara
2014, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (104) 1578-1586
We demonstrate the connection between theoretical expressions for the correlation of ambient noise Rayleigh and Love waves and the exact surface‐wave Green’s tensors for a point force. The surface‐wave Green’s tensors are well known in the far‐field limit. On the other hand, the imaginary part of the exact Green’s tensors,...
El Niño-Southern Oscillation is linked to decreased energetic condition in long-distance migrants
Kristina L. Paxton, Emily B. Cohen, Eben H. Paxton, Zoltan Nemeth, Frank R. Moore
2014, PLoS ONE (9)
Predicting how migratory animals respond to changing climatic conditions requires knowledge of how climatic events affect each phase of the annual cycle and how those effects carry-over to subsequent phases. We utilized a 17-year migration dataset to examine how El Niño-Southern Oscillation climatic events in geographically different regions of the...
Geophysical advances triggered by 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake
Peter J. Haeussler, William S. Leith, David J. Wald, John R. Filson, Cecily J. Wolfe, David Applegate
2014, Eos, Earth and Space Science News (95) 141-142
A little more than 50 years ago, on 27 March 1964, the Great Alaska earthquake and tsunami struck. At moment magnitude 9.2, this earthquake is notable as the largest in U.S. written history and as the second-largest ever recorded by instruments worldwide. But what resonates today are its impacts on the...
Genomic characterization of H14 subtype influenza A viruses in New World waterfowl and experimental infectivity in mallards Anas platyrhynchos
Andrew M. Ramey, Rebecca L. Poulson, Ana S. Gonzalez-Reiche, Daniel R. Perez, David E. Stalknecht, Justin D. Brown
2014, PLoS ONE (9)
Recent repeated isolation of H14 hemagglutinin subtype influenza A viruses (IAVs) in the New World waterfowl provides evidence to suggest that host and/or geographic ranges for viruses of this subtype may be expanding. In this study, we used genomic analyses to gain inference on the origin and evolution of H14...
Mineral resource of the month: Wollastonite
Robert L. Virta, Bradley S. Van Gosen
2014, Earth (59) 51-51
Wollastonite, a calcium metasilicate, has an ideal composition of 48.3 percent calcium oxide and 51.7 percent silicon dioxide, but it can also contain minor amounts of aluminum, iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium, sodium or strontium substituting for calcium. Wollastonite occurs as prismatic crystals that break into tabular-to-acicular fragments. It is usually...
Spatial and temporal trends in occurrence of emerging and legacy contaminants in the Lower Columbia River 2008-2010
David A. Alvarez, Stephanie D. Perkins, Elena B. Nilsen, Jennifer L. Morace
2014, Science of the Total Environment (484) 322-330
The Lower Columbia River in Oregon and Washington, USA, is an important resource for aquatic and terrestrial organisms, agriculture, and commerce. An 86-mile stretch of the river was sampled over a 3 year period in order to determine the spatial and temporal trends in the occurrence and concentration of water-borne...
