Nitrogen deposition effects on diatom communities in lakes from three National Parks in Washington State
Richard W. Sheibley, Mihaela Enache, Peter W. Swarzenski, Patrick W. Moran, James R. Foreman
2014, Water, Air, & Soil Pollution (225)
The goal of this study was to document if lakes in National Parks in Washington have exceeded critical levels of nitrogen (N) deposition, as observed in other Western States. We measured atmospheric N deposition, lake water quality, and sediment diatoms at our study lakes. Water chemistry showed that our study...
Fishing for resilience
Kevin L. Pope, Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler
2014, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (143) 467-478
Management approaches that focus on social–ecological systems—systems comprised of ecosystems, landscapes, and humans—are needed to secure the sustainability of inland recreational fisheries without jeopardizing the integrity of the underlying social and ecological components. Resilience management can be useful because it focuses on providing recreational capacity for fishermen under a variety...
Historic and recent nesting records of Turkey Vultures in South Dakota
Lawrence D. Igl, Brian J. Chepulis, Kyle E. McLean
2014, South Dakota Bird Notes (66) 8-17
Present-day vultures are generally classified into two distinct groups: Old World vultures and new World vultures. The two groups share morphological and behavioral characters (e.g. scavenger diet, energy-efficient soaring, mostly featherless head), but historically the two groups were considered phylogenetically distant with long and independent histories (Rich 198., Wink 1995,...
Estrogen and androgen receptor activities of hydraulic fracturing chemicals and surface and ground water in a drilling-dense region
Christopher D. Kassotis, Donald E. Tillitt, J. Wade Davis, Anette M. Hormann, Susan C. Nagel
2014, Endocrinology (155) 897-907
The rapid rise in natural gas extraction using hydraulic fracturing increases the potential for contamination of surface and ground water from chemicals used throughout the process. Hundreds of products containing more than 750 chemicals and components are potentially used throughout the extraction process, including more than 100 known...
Effects of wetland management on carrying capacity of diving ducks and shorebirds in a coastal estuary
L. Arriana Brand, John Y. Takekawa, Joel Shinn, Tanya Graham, Kevin Buffington, K. Benjamin Gustafson, Lacy M. Smith, Sarah E. Spring, A. Keith Miles
2014, Waterbirds (37) 52-67
With global loss of natural wetlands, managed wetlands increasingly support energy requirements for wintering shorebirds and waterfowl. Despite numerous studies of avian bioenergetics in freshwater systems, less is known of the energetic capacity of estuarine systems. In San Francisco Bay, managed saline ponds converted from former commercial salt evaporation ponds...
Assessment of floodplain vulnerability during extreme Mississippi River flood 2011
Allison E. Goodwell, Zhenduo Zhu, Debsunder Dutta, Jonathan A. Greenberg, Praveen Kumar, Marcelo H. Garcia, Bruce L. Rhoads, Robert R. Holmes Jr., Gary Parker, David P. Berretta, Robert B. Jacobson
2014, Environmental Science & Technology (48) 2619-2625
Regional change in the variability and magnitude of flooding could be a major consequence of future global climate change. Extreme floods have the capacity to rapidly transform landscapes and expose landscape vulnerabilities through highly variable spatial patterns of inundation, erosion, and deposition. We use the historic activation of the Birds...
A methodology for adaptable and robust ecosystem services assessment
Ferdinando Villa, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Brian Voigt, Gary W. Johnson, Rosimeiry Portela, Miroslav Honzak, David Batker
2014, PLoS ONE (9)
Ecosystem Services (ES) are an established conceptual framework for attributing value to the benefits that nature provides to humans. As the promise of robust ES-driven management is put to the test, shortcomings in our ability to accurately measure, map, and value ES have surfaced. On the research side, mainstream methods...
Soil-plant-microbial relations in hydrothermally altered soils of Northern California
S.W. Blecker, L.L. Stillings, N.M. DeCrappeo, J.A. Ippolito
2014, Soil Science Society of America Journal (78) 509-519
Soils developed on relict hydrothermally altered soils throughout the Western USA present unique opportunities to study the role of geology on above and belowground biotic activity and composition. Soil and vegetation samples were taken at three unaltered andesite and three hydrothermally altered (acid-sulfate) sites located in and around Lassen VolcanicNational...
Linking bovine tuberculosis on cattle farms to white-tailed deer and environmental variables using Bayesian hierarchical analysis
W. David Walter, Rick Smith, Mike Vanderklok, Kurt C. VerCauterren
2014, PLoS ONE (9)
Bovine tuberculosis is a bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium bovis in livestock and wildlife with hosts that include Eurasian badgers (Meles meles), brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula), and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Risk-assessment efforts in Michigan have been initiated on farms to minimize interactions of cattle with wildlife hosts but research onM. bovis on...
Relative contribution of lipid sources to eggs of lesser scaup
Kyle A. Cutting, Keith A. Hobson, Jay J. Rotella, Jeffrey M. Warren, John Y. Takekawa, Susan E.W. De La Cruz, Michael Parker
2014, Journal of Avian Biology (45) 197-201
Studies of how birds mobilize nutrients to eggs have traditionally considered a continuum of possible allocation strategies ranging from income breeding (rely on food sources found on the breeding grounds) to capital breeding (rely on body reserves stored prior to the breeding season). For capital breeding, stored body reserves can...
CO2 and CH4 emissions from streams in a lake-rich landscape: Patterns, controls, and regional significance
John T. Crawford, Noah R. Lottig, Emily H. Stanley, John F. Walker, Paul C. Hanson, Jacques C. Finlay, Robert G. Striegl
2014, Global Biogeochemical Cycles (28) 197-210
Aquatic ecosystems are important components of landscape carbon budgets. In lake-rich landscapes, both lakes and streams may be important sources of carbon gases (CO2 and CH4) to the atmosphere, but the processes that control gas concentrations and emissions in these interconnected landscapes have not been adequately addressed. We use multiple...
Oyster reef restoration in the northern Gulf of Mexico: extent, methods and outcomes
Megan K. LaPeyre, Jessica N. Furlong, Laura A. Brown, Bryan P. Piazza, Ken Brown
2014, Ocean and Coastal Management (89) 20-28
Shellfish reef restoration to support ecological services has become more common in recent decades, driven by increasing awareness of the functional decline of shellfish systems. Maximizing restoration benefits and increasing efficiency of shellfish restoration activities would greatly benefit from understanding and measurement of system responses to management activities. This project...
Distinguishing between tectonic and lithologic controls on bedrock channel longitudinal profiles using cosmogenic 10Be erosion rates and channel steepness index
Andrew J. Cyr, Darryl E. Granger, Valerio Olivetti, Paola Molin
2014, Geomorphology (209) 27-38
Knickpoints in fluvial channel longitudinal profiles and channel steepness index values derived from digital elevation data can be used to detect tectonic structures and infer spatial patterns of uplift. However, changes in lithologic resistance to channel incision can also influence the morphology of longitudinal profiles. We compare the spatial patterns...
Mercury bioaccumulation in Southern Appalachian birds, assessed through feather concentrations
Rebecca Hylton Keller, Lingtian Xie, David B. Buchwalter, Kathleen E. Franzreb, Theodore R. Simons
2014, Ecotoxicology (23) 304-316
Mercury contamination in wildlife has rarely been studied in the Southern Appalachians despite high deposition rates in the region. From 2006 to 2008 we sampled feathers from 458 birds representing 32 species in the Southern Appalachians for total mercury and stable isotope δ 15N. Mercury concentrations (mean ± SE) averaged 0.46 ± 0.02 μg g−1 (range 0.01–3.74 μg g−1). Twelve...
Homing of invasive Burmese pythons in South Florida: evidence for map and compass senses in snakes
Shannon E. Pittman, Kristen M. Hart, Michael S. Cherkiss, Ray W. Snow, Ikuko Fujisaki, Frank J. Mazzotti, Michael E. Dorcas
2014, Biology Letters (10)
Navigational ability is a critical component of an animal's spatial ecology and may influence the invasive potential of species. Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) are apex predators invasive to South Florida. We tracked the movements of 12 adult Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park, six of which were translocated 21–36...
Double-crested Cormorant studies at Little Galloo Island, Lake Ontario in 2013: Diet composition, fish consumption and the efficacy of management activities in reducing fish predation
James H. Johnson, Russ D. McCullough, Irene Mazzocchi
2014, NYSDEC Lake Ontario Annual Report 2013-14
For almost two decades Little Galloo Island (LGI) has supported a large colony of Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) in the eastern basin of Lake Ontario. Cormorant nest counts on the island since the early 1990's have averaged 4,297 per year. However, less than 2,000 pairs have nested on the island...
Diet composition and fish consumption of double-crested cormorants from three St. Lawrence River colonies in 2013
James H. Johnson, James F. Farquhar, Irene M. Mazzocchi, Anne Bendig
2014, NYSDEC Lake Ontario Annual Report 2013-15
Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) were first observed nesting in the upper St. Lawrence River at Strachan Island in 1992. Cormorants now nest at a number of islands in the Thousand Islands section of the river. Griswold, McNair, and Strachan islands are among the largest colonies in the upper river. Until...
Can antibrowsing defense regulate the spread of woody vegetation in arctic tundra?
John P. Bryant, Kyle Joly, F. Stuart Chapin III, Donald L. DeAngelis, Knut Kielland
2014, Ecography (37) 204-211
Global climate warming is projected to promote the increase of woody plants, especially shrubs, in arctic tundra. Many factors may affect the extent of this increase, including browsing by mammals. We hypothesize that across the Arctic the effect of browsing will vary because of regional variation in antibrowsing chemical defense....
Reconstructing suspended sediment mercury contamination of a steep, gravel-bed river using reservoir theory
Katherine Skalak, James Pizzuto
2014, Environmental Geosciences (20) 17-35
We use sediment ages and mercury (Hg) concentrations to estimate past and future concentrations in the South River, Virginia, where Hg was released between 1930 and 1950 from a manufacturing process related to nylon production. In a previous study, along a 40 km (25 mi) reach, samples were collected from 26 of...
Association, roost use and simulated disruption of Myotis septentrionalis maternity colonies
Alexander Silvis, W. Mark Ford, Eric R. Britzke, Joshua B. Johnson
2014, Behavioural Processes (103) 283-290
How wildlife social and resource networks are distributed on the landscape and how animals respond to resource loss are important aspects of behavioral ecology. For bats, understanding these responses may improve conservation efforts and provide insights into adaptations to environmental conditions. We tracked maternity colonies of northern bats (Myotis septentrionalis)...
Productivity and linkages of the food web of the southern region of the western Antarctic Peninsula continental shelf
Tosca Ballerini, Eileen E. Hofmann, David G. Ainley, Kendra L. Daly, Marina Marrari, Christine A. Ribic, Walker O. Smith Jr., John H. Steele
2014, Progress in Oceanography (122) 10-29
The productivity and linkages in the food web of the southern region of the west Antarctic Peninsula continental shelf were investigated using a multi-trophic level mass balance model. Data collected during the Southern Ocean Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics field program were combined with data from...
Volcanic tremor masks its seismogenic source: Results from a study of noneruptive tremor recorded at Mount St. Helens, Washington
Roger P. Denlinger, Seth C. Moran
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (119) 2230-2251
On 2 October 2004, a significant noneruptive tremor episode occurred during the buildup to the 2004–2008 eruption of Mount St. Helens (Washington). This episode was remarkable both because no explosion followed, and because seismicity abruptly stopped following the episode. This sequence motivated us to consider a model for volcanic tremor...
Mercury dynamics in a coastal aquifer: Maunalua Bay, Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi
Priya M. Ganguli, Peter W. Swarzenski, Henrieta Dulaiova, Craig R. Glenn, A. Russell Flegal
2014, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science (140) 52-65
We evaluated the influence of groundwater–seawater interaction on mercury dynamics in Maunalua Bay, a coral reef ecosystem located on the south shore of Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, by combining geochemical data with submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) rates. During a rising tide, unfiltered total mercury (U-HgT) concentrations in seawater increased from ∼6 to...
Similar resilience attributes in lakes with different management practices
Didier L. Baho, Stina Drakare, Richard K. Johnson, Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler
2014, PLoS ONE (9)
Liming has been used extensively in Scandinavia and elsewhere since the 1970s to counteract the negative effects of acidification. Communities in limed lakes usually return to acidified conditions once liming is discontinued, suggesting that liming is unlikely to shift acidified lakes to a state equivalent to pre-acidification conditions that requires...
Optical sensors for water quality
Brian A. Pellerin, Brian A. Bergamaschi
2014, Lakeline 13-17
Shifts in land use, population, and climate have altered hydrologic systems in the United States in ways that affect water quality and ecosystem function. Water diversions, detention in reservoirs, increased channelization, and changes in rainfall and snowmelt are major causes, but there are also more subtle causes such as changes...
