Richness, diversity, and similarity of arthropod prey consumed by a community of Hawaiian forest birds.
Paul C. Banko, Robert W. Peck, Kevin W. Brinck, David L. Leonard
2015, Technical Report HCSU-066
We evaluated the diet richness, diversity, and similarity of a community of seven endemic and two introduced passerine birds by analyzing the composition of arthropod prey in fecal samples collected during 1994–1998 at Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge, Hawai‘i Island. Most prey fragments were identified to order, but we also...
Space use and habitat selection by resident and transient coyotes (Canis latrans)
Joseph W Hinton, Frank T. van Manen, Michael J Chamberlain
2015, PLoS ONE (10)
Little information exists on coyote (Canis latrans) space use and habitat selection in the southeastern United States and most studies conducted in the Southeast have been carried out within small study areas (e.g., ≤1,000 km2). Therefore, studying the placement, size, and habitat composition of coyote home ranges over broad geographic...
Constraining the heat flux between Enceladus’ tiger stripes: numerical modeling of funiscular plains formation
Michael T. Bland, William B. McKinnon, Paul M. Schenk
2015, Icarus (260) 232-245
The Cassini spacecraft’s Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) has observed at least 5 GW of thermal emission at Enceladus’ south pole. The vast majority of this emission is localized on the four long, parallel, evenly-spaced fractures dubbed tiger stripes. However, the thermal emission from regions between the tiger stripes has not been...
Designing a monitoring program to estimate estuarine survival of anadromous salmon smolts: simulating the effect of sample design on inference
Jeremy D. Romer, Alix I. Gitelman, Shaun Clements, Carl B. Schreck
2015, PLoS ONE
A number of researchers have attempted to estimate salmonid smolt survival during outmigration through an estuary. However, it is currently unclear how the design of such studies influences the accuracy and precision of survival estimates. In this simulation study we consider four patterns of smolt survival probability in the estuary,...
Groundwater – The disregarded component in lake water and nutrient budgets. Part 2: effects of groundwater on nutrients
Jorg Lewandowski, Karin Meinikmann, Gunnar Nutzmann, Donald O. Rosenberry
2015, Hydrological Processes (29) 2922-2955
Lacustrine groundwater discharge (LGD) transports nutrients from a catchment to a lake, which may fuel eutrophication, one of the major threats to our fresh waters. Unfortunately, LGD has often been disregarded in lake nutrient studies. Most measurement techniques are based on separate determinations of volume and nutrient concentration of LGD:...
Quantitative imaging of volcanic plumes — Results, needs, and future trends
Ulrich Platt, Peter Lubcke, Jonas Kuhn, Nicole Bobrowski, Fred Prata, Michael Burton, Christoph Kern
2015, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (300) 7-21
Recent technology allows two-dimensional “imaging” of trace gas distributions in plumes. In contrast to older, one-dimensional remote sensing techniques, that are only capable of measuring total column densities, the new imaging methods give insight into details of transport and mixing processes as well as chemical transformation within plumes. We give...
Timing of susceptibility to post-fire debris flows in the western USA
Jerome V. DeGraff, Susan H. Cannon, Joseph E. Gartner
2015, Environmental & Engineering Geoscience (21) 277-292
Watersheds recently burned by wildfires can have an increased susceptibility to debris flow, although little is known about how long this susceptibility persists, and how it changes over time. We here use a compilation of 75 debris-flow response and fire-ignition dates, vegetation and bedrock class, rainfall regime, and initiation process...
Formation of mercury sulfide from Hg(II)−thiolate complexes in natural organic matter
Alain Manceau, Cyprien Lemouchi, Mironel Enescu, Anne-Claire Gaillot, Martine Lanson, Valerie Magnin, Pieter Glatzel, Brett Poulin, Joseph N. Ryan, George R. Aiken, Isabelle Gautier-Lunea, Kathryn L. Nagy
2015, Environmental Science & Technology (49) 9787-9796
Methylmercury is the environmental form of neurotoxic mercury that is biomagnified in the food chain. Methylation rates are reduced when the metal is sequestered in crystalline mercury sulfides or bound to thiol groups in macromolecular natural organic matter. Mercury sulfide minerals are known to nucleate in anoxic zones, by reaction...
Coastal vertebrate exposure to predicted habitat changes due to sea level rise
Elizabeth A. Hunter, Nathan P. Nibbelink, Clark R. Alexander, Kyle Barrett, Lara F. Mengak, Rachel Guy, Clinton T. Moore, Robert J. Cooper
2015, Environmental Management 1-10
Sea level rise (SLR) may degrade habitat for coastal vertebrates in the Southeastern United States, but it is unclear which groups or species will be most exposed to habitat changes. We assessed 28 coastal Georgia vertebrate species for their exposure to potential habitat changes due to SLR using output from...
Human harvest, climate change and their synergistic effects drove the Chinese Crested Tern to the brink of extinction
Shuihua Chen, Zhongyong Fan, Daniel D. Roby, Yiwei Lu, Gangsong Chen, Qin Huang, Lijing Cheng, Jiang Zhu
2015, Global Ecology and Conservation (4) 137-145
Synergistic effect refers to simultaneous actions of separate factors which have a greater total effect than the sum of the individual factor effects. However, there has been a limited knowledge on how synergistic effects occur and individual roles of different drivers are not often considered. Therefore, it becomes quite challenging...
A collision risk model to predict avian fatalities at wind facilities: an example using golden eagles, Aquila chrysaetos
Leslie New, Emily Bjerre, Brian A. Millsap, Mark C. Otto, Michael C. Runge
2015, PLoS ONE (10) 1-12
Wind power is a major candidate in the search for clean, renewable energy. Beyond the technical and economic challenges of wind energy development are environmental issues that may restrict its growth. Avian fatalities due to collisions with rotating turbine blades are a leading concern and there is considerable uncertainty surrounding...
Slope activity in Gale crater, Mars
Colin M. Dundas, Alfred S. McEwen
2015, Icarus (254) 213-218
High-resolution repeat imaging of Aeolis Mons, the central mound in Gale crater, reveals active slope processes within tens of kilometers of the Curiosity rover. At one location near the base of northeastern Aeolis Mons, dozens of transient narrow lineae were observed, resembling features (Recurring Slope Lineae) that are potentially due...
Training conservation practitioners to be better decision makers
Fred A. Johnson, Mitchell J. Eaton, James H. Williams, Gitte H. Jensen, Jesper Madsen
2015, Sustainability (7) 8354-8373
Traditional conservation curricula and training typically emphasizes only one part of systematic decision making (i.e., the science), at the expense of preparing conservation practitioners with critical skills in values-setting, working with decision makers and stakeholders, and effective problem framing. In this article we describe how the application of decision science...
Climate-water quality relationships in Texas reservoirs
Rodica Gelca, Katharine Hayhoe, Ian Scott-Fleming, Caleb Crow, D. Dawson, Reynaldo Patino
2015, Hydrological Processes (30) 12-29
Water temperature, dissolved oxygen, and concentrations of salts in surface water bodies can be affected by the natural environment, local human activities such as surface and ground water withdrawals, land use, and energy extraction, and variability and long-term trends in atmospheric conditions including temperature and precipitation. Here, we quantify the...
Observational data on the effects of infection by the copepod Salmincola californiensis on the short- and long-term viability of juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) implanted with telemetry tags
John W. Beeman, Amy C. Hansen, Jamie M. Sprando
2015, Animal Biotelemetry (3) 1-7
Background Fish movements are often studied using radio or acoustic tags assuming the handling and tagging procedures have little effect on the behavior of the animal. Indeed, many studies provide guidelines for acceptable methods. However, these studies generally assume the fish are otherwise healthy but this may not...
Is income breeding an appropriate construct for waterfowl?
Adam K. Janke, Michael J. Anteau, Nicholas Markl, Joshua D. Stafford
2015, Journal of Ornithology (165) 755-762
Breeding birds use a range of nutrient accumulation and allocation strategies to meet the nutritional demands of clutch formation and incubation. On one end of the spectrum, capital breeders use stored nutrients acquired prior to clutch formation and incubation to sustain metabolism during reproduction, while on the opposite end, income...
NACSN, note 67--Application for revision of Articles 36 and 37, Lithodemic units of the North American stratigraphic code
Robert M. Easton, Lucy E. Edwards, Randall C. Orndorff, Manuel Duguet, Ismael Ferrusquia-Villafranca
2015, Stratigraphy (12) 39-45
Currently the North American Stratigraphic Code, (NACSN 2005, Article 37) sets restrictions on the use of the term “complex” for lithodemic units. With exceptions for “volcanic complex” and “structural complex,” a complex must consist of more than one genetic class of rock (i.e., sedimentary, igneous or metamorphic). Thus, the use...
Up in arms: Immune and nervous system response to sea star wasting disease
Lauren E Fuess, Morgan E. Eiselord, Collin J. Closek, Allison M. Tracy, Ruth Mauntz, Sarah Gignoux-Wolfsohn, Monica M Moritsch, Reyn Yoshioka, Colleen A. Burge, Drew Harvell, Carolyn S. Friedman, Paul K. Hershberger, Steven B. Roberts
2015, PLoS ONE (10)
Echinoderms, positioned taxonomically at the base of deuterostomes, provide an important system for the study of the evolution of the immune system. However, there is little known about the cellular components and genes associated with echinoderm immunity. The 2013–2014 sea star wasting disease outbreak is an emergent, rapidly spreading disease,...
Transport, dam passage, and size selection of adult Atlantic Salmon in the Penobscot River, Maine
Douglas B. Sigourney, Joseph D. Zydlewski, Edward Hughes, Oliver Cox
2015, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (35) 1164-1176
Prior to 2012, returning adult Atlantic Salmon Salmo salar had to pass through fishways at three dams in the lower section of the Penobscot River, Maine: Veazie Dam (river kilometer [rkm] 48; removed in 2013), Great Works Dam (rkm 60; removed in 2012), and Milford Dam (rkm 62). To facilitate...
Comment on “The role of interbasin groundwater transfers in geologically complex terranes, demonstrated by the Great Basin in the western United States”: report published in Hydrogeology Journal (2014) 22:807–828, by Stephen T. Nelson and Alan L. Mayo
Melissa D. Masbruch, Lynette E. Brooks, Victor M. Heilweil, Donald S. Sweetkind
2015, Hydrogeology Journal (23) 209-210
The subject article (Nelson and Mayo 2014) presents an overview of previous reports of interbasin flow in the Great Basin of the western United States. This Comment is presented by authors of a cited study (comprising chapters in one large report) on the Great Basin carbonate and alluvial aquifer system...
Tectonic and sedimentary linkages between the Belt-Purcell basin and southwestern Laurentia during the Mesoproterozoic ca. 1.60-1.40 Ga
James V. Jones III, Christohper G Dainel, Michael F Doe
2015, Lithosphere (7) 465-472
Mesoproterozoic sedimentary basins in western North America provide key constraints on pre-Rodinia craton positions and interactions along the western rifted margin of Laurentia. One such basin, the Belt-Purcell basin, extends from southern Idaho into southern British Columbia and contains a >18-km-thick succession of siliciclastic sediment deposited ca. 1.47–1.40 Ga. The...
Linking state-and-transition simulation and timber supply models for forest biomass production scenarios
Jennifer Costanza, Robert C. Abt, Alexa McKerrow, Jaime Collazo
2015, AIMS Environmental Science (2) 180-202
We linked state-and-transition simulation models (STSMs) with an economics-based timber supply model to examine landscape dynamics in North Carolina through 2050 for three scenarios of forest biomass production. Forest biomass could be an important source of renewable energy in the future, but there is currently much uncertainty about how biomass...
Paleodischarge of the Mojave River, southwestern U.S.A, investigated with single-pebble measurements of 10Be
Andrew J. Cyr, David M. Miller, Shannon A. Mahan
2015, Geosphere (11) 1158-1171
The paleohydrology of ephemeral stream systems is an important constraint on paleoclimatic conditions in arid environments, but remains difficult to constrain quantitatively. For example, sedimentary records of the size and extent of pluvial lakes in the Mojave Desert have been used as a proxy for Quaternary climate variability. Although the...
Integrating multiple distribution models to guide conservation efforts of an endangered toad
Michael L. Treglia, Robert N. Fisher, Lee A. Fitzgerald
2015, PLoS ONE (10) 1-18
Species distribution models are used for numerous purposes such as predicting changes in species’ ranges and identifying biodiversity hotspots. Although implications of distribution models for conservation are often implicit, few studies use these tools explicitly to inform conservation efforts. Herein, we illustrate how multiple distribution models developed using distinct sets...
Linking dynamic habitat selection with wading bird foraging distributions across resource gradients
James M. Beerens, Erik G. Noonberg, Dale E. Gawlik
2015, PLoS ONE (10) 1-25
Species distribution models (SDM) link species occurrence with a suite of environmental predictors and provide an estimate of habitat quality when the variable set captures the biological requirements of the species. SDMs are inherently more complex when they include components of a species' ecology such as conspecific attraction and behavioral...
