Effect of temperature on feeding period of larval blacklegged ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) on eastern fence lizards
Eric L. Rulison, Roger A. LeBrun, Howard S. Ginsberg
2014, Journal of Medical Entomology (51) 1308-1311
Ambient temperature can influence tick development time, and can potentially affect tick interactions with pathogens and with vertebrate hosts. We studied the effect of ambient temperature on duration of attachment of larval blacklegged ticks, Ixodes scapularis Say, to eastern fence lizards, Sceloporus undulatus (Bose & Daudin). Feeding periods of larvae that attached to lizards...
A reconstruction of sea surface temperature variability in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico from 1734 to 2008 C.E. using cross-dated Sr/Ca records from the coral Siderastrea siderea
Kristine L. DeLong, Christopher R. Maupin, Jennifer A. Flannery, Terrence M. Quinn, CC Shen
2014, Paleoceanography (29) 403-422
This study uses skeletal variations in coral Sr/Ca from three Siderastrea siderea coral colonies within the Dry Tortugas National Park in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico (24°42′N, 82°48′W) to reconstruct monthly sea surface temperature (SST) variations from 1734 to 2008 Common Era (C.E.). Calibration and verification of the replicated coral...
Use of water developments by female elk at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota
Glen A. Sargeant, Michael W. Oehler, Chad L. Sexton
2014, California Fish and Game (100) 538-549
Development of water sources for wildlife is a widespread management practice with a long history; however, needs of wildlife and availability of water depend on myriad interacting factors that vary among species and localities. Benefits are therefore situational, establishing a need for evaluation of water use in varied settings. We...
Relationships between water and gas chemistry in mature coalbed methane reservoirs of the Black Warrior Basin
Jack C. Pashin, Marcella R. McIntyre-Redden, Steven D. Mann, David C. Kopaska-Merkel, Matthew S. Varonka, William H. Orem
2014, International Journal of Coal Geology (126) 92-105
Water and gas chemistry in coalbed methane reservoirs of the Black Warrior Basin reflects a complex interplay among burial processes, basin hydrodynamics, thermogenesis, and late-stage microbial methanogenesis. These factors are all important considerations for developing production and water management strategies. Produced water ranges from nearly potable sodium-bicarbonate water to...
Global ocean conveyor lowers extinction risk in the deep sea
Lea-Anne Henry, Norbert Frank, Dierk Hebbeln, Claudia Weinberg, Laura Robinson, Tina van de Flierdt, Mikael Dahl, Melanie Douarin, Cheryl L. Morrison, Matthias Lopez Correa, Alex D. Rogers, Mario Ruckelshausen, J. Murray Roberts
2014, Deep Sea Research Part A, Oceanographic Research Papers (88) 8-16
General paradigms of species extinction risk are urgently needed as global habitat loss and rapid climate change threaten Earth with what could be its sixth mass extinction. Using the stony coral Lophelia pertusa as a model organism with the potential for wide larval dispersal, we investigated how the global ocean...
Assessing effects of variation in global climate data sets on spatial predictions from climate envelope models
Stephanie S. Romanach, James I. Watling, Robert J. Fletcher Jr., Carolina Speroterra, David N. Bucklin, Laura A. Brandt, Leonard G. Pearlstine, Yesenia Escribano, Frank J. Mazzotti
2014, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (5) 14-25
Climate change poses new challenges for natural resource managers. Predictive modeling of species–environment relationships using climate envelope models can enhance our understanding of climate change effects on biodiversity, assist in assessment of invasion risk by exotic organisms, and inform life-history understanding of individual species. While increasing interest has focused on...
Transformation products and human metabolites of triclocarban and tricllosan in sewage sludge across the United States
Benny F.G. Pycke, Isaac B. Roll, Bruce J. Brownawell, Chad A. Kinney, Edward T. Furlong, Dana W. Kolpin, Rolf U. Halden
2014, Environmental Science & Technology (48) 7881-7890
Removal of triclocarban (TCC) and triclosan (TCS) from wastewater is a function of adsorption, abiotic degradation, and microbial mineralization or transformation, reactions that are not currently controlled or optimized in the pollution control infrastructure of standard wastewater treatment. Here, we report on the levels of eight transformation products, human metabolites,...
Vulnerability of age-0 pallid sturgeon Scaphirhynchus albus to predation; effects of predator type, turbidity, body size, and prey density
William E. French, Brian D. S. Graeb, Steven R. Chipps, Robert A. Klumb
2014, Environmental Biology of Fishes (97) 635-646
Predation can play an important role in the recruitment dynamics of fishes with intensity regulated by behavioral (i.e., prey selectivity) and/or environmental conditions that may be especially important for rare or endangered fishes. We conducted laboratory experiments to quantify prey selection and capture efficiency by three predators employing distinct foraging...
Occupancy patterns of regionally declining grassland sparrow populations in a forested Pennsylvania landscape
Jason M. Hill, Duane R. Diefenbach
2014, Conservation Biology (28) 735-744
Organisms can be affected by processes in the surrounding landscape outside the boundary of habitat areas and by local vegetation characteristics. There is substantial interest in understanding how these processes affect populations of grassland birds, which have experienced substantial population declines. Much of our knowledge regarding patterns of occupancy and...
Forcing functions governing salt transport processes in coastal navigation canals and connectivity to surrounding marshes in South Louisiana using Houma Navigation Canal as a surrogate
Gregg Snedden
2014, Report
Understanding how circulation and mixing processes in coastal navigation canals influence the exchange of salt between marshes and coastal ocean, and how those processes are modulated by external physical processes, is critical to anticipating effects of future actions and circumstance. Examples of such circumstances include deepening the channel, placement of...
Ecological change on California's Channel Islands from the Pleistocene to the Anthropocene
Torben C. Rick, T. Scott Sillett, Cameron K. Ghalambor, Courtney A. Hofman, Katherine Ralls, R. Scott Anderson, Christina L. Boser, Todd J. Braje, Daniel R. Cayan, R. Terry Chesser, Paul W. Collins, Jon M. Erlandson, Kate R. Faulkner, Robert C. Fleischer, W. Chris Funk, Russell Galipeau, Ann Huston, Julie King, Lyndal L. Laughrin, Jesus Maldonado, Kathryn McEachern, Daniel R. Muhs, Seth D. Newsome, Leslie Reeder-Myers, Christopher Still, Scott A. Morrison
2014, BioScience
Historical ecology is becoming an important focus in conservation biology and offers a promising tool to help guide ecosystem management. Here, we integrate data from multiple disciplines to illuminate the past, present, and future of biodiversity on California's Channel Islands, an archipelago that has undergone a wide range of land-use...
Pharmacokinetics of hydromorphone hydrochloride after intravenous and intramuscular administration of a single dose to American kestrels (Falco sparverius)
David Sanchez-Migallon Guzman, Butch KuKanich, Tracy L. Drazenovich, Glenn H. Olsen, Joanne R. Paul-Murphy
2014, American Journal of Veterinary Research (75) 527-531
Objective—To determine the pharmacokinetics of hydromorphone hydrochloride after IV and IM administration in American kestrels (Falco sparverius). Animals—12 healthy adult American kestrels. Procedures—A single dose of hydromorphone (0.6 mg/kg) was administered IM (pectoral muscles) and IV (right jugular vein); the time between IM and IV administration experiments was 1 month. Blood...
Water quality of potential reference lakes in the Arkansas Valley and Ouachita Mountain ecoregions, Arkansas
B. G. Justus, Bradley J. Meredith
2014, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (186) 3785-3800
This report describes a study to identify reference lakes in two lake classifications common to parts of two level III ecoregions in western Arkansas—the Arkansas Valley and Ouachita Mountains. Fifty-two lakes were considered. A screening process that relied on land-use data was followed by reconnaissance water-quality sampling, and two lakes...
Habitat availability is a more plausible explanation than insecticide acute toxicity for U.S. grassland bird species declines
Jason M. Hill, J. Franklin Egan, Glenn E. Stauffer, Duane R. Diefenbach
2014, PLoS ONE (9) 1-8
Grassland bird species have experienced substantial declines in North America. These declines have been largely attributed to habitat loss and degradation, especially from agricultural practices and intensification (the habitat-availability hypothesis). A recent analysis of North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) “grassland breeding” bird trends reported the surprising conclusion that insecticide...
Pesticides in Mississippi air and rain: A comparison between 1995 and 2007
Michael S Majewski, Richard H. Coupe, William T. Foreman, Paul D. Capel
2014, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (33) 1283-1293
A variety of current-use pesticides were determined in weekly composite air and rain samples collected during the 1995 and 2007 growing seasons in the Mississippi Delta (MS, USA) agricultural region. Similar sampling and analytical methods allowed for direct comparison of results. Decreased overall pesticide use in 2007 relative to 1995...
The UCERF3 grand inversion: Solving for the long‐term rate of ruptures in a fault system
Morgan T. Page, Edward H. Field, Kevin Milner, Peter M. Powers
2014, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (104) 1181-1204
We present implementation details, testing, and results from a new inversion‐based methodology, known colloquially as the “grand inversion,” developed for the Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast (UCERF3). We employ a parallel simulated annealing algorithm to solve for the long‐term rate of all ruptures that extend through the seismogenic thickness on...
Evaluation of road expansion and connectivity mitigation for wildlife in southern California
Robert S. Alonso, Lisa M. Lyren, Erin E. Boydston, Christopher D. Haas, Kevin R. Crooks
2014, Southwestern Naturalist (59) 181-187
We designed a remote-camera survey to study how the expansion of California State Route 71 (CA-71) and implementation of connectivity mitigation affected the use of underpasses by large mammals in southern California. Based on detections by cameras, the use of underpasses by bobcats (Lynx rufus) was higher within the area...
Small mammals from the Chelemhá Cloud Forest Reserve, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala
Jason O. Matson, Nicte Ordonez-Garza, Neal Woodman, Walter Bulmer, Ralph P. Eckerlin, J. Delton Hanson
2014, Southwestern Naturalist (59) 258-262
We surveyed the small mammals of remnant mixed hardwood-coniferous cloud forest at elevations ranging from 2,100–2,300 m in the Chelemhá Cloud Forest Reserve, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. Removal-trapping using a combination of live traps, snap traps, and pitfall traps for 6 days in January 2007 resulted in 175 captures of 15...
Minimizing the cost of keeping options open for conservation in a changing climate
Morena Mills, Samuel Nicol, Jessie A. Wells, Jose J. Lahoz-Monfort, Brendan Wintle, Michael Bode, Martin Wardrop, Terry Walshe, William J. M. Probert, Michael C. Runge, Hugh P. Possingham, Eve McDonald Madden
2014, Conservation Biology (28) 646-653
Policy documents advocate that managers should keep their options open while planning to protect coastal ecosystems from climate-change impacts. However, the actual costs and benefits of maintaining flexibility remain largely unexplored, and alternative approaches for decision making under uncertainty may lead to better joint outcomes for conservation and other societal...
The vertical structure of the circulation and dynamics in Hudson Shelf Valley
Steven J. Lentz, Bradford Butman, Courtney K. Harris
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research (119) 3694-3713
Hudson Shelf Valley is a 20–30 m deep, 5–10 km wide v-shaped submarine valley that extends across the Middle Atlantic Bight continental shelf. The valley provides a conduit for cross-shelf exchange via along-valley currents of 0.5 m s−1 or more. Current profile, pressure, and density observations collected during the winter of...
Lake trout in northern Lake Huron spawn on submerged drumlins
Stephen C. Riley, Thomas Binder, Nigel J. Wattrus, Matthew D. Faust, John Janssen, John Menzies, J. Ellen Marsden, Mark P. Ebener, Charles R. Bronte, Ji X. He, Taaja R. Tucker, Michael J. Hansen, Henry T. Thompson, Andrew M. Muir, Charles C. Krueger
2014, Journal of Great Lakes Research (40) 415-420
Recent observations of spawning lake trout Salvelinus namaycush near Drummond Island in northern Lake Huron indicate that lake trout use drumlins, landforms created in subglacial environments by the action of ice sheets, as a primary spawning habitat. From these observations, we generated a hypothesis that may in part explain locations...
Nest site characteristics, nesting movements, and lack of long-term nest site fidelity in Agassiz's desert tortoises at a wind energy facility in southern California
Jeffrey E. Lovich, Mickey Agha, Charles B. Yackulic, Kathie Meyer-Wilkins, Curtis Bjurlin, Joshua R. Ennen, Terry R. Arundel, Meaghan Austin
2014, California Fish and Game (100) 404-416
Nest site selection has important consequences for maternal and offspring survival and fitness. Females of some species return to the same nesting areas year after year. We studied nest site characteristics, fidelity, and daily pre-nesting movements in a population of Agassiz’s desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) at a wind energy facility...
Land-margin ecosystem hydrologic data for the coastal Everglades, Florida, water years 1996-2012
Gordon H. Anderson, Thomas J. Smith III, Karen M. Balentine
2014, Data Series 853
Mangrove forests and salt marshes dominate the landscape of the coastal Everglades (Odum and McIvor, 1990). However, the ecological effects from potential sea-level rise and increased water flows from planned freshwater Everglades restoration on these coastal systems are poorly understood. The National Park Service (NPS) proposed the South Florida Global...
2010 Volcanic activity in Alaska, Kamchatka, and the Kurile Islands: Summary of events and response of the Alaska Volcano Observatory
Christina A. Neal, Julie Herrick, O.A. Girina, Marina Chibisova, Alexander Rybin, Robert G. McGimsey, Jim Dixon
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5034
The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) responded to eruptions, possible eruptions, volcanic unrest or suspected unrest at 12 volcanic centers in Alaska during 2010. The most notable volcanic activity consisted of intermittent ash emissions from long-active Cleveland volcano in the Aleutian Islands. AVO staff also participated in hazard communication regarding eruptions...
A pier-scour database: 2,427 field and laboratory measurements of pier scour
Stephen T. Benedict, Andral W. Caldwell
2014, Data Series 845
The U.S. Geological Survey conducted a literature review to identify potential sources of published pier-scour data, and selected data were compiled into a digital spreadsheet called the 2014 USGS Pier-Scour Database (PSDb-2014) consisting of 569 laboratory and 1,858 field measurements. These data encompass a wide range of laboratory and field...
