Rare 40K decay with implications for fundamental physics and geochronology
M. Stukel, L. Hariasz, P.C.F. Di Stefano, B.C. Rasco, K.P. Rykaczewski, N.T. Brewer, D.W. Stracener, Y. Liu, Z. Gai, C. Rouleau, J. B. Carter, J. Kostensalo, J. Suhonen, H. Davis, E.D. Lukosi, K.C. Goetz, R.K. Grzywacz, M. Mancuso, F. Petricca, A. Fijalkowska, M. Wolinska-Cichocka, J. Ninkovic, P. Lechner, R.B. Ickert, Leah E. Morgan, P.R. Renne, I. Yavin
2023, Physical Review Letters (131)
Potassium-40 is a widespread, naturally occurring isotope whose radioactivity impacts subatomic rare-event searches, nuclear structure theory, and estimated geological ages. A predicted electron-capture decay directly to the ground state of argon-40 has never been observed. The KDK (potassium decay) collaboration reports strong evidence of this rare decay mode. A blinded...
Long-term assessment of relationships between changing environmental conditions and the physiology of southern Beaufort Sea polar bears (Ursus maritimus)
Tricia Fry, Kristen R. Friedrichs, Alison C. Ketz, Colleen G. Duncan, Timothy R. Van Deelen, Tony Goldberg, Todd C. Atwood
2023, Global Change Biology (29) 5524-5539
Climate change is influencing polar bear (Ursus maritimus) habitat, diet, and behavior but the effects of these changes on their physiology is not well understood. Blood-based biomarkers are used to assess the physiologic health of individuals but their usefulness for evaluating population health, especially...
Landscape diversity promotes stable food-web architectures in large rivers
Eric Arthur Scholl, Wyatt F. Cross, Christopher S. Guy, Addie J. Dutton, James R. Junker
2023, Ecology Letters (26) 1740-1751
Uncovering relationships between landscape diversity and species interactions is crucial for predicting how ongoing land-use change and homogenization will impact the stability and persistence of communities. However, such connections have rarely been quantified in nature. We coupled high-resolution river sonar imaging with annualized energetic food...
Ecosystem resilience to invasion and drought: Insights after 24 years in a rare never-grazed grassland
Michael C. Duniway, Rebecca A Finger-Higgens, Erika L. Geiger, David L. Hoover, Alix Pfennigwerth, Anna C. Knight, M. Van Scoyoc, Mark E. Miller, Jayne Belnap
2023, Global Change Biology (29) 5866-5880
Understanding the resilience of ecosystems globally is hampered by the complex and interacting drivers of change characteristic of the Anthropocene. This is true for drylands of the western US, where widespread alteration of disturbance regimes and spread of invasive non-native species occurred with westward expansion during the 1800s, including the...
Seed banks of rare Physostegia correllii (Lamiaceae) in Lady Bird Lake, Austin, Texas, U.S.A.
Beth Middleton, Casey R. Williams
2023, Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (17) 363-368
Rare species threatened by climate and land-use change may harbor seeds in soil seed banks for periods of time even if adults have disappeared from the site. Soil samples were collected from sites with current Phyostegia correllii populations and from sites with former populations in Lady Bird Lake (a reservoir of the...
Closing the gap between science and management of cold-water refuges in rivers and streams
Francine H. Mejia, Valerie Ouellet, Martin A. Briggs, Stephanie M. Carlson, Rose Casas-Mulet, Mollie Chapman, Matthias J. Collins, Stephen J. Dugdale, Joseph L. Ebersole, Danielle M. Frechette, Aimee H. Fullerton, Carol-Anne Gillis, Zachary Johnson, Christa Kelleher, Barret L. Kurylyk, Rebecca Lave, Benjamin Letcher, Knut M. Myrvold, Tracie-Lynn Nadeau, Helen Neville, Herve Piégay, Kathryn E. Smith, Diego Tonolla, Christian E. Torgersen
2023, Global Change Biology (29) 5482-5508
Human activities and climate change threaten coldwater organisms in freshwater ecosystems by causing rivers and streams to warm, increasing the intensity and frequency of warm temperature events, and reducing thermal heterogeneity. Cold-water refuges are discrete patches of relatively cool water that are used by...
Persistence of native riverine fishes downstream from two hydropower dams with contrasting operations
Mary Freeman, Brett Albanese, Phillip M. Bumpers, Megan M. Hagler, Andrew J. Nagy, Byron J. Freeman, Seth J. Wenger
2023, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (80) 1723-1736
Identifying hydropower dam operations that lessen detrimental effects on downstream fauna could inform conservation strategies for native fishes. We compared occurrence of native fishes in 20 shoal habitats downstream from two differently operated hydropower dams in the Coosa River system, Georgia, USA. Species richness averaged 7 and...
Distribution of rare earth and other critical elements in lignites from the Eocene Jackson Group, Texas
James C. Hower, Peter D. Warwick, Bridget R. Scanlon, Robert C. Reedy, Tristan M. Childress
2023, International Journal of Coal Geology (275)
Coal is increasingly evaluated as a source of rare earth elements (REEs) in the United States to address the overreliance on imported REEs. The objective of this study was to assess the distribution of REEs in lignites from selected mining areas in the Texas...
Successful eradication of invasive American bullfrogs leads to coextirpation of emerging pathogens
Blake R. Hossack, David L. Hall, Catherine L. Crawford, Caren S. Goldberg, Erin L. Muths, Brent H. Sigafus, Thierry Chambert
2023, Conservation Letters (16)
Interventions of the host–pathogen dynamics provide strong tests of relationships, yet they are still rarely applied across multiple populations. After American bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) invaded a wildlife refuge where federally threatened Chiricahua leopard frogs (R. chiricahuensis) were reintroduced 12 years prior, managers launched a landscape-scale...
Atmospheric deposition of inorganic reactive nitrogen at the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, 2017–19
Gregory A. Wetherbee
2023, Open-File Report 2023-1027
The Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge (RFNWR) in Colorado is home to increasingly rare, xeric tallgrass prairie. The RFNWR is also located near many combustion and agricultural sources of inorganic reactive nitrogen (Nr), which emit Nr to the atmosphere. Wet atmospheric deposition of Nr was monitored at RFNWR during 2017–19...
Identifying invertebrate indicators for streamflow duration assessments in forested headwater streams
Ken M. Fritz, Roxolana O. Kashuba, Gregory J. Pond, Jay R. Christensen, Laurie C. Alexander, Benjamin J. Washington, Brent R. Johnson, David Walters, William T. Thoeny, Paul C. Weaver
2023, Freshwater Science (42) 247-267
Streamflow-duration assessment methods (SDAMs) are rapid, indicator-based tools for classifying streamflow duration (e.g., intermittent vs perennial flow) at the reach scale. Indicators are easily assessed stream properties used as surrogates of flow duration, which is too resource intensive to measure directly for many reaches. Invertebrates are commonly...
Winners and losers over a ½ century of change in crayfish assemblages of Wyoming, USA
Braxton Newkirk, Eric R. Larson, Andrew D. Walker, Annika W. Walters
2023, Freshwater Science (42) 146-160
Crayfish have experienced extensive assemblage reorganization as a result of global change, with some species becoming globally invasive and others becoming rare or extinct. We combined historical and contemporary sampling data to determine temporal trends of crayfish assemblages of Wyoming, USA, identifying winners and losers over a ½ century of...
Green turtle fibropapillomatosis: Tumor morphology and growth rate in a rehabilitation setting
Costanza Manes, Richard M. Herren, Annie Page, Faith Dunlap, Chris Skibicki, Devon R. Rollinson Ramia, Jessica A. Farrell, Ilaria Capua, Raymond R. Carthy, David J. Duffy
2023, Veterinary Sciences (10)
Fibropapillomatosis (FP) is a neoplastic disease most often found in green turtles (Chelonia mydas). Afflicted turtles are burdened with potentially debilitating tumors concentrated externally on the soft tissues, plastron, and eyes and internally on the lungs, kidneys, and the heart. Clinical signs occur at various levels, ranging from mild...
Condition and coloration of lingual lures of Alligator Snapping Turtles
Brad M. Glorioso, John L. Carr, Carl J. Franklin, Mandi Gordon, Aaron C. Johnson, Ethan J. Kessler, Eric Munscher, Luke Pearson, Viviana Ricardez, Arron Tuggle
2023, Southeastern Naturalist (22) 429-439
The lingual lures of Macrochelys (alligator snapping turtles) are believed to be the only prey-capturing lures within the mouths of modern reptiles. To date, no formal assessment of lure condition in Macrochelys has been published, and few researchers record lure data. Herein, we report damaged or missing lures from...
Evaluation of threatened, endangered, and rare fish species and communities of the St. Lawrence River and its tributaries in the United States
James E. McKenna Jr., Anthony David
2023, The Northeastern Naturalist (30) 1-71
Biodiversity is responsible for important ecological processes like productivity and ecosystem stability, and rare species are a major component of biodiversity. Rarity increases a species' vulnerability to disturbances and also makes them difficult to study. Globally, species of freshwater systems are some of the most...
A decade-long study of repeated prescription burning in California native grassland restoration
Jon Keeley, Robert C. Klinger, Teresa J. Brennan, Dawn M. Lawson, John La Grange, Kathryn N. Berg
2023, Restoration Ecology (31)
Native bunchgrass communities dominated by Stipa pulchra are widely distributed in California but share dominance with non-native annual grasses. Restoration of these grasslands focuses on altering the balance of native to non-native grasses to favor the former. This study investigated the impact of burning on vegetation recovery. In the first postfire year...
Parental infanticide by egg destruction in Red-billed Tropicbirds Phaethon aethereus on the Caribbean island of Sint Eustatius
Hailley Danielson-Owczynsky, Hannah Madden, Patrick G.R. Jodice
2023, Article
Avian reproduction is a process that requires extensive energetic input by parents, particularly in pelagic seabirds. Parental infanticide has rarely been reported in pelagic seabirds, and its frequency among taxa is therefore difficult to determine. Using data from remote cameras, two cases of probable parental infanticide in Red-billed Tropicbirds Phaethon aethereus were...
Geochronology and mapping constraints on the time-space evolution of the igneous and hydrothermal systems in the Taurus Cu-Mo district, eastern Alaska
Douglas C. Kreiner, Christopher S. Holm-Denoma, Laura Pianowski, Zachary Flood, David J. Stevenson, Garth E. Graham, Jorge A. Vazquez, Robert A Creaser
2023, Economic Geology (118) 745-778
The Taurus porphyry Cu-Mo district contains four mineralized porphyry centers in the eastern interior of Alaska. All four centers were emplaced during a magmatic episode that spanned from ca. 72 to 67 Ma, with seven distinct igneous suites. Each igneous suite resulted in hydrothermal alteration and mineralization, with younger pulses...
Global responses to the COVID-19 pandemic by recreational anglers: Considerations for developing more resilient and sustainable fisheries
J. Robert Britton, Adrian C. Pinder, Josep Alos, Robert Arlinghaus, Andy J. Danylchuk, Wendy Edwards, Katia M. F. Freire, Casper Gundelund, Kieran Hyder, Ivan Jaric, Robert J. Lennox, Wolf-Christian Lewin, Abigail J. Lynch, Stephen R. Midway, Warren M. Potts, Karina L. Ryan, Christian Skov, Harry V. Strehlow, Sean R. Tracey, Jun-ichi Tsuboi, Paul A. Venturelli, Jessica L. Weir, Marc Simon Weltersbach, Steven J. Cooke
2023, Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries (33) 1095-1111
The global COVID-19 pandemic resulted in many jurisdictions implementing orders restricting the movements of people to inhibit virus transmission, with recreational angling often either not permitted or access to fisheries and/or related infrastructure being prevented. Following the lifting of restrictions, initial angler surveys and licence sales...
Laboratory simulation of earthquake-induced damage in lava dome rocks
Lauren N. Schaefer, Jackie E. Kendrick, Yan Lavallee, Jenny Schauroth, Oliver D. Lamb, Anthony Lamur, Takahiro Miwa, Ben M. Kennedy
2023, Tektonika (1) 112-126
Earthquakes can impart varying degrees of damage and permanent, inelastic strain on materials, potentially resulting in ruptures that may promote hazards such as landslides and other collapse events. However, the accumulation of damage in rocks under the frequency and amplitude of shaking experienced during earthquake events is rarely systematically measured...
Future climate-induced changes in mixing and deep oxygen content of a caldera lake with hydrothermal heat and salt inputs
Tamara M. Wood, Susan Wherry, Sebastiano Piccolroaz, Scott F Girdner
2023, Journal of Great Lakes Research (49) 563-580
Vertical profiles of temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen in Crater Lake, a caldera lake in the Oregon Cascade Range that receives hydrothermal inputs of heat and salt, were simulated with a 1-dimensional model. Twelve Global Circulation Models and two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) were used to develop boundary conditions from...
Status and trends of the Lake Huron prey fish community, 1976-2022
Darryl W. Hondorp, Timothy P. O’Brien, Edward F. Roseman, Peter C. Esselman
2023, Report
The United States Geological Survey-Great Lakes Science Center has monitored annual changes in the offshore prey fish community of Lake Huron since 1973. Monitoring of prey fish populations in Lake Huron is based on a bottom trawl survey that targets demersal (benthic) species and an acoustic-midwater trawl survey that targets...
Environmental, morphological, and molecular data reveal a new species of freshwater mussel, Strophitus howellsi, endemic to the Edwards Plateau in Texas
Chase H. Smith, Alexander H. Kiser, Nathan Johnson, Charles R. Randklev
2023, Conservation Genetics (24) 629-647
Freshwater mussels are considered the most imperiled group of organisms in North America and systematics research has played an integral role in the development and implementation of their conservation. Despite the importance of systematics in conservation planning, the evolutionary relationships between many mussel taxa remain poorly...
Network analysis of a northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) maternity colony in a suburban forest patch
Katherine M. Gorman, Elaine L. Barr, Tomás Nocera, W. Mark Ford
2023, Journal of Urban Ecology (9)
Many bat species are highly social, forming groups of conspecifics, particularly during the maternity season. In temperate North America, these social groups are typically comprised of closely related individuals or individuals that share some common trait (i.e. reproductive state or shared hibernacula from the previous winter). In the summer, when...
Bottom trawl assessment of Lake Ontario's benthic preyfish community, 2022
Brian O’Malley, Scott P. Minihkeim, James McKenna, Jessica A. Goretzke, Jeremy P. Holden
2023, Report
Since 1978, surveys of Lake Ontario preyfish communities have provided information on the status and trends of the benthic preyfish community related to Fish Community Objectives that includes understanding preyfish population dynamics and community diversity. Beginning in 2015, the benthic preyfish survey expanded from US-only to incorporate Canadian sites, increasing...
