Techniques for capturing bighorn sheep lambs
Joshua B. Smith, Daniel P. Walsh, Elise J. Goldstein, Zachary D. Parsons, Rebekah C. Karsch, Julie R. Stiver, James W. Cain III, Kenneth J. Raedeke, Jonathan A. Jenks
2014, Wildlife Society Bulletin (31) 165-174
Low lamb recruitment is a major challenge facing managers attempting to mitigate the decline of bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis), and investigations into the underlying mechanisms are limited because of the inability to readily capture and monitor bighorn sheep lambs. We evaluated 4 capture techniques for bighorn sheep lambs: 1) hand-capture...
The roles of competition and habitat in the dynamics of populations and species distributions
Charles Brandon Yackulic, Janice Reid, James D. Nichols, James E. Hines, Raymond Davis, Eric Forsman
2014, Ecology (95) 265-279
The role of competition in structuring biotic communities at fine spatial scales is well known from detailed process-based studies. Our understanding of competition's importance at broader scales is less resolved and mainly based on static species distribution maps. Here, we bridge this gap by examining the joint occupancy dynamics of...
Net ecosystem productivity of temperate grasslands in northern China: An upscaling study
Li Zhang, Huadong Guo, Gensuo Jia, Bruce Wylie, Tagir Gilmanov, Daniel M. Howard, Lei Ji, Jingfeng Xiao, Jing Li, Wenping Yuan, Tianbao Zhao, Shiping Chen, Guangsheng Zhou, Tomomichi Kato
2014, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology (184) 71-81
Grassland is one of the widespread biome types globally, and plays an important role in the terrestrial carbon cycle. We examined net ecosystem production (NEP) for the temperate grasslands in northern China from 2000 to 2010. We combined flux observations, satellite data, and climate data to develop a piecewise regression...
Relative significance of microtopography and vegetation as controls on surface water flow on a low-gradient floodplain
Jungyill Choi, Judson W. Harvey
2014, Wetlands (34) 101-115
Surface water flow controls water velocities, water depths, and residence times, and influences sediment and nutrient transport and other ecological processes in shallow aquatic systems. Flow through wetlands is substantially influenced by drag on vegetation stems but is also affected by microtopography. Our goal was to use microtopography data directly...
Improvement of the R-SWAT-FME framework to support multiple variables and multi-objective functions
Yiping Wu, Shu-Guang Liu
2014, Science of the Total Environment (466-467) 455-466
Application of numerical models is a common practice in the environmental field for investigation and prediction of natural and anthropogenic processes. However, process knowledge, parameter identifiability, sensitivity, and uncertainty analyses are still a challenge for large and complex mathematical models such as the hydrological/water quality model, Soil and Water Assessment...
Influence of sex, migration distance, and latitude on life history expression in steelhead and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)
Haley A. Ohms, Matthew R. Sloat, Gordon H. Reeves, Chris E. Jordan, Jason B. Dunham
2014, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (71) 70-80
Abstract:In partially migratory species, such as Oncorhynchus mykiss, the emergence of life history phenotypes is often attributed to fitness trade-offs associated with growth and survival. Fitness trade-offs can be linked to reproductive tactics that vary between the sexes, as well as the influence of environmental conditions. We found that O....
Macroinvertebrate community change associated with the severity of streamflow alteration
Daren M. Carlisle, Ken Eng, S. M. Nelson
2014, River Research and Applications (30) 29-39
Natural streamflows play a critical role in stream ecosystems, yet quantitative relations between streamflow alteration and stream health have been elusive. One reason for this difficulty is that neither streamflow alteration nor ecological responses are measured relative to their natural expectations. We assessed macroinvertebrate community condition in 25 mountain streams...
Landscape-scale evaluation of asymmetric interactions between Brown Trout and Brook Trout using two-species occupancy models
Tyler Wagner, Jefferson T. Deweber, Jason Detar, John A. Sweka
2013, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (142) 353-361
Predicting the distribution of native stream fishes is fundamental to the management and conservation of many species. Modeling species distributions often consists of quantifying relationships between species occurrence and abundance data at known locations with environmental data at those locations. However, it is well documented that native stream fish distributions...
Estimating spatial and temporal components of variation in count data using negative binomial mixed models
Brian J. Irwin, Tyler Wagner, James R. Bence, Megan V. Kepler, Weihai Liu, Daniel B. Hayes
2013, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (142) 171-183
Partitioning total variability into its component temporal and spatial sources is a powerful way to better understand time series and elucidate trends. The data available for such analyses of fish and other populations are usually nonnegative integer counts of the number of organisms, often dominated by many low values with...
Mapping monkeypox transmission risk through time and space in the Congo Basin
Yoshinori J. Nakazawa, R. Ryan Lash, Darin S. Carroll, Inger K. Damon, Kevin L. Karem, Mary G. Reynolds, Jorge E. Osorio, Tonie E. Rocke, Jean Malekani, Jean-Jacques Muyembe, Pierre Formenty, A. Townsend Peterson
2013, PLoS ONE (8)
Monkeypox is a major public health concern in the Congo Basin area, with changing patterns of human case occurrences reported in recent years. Whether this trend results from better surveillance and detection methods, reduced proportions of vaccinated vs. non-vaccinated human populations, or changing environmental conditions remains unclear. Our objective is...
Conservation in an age of climate change
Beth Middleton
2013, National Wetlands Newsletter (35) 25-26
Are you a gardener? Then you know that certain species and varieties of species grow best in certain growing zones related to climate. This growing zone concept also applies to species in natural ecosystems. One threat of climate change to wetland biodiversity is that some species may be losing the...
Comparison of elevation and remote sensing derived products as auxiliary data for climate surface interpolation
Otto Alvarez, Qinghua Guo, Robert C. Klinger, Wenkai Li, Paul Doherty
2013, International Journal of Climatology (34) 2258-2268
Climate models may be limited in their inferential use if they cannot be locally validated or do not account for spatial uncertainty. Much of the focus has gone into determining which interpolation method is best suited for creating gridded climate surfaces, which often a covariate such as elevation (Digital Elevation...
Drivers of circulation in a fringing coral reef embayment: A wave-flow coupled numerical modeling study of Hanalei Bay, Hawaii
Ron Hoeke, Curt D. Storlazzi, Peter V. Ridd
2013, Continental Shelf Research (58) 79-95
A coupled wave-circulation numerical model of Hanalei Bay, Hawaii, was constructed to investigate controls on nearshore hydrodynamics and overall circulation of a bathymetrically-complex coral reef embayment that is exposed to large waves and river floods several times per annum. The model was calibrated...
Are large-scale flow experiments informing the science and management of freshwater ecosystems?
Julian D. Olden, Christopher P. Konrad, Theodore S. Melis, Mark J. Kennard, Mary Freeman, Meryl C. Mims, Erin N. Bray, Keith B. Gido, Nina P. Hemphill, David A. Lytle, Laura E. McMullen, Mark Pyron, Christopher T. Robinson, John C. Schmidt, John G. Williams
2013, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (12) 176-185
Greater scientific knowledge, changing societal values, and legislative mandates have emphasized the importance of implementing large-scale flow experiments (FEs) downstream of dams. We provide the first global assessment of FEs to evaluate their success in advancing science and informing management decisions. Systematic review of 113 FEs across 20 countries revealed...
Modeling unsaturated zone flow and runoff processes by integrating MODFLOW-LGR and VSF, and creating the new CFL package
I. Borsia, R. Rossetto, C. Schifani, Mary C. Hill
2013, Journal of Hydrology (488) 33-47
In this paper two modifications to the MODFLOW code are presented. One concerns an extension of Local Grid Refinement (LGR) to Variable Saturated Flow process (VSF) capability. This modification allows the user to solve the 3D Richards’ equation only in selected parts of the model domain. The second modification introduces...
A description of the nearshore fish communities in the Huron-Erie Corridor using multiple gear types
James T. Francis, Justin A. Chiotti, James C. Boase, Mike V. Thomas, Bruce A. Manny, Edward F. Roseman
2013, Journal of Great Lakes Research (40) 52-61
Great Lakes coastal wetlands provide a critical habitat for many fish species throughout their life cycles. Once home to one of the largest wetland complexes in the Great Lakes, coastal wetlands in the Huron–Erie Corridor (HEC) have decreased dramatically since the early 1900s. We characterized the nearshore fish communities at...
Breeding site heterogeneity reduces variability in frog recruitment and population dynamics
Rebecca M. McCaffery, Lisa A. Eby, Bryce A. Maxell, Paul Stephen Corn
2013, Biological Conservation (170) 169-176
Environmental stochasticity can have profound effects on the dynamics and viability of wild populations, and habitat heterogeneity provides one mechanism by which populations may be buffered against the negative effects of environmental fluctuations. Heterogeneity in breeding pond hydroperiod across the landscape may allow amphibian populations to persist despite variable interannual...
Correcting length-frequency distributions for imperfect detection
André R. Breton, John A. Hawkins, Dana L. Winkelman
2013, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (33) 1156-1165
Sampling gear selects for specific sizes of fish, which may bias length-frequency distributions that are commonly used to assess population size structure, recruitment patterns, growth, and survival. To properly correct for sampling biases caused by gear and other sources, length-frequency distributions need to be corrected for imperfect detection. We describe...
Triggered tremor sweet spots in Alaska
Joan Gomberg, Stephanie Prejean
2013, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (118) 6203-6218
To better understand what controls fault slip along plate boundaries, we have exploited the abundance of seismic and geodetic data available from the richly varied tectonic environments composing Alaska. A search for tremor triggered by 11 large earthquakes throughout all of seismically monitored Alaska reveals two tremor “sweet spots”—regions where...
A computer model to forecast wetland vegetation changes resulting from restoration and protection in coastal Louisiana
Jenneke M. Visser, Scott M. Duke-Sylvester, Jacoby Carter, Whitney P. Broussard III
2013, Journal of Coastal Research 51-59
The coastal wetlands of Louisiana are a unique ecosystem that supports a diversity of wildlife as well as a diverse community of commercial interests of both local and national importance. The state of Louisiana has established a 5-year cycle of scientific investigation to provide up-to-date information to guide future legislation...
Avian disease assessment in seabirds and non-native passerines birds at Midway Atoll NWR
Dennis A. LaPointe, Carter T. Atkinson, John L. Klavitter
2013, Report, Hawaii Cooperative Studies Unit Technical Report
Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands supports the largest breeding colony of Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) in the world and is a proposed site for the translocation of endangered Northwestern Hawaiian Island passerine birds such as the Nihoa finch (Telespiza ultima), Nihoa millerbird (Acrocephalus familiaris kingi), or Laysan finch...
Emulating natural disturbances for declining late-successional species: A case study of the consequences for Cerulean Warblers (Setophaga cerulea)
Than J. Boves, David A. Buehler, James Sheehan, Petra Bohall Wood, Amanda D. Rodewald, Jeffrey L. Larkin, Patrick D. Keyser, Felicity L. Newell, Gregory A. George, Marja H. Bakermans, Andrea Evans, Tiffany A. Beachy, Molly E. McDermott, Kelly A. Perkins, Matthew White, T. Bently Wigley
2013, PLoS ONE (8) 1-13
Forest cover in the eastern United States has increased over the past century and while some late-successional species have benefited from this process as expected, others have experienced population declines. These declines may be in part related to contemporary reductions in small-scale forest interior disturbances such as fire, windthrow, and...
Quantitative and qualitative approaches to identifying migration chronology in a continental migrant
William S. Beatty, Dylan C. Kesler, Elisabeth B. Webb, Andrew H. Raedeke, Luke W. Naylor, Dale D. Humburg
2013, PLoS ONE 1-9
The degree to which extrinsic factors influence migration chronology in North American waterfowl has not been quantified, particularly for dabbling ducks. Previous studies have examined waterfowl migration using various methods, however, quantitative approaches to define avian migration chronology over broad spatio-temporal scales are limited, and the implications for using different...
First report of fasciation in Pitcher's Thistle, Cirsium pitcheri (Asteraceae)
Noel B. Pavlovic, Megan K Korte, Kathryn McEachern, Ralph Grundel
2013, The Michigan Botanist (52) 58-66
We document the first reported occurrence of fasciation in the federally threatened Pitcher’s thistle, Cirsium pitcheri (Asteraceae). In 2013, we discovered two adult plants of Pitcher’s thistle out of a total of 176 plants at West Beach, near Miller, Indiana, USA, that exhibited both normal and fasciated growth. Unlike plants...
Habitat, wildlife and one health: Arcanobacterium pyogenes in Maryland and Upper Eastern Shore white-tailed deer populations
Melissa M. Turner, Christopher S. DePerno, Mark C. Conner, T. Brian Eyler, Richard A. Lancia, Robert W. Klaver, Michael K. Stoskopf
2013, Infection Ecology and Epidemiology (3)
Background: Understanding the distribution of disease in wildlife is key to predicting the impact of emerging zoonotic one health concerns, especially for wildlife species with extensive human and livestock interfaces. The widespread distribution and complex interactions of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) with humans suggest deer population health and management may...
