A genomic hotspot of diversifying selection and structural change in the hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus)
Robert S. Cornman
2024, PeerJ (12)
BackgroundPrevious work found that numerous genes positively selected within the hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus) lineage are physically clustered in regions of conserved synteny. Here I further validate and expand on those finding utilizing an updated L. cinereus genome assembly and additional bat species as well as other tetrapod outgroups.MethodsA chromosome-level...
Broad-scale changes in lesser prairie-chicken habitat
Megan P. Vhay, David A. Haukos, Daniel S. Sullins, Mindy B. Rice
2024, PLoS ONE (19)
Lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) populations of in the Sand Sagebrush Prairie Ecoregion of southwest Kansas and southeast Colorado, USA, have declined sharply since the mid-1980s. Decreased quality and availability of habitat are believed to be the main drivers of declines. Our objective was to reconstruct broad-scale...
Towards entity-aware conditional variational inference for heterogeneous time-series prediction: An application to hydrology
Rahul Ghosh, Wallace Mcaliley, Arvind Renganathan, Michael Steinbach, Christopher Duffy, Vipin Kumar
2024, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 2024 SIAM International Conference on Data Mining (SDM)
Many environmental systems (e.g., hydrology basins) can be modeled as entity whose response (e.g., streamflow) depends on drivers (e.g., weather) conditioned on their characteristics (e.g., soil properties). We introduce Entity-aware Conditional Variational Inference (EA-CVI), a novel probabilistic inverse modeling approach, to deduce entity characteristics from observed driver-response...
Simulated effects of projected 2014–40 withdrawals on groundwater flow and water levels in the New Jersey Coastal Plain
Leon J. Kauffman
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5028
AbstractGroundwater flow between 2014 through 2040 was simulated in the New Jersey Coastal Plain based on three withdrawal scenarios. Two of the scenarios were based on projected population trends and the assumption of water conservation; the nominal water-loss scenario projected a status quo in the efficiency of water loss in...
Stratigraphy, paleoflora, and tectonic setting of the Paleogene Sheep Creek volcanic field, central Alaska
Timothy White, David Sunderlin, Dwight Bradley
2024, Professional Paper 1814-G
In this paper, we provide new information on the stratigraphy and paleoflora of the Sheep Creek volcanic field in the Alaska Range that bolsters our understanding of a key interval in the tectonic, paleoclimate, and paleoenvironmental history of the northern Cordillera. Although the distribution and basic stratigraphy of these rocks...
Deep vs shallow: GPS tags reveal a dichotomy in movement patterns of loggerhead turtles foraging in a coastal bay
Margaret Lamont, Daniel Slone, James P. Reid, Susan M. Butler, Joseph A. Alday
2024, Movement Ecology (12)
BackgroundIndividual variation in movement strategies of foraging loggerhead turtles have been documented on the scale of tens to hundreds of kilometers within single ocean basins. Use of different strategies among individuals may reflect variations in resources, predation pressure or competition. It is less common for individual turtles to...
Fire effects on geomorphic processes
Luke McGuire, Brian A. Ebel, Francis K. Rengers, Diana Vieira, Petter Nyman
2024, Nature Reviews Earth and Environment (5) 486-503
Fire-induced geomorphic changes, such as enhanced erosion and debris-flow activity, are expected to increase with climate change owing to increases in fire activity and rainfall intensification. In this Review, we summarize how landscape attributes, rainfall and burn severity influence post-fire geomorphic responses over a range of temporal and spatial scales....
Characterizing sulfur redox state and geochemical implications in deep-time using mineral chemistry network analysis
Elisha Kelly Moore, Joseph Diedolf IV, Shaunna M. Morrison, Daniel Hummer
2024, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (376) 25-36
Sulfur (S) is a central element in global biogeochemical cycling and Earth’s redox evolution. Minerals that contain S are an important record of local environmental conditions at the time of their formation based on chemical speciation and redox. However, the oxidation state of S for hundreds of different S-containing minerals...
Formation and evolution of the Pacific-North American (San Andreas) plate boundary: Constraints from the crustal architecture of northern California
Kevin P. Furlong, Antonio Villasenor, Harley M. Benz, Kirsty A. McKenzie
2024, Tectonics (43)
The northward migration of the Mendocino triple junction (MTJ) drives a fundamental plate boundary transformation from convergence to translation; producing a series of strike-slip faults, that become the San Andreas plate boundary. We find that the 3-D structure of the Pacific plate lithosphere in the vicinity of the MTJ controls...
Effects of telemetry collars on two free-roaming feral equid species
Kathryn A. Schoenecker, Sarah King, Jacob D. Hennig, Mary C. Cole, J. Derek Scasta, Jeffrey L. Beck
2024, PLoS ONE (19)
There are two species of free-roaming feral equids in North America: horses (Equus caballus) and donkeys or “burros” (E. asinus). Both species were introduced as domestic animals to North America in the early 1500s and currently inhabit rangelands across the western United States, Canada, and all continents except Antarctica. Despite their...
Human activities shape global patterns of decomposition rates in rivers
Scott Tiegs, Krista A. Capps, David M. Costello, John Paul Schmidt, Christopher J. Patrick, Jennifer Follstad Shah, Carri J. LeRoy, Vicenc Acuna, Ricardo Albarino, Daniel C. Allen, Cecilia Alonso, Patricio Andino, Clay Arango, Jukka Aroviita, Marcus Barbosa, Leon A. Barmuta, Colden V. Baxter, Brent Bellinger, Luz Boyero, Lyubov Bragina, Lee E. Brown, Andreas Bruder, Denise Bruesewitz, Francis Burdon, Marcos Callisto, Antonio G. Camacho, Cristina Canhoto, Maria Castillo, Eric Chauvet, Joanne Clapcott, Fanny Colas, Checo Colon-Gaud, Julien Cornut, Veronica Crespo-Perez, Wyatt F. Cross, Joseph M. Culp, Michael Danger, Olivier Dangles, Elvira de Eyto, Alison Derry, Veronica Diaz-Villanueva, Michael Douglas, Arturo Elosegi, Andrea Encalada, Sally Entrekin, Rodrigo Espinosa, Veronica Ferreira, Carmen Ferriol, Kyla Flanagan, Alexander Flecker, Tadeusz Fleituch, André Frainer, Nikolai Friberg, Paul C. Frost, Erica A. Garcia, Liliana Garcia-Lago, Pavel Garcia Soto, Mark Gessner, Sudeep Ghate, Darren Giling, Alan Gilmer, Jose Goncalves Jr., Rosario Gonzales, Manuel Graca, Mike Grace, Natalie A. Griffiths, Hans-Peter Grossart, Francois Guerold, Vlad Gulis, Pablo E. Gutiérrez-Fonseca, Luiz Hepp, Scott Higgins, Takuo Hishi, Joseph Huddart, John P. Hudson, Moss Imberger, Carlos Iniguez-Armijos, Mark Isken, Tomoya Iwata, Dave Janetski, Andrea Kirkwood, Aaron A. Koning, Sarian Kosten, Kevin Kuehn, Hjalmar Laudon, Peter Leavitt, Aurea Lemes da Silva, Shawn Leroux, Peter Lisi, Richard Mackenzie, Amy M Marcarelli, Frank Masese, Peter B. McIntyre, Brendan G. McKie, Adriana Medeiros, Kristian Meissner, Marko Milisa, Shailendra Mishra, Yo Miyake, Ashley Moerke, Shorok Mombrikotb, Robert J Mooney, Tim Moulton, Timo Muotka, Junjiro N. Negishi, Vinicius Neres-Lima, Mika Nieminen, Jorge Nimptsch, Jakub Ondruch, Riku Paavola, Isabel Pardo, Edwin Peeters, Jesus Pozo, Aaron Prussian, Estefania Quenta, Brian Reid, John S. Richardson, Anna Rigosi, Jose Rincon, Geta Risnoveanu, Chris Robinson, Lorena Rodriguez-Gallego, Todd V Royer, James A. Rusak, Anna Santamans, Geza Selmeczy, Gelas Simiyu, Agnija Skuja, Jerzy Smykla, Ryan A. Sponseller, Kandikere Sridhar, Aaron Stoler, Christopher M. Swan, Franco Teixeira-de Mello, Jonathan Tonkin, Sari Uusheimo, Allison Veach, Sirje Vilbaste, Lena Vought, Chiao-Ping Wang, Jackson Webster, Paul B. Wilson, Stefan Woelfl, Guy Woodward, Marguerite A. Xenopoulos, Adam Yates, Chihiro Yoshimura, Catherine Yule, Yixin Zhang, Jacob Aaron Zwart
2024, Science (384) 1191-1195
Rivers and streams contribute to global carbon cycling by decomposing immense quantities of terrestrial plant matter. However, decomposition rates are highly variable and large-scale patterns and drivers of this process remain poorly understood. Using a cellulose-based assay to reflect the primary constituent of plant detritus, we generated a predictive model...
Evaluating satellite-transmitter backpack-harness effects on greater sage-grouse survival and device retention in the Great Basin
Carl G. Lundblad, Christopher R. Anthony, Tyler Dungannon, Kimberly A. Haab, Elizabeth M. Schuyler, Chelsea E. Sink, Katie M. Dugger, Christian A. Hagen
2024, The Wildlife Society Bulletin (48)
Wildlife tracking studies have become ubiquitous in ecology and now provide previously unobtainable data regarding individual movement, vital rates, and population demographics. However, tracking devices can potentially reduce survival of study subjects, generating biases in the vital rates they seek to measure. Previous studies have found that greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus...
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the North Chukchi Basin, outer continental shelf of the Chukchi and East Siberian Seas, Arctic Ocean, 2023
David W. Houseknecht, Craig P. Markey, Tracey J. Mercier, Christopher J. Schenk, Christopher D. Connors, Jared T. Gooley, Palma J. Botterell, Rebecca A. Smith, William A. Rouse, Christopher P. Garrity
2024, Fact Sheet 2024-3015
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean volumes of 1.8 billion barrels of oil and 119.9 trillion cubic feet of gas technically recoverable from undiscovered, conventional accumulations in Cretaceous and Cenozoic strata of the North Chukchi Basin....
Carbon isotope trends across a century of herbarium specimens suggest CO2 fertilization of C4 grasses.
Isa del Toro, Madelon Florence Case, Allison Karp, Jasper Slingsby, A. Carla Staver
2024, New Phytologist (243) 560-566
Increasing atmospheric CO2 is changing the dynamics of tropical savanna vegetation. C3 trees and grasses are known to experience CO2 fertilization, whereas responses to CO2 by C4 grasses are more ambiguous.Here, we sample stable carbon isotope trends in herbarium collections of South African C4 and C3 grasses to reconstruct 13C discrimination.We found that C3 grasses showed no trends...
Why snow is crucial for water supply — And what will happen when it becomes scarce
Karen R. Ryberg
2024, Nature (629) 1013-1014
Analysis of 70 years of snowfall in the Northern Hemisphere reveals that snow buffers the effect of varying precipitation levels on streamflow. The link highlights the need to rethink water-resource management as snow levels decline....
Two risk assessments: Evaluating the use of indicator HF183 Bacteroides versus pathogen measurements for modelling recreational illness risks in an urban watershed
K Skiendzielewski, Tucker R. Burch, Joel P. Stokdyk, Shannon McGinnis, S McLoughlin, Aaron D. Firnstahl, Sandy Spencer, Mark A. Borchardt, Heather Murphy
2024, Water Research (259)
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of HF183 Bacteroides for estimating pathogen exposures during recreational water activities. We compared the use of Bacteroides-based exposure assessment to exposure assessment that relied on pathogen measurements. We considered two types of recreational water sites: those impacted by combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and...
Temporally dense monitoring of pathogen occurrence at four drinking-water well sites – Insights and Implications
James F. Walsh, Randall J. Hunt, Anita C. Anderson, David W. Owens, Nancy Rice
2024, Water Research (259)
Yearlong, event based, microbiological and chemical sampling was conducted at four public water supply well sites spanning a range of geologic settings and well depths to look for correlation between precipitation events and microbial occurrence. Near-continuous monitoring using autosamplers occurred just before, during, and after...
A phylogeographical study of the discontinuously distributed Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus)
Kim T Scribner, Sandra Talbot, Barbara J. Pierson, John D Robinson, Richard B. Lanctot, Daniel Esler, Kathryn Dickson
2024, Ibis (166) 1218-1240
Species distributions are often indicative of historical biogeographical events and contemporary spatial biodiversity patterns. The Harlequin Duck Histrionicus histrionicus is a sea duck of conservation concern that has a disjunct distribution, with discrete portions of its range associated with northern Pacific and Atlantic Ocean basins. Movement...
Guidelines for climate-smart invasive species management
Eva M. Colberg, Toni Lyn Morelli, Carrie J. Brown-Lima
2024, Report
No abstract available....
Thermal transfer rate is slower in bigger fish: How does body size affect response time of small, implantable temperature recording tags?
Matthew J. O'Donnell, Amy M. Regish, Stephen D. McCormick, Benjamin Letcher
2024, Ecology of Freshwater Fish (33)
The recent miniaturisation of implantable temperature recording tags has made measuring the water temperatures fish experience in the wild possible, but there may be a body size-dependent delay in implanted tag response time to changes in external temperature. To determine whether fish body size affects the response rate of implanted...
MTAB 108, May 2024
Kyra Harvey, Jennifer L. McKay
2024, Newsletter
This Memo to All Banders (MTAB 108) was released in May 2024. Subjects in this this memo are 1. The Chief’s Chirp; 2. Alerts – Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza and reminder that banders cannot submit data through Bandit, only manage data; 3. Staff updates – meeting reports, BBL staff visits...
Retrospective review of the pathology of American pikas
Adrienne Barrett, Kali Holder, Susan Knowles, Elise E. B. LaDouceur
2024, Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation (36) 666-676
American pikas (Ochotona princeps) are small lagomorphs that live in mountainous talus areas of western North America. Studies on the histopathology of American pikas are limited. We summarize here the clinical histories, and gross and histologic findings of 12 American pikas, including 9 captive (wild-caught) and 3...
Changes in soil erosion caused by wildfire: A conceptual biogeographic model
Philip J. Noske, Petter Nyman, Patrick N.J. Lane, Francis K. Rengers, Gary J. Sheridan
2024, Geomorphology (459)
Soil erosion rates after wildfire are strongly controlled by intrinsic properties such as topography, weather, climate, soil, and vegetation. These landscape and hydroclimatic properties are important in determining post-fire erosion rates; however, their influence on post-fire erosion and their interaction with the intensity...
A comparison of eDNA sampling methods in an estuarine environment on presence of longfin smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys) and fish community composition
Lizabeth Bowen, Shannon C. Waters-Dynes, Lyndsay L. Rankin, Karen M. Thorne, Daphne Gille, Susan De La Cruz, Isa Woo, Levi Lewis, Katie Karpenko, Cheryl Dean, Gregg Schumer
2024, Environmental DNA (6) e560
The loss of tidal wetlands in the San Francisco Bay estuary have led to declines in native fish presence. Restoration of tidal wetlands in this area has intensified, with a primary goal of increasing the number of native fishes. We compared the presence of longfin...
Causal inference approaches reveal both positive and negative unintended effects of agricultural and urban management practices on instream biological condition
Sean Cassian Emmons, Taylor Woods, Matthew J. Cashman, Olivia Devereux, Gregory E. Noe, John A. Young, Scott Stranko, Jay V. Kilian, Katherine Hanna, Kelly O. Maloney
2024, Journal of Environmental Management (361)
Agricultural and urban management practices (MPs) are primarily designed and implemented to reduce nutrient and sediment concentrations in streams. However, there is growing interest in determining if MPs produce any unintended positive effects, or co-benefits, to instream biological and habitat...
