Fire reinforces structure of pondcypress (Taxodium distichum var. imbricarium) domes in a wetland landscape
Adam C. Watts, Leda N. Kobziar, James R. Snyder
2012, Wetlands (32) 439-448
Fire periodically affects wetland forests, particularly in landscapes with extensive fire-prone uplands. Rare occurrence and difficulty of access have limited efforts to understand impacts of wildfires fires in wetlands. Following a 2009 wildfire, we measured tree mortality and structural changes in wetland forest patches. Centers of these circular landscape features...
Frequent arousal from hibernation linked to severity of infection and mortality in bats with white-nose syndrome
DeeAnn M. Reeder, Craig L. Frank, Gregory G. Turner, Carol U. Meteyer, Allen Kurta, Eric R. Britzke, Megan E. Vodzak, Scott R. Darling, Craig W. Stihler, Alan C. Hicks, Roymon Jacob, Laura E. Grieneisen, Sarah A. Brownlee, Laura K. Muller, David S. Blehert
2012, PLoS ONE (7)
White-nose syndrome (WNS), an emerging infectious disease that has killed over 5.5 million hibernating bats, is named for the causative agent, a white fungus (Geomyces destructans (Gd)) that invades the skin of torpid bats. During hibernation, arousals to warm (euthermic) body temperatures are normal but deplete fat stores. Temperature-sensitive dataloggers...
Use of vertical temperature gradients for prediction of tidal flat sediment characteristics
Jennifer L. Miselis, K. Todd Holland, Allen H. Reed, Andrei Abelev
2012, Journal of Geophysical Research C: Oceans (117) C03012-C03023
Sediment characteristics largely govern tidal flat morphologic evolution; however, conventional methods of investigating spatial variability in lithology on tidal flats are difficult to employ in these highly dynamic regions. In response, a series of laboratory experiments was designed to investigate the use of temperature diffusion toward sediment characterization. A vertical...
Life at the hyperarid margin: novel bacterial diversity in arid soils of the Atacama Desert, Chile
Julia W. Neilson, Jay Quade, Marianyoly Ortiz, William M. Nelson, Antje Legatzki, Fei Tian, Michelle LaComb, Julio L. Betancourt, Rod A. Wing, Carol A. Soderlund, Raina M. Maier
2012, Extremophiles (16) 553-566
Nearly half the earth's surface is occupied by dryland ecosystems, regions susceptible to reduced states of biological productivity caused by climate fluctuations. Of these regions, arid zones located at the interface between vegetated semiarid regions and biologically unproductive hyperarid zones are considered most vulnerable. The objective of this study was...
Climate impacts on bird and plant communities from altered animal-plant interactions
Thomas E. Martin, John L. Maron
2012, Nature Climate Change (2) 195-200
The contribution of climate change to declining populations of organisms remains a question of outstanding concern. Much attention to declining populations has focused on how changing climate drives phenological mismatches between animals and their food. Effects of climate on plant communities may provide an alternative, but particularly powerful, influence on...
Effects of capture by trammel net on Colorado River native fishes
Teresa A. Hunt, David L. Ward, Catherine R. Propper, Alice C. Gibb
2012, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (3) 133-141
Trammel nets are commonly used to sample rare fishes; however, little research has assessed delayed mortality associated with this capture technique. We conducted laboratory experiments to evaluate the effects of capture by trammel net on bonytail Gila elegans, razorback sucker Xyrauchen texanus, and roundtail chub Gila robusta, at 15, 20,...
Polymorphic microsatellite loci identified through development and cross-species amplification within shorebirds
I. Williams, Brian M. Guzzetti, Judy R. Gust, G. Kevin Sage, Robert E. Gill Jr., T. Lee Tibbitts, Sarah A. Sonsthagen, Sandra L. Talbot
2012, Journal of Ornithology (153) 593-601
We developed microsatellite loci for demographic assessments of shorebirds, a group with limited markers. First, we isolated five dinucleotide repeat microsatellite loci from the Black Oystercatcher (Haematopodidae: Haematopus bachmani), and three from the Bristle-thighed Curlew (Scolopacidae: Numenius tahitiensis); both species are of conservation concern. All eight loci were polymorphic in...
Factors affecting incubation patterns and sex roles of black oystercatchers in Alaska
Caleb S. Spiegel, Susan M. Haig, Michael I. Goldstein, Manuela M. P. Huso
2012, The Condor (114) 123-134
Studies examining the effects of human disturbance on avian parental behavior and reproductive success are fundamental to bird conservation. However, many such studies fail to also consider the influence of natural threats, a variable environment, and parental roles. Our work examines interactive relationships of cyclical (time of day, tide, temperature,...
Temporal genetic monitoring of hybridization between native westslope cutthroat trout and introduced rainbow trout in the Stehekin River, Washington
Carl O. Ostberg, Dorothy M. Chase
2012, Northwest Science (86) 198-211
Introgressive hybridization with introduced rainbow trout (RBT) (Oncorhynchus mykiss) has led to the loss of native cutthroat trout species (O. clarkii) throughout their range, creating conservation concerns. Monitoring temporal hybridization trends provides resource managers with a tool for determining population status and information for establishing conservation goals for native cutthroat...
Point sources of emerging contaminants along the Colorado River Basin: Source water for the arid Southwestern United States
Tammy L. Jones-Lepp, Charles Sanchez, David A. Alvarez, Doyle C. Wilson, Randi-Laurant Taniguchi-Fu
2012, Science of the Total Environment (430) 237-245
Emerging contaminants (ECs) (e.g., pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs, personal care products) have been detected in waters across the United States. The objective of this study was to evaluate point sources of ECs along the Colorado River, from the headwaters in Colorado to the Gulf of California. At selected locations in the...
Effects of sample size, number of markers, and allelic richness on the detection of spatial genetic pattern
Erin L. Landguth, Bradley C. Gedy, Sara J. Oyler-McCance, Andrew L. Garey, Sarah L. Emel, Matthew Mumma, Helene H. Wagner, Marie-Josée Fortin, Samuel A. Cushman
2012, Molecular Ecology Resources (12) 276-284
The influence of study design on the ability to detect the effects of landscape pattern on gene flow is one of the most pressing methodological gaps in landscape genetic research. To investigate the effect of study design on landscape genetics inference, we used a spatially-explicit, individual-based program to simulate gene...
Modeling thermal dynamics of active layer soils and near-surface permafrost using a fully coupled water and heat transport model
Yueyang Jiang, Qianlai Zhuang, Jonathan A. O’Donnell
2012, Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres (117)
Thawing and freezing processes are key components in permafrost dynamics, and these processes play an important role in regulating the hydrological and carbon cycles in the northern high latitudes. In the present study, we apply a well-developed soil thermal model that fully couples heat and water transport, to simulate the...
Chiral pesticides: Identification, description, and environmental implications
Elin M. Ulrich, Candice N. Morrison, Michael R. Goldsmith, William T. Foreman
2012, Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (217) 1-74
Anthropogenic chemicals, including pesticides, are a major source of contamination and pollution in the environment. Pesticides have many positive uses: increased food production, decreased damage to crops and structures, reduced disease vector populations, and more. Nevertheless, pesticide exposure can pose risks to humans and the environment, so various mitigation strategies...
Aftershock seismicity of the 2010 Maule Mw=8.8 Chile, earthquake: Correlation between co-seismic slip models and aftershock distribution?
A. Rietbrock, I. Ryder, G. Hayes, C. Haberland, D. Comte, S. Roecker
2012, Geophysical Research Letters (39)
The 27 February 2010 Maule, Chile (Mw=8.8) earthquake is one of the best instrumentally observed subduction zone megathrust events. Here we present locations, magnitudes and cumulative equivalent moment of the first -2 months of aftershocks, recorded on a temporary network deployed within 2 weeks of the occurrence of the mainshock....
Pore- and fracture-filling gas hydrate reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico Gas Hydrate Joint Industry Project Leg II Green Canyon 955 H well
Myung W. Lee, T. S. Collett
2012, Marine and Petroleum Geology (34) 62-71
High-quality logging-while-drilling (LWD) downhole logs were acquired in seven wells drilled during the Gulf of MexicoGasHydrateJointIndustryProjectLegII in the spring of 2009. Well logs obtained in one of the wells, the GreenCanyon Block 955Hwell (GC955-H), indicate that a 27.4-m thick zone at the depth of 428 m below sea floor (mbsf;...
Biodiversity of man-made open habitats in an underused country: a class of multispecies abundance models for count data
Yuichi Yamaura, J. Andrew Royle, Naoaki Shimada, Seigo Asanuma, Tamotsu Sato, Hisatomo Taki, Shun’ichi Makino
2012, Biodiversity and Conservation (21) 1365-1380
Since the 1960s, Japan has become highly dependent on foreign countries for natural resources, and the amount of managed lands (e.g. coppice, grassland, and agricultural field) has declined. Due to infrequent natural and human disturbance, early-successional species are now declining in Japan. Here we surveyed bees, birds, and plants in...
Semiparametric bivariate zero-inflated Poisson models with application to studies of abundance for multiple species
Ali Arab, Scott H. Holan, Christopher K. Wikle, Mark L. Wildhaber
2012, Environmetrics (23) 183-196
Ecological studies involving counts of abundance, presence–absence or occupancy rates often produce data having a substantial proportion of zeros. Furthermore, these types of processes are typically multivariate and only adequately described by complex nonlinear relationships involving externally measured covariates. Ignoring these aspects of the data and implementing standard approaches can...
Ultraviolet irradiation effects incorporation of nitrate and nitrite nitrogen into aquatic natural organic matter
Kevin A. Thorn, Larry G. Cox
2012, Journal of Environmental Quality (41) 865-881
One of the concerns regarding the safety and efficacy of ultraviolet radiation for treatment of drinking water and wastewater is the fate of nitrate, particularly its photolysis to nitrite. In this study, 15N NMR was used to establish for the first time that UV irradiation effects the incorporation of nitrate...
Estimating parameters of hidden Markov models based on marked individuals: use of robust design data
William L. Kendall, Gary C. White, James E. Hines, Catherine A. Langtimm, Jun Yoshizaki
2012, Ecology (93) 913-920
Development and use of multistate mark-recapture models, which provide estimates of parameters of Markov processes in the face of imperfect detection, have become common over the last twenty years. Recently, estimating parameters of hidden Markov models, where the state of an individual can be uncertain even when it is detected,...
Studying biodiversity: is a new paradigm really needed?
James D. Nichols, Evan G. Cooch, Jonathan M. Nichols, John R. Sauer
2012, BioScience (62) 497-502
Authors in this journal have recommended a new approach to the conduct of biodiversity science. This data-driven approach requires the organization of large amounts of ecological data, analysis of these data to discover complex patterns, and subsequent development of hypotheses corresponding to detected patterns. This proposed new approach has been...
One hundred years of volcano monitoring in Hawaii
James P. Kauahikaua, Michael P. Poland
2012, Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union (93) 29-30
In 2012 the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO), the oldest of five volcano observatories in the United States, is commemorating the 100th anniversary of its founding. HVO's location, on the rim of Kilauea volcano (Figure 1)—one of the most active volcanoes on Earth—has provided an unprecedented opportunity over the past century...
Erosion, storage, and transport of sediment in two subbasins of the Rio Puerco, New Mexico
A. C. Gellis, M.J. Pavich, A.L. Ellwein, S. Aby, I. Clark, M.E. Wieczorek, R. Viger
2012, GSA Bulletin (124) 817-841
Arroyos in the American Southwest proceed through cut-and-fill cycles that operate at centennial to millennial time scales. The geomorphic community has put much effort into understanding the causes of arroyo cutting in the late Quaternary and in the modern record (late 1800s), while little effort has gone into understanding how...
Spatiotemporal associations between Pacific herring spawn and surf scoter spring migration: evaluating a "silver wave" hypothesis
Erica K. Lok, Daniel Esler, John Y. Takekawa, Susan E.W. De La Cruz, W. Sean Boyd, David R. Nysewander, Joseph R. Evenson, David H. Ward
2012, Marine Ecology Progress Series (457) 139-150
Surf scoters Melanitta perspicillata are sea ducks that aggregate at spawning events of Pacific herring Clupea pallasi and forage on the eggs, which are deposited in abundance during spring at discrete sites. We evaluated whether migrating scoters followed a ‘silver wave’ of resource availability, analogous to the ‘green wave’ of high-quality foraging conditions that...
Strategic directions for U.S. Geological Survey water science, 2012-2022 - Observing, understanding, predicting, and delivering water science to the Nation
Eric J. Evenson, Randall C. Orndorff, Charles D. Blome, John Karl Böhlke, Paul K. Hershberger, Victoria E. Langenheim, Gregory J. McCabe, Scott E. Morlock, Howard W. Reeves, James P. Verdin, Holly S. Weyers, Tamara M. Wood
2012, Open-File Report 2012-1066
Executive Summary This report expands the Water Science Strategy that was begun in the USGS Science Strategy, “Facing Tomorrow’s Challenges—U.S. Geological Survey Science in the Decade 2007–2017” (U.S. Geological Survey, 2007). The report looks at the relevant issues facing society and develops a strategy built around observing, understanding, predicting, and delivering...
Gulf of Mexico Gas Hydrate Joint Industry Project Leg II logging-while-drilling data acquisition and analysis
Timothy S. Collett, Myung W. Lee, Margarita V. Zyrianova, Stefan A. Mrozewski, Gilles Guerin, Ann E. Cook, Dave S. Goldberg
2012, Marine and Petroleum Geology (34) 41-61
One of the objectives of the Gulf of Mexico Gas Hydrate Joint Industry Project Leg II (GOM JIP Leg II) was the collection of a comprehensive suite of logging-while-drilling (LWD) data within gas-hydrate-bearing sand reservoirs in order to make accurate estimates of the concentration of gas hydrates under various geologic...
