Quantitative meta-analysis reveals no association between mercury contamination and body condition in birds
Alice Carravieri, Orsolya Vincze, Paco Bustamante, Joshua T. Ackerman, Evan M. Adams, Frederic Angelier, Olivier Chastel, Yves Cherel, Olivier Gilg, Elena Golubova, Alexander Kitaysky, Katelyn Luff, Chad L. Seewagen, Hallvard Strom, Alexis P. Will, Glenn Yannic, Mathieu Giraudeau, Jerome Fort
2022, Biological Reviews (97) 1253-1271
Mercury contamination is a major threat to the global environment, and is still increasing in some regions despite international regulations. The methylated form of mercury is hazardous to biota, yet its sublethal effects are difficult to detect in wildlife. Body condition can vary in response to...
Hydrologic modification and channel evolution degrades connectivity on the Atchafalaya River floodplain
Daniel Kroes, Charles R Demas, Yvonne A. Allen, Richard Day, Steve W Roberts, Jeff Varisco
2022, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (47) 1790-1807
The Atchafalaya River Basin is the largest remaining forested wetland in the contiguous United States. Since 1960, dredging and channel erosion in the Basin have resulted in changes to the hydrologic connectivity that have not been quantified. Analyses were conducted to determine the hydraulic and geomorphic factors that have changed...
Molecular mechanisms of solid bitumen and vitrinite reflectance suppression explored using hydrous pyrolysis of artificial source rock
Margaret M. Sanders, Aaron M. Jubb, Paul C. Hackley, Kenneth E. Peters
2022, Organic Geochemistry (165)
The most commonly used parameter for thermal maturity calibration in basin modelling is mean random vitrinite reflectance (Ro). However, Ro suppression has been noted in samples containing a high proportion of liptinite macerals. This phenomenon has been demonstrated empirically using hydrous...
Integration of vegetation classification with land cover mapping: Lessons from regional mapping efforts in the Americas
Patrick J. Comer, Jon C Hak, Daryn Dockter, Jim Smith
2022, Vegetation Classification and Survey 29-43
Aims: Natural resource management and biodiversity conservation rely on inventories of vegetation that span multiple management or political jurisdictions. However, while remote sensing data and analytical tools have enabled production of maps at increasing spatial resolution and reliability, there are limited examples where national or continental-scaled maps are produced to...
High abundance of a single taxon (amphipods) predicts aquatic macrophyte biodiversity in prairie wetlands
Danelle M. Larson, Demmey DeJong, Michael J. Anteau, Megan J. Fitzpatrick, Breanna R. Keith, Emily G. Schilling, Barry Thoele
2022, Conservation Biology (31) 1073-1093
Conservation programs often aim to protect the abundance of individual species and biodiversity simultaneously. We quantified relations between amphipod densities and aquatic macrophyte (large plants and algae) diversity to test a hypothesis that biodiversity can support high abundance of a single taxonomic group. Amphipods (Gammarus lacustris and Hyalella...
Fishway Entrance Palisade
Kevin B. Mulligan, Richard Palmer, Brett Towler, Alexander Haro, Bjorn Lake, Marcia Rojas, Elizabeth Lotter
2022, Report
This technical report summarizes the work that was conducted by the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the United States Geological Survey (USGS), along with other project partners, on the Fishway Entrance Palisade (EP), a projected funded through the Department of Energy’s (DOE) funding opportunity titled ‘Innovative Solutions for Fish Passage...
A statistical framework for integrating nonparametric proxy distributions into geological reconstructions of relative sea level
Erica L. Ashe, Nicole S. Khan, Lauren T. Toth, Andrea Dutton, Robert E. Kopp
2022, Advances in Statistical Climatology, Meteorology and Oceanography (8) 1-29
Robust, proxy-based reconstructions of relative sea-level (RSL) change are critical to distinguishing the processes that drive spatial and temporal sea-level variability. The relationships between individual proxies and RSL can be complex and are often poorly represented by traditional methods that assume Gaussian likelihood distributions. We develop a new statistical framework...
Three Mw ≥ 4.7 earthquakes within the Changning (China) shale gas field ruptured shallow faults intersecting with hydraulic fracturing wells
Shuai Wang, Guoyan Jiang, Xinglin Lei, Andrew J. Barbour, Xibin Tan, Caijun Xu, Xiwei Xu
2022, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (127)
From 2017 to 2019, three destructive earthquakes (27 January 2017 Mw 4.7, 16 December 2018 Mw 5.2, and 3 January 2019 Mw 4.8) occurred in the Changning shale gas field in the southwest Sichuan Basin, China. Previous seismological studies attributed these events to hydraulic fracturing (HF), but were unable to...
Fast rupture of the 2009 Mw 6.9 Canal de Ballenas earthquake in the Gulf of California dynamically triggers seismicity in California
Wenyuan Fan, Ryo Okuwaki, Andrew J. Barbour, Yihe Huang, Guoqing Lin, Elizabeth S. Cochran
2022, Geophysical Journal International (230) 528-541
In the Gulf of California, Mexico, the relative motion across the North America-Pacific boundary is accommodated by a series of marine transform faults and spreading centers. About 40 M>6 earthquakes have occurred in the region since 1960. On 3 August 2009, an Mw 6.9 earthquake occurred near Canal de Ballenas...
NWTOPT — A hyperparameter optimization approach for selection of environmental model solver settings
Max William Newcomer, Randall J. Hunt
2022, Environmental Modelling and Software (147) 1-7
Hyperparameter optimization approaches were applied to improve performance and accuracy of groundwater flow models. Freely available new software, NWTOPT, is described that uses Tree of Parzen Estimators (TPE) and Random Search algorithms to optimize MODFLOW-NWTs solver settings. We ran 3500 trials on a steady-state and transient model. To quantify the...
Light and flow regimes regulate the metabolism of rivers
Emily. S Bernhardt, Philip Savoy, Michael J Vlah, Alison Paige Appling, Lauren E Koenig, Robert O Hall Jr., Maite Arroita, Joanna Blaszczak, Alice M. Carter, Matthew J. Cohen, Judson Harvey, James B. Heffernan, Ashley M. Helton, J.D. Hosen, Lily Kirk, William H. McDowell, Emily H. Stanley, Charles B. Yackulic, Nancy B. Grimm
2022, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (119)
Mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation drive much of the variation in productivity across Earth's terrestrial ecosystems but do not explain variation in gross primary productivity (GPP) or ecosystem respiration (ER) in flowing waters. We document substantial variation in the magnitude and seasonality of GPP and ER across 222...
Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics simulations of reef surf zone processes driven by plunging irregular waves
Ryan J. Lowe, C. Altomare, Mark L. Buckley, Renan F. da Silva, Jeff E. Hansen, Dirk P. Rijnsdorp, J.M. Dominguez, A.J.C. Crespo
2022, Ocean Modelling (171)
As waves interact with the slopes of coral reefs and other steep bathymetry profiles, plunging breaking usually occurs where the free surface overturns and violent water motion is triggered. Resolving these surf zone processes pose significant challenges for conventional mesh-based hydrodynamic models, due to the rapidly-deforming nature of...
Observation-constrained multicycle dynamic models of the southern San Andreas and the northern San Jacinto Faults: Addressing complexity in paleoearthquake extent and recurrence with realistic 2D fault geometry
Dunyu Liu, Benchuan Duan, Katherine M. Scharer, Doug Yule
2022, JGR Solid Earth (127)
Understanding mechanical conditions that lead to complexity in earthquakes is important to seismic hazard analysis. In this study, we simulate physics-based multicycle dynamic models of the San Andreas fault (Carrizo through San Bernardino sections) and the San Jacinto fault (Claremont and Clark strands). We focus on a complex fault geometry...
Trends in volcano seismology: 2010 to 2020 and beyond
Weston Thelen, Robin Matoza, Alicia J. Hotovec-Ellis
2022, Bulletin of Volcanology (84)
Volcano seismology has been fundamental to our current understanding of crustal magma migration and eruption. The increasing availability of portable seismic networks with the creative use of seismic sources and ambient noise has led to a better understanding of the volcanic structure of many volcanoes and is producing increasingly detailed...
Epidemiological differences between sexes affect management efficacy in simulated chronic wasting disease systems
William J. Rogers, Ellen E. Brandell, Paul C. Cross
Hamish McCallum, editor(s)
2022, Journal of Applied Ecology (59) 1122-1133
Sex-based differences in physiology, behaviour and demography commonly result in differences in disease prevalence. However, sex differences in prevalence may reflect exposure rather than transmission, which could affect disease control programmes. One potential example is chronic wasting disease (CWD), which has been observed at greater prevalence among male than...
Population structure, intergroup interaction, and human contact govern infectious disease impacts in mountain gorilla populations
Christopher A. Whittier, Felicia B. Nutter, Philip L. F. Johnson, Paul C. Cross, James O. Lloyd-Smith, Barrett D. Slenning, Michael K. Stoskopf
2022, American Journal of Primatology (84)
Infectious zoonotic diseases are a threat to wildlife conservation and global health. They are especially a concern for wild apes, which are vulnerable to many human infectious diseases. As ecotourism, deforestation, and great ape field research increase, the threat of human-sourced infections to wild populations becomes more substantial and could...
Variation in foraging patterns as reflected by floral resources used by male vs female bees of selected species at Badlands National Park, SD
Diane L. Larson, Zachary M. Portman, Jennifer Larson, Deborah A. Buhl
2022, Arthropod-Plant Interactions (16) 145-157
Female and male bees forage for different reasons: females provision nests with pollen appropriate for larval development and consume nectar for energy while males need only fuel their own energetic requirements. The expectation, therefore, is that females should visit fewer floral resource species than males, due to females’ focus...
Yucaipa valley integrated hydrological model
Ayman H. Alzraiee, John A. Engott, Geoffrey Cromwell, Linda R. Woolfenden
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5118-B
IntroductionThe hydrologic system in the Yucaipa Valley watershed (YVW) was simulated using the coupled Groundwater and Surface-water FLOW model (GSFLOW; Markstrom and others, 2008). This study uses version 2.0 of GSFLOW, which is a combination of the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS; Markstrom and others, 2015), and the Newton-Raphson formulation of...
Hydrogeologic characterization of the Yucaipa groundwater subbasin
Geoffrey Cromwell, John A. Engott, Ayman H. Alzraiee, Christina Stamos-Pfeiffer, Gregory Mendez, Meghan C. Dick, Sandra Bond
2022, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5118-A
IntroductionWater management in the Santa Ana River watershed in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties in southern California (fig. A1) is complex with various water purveyors navigating geographic, geologic, hydrologic, and political challenges to provide a reliable water supply to stakeholders. As the population has increased throughout southern California, so has...
A novel approach for directly incorporating disease into fish stock assessment: A case study with seroprevalence data
John T. Trochta, Maya Groner, Paul Hershberger, Trevor A. Branch
2022, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (79) 611-630
When estimating mortality from disease with fish population models, common disease surveillance data such as infection prevalence are not always informative, especially for fast-acting diseases that may go unobserved in infrequently sampled populations. In these cases, seroprevalence — the proportion of fish with measurable antibody levels in their blood — may be...
Prospective and retrospective evaluation of the U.S. Geological Survey public aftershock forecast for the 2019-2021 Southwest Puerto Rico Earthquake and aftershocks
Nicholas van der Elst, Jeanne L. Hardebeck, Andrew J. Michael, Sara K. McBride, Elizabeth Vanacore
2022, Seismological Research Letters (93) 620-640
The Mw">Mw 6.4 Southwest Puerto Rico Earthquake of 7 January 2020 was accompanied by a robust fore‐ and aftershock sequence. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has issued regular aftershock forecasts for more than...
Multi-species inference of exotic annual and native perennial grasses in rangelands of the western United States using Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 data
Devendra Dahal, Neal J. Pastick, Stephen P. Boyte, Sujan Parajuli, Michael J. Oimoen, Logan J. Megard
2022, Remote Sensing (14)
The invasion of exotic annual grass (EAG), e.g., cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) and medusahead (Taeniatherum caput-medusae), into rangeland ecosystems of the western United States is a broad-scale problem that affects wildlife habitats, increases wildfire frequency, and adds to land management costs. However, identifying individual species of EAG abundance from...
Ground failure triggered by the 7 January 2020 M6.4 Puerto Rico earthquake
Kate E. Allstadt, Eric M. Thompson, Desiree Bayouth Garcia, Edwin Irizarry Brugman, K. Stephen Hughes, Robert G. Schmitt
2022, Seismological Research Letters (93) 594-608
The 7 January 2020 M 6.4 Puerto Rico earthquake, the mainshock of an extended earthquake sequence, triggered significant ground failure. In this study, we detail the ground failure that occurred based largely on a postearthquake field reconnaissance campaign that we conducted. We documented more than 300...
Juvenile continental crust evolution in a modern oceanic arc setting: Petrogenesis of Cenozoic felsic plutons in Fiji, SW Pacific
Chris S. Marien, Elizabeth Kathleen Drewes-Todd, Allen Stork, Erin Todd, James B Gill, J. Elis Hoffman, Kenichiro Tani, Charlotte M. Allen, Carsten Munker
2022, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (320) 339-365
Viti Levu, Fiji, provides one of the best exposed Phanerozoic analogues for the formation of juvenile continental crust in an intra-oceanic setting. Tonalites and trondhjemites are present in several large (75–150 km2) adjacent, mid-Cenozoic plutons. We report major and trace element data...
Mature diffuse tectonic block boundary revealed by the 2020 southwestern Puerto Rico seismic sequence
Uri S. ten Brink, L Vanacore, E. J. Fielding, Jason Chaytor, A.M. Lopez-Venegas, Wayne E. Baldwin, David S. Foster, Brian D. Andrews
2022, Tectonics (41)
Distributed faulting typically tends to coalesce into one or a few faults with repeated deformation. The progression of clustered medium-sized (≥Mw4.5) earthquakes during the 2020 seismic sequence in southwestern Puerto Rico (SWPR), modeling shoreline subsidence from InSAR, and sub-seafloor mapping by high-resolution seismic reflection profiles, suggest that the 2020 SWPR...
