Assessment of post-wildfire geomorphic change in the North Fork Eagle Creek stream channel, New Mexico, 2017–21
Justin R. Nichols, Shaleene B. Chavarria, Alexander P. Graziano
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5116
The 2012 Little Bear Fire caused substantial vegetation loss in the Eagle Creek Basin of south-central New Mexico. This loss was expected to alter the localized hydrologic response to precipitation by creating conditions that amplify surface runoff, which might alter the geomorphology of North Fork Eagle Creek, a major tributary...
Biological responses of Pacific herring embryos to crude oil are quantifiable at exposure levels below conventional limits of quantitation for PAHs in water and tissues
John P. Incardona, Tiffany L. Linbo, James R. Cameron, Barbara L. French, Jennie L. Bolton, Jacob L. Gregg, Carey E. Donald, Paul Hershberger, Nathaniel L. Scholz
2023, Environmental Science and Technology
Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii), a cornerstone of marine food webs, generally spawn on marine macroalgae in shallow nearshore areas that are disproportionately at risk from oil spills. Herring embryos are also highly susceptible to toxicity from chemicals leaching from oil stranded in intertidal and subtidal zones. The water-soluble components of...
Data mining reveals tissue-specific expression and host lineage-associated forms of Apis mellifera filamentous virus
Robert S. Cornman
2023, PeerJ
Apis mellifera filamentous virus (AmFV) is a large double-stranded DNA virus of uncertain phylogenetic position that infects honey bees (Apis mellifera). Little is known about AmFV evolution or molecular aspects of infection. Accurate annotation of open-reading frames (ORFs) is challenged by weak homology to other known viruses. This study was...
Living on the edge: Predicting songbird response to management and environmental changes across an ecotone
Nicholas J. Van Lanen, Adrian P. Monroe, Cameron L. Aldridge
2023, Ecology and Evolution (13)
Effective wildlife management requires robust information regarding population status, habitat requirements, and likely responses to changing resource conditions. Single-species management may inadequately conserve communities and result in undesired effects to non-target species. Thus, management can benefit from understanding habitat relationships for multiple species. Pinyon...
Developing fluvial fish species distribution models across the conterminous United States—A framework for management and conservation
Hao Yu, Arthur R. Cooper, Jared Ross, Alexa McKerrow, Daniel J. Wieferich, Dana M. Infante
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5088
This report explains the steps and specific methods used to predict fluvial fish occurrences in their native ranges for the conterminous United States. In this study, boosted regression tree models predict distributions of 271 ecologically important fluvial fish species using relations between fish presence/absence and 22 natural and anthropogenic landscape...
Linking meso-scale spatial variation in methylmercury production to bioaccumulation in tidal marsh food webs
Laurie Anne Hall, Isa Woo, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, John Y. Takekawa, David P. Krabbenhoft, Donald Yee, Letitia Grenier, Susan E. W. De La Cruz
2023, Environmental Science and Technology
Differences in sediment biogeochemistry among tidal marsh features with different hydrological and geomorphological characteristics, including marsh interiors, marsh edges, first-order channels, and third-order channels, can result in spatial variation in MeHg production and availability. To better understand the link between MeHg production in sediments and bioaccumulation...
A comparison of stable isotopes and polychlorinated biphenyls 1 among genetic strains of Lake Ontario lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush)
Nicole E. Saavedra, N. Roxanna Razavi, Donald J. Stewart, Brian F. Lantry, Gordon Paterson
2023, Journal of Great Lakes Research
This study quantified stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopes, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations and growth rates among multiple genetic strains of Lake Ontario lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) to evaluate the potential role of genetics in these parameters. Fish ranging in age from 1 to 31 years (n = 72) and representing nine...
Kinematic evolution of a large paraglacial landslide in the Barry Arm fjord of Alaska
Lauren N. Schaefer, Jeffrey A. Coe, Katreen Wikstrom Jones, Brian D. Collins, Dennis M. Staley, Michael E. West, Ezgi Karasozen, Charles Prentice-James Miles, Gabriel J. Wolken, Ronald P. Daanan, Kelli Wadsworth Baxstrom
2023, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface (128)
Our warming climate is adversely affecting cryospheric landscapes via glacial retreat, permafrost degradation, and associated slope destabilization. In Prince William Sound, Alaska, the rapid retreat of Barry Glacier has destabilized the slopes flanking the glacier, resulting in numerous landslides. The largest of these landslides (∼500 Mm3 in volume) is...
Steady-state forms of channel profiles shaped by debris flow and fluvial processes
Luke A. McGuire, Scott W. McCoy, Odin Marc, William Struble, Katherine R. Barnhart
2023, Earth Surface Dynamics (11) 1117-1143
Debris flows regularly traverse bedrock channels that dissect steep landscapes, but our understanding of bedrock erosion by debris flows and their impact on steepland morphology is still rudimentary. Quantitative models of steep bedrock channel networks are based on geomorphic transport laws designed to represent...
Expanding our view of the cold-water coral niche and accounting of the ecosystem services of the reef habitat
Erick E. Cordes, Amanda Demopoulos, Andrew Davies, Ryan Gasbarro, Alexandria Rhoads, Elizabeth Lobecker, Dereck Sowers, Jason Chaytor, Cheryl Morrison, Alexis Marie Weinnig, Sandra Brooke, Jay J. Lunden, Furu Mienis, Samantha B. Joye, Andrea M. Quattrini, Tracey Sutton, Catherine McFadden, Jill Bourque, Jennifer McClain Counts, Brian D. Andrews, Melissa Betters, Peter Etnoyer, Gary Wolff, Bernie Bernard, James Brooks, Michael Rasser, Caitlin Adams
2023, Scientific Reports (13)
Coral reefs are iconic ecosystems that support diverse, productive communities in both shallow and deep waters. However, our incomplete knowledge of cold-water coral (CWC) niche space limits our understanding of their distribution and precludes a complete accounting of the ecosystem services they provide. Here, we present...
Considerations for colorblind individuals on selecting colorimetric or fluorescent dye assay outcomes
Kirstyn Loyva, Erik K. Hofmeister, Fiona Georgousi, Constance Roderick, Rebecca A. Cole
2023, BioTechniques
A disadvantage of colorimetric detection in nucleic acid amplification assays is the possibility that a colorblind individual may interpret colors differently than observers with full-color vision. Using an isothermal amplification assay, the ability of colorblind individuals to distinguish between positive and negative results for four dyes was tested. Five...
Predicting daily river chlorophyll concentrations at a continental scale
Philip Robert Savoy, Judson Harvey
2023, Water Resources Research (59)
Eutrophication is one of the largest threats to aquatic ecosystems and chlorophyll a measurements are relevant indicators of trophic state and algal abundance. Many studies have modeled chlorophyll a in rivers but model development and testing has largely occurred at individual sites which hampers creating generalized models capable of making broad-scale...
Snag dynamics and surface fuel loads in the Sierra Nevada: Predicting the impact of the 2012–2016 drought
Hudson Northrop, Jodi N. Axelson, Adrian Das, Nathan L. Stephenson, Emilio Vilanova, Scott L. Stephens, John J. Battles
2023, Forest Ecology and Management (551)
Forest die-backs linked to extreme droughts are expected to increase as the climate dries and warms. An example is the 2012-2016 hotter drought in California that induced widespread tree mortality in the Sierra Nevada, California. The sudden increase in snags (i.e., standing dead trees) raised immediate concerns about their impact...
Creating oriented and precisely sectioned mineral mounts for in situ chemical analyses—An example using olivine for diffusion chronometry studies
Kendra J. Lynn, Liliana G. Desmither
2023, Techniques and Methods 5-D5
Diffusion chronometry is now a widely applied methodology for determining the rates and timescales of geologic processes from the chemical zoning observed in minerals. Despite the popularity of the method, several challenges still remain during its application, including: (1) the random sectioning of minerals either in thin sections or grain...
Shifted sediment-transport regimes by climate change and amplified hydrological variability in cryosphere-fed rivers
Tinghu Zhang, Dongfeng Li, Amy E. East, Albert J. Kettner, James L. Best, Jinren Ni, Xixi Lu
2023, Science Advances (9)
Climate change affects cryosphere-fed rivers and alters seasonal sediment dynamics, affecting cyclical fluvial material supply and year-round water-food-energy provisions to downstream communities. Here, we demonstrate seasonal sediment-transport regime shifts from the 1960s to 2000s in four cryosphere-fed rivers characterized by glacial, nival, pluvial, and mixed regimes, respectively. Spring sees a...
Alternative lifestyles: A plague persistence hypothesis
Jeffrey Wimsatt, David A. Eads, Marc R. Matchett, Dean E. Biggins
2023, Ecosphere (14)
Several explanations have been posited for how the plague bacterium (Yersinia pestis) reemerges during sylvatic cycles within the same foci over many years, and often without direct evidence of host die-offs. One prevalent view is that transmission-optimized Y. pestis bacteria, exhibiting epizootic/enzootic behavior, almost continually replicate and survive through repeated, linked, host-centered...
Georectified polygon database of ground-mounted large-scale solar photovoltaic sites in the United States
Sydny K. Fujita, Zachary H. Ancona, Louisa Kramer, Mary Straka, Tandie E. Gautreau, Dana Robson, Christopher P. Garrity, Ben Hoen, James E. Diffendorfer
2023, Scientific Data (10)
Over 4,400 large-scale solar photovoltaic (LSPV) facilities operate in the United States as of December 2021, representing more than 60 gigawatts of electric energy capacity. Of these, over 3,900 are ground-mounted LSPV facilities with capacities of 1 MWdc or more. Ground mounted LSPV installations continue increasing, with more than 400...
Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) 6-year summary, Naval Outlying Landing Field, Imperial Beach, southwestern San Diego County, California, 2014–20
Suellen Lynn, Shannon Mendia, Barbara E. Kus
2023, Open-File Report 2023-1055
Executive SummaryFrom 2014 to 2020, a Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) banding station (station) was operated at the Naval Outlying Landing Field (NOLF), Imperial Beach, in southwestern San Diego County, California. The station was established as part of a long-term monitoring program of Neotropical migratory bird populations on NOLF...
Development and application of a risk assessment tool for aquatic invasive species in the international Rainy-Lake of the Woods Basin, United States and Canada
Amanda H. Bell, Leon R. Katona, Nicole M. Vellequette
2023, Open-File Report 2022-1070
The Rainy-Lake of the Woods Basin covers 70,000 square kilometers in mid-central North America and is contained within the Provinces of Ontario and Manitoba in Canada and the State of Minnesota in the United States. This basin contains natural wilderness areas, national parks, and thousands of lakes that bring outdoor...
Extinction risk modeling predicts range-wide differences of climate change impact on Karner blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis)
Yudi Li, David Wilson, Ralph Grundel, Steven Campbell, Joe Knight, Jim Perry, Jessica J. Hellmann
2023, PLoS ONE (18)
The Karner blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis, or Kbb), a federally endangered species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in decline due to habitat loss, can be further threatened by climate change. Evaluating how climate shapes the population trend of the Kbb can help in the...
Empirical estimation of habitat suitability for rare plant restoration in an era of ongoing climatic shifts
Paul Krushelnycky, Lucas Fortini, Jeffrey Mallinson, Jesse Felts
2023, Scientific Reports (13)
Accurate estimates of current and future habitat suitability are needed for species that may require assistance in tracking a shifting climate. Standard species distribution models (SDMs) based on occurrence data are the most common approach for evaluating climatic suitability, but these may suffer from inaccuracies stemming...
Development of the North Carolina stormwater-treatment decision-support system by using the Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM)
Gregory E. Granato, Charles C. Stillwell, J. Curtis Weaver, Andrew H. McDaniel, Brian S. Lipscomb, Susan C. Jones, Ryan M. Mullins
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5113
The Federal Highway Administration and State departments of transportation nationwide need an efficient method to assess potential adverse effects of highway stormwater runoff on receiving waters to optimize stormwater-treatment decisions. To this end, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration and the North Carolina Department of...
Geologic carbon management options for the North Atlantic-Appalachian Region
Peter D. Warwick, Madalyn S. Blondes, Sean T. Brennan, Steven M. Cahan, C. Özgen Karacan, Kevin D. Kroeger, Matthew D. Merrill
2023, Fact Sheet 2023-3038
IntroductionThe U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) North Atlantic-Appalachian Region is developing the regionwide capacity to provide timely science support for decision-makers attempting to enhance carbon removal, sequestration, and emissions mitigation to meet national atmospheric carbon reduction goals. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that in 2021, the fourteen States and...
Thirty years of regional groundwater-quality trend studies in the United States: Major findings and lessons learned
Bruce D. Lindsey, Brandon J. Fleming, Phillip J. Goodling, Amanda Nicole May
2023, Journal of Hydrology (627)
Changes in groundwater quality have been evaluated for more than 2,200 wells in 25 Principal Aquifers in the United States based on repeated decadal sampling (once every 10 years) from 1988 to 2021. The purpose of this study is to identify contaminants with changing concentrations, the...
Two centuries of southwest Iceland annually-resolved marine temperature reconstructed from Arctica islandica shells
Madelyn Jean Mette, Carin Andersson, Bernd Schöne, Fabian Bonitz, Vilde Melvik, Tamara Trofimova, Martin Miles
2023, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science (294)
Iceland's exposure to major ocean current pathways of the central North Atlantic makes it a useful location for developing long-term proxy records of past marine climate. Such records provide more detailed understanding of the full range of past variability which is necessary to improve...
