Blue waters, green bottoms: Benthic filamentous algal blooms are an emerging threat to clear lakes worldwide
Yvonne Vadeboncoeur, Marianne V. Moore, Simon D. Stewart, Sudeep Chandra, Karen Atkins, Jill S. Baron, Keith Bouma-Gregson, Soren Brothers, Stephen Francoeur, Laurel Genzoli, Scott N. Higgins, Sabine Hilt, Leon R. Katona, David Kelly, Isabella Oleksy, Ted Ozersky, Mary Powel, Derek Roberts, Oleg Timoshkin, Flavia Tromboni, M. Jake Vander Zanden, Ekaterina Volkova, Sean Waters, Susanna A. Wood, Masumi Yamamuro
2021, BioScience (71) 1011-1027
Nearshore (littoral) habitats of clear lakes with high water quality are increasingly experiencing unexplained proliferations of filamentous algae that grow on submerged surfaces. These filamentous algal blooms (FABs) are sometimes associated with nutrient pollution in groundwater, but complex changes in climate, nutrient transport, lake hydrodynamics, and food web structure...
Predicting wildfire impacts on the prehistoric archaeological record of the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico, USA
Megan Friggens, Rachel A. Loehman, Connie Constan, Rebekah Kneifel
2021, Fire Ecology (17)
Wildfires of uncharacteristic severity, a consequence of climate changes and accumulated fuels, can cause amplified or novel impacts to archaeological resources. The archaeological record includes physical features associated with human activity; these exist within ecological landscapes and provide a unique long-term perspective on human–environment interactions. The potential for fire-caused damage...
Twenty-first-century projections of shoreline change along inlet-interrupted coastlines
Janaka Bamunawala, Roshanka Ranasinghe, Ali Dastgheib, Robert .J. Nichols, A. Brad Murray, Patrick L. Barnard, T. A. J. G. Sirisena, Trang Minh Duong, Suzanne J. M. H. Hulscher, Ad van der Spek
2021, Nature--Scientific Reports (11)
Sandy coastlines adjacent to tidal inlets are highly dynamic and widespread landforms, where large changes are expected due to climatic and anthropogenic influences. To adequately assess these important changes, both oceanic (e.g., sea-level rise) and terrestrial (e.g., fluvial sediment supply) processes that govern the local sediment...
Temperature variation and host immunity regulate viral persistence in a salmonid host
David J. Paez, Rachel L. Powers, Peng Jia, Natalia Ballesteros, Gael Kurath, Kerry A. Naish, Maureen K. Purcell
2021, Pathogens (10)
Environmental variation has important effects on host–pathogen interactions, affecting large-scale ecological processes such as the severity and frequency of epidemics. However, less is known about how the environment interacts with host immunity to modulate virus fitness within hosts. Here, we studied the interaction between host immune responses and water temperature...
Rapid assessment indicates context-dependent mitigation for amphibian disease risk
Riley F Bernard, Evan H. Campbell Grant
2021, Wildlife Society Bulletin (45) 290-299
Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) is a fungal pathogen that can cause the emerging infectious disease Bsal chytridiomycosis in some amphibians and is currently causing dramatic declines in European urodeles. To date, Bsal has not been detected in North America but has the potential to cause severe declines in naïve hosts if introduced. Therefore, it is critical...
Least Bell's Vireos and Southwestern Willow Flycatchers at the San Luis Rey flood risk management project area in San Diego County, California—Breeding activities and habitat use—2020 annual report
Alexandra Houston, Lisa D. Allen, Ryan E. Pottinger, Barbara E. Kus
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1053
Executive SummarySurveys and monitoring for the endangered Least Bell’s Vireo (Vireo bellii pusillus; vireo) were done at the San Luis Rey Flood Risk Management Project Area (Project Area) in the city of Oceanside, San Diego County, California, between March 31 and July 20, 2020. We completed four protocol surveys during...
Vulnerability of Pacific salmon to invasion of northern pike (Esox lucius) in Southcentral Alaska
Chase S. Jalbert, Jeffrey A. Falke, Andres Lopez, Kristine J. Dunker, Adam Sepulveda, Peter A. H. Westley
2021, PLoS ONE (16)
The relentless role of invasive species in the extinction of native biota requires predictions of ecosystem vulnerability to inform proactive management strategies. The worldwide invasion and range expansion of predatory northern pike (Esox lucius) has been linked to the decline of native...
Elk monitoring in Mount Rainier and Olympic National Parks: 2008-2017 synthesis report
Kurt Jenkins, B. C. Lubow, P. J. Happe, K. Braun, J. Boetsch, W. Baccus, T. Chestnut, D. J. Vales, B. J. Moeller, M. Tirhi, E. Holman, P. C. Griffin
2021, Natural Resource Report NPS/NCCN/NRR-2021/2284
In 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began collaborating with the National Park Service (NPS)-North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN), the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe (MIT), Puyallup Tribe of Indians (PTOI), and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to develop a standard survey protocol for monitoring long-term changes in the...
What is the effect of poaching activity on wildlife species?
Jennifer F. Moore, Eustrate Uzabaho, Abel Musana, Prosper Uwingell, James E. Hines, James D. Nichols
2021, Ecological Applications (31)
Poaching is a pervasive threat to wildlife, yet quantifying the direct effect of poaching on wildlife is rarely possible because both wildlife and threat data are infrequently collected concurrently. In this study, we used poaching data collected through the Management Information System (MIST) and wildlife camera trap data collected by...
Predicting water temperature dynamics of unmonitored lakes with meta-transfer learning
Jared Willard, Jordan Read, Alison P. Appling, Samantha K. Oliver, Xiaowei Jia, Vipin Kumar
2021, Water Resources Research (57)
Most environmental data come from a minority of well-monitored sites. An ongoing challenge in the environmental sciences is transferring knowledge from monitored sites to unmonitored sites. Here, we demonstrate a novel transfer-learning framework that accurately predicts depth-specific temperature in unmonitored lakes (targets) by borrowing models from well-monitored lakes (sources). This...
Exploring GPS observations of postseismic deformation following the 2012 MW7.8 Haida Gwaii and 2013 MW7.5 Craig, Alaska Earthquakes: Implications for viscoelastic Earth structure
Katherine A. Guns, Frederick Pollitz, Thorne Lay, Han Yue
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (126)
The Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault (QC-FF) system off the coast of British Columbia and southeast Alaska is a highly active dextral strike-slip plate boundary that accommodates ∼50 mm/yr of relative motion between the Pacific and North America plates. Nine MW ≥ 6.7 earthquakes have occurred along the QC-FF system since 1910, including a MS(G-R)8.1 event in...
National Park Service Vegetation Mapping Inventory Program: Great Smoky Mountains National Park vegetation mapping project
Kevin D. Hop, Andrew C. Strassman, Stephanie Sattler, Rickie White, Milo Pyne, Tom Govus, Jennifer Dieck
2021, Natural Resource Report 2021/2285
The National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Mapping Inventory (VMI) Program is an effort to classify, describe, and map existing vegetation communities in national park units throughout the United States. The NPS VMI Program is managed by the NPS Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Inventory and Monitoring Program and provides baseline...
Context-dependent deep learning
Roy M. Turner, Cyndy Loftin, Alex Revello, Logan R. Kline, Meredith Lewis, Salimeh Yasai-Sekeh
2021, Modeling and Using Context (4)
Explicitly representing an agent’s context has been shown to have many benefits, which should also apply to machine learning. In this paper, we describe an approach to do this called context-dependent deep learning (CDDL), which is based on earlier work in context-mediated behavior (CMB) that uses contextual schemas (c-schemas) to...
Assessing recovery of spectacled eiders using a Bayesian decision analysis
K.D. Dunham, E.E. Osnas, C. Frost, J.B. Fischer, J. Barry Grand
2021, PLoS ONE (16)
Assessing species status and making classification decisions under the Endangered Species Act is a critical step towards effective species conservation. However, classification decisions are liable to two errors: i) failing to classify a species as threatened or endangered that should be classified (underprotection), or ii) classifying a species as threatened...
Tools and technologies for quantifying spread and impacts of invasive species
Matt Reeves, Ines Ibanez, Dana Blumenthal, Gang Chen, Qinfeng Guo, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Jennifer Koch, Frank Sapio, Michael D. Schwartz, Ross K. Meentemeyer, Bruce Wylie, Stephen P. Boyte
2021, Book chapter, Invasive species in forests and rangelands of the United States: A comprehensive science synthesis for the United States Forest Sector
The need for tools and technologies for understanding and quantifying invasive species has never been greater. Rates of infestation vary on the species or organism being examined across the United States, and notable examples can be found. For example, from 2001 to 2003 alone, ash (Fraxinus spp.) mortality progressed at a...
Mineral Mapping of the Battle Mountain District, Nevada, USA, Using AVIRIS-Classic and SpecTIR Inc. AisaFENIX 1K Imaging Spectrometer Datasets
John Michael Meyer, Elizabeth A. Holley, Raymond F. Kokaly, Gregg A. Swayze, Todd M. Hoefen
2021, Conference Paper, 2021 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium IGARSS
Imaging spectroscopy (hyperspectral imaging) has been used to successfully map minerals at the outcrop, deposit, district, and regional scale. This contribution presents spectral-based mineral maps of the Battle Mountain mining district, Nevada, USA, generated using multi-scale airborne imaging and ground-based point spectrometers. Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer...
Fragmentation and streamflow metrics drive prairie chub (Macrhybopsis australis) occurrence in the upper Red River basin
R. Mollenhauer, Shannon K. Brewer, J.S. Perkin, D. Swedberg, M. Wedgeworth, Z.D. Steffensmeier
2021, Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems (31) 3215-3227
Dam construction threatens global aquatic biodiversity by fragmenting stream networks and altering flow regimes. The negative effects of dams are exacerbated by increased drought periods and associated water withdrawals, especially in semi-arid regions. Stream fishes are particularly threatened owing to their mobile nature and requirement for multiple habitats to...
Diffusion modeling reveals effects of multiple release sites and human activity on a recolonizing apex predator
Joseph M. Eisaguirre, Perry J. Willliams, Xinyi Lu, Michelle L. Kissling, William S. Beatty, George G. Esslinger, Jamie N. Womble, Mevin Hooten
2021, Movement Ecology (9)
BackgroundReintroducing predators is a promising conservation tool to help remedy human-caused ecosystem changes. However, the growth and spread of a reintroduced population is a spatiotemporal process that is driven by a suite of factors, such as habitat change, human activity, and prey availability. Sea otters (Enhydra lutris) are...
Literature review for candidate chemical control agents for nonnative crayfish
Justin R. Schueller, Justin R. Smerud, Kim T. Fredricks, Joel G. Putnam
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1048
Nonnative crayfish are an immediate and pervasive threat to aquatic environments and their biodiversity. Crayfish control can be achieved by physical methods, water chemistry modification, biological methods, biocidal application, and application of crayfish physiology modifiers. The purpose of this report is to identify suitable candidates for potential control of nonnative...
Toward improved decision-support tools for Delta Smelt management actions
Denise Reed, Shawn Acuna, Eli Ateljevich, Larry R. Brown, Ben Geske, Edward Gross, Jim Hobbs, Wim J. Kimmerer, Lisa Lucas, Matthew Nobriga, Kenneth A Rose
2021, Report
The Collaborative Science and Adaptive Management Program (CSAMP) has endorsed a goal of reversing the recent downward trajectory of the Delta Smelt population within 5-10 generations, with the long-term aim of establishing a self-sustaining population. An ambitious agenda of management actions is planned, and more management actions are being considered....
Appendix E. Water quality and hydrology of Green Lake, Wisconsin, and the response in its near-surface water-quality and metalimnetic dissolved oxygen minima to changes in phosphorus loading
Dale M. Robertson, Benjamin J. Siebers, Robert Ladwig, David P. Hamilton, Paul Reneau, Cory P. McDonald, Stephanie Prellwitz, Richard C Lathrop
2021, Report, Diagnostic and feasibility study findings: Water quality improvements for Green Lake, Wisconsin
Green Lake is the deepest natural inland lake in Wisconsin, USA, with a maximum depth of about 72 meters (m). In the early 1900’s, the lake was believed to have very good water quality (low nutrient concentrations and good water clarity), with low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations only in the...
Identifying elusive piercing points along the North American transform margin using mixture modeling of detrital zircon data from sedimentary units and their crystalline sources
Clark Gilbert, Zane R. Jobe, Samuel Johnstone, Glenn R. Sharman
2021, The Sedimentary Record (19) 12-21
The San Gabriel and Canton faults represent early stages in the development of the San Andreas fault system. However, questions of timing of initiation and magnitude of slip on these structures remain unresolved, with published estimates ranging from 42-75 km and likely starting in the Miocene. This uncertainty in slip...
Divergent climate change effects on widespread dryland plant communities driven by climatic and ecohydrological gradients
Kyle A. Palmquist, Daniel Rodolphe Schlaepfer, Rachel R. Renne, Steve Torbit, Kevin Doherty, Thomas E. Remington, Greg Watson, John B. Bradford, William K. Lauenroth
2021, Global Change Biology (27) 5169-5185
Plant community response to climate change will be influenced by individual plant responses that emerge from competition for limiting resources that fluctuate through time and vary across space. Projecting these responses requires an approach that integrates environmental conditions and species interactions that result from future climatic...
Determination of burn severity models ranging from regional to continental scales for the conterminous United States
Joshua J. Picotte, C. Alina Cansler, Crystal A. Kolden, James A. Lutz, Carl Key, Nathan Benson, Kevin Robertson
2021, Remote Sensing of Environment (263)
Identifying meaningful measures of ecological change over large areas is dependent on the quantification of robust relationships between ecological metrics and remote sensing products. Over the past several decades, ground observations of wildfire and prescribed fire severity have been acquired across hundreds of wildland fires in the United States, primarily utilizing...
Paths to computational fluency for natural resource educators, researchers, and managers
Richard A. Erickson, Jessica Leigh Burnett, Mark T. Wiltermuth, Edward A. Bulliner, Leslie Hsu
2021, Natural Resource Modelling (34)
Natural resource management and supporting research teams need computational fluency in the data and model-rich 21st century. Computational fluency describes the ability of practitioners and scientists to conduct research and represent natural systems within the computer's environment. Advancement in information synthesis for natural resource management requires more sophisticated computational approaches,...
