When less is more: How increasing the complexity of machine learning strategies for geothermal energy assessments may not lead toward better estimates
Stanley Paul Mordensky, John Lipor, Jacob DeAngelo, Erick R. Burns, Cary Ruth Lindsey
2023, Geothermics (110)
Previous moderate- and high-temperature geothermal resource assessments of the western United States utilized data-driven methods and expert decisions to estimate resource favorability. Although expert decisions can add confidence to the modeling process by ensuring reasonable models are employed, expert decisions also introduce human and, thereby, model bias. This bias...
Regolith of the crater floor units, Jezero crater, Mars: Textures, composition and implications for provenance
Alicia Vaughan, Michelle E. Minitti, Emily L. Cardarelli, Jeffrey R. Johnson, Linda C. Kah, Paolo Pilleri, Mellisa S. Rice, Mark Sephton, Briony H. N. Horgan, Roger C. Wiens, R. Aileen Yingst, Maria-Paz Zorzano Mier, Ryan B. Anderson, James F. III Bell, Adrian J. Brown, Edward A. Cloutis, Agnes Cousin, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, Elisabeth M. Housrath, Alexander G. Hayes, Kjartan M. Kinch, Marco Merusi, Chase C. Million, Robert Sullivan, Sandra M. Siljestrom, Michael St. Clair
2023, JGR-Planets (128)
A multi-instrument study of the regolith of Jezero crater floor units by the Perseverance rover has identified three types of regolith: fine-grained, coarse-grained, and mixed-type. Mastcam-Z, WATSON, and SuperCam RMI were used to characterize regolith texture, particle size, and roundedness where possible. Mastcam-Z multispectral and SuperCam LIBS...
Groundwater quality near the Montebello Oil Field, Los Angeles County, California
Jennifer S. Stanton, Michael Land, Matthew K. Landon, David H. Shimabukuro, Peter B. McMahon, Tracy A. Davis, Andrew G. Hunt, Theron A. Sowers
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5128
Groundwater quality and potential sources and migration pathways of chemical constituents associated with hydrocarbon-bearing formations were assessed by the U.S. Geological Survey for the California State Water Resources Control Board Oil and Gas Regional Monitoring Program (RMP). Groundwater samples were collected as part of the RMP from 21 preexisting wells...
Predicting habitat and distribution of an interior highlands regional endemic winter stonefly (Allocapnia mohri) in Arkansas using random forest models
Brianna Annaratone, Camryn Larson, Clay Prater, Ashley Dowling, Daniel D. Magoulick, Michelle A. Evans-White
2023, Hydrobiology (2) 196-211
Stoneflies are a globally threatened aquatic insect order. In Arkansas, a diverse group of winter stonefly (Capniidae: Allocapnia) have not been surveyed since the 1980s, likely because species-level identification requires the rarely-collected adult form. Allocapnia mohri, a regional endemic, was previously commonly found in mountainous, intermittent streams from the Ouachita...
Evaluating the institutional and ecological effects of invasive species prevention policy: A case study from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Claire E. Couch, James Peterson, Paul Heimowitz
2023, Management of Biological Invasions (14) 269-288
Wildlife and natural resource institutions play key roles in invasive species monitoring and management. Paradoxically, the extensive fieldwork undertaken by these institutions and their partners may result in the inadvertent movement and spread of invasive species within and between sensitive ecosystems. In this work, we consider the potential effects of...
Ice and ocean constraints on early human migrations into North America along the Pacific Coast
Summer K. Praetorius, Jay R. Alder, Alan Condron, Alan Mix, Maureen Walczak, Beth Elaine Caissie, Jon Erlandson
2023, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (120)
Founding populations of the first Americans likely occupied parts of Beringia during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The timing, pathways, and modes of their southward transit remain unknown, but blockage of the interior route by North American ice sheets between ~26 and 14 cal kyr BP (ka) favors a coastal...
Do nurse plant effects strengthen over time? Results from 12 years of desert habitat restoration
Scott R. Abella, Lindsay P. Chiquoine, Mary A. Balogh, Adam J. Taylor, Seth M. Munson
2023, Plant Ecology (224) 299-314
Nurse plant effects occur when benefactor perennials facilitate beneficiary plants below their canopies. Two poorly understood aspects of nurse plant ecology include whether facilitation strengthens as nurse plants mature and whether reestablishing perennials through ecological restoration at disturbed sites can trigger facilitation akin to in natural...
Integrating urban water fluxes and moving beyond impervious surface cover: A review
Claire Oswald, Christa Kelleher, Sarah Ledford, Kristina G. Hopkins, Anneliese Sytsma, Doerthe Tetzlaff, Laura Toran, Carolyn Voter
2023, Journal of Hydrology (618)
Though urban areas represent a small fraction of global land cover, they have an outsized impact on hydrological processes. Within these areas, the pathways that water follows are fundamentally transformed by the disturbance of soils, land cover, vegetation, topography, and built infrastructure. While progress has...
Dynamics of the wave-driven circulation in the lee of nearshore reefs
Renan F. da Silva, Jeff Hansen, Ryan Lowe, Dirk P. Rijnsdorp, Mark L. Buckley
2023, JGR-Oceans (128)
Nearshore rocky reefs with scales of order 10–100 m are common along the world's coastline and often shape wave-driven hydrodynamics and shoreline morphology in their lee. The interaction of waves with these reefs generally results in either two or four-cell mean circulation systems (2CC and 4CC, respectively), with...
Hawai‘i residents’ perceptions of Kīlauea’s 2018 eruption information
Robert T. Goldman, Wendy K. Stovall, David Damby, Sara K. McBride
2023, Volcanica (6) 19-43
The 2018 eruption of Kīlauea Volcano was notable for its variety of large and spatially distinct hazards, simultaneously affecting three geographically disparate, culturally diverse regions in Hawaiʻi. We conducted a pilot study, consisting of 18 semi-structured interviews, two survey responses, and several informal conversations with Hawaiʻi residents...
Birth rates and neonate survival in a parasite rich moose population in Vermont, USA
Jacob DeBow, Joshua Blouin, Elias Rosenblatt, Cedric Alexander, Nicholas Fortin, Katherina Gieder, James Murdoch, Therese M. Donovan
2023, Alces (58) 51-73
Moose (Alces alces) populations are declining across much of their southern geographic range in North America. In Vermont and other northeastern states, measurable declines are attributed to low calf survival and reduced productivity associated with persistent winter tick (Dermacentor albipictus) parasitism. In 2017–2020, we studied 75 radio-collared female moose (38...
Oral Sampling of little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) maternity colonies for SARS-CoV-2 in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, USA
Megan L. Moran, William Boyd, Jesse L. De La Cruz, Andrea S. Bertke, W. Mark Ford
2023, Animals (13)
The potential introduction of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, into North American bat populations is of interest to wildlife managers due to recent disease-mediated declines of several species. Populations of little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) have collapsed due to white-nose syndrome (WNS), a disease caused by...
Dating individual zones in phenocrysts from the 2016–2017 eruption of Bogoslof volcano provides constraints on timescales of magmatic processes
Jamshid Moshrefzadeh, Pavel Izbekof, Matthew W. Loewen, Jessica Larsen, Sean P. Regan
2023, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (435)
We investigate the rates of magmatic processes using clinopyroxene diffusion chronometry on volcanic products erupted in August 2017 at the end of the 9-month eruption of Bogoslof volcano. The eruptive products contain plagioclase, clinopyroxene, and amphibole, all of which exhibit sharp chemical boundaries...
Prevalence of neonicotinoid insecticides in paired private-well tap water and human urine samples in a region of intense agriculture overlying vulnerable aquifers in eastern Iowa
D.A. Thompson, Dana W. Kolpin, Michelle L. Hladik, H-J. Lehmler, Shannon M. Meppelink, M.C. Poch, J.D. Vargo, V.A. Soupene, N.M. Irfan, M. S. Robinson, K. Kannan, L.E. Beane Freeman, J.N. Hogmann, D.M. Cwiertny, R.W. Field
2023, Chemosphere (319)
A pilot study among farming households in eastern Iowa was conducted to assess human exposure to neonicotinoids (NEOs). The study was in a region with intense crop and livestock production and where groundwater is vulnerable to surface-applied contaminants. In addition to paired outdoor (hydrant)...
A restructured Bayesian approach to estimate the abundance of a rare and invasive fish
Ana R. Gouveia, S. S. Qian, C. A. Mayer, J. A. Smith, J. Bossenbroek, W. D. Hintz, R. Mapes, E. Weimer, J. Navarro, J. M. Dettmers, R. Young, J. T. Buszkiewicz, Patrick M. Kocovsky
2023, Biological Invasions (25) 1711-1721
Quantifying invasive species abundance informs management and control strategies. However, estimating abundance can be challenging, particularly when dealing with rare species early in the invasion process. Data generated from control strategies, such as removing invasive species, are usually not suited to conventional statistical modelling approaches....
United States Gulf of Mexico waters provide important nursery habitat for Mexico’s green turtle nesting populations
Brian M. Shamblin, Kristen Hart, Margaret Lamont, Donna J. Shaver, Peter H. Dutton, Erin L. LaCasella, Campbell J. Nairn
Jeremy J. Kiszka, editor(s)
2023, Frontiers in Marine Science (9)
Resolving natal populations for juvenile green turtles is challenging given their potential for extensive dispersal during the oceanic stage and ontogenetic shifts among nursery habitats. Mitochondrial DNA markers have elucidated patterns of connectivity between green turtle nesting populations (rookeries) and juvenile foraging aggregations. However, missing rookery baseline data and haplotype...
Ecotoxicological studies indicate that sublethal and lethal processes limit insect-mediated contaminant flux
C.I Olson, G.B Beaubien, R.R Otter, David Walters, Mills. M.A
2023, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (42) 1982-1992
Merolimnic insects can accumulate and transport considerable amounts of aquatic contaminants to terrestrial systems. The rate of contaminant biotransport, termed insect-mediated contaminant flux (IMCF), depends on emergent insect biomass and contaminant accumulation, both functions of environmental concentration. Here we develop a mathematical model of IMCF and apply it to three...
Enhancing the predictability of ecology in a changing world: A call for an organism-based approach
C.J.M. Musters, Don DeAngelis, Jeffrey A. Harvey, Wolf M. Mooij, Peter M. van Bodegom, Geert R. de Snoo
Ivo Siekmann, editor(s)
2023, Frontiers in Applied Mathematics and Statistics (9)
Ecology is usually very good in making descriptive explanations of what is observed, but is often unable to make predictions of the response of ecosystems to change. This has implications in a human-dominated world where a suite of anthropogenic stresses are threatening the resilience and functioning of ecosystems that sustain...
Final report: A novel monitoring framework to assess intertidal biodiversity in mixed coarse substrate habitats across the Boston Harbor Islands
Michelle Staudinger, Marc Albert, Lucy A. D. Lockwood, Aly B. Putnam, Justin Taylor, Sarah C. Endyke
2023, Report
The Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area (BOHA) is at high risk to the impacts of sea-level rise (SLR) and erosion from coastal storms. In June 2021, the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed the islands as one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places due to climate change. BOHA...
Midwinter dry spells amplify post-fire snowpack decline
Benjamin J. Hatchett, Arielle L. Koshkin, Kristen Guirguis, Karl Rittger, Anne W. Nolin, Anne Heggli, Alan M. Rhoades, Amy E. East, Erica R. Siirila-Woodburn, W. Tyler Brandt, Alexander Gershunov, Kayden Haleakala
2023, Geophysical Research Letters (50)
Increasing wildfire and declining snowpacks in mountain regions threaten water availability. We combine satellite-based fire detections with snow seasonality classifications to examine fire activity in California’s seasonal and ephemeral snow zones. We find a nearly tenfold increase in fire activity during 2020-2021 versus 2001-2019. Accumulation season broadband snow albedo declined...
Riparian spiders: Sentinels of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and dibenzofuran-contaminated sediment
Gale B. Beaubien, Dalon P. White, David Walters, Ryan R. Otter, Ken M. Fritz, Brian Crone, Marc A. Mills
2023, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (42) 414-420
Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and polychlorinated dibenzofuran (PCDD/F) are persistent, toxic, and bioaccumulative. Currently, PCDD/F monitoring programs primarily use fish and birds with potentially large home ranges to monitor temporal trends over broad spatial scales; sentinel organisms that provide targeted sediment contaminant information across small geographic areas have yet to be developed....
Mineralogical, magnetic and geochemical data constrain the pathways and extent of weathering of mineralized sedimentary rocks
Sergio Carrero, Sarah P. Slotznick, Sirine C. Fakra, M. Cole Sitar, Sharon E. Bone, Jeffrey L. Mauk, Andrew H. Manning, Nicholas L. Swanson-Hysell, Kenneth H. Williams, Jillian F. Banfield, Benjamin Gilbert
2023, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (343) 180-195
The oxidative weathering of sulfidic rock can profoundly impact watersheds through the resulting export of acidity and metals. Weathering leaves a record of mineral transformation, particularly involving minor redox-sensitive phases, that can inform the development of conceptual and quantitative models. In sulfidic sedimentary rocks, however, variations in depositional history, diagenesis and mineralization can...
A Bayesian multi-stage modelling framework to evaluate impacts of energy development on wildlife populations: An application to Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus)
Brian G. Prochazka, Shawn T. O’Neil, Peter S. Coates
2023, MethodsX (10)
Increased demand for domestic production of renewable energy has led to expansion of energy infrastructure across western North America. Much of the western U.S. comprises remote landscapes that are home to a variety of vegetation communities and wildlife species, including the imperiled sagebrush ecosystem and indicator species such as greater...
Four decades of regional wet deposition, local bulk deposition, and stream-water chemistry show the influence of nearby land use on forested streams in Central Appalachia☆
Tanja N. Williamson, Kenton Sena, Megan E. Shoda, Chris D. Barton
2023, Journal of Environmental Management (332)
Hydrologic monitoring began on two headwater streams (<1 km2) on the University of Kentucky's Robinson Forest in 1971. We evaluated stream-water (1974–2013) and bulk-deposition (wet + dust) (1984–2013) chemistry in the context of regional wet-deposition patterns that showed decreases in both sulfate and nitrate concentrations as well...
Shrinking body size and climate warming: Many freshwater salmonids do not follow the rule
Mary Solakas, Zachary S. Feiner, Robert Al-Chokhachy, Phaedra E. Budy, Tyrell DeWeber, Jouko Sarvala, Greg G. Sass, Scott A. Tolentino, Timothy E. Walsworth, Olaf P. Jensen
2023, Global Change Biology (29) 2478-2492
Declining body size is believed to be a universal response to climate warming and has been documented in numerous studies of marine and anadromous fishes. The Salmonidae are a family of coldwater fishes considered to be among the most sensitive species to climate warming; however, whether...
