Control of a dominant predator influences the occurrence of a mesocarnivore of conservation concern
Kara M. White, Amanda E. Cheeseman, Joshua D. Stafford, Robert Charles Lonsinger
2025, Wildlife Research (52)
ContextInterspecific interactions shape ecological communities, influence community dynamics, and drive co-evolution. Despite their ecological significance, predation and competition remain understudied in plains spotted skunks (Spilogale interrupta), a species of conservation concern. Clarifying how predator management influences their occurrence is crucial for effective conservation.AimsWe investigated how coyote (Canis latrans)...
Geochemical evidence for the origin of late Quaternary loess, Seward Peninsula, Alaska
Daniel R. Muhs, Jeffrey S. Pigati
2025, Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research (57)
Loess is the most widespread surficial deposit in the state of Alaska. Although loess of last glacial age is common in mid-continental North America, records of last glacial loess in Alaska have been elusive. Here we report a record of last glacial loess on the Seward Peninsula,...
Tracing invasion routes of Cuban treefrogs into Louisiana using mitochondrial DNA
Erin B. Brosnan, Karen A. Paniagua Torres, Katerine R. Martin, Matthew S. Atkinson, Brad Glorioso, Hardin Waddle, Robert W. Mendyk, Anna E. Savage
2025, Frontiers in Amphibian and Reptile Science (3)
Understanding the origin and spread of invasive species is critical for predicting when and where new introductions will establish, and impact native species. However, due to the complexity of contributing factors such as multiple introductions, dispersal method, genetic admixture in founding populations, and variable propagule pressure, genetic patterns observed in...
Summer roost site suitability analyses for 4 special status bat species in the Eastern United States
Richard D. Inman, Andrea Nichole Schuhmann, Sarah Sawyer, Sarah Mccrimmon Gaulke, Frank Charles Tousley, Helen Trice Davis, Bradley James Udell, Bethany R. Straw, Jonathan D. Reichard, Brian E. Reichert
2025, Journal of Mammalogy (106) 1399-1411
Data describing habitat suitability are crucial for implementing effective conservation planning but are often lacking at regional and continental scales. We address this gap for 4 bat species that are listed, proposed for listing, or under Endangered Species Act listing review by highlighting a framework for estimating summer roost suitability...
A short-term sublethal oral exposure to microcystin-LR disrupts cecal microbiome homeostasis in mallard
Sergei V. Drovetski, Valerie I. Shearn-Bochsler, Erik K. Hofmeister, Natalie K. Karouna-Reiner, Robert J. Dusek
2025, Frontiers in Toxicology (7)
Introduction: The frequency of cyanobacterial blooms seems to have increased globally in recent decades due to human induced eutrophication and climate change. Cyanobacterial blooms can produce several groups of toxins, among which microcystin-LR (MC-LR) is one of the most abundant. Effects of MC-LR on avian microbiome have not been studied...
Initial responses of songbird communities to forest reclamation on legacy surface mines
Rebecca N. Davenport, Christopher D. Barton, John J. Cox, Jacquelyn C. Guzy, Lauren Sherman, Jeffery L. Larkin, Todd Fearer, Steven J. Price
2025, Ecosphere (16)
Surface coal mining and subsequent reclamation efforts in the Appalachian Mountains, USA, transform the ecological characteristics of natural landscapes. The Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) is a mine reclamation method that emphasizes best management practices in forestry. FRA practices have demonstrated success in establishing native forests and accelerating natural succession on...
Tree swallows as indicators of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance exposure and effects at select Department of Defense sites along the East Coast and at sites with different sources in the Upper Midwest, United States
Christine M. Custer, Paul M. Dummer, Sandra L. Schultz, Natalie Karouna-Renier, Cole W. Matson
2025, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (44) 3159-3191
Questions remain about the distribution of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the environment, the sources and movement within and between ecosystems, and whether there are effects from such exposure. Information from the Upper Midwest and the mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, which have different PFAS sources, were investigated....
Mapping a Carrington storm
Jeffrey J. Love, Greg M. Lucas, Anna Kelbert, E. Joshua Rigler, Paul A. Bedrosian, Neesha R. Schnepf
2025, Geophysical Research Letters (52)
A map is presented of median 1-min-resolution peak geoelectric-field strength across the United States as would be induced by magnetic storms as intense as the 2 September 1859 Carrington storm. The map is constructed from two data sets: Magnetometer time series from 22 ground-based observatories recording 40 magnetic storms, and...
Host responses and viral traits interact to shape the impacts of climate warming on highly pathogenic avian influenza in migratory waterfowl
Claire Stewart Teitelbaum, Michael L. Casazza, Cory T. Overton, Elliott Matchett, Diann J. Prosser
2025, PLOS Computational Biology. (21)
Emerging infectious diseases pose threats to wildlife populations, as exemplified by recent outbreaks of avian influenza viruses in wild birds. Climate change can affect infection dynamics in wildlife through direct effects on pathogens (e.g., environmental decay rates) and changes to host ecology, including shifting migration patterns. Here, we adapt an...
Pre-Acadian tectonics of the eastern Orange-Milford Belt, south-central Connecticut
Ryan T. Deasy, Robert P. Wintsch, Bryan Wathen, Ryan J. McAleer, Romain Meyer, Michael J. Kunk
2025, Conference Paper
This excursion presents a reinterpretation of mapping and new analytical data from the eastern Orange-Milford belt (OMB) in south-central Connecticut. The OMB is a fault-bound terrane of argillites and mafic rocks of anomalously low metamorphic grade—and of poorly constrained ages and tectonic affinity—wedged between kyanite/sillimanite-grade peri- Laurentian rocks to the...
Spatiotemporal overlap of mallards with poultry farms is associated with greater risk of avian influenza wild bird spillover events
Joshua Alexander Cullen, Nicholas M. Masto, Jeffery D. Sullivan, Cory Highway, Kelly A. Patyk, Mary-Jane McCool, Mia Kim Torchetti, Kristina Lantz, Rebecca L. Poulson, Deborah Carter, Jamie Feddersen, Bradley S. Cohen, Diann J. Prosser
2025, Ecology and Evolution (15)
Animal movement influences local transmission and geographic spread of pathogens. Waterfowl are known reservoirs of pathogens, including H5 goose/Guangdong lineage (H5 GsGd) highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). This HPAI virus lineage causes high rates of morbidity and mortality in domestic poultry and many wild bird species. Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) are...
One hundred ninety-nine dead birds: Review of the scientific basis of ecological incident reporting requirements for pesticide registrants under Fifra § 6(A)(2)
Nimish B. Vyas, Cynthia Palmer
2025, Buffalo Environmental Law Journal (31)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates pesticide use in the United States. The EPA is charged by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) with ensuring that a pesticide will not cause unreasonable adverse effects on the environment. Incident reports (documentation of exposure and injury from pesticide applications)...
Tertiary metallogeny of the Rocky Mountains Province, USA
Sean Patrick Gaynor, Karen Lund, Snir Attia, Jonathan Andrew Funk, Kyle Eastman, Joshua Mark Rosera, Jonathan Saul Caine, Eric Anderson
2025, Conference Paper
Tertiary ore deposits in the Rocky Mountains physiographic province primarily formed through magmatic-hydrothermal processes associated with shifting tectonics and lithospheric conditions. Important deposit types in the province are calc-alkaline and Climaxtype porphyry; high-, medium-, and low-sulfidation epithermal; alkalic magmatic; carbonate replacement; tungsten skarn and vein; and sandstone uranium. Province wide,...
Testicular neoplasms and other abnormalities in common carp Cyprinus carpio from the Lower Colorado River, United States
Vicki S. Blazer, Steven L. Goodbred, Heather L. Walsh, Dylan Wichman, Darren Johnson, Renaldo Patino
2025, Animals (15)
Abnormalities were observed in the testes of common carp Cyprinus carpio collected from Willow Beach, Arizona, USA, a site on the lower Colorado River, downstream of Lake Mead and Hoover Dam. Testicular tissue collected from this site in 2003 exhibited numerous large, pigmented macrophage aggregates (MAs) and a...
Effects of beaver dams and ponds on the transport and deposition of suspended sediment in urban streams of the Tualatin River Basin, northwestern Oregon
Micelis C. Doyle, Cassandra D. Smith, Krista L. Jones, Alexandria E. Costello
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5039-C
Significant Findings This study investigated the effects of natural beaver dams and ponds on sediment transport and deposition in two urban beaver-affected reaches in the Tualatin River Basin, northwestern Oregon. Data were collected during 2016–17 from Fanno Creek at Greenway Park (between SW Hall Boulevard and SW Pearson Court) and Bronson...
Developing empirical fragility functions for lava flow building damage
Elinor S. Meredith, Susanna F. Jenkins, Josh L. Hayes, Denny J. Chee, David Lallemant, Natalia I. Deligne, Stravos Meletlidis, Alicia Felpeto
2025, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
Fragility functions are vital tools in volcanic risk assessments to evaluate the probability of damage to structures at given hazard intensities. Traditionally, lava flow damage is assumed to be binary, whereby in contact with lava results in complete destruction and not in contact with lava remains undamaged. However, past studies present...
An expert elicitation to inform coastal management decision-making for mitigating future hazards
Davina Passeri, Matthew Richardson, Julien Martin, Simeon Yurek, Karim Alizad, Matthew V. Bilskie, James Flocks, Donya P. Frank-Gilchrist, Robert Jenkins, Rangley C. Mickey, Margaret L. Palmsten, Christopher F. Smith, Kathryn Smith, Sara Zeigler
2025, Journal of Environmental Management (394)
A scientific expert elicitation was conducted to address the feasibility of restoring coastal environments in response to future hazards to best meet management objectives. Subject matter experts produced probabilistic estimates of coastal change metrics used to evaluate decision objectives and alternatives informed by a stakeholder advisory group. Changes in salt...
Colored shaded-relief bathymetry and acoustic backscatter of Lake Sammamish, Washington
Peter Dartnell, Daniel S. Brothers, Brian L. Sherrod, Gerry A. Hatcher, Daniel C. Powers, Jenna C. Hill, Jackson E. Currie, Peter Dal Ferro
2025, Scientific Investigations Map 3537
Evidence of strong earthquakes (such as underwater landslides and associated deposits) may be recorded within the lacustrine sediments of Pacific Northwest lakes. The floor of Lake Sammamish, Wash., an approximately 11 kilometer (6.8 mile) long, 2 kilometer (1.2 mile) wide, and 35 meter (114.8 feet) deep lake located in a...
Fiber-imaged supershear dynamics in the 2024 Mw 7 Mendocino Fault earthquake
James William Atterholt, Jeffrey J. McGuire, Andrew J. Barbour, Connie Stewart, Morgan P. Moschetti
2025, Science (389) 1361-1365
Fault structure and rupture physics are deeply intertwined, and observations of this coupling are critical for understanding earthquake behavior. Rupture propagation is observable at fine scales using dense seismic networks. Fiber-optic sensing allows for long-term deployments of ultradense arrays that enable high-resolution measurements of infrequent, large earthquakes. We recorded the...
Long-term monitoring of island night lizards on San Nicolas Island
Charles A. Drost, Patrick M. Kleeman, Charles B. Yackulic, Brian J. Halstead, Gary M. Fellers
2025, Journal of Wildlife Management (89)
We describe the results of long-term population monitoring of the island night lizard Xantusia riversiana on San Nicolas Island, California, following the species' removal from the U.S. Endangered Species list in 2014. Monitoring activities were carried out from October 2014 through November 2023, but we also incorporate data from earlier work dating...
A simple predictive model for salt marsh internal deterioration under sea-level rise and sediment deficits: Application to Chesapeake Bay
Neil K. Ganju, Kate Ackerman, Zafer Defne, Giulio Mariotti, David Curson, Zachary Posnik, Joel Carr, Joanna Grand
2025, Estuaries and Coasts (48)
Salt marshes are dynamic biogeomorphic systems reliant on autochthonous and allochthonous input to maintain their three-dimensional configuration. Sea-level rise, subsidence, and sediment deficits can lead to submergence, open-water expansion, and ultimately loss of the vegetated marsh plain and associated ecosystem services. Widely used management-focused models focus on vegetation zonation in...
Apicomplexan and non-metazoan microeukaryotes in the thermosensitive reef-building coral Acropora hyacinthus shift in abundance throughout an extreme coral bleaching event
Athena Peterson, Sunni Patton, Emily Rose Schmeltzer, Carsten Grupstra, Lauren Howe-Kerr, J. Grace Klinges, Rebecca Maher, Adrianna Messyasz, Sarah Seabrook, Andrew Thurber, Adrienne Correa, Rebecca Vega Thurber
2025, Frontiers in Marine Science (12)
Coral reefs play vital roles in global marine systems and are currently facing increased threats of bleaching. Coral bleaching is heavily influenced by the host-associated microeukaryote community – most notably the dinoflagellate family Symbiodiniaceae. The apicomplexan family Corallicolidae, is the second most abundant member of the microeukaryote community, yet their...
Water withdrawal and consumption trends for thermoelectric-power plants in the conterminous United States, 2008-2020
Kenneth D. Skinner, Richard G. Niswonger, Melissa A. Harris, Brendan A. McCarthy, Catherine A. Chamberlin, Melissa A. Lombard, Timothy H. Diehl, Amy E. Galanter, Lillian E. Gorman Sanisaca, Jana S. Stewart
2025, Environmental Science and Technology: Water (5) 5280-5831
Freshwater-using utility-scale thermoelectric (TE) plant water-use estimates were evaluated for annual trends from 2008 to 2020 across the conterminous United States (CONUS) and within hydrologic regions. Overall, TE water withdrawal and consumption trends declined across CONUS by 14,335 and 278 million liters/day, respectively. Decreasing water withdrawal and consumption trends for...
Scenario projections of COVID-19 burden in the US, 2024-2025
Sara L Loo, Sung-mok Jung, Lucie Contamin, Emily Howerton, Samantha Bents, Harry Hochheiser, Michael Runge, Claire P. Smith, Erica Carcelén, Katie Yan, Joseph C. Lemaitre, Emily Przykucki, Clif McKee, Koji Sato, Allison Hill, Matteo Chinazzi, Jessica T. Davis, Clara Bay, Alessandro Vespignani, Shi Chen, Rajib Paul, Daniel Janies, Jean-Claude Thill, Sean Moore, T. Alex Perkins, Ajitesh Srivastava, Majd Al Aawar, Kaiming Bi, Shraddha Ramdas Bandekar, Anass Bouchnita, Spencer Fox, Lauren Ancel Meyers, Przemyslaw Porebski, Srinivasan Venkatramanan, Bryan Lewis, Jiangzhuo Chen, Madhav Marathe, Michal Ben-Nun, James Turtle, Pete Riley, Katriona Shea, Cécile Viboud, Justin Lessler, Shaun Truelove
2025, JAMA Network Open (8)
Importance COVID-19 remains a disease with high burden in the US, prompting continued debate about optimal targets for annual vaccination.Objective To project COVID-19 burden in the US for April 2024 to April 2025 under 6 scenarios of immune escape (20% and 50% per year) and levels of vaccine recommendation (no recommendation, vaccination...
Utilizing downhole datasets for modelling the aeromagnetic signature of the Iron Creek Co-Cu deposit in the Idaho Cobalt Belt
Daniel Schmidt, Geoffrey Phelps, Katharina I. Pfaff, Thomas Monecke
2025, Conference Paper
The Idaho Cobalt Belt in east-central Idaho is host to some of the largest domestic Co resources, including the informal Iron Creek deposit. The two main ore zones of this deposit, the Iron Creek and the Ruby, are hosted in greenschist-grade interbedded argillite/siltstone and quartz-rich units of the Mesoproterozoic Apple...
