Population estimates and trends of three Maui Island-endemic Hawaiian Honeycreepers
Seth Judge, Christopher C Warren, Richard J. Camp, Laura K Berthold, Hanna L. Mounce, Patrick J. Hart, Ryan J. Monello
2021, Journal of Field Ornithology (92) 115-126
Population monitoring is critical for informing the management and conservation of rare Hawaiian forest birds. In 2017, we used point-transect distance sampling methods to estimate population densities of birds on Haleakalā Volcano on east Maui island. We estimated the populations and ranges of three island-endemic Hawaiian...
A review of sand detachment in modern deep marine environments: Analogues for upslope stratigraphic traps
John W. Counts, Lawrence Amy, Aggeliki Georgiopoulou, Peter Haughton
2021, Marine and Petroleum Geology (132)
Isolated, detached sands provide opportunities for large-volume stratigraphic traps in many deepwater petroleum systems. Here we provide a review of the different types of sandbody detachments based on published data from the modern-day seafloor and recent (generally Quaternary-present), shallow-buried strata. Detachment mechanisms...
Identification of Aphanomyces invadans, the cause of epizootic ulcerative syndrome, in smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) from the Cheat River, West Virginia, USA
Heather L. Walsh, Vicki S. Blazer, Patricia M. Mazik
2021, Journal of Fish Diseases (44) 1639-1641
The oomycete Aphanomyces invadans (Saprolegniales, Oomycetes), the cause of epizootic ulcerative syndrome (EUS), is an OIE (World Organization for Animal Health) reportable pathogen, capable of infecting many fish species worldwide in both freshwater and estuarine environments (Iberahim et al. 2018). Since the discovery of EUS in Japan in 1971 (Egusa...
Caution is warranted when using animal space-use and movement to infer behavioral states
Frances E. Buderman, Tess M. Gingery, Duane R. Diefenbach, Laura C. Gigliotti, Danielle Begley-Miller, Marc E. McDill, Bret D. Wallingford, Christopher S. Rosenberry, Patrick J. Drohan
2021, Movement Ecology (9)
BackgroundIdentifying the behavioral state for wild animals that can’t be directly observed is of growing interest to the ecological community. Advances in telemetry technology and statistical methodologies allow researchers to use space-use and movement metrics to infer the underlying, latent, behavioral state of an animal without direct observations....
Diet composition and body condition of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in relation to sea ice habitat in the Canadian High Arctic
Katie R. N. Florko, Gregory W. Thiemann, Jeffrey F. Bromaghin, Evan S. Richardson
2021, Polar Biology (44) 1445-1456
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) rely on sea ice for hunting marine mammal prey. Declining sea ice conditions associated with climate warming have negatively affected polar bears, especially in the southern portion of their range. At higher latitudes, the transition from multi-year ice to thinner annual ice...
Assessment of streamflow and water quality in the Upper Yampa River Basin, Colorado, 1992–2018
Natalie K. Day
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5016
The Upper Yampa River Basin drains approximately 2,100 square miles west of the Continental Divide in north-western Colorado. There is a growing need to understand potential changes in the quantity and quality of water resources as the basin is undergoing increasing land and water development to support growing municipal, industrial,...
Estimating Piacenzian sea surface temperature using an alkenone-calibrated transfer function
Harry J. Dowsett, Marci M. Robinson, Kevin M. Foley
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5051
Stationarity of environmental preferences is a primary assumption required for any paleoenvironmental reconstruction using fossil materials based upon calibration to modern organisms. Confidence in this assumption decreases the further back in time one goes, and the validity of the assumption that species temperature tolerances have not changed over time has...
Lateral shoreline erosion and shore-proximal sediment deposition on a coastal marsh from seasonal, storm and decadal measurements
Kathryn Smith, Joseph F. Terrano, Nicole S. Khan, Christopher G. Smith, Jonathan L Pitchford
2021, Geomorphology (389)
The persistence of coastal marsh is dependent on its ability to maintain elevation relative to sea level, particularly for marshes experiencing high rates of shoreline erosion due to wave-attack, storms, and sea level rise. Sediments eroded at the marsh edge are either delivered onto the marsh platform or into the estuary, the latter resulting...
The biophysical role of water and ice within permafrost nearing collapse: Insights from novel geophysical observations
Stephanie R. James, Burke J. Minsley, Jack McFarland, Eugenie S. Euskirchen, Colin W. Edgar, Mark Waldrop
2021, JGR Earth Surface (126)
The impact of permafrost thaw on hydrologic, thermal, and biotic processes remains uncertain, in part due to limitations in subsurface measurement capabilities. To better understand subsurface processes in thermokarst environments, we collocated geophysical and biogeochemical instruments along a thaw gradient between forested permafrost and collapse-scar bogs at the Alaska Peatland...
Evaluation of remote mapping techniques for earthquake-triggered landslide inventories in an urban subarctic environment: A case study of the 2018 Anchorage, Alaska Earthquake
Sabrina N. Martinez, Lauren N. Schaefer, Kate E. Allstadt, Eric M. Thompson
2021, Frontiers Earth Science Journal (9)
Earthquake-induced landslide inventories can be generated using field observations but doing so can be challenging if the affected landscape is large or inaccessible after an earthquake. Remote sensing data can be used to help overcome these limitations. The effectiveness of remotely sensed data to produce landslide inventories, however,...
Spatial ecology of invasive Burmese pythons in southwestern Florida
Ian A. Bartoszek, Brian J. Smith, Robert Reed, Kristen Hart
2021, Ecosphere (12)
Understanding the spatial ecology of an invasive species is critical for designing effective control programs. Determining and quantifying home range estimates and habitat associations can streamline targeted removal efforts for wide-ranging, cryptic animals. The Burmese python (Python bivittatus) is a large-bodied constrictor snake with an established and expanding invasive population...
A massive rock and ice avalanche caused the 2021 disaster at Chamoli, Indian Himalaya
D. H. Shugar, Mylene Jacquemart, D. Shean, S. Bhushan, K. Upadhyay, A. Sattar, W. Schwanghart, Sara K. McBride, M. Van Wyk de Vries, M. Mergili, A. Emmer, C. Deschamps-Berger, M. McDonnell, R. Bhambri, S. Allen, E. Berthier, J.L. Carrivick, J.J. Clague, M. Dokukin, S.A. Dunning, Herbert Frey, S. Gascoin, U. K. Haritashya, C. Huggel, A. Kaab, J.S. Kargel, J.L. Kavanaugh, P. Lacroix, D. N. Petley, S. Rupper, M.F. Azam, S.J. Cook, A.P. Dimri, M. Eriksson, D. Farinotti, J. Fiddes, K.R. Gnyawali, S. Harrison, M.K. Jha, M. Koppes, S. Kumar, S. Leiness, U. Majeed, S. Mai, A. Muhuri, J. Noetzli, F. Paul, I. Rashid, K. Sain, J. Steiner, F. Ugalde, C.S. Watson, M.J. Westoby
2021, Science
On 7 Feb 2021, a catastrophic mass flow descended the Ronti Gad, Rishiganga, and Dhauliganga valleys in Chamoli, Uttarakhand, India, causing widespread devastation and severely damaging two hydropower projects. Over 200 people were killed or are missing. Our analysis of satellite imagery, seismic records, numerical model...
Magnitude and frequency of floods in the alluvial plain of the lower Mississippi River, 2017
Brandon T. Anderson
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5046
Annual exceedance probability flows at gaged locations and regional regression equations used to estimate annual exceedance probability flows at ungaged locations were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Mississippi Department of Transportation, to improve flood-frequency estimates at rural streams in the alluvial plain of the lower...
A near-real-time model for estimating probability of road obstruction due to earthquake-triggered landslides
B.H. Wilson, Kate E. Allstadt, Eric M. Thompson
2021, Earthquake Spectra (37) 2400-2418
Coseismic landslides are a major source of transportation disruption in mountainous areas, but few approaches exist for rapidly estimating impacts to road networks. We develop a model that links the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) near-real-time earthquake-triggered landslide hazard model with Open Street Map (OSM) road network data...
Evidence for variable precipitation and discharge from Upper Cretaceous–Paleogene fluvial deposits of the Raton Basin, Colorado–New Mexico, U.S.A.
Theresa Maude Schwartz, Marieke Dechesne, Kristine L. Zellman
2021, Journal of Sedimentary Research (91) 571-594
The Raton Basin of Colorado–New Mexico, USA, is the southeasternmost basin of the Laramide intraforeland province of North America. It hosts a thick succession (4.5 km or 15,000 ft) of Upper Cretaceous to Paleogene marine and continental strata that were deposited in response to the...
Age-structured Jolly-Seber model expands inference and improves parameter estimation from capture-recapture data
Nathan J. Hostetter, Nicholas J. Lunn, Evan S. Richardson, Eric V. Regehr, Sarah J. Converse
2021, PLoS ONE
Understanding the influence of individual attributes on demographic processes is a key objective of wildlife population studies. Capture-recapture and age data are commonly collected to investigate hypotheses about survival, reproduction, and viability. We present a novel age-structured Jolly-Seber model that incorporates age and capture-recapture data to provide comprehensive information on...
Confirmed cases of Ophidiomycosis in museum specimens from the USA as early as 1945, United States
Jeffrey M. Lorch, Steven J. Price, Julia S. Lankton, Andrea N. Drayer
2021, Emerging Infectious Diseases (27) 1986-1989
Ophidiomycosis represents a conservation threat to wild snake populations. The disease was reported in North America early in the 21st century, but the history of ophidiomycosis has not been investigated. We examined museum specimens and confirmed cases of ophidiomycosis >50 years before the disease’s reported emergence....
Trophic niches of native and nonnative fishes along a river-reservoir continuum
Casey A. Pennock, Zachary T. Ahrens, Mark McKinstry, Phaedra E. Budy, Keith B. Gido
2021, Scientific Reports (11) 1-12
Instream barriers can constrain dispersal of nonnative fishes, creating opportunities to test their impact on native communities above and below these barriers. Deposition of sediments in a river inflow to Lake Powell, USA resulted in creation of a large waterfall prohibiting upstream movement of fishes from the reservoir allowing us...
Hydropeaking intensity and dam proximity limit aquatic invertebrate diversity in the Colorado River Basin
Erin Abernathy, Jeffrey Muehlbauer, Theodore Kennedy, Jonathan D. Tonkin, Richard Van Driesche, David A. Lytle
2021, Ecosphere (12)
River biodiversity is threatened globally by hydropower dams, and there is a need to understand how dam management favors certain species while filtering out others. We examined aquatic invertebrate communities within the tailwaters 0–24 km downstream of seven large hydropower dams in the Colorado River Basin of the western United States....
Disease or drought: Environmental fluctuations release zebra from a potential pathogen-triggered ecological trap
Yen-Hua Huang, Hendrina Joel, Martina Küsters, Zoe R. Barandongo, Claudine C. Cloete, Axel Hartmann, Pauline L. Kamath, J. Werner Kilian, John K.E. Mfune, Gabriel Shatumbu, Royi Zidon, Wayne M. Getz, Wendy Christine Turner
2021, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (288)
When a transmission hotspot for an environmentally persistent pathogen establishes in otherwise high-quality habitat, the disease may exert a strong impact on a host population. However, fluctuating environmental conditions lead to heterogeneity in habitat quality and animal habitat preference, which may interrupt the overlap between selected and risky habitats. We...
Migration patterns and wintering distribution of common loons breeding in the Upper Midwest
Kevin P. Kenow, Luke J. Fara, Steven C. Houdek, Brian R. Gray, Darryl J. Heard, Michael W. Meyer, Timothy J. Fox, Robert Kratt, Scott L. Ford, Anette Gendron-Fitzpatrick, Carrol L. Henderson
2021, Journal of Avian Biology (52)
Identification of geographic linkages among breeding, migratory and wintering common loon Gavia immer populations is needed to inform regional and national conservation planning efforts and compensation of loons lost during marine oil spill events. Satellite telemetry and archival geolocator tags were used to determine the migration patterns and...
Biotic vs abiotic controls on temporal sensitivity of primary production to precipitation across North American drylands
Andrew J Felton, Robert K Shriver, John B. Bradford, Katharine N. Suding, Brady W Allred, Peter B. Adler
2021, New Phytologist (231) 2150-2161
Dryland net primary productivity (NPP) is sensitive to temporal variation in precipitation (PPT), but the magnitude of this ‘temporal sensitivity’ varies spatially. Hypotheses for spatial variation in temporal sensitivity have often emphasized abiotic factors, such as moisture limitation, while overlooking biotic factors, such as vegetation structure.We tested these hypotheses...
Beyond streamflow: Call for a national data repository of streamflow presence for streams and rivers in the United States
Kristin Jaeger, Konrad Hafen, Jason B. Dunham, Ken M. Fritz, Stephanie K. Kampf, Theodore B. Barnhart, Kendra E. Kaiser, Roy Sando, Sherri L Johnson, Ryan R. McShane, Sarah Beth Dunn
2021, Water (12)
Observations of the presence or absence of surface water in streams are useful for characterizing streamflow permanence, which includes the frequency, duration, and spatial extent of surface flow in streams and rivers. Such data are particularly valuable for headwater streams, which comprise the vast majority of channel length in stream...
Integrated hydrology and operations modeling to evaluate climate change impacts in an agricultural valley irrigated with snowmelt runoff
Wesley Kitlasten, Eric D. Morway, Richard G. Niswonger, Murphy Gardner, Jeremy T. White, Enrique Triana, David J. Selkowitz
2021, Water Resources Research (57)
Applying models to developed agricultural regions remains a difficult problem because there are no existing modeling codes that represent both the complex physics of the hydrology and anthropogenic manipulations to water distribution and consumption. We apply an integrated groundwater – surface water and hydrologic river operations model...
Cape Romain partnership for coastal protection
Mitchell J. Eaton, Fred A. Johnson, Jessica Mikels-Carrasco, David J. Case, Julien Martin, Bradley Stith, Simeon Yurek, Bradley Udell, Laura Villegas, Laura Taylor, Zulquarnain Haider, Hadi Charkhgard, Changhyun Kwon
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1021
This final report summarizes activities, outcomes, and lessons learned from a 3-year project titled “Climate Change Adaptation for Coastal National Wildlife Refuges” with the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and local partners in the surrounding South Carolina Lowcountry. The Lowcountry is classified as the 10-county area encompassing the coastal...
