Meteorological drivers of hypolimnetic anoxia in a eutrophic, north temperate lake
Craig A. Snortheim, Paul C. Hanson, Katherine D. McMahon, Jordan S. Read, Cayelan C. Carey, Hilary Dugan
2017, Ecological Modelling (343) 39-53
Oxygen concentration is both an indicator and driver of water quality in lakes. Decreases in oxygen concentration leads to altered ecosystem function as well as harmful consequences for aquatic biota, such as fishes. The responses of oxygen dynamics in lakes to climate-related drivers, such as temperature and wind speed, are...
Investigating impacts of oil and gas development on greater sage-grouse
Adam Green, Cameron L. Aldridge, Michael S. O’Donnell
2017, Journal of Wildlife Management (81) 46-57
The sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystem is one of the largest ecosystems in western North America providing habitat for species found nowhere else. Sagebrush habitats have experienced dramatic declines since the 1950s, mostly due to anthropogenic disturbances. The greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is a sagebrush-obligate species that has experienced population declines over...
Model-based estimators of density and connectivity to inform conservation of spatially structured populations
Dana J. Morin, Angela K. Fuller, J. Andrew Royle, Chris Sutherland
2017, Ecosphere (8) 1-16
Conservation and management of spatially structured populations is challenging because solutions must consider where individuals are located, but also differential individual space use as a result of landscape heterogeneity. A recent extension of spatial capture–recapture (SCR) models, the ecological distance model, uses spatial encounter histories of individuals (e.g., a record...
Validation of daily increments periodicity in otoliths of spotted gar
Richard A. Snow, James M. Long, Bryan D. Frenette
2017, Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (4) 60-65
Accurate age and growth information is essential in successful management of fish populations and for understanding early life history. We validated daily increment deposition, including the timing of first ring formation, for spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus) through 127 days post hatch. Fry were produced from hatchery-spawned specimens, and up to...
Infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus virological and genetic surveillance 2000–2012
Rachel Breyta, Ilana L. Brito, Gael Kurath, Shannon L. LaDeau
2017, Ecology (98) 283-283
Surveillance records of the acute RNA pathogen of Pacific salmonid fish infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus are combined for the first time to enable landscape-level ecological analyses and modeling. The study area is the freshwater ecosystems of the large Columbia River watershed in the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho,...
Determination of habitat requirements for Apache Trout
Sally J. Petre, Scott A. Bonar
2017, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (146) 1-15
The Apache Trout Oncorhynchus apache, a salmonid endemic to east-central Arizona, is currently listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Establishing and maintaining recovery streams for Apache Trout and other endemic species requires determination of their specific habitat requirements. We built upon previous studies of Apache Trout habitat by...
Geology along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia
Mark W. Carter, C. Scott Southworth, Richard P. Tollo, Arthur J. Merschat, Sara Wagner, Ava Lazor, John N. Aleinikoff
2017, Book chapter, From the Blue Ridge to the beach: Geological field excursions across Virginia
Detailed geologic mapping and new SHRIMP (sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe) U-Pb zircon, Ar/Ar, Lu-Hf, 14C, luminescence (optically stimulated), thermochronology (fission-track), and palynology reveal the complex Mesoproterozoic to Quaternary geology along the ~350 km length of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. Traversing the boundary of the central and southern Appalachians, rocks...
Spatial demographic models to inform conservation planning of golden eagles in renewable energy landscapes
J. David Wiens, Nathan H. Schumaker, Richard D. Inman, Todd C. Esque, Kathleen M. Longshore, Kenneth E. Nussear
2017, Journal of Raptor Research (51) 234-257
Spatial demographic models can help guide monitoring and management activities targeting at-risk species, even in cases where baseline data are lacking. Here, we provide an example of how site-specific changes in land use and anthropogenic stressors can be incorporated into a spatial demographic model to investigate effects on population dynamics...
Guidance documents: Continued support to improve operations of fish hatcheries and field sites to reduce the impact or prevent establishment of New Zealand Mudsnails and other invasive mollusks
Christine M. Moffitt
2017, Cooperator Science Series FWS/CSS-124-2017
This project tested and revised a risk assessment/management tool authored by Moffitt and Stockton designed to provide hatchery biologists and others a structure to measure risk and provide tools to control, prevent or eliminate invasive New Zealand mudsnails (NZMS) and other invasive mollusks in fish hatcheries and hatchery operations. The...
Influence of the Eastern California Shear Zone on deposition of the Mio-Pliocene Bouse Formation: Insights from the Cibola area, Arizona
Rebecca J. Dorsey, Brennan O’Connell, Mindy B. Homan, Scott E.K. Bennett
2017, Conference Paper, 2017 Desert Symposium Field Guide and Proceedings - ECSZ does it: Revisiting the eastern California Shear Zone
The Eastern California Shear Zone (ECSZ) is a wide zone of late Cenozoic strike-slip faults and related diffuse deformation that currently accommodates ~20–25% of relative Pacific–North America plate motion in the lower Colorado River region (Fig. 1A; Dokka and Travis, 1990; Miller et al., 2001; Guest et al., 2007; Mahan...
Effects of topographic data quality on estimates of shallow slope stability using different regolith depth models
Rex L. Baum
2017, Conference Paper, Landslides: Putting Experience, Knowledge and Emerging Technologies into Practice--Proceedings of the 3rd North American Symposium on Landslides: Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists Special Publication 27
Thickness of colluvium or regolith overlying bedrock or other consolidated materials is a major factor in determining stability of unconsolidated earth materials on steep slopes. Many efforts to model spatially distributed slope stability, for example to assess susceptibility to shallow landslides, have relied on estimates of constant thickness, constant depth,...
Summer habitat selection by Dall’s sheep in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska
Gretchen H. Roffler, Layne G. Adams, Mark Hebblewhite
2017, Journal of Mammalogy (98) 94-105
Sexual segregation occurs frequently in sexually dimorphic species, and it may be influenced by differential habitat requirements between sexes or by social or evolutionary mechanisms that maintain separation of sexes regardless of habitat selection. Understanding the degree of sex-specific habitat specialization is important for management of wildlife populations and the...
Modeling waterfowl habitat selection in the Central Valley of California to better understand the spatial relationship between commercial poultry and waterfowl
Elliott Matchett, Michael L. Casazza, Joseph P. Fleskes, T. Kelman, M. Cadena, M. Pitesky
2017, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the Sixty-Sixth Western Poultry Disease Conference
Wildlife researchers frequently study resource and habitat selection of wildlife to understand their potential habitat requirements and to conserve their populations. Understanding wildlife spatial-temporal distributions related to habitat have other applications such as to model interfaces between wildlife and domestic food animals in order to mitigate disease transmission to food...
Extreme geomagnetic storms: Probabilistic forecasts and their uncertainties
Pete Riley, Jeffrey J. Love
2017, Space Weather (15) 53-64
Extreme space weather events are low-frequency, high-risk phenomena. Estimating their rates of occurrence, as well as their associated uncertainties, is difficult. In this study, we derive statistical estimates and uncertainties for the occurrence rate of an extreme geomagnetic storm on the scale of the Carrington event (or worse) occurring within...
Mudflat morphodynamics and the impact of sea level rise in South San Francisco Bay
Mick Van der Wegen, Bruce E. Jaffe, Amy C. Foxgrover, Dano Roelvink
2017, Estuaries and Coasts (40) 37-49
Estuarine tidal mudflats form unique habitats and maintain valuable ecosystems. Historic measurements of a mudflat in San Fancsico Bay over the past 150 years suggest the development of a rather stable mudflat profile. This raises questions on its origin and governing processes as well as on the mudflats’ fate under scenarios...
Warming and provenance limit tree recruitment across and beyond the elevation range of subalpine forest
Lara M. Kueppers, Erin Conlisk, Cristina Castanha, Andrew B. Moyes, Matthew J. Germino, Perry de Valpine, Margaret S. Torn, Jeffry B. Mitton
2017, Global Change Biology (23) 2383-2395
Climate niche models project that subalpine forest ranges will extend upslope with climate warming. These projections assume that the climate suitable for adult trees will be adequate for forest regeneration, ignoring climate requirements for seedling recruitment, a potential demographic bottleneck. Moreover, local genetic adaptation is expected to facilitate range expansion,...
The practice of prediction: What can ecologists learn from applied, ecology-related fields?
Frank Pennekamp, Matthew Adamson, Owen L Petchey, Jean-Christophe Poggiale, Maira Aguiar, Bob W. Kooi, Daniel B. Botkin, Donald L. DeAngelis
2017, Ecological Complexity (32) 156-167
The pervasive influence of human induced global environmental change affects biodiversity across the globe, and there is great uncertainty as to how the biosphere will react on short and longer time scales. To adapt to what the future holds and to manage the impacts of global change, scientists need to...
Genetic and grade and tonnage models for sandstone-hosted roll-type uranium deposits, Texas Coastal Plain, USA
Susan M. Hall, Mark J. Mihalasky, Kathleen Tureck, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Mark Hannon
2017, Ore Geology Reviews (80) 716-753
The coincidence of a number of geologic and climatic factors combined to create conditions favorable for the development of mineable concentrations of uranium hosted by Eocene through Pliocene sandstones in the Texas Coastal Plain. Here 254 uranium occurrences, including 169 deposits, 73 prospects, 6 showings and 4 anomalies, have been...
Scaling-up camera traps: monitoring the planet's biodiversity with networks of remote sensors
Robin Steenweg, Mark Hebblewhite, Roland Kays, Jorge A. Ahumada, Jason T. Fisher, Cole Burton, Susan E. Townsend, Chris Carbone, J. Marcus Rowcliffe, Jesse Whittington, Jedediah Brodie, J. Andrew Royle, Adam Switalski, Anthony P. Clevenger, Nicole Heim, Lindsey N. Rich
2017, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (15) 26-34
Countries committed to implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity's 2011–2020 strategic plan need effective tools to monitor global trends in biodiversity. Remote cameras are a rapidly growing technology that has great potential to transform global monitoring for terrestrial biodiversity and can be an important contributor to the call for measuring...
Mercury contamination and stable isotopes reveal variability in foraging ecology of generalist California gulls
Sarah H. Peterson, Joshua T. Ackerman, Collin A. Eagles-Smith
2017, Ecological Indicators (74) 205-215
Environmental contaminants are a concern for animal health, but contaminant exposure can also be used as a tracer of foraging ecology. In particular, mercury (Hg) concentrations are highly variable among aquatic and terrestrial food webs as a result of habitat- and site-specific biogeochemical processes that produce the bioaccumulative form, methylmercury...
Links between atmosphere, ocean, and cryosphere from two decades of microseism observations on the Antarctic Peninsula
Robert E. Anthony, Richard C. Aster, Daniel Mcgrath
2017, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface (122) 153-166
The lack of landmasses, climatological low pressure, and strong circumpolar westerly winds between the latitudes of 50°S to 65°S produce exceptional storm‐driven wave conditions in the Southern Ocean. This combination makes the Antarctic Peninsula one of Earth's most notable regions of high‐amplitude wave activity and thus, ocean‐swell‐driven microseism noise in...
A multimodal wave spectrum-based approach for statistical downscaling of local wave climate
Christie Hegermiller, Jose A.A. Antolinez, Ana C. Rueda, Paula Camus, Jorge Perez, Li H. Erikson, Patrick L. Barnard, Fernando J. Mendez
2017, Journal of Physical Oceanography (47) 375-386
Characterization of wave climate by bulk wave parameters is insufficient for many coastal studies, including those focused on assessing coastal hazards and long-term wave climate influences on coastal evolution. This issue is particularly relevant for studies using statistical downscaling of atmospheric fields to local wave conditions, which are often multimodal...
Organic contamination in tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) nestlings at United States and binational great Lakes Areas of Concern
Thomas W. Custer, Christine M. Custer, Paul M. Dummer, Diana R. Goldberg, J. Christian Franson, Richard A. Erickson
2017, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (36) 735-748
Contaminant exposure of tree swallows, Tachycineta bicolor, nesting in 27 Areas of Concern (AOCs) in the Great Lakes basin was assessed from 2010 to 2014 to assist managers and regulators in their assessments of Great Lakes AOCs. Contaminant concentrations in nestlings from AOCs were compared with those in nestlings from...
Pelagic nekton abundance and distribution in the northern Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, California
Frederick V. Feyrer, Steven B. Slater, Donald E. Portz, Darren Odom, Tara L. Morgan-King, Larry R. Brown
2017, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (146) 128-135
Knowledge of the habitats occupied by species is fundamental for the development of effective conservation and management actions. The collapse of pelagic fish species in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, California, has triggered a need to better understand factors that drive their distribution and abundance. A study was conducted in summer–fall...
A trans-national monarch butterfly population model and implications for regional conservation priorities
Karen Oberhauser, Ruscena Wiederholt, James E. Diffendorfer, Darius J. Semmens, Leslie Ries, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Laura Lopez-Hoffman, Brice Semmens
2017, Ecological Entomology (42) 51-60
1. The monarch has undergone considerable population declines over the past decade, and the governments of Mexico, Canada, and the United States have agreed to work together to conserve the species.2. Given limited resources, understanding where to focus conservation action is key for widespread species like monarchs. To support planning...
