Hydraulic modeling at selected dam-removal and culvert-retrofit sites in the northeastern United States
Scott A. Olson, Caelan E. Simeone
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5056
Aquatic connectivity projects, such as removing dams and modifying culverts, have substantial benefits. The restoration of natural flow conditions improves water quality, sediment transport, aquatic and riparian habitat, and fish passage. These projects can also decrease hazards faced by communities by lowering water-surface elevations of flood waters and by removing...
Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources in the eastern Mediterranean area, 2020
Christopher J. Schenk, Tracey J. Mercier, Thomas M. Finn, Cheryl A. Woodall, Kristen R. Marra, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Phuong A. Le, Ronald M. Drake II
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3032
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 879 million barrels of conventional oil and 286.2 trillion cubic feet of conventional gas in the eastern Mediterranean area....
Preliminary assessment of the wave generating potential from landslides at Barry Arm, Prince William Sound, Alaska
Katherine R. Barnhart, Ryan P. Jones, David L. George, Jeffrey A. Coe, Dennis M. Staley
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1071
We simulated the concurrent rapid motion of landslides on an unstable slope at Barry Arm, Alaska. Movement of landslides into the adjacent fjord displaced fjord water and generated a tsunami, which propagated out of Barry Arm. Rather than assuming an initial sea surface height, velocity, and location for the tsunami,...
Who’s your daddy? On the identity and distribution of the paternal hybrid ancestor of the parthenogenetic gecko Lepidodactylus lugubris (Reptilia: Squamata: Gekkonidae)
Benjamin R. Karin, Paul M. Oliver, Alexander L. Stubbs, Umilaela Afirin, Djoko T. Iskandar, Evy Arida, Zheng Oong, Jimmy A. McGuire, Frederick Kraus, Matthew K. Fujita, Ivan Ineich, Hidetoshi Ota, Stacie A. Hathaway, Robert N. Fisher
2021, Zootaxa (4999) 87-100
The widespread parthenogenetic gecko Lepidodactylus lugubris is comprised of several clonal lineages, at least one of which has been known for some time to have originated from hybridization between its maternal ancestor, Lepidodactylus moestus, and a putatively undescribed paternal ancestor previously known only from remote islands in the Central Pacific. By integrating new...
Potential effect of low-rise, downcast artificial lights on nocturnally migrating land birds
Sergio A. Cabrera-Cruz, Ronald P. Larkin, Maren E. Gimpel, James G. Gruber, Theodore J. Zenzal Jr., Jeffrey J. Buler
2021, Integrative and Comparative Biology (61) 1216-1236
Artificial light at night (ALAN) on tall or upward-pointed lighting installations affects the flight behavior of night-migrating birds. We hypothesized that common low-rise lights pointing downward also affect the movement of nocturnal migrants. We predicted that birds in flight will react close to low-rise lights, and be attracted and grounded...
Managing for RADical ecosystem change: Applying the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework
Abigail J. Lynch, Laura Thompson, Erik A. Beever, Augustin C. Engman, Cat Hawkins Hoffman, Stephen T. Jackson, Trevor J. Krabbenhoft, David J Lawrence, Douglas Limpinsel, Robert T. Magill, Tracy Melvin, John M. Morton, Robert Newman, Jay Peterson, Mark T. Porath, Frank J. Rahel, Gregor Schuurman, Suresh Sethi, Jennifer L. Wilkening
2021, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (19) 461-469
Ecosystem transformation involves the emergence of persistent ecological or social–ecological systems that diverge, dramatically and irreversibly, from prior ecosystem structure and function. Such transformations are occurring at increasing rates across the planet in response to changes in climate, land use, and other factors. Consequently, a dynamic...
Distilling professional opinion to gauge vulnerability of Guam avifauna to Brown Treesnake predation
Robert McElderry, Eben H. Paxton, An Nguyen, Shane R. Siers
2021, Frontiers in Conservation Science (2)
The avifauna of Guam was devastated by the introduction of the Brown Treesnake, and the restoration of native birds would need to address the problem with eradication or suppression of BTS. With eradication of the snake unlikely in the near term, and suppression capabilities limited to specific finite areas,...
Genetic diversity is considered important but interpreted narrowly in country reports to the Convention on Biological Diversity: Current actions and indicators are insufficient
Sean M. Hoban, Catriona D. Campbell, Jessica M. da Silva, Robert Ekblom, W. Chris Funk, Brittany A. Garner, Jose A. Godoy, Francine Kershaw, Anna J. MacDonald, Joachim Mergeay, Melissa Minter, David O'Brien, Ivan Paz Vinas, Sarah K. Pearson, Silvia Perez-Espona, Kevin M. Potter, Isa-Rita M. Russo, Gernot Segelbacher, Cristiano Vernesi, Margaret Hunter
2021, Biological Conservation (261)
International agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have committed to conserve, and sustainably and equitably use, biodiversity. The CBD is a vital instrument for global conservation because it guides 195 countries and the European Union in setting priorities...
Investigation of scale-dependent groundwater/surface-water exchange in rivers by gradient self-potential logging: Numerical modeling and field experiments
Scott Ikard, Martin A. Briggs, John W. Lane
2021, Journal of Environmental and Engineering Geophysics (26)
Exchanges of groundwater and surface-water are fundamental to a wide range of water-supply and water-quality management issues but challenging to map beyond the reach scale. Waterborne gradient self-potential (SP) measurements are directly sensitive to water flow through riverbed sediments and can be used to infer exchange locations, direction (gain versus...
Distributed memory parallel groundwater modeling for the Netherlands Hydrological Instrument
Jarno Verkaik, Joseph D. Hughes, van Walsum, G.H.P. Oude Essink, H.X. Lin, M.F.P. Bierkens
2021, Environmental Software & Modelling (143)
Worldwide, billions of people rely on fresh groundwater reserves for their domestic, agricultural and industrial water use. Extreme droughts and excessive groundwater pumping put pressure on water authorities in maintaining sustainable water usage. High-resolution integrated models are valuable assets in supporting them. The Netherlands Hydrological Instrument (NHI) provides the Dutch...
Factors influencing distributional shifts and abundance at the range core of a climate-sensitive mammal
Peter D Billman, Erik A. Beever, Dave B. McWethy, Lindsey Thurman, Kenny C Wilson
2021, Global Change Biology (27) 4498-4515
Species are frequently responding to contemporary climate change by shifting to higher elevations and poleward to track suitable climate space. However, depending on local conditions and species’ sensitivity, the nature of these shifts can be highly variable and difficult to predict. Here, we examine how the...
Robust earthquake early warning at a fraction of the cost: ASTUTI Costa Rica
Benjamin A. Brooks, Marino Protti, Todd Ericksen, Julian Bunn, Floribeth Vega, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Chris Duncan, Jonathan Avery, Sarah E. Minson, Esteban J. Chaves, Juan Carlos Baez, James H. Foster, Craig L. Glennie
2021, AGU Advances (2)
We show that a fixed smartphone network can provide robust Earthquake Early Warning for at least two orders of magnitude less cost than scientific-grade networks. Our software and cloud-based data architecture that we have constructed for the Alerta Sismica Temprana Utilizando Teléfonos Inteligentes (ASTUTI; Earthquake Early Warning Utilizing Smartphones) network...
Juvenile moose stress and nutrition dynamics related to winter ticks, landscape characteristics, climate-mediated factors and survival
Elias Rosenblatt, Jacob Debow, Joshua Blouin, Therese M. Donovan, James Murdoch, Scott Creel, Will Rogers, Katherina Gieder, Nick Fortin, Cedric Alexander
2021, Conservation Physiology (9)
Moose populations in the northeastern United States have declined over the past 15 years, primarily due to the impacts of winter ticks. Research efforts have focused on the effects of winter tick infestation on moose survival and reproduction, but stress and nutritional responses to ticks and other stressors remain understudied. We...
Detrital zircon record of magmatism and sediment dispersal across the North American Cordilleran arc system (28-48°N)
Theresa Maude Schwartz, Kathleen D. Surpless, Joseph P. Colgan, Samuel Johnstone, Christopher S. Holm-Denoma
2021, Earth-Science Reviews (220)
As zircon U-Pb geochronology has become a leading method in sediment provenance studies and basin analysis over the past 20 years, the volume of detrital zircon data made available in published literature has enabled researchers to go beyond source-to-sink provenance studies to explore increasingly complex geologic problems. In this review, we utilize the growing body of...
Wastewater disposal has not significantly altered the regional stress state in southern Kansas
Robert Skoumal, Elizabeth S. Cochran
2021, Seismological Research Letters (6) 3516-3525
Wastewater disposal is primarily responsible for the increased seismicity rate since ~2013 in southern Kansas. Previous work that used shear wave splitting (SWS) in southern Kansas interpreted a ~90º temporal rotation in the fast polarization direction and attributed it to increased pore pressures resulting from fluid injection. However, this interpreted...
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...
Individual and seasonal variation in the movement behavior of two tropical nectarivorous birds
Jennifer R Smetzer, Kristina L. Paxton, Eben H. Paxton
2021, Movement Ecology (9)
BackgroundMovement of animals directly affects individual fitness, yet fine spatial and temporal resolution movement behavior has been studied in relatively few small species, particularly in the tropics. Nectarivorous Hawaiian honeycreepers are believed to be highly mobile throughout the year, but their fine-scale movement patterns remain unknown. The movement...
Effects of season, location, species, and sex on hematologic and plasma biochemical values and body mass in free-ranging Grebes (Aechmophorus species)
Nancy L Anderson, Susan E.W. De La Cruz, Joseph K Gaydos, Michael H. Ziccardi, Danielle J Harvey
2021, Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery (35) 135-154
The effects of season, location, species, and sex on body weight and a comprehensive array of blood chemistry and hematology analytes were compared for free-ranging western (Aechmophorus occidentalis) and Clark's (Aechmophorus clarkii) grebes. Birds (n = 56) were collected from Puget Sound, WA, and Monterey Bay and San Francisco Bay,...
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...
USGS Chesapeake Science Strategy 2021-2025
Kenneth Hyer, Scott W. Phillips
2021, Fact Sheet 2021-3037
The Chesapeake Bay ecosystem is a national treasure that provides almost $100 billion annually of goods and services. The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP), is one of the largest federal-state restoration partnerships in the United States and is underpinned by rigorous science. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has a pivotal role...
Optimization of salt marsh management at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey, through use of structured decision making
Hilary A. Neckles, James E. Lyons, Jessica L. Nagel, Susan C. Adamowicz, Toni Mikula, Paul M. Castelli, Virginia Rettig
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1037
Structured decision making is a systematic, transparent process for improving the quality of complex decisions by identifying measurable management objectives and feasible management actions; predicting the potential consequences of management actions relative to the stated objectives; and selecting a course of action that maximizes the total benefit achieved and balances...
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...
Coastal Tree-Ring Records for Paleoclimate and Paleoenvironmental Applications in North America
Clay Tucker, Jessie K. Pearl
2021, Quaternary Science Reviews (265)
For more than a century, tree-ring research has identified relationships between climatic and ecological conditions and tree growth to describe past environments and constrain future ecosystem vulnerabilities. Tree-ring records are frequently used as environmental proxies that extend knowledge of past climate and ecology on millennial scales. Many of the most...
