Pilot-scale expanded assessment of inorganic and organic tapwater exposures and predicted effects in Puerto Rico, USA
Paul M. Bradley, Ingrid Y. Padilla, Kristin M. Romanok, Kelly Smalling, Michael J. Focazio, Sara E. Breitmeyer, Mary C. Cardon, Justin M. Conley, Nicola Evans, Carrie E. Givens, James L. Gray, L. Earl Gray, Phillip C. Hartig, Michelle L. Hladik, Christopher P. Higgins, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Rachael F. Lane, Keith A. Loftin, R. Blaine McCleskey, Carrie A. McDonough, Elizabeth Medlock-Kakaley, Shannon M. Meppelink, Christopher P. Weis, Vickie S. Wilson
2021, Environment International (788)
A pilot-scale expanded target assessment of mixtures of inorganic and organic contaminants in point-of-consumption drinking water (tapwater, TW) was conducted in Puerto Rico (PR) to continue to inform TW exposures and corresponding estimations of cumulative human-health risks across the US. In August 2018, a spatial synoptic pilot assessment of than...
Molluscan aminostratigraphy of the US Mid-Atlantic Quaternary coastal system: Implications for onshore-offshore correlation, paleochannel and barrier island evolution, and local late Quaternary sea-level history
John Wehmiller, Laura L. Brothers, Kelvin Ramsey, David S. Foster, C.R. Mattheus, Christopher Hein, Justin L. Shawler
2021, Quaternary Geochronology (66)
The Quaternary record of the US Mid-Atlantic coastal system includes onshore emergent late Pleistocene shoreline deposits, offshore inner shelf and barrier island units, and paleovalleys formed during multiple glacial stage sea-level lowstands. The geochronology of this coastal system is based on uranium series, radiocarbon, amino acid racemization (AAR), and optically...
Quantifying eruptive and background seismicity, deformation, degassing, and thermal emissions at volcanoes in the United States during 1978–2020
Kevin Reath, Matthew Pritchard, Diana C. Roman, Taryn Lopez, Simon A Carn, Tobias P. Fischer, Zhong Lu, Michael Poland, R. Greg Vaughan, Rick Wessels, L. L. Wike, H. K. Tran
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research (126)
An important aspect of volcanic hazard assessment is determination of the level and character of background activity at a volcano so that deviations from background (called unrest) can be identified. Here, we compile the instrumentally recorded eruptive and noneruptive activity for 161 US volcanoes between 1978 and...
Northern Madtom use of artificial reefs in the St. Clair–Detroit River System
Jennifer Johnson, Justin A. Chiotti, Andrew S Briggs, James C. Boase, Jan-Michael Hessenauer, Edward F. Roseman
2021, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (41) S42-S53
The St. Clair and Detroit rivers historically supported abundant fish populations. However, like many river systems, these rivers have been greatly altered through the creation of navigation channels and other anthropogenic disturbances, resulting in the loss of fish and wildlife habitat and declines in native fish populations. To ameliorate this...
Aeolian sediments in paleowetland deposits of the Las Vegas Formation
Harland L. Goldstein, Kathleen B. Springer, Jeffrey S. Pigati, Marith C. Reheis, Gary L. Skipp
2021, Quaternary Research (104) 1-13
The Las Vegas Formation (LVF) is a well-characterized sequence of groundwater discharge (GWD) deposits exposed in and around the Las Vegas Valley in southern Nevada. Nearly monolithologic bedrock surrounds the valley, which provides an excellent opportunity to test the hypothesis that GWD deposits include an aeolian component....
Coral reef resilience differs among islands within the Gulf of Mannar, southeast India, following successive coral bleaching events
K Diraviya Raj, Greta S. Aeby, G.M. Mathews, Gareth J Williams, Jamie M. Caldwell, R L Laju, M Selva Bharath, P Dinesh Kumar, A Arasamuthu, N Gladwin Gnana Asir, Lisa M. Wedding, Andrew Daview, Monica Mei Jeen Moritsch, J K Patterson Edward
2021, Coral Reefs (40) 1029-1044
We used a 12-yr data set of benthic cover (2005–2017), spanning two bleaching events, to assess changes in benthic cover and coral community composition along 21 islands within Gulf of Mannar (GoM), southeast India. Overall, between 2005 and 2017 reefs had a simultaneous decrease in relative...
Quantifying slopes as a driver of forest to marsh conversion using geospatial techniques: Application to Chesapeake Bay coastal-plain, USA
Grace Damore Molino, Zafer Defne, Alfredo Aretxabaleta, Neil K. Ganju, Joel A. Carr
2021, Frontiers in Environmental Science (9)
Coastal salt marshes, which provide valuable ecosystem services such as flood mitigation and carbon sequestration, are threatened by rising sea level. In response, these ecosystems migrate landward, converting available upland into salt marsh. In the coastal-plain surrounding Chesapeake Bay, United States, conversion of coastal forest to salt marsh...
Monitoring long-term riparian vegetation trends to inform local habitat management in a mountainous environment
Timothy J. Assal, Valerie A. Steen, Todd Caltrider, Travis Cundy, Cheyenne Stewart, Nicholas Manning, Patrick J. Anderson
2021, Ecological Indicators (127)
Riparian ecosystems provide critical habitat for many species, yet assessment of vegetation condition at local scales is difficult to measure when considering large areas over long time periods. We present a framework to map and monitor two deciduous cover types, upland and riparian, occupying...
The importance of wilderness to wolf (Canis lupus) survival and cause-specific mortality over 50 years
Shannon Barber-Meyer, Tyler Wheeldon, L. David Mech
2021, Biological Conservation (258)
We assessed the relative importance of wilderness to gray wolf (Canis lupus) population dynamics over 50 years in a population that 1) was long extant (i.e., not reintroduced or recolonized), 2) was not subject to harvest in our study area until recently, and 3) used both wilderness and adjacent, mainly...
Recovering individual-level spatial inference from aggregated binary data
Nelson Walker, Trevor J. Hefley, Anne Ballmann, Robin E. Russell, Daniel P. Walsh
2021, Spatial Statistics (44)
Binary regression models are commonly used in disciplines such as epidemiology and ecology to determine how spatial covariates influence individuals. In many studies, binary data are shared in a spatially aggregated form to protect privacy. For example, rather than reporting the location and result for each individual that was tested...
Oxygen isotopes in terrestrial gastropod shells track Quaternary climate change in the American Southwest
Jason A. Rech, Jeffrey S. Pigati, Kathleen B. Springer, Stephanie Bosch, Jeffrey C. Nekola, Yurena Yanes
2021, Quaternary Research (104) 43-53
Recent studies have shown the oxygen isotopic composition (δ18O) of modern terrestrial gastropod shells is determined largely by the δ18O of precipitation. This implies that fossil shells could be used to reconstruct the δ18O of paleo-precipitation as long as the isotopic system, including the hydrologic pathways of...
Moose habitat selection and fitness consequences during two critical winter tick life stages in Vermont, United States
Joshua Blouin, Jacob Debow, Elias Rosenblatt, James E. Hines, Cedric Alexander, Katherina Gieder, Nicholas Fortin, James Murdoch, Therese M. Donovan
2021, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (9)
The moose (Alces alces) is a charismatic species in decline across much of their southern distribution in North America. In the northeastern United States, much of the reduction has been attributed to winter tick (Dermacentor albipictus) infestations. Winter ticks are fairly immobile throughout all life stages, and therefore...
A U.S.-China EcoPartnership study of disturbed wetland vegetation in West Dongting Lake, China
Ting Lei, Beth Middleton
2021, Environmental Progress and Sustainable Energy (40)
West Dongting Lake in China is important for human livelihoods and habitat of migratory waterfowl and other wildlife. The waterway re-engineering and agriculture intensification have contributed to changes in hydrology, sediment, and vegetation on the floodplain. This paper describes an EcoPartnership program conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, Wetland and...
Spring phenology drives range shifts in a migratory Arctic ungulate with key implications for the future
John P. Severson, Heather E. Johnson, Stephen M. Arthur, William Leacock, Michael J. Suitor
2021, Global Change Biology (27) 4546-4563
Annual variation in phenology can have profound effects on the behavior of animals. As climate change advances spring phenology in ecosystems around the globe, it is becoming increasingly important to understand how animals respond to variation in the timing of seasonal events and how their responses...
Repeating earthquakes during multiple phases of unrest and eruption at Mount Agung, Bali, Indonesia, 2017
John Wellik, Stephanie Prejean, Devy K. Syahbana
2021, Frontiers in Volcanology (9)
In 2017, Mount Agung produced a small (VEI 2) eruption that was preceded by an energetic volcano-tectonic (VT) swarm (>800 earthquakes per day up to M4.9) and two months of declining activity. The period of decreased seismic activity complicated forecasting efforts for scientists monitoring the volcano. We examine...
Calcium concentrations in the lower Columbia River, USA, are generally sufficient to support invasive bivalve spread
Stephen M. Bollens, John A. Harrison, Marc G. Kramer, Gretchen Rollwagen-Bollens, Timothy D. Counihan, Salvador B. Robb-Chavez, Sean T. Nolan
2021, River Research and Applications (37) 889-894
Dissolved calcium concentration [Ca2+] is thought to be a major factor limiting the establishment and thus the spread of invasive bivalves such as zebra (Dreissena polymorpha) and quagga (Dreissena bugensis) mussels. We measured [Ca2+] in 168 water samples collected along ~100 river-km of the lower Columbia River, USA, between June...
The effect of group size on reproduction in cooperatively breeding gray wolves depends on density
D.E. Ausband, Michael S. Mitchell
2021, Animal Conservation (24) 994-1000
In cooperatively breeding species, large group size is often positively related to reproductive success and group persistence. We have a poor understanding, however, of how group sizes within a population affect reproduction particularly as density varies. We hypothesized that at low densities, wolves in both small...
Research to inform Caltrans best management practices for reptile and amphibian road crossings
Cheryl S. Brehme, Robert N. Fisher, Tom E. S. Langton, Anthony P. Clevenger, Esther Adelsheim, Stephanie Barnes, Tristan Edgarian, Brittany Ewing, Stacie A. Hathaway, Michael Hobbs, Jennifer Kingston, A. Launer, Tritia A. Matsuda, Jeremy B. Sebes, C. Vaughn, Elise Watson
2021, Report
In October of 2014, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a 5-year project to conduct research to inform Best Management Practices (BMPs) for amphibian and reptile crossing and barrier systems in California. To inform future conservation and transportation planning, this project involved identification of species at highest risk of...
Broad-scale surface and atmospheric conditions during large fires in south-central Chile
David B. McWethy, Rene Garreaud, Andres Holz, Gregory T. Pederson
2021, Fire (4)
The unprecedented size of the 2017 wildfires that burned nearly 600,000 hectares of central Chile highlight a need to better understand the climatic conditions under which large fires develop. Here we evaluate synoptic atmospheric conditions at the surface and free troposphere associated with anomalously high (active) versus low (inactive) months...
Surface water with more natural temperatures promotes physiological and endocrine changes in landlocked Atlantic salmon smolts
Amy M. Regish, William R. Ardren, Nicholas R Staats, Henry Bouchard, Jonah L. Withers, Theodore R. Castro-Santos, Stephen D. McCormick
William R. Ardren, Larry Greenberg, editor(s)
2021, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (78) 775-786
Hatchery salmonid smolts are often reared using groundwater with elevated temperatures to maximize growth. Previous work has shown that rearing hatchery smolts in surface water with a more natural thermal regime resulted in increased return rates of adult landlocked Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). We evaluated whether landlocked Atlantic salmon reared...
Modeling of future COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, by vaccination rates and nonpharmaceutical intervention scenarios — United States, April–September 2021
Rebecca K. Borchering, Cecile Viboud, Emily Howerton, Claire P. Smith, Shaun Truelove, Michael C. Runge, Nicholas G. Reich, Lucie Contamin, John Levander, Jessica Salerno, Wilbert van Panhuis, Matt Kinsey, Kate Tallaksen, R. Freddy Obrecht, Laura Asher, Cash Costello, Michael Kelbaugh, Shelby Wilson, Lauren Shin, Molly Gallagher, Luke Mullany, Kaitlin Rainwater-Lovett, Joseph Lemaitre, Juan Dent, Kyra Grantz, Joshua Kaminsky, Stephen Lauer, Elizabeth Lee, Hannah Meredith, Javier Perez-Saez, Lindsay T. Keegan, Dean Karlen, Matteo Chinazzi, Jessica Davis, Kunpeng Mu, Xinyue Xiong, Ana Pastore y Piontti, Alessandro Vespignani, Ajitesh Srivastava, Przemyslaw Porebski, Srinivasan Venkatramanan, Aniruddha Adiga, Bryan Lewis, Brian Klahn, Joseph Outten, James Schlitt, Patrick Corbett, Pyrros A. Telionis, Lijing Wang, Akhil S. Peddireddy, Benjamin Hurt, Jiangzhuo Chen, Anil Vullikanti, Madhav Marathe, Jessica Healy, Rachel B. Slayton, Matthew Biggerstaff, Michael A Johansson, Katriona Shea, Justin Lessler
2021, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (70) 719-724
What is already known about this topic?Increases in COVID-19 cases in March and early April occurred despite a large-scale vaccination program. Increases coincided with the spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants and relaxation of nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs).What is added by this report?Data from six models indicate that with high vaccination coverage and...
Effects of elk and bison herbivory on narrowleaf cottonwood
Linda C. Zeigenfuss, Kathryn A. Schoenecker
2021, Western North American Naturalist (81) 97-112
Ungulate browsing influences the structure and composition of woody plant communities, including species composition and biomass production as well as age distribution, recruitment, and mortality. We evaluated effects of elk and bison herbivory on narrowleaf cottonwood (Populus angustifolia) communities in a semiarid ecosystem in southern Colorado. Cottonwoods in this ecosystem...
Tectonostratigraphic record of late Miocene–early Pliocene transtensional faulting in the Eastern California shear zone, southwestern USA
Rebecca J. Dorsey, Brennan O’Connell, Kevin Gardner, Mindy B. Homan, Scott E.K. Bennett, Jacob Thacker, Michael H. Darin
2021, Geosphere (17) 1101-1125
The Eastern California shear zone (ECSZ; southwestern USA) accommodates ~20%–25% of Pacific–North America relative plate motion east of the San Andreas fault, yet little is known about its early tectonic evolution. This paper presents a detailed stratigraphic and structural analysis of the uppermost Miocene to lower Pliocene Bouse Formation in...
Expansion of intertidal mussel beds following disease-driven reduction of a keystone predator
Monica Mei Jeen Moritsch
2021, Marine Environmental Research (169)
Disease shapes community composition by removing species with strong interactions. To test whether the absence of keystone predation due to disease produced changes to the species composition of rocky intertidal communities, we leverage a natural experiment involving mass mortality of the keystone predator Pisaster ochraceus from Sea Star Wasting Syndrome....
Emerging dominance of Paratrochammina simplissima (Cushman and McCulloch) in the northern Gulf of Mexico following hydrologic and geomorphic changes
Alisha M. Ellis, Christopher G. Smith
2021, Estuarine, Coastal, and Shelf Science (255)
Grand Bay estuary in coastal Mississippi and Alabama (USA) has undergone significant geomorphic changes over the last few centuries as a result of anthropogenic (bridge, road, and hardened shoreline construction) and climatic (extreme storm events) processes, which reduce freshwater input, sediment supply, and degrade barrier islands. To investigate how geomorphic changes may have altered the Grand Bay...
