Improved supervised classification of accelerometry data to distinguish behaviors of soaring birds
Maitreyi Sur, Tony Suffredini, Stephen M. Wessells, Peter H. Bloom, Michael J. Lanzone, Sheldon Blackshire, Srisarguru Sridhar, Todd E. Katzner
2017, PLoS ONE (12)
Soaring birds can balance the energetic costs of movement by switching between flapping, soaring and gliding flight. Accelerometers can allow quantification of flight behavior and thus a context to interpret these energetic costs. However, models to interpret accelerometry data are still being developed, rarely trained with supervised datasets, and difficult...
Host-dependent differences in resource use associated with Anilocra spp. parasitism in two coral reef fishes, as revealed by stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses
Rachel Welicky, Amanda W.J. Demopoulos, Paul C. Sikkel
2017, Marine Ecology (38)
The role of parasites in trophic ecology is poorly understood in marine ecosystems. Stable isotope analyses (SIA) have been widely used in studies of trophic ecology, but have rarely been applied to study the role of parasites. Considering that some parasites are associated with altered host foraging patterns, SIA can...
Quantifying the demographic cost of human-related mortality to a raptor population
W. Grainger Hunt, David Wiens, Peter R. Law, Mark R. Fuller, Teresa L. Hunt, Daniel E. Driscoll, Ronald E. Jackman
2017, PLoS ONE (12)
Raptors are exposed to a wide variety of human-related mortality agents, and yet population-level effects are rarely quantified. Doing so requires modeling vital rates in the context of species life-history, behavior, and population dynamics theory. In this paper, we explore the details of such an analysis by focusing on the...
Terrestrial subaqueous seafloor dunes: Possible analogs for Venus
Lynn Neakrase, Martina Klose, Timothy N. Titus
2017, Aeolian Research (26) 47-56
Dunes on Venus, first discovered with Magellan Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) in the early 1990s, have fueled discussions about the viability of Venusian dunes and aeolian grain transport. Confined to two locations on Venus, the existence of the interpreted dunes provides evidence that there could be transportable material being mobilized...
Urbanization may limit impacts of an invasive predator on native mammal diversity
Brian E. Reichert, Adia R. Sovie, Brad J. Udell, Kristen M. Hart, Rena R. Borkhataria, Mathieu Bonneau, Robert Reed, Robert A. McCleery
2017, Diversity and Distributions (23) 355-367
AimOur understanding of the effects of invasive species on faunal diversity is limited in part because invasions often occur in modified landscapes where other drivers of community diversity can exacerbate or reduce the net impacts of an invader. Furthermore, rigorous assessments of the effects of invasive species on native communities...
Estimating occupancy probability of moose using hunter survey data
Nathan J. Crum, Angela K. Fuller, Christopher S. Sutherland, Evan G. Cooch, Jeremy E. Hurst
2017, Journal of Wildlife Management (81) 521-534
Monitoring rare species can be difficult, especially across large spatial extents, making conventional methods of population monitoring costly and logistically challenging. Citizen science has the potential to produce observational data across large areas that can be used to monitor wildlife distributions using occupancy models. We used citizen science (i.e., hunter...
Bacterial, fungal, and plant communities exhibit no biomass or compositional response to two years of simulated nitrogen deposition in a semiarid grassland
Theresa A. McHugh, Ember M. Morrissey, Rebecca C. Mueller, La Verne Gallegos-Graves, Cheryl R. Kuske, Sasha C. Reed
2017, Environmental Microbiology (19) 1600-1611
Nitrogen (N) deposition affects myriad aspects of terrestrial ecosystem structure and function, and microbial communities may be particularly sensitive to anthropogenic N inputs. However, our understanding of N deposition effects on microbial communities is far from complete, especially for drylands where data are comparatively rare. To address the need for...
Community stability within the St. Marys River fish community: Evidence from trawl surveys
Jeffrey S. Schaeffer, Anjanette K. Bowen, David G. Fielder
2017, Journal of Great Lakes Research (43) 399-404
A trawl survey was conducted in the Saint Marys River during 2010–2011 and we compared our results to a prior trawl survey conducted during 1979–1983 to look for long-term changes in the fish community, especially in terms of changes induced by invasive species. We found no substantive temporal differences in...
Species composition, timing, and weather correlates of autumn open-water crossings by raptors migrating along the East-Asian Oceanic Flyway
Camille B. Concepcion, Patricia T. Dumandan, Medel R. Silvosa, Keith L. Bildstein, Todd E. Katzner
2017, Journal of Raptor Research (51) 25-37
Raptor migration rarely involves long-distance movements across open oceans. One exception occurs along the East-Asian Oceanic Flyway. We collected migration data at two terrestrial hawkwatch sites along this flyway to better understand open-ocean movements along this largely overwater corridor. At the northern end of the Philippines, at Basco on the...
Demersal fish assemblages on seamounts and other rugged features in the northeastern Caribbean
Andrea M. Quattrini, Amanda W.J. Demopoulos, Randal Singer, Adela Roa-Varon, Jason D. Chaytor
2017, Deep-Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers (123) 90-104
Recent investigations of demersal fish communities in deepwater (>50 m) habitats have considerably increased our knowledge of the factors that influence the assemblage structure of fishes across mesophotic to deep-sea depths. While different habitat types influence deepwater fish distribution, whether different types of rugged seafloor features provide functionally equivalent habitat...
The role of salinity tolerance and competition in the distribution of an endangered desert salt marsh endemic
Lesley A. DeFalco, Sara J. Scoles-Sciulla, Emily R. Beamguard
2017, Plant Ecology (218) 475-486
Rare plants are often associated with distinctive soil types, and understanding why endemic species occur in unique environments is fundamental for their management. At Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in southern Nevada, USA, we evaluated whether the limited distribution of endangered Amargosa niterwort (Nitrophila mohavensis) is explained by this species’...
A model to inform management actions as a response to chytridiomycosis-associated decline
Sarah J. Converse, Larissa L. Bailey, Brittany A. Mosher, W. Chris Funk, Brian D. Gerber, Erin L. Muths
2017, EcoHealth (14) 144-155
Decision-analytic models provide forecasts of how systems of interest will respond to management. These models can be parameterized using empirical data, but sometimes require information elicited from experts. When evaluating the effects of disease in species translocation programs, expert judgment is likely to play a role because complete empirical information...
Early postcaldera rhyolite and structural resurgence at Long Valley Caldera, California
Wes Hildreth, Judith E. Fierstein, Andrew T. Calvert
2017, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (335) 1-34
After the 767-ka caldera-forming eruption of 650 km3 of rhyolite magma as the Bishop Tuff, 90–100 km3 of similar rhyolite erupted in the west-central part of Long Valley caldera in as many as 40 batches spread over the 110,000-year interval from ~ 750 ka to ~ 640 ka. Centrally, this Early Rhyolite (ER) is as thick as 622 m, but it spread...
Stable isotope analysis as an early monitoring tool for community-scale effects of rat eradication
Katherine M. Nigro, Stacie A. Hathaway, Alex Wegmann, Ana Miller-ter Kuile, Robert N. Fisher, Hillary S. Young
2017, Restoration Ecology (25) 1015-1025
Invasive rats have colonized most of the islands of the world, resulting in strong negative impacts on native biodiversity and on ecosystem functions. As prolific omnivores, invasive rats can cause local extirpation of a wide range of native species, with cascading consequences that can reshape communities and ecosystems. Eradication of...
Functional traits and ecological affinities of riparian plants along the Colorado River in Grand Canyon
Emily C. Palmquist, Barbara E. Ralston, Sarr. Daniel, David Merritt, Patrick B Shafroth, Julian Scott
2017, Western North American Naturalist (77) 22-30
Trait-based approaches to vegetation analyses are becoming more prevalent in studies of riparian vegetation dynamics, including responses to flow regulation, groundwater pumping, and climate change. These analyses require species trait data compiled from the literature and floras or original field measurements. Gathering such data makes trait-based research time intensive at...
Similarities and differences in occurrence and temporal fluctuations in glyphosate and atrazine in small Midwestern streams (USA) during the 2013 growing season
Barbara Mahler, Peter C. Van Metre, Thomas E. Burley, Keith A. Loftin, Michael T. Meyer, Lisa H. Nowell
2017, Science of the Total Environment (579) 149-158
Glyphosate and atrazine are the most intensively used herbicides in the United States. Although there is abundant spatial and temporal information on atrazine occurrence at regional scales, there are far fewer data for glyphosate, and studies that compare the two herbicides are rare. We investigated temporal patterns in glyphosate and...
Using maximum entropy to predict suitable habitat for the endangered dwarf wedgemussel in the Maryland Coastal Plain
Cara Campbell, Robert H. Hilderbrand
2017, Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems (27) 462-475
Species distribution modelling can be useful for the conservation of rare and endangered species. Freshwater mussel declines have thinned species ranges producing spatially fragmented distributions across large areas. Spatial fragmentation in combination with a complex life history and heterogeneous environment makes predictive modelling difficult.A machine learning...
Geochemistry of host rocks in the Howards Pass district, Yukon-Northwest Territories, Canada: implications for sedimentary environments of Zn-Pb and phosphate mineralization
John F. Slack, Hendrik Falck, Karen D. Kelley, Gabriel G. Xue
2017, Mineralium Deposita (52) 565-593
Detailed lithogeochemical data are reported here on early Paleozoic sedimentary rocks that host the large Howards Pass stratiform Zn-Pb deposits in Yukon-Northwest Territories. Redox-sensitive trace elements (Mo, Re, V, U) and Ce anomalies in members of the Duo Lake Formation record significant environmental changes. During the deposition of lower footwall...
Natural resource inventory and monitoring for Ulaan Taiga Specially Protected Areas—An assessment of needs and opportunities in northern Mongolia
Peggy E. Moore, Joseph B. Meyer, Leslie S. Chow
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1025
Between 1997 and 2011, Mongolia established three specially protected areas in the north-central part of the country to protect various high-value resources. These areas are jointly referred to as the Ulaan Taiga Specially Protected Areas. In accordance with the goals of the draft general management plan, this report identifies...
Sources and dispersal of land-based runoff from small Hawaiian drainages to a coral reef: Insights from geochemical signatures
Renee K. Takesue, Curt D. Storlazzi
2017, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science (188) 69-80
Land-based sediment and contaminant runoff is a major threat to coral reefs, and runoff reduction efforts would benefit from knowledge of specific runoff sources. Geochemical signatures of small drainage basins were determined in the fine fraction of soil and sediment, then used in the nearshore region of a coral reef-fringed...
When perception reflects reality: Non-native grass invasion alters small mammal risk landscapes and survival
Joseph P. Ceradnini, Anna D. Chalfoun
2017, Ecology and Evolution (7) 1823-1835
Modification of habitat structure due to invasive plants can alter the risk landscape for wildlife by, for example, changing the quality or availability of refuge habitat. Whether perceived risk corresponds with actual fitness outcomes, however, remains an important open question. We simultaneously measured how habitat changes due to a common...
Preparing future fisheries professionals to make good decisions
Michael E. Colvin, James T. Peterson
2017, Fisheries (41) 473-474
Future fisheries professionals will face decision-making challenges in an increasingly complex field of fisheries management. Though fisheries students are well trained in the use of the scientific method to understand the natural world, they are rarely exposed to structured decision making (SDM) as part of an undergraduate or graduate education....
Landslide kinematics and their potential controls from hourly to decadal timescales: Insights from integrating ground-based InSAR measurements with structural maps and long-term monitoring data
William H. Schulz, Jeffrey A. Coe, P.P Ricci, Gregory M. Smoczyk, Brett L Shurtleff, J Panosky
2017, Geomorphology (285) 121-136
Knowledge of kinematics is rudimentary for understanding landslide controls and is increasingly valuable with greater spatiotemporal coverage. However, characterizing landslide-wide kinematics is rare, especially at broadly ranging timescales. We used highly detailed kinematic data obtained using photogrammetry and field mapping during the 1980s and 1990s and our 4.3-day ground-based InSAR...
Early detection monitoring for larval dreissenid mussels: How much plankton sampling is enough?
Timothy D. Counihan, Stephen M. Bollens
2017, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (189) 1-14
The development of quagga and zebra mussel (dreissenids) monitoring programs in the Pacific Northwest provides a unique opportunity to evaluate a regional invasive species detection effort early in its development. Recent studies suggest that the ecological and economic costs of a dreissenid infestation in the Pacific Northwest of the USA...
Complete genome sequence of the acetylene-fermenting Pelobacter sp. strain SFB93
John M. Sutton, Shaun Baesman, Janna L. Fierst, Amisha T. Poret-Peterson, Ronald S. Oremland, Darren S. Dunlap, Denise M. Akob
2017, Genome Announcements (5)
Acetylene fermentation is a rare metabolism that was previously reported as being unique to Pelobacter acetylenicus. Here, we report the genome sequence of Pelobacter sp. strain SFB93, an acetylene-fermenting bacterium isolated from sediments collected in San Francisco Bay, CA....
