Critical review of the phytohemagglutinin assay for assessing amphibian immunity
Lauren Hawley, Kelly L. Smalling, Scott Glaberman
2023, Conservation Physiology (11)
Infectious diseases are a major driver of the global amphibian decline. In addition, many factors, including genetics, stress, pollution, and climate change can influence the response to pathogens. Therefore, it is important to be able to evaluate amphibian immunity in the laboratory and in the field. The phytohemagglutinin (PHA) assay...
Saproxylic beetles' morphological traits and higher trophic guilds indicate boreal forest naturalness
Ross Wetherbee, Tone Birkemoe, Ryan C. Burner, Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson
2023, Ecology and Evolution (13)
Forests contribute to numerous ecosystem functions and services and contain a large proportion of terrestrial biodiversity, but they are being negatively impaced by anthropogenic activities. Forests that have never been clear-cut and have old growth characteristics, termed “near-natural,” often harbor different and richer species...
Assessing the use of long-term lek survey data to evaluate the effect of landscape characteristics and wind facilities on sharp-tailed grouse lek dynamics in North Dakota and South Dakota
Jill A. Shaffer, Deborah A. Buhl, Wesley E. Newton
2023, Open-File Report 2023-1091
The contribution of renewable energy to meet worldwide demand continues to grow. In the United States, wind energy is one of the fastest growing renewable energy sectors. Throughout the Great Plains of the United States, wind facilities often are placed in open landscapes of high-elevation grasslands, and those same habitats...
Feasibility of implementing a long-term plan to monitor the Arctic Basin polar bear subpopulation
Ryan H. Wilson, Jon Aars, Todd C. Atwood, Evan Richardson
2023, Report
The Arctic Basin (AB) polar bear subpopulation is the least studied of the 19 global polar bear subpopulations. The Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG) recognizes the AB subpopulation as a regional grouping intended to include bears that do not belong to any of the remaining subpopulations that have data to support boundary delineations....
MTAB 106, November 2023
Kyra Harvey, Jennifer L. McKay
2023, Newsletter
This Memo to All Banders (MTAB 106) was released in December 2023. Subjects in this memo are 1. The Chief’s Chirp 2. Alerts – Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, including guidance from other countries, reminder that banders cannot submit data through Bandit, only manage data; 3. Staff updates – Meeting Reports;...
Relative effectiveness of a radionuclide (210Pb), surface elevation table (SET), and LiDAR at monitoring mangrove forest surface elevation change
Richard A. MacKenzie, Ken Krauss, Nicole Cormier, Eugene Eperiam, Jan van Aardt, Ali Rouzbeh Kargar, Jessica Grow, J. Val Klump
2023, Estuaries and Coasts
Sea-level rise (SLR) is one of the greatest future threats to mangrove forests. Mangroves have kept up with or paced past SLR by maintaining their forest floor elevation relative to sea level through root growth, sedimentation, and peat development. Monitoring surface elevation change (SEC) or accretion rates...
Limited role of absolute humidity in intraurban heat variability
Darryn W. Waugh, Benjamin Zaitchik, Anna A. Scott, Peter Christian Ibsen, G. Darrel Jenerette, Jason Schartz, Christopher J. Kucharik
2023, Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology (62) 1845-1854
Monitoring and understanding the variability of heat within cities is important for urban planning and public health, and the number of studies measuring intraurban temperature variability is growing. Recognizing that the physiological effects of heat depend on humidity as well as temperature, measurement campaigns have included measurements of relative humidity...
Rapid Source Characterization of the 2023 Mw 6.8 Al Haouz, Morocco, Earthquake
William L. Yeck, Alexandra Elise Hatem, Dara Elyse Goldberg, William D. Barnhart, Jessica Ann Thompson Jobe, David R. Shelly, Antonio Villasenor, Harley Benz, Paul S. Earle
2023, The Seismological Record (3) 357-366
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) estimates source characteristics of significant damaging earthquakes, aiming to place events within their seismotectonic framework. Contextualizing the 8 September 2023, Mw 6.8 Al Haouz, Morocco, earthquake is challenging, because it occurred in an enigmatic region of active surface faulting,...
Hydration state and rheologic stratification of the lithospheric mantle beneath the North Anatolian Fault, Turkey
Alexander Dmitri Lusk, Vasileios Chatzaras, Ercan Aldanmaz, Basil Tikoff
2023, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (24)
We present constraints on the hydration state and rheology of the lithospheric mantle beneath the North Anatolian fault zone (NAFZ). Peridotite xenoliths from the Biyikali and Çorlu volcanic centers record deformational microstructures consistent with shearing in a lithosphere-scale transcurrent fault system. Analysis by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy indicates that nominally...
Do seeding and seedling planting result in similar restored plant communities?
Bradley J. Butterfield, Seth M. Munson
2023, Applied Vegetation Science (26)
AimsRestoration practitioners often face a tradeoff between low cost but risky seeding vs expensive but more reliable seedling planting to meet revegetation goals. Knowing under what environmental and management conditions direct seeding vs seedling planting benefit different species could improve restoration practice.MethodsWe compared seed...
Panel review of Ground Motion Characterization Model in 2023 NSHM
Jonathan P. Stewart, Norman A. Abrahamson, Gail M. Atkinson, John G. Anderson, Kenneth W. Campbell, Chris H. Cramer, Michael Kolaj, Grace Alexandra Parker
2023, Report
The 2023 National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM; Petersen et al., 2023) has two major components – a seismic source characterization (SSC) model and a ground motion characterization (GMC) model. The US Geological Survey (USGS) established separate panels to review and provide input on these two models. Both panels are...
Carbonate chemistry and carbon sequestration driven by inorganic carbon outwelling from mangroves and saltmarshes
Gloria Reithmaier, Alex Cabral, Anirban Akhand, Matthew Bogard, Alberto V. Borges, Steven Bouillon, David J. Burdige, Mitchel Call, Nengwang Chen, Xiaogang Chen, Jr. Cotovicz, Meagan J. Eagle, Erik Kristensen, Kevin D. Kroeger, Zeyang Lu, Damien Maher, Lucas Pérez-Lloréns, Raghab Ray, Pierre Taillardat, Joseph Tamborski, Robert C. Upstill-Goddard, Faming Wang, Zhaohui Aleck Wang, Kai Xiao, Yvonne Yau, Isaac Santos
2023, Nature (14)
Mangroves and saltmarshes are biogeochemical hotspots storing carbon in sediments and in the ocean following lateral carbon export (outwelling). Coastal seawater pH is modified by both uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide and natural biogeochemical processes, e.g., wetland inputs. Here, we investigate how mangroves and saltmarshes influence...
Decline in small mammal species richness in coastal-central California, 1997–2013
Yadav P. Ghimirey, William D. Tietje, Anne Y. Polyakov, James E. Hines, Madan K. Oli
2023, Ecology and Evolution (13)
The richness and composition of a small mammal community inhabiting semiarid California oak woodland may be changing in response to climate change, but we know little about the causes or consequence of these changes. We applied a capture-mark-recapture model to 17 years (1997–2013) of live trapping data to estimate species-specific abundances....
The Landscape Data Commons: A system for standardizing, accessing, and applying large environmental datasets for agroecosystem research and management
Sarah E. McCord, Nicholas P. Webb, Brandon T. Bestelmeyer, Kristopher Bonefont, Joseph R. Brehm, Joel R. Brown, Ericha M. Courtright, Christopher Dietrich, Michael C. Duniway, Brandon L. Edwards, Christopher Fraser, Jeffrey E. Herrick, Anna C Knight, Loretta J Metz, Justin W. Van Zee, Craig E. Tweedie
2023, Agricultural & Environmental Letters (8)
Understanding where, when, and why agroecosystems are changing requires quality information about ecosystems that span land tenure, ecological processes, and spatial scales. Over the past two decades, land management agencies and research groups have adopted a suite of standardized methods for monitoring rangelands, which have been implemented...
Comprehensive assessment of macroinvertebrate community condition and sediment toxicity in the Eighteenmile Creek Area of Concern, New York, 2021
Scott D. George, Barry P. Baldigo, Scott M. Collins, David B. Clarke, Brian T. Duffy
2023, Journal of Great Lakes Research (49)
The degradation of benthic communities (benthos) is one of four remaining beneficial use impairments (BUIs) in the Eighteenmile Creek Area of Concern (AOC), located on the south shore of Lake Ontario in New York. The historical rationale for listing this BUI as impaired relied heavily on inferred or expected impact...
America's most wanted fishes: Cataloging risk assessments to prioritize invasive species for management action
Emily M. Dean, Audrey Jordon, Aimee Christine Agnew, Nicole D Hernandez, Cayla R. Morningstar, Matthew Neilson, Sara Elizabeth Piccolomini, Brian Reichert, Amy Kristine Wray, Wesley M. Daniel
2023, Management of Biological Invasions (15) 1-20
Hundreds of fish species enter the United States through human intervention (e.g., importation) and some of these fishes pose a substantial risk to the nation’s assets and ecosystems. Prevention, early detection, and rapid response (EDRR) are vital to stop species invasions, but time and resources to manage the large suite...
Reproducibility starts at the source: R, Python, and Julia Packages for retrieving USGS hydrologic data
Timothy O. Hodson, Laura A. DeCicco, Jayaram Athreya Hariharan, Lee Stanish, Scott Black, J. S. Horsburgh
2023, Water (15)
Much of modern science takes place in a computational environment, and, increasingly, that environment is programmed using R, Python, or Julia. Furthermore, most scientific data now live on the cloud, so the first step in many workflows is to query a cloud database and load the response into a...
Mapping high marsh and salt pannes/flats along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast
Nicholas Enwright, Wyatt Charles Cheney, Kristine O. Evans, Hana R. Thurman, Mark S. Woodrey, Auriel M.V. Fournier, Jena A. Moon, Heather E. Levy, James A. Cox, Peter J. Kappes, John A. Nyman, Jonathan L. Pitchford
2023, Geocarto International (38)
Coastal wetlands are predicted to undergo extensive transformation due to climate and land use change. Baseline maps of coastal wetlands can be used to help assess changes. Found in the upper portion of the estuarine zone, high marsh and salt pannes/flats provide ecosystem goods and services and are particularly important...
Satellite telemetry reveals space use of diamondback terrapins
Margaret Lamont, Melissa E. Price, Daniel J. Catizone
2023, Animal Biotelemetry (11)
Movement and space use information of exploited and imperiled coastal species is critical to management and conservation actions. While satellite telemetry has been successfully used to document movements of marine turtles, the large tag sizes available have limited use on smaller turtle species. We used small...
Range-wide trends in tiger conservation landscapes, 2001 - 2020
Eric W. Sanderson, Dale G. Miquelle, Kim Fisher, Abishek Harihar, Chris Clark, Jesse Moy, Peter V. Potapov, Nathaniel P. Robinson, Lucinda Royte, Dustin Sampson, Jamie S Sanderlin, Charles Yackulic, Michael Belecky, Urs Breitenmoser, Christine Breitenmoser-Würsten, Pranav Chanchani, Stuart Chapman, Arpit Deomurari, Somphot Duangchantrasiri, Elisa Facchini, Thomas N.E. Gray, John Goodrich, Luke Hunter, Matthew Linkie, Willy Marthy, Akchousanh Rasphone, Sogoto Roy, Detrit Sittibal, Tshering Tempa, Mayuree Umponjan, Karen Wood
2023, Frontiers in Conservation Science (4)
Of all the ways human beings have modified the planet over the last 10,000 years, habitat loss is the most important for other species. To address this most critical threat to biodiversity, governments, non-governmental actors, and the public need to know, in near real-time, where and when habitat loss...
Understanding fatality patterns and sex ratios of Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) at wind energy facilities in western California and Texas
Sarah Licari, Amanda Hale, Sara Weaver, Sarah R. Fritts, Todd E. Katzner, David H. Nelson, Dean Williams
2023, PeerJ Life & Environment (11)
BackgroundOperation of wind turbines has resulted in collision fatalities for several bat species, and one proven method to reduce these fatalities is to limit wind turbine blade rotation (i.e., curtail turbines) when fatalities are expected to be highest. Implementation of curtailment can potentially be optimized by targeting times when...
Nisqually River Delta—Humans and nature benefiting together
Kristin B. Byrd, Isa Woo, Glynnis Nakai, Debbie Preston, Shonté Jenkins
2023, General Information Product 228
IntroductionThis is a brochure created in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Nisqually Indian Tribe, and the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. Designed for a public audience, the brochure describes the history of the Nisqually Indian Tribe, the ecology of the delta, the resources and recreational...
Conclusions of evaluation of restoration for avian species at Caminada Headland and Whiskey Island, Louisiana
Darin L. Lee, Amanda Nicole Anderson, Paul Leberg, Nicholas Enwright, J. Hardin Waddle, Delaina LeBlanc, Theodore J. Zenzal Jr.
2023, Report, Evaluation of Restoration for Avian Species at Caminada Headland and Whiskey Island in Louisiana
We conducted various analyses to determine the impact of coastal restoration on several focal avian species at Caminada Headland and Whiskey Island, Louisiana. We assessed if restoration affected avian use of restored sites by determining overall habitat changes, occupancy trends, and impacts of construction activities. Here, we summarize our findings...
Mapping habitats and shorelines pre-, during, and post-restoration on Caminada Headland and Whiskey Island, Louisiana, 2012–2020
Hana R. Thurman, Nicholas Enwright, Wyatt C Cheney, Jason Dugas, Darin M. Lee, William Jones
2023, Report, Evaluation of Restoration for Avian Species at Caminada Headland and Whiskey Island in Louisiana
Barrier islands and headlands provide ecological services that are integral to economic and environmental interests. Adaptive management may help in ensuring their resilience and the continued provision of ecosystems goods and services over time. The dynamic nature of these environments makes evaluating the impacts from restoration and extreme events an...
An introduction to the evaluation of restoration for avian species at Caminada Headland and Whiskey Island in Louisiana
Delaina LeBlanc, Amanda Nicole Anderson, Paul Leberg, Hardin Waddle, Nicholas Enwright, Hana R. Thurman, Theodore J. Zenzal Jr.
2023, Report, Evaluation of Restoration for Avian Species at Caminada Headland and Whiskey Island in Louisiana
Barrier islands are crucial for protecting Louisiana’s coastal communities and ecosystems as they reduce coastal erosion and help safeguard native flora and fauna. Along the Louisiana shoreline, these islands are mostly long and thin, running parallel to the shoreline. The islands typically consist of the following components: 1) a sandy...
