Hydroclimate projections and effects on runoff at National Wildlife Refuges in the semi-arid western U.S.
Brian S. Caruso, Lauren Ellissa Eng, Andrew R. Bock, Nicholas Graff Hall
2025, JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association (61)
This study evaluated hydroclimate projections and effects on runoff at National Wildlife Refuges in a semiarid region of the western United States (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Region 6) using mean air temperature (TAVE) and precipitation (PPT) inputs and runoff (RO) output from a national application of a Monthly Water...
Heterogeneity of locked‐pasture snow conditions modulate habitat and movement choices of a facultative migrant
Katherine Gura, Glen E. Liston, Adele K. Reinking, Bryan Bedrosian, Kelly Elder, Anna D. Chalfoun
2025, Ecology and Evolution (15)
Habitat selection and movement are key mechanisms by which animals can respond to and potentially cope with highly variable environmental conditions. Optimal responses likely vary, however, depending on the severity and scope of conditions. We tested this hypothesis using a facultative migrant species, the Great Gray Owl (Strix nebulosa), which...
Did the Aleutian Basin form by plate capture or backarc basin opening?
Robert J. Stern, David W. Scholl, Matthew A. Malkowski, Kylara M. Martin, Ginger Barth, Daniel S. Scheirer
2025, International Geology Review (67) 1697-1719
The origin of the Aleutian Basin is unresolved because its crust is deeply buried beneath sediments. It has been interpreted as forming in the Eocene when the Beringian convergent margin jumped seaward to south of the Aleutian arc, thereby capturing a large sector of Cretaceous Pacific crust. Alternatively, it may...
Reservoir thermal energy storage pre-assessment for the United States
Jeffrey D. Pepin, Erick R. Burns, Ryan Cain Cahalan, Daniel O. Hayba, Jesse E. Dickinson, Leslie L. Duncan, Eve L. Kuniansky
2025, Geothermics (129)
Storing thermal energy underground for later use in electricity production or direct-use heating/cooling is a promising, viable, and economical green energy option. Reservoir thermal energy storage (RTES) is one such option, which stores energy in underutilized permeable strata with low ambient groundwater flow rates and more geochemically evolved (e.g. brackish/saline)...
Grfin Tools—User guide and methods for modeling landslide runout and debris-flow growth and inundation
Mark E. Reid, Dianne L. Brien, Collin Cronkite-Ratcliff, Jonathan P. Perkins
2025, Techniques and Methods 14-A3
The software package, Grfin Tools, can estimate potential runout from landslides or inundation from geophysical mass flows such as debris flows, lahars from volcanoes, and rock avalanches within a digital elevation model (DEM). Grfin is an acronym of growth + flow + inundation. The tools within this package apply simple,...
Overcoming the data limitations in landslide susceptibility modelling
Jacob Bryson Woodard, Benjamin B. Mirus
2025, Science Advances (11)
Data-driven models widely used for assessing landslide susceptibility are severely limited by the landslide and environmental data needed to create them. They rely on inventories of past landslide locations, which are difficult to collect and often nonrepresentative. Furthermore, susceptibility maps are most needed in regions without the means to assemble...
Cancer risk and estimated lithium exposure in drinking groundwater in the US
Jiajun Luo, Liange Zheng, Zhihao Jin, Yuqing Yang, William I. Krakowka, Eric Hong, Melissa A. Lombard, Joseph D. Ayotte, Habibul Ahsan, Jayant M. Pinto, Briseis Aschebrook-Kilfoy
2025, JAMA Network Open (8)
Importance Lithium is a naturally occurring element in drinking water and is commonly used as a mood-stabilizing medication. Although clinical studies have reported associations between receiving lithium treatment and reduced cancer risk among patients with bipolar disorder, to our knowledge, the association between environmental lithium exposure and cancer risk has never...
Conservation translocation immediately reverses decline in imperiled sage-grouse populations
Mary B. Meyerpeter, Peter S. Coates, Megan C. Milligan, Brian G. Prochazka, Kade D. Lazenby, Steve Abele, John C. Tull, Katherine Miller, Jesse L. Kolar, Steven R. Mathews, David K. Dehlgren, David J. Delehanty
2025, Biological Conservation (304)
Conservation translocation (hereafter translocation), the intentional movement of organisms from one location to another as a management tool, can be an extremely useful conservation action to increase the abundance of isolated populations following successful habitat restoration. However, managers seek to weigh the benefits against costs to the source population from...
Spatially explicit capture-recapture using fecal DNA to estimate elk population abundance and growth in western North Carolina, USA
Jessica L. Braunstein, Joseph D. Clark, Benjamin C. Augustine, Caleb R. Hickman, Justin McVey, Joseph G. Yarkovich
2025, Journal of Wildlife Management (89)
In an effort to restore extirpated elk to their historical range, 52 elk were reintroduced to Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) in North Carolina, USA, during 2001 and 2002. Since their reintroduction, elk numbers have increased, and elk have extended their range beyond GRSM boundaries. We used spatially explicit...
Current distribution of the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) in the United States
Brett Alexander DeGregorio, Anant Deshwal
2025, Diversity (17)
The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus: hereafter armadillo) was first recorded in the United States (U.S.) in the state of Texas in 1849 and has been expanding its range northward and eastward since then. With the widespread adoption of participatory science as well as the proliferation of nationwide wildlife game...
Community estimate of global glacier mass changes from 2000 to 2023
GlaMBIE Team, Michael Zemp, Livia Jakob, Ines Dussaillant, Samuel U. Nussbaumer, Noel Gourmelen, Sophie Dubber, A. Geruo, Sahra Abdullahi, Liss M. Andreassen, Etienne Berthier, Atanu Bhattacharya, Alejandro Blazquez, Laura Boehm Vock, Tobias Bolch, Jason Box, Matthias H. Braun, Fanny Brun, Eric Cicero, William Colgan, Nicolas Eckert, D. Farinotti, Caitlyn Florentine, Dana Floricioiu, Alex Gardner, Christopher Harig, Javed Hassan, Romain Hugonnet, Matthias Huss, Tómas Jóhannesson, Chia-Chun Angela Liang, Chang-Qing Ke, Shfaqat Abbas, Owen King, Marin Kneib, Lukas Krieger, Fabien Maussion, Enrico Mattea, Robert McNabb, Brian Menounos, Evan Miles, Geir Moholdt, Johan Nilsson, F. Palsson, Julia Pfeffer, Livia Piermattei, Stephen Plummer, Andreas Richter, Ingo Sasgen, Lilian Schuster, Thorsten Seehaus, Xiaoyi Shen, Christian Sommer, Tyler Sutterley, Desiree Treichler, Isabella Velicogna, Bert Wouters, Harry Zekollari, Whyjay Zheng
2025, Nature (639) 382-388
Glaciers are indicators of ongoing anthropogenic climate change1. Their melting leads to increased local geohazards<a...
Implications of physics-based M9 ground motions on liquefaction-induced damage in the Cascadia Subduction Zone: Looking forward and backward
Ryan A. Rasanen, Alex R. Grant, Andrew James Makdisi, Brett W. Maurer, Erin A. Wirth
2025, Earthquake Spectra
Given the likelihood of future M9 Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) earthquakes, various estimates of the resulting, regional ground motions have been made, including a suite of 30 physics-based simulations that reflect key modeling uncertainties. However, because the last CSZ interface rupture occurred in 1700 CE, the shaking expected in such...
Not just corticosterone: Further characterization of the endocrine response of Kemp’s ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys kempii) reveals elevated plasma aldosterone concentrations during field capture events
Charles J. Innis, Katherine M. Graham, Cody R. Mott, Kristen Hart, David Roche, Michael Cherkiss, Elizabeth A. Burgess
2025, Animals (15)
To develop safe and effective management policies, it is important to understand the physiologic effects of fishing interactions and scientific research methods on endangered marine species. In the present study, validated assays for plasma corticosterone, free thyroxine (fT4), and aldosterone were used to assess the endocrine status of 61 presumed...
What is a specialist? Quantifying host breadth enables impact prediction for invasive herbivores
Ashley N. Schulz, Nathan P. Havill, Travis D. Marsico, Matthew P. Ayres, Kamal J.K. Gandhi, Daniel A. Herms, Angela M. Hoover, Ruth A. Hufbauer, Andrew M. Liebhold, Kenneth F. Raffa, Kathryn A. Thomas, Patrick C. Tobin, Daniel R. Uden, Angela M. Mech
2025, Ecology Letters (28)
Herbivores are commonly classified as host specialists or generalists for various purposes, yet the definitions of these terms, and their intermediates, are often imprecise and ambiguous. We quantified host breadth for 240 non-native, tree-feeding insects in North America using phylogenetic diversity. We demonstrated that a partitioning of...
Quantifying regional ecological dynamics using agency monitoring data, ecological site descriptions, and ecological site groups
Michael C. Duniway, Anna C. Knight, Travis W. Nauman, Tara B.B. Bishop, Sarah E. McCord, Nicholas P. Webb, C. Jason Williams, Joel T. Humphries
2025, Rangeland Ecology & Management (99) 119-142-142
Information about what ecological conditions are likely, causes or drivers of degradation, and potential management actions to restore degraded lands may support land conservation and restoration decisions. State-and-transition models (STMs) describe persistent plant and ecological conditions that are possible (the “state”) within a given abiotic setting and drivers or actions...
Reduction of red bed sedimentary rocks in connection with energy metal ore formation: A case study from the Sinbad seep, Mesa County, Colorado
Isabel Barton, Jon P. Thorson, Susan Hall, Robert A. Zielinski, Jennifer McIntosh, Ji-Hyun Kim
2025, Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (42) 1177-1197
The Paradox Basin’s Sinbad seep is a modern analog for ancient bleaching of red bed sediments by introduced alkaline, reducing brines. This bleaching, involving reductive alteration of former red beds, is essential ground preparation that enables the altered rocks to trap Cu, U, and V from later oxidized fluids, forming...
Re-evaluating the tectonic affinity of Proterozoic crustal provinces in the Southwest USA: Detrital zircon evidence for a Laurentian source for the Yavapai and Mojave Provinces
Ian William Hillenbrand, Amy K. Gilmer, Wayne R. Premo, Michael L. Williams, Michael J. Jercinovic
2025, Geological Society of America Bulletin (137) 2965-2981
Models for crustal growth commonly involve the accretion of dominantly juvenile crust to continental margins. However, tracking the provenance and tectonic affinity of dominantly juvenile crustal provinces is challenging. This difficulty is highlighted by uncertainty over whether the Yavapai and Mojave Provinces, part of the >1300-km-wide system of Proterozoic orogens...
Increased heterozygosity and body condition result from admixed translocation of the threatened Mogollon Narrow-headed Gartersnake (Thamnophis rufipunctatus)
Dustin A. Wood, Bruce L. Christman, Randy D. Jennings, Jonathan P. Rose, Erika M. Nowak, Justin Schofer, Amy G. Vandergast
2025, Conservation Genetics (26) 403-418
Enhancing gene flow through translocations can be a useful tool in recovering small and isolated populations. However, it is not devoid of genetic risks, such as outbreeding depression in future generations, that can have negative consequences in terms of the establishment and mean fitness of the population. Studies that monitor...
Application of transcriptomics concentration-response modeling for prioritization of contaminants detected in tributaries of the North American Great Lakes
Jenna Cavallin, Kendra Bush, Steven R. Corsi, Laura A. DeCicco, Kevin Flynn, Alex Kasparek, Monique Hazimi, Erin Maloney, Peter Schuman, Daniel Villeneuve
2025, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (44) 1310-1321
As part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, chemical monitoring and surveillance efforts have detected approximately 330 chemicals in surface water of Great Lakes tributaries. There were 140 chemicals for which no empirical toxicity data were available. The aim of this study was to generate transcriptomic points of departure (tPODs)...
Reevaluating the depositional model of the Cenomanian–Turonian Bridge Creek Limestone Member near Pueblo, Colorado, U.S.A.: Roles of changing sedimentation rate on the formation of limestone–marl bedding couplets
Zhiyang Li, Jason A. Flaum
2025, Journal of Sedimentary Research (95) 186-208
Although interbedded limestone–marl couplets in many hemipelagic and pelagic deposits have been commonly attributed to orbital-driven climate cycles, the driving mechanisms of these couplets remain largely controversial. This situation arises from the fact that detailed sedimentologic and petrographic facies characteristics of these fine-grained deposits have rarely been examined closely. In...
Developing a probabilistic tsunami hazard assessment framework for Pacific sources: USGS Powell Center meeting summary
Jason R. Patton, Stephanie L Ross, Marie C. Eble, Christodoulos Kyriakopoulos, Patrick J. Lynett, DmitriyJ. Nicolsky, Kenneth Ryan, Hong Kie Thio, Rick I. Wilson, Baoning Wu
2025, Environmental & Engineering Geoscience (31) 67-76
Multi-organizational principal investigators formed a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Powell Center Working Group (WG), Tsunami Source Standardization for Hazards Mitigation in the United States, to develop a comprehensive series of sources capable of generating tsunamis that could impact U.S. state and territory coastal areas using probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis (PTHA)....
Does habitat or climate change drive species range shifts?
Toni Lyn Morelli, Michael T. Hallworth, Timothy Duclos, Adam Ells, Steven D. Faccio, Jane R. Foster, Kent P. McFarland, Keith Nislow, Joel Ralston, Mary Ratnaswamy, William V. Deluca, Alexej P.K. Siren
2025, Ecography (2025)
A primary prediction of climate change ecology is that species will track their climate niche poleward and upslope. However, studies have shown species responding in surprising ways. In this study, we aim to understand the impact of global change on species ranges by considering both climate and habitat changes. Using...
Multispectral red-edge indices accurately estimate nitrogen content in winter cereal cover crops
Alison Thieme, Jyoti Jennewein, W. Dean Hively, Brian T. Lamb, Alicia Whitcraft, S.B. Mirsky, S.C. Reberg-Horton, C. Justice
2025, Agronomy Journal (117)
Winter cover crops reduce erosion and nutrient runoff from agricultural systems. Although cereal cover crops can decrease field nitrate leaching by 50%–95%, the magnitude of this reduction varies within and between fields, making it challenging to monitor the impact of cover crops on nitrate leaching at large spatial extents. Satellite...
Exploration for blind geothermal systems in the eastern Great Basin of Utah: An update on the “Lund North” INGENIOUS detailed study site
Christian L. Hardwick, Eugene Szymanski, Nicole R. Hart-Wagoner, S. Ashton, N. Christensen, Tait E. Earney, James E. Faulds, Jonathan M.G. Glen, A.I. Hiscock, Stefan Kirby, T. Knudsen, S. Kobe, Cary R. Lindsey, Benjamin Lyter Morbeck, Jared R. Peacock, Grant Harold Rea-Downing, William D. Schermerhorn, K. Smith
2025, Conference Paper, Proceedings, 50th workshop on geothermal reservoir engineering
Existing geothermal production in Utah is commonly collocated with surficial expressions of geothermal heat including active hot springs and hot spring deposits. However, geothermal potential across the Great Basin region is thought to be much higher for hidden or blind geothermal systems. Accordingly, exploration techniques that can locate geothermal resources...
Molluscan isotope sclerochronology in marine palaeoclimatology: Taxa, technique and timespan issues
Andrew Johnson, Bernd Schone, Sierra V. Petersen, Niels de Winter, Harry J. Dowsett, Jean-Francois Cudennec, Elizabeth Harper, Ian Winkelstern
2025, Quaternary Science Reviews (350)
Study of the accretionary biomineralised hardparts of organisms (sclerochronology) can make a useful contribution to palaeoclimatology. Ontogenetic sequences of isotopic data (δ18O and Δ47 values) from the shells of marine molluscs are a source of information on seasonal sea-surface temperatures that can be used for detailed and rigorous evaluation of the...
