Synchrony of alewife, Alosa pseudoharengus, year-class strength in the Great Lakes region
Les D. Warren, Andrew Edgar Honsey, David Bunnell, Paris D. Collingsworth, Darryl W. Hondorp, Charles P. Madenjian, David Warner, Brian Weidel, Tomas O. Hook
2024, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (81) 1456-1467
Fish recruitment is interannually variable and challenging to predict. Annual recruitment is often regionally synchronized among populations and identifying drivers of such synchrony may help shed light on recruitment dynamics. We investigated interannual variation of alewife Alosa pseudoharengus recruitment by estimating year-class strength for populations from three of the...
The value of information is context dependent: A demonstration of decision tools to address multispecies river temperature management under uncertainty
Brian D. Healy, Michael C. Runge, Michael P Beakes, Corey C. Phillis, Alexander J. Jensen, Joshua A. Israel
2024, Fisheries (49) 508-523
Trade-offs among objectives in natural resource management can be exacerbated in altered ecosystems and when there is uncertainty in predicted management outcomes. Multi-criteria decision analysis and value of information (VOI) are underutilized decision tools that can assist fisheries managers in handling trade-offs and evaluating...
Assessing factors related to Walleye stocking success in the Midwestern United States
Robert P. Davis, Daniel A. Isermann
2024, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (44) 1008-1024
Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate stocking success of Walleye Sander vitreus in lakes and reservoirs across the Midwestern United States to inform stocking practices for state agencies. Demand for Walleye stocking may increase if climate change limits the potential for natural recruitment in lakes. Consequently, the strategic distribution...
RE-ARMing salt marshes: A resilience-experimentalist approach to prescribed fire and bird conservation in high marshes of the Gulf of Mexico
Michelle Stantial, Auriel Fournier, Abigail Jean Lawson, Bruce G. Marcot, Mark S. Woodrey, James E. Lyons
2024, Frontiers in Conservation Science (5)
Uncertainty, complexity, and dynamic changes present challenges for conservation and natural resource management. Evidence-based approaches grounded in reliable information and rigorous analysis can enhance the navigation of the uncertainties and trade-offs inherent in conservation problems. This study highlights the importance of collaborative efforts and evidence-based decision-making, specifically implementing the Resilience-Experimentalist...
Mitigating disparate elevation differences between adjacent topobathymetric data models using binary code
William M. Cushing, Dean J. Tyler
2024, Remote Sensing (16)
Integrating coastal topographic and bathymetric data for creating regional seamless topobathymetric digital elevation models of the land/water interface presents a complex challenge due to the spatial and temporal gaps in data acquisitions. The Coastal National Elevation Database (CoNED) Applications Project develops topographic (land elevation) and bathymetric (water depth) regional...
Informative priors can account for location uncertainty in stop-level analyses of the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), allowing fine-scale ecological analyses
Ryan C. Burner, Alan Kirschbaum, Jeffrey A. Hostetler, David Ziolkowski, Nicholas M. Anich, Daniel Turek, Eli D. Striegel, Neal D. Niemuth
2024, Ornithological Applications (126)
Ecological inferences are often based on the locations at which species are present, but many species records have substantial uncertainty in spatial metadata, limiting their utility for fine-scale analyses. This is especially prevalent in historical records such as museum specimens, and in some citizen-science data. For example, the North...
Detecting stochasticity in population time series using a non-parametric test of intrinsic predictability
Bilgecan Sen, Christian Joseph Che-Castaldo, Heather J. Lynch, Francesco Ventura, Michelle A. LaRue, Stephanie Jenouvrier
2024, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (15) 1834-1846
1. Many ecological systems dominated by stochastic dynamics can produce complex time series that inherently limit forecast accuracy. The ‘intrinsic predictability’ of these systems can be approximated by a time series complexity metric called weighted permutation entropy (WPE). While WPE is a useful metric to gauge forecast performance prior to...
Geodetic monitoring of the recent activity and the dome forming eruption at Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia), 2010–2023
Milton Ordonez, Juan Idárraga, Roberta Adamo, Maurizio Battaglia
2024, Scientific Reports (14)
Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia) is infamous for the catastrophic eruption of 1985 that destroyed the villages of Armero and Chinchiná. However, this was not the volcano’s first destructive event; similar eruptions also occurred in 1595 and 1845. In 1985, the limited geodetic data available failed to provide a clear warning...
Bay Miwok evening primrose: A new subspecies of Oenothera deltoides (Onagraceae) endemic to California
Scott F. Jones, Elizabeth R. Milano, Ryan O’Dell, Molly Ferrell, Amy G. Vandergast, Karen M. Thorne
2024, Madroño (71) 84-104
California contains exceptional biodiversity in geography and plant life, including numerous endemic species, some of which are cryptic. The Oenothera deltoides Torr. & Frém. species complex represents a prime example of cryptic diversity. Here, we recognize a new subspecies of Oenothera deltoides, O. deltoides subsp. julpunensis S.F.Jones, subsp. nov., that is a local endemic of windblown sand...
Identifying Pareto-efficient eradication strategies for invasive populations
Amy A. Yackel Adams, Nathan J. Hostetter, William A. Link, Sarah J. Converse
2024, Conservation Letters (17)
Invasive species are a major cause of biodiversity loss and are notoriously expensive and challenging to manage. We developed a decision-analytic framework for evaluating invasive species removal strategies, given objectives of maximizing eradication probability and minimizing costs. The framework uses an existing estimation model for spatially referenced removal data—one of...
Neotectonic mapping of Puerto Rico
Jessica Ann Thompson Jobe, Richard W. Briggs, K. Stephen Hughes, J. Joyce, Ryan D. Gold, Shannon A. Mahan, Harrison J. Gray, Laura E. Strickland
2024, Seismica (3) 1-34
Puerto Rico is part of the Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands microplate, along the Caribbean–North American plate boundary between the Puerto Rico trench subduction zone and the Muertos Trough incipient subduction zone. Despite recent seismicity and geodetically constrained deformation of ~3 mm/yr of left-lateral shear across the island, Quaternary fault locations remain...
Efficacy of non-lead ammunition distribution programs to offset fatalities of golden eagles in southeast Wyoming
Vincent S. Slabe, Ross H. Crandall, Todd E. Katzner, Adam E. Duerr, Tricia A. Miller
2024, Journal of Wildlife Management (88)
Golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) face many anthropogenic risks including illegal shooting, electrocution, collision with wind turbines and vehicles, and lead poisoning. Minimizing or offsetting eagle deaths resulting from human-caused sources is often viewed as an important management objective. Despite understanding the leading anthropogenic sources of eagle fatalities, existing scientific research...
Reexamining the Honolulu Volcanics: Hawai‘i's classic case of rejuvenation volcanism
Michael O. Garcia, Marc D. Norman, Brian Jicha, Kendra J. Lynn, Peng Jiang
2024, Journal of Petrology (65)
Rejuvenated volcanism is a worldwide phenomenon occurring on many oceanic islands in all of the major ocean basins. This plume-related volcanism follows the main edifice-building stage after a hiatus of variable duration (e.g. 0.6–2 Myrs in Hawai'i). The Honolulu Volcanics (HV), the classic case of rejuvenated volcanism, involved monogenetic eruptions...
Low-flow statistics computed for streamflow gages and methods for estimating selected low-flow statistics for ungaged stream locations in Ohio, water years 1975–2020
Branden L. VonIns, G. F. Koltun
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5075
A study was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Ohio Water Development Authority and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, to compute low-flow frequency, flow-duration, and harmonic mean flow statistics for long-term streamflow gages and to develop regression equations to estimate those statistics at unregulated, ungaged stream...
Parsimonious high-resolution landslide susceptibility modeling at continental scales
Benjamin B. Mirus, Gina Marie Belair, Nathan J. Wood, Jeanne M. Jones, Sabrina N. Martinez
2024, AGU Advances (5)
Landslide susceptibility maps are fundamental tools for risk reduction, but the coarse resolution of current continental-scale models is insufficient for local application. Complex relations between topographic and environmental attributes characterizing landslide susceptibility at local scales are not transferrable across areas without landslide data. Existing maps with multiple...
Lead isotopes constrain Precambrian crustal architecture, thermal history, and lithospheric foundering in Laurentia
Ian William Hillenbrand
2024, Terra Nova (37) 65-76
Laurentia (ancestral North America) records nearly 4 billion years of crustal evolution. Here, a newly compiled continental-scale Pb isotopic database is used to evaluate the Precambrian crustal evolution of Laurentia. Pb model ages yield a 2.7 Ga peak, a 2.5–1.8 Ga minimum and 1.8–0.9 Ga continuum. Pb model ages...
Hookworm prevalence in ocelots in Costa Rica is inconsistent with spillover from domestic dogs despite high overlap
Juan S. Vargas Soto, Katelyn M. Gstic, Natalka A. Melnycky, Julianna G. Johnson, Andrew P. Dobson, Peter S. Coates, Claire J. Standley, Peter K. Molnar
2024, Ecosphere (15) e4947
Spatial overlap between wildlife and related domestic animals can lead to disease transmission, with substantial evidence for viral and bacterial spillover. Domestic and wild animals can also share potentially harmful helminth parasites, many of which have environmental transmission stages that do not require direct...
Precariously balanced rocks in northern New York and Vermont, U.S.A.: Ground-motion constraints and implications for fault sources
Devin McPhillips, Thomas L. Pratt
2024, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (114) 3171-3182
Precariously balanced rocks (PBRs) and other fragile geologic features have the potential to constrain the maximum intensity of earthquake ground shaking over millennia. Such constraints may be particularly useful in the eastern United States (U.S.), where few earthquake‐source faults are reliably identified,...
Suspended sediment and trace element transport in the Big River downstream from the Old Lead Belt in southeastern Missouri, 2018–21
Kendra M. Markland, Camille E. Buckley
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5085
Lead Belt, an area of major lead mining from the 1860s until 1972 where more than 8.5 million tons of lead were mined. After active mining ceased, the effects of mining activities persisted in the Big River system because of large mine waste pile erosion, and floodplain sediment and streambank...
Evaluating habitat use and relative abundance of Iowa's river otter with harvest data
Bridget A. Nixon, Vince Evelsizer, Robert W. Klaver
2024, Wildlife Society Bulletin (48)
The North American river otter (Lontra canadensis) was extirpated from much of the United States in the early 20th century due to habitat loss, pollution of waterways, and overharvesting. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources began a river otter reintroduction effort in 1985, which placed otters in 14 sites across...
Mantle melting in regions of thick continental lithosphere: Examples from Late Cretaceous and younger volcanic rocks, Southern Rocky Mountains, Colorado (USA)
Lang Farmer, Leah E. Morgan, M. Cosca, James Mize, Treasure Bailey, Kenzie J. Turner, Cameron Mark Mercer, Eric T Ellison, Aaron Bell
2024, Geosphere (20) 1411-1440
Major- and trace-element data together with Nd and Sr isotopic compositions and 40Ar/39Ar age determinations were obtained for Late Cretaceous and younger volcanic rocks from north-central Colorado, USA, in the Southern Rocky Mountains to assess the sources of mantle-derived melts in a region underlain...
Using parentage-based tagging to estimate survival of Chinook salmon fry in a large storage reservoir
Adam Pope, Tobias Kock, Russell Perry, Karen M. Cogliati, Kathleen G. O'Malley, Christina Amy Murphy, Dalton Hance, Scott D. Fielding
2024, Environmental Biology of Fishes (107) 735-754
Research efforts focusing on salmonid populations have highlighted the need to better understand demographic parameters for the fry and parr life stages. Monitoring these small fish presents a challenge because negative effects from handling and tagging can bias subsequent parameter estimates. Removal models and associated sampling...
Estimating the benefits of floodplain restoration to juvenile Chinook salmon in the upper San Francisco Estuary, United States, under future climate scenarios
Brock M. Huntsman, Marissa L. Wulff, Noah Knowles, Ted Sommer, Frederick V. Feyrer, Larry R. Brown
2024, Restoration Ecology (32)
Many river systems within the Central Valley of California have been disconnected from their floodplains, hypothesized to be partially responsible for declining Chinook salmon populations (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). The primary floodplain of the system, Yolo By-Pass (known regionally as “Yolo Bypass”), offered an opportunity to examine whether improved connectivity between the...
Terrebonne Basin northern Gulf of Mexico, 30 July-28 September 2023
Peter B. Flemings, Carla Thomas, Stephen C. Phillips, Timothy Collett, Ann E. Cook, Evan S. Solomon, Frederick S. Colwell, Joel E. Johnson, David Awwiller, Irita Aylward, Athma Bhandari, Donald Brooks, Alejandro Cardona, Michael Casso, Rachel Coyte, Tom Darrah, Marcy Davis, Brandon Dugan, Dan Duncan, John T. Germaine, Melanie Holland, Jesse Houghton, N. Tanner Mills, Michael Mimitz, Daniel Minarich, Yuki Morono, Zachary Murphy, Joshua O’Connell, Ethan Petrou, Tom Pettigrew, John Pohlman, Alexey Portnov, Marcie Purkey Phillips, Thomas Redd, Derek E. Sawyer, Peter Schultheiss, Kelly Shannon, Camille Sullivan, Cathal Small, Kayla Tozier, Man-Yin Tsang, Camila Van Der Maal, William F. Waite, Taylor Walton
2024, Report
In the summer and fall of 2023, the Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Hydrate Coring Expedition (UT-GOM2-2) drilled, cored, made downhole measurements, and analyzed samples from the seafloor to the base of the gas hydrate stability zone in one location (Site H, WR313) in the Terrebonne basin, deepwater Gulf of Mexico....
Birdwatching preferences reveal synergies and tradeoffs among recreation, carbon, and fisheries ecosystem services in Pacific Northwest estuaries, USA
Kristin B. Byrd, Isa Woo, Laurie Anne Hall, Emily Pindilli, Monica Moritsch, Anthony Good, Susan E.W. De La Cruz, Melanie J. Davis, Glynnis Nakai
2024, Ecosystem Services (69)
Coastal ecosystems provide multiple ecosystem services that are valued in diverse ways. The Nisqually River Delta (the Delta), an estuary in Puget Sound, Washington, U.S.A., is co-managed by the Nisqually Indian Tribe and the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. In an ecosystem services assessment, we used different service-appropriate...
