Morphology and composition of Goldeye (Hiodontidae; Hiodon alosoides) otoliths
James M. Long, Richard A. Snow, Brenda M. Pracheil, Bryan C. Chakaoumakous
2021, Journal of Morphology (282) 511-519
We provide up-to-date morphological and compositional data on otoliths of the osteoglossomorph Goldeye (Hiodon alosoides). Using computed tomography (CT) X-ray, we documented the location of each of the three pairs of otoliths (lapilli, sagittae, and asterisci) in relation to the swim bladder, which extended forward in close proximity to the...
Microplastics in the Delaware River, northeastern United States
Austin K. Baldwin, Andrew R. Spanjer, Brett Hayhurst, Donald Hamilton
2021, Fact Sheet 2020-3071
Microplastics are a contaminant of increasing concern in aquatic environments. Our understanding of microplastics in freshwater environments has increased dramatically over the past decade, but we still lack information on microplastic occurrence and biological uptake in National Park Service (NPS) waters. During 2015–19, the U.S. Geological Survey and the NPS...
Near-real-time volcanic cloud monitoring: Insights into global explosive volcanic eruptive activity through analysis of Volcanic Ash Advisories
Samantha Engwell, Larry G. Mastin, Andrew C. Tupper, Jamie Kibler, Paula Acethorpe, G. Lord, R. Filgueira
2021, Bulletin of Volcanology (83)
Understanding the location, intensity, and likely duration of volcanic hazards is key to reducing risk from volcanic eruptions. Here, we use a novel near-real-time dataset comprising Volcanic Ash Advisories (VAAs) issued over 10 years to investigate global rates and durations of explosive volcanic activity. The VAAs were collected from the nine...
Predictors of invertebrate biomass and rate of advancement of invertebrate phenology across eight sites in the North American Arctic
Rebecca Shaftel, Daniel J. Rinella, Eunbi Kwon, Stephen C. Brown, H. River Gates, Steve Kendall, David B. Lank, Joseph R. Liebezeit, David C. Payer, Jennie Rausch, Sarah T. Saalfeld, Brett K. Sandercock, Paul A. Smith, David H. Ward, Richard B. Lanctot
2021, Polar Biology (44) 237-257
Average annual temperatures in the Arctic increased by 2–3 °C during the second half of the twentieth century. Because shorebirds initiate northward migration to Arctic nesting sites based on cues at distant wintering grounds, climate-driven changes in the phenology of Arctic invertebrates may lead to a mismatch between the nutritional demands...
Evaluating the use of marine protected areas by endangered species: A habitat selection approach
Kelsey E. Roberts, Brian J. Smith, Derek A. Burkholder, Kristen Hart
2021, Ecological Solutions and Evidence (2)
1. Optimizing the design of marine protected area (MPA) networks for the conservation of migratory marine species and their habitats involves a suite of important considerations, such as appropriate scale requirements and the distribution of anthropogenic impacts. Often, a fundamental component of the conservation planning process is delineating areas of...
Valleys of fire: Historical fire regimes of forest-grassland ecotones across the montane landscape of the Valles Caldera National Preserve, New Mexico, USA
J. J. Dewar, Donald A. Falk, T. W. Swetnam, C. H. Baisan, Craig D. Allen, R. R. Parmenter, Ellis Margolis
2021, Landscape Ecology (36) 331-352
ContextMontane grasslands and forest-grassland ecotones are unique and dynamic components of many landscapes, but the processes that regulate their dynamics are difficult to observe over ecologically relevant time spans.ObjectivesWe aimed to demonstrate the efficacy of using grassland-forest ecotone trees to reconstruct spatial and temporal properties of...
A metapopulation model of social group dynamics and disease applied to Yellowstone wolves
Ellen E. Brandell, A P Dobson, Peter J. Hudson, Paul C. Cross, Douglas W. Smith
2021, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (118)
The population structure of social species has important consequences for both their demography and transmission of their pathogens. We develop a metapopulation model that tracks two key components of a species’ social system: average group size and number of groups within a population. While the model...
Precipitation characteristics and land cover control wet season runoff source and rainfall partitioning in three humid tropical catchments in central Panama
Andrew L. Birch, Robert Stallard, Holly R. Barnard
2021, Water Resources Research (57)
Mechanisms of runoff generation in the humid tropics are poorly understood, particularly in the context of land-use/land cover change. This study analyzed the results of 124 storm hydrographs from three humid tropical catchments of markedly different vegetation cover and land-use history in central Panama during the...
Space matters: Host spatial structure and the dynamics of plague transmission
Robin E. Russell, Daniel P. Walsh, Michael D. Samuel, Martin S. Grunnill, Tonie E. Rocke
2021, Ecological Modelling (443)
The development of models to elucidate the transmission pathways and dynamics of wildlife diseases remains challenging. Sylvatic plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis (Yp), is an infectious zoonotic disease that primarily affects wild rodents, including prairie...
Linking field and laboratory studies: Reproductive effects of perfluorinated substances on avian populations
Christine M. Custer
2021, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (17) 690-696
Although both laboratory and field studies are needed to effectively assess effects and risk of contaminants to free-living organisms, the limitations of each must be understood. The objectives of this paper are to examine information on field studies of reproductive effects of perfluorinated substances (PFASs) on bird populations, discuss the...
Neither microcystin, nor nodularin, nor cylindrospermopsin directly interact with human toll-like receptors
John Hansen, Keith A. Loftin, Zachary R. Laughrey, Ondrei Adamovsky
2021, Chemosphere (274)
Various stressors including temperature, environmental chemicals, and toxins can have profound impacts on immunity to pathogens. Increased eutrophication near rivers and lakes coupled with climate change are predicted to lead to increased algal blooms. Currently, the effects of cyanobacterial toxins on disease resistance in mammals is a largely unexplored area...
Coseismic surface displacement in the 2019 ridgecrest earthquakes: Comparison of field measurements and optical image correlation results
Ryan D. Gold, Christopher DuRoss, William D. Barnhart
2021, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (22)
A fundamental topic in earthquake studies is understanding the extent to which fault rupture at the surface is localized on primary fault strands as opposed to distributed tens to hundreds of meters away from primary ruptures through off‐fault deformation (OFD) via a combination of discrete secondary faulting and bulk deformation....
Water-quality trends of urban streams in Independence, Missouri, 2005–18
Miya N. Barr, Stephen J. Kalkhoff
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5130
The U.S. Geological Survey and the city of Independence, Missouri, Water Pollution Control Department has studied the water quality and ecological condition of urban streams within Independence since 2005. Selected physical properties, nutrients, chloride, fecal indicator bacteria (Escherichia coli and total coliform), total dissolved solids, and suspended-sediment concentration data for...
Effects of a diatom ecosystem engineer (Didymosphenia geminata) on stream food webs: Implications for native fishes
Niall G. Clancy, Janice Brahney, James Dunnigan, Phaedra E. Budy
2021, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (78) 154-164
Stream habitat changes affecting primary consumers often indirectly impact secondary consumers such as fishes. Blooms of the benthic algae Didymosphenia geminata (Didymo) are known to affect stream macroinvertebrates, but the potential indirect trophic impacts on fish consumers are poorly understood. In streams of the Kootenai River basin, we quantified the diet, condition,...
Eagle fatalities are reduced by automated curtailment of wind turbines
Christopher J W McClure, Brian W Roleck, Leah Dunn, Jennifer D McCabe, Luke Martinson, Todd E. Katzner
2021, Journal of Applied Ecology (58) 446-452
Collision‐caused fatalities of animals at wind power facilities create a ‘green versus green’ conflict between wildlife conservation and renewable energy. These fatalities can be mitigated via informed curtailment whereby turbines are slowed or stopped when wildlife are considered at increased risk of collision. Automated monitoring systems could improve efficacy...
Role of future reef growth on morphological response of coral reef islands to sea-level rise
Gerd Masselink, Robert T. McCall, Eddie Beetham, Paul Kench, Curt D. Storlazzi
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research--Earth Surface (126)
Coral reefs are widely recognised for providing a natural breakwater effect that modulates erosion and flooding hazards on low‐lying sedimentary reef islands. Increased water depth across reef platforms due sea‐level rise (SLR) can compromise this breakwater effect and enhance island exposure to these hazards, but reef accretion...
Which earthquake accounts matter?
Susan E. Hough, Stacey S. Martin
2021, Seismological Research Letters (92) 1069-1084
Earthquake observations contributed by human observers provide an invaluable source of information to investigate both historical and modern earthquakes. Commonly, the observers whose eyewitness accounts are available to scientists are a self‐selected minority of those who experience a given earthquake. As such these may not...
Age‐ and sex‐related dietary specialization facilitate seasonal resource partitioning in a migratory shorebird
Laurie Anne Hall, Susan E.W. De La Cruz, Isa Woo, Tomohiro Kuwae, John Y. Takekawa
2021, Ecology and Evolution (11) 1866-1876
Dietary specialization is common in animals and has important implications for individual fitness, inter‐ and intraspecific competition, and the adaptive potential of a species. Diet composition can be influenced by age‐ and sex‐related factors including an individual's morphology, social status, and acquired skills; however, specialization may only be necessary...
Variation in metal concentrations across a large contamination gradient is reflected in stream but not linked riparian food webs
Johanna M. Kraus, Richard Wanty, Travis S. Schmidt, David Walters, Ruth E. Wolf
2021, Science of the Total Environment (769)
Aquatic insects link food web dynamics across freshwater-terrestrial boundaries and subsidize terrestrial consumer populations. Contaminants that accumulate in larval aquatic insects and are retained across metamorphosis can increase dietary exposure for riparian insectivores. To better understand potential exposure of terrestrial insectivores to aquatically-derived trace...
Using expert knowledge to support Endangered Species Act decision‐making for data‐deficient species
Daniel Bruce Fitzgerald, David R. Smith, David C. Culver, Daniel Feller, Daniel W. Fong, Jeff Hajenga, Matthew L. Niemiller, Daniel C. Nolfi, Wil D. Orndorff, Barbara Douglas, Kelly O. Maloney, John A. Young
2021, Conservation Biology (35) 1627-1638
Many questions relevant to conservation decision making are characterized by extreme uncertainty due to lack of empirical data and complexity of the underlying ecological processes, leading to a rapid increase in the use of structured protocols to elicit expert knowledge. Published ecological applications often employ a modified Delphi method, where...
Stoichiometric ecotoxicology for a multisubstance world
Angela Peace, Paul C. Frost, Nicole D. Wagner, Michael Danger, Chiara Accolla, Philipp Antczak, Bryan W. Brooks, David M. Costello, Rebecca A. Everett, Kevin B. Flores, Christopher M. Heggerud, Roxanne Karimi, Yun Kang, Yang Kuang, James H. Larson, Teresa Mathews, Gregory D. Mayer, Justin N. Murdock, Cheryl A. Murphy, Roger M. Nisbet, Laure Pecquerie, Nathan Pollesch, Erica M. Rutter, Kimberly L. Schultz, J. Thad Scott, Louise Stevenson, Hao Wang
2021, BioScience (72) 132-147
Nutritional and contaminant stressors influence organismal physiology, trophic interactions, community structure, and ecosystem-level processes; however, the interactions between toxicity and elemental imbalance in food resources have been examined in only a few ecotoxicity studies. Integrating well-developed ecological theories that cross all levels of biological organization can enhance our understanding...
Trends in precipitation chemistry across the U.S. 1985–2017: Quantifying the benefits from 30 years of Clean Air Act amendment regulation
Michael McHale, Amy Ludtke, Gregory A. Wetherbee, Douglas A. Burns, Mark A. Nilles, Jason S. Finkelstein
2021, Atmospheric Environment (247)
Acid rain was first recognized in the 1970s in North America and Europe as an atmospheric pollutant that was causing harm to ecosystems. In response, the U.S. Congress enacted Title IV of the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAA) in 1990 to reduce sulfur and nitrogen emissions from fossil fuel...
Zircon surface crystallization ages for the extremely reduced magmatic products of the Millennium Eruption, Changbaishan Volcano (China/North Korea)
Haibo Zou, Jorge A. Vazquez, Yongwei Zhao, Zipei Guo
2021, Gondwana Research (92) 172-183
The Millennium Eruption (ME) of Changbaishan volcano (Baitoushan, Paektu) at 946 CE (Common Era) is one of the largest explosive eruptions on Earth during Holocene times. We date unpolished zircon crystal faces from diverse ME products collected from the southern side of Changbaishan volcano where the ME pumice and welded and...
USGS permafrost research determines the risks of permafrost thaw to biologic and hydrologic resources
Mark P. Waldrop, Lesleigh Anderson, Mark Dornblaser, Li H. Erikson, Ann E. Gibbs, Nicole M. Herman-Mercer, Stephanie R. James, Miriam C. Jones, Joshua C. Koch, Mary-Cathrine Leewis, Kristen L. Manies, Burke J. Minsley, Neal J. Pastick, Vijay Patil, Frank Urban, Michelle A. Walvoord, Kimberly P. Wickland, Christian Zimmerman
2021, Fact Sheet 2020-3058
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in collaboration with university, Federal, Tribal, and independent partners, conducts fundamental research on the distribution, vulnerability, and importance of permafrost in arctic and boreal ecosystems. Scientists, land managers, and policy makers use USGS data to help make decisions for development, wildlife habitat, and other needs....
U.S. Geological Survey 21st-Century science strategy 2020–2030
U.S. Geological Survey
2021, Circular 1476
Today’s Earth system challenges are far more complex and urgent than those that existed in 1879 when the USGS was established. Society’s greatest challenges are directly or indirectly linked to major areas of USGS science. Increased pressures on natural resources continue with consequences for national security, food and water availability,...
