Twenty-five essential research questions to inform the protection and restoration of freshwater biodiversity
Meagan Harper, Hebah S. Mejbel, Dylan Longert, Robin Abell, Beard Jr., Joseph R. Bennett, Stephanie M. Carlson, William Darwall, Anthony Dell, Sami Domisch, David Dudgeon, Jörg Freyhof, Ian Harrison, Kathy A. Hughes, Sonja C. Jahnig, Jonathan M. Jeschke, Richard Lansdown, Mark Lintermans, Abigail J. Lynch, Helen M. R. Meredith, Sanjay Molur, Julian D. Olden, Steve J. Ormerod, Harmony Patricio, Andrea J. Reid, Astrid Schmidt-Kloiber, Michele Thieme, David Tickner, Eren Turak, Olaf L. F. Weyl, Steve J. Cooke
2021, Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems (9) 2632-2653
Freshwater biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate. Freshwater conservationists and environmental managers have enough evidence to demonstrate that action must not be delayed but have insufficient evidence to identify those actions that will be most effective in reversing the current trend.Here, the focus is on identifying essential research...
A comparative baseline of coral disease in three regions along the Saudi Arabian coast of the central Red Sea
Greta S. Aeby, Amanda Shore, Thor Jensen, Maren Ziegler, Thierry M. Work, Christian Voolstra
2021, PLoS ONE (16)
Coral disease is a growing problem for coral reefs globally and diseases have been linked to thermal stress, excess nutrients, overfishing and other human impacts. The Red Sea is a unique environment for corals with a strong environmental gradient characterized by temperature extremes and high salinities,...
Distilling professional opinion to gauge vulnerability of Guam avifauna to Brown Treesnake predation
Robert McElderry, Eben H. Paxton, An Nguyen, Shane R. Siers
2021, Frontiers in Conservation Science (2)
The avifauna of Guam was devastated by the introduction of the Brown Treesnake, and the restoration of native birds would need to address the problem with eradication or suppression of BTS. With eradication of the snake unlikely in the near term, and suppression capabilities limited to specific finite areas,...
Translational invasion ecology: Bridging research and practice to address one of the greatest threats to biodiversity
Toni Lyn Morelli, Carrie Brown-Lima, Jenica M. Allen, Evelyn M. Beaury, Emily J. Fusco, Audrey Barker-Plotkin, Brittany B. Laginhas, Brendan Quirion, Bridget Griffin, Blair McLaughlin, Lara Munro, Nancy Olmstead, Julie Richburg, Bethany A. Bradley
2021, Biological Invasions (23) 3323-3335
Effective natural resource management and policy is contingent on information generated by research. Conversely, the applicability of research depends on whether it is responsive to the needs and constraints of resource managers and policy makers. However, many scientific fields including invasion ecology suffer from a disconnect...
Vulnerability of Pacific salmon to invasion of northern pike (Esox lucius) in Southcentral Alaska
Chase S. Jalbert, Jeffrey A. Falke, Andres Lopez, Kristine J. Dunker, Adam Sepulveda, Peter A. H. Westley
2021, PLoS ONE (16)
The relentless role of invasive species in the extinction of native biota requires predictions of ecosystem vulnerability to inform proactive management strategies. The worldwide invasion and range expansion of predatory northern pike (Esox lucius) has been linked to the decline of native...
Assessing recovery of spectacled eiders using a Bayesian decision analysis
K.D. Dunham, E.E. Osnas, C. Frost, J.B. Fischer, J. Barry Grand
2021, PLoS ONE (16)
Assessing species status and making classification decisions under the Endangered Species Act is a critical step towards effective species conservation. However, classification decisions are liable to two errors: i) failing to classify a species as threatened or endangered that should be classified (underprotection), or ii) classifying a species as threatened...
Gopherus agassizii
Kristin H. Berry, L. J. Allison, A. M. McLuckie, M. Vaughn, R. W. Murphy
2021, The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021
A provisional Red List Assessment of the widespread Desert Tortoise, Gopherus agassizii (sensu lato), was performed at a Desert Tortoise Council workshop in 2010 and updated by the IUCN Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group (TFTSG) in 2011, at which time the Mojave Desert subpopulation, now considered G. agassizii (sensu...
The distribution of anadromy in steelhead / rainbow trout in the Eel River, northwestern California
Bret C. Harvey, Rodney J. Nakamoto, Adam J.R. Kent, Christian E. Zimmerman
2021, California Fish and Wildlife Journal (107) 77-88
To inform management and conservation of the species, we investigated the distribution of anadromy and residency of steelhead/rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in the Eel River of northwestern California. We determined maternal anadromy versus residency for 106 juvenile O. mykiss using otolith microchemistry. To attempt to relate patterns of anadromy with...
Conspecific and congeneric interactions shape increasing rates of breeding dispersal of northern spotted owls
Julianna M. A. Jenkins, Damon B. Lesmeister, Eric D. Forsman, Katie M. Dugger, Steven H. Ackers, Steven Andrews, Scott A. Gremel, Bruce A. Hollen, Chris E. McCafferty, Shane Pruett, Janice A. Reid, Stan A. Sovern, David Wiens
2021, Ecological Applications (31)
Breeding dispersal, the movement from one breeding territory to another, is rare for philopatric species that evolved within relatively stable environments, such as the old-growth coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest. Although dispersal is not inherently maladaptive, the consequences of increased dispersal on population dynamics in...
The drying regimes of non-perennial rivers and streams
Adam N. Price, C. Nathan Jones, John C. Hammond, Margaret Zimmer, Samuel Zipper
2021, Geophysical Research Letters (48)
The flow regime paradigm is central to the aquatic sciences, where flow drives critical functions in lotic systems. Non-perennial streams comprise the majority of global river length, thus we extended this paradigm to stream drying. Using 894 USGS gages, we isolated 25,207 drying events from 1979 to 2018, represented by...
Evaluation of regulatory action and surveillance as preventive risk-mitigation to an emerging global amphibian pathogen Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal)
Daniel A. Grear, Brittany A. Mosher, Katherine Richgels, Evan H. Campbell Grant
2021, Biological Conservation (260)
The emerging amphibian pathogen Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) is a severe threat to global urodelan (salamanders, newts, and related taxa) biodiversity. Bsal has not been detected, to date, in North America, but the risk is high because North America is one of the global...
A more representative community of ecologists
David S Schimel, Jill S. Baron
2021, Ecological Applications (31)
Ecologists play a crucial role in providing solutions to the challenges facing the world. For most of the history of the field, however, the science of ecology has been pursued by white men, and increasingly, by white women. This lack of diversity is untenable today, not only because it is...
Annotated bibliography of scientific research on Ventenata dubia published from 2010 to 2020
Erin E. Poor, Nathan J. Kleist, Heidi L. Bencin, Alison C. Foster, Sarah K. Carter
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1031
Integrating recent science into management decisions supports effective natural resource management and can lead to better resource outcomes. However, finding and accessing science information can be time consuming and costly. To assist in this process, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is creating a series of annotated bibliographies on topics of...
Evaluating establishment of conservation practices in the Conservation Reserve Program across the central and western United States
Mark W. Vandever, Sarah K. Carter, Timothy J. Assal, Kenneth Elgersma, Ai Wen, Justin L. Welty, Robert S. Arkle, Rich Iovanna
2021, Environmental Research Letters (16)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is one of the largest private lands conservation programs in the United States, establishing perennial vegetation on environmentally sensitive lands formerly in agricultural production. Over its 35 year existence, the CRP has evolved to include diverse conservation practices (CPs) while concomitantly...
Assessing cyanobacterial frequency and abundance at surface waters near drinking water intakes across the United States
Megan Coffer, Blake A. Schaeffer, Katherine Foreman, Alex Porteous, Keith A. Loftin, Richard Stumpf, Jeremy Werdell, Erin Urquhart, Ryan Albert, John Darling
2021, Water Research (201)
This study presents the first large-scale assessment of cyanobacterial frequency and abundance of surface water near drinking water intakes across the United States. Public water systems serve drinking water to nearly 90% of the United States population. Cyanobacteria and their toxins may degrade the quality of finished drinking water and...
Mapping the vulnerability of giant sequoias after extreme drought in California using remote sensing
Andres Baeza, Roberta E. Martin, Nathan L. Stephenson, Adrian Das, Paul Hardwick, Koren R. Nydick, Jeff Mallory, Michèle Slaton, Kirk Evans, Gregory P. Asner
2021, Ecological Applications (31)
Between 2012 and 2016, California suffered one of the most severe droughts on record. During this period Sequoiadendron giganteum (giant sequoias) in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (SEKI), California, USA experienced canopy water content (CWC) loss, unprecedented foliage senescence, and, in a few cases, death. We...
Hyperspectral narrowband data propel gigantic leap in the earth remote sensing
Prasad Thenkabail, Itiya P. Aneece, Pardhasaradhi Teluguntla, Adam Oliphant
2021, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing. (77) 461-467
Hyperspectral narrowbands (HNBs) capture data as nearly continuous “spectral signatures” rather than a “few spectral data points” along the electromagnetic spectrum as with multispectral broadbands (MBBs). Almost all of satellite remote sensing of the Earth in the twentieth century was conducted using MBB data from sensors such as the Landsat-series, Advanced...
Airborne geophysical surveys of the lower Mississippi Valley demonstrate system-scale mapping of subsurface architecture
Burke J. Minsley, James R. Rigby, Stephanie R. James, Bethany L. Burton, Katherine J. Knierim, Michael Pace, Paul A. Bedrosian, Wade Kress
2021, Communications Earth & Environment (2)
The Mississippi Alluvial Plain hosts one of the most prolific shallow aquifer systems in the United States but is experiencing chronic groundwater decline. The Reelfoot rift and New Madrid seismic zone underlie the region and represent an important and poorly understood seismic hazard. Despite its societal and economic importance, the...
Sex- and developmental stage-related differences in the hepatic transcriptome of Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) exposed to 17β-Trenbolone
Krittika Mittal, Paula F. P. Henry, Robert S. Cornman, Catherine M. Maddox, Niladri Basu, Natalie Karouna-Renier
2021, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (40) 2559-2570
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals can cause transcriptomic changes that may disrupt biological processes associated with reproductive function including metabolism, transport, and cell growth. We investigated effects from in ovo and dietary exposure to 17β-trenbolone (at 0, 1, and 10 ppm) on the Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) hepatic transcriptome. Our objectives were to identify...
Refining sampling protocols for cavefishes and cave crayfishes to account for environmental variation
J.B. Mouser, Shannon K. Brewer, M.L. Niemiller, M. Mollenhauer, Van Den Bussche
2021, Subterranean Biology (39) 79-105
Subterranean habitats support a diverse array of organisms and represent imperative habitats in many conservation strategies; however, subterranean habitats are one of the most difficult environments to study. Accounting for variable sampling detection is necessary to properly evaluate conservation options for rare species such as karst and other groundwater organisms....
Assessment of a conservative mixing model for the evaluation of constituent behavior below river confluences, Elqui River Basin, Chile
Catalina Rossi, Jorge Oyarzun, Pablo Pasten, Robert L. Runkel, Jorge Núñez, Denisse Duhalde, Hugo Maturana, Eduardo Rojas, José L. Arumí, Daniela Castillo, Ricardo Oyarzun
2021, River Research and Applications (37) 967-978
Fate and transport modeling of water-borne contaminants is a data demanding and costly endeavor, requiring considerable expes such, it becomes important to know when a complex modeling approach is required, and when a simpler approach is adequate. This is the main objective herein, where a conservative mixing model is used...
Prioritizing restoration areas to conserve multiple sagebrush-associated wildlife species
Courtney Jean Duchardt, Adrian P. Monroe, Julie A. Heinrichs, Michael S. O’Donnell, David R. Edmunds, Cameron L. Aldridge
2021, Biological Conservation (260)
Strategic restoration of altered habitat is one method for addressing worldwide biodiversity declines. Within the sagebrush steppe of western North America, habitat degradation has been linked to declines in many species, making restoration a priority for managers; however, limited funding, spatiotemporal variation in restoration success, and the need to manage for diverse...
Enhanced terrestrial runoff during Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 on the North Carolina Coastal Plain, USA
Christopher M Lowery, Jean Self-Trail, Craig Barrie
2021, Climate of the Past (17) 1227-1242
A global increase in the strength of the hydrologic cycle drove an increase in the flux of terrigenous sediments into the ocean during the Cenomanian–Turonian Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE2) and was an important mechanism driving nutrient enrichment and thus organic carbon burial. This global change is primarily known from isotopic...
Detecting subtle change from dense landsat time series: Case studies of mountain pine beetle and spruce beetle disturbance
Su Ye, John Rogan, Zhe Zhu, Todd Hawbaker, Sarah J. Hart, Robert A. Andrus, Arjan J.H. Meddens, Jeffery A. Hicke, J. Ronald Eastman, Dominik Kulakowski
2021, Remote Sensing of Environment (263)
In contrast to abrupt changes caused by land cover conversion, subtle changes driven by a shift in the condition, structure, or other biological attributes of land often lead to minimal and slower alterations of the terrestrial surface. Accurate mapping and monitoring of subtle change are crucial for an early warning...
Most rivers and streams run dry every year
Kristin Jaeger
2021, Nature (594) 335-336
The flowing waters of surface rivers and streams efficiently transport sediment, organic material and nutrients, among other things, from hillsides and overland areas to downstream lakes, reservoirs and the ocean. Along the way, rivers and streams (hereafter referred to collectively as streams) provide important resources for our communities and support...
