Assessing the vulnerability of military installations in the coterminous United States to potential biome shifts resulting from rapid climate change
Richard H. Odom, W. Mark Ford
2020, Environmental Management (66) 564-589
Climate change impacts to Department of Defense (DoD) installations will challenge future military mission and natural resource stewardship efforts by increasing vulnerability to flooding, drought, altered fire regimes, invasive species, etc. We developed biome classifications based on current climate for the coterminous United States using the Holdridge Life Zone...
Linking nest microhabitat selection to nest survival within declining pheasant populations in the Central Valley of California
Ian Dwight, Jessica H Vogt, Peter S. Coates, Joseph P. Fleskes, Daniel P. Connelly, Scott C. Gardner
2020, Wildlife Research (47) 391-403
Context: The ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) has experienced considerable population declines in recent decades, especially in agricultural environments of the Central Valley of California. Although large-scale changes in land cover have been reported as an important driver of population dynamics, the effects of microhabitat conditions on specific demographic rates (e.g. nesting)...
Benthic suffocation of invasive lake trout embryos by fish carcasses and sedimentation in Yellowstone Lake
Alex S. Poole, Todd M. Koel, Nathan A. Thomas, Alexander V. Zale
2020, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (40) 1077-1086
Introduced Lake Trout Salvelinus namaycush threaten native Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri in Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National Park, where gill nets have been used to suppress subadult and adult Lake Trout since 1995. However, survival of embryonic and larval life history stages can have profound effects on the population...
Hydrologic conditions in Kansas, water year 2019
Chantelle Davis
2020, Fact Sheet 2020-3029
The U.S. Geological Survey Kansas Water Science Center, in cooperation with Federal, State, and local agencies, maintains a long-term network of hydrologic monitoring stations in the State of Kansas. These include a network of 217 real-time streamgages and 12 real-time reservoir-level monitoring stations in water year 2019. The data and associated analyses...
Stable isotope analysis of multiple tissues from Hawaiian honeycreepers indicates elevational movement
Kristina L. Paxton, Jeffery F Kelly, Sandra M Pletchet, Eben H. Paxton
2020, PLoS ONE (15)
We have limited knowledge of the patterns, causes, and prevalence of elevational migration despite observations of seasonal movements of animals along elevational gradients in montane systems worldwide. While a third of extant Hawaiian landbird species are estimated to be elevational migrants this assumption is based primarily on early naturalist’s observations...
Using a structured decision analysis to evaluate bald eagle vital signs monitoring in Southwest Alaska National Parks
Rebecca Kolstrom, Tammy L. Wilson, Larry M. Gigliotti
2020, Ecology and Evolution (10) 8114-8126
1. Monitoring programs can benefit from an adaptive monitoring approach, where key decisions about why, where, what, and how to monitor are revisited periodically in order to ensure programmatic relevancy. 2. The National Park Service (NPS) monitors status and trends of Vital Signs to evaluate compliance with the NPS mission....
Shoreline retreat of the Corte Madera marshes, 1853 to 2016, Marin County, California
Bradley A. Carkin, Robert E. Kayen, Florence L. Wong
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1074
The greater San Francisco Bay estuary, prior to human intervention, encompassed about 2,200 km2 of tidal and salt marshes. Over time, these areas became increasingly diked, developed, and altered from their natural state. In addition, natural forces are always driving a continually shifting equilibrium.This study area, the Corte Madera marshes,...
Monthly suspended-sediment apportionment for a western Lake Erie agricultural tributary
Tanja N. Williamson, Edward G. Dobrowolski, Allen C. Gellis, Timur Sabitov, Lillian E. Gorman Sanisaca
2020, Journal of Great Lakes Research (46) 1307-1320
Black Creek, a headwater to the Maumee River and western Lake Erie, is an agricultural basin with a mix of cropland (66%), pasture (19%), and forest (7%) linked by a road network to the rural community. Suspended sediment was collected monthly during the 2018 water year for the main...
Predicting microcystin concentration action-level exceedances resulting from cyanobacterial blooms in selected lake sites in Ohio
Donna S. Francy, Amie M.G. Brady, Erin A. Stelzer, Jessica R. Cicale, Courtney Paige Hackney, Harrison D Dalby, Pamela Struffolino, Daryl F. Dwyer
2020, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (192)
Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms and the toxins they produce are a global water-quality problem. Monitoring and prediction tools are needed to quickly predict cyanotoxin action-level exceedances in recreational and drinking waters used by the public. To address this need, data were collected at eight locations in Ohio, USA, to identify...
Comparative phylogenomics reveal complex evolution of life history strategies in a clade of bivalves with parasitic larvae (Bivalvia: Unionoida: Ambleminae)
Chase H. Smith, John M. Pfeiffer, Nathan A. Johnson
2020, Cladistics (36) 505-520
Freshwater mussels are a species‐rich group with biodiversity patterns strongly shaped by a life history strategy that includes an obligate parasitic larval stage. In this study, we set out to reconstruct the life history evolution and systematics in a clade of freshwater mussels adapted to parasitizing a molluscivorous host fish....
Causes of land change in the U.S. Interior Highlands, 2001–2011
Mark A. Drummond, Michael P. Stier, Jamie L. McBeth, Roger F. Auch, Janis L. Taylor, Jodi L. Riegle
2020, Data Series 1127
The causes of land change from 2001 through 2011 for the Interior Highlands region of the south-central United States were assessed using satellite imagery, historical land-use and land-cover data, and digital orthophotos. The study was designed to develop improved regional land-use and land-cover change information, including identification of the proximate...
Spatial proximity moderates genotype uncertainty in genetic tagging studies
Ben C. Augustine, Andy Royle, Daniel W. Linden, Angela K. Fuller
2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (117) 17903-17912
Accelerating declines of an increasing number of animal populations worldwide necessitate methods to reliably and efficiently estimate demographic parameters such as population density and trajectory. Standard methods for estimating demographic parameters from noninvasive genetic samples are inefficient because lower-quality samples cannot be used, and they assume individuals are identified without...
Time-evolving surface and subsurface signatures of Quaternary volcanism in the Cascades arc
Daniel O’Hara, Leif Karlstrom, David W. Ramsey
2020, Geology (48) 1088-1093
Increased resolution of data constraining topography and crustal structures provides new quantitative ways to assess province-scale surface-subsurface connections beneath volcanoes. We used a database of mapped vents to extract edifices with known epoch ages from digital elevation models (DEMs) in the Cascades arc (western North...
Robust age estimation of southern sea otters from multiple morphometrics
Teri E. Nicholson, Karl A. Mayer, Michelle M. Staedler, Tyler O Gagne, Michael J. Murray, Marissa A Young, Joseph A. Tomoleoni, M. Tim Tinker, Kyle S. Van Houtan
2020, Ecology and Evolution (10) 8592-8609
Reliable age estimation is an essential tool to assess the status of wildlife populations and inform successful management. Aging methods, however, are often limited by too few data, skewed demographic representation, and by single or uncertain morphometric relationships. In this study, we synthesize age estimates in southern sea otters Enhydra lutris...
Possible control of acute outbreaks of a marine fungal pathogen by nominally herbivorous tropical reef fish
B. P. Neal, B. Honish, T. Warrender, G. J. Williams, Thierry M. Work, N. N. Price
2020, Oecologia (193) 603-617
Primary producers in terrestrial and marine systems can be affected by fungal pathogens threatening the provision of critical ecosystem services. Crustose coralline algae (CCA) are ecologically important members of tropical reef systems and are impacted by coralline fungal disease (CFD) which manifests as overgrowth of the CCA crust by fungal...
A century of intermittent eco‐evolutionary feedbacks resulted in novel trait combinations in invasive Great Lakes alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus)
Shelby Smith, Eric Palkovacs, Brian Weidel, David Bunnell, Andrew W. Jones, Devin Bloom
2020, Evolutionary Applications (13) 2630-2645
Species introductions provide opportunities to quantify rates and patterns of evolutionary change in response to novel environments. Alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus) are native to the East Coast of North America where they ascend coastal rivers to spawn in lakes and then return to the ocean. Some populations have become landlocked within...
Applications of knowledge and predictions of atmospheric rivers
Schick Lawrence, Michael Anderson, F Martin Ralph, Michael D. Dettinger, David A. Lavers, Florian Pappenberger, David Richardson, Ervin Zsoter
F Martin Ralph, Michael D. Dettinger, Jonathan J. Rutz, Duane E. Waliser, editor(s)
2020, Book chapter, Atmospheric rivers
This chapter reviews how AR research is being applied in real-world situations to address issues of flood planning and emergency intervention. It includes water supply management case studies. Examples comprise five distinct sections that show how AR research is being directly applied to the challenges that water managers, dam operators,...
Robust geographical determinants of infection prevalence and a contrasting latitudinal diversity gradient for haemosporidian parasites in Western Palearctic birds
Nicholas J. Clark, Serguei Vyacheslavovich Drovetski, Gary Voelker
2020, Molecular Ecology (29) 3131-3143
Identifying robust environmental predictors of infection probability is central to forecasting and mitigating the ongoing impacts of climate change on vector‐borne disease threats. We applied phylogenetic hierarchical models to a data set of 2,171 Western Palearctic individual birds from 47 species to determine how climate and landscape variation influence infection...
RestoreNet: An emerging restoration network reveals controls on seeding success across dryland ecosystems
Caroline Ann Havrilla, Seth M. Munson, Molly L. McCormick, Katherine M. Laushman, Kathleen R. Balazs, Bradley J. Butterfield
2020, Journal of Applied Ecology (57) 2191-2202
Drylands are Earth's largest terrestrial biome and support one‐third of the global population. However, they are also highly vulnerable to land degradation. Despite widespread demand for dryland restoration and rehabilitation, little information is available to help land managers effectively re‐establish native perennial vegetation across drylands.RestoreNet is an emerging dryland...
Degradation of RDX (Hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine) in contrasting coastal marine habitats: Subtidal non-vegetated (sand), subtidal vegetated (silt/eel grass), and intertidal marsh
Thivanka Ariyarathna, Mark Ballentine, Penny Vlahos, Richard W. Smith, Christopher Cooper, J.K. Bohlke, Stephen Fallis, Thomas J. Groshens, Craig R. Tobias
2020, Science of the Total Environment (745)
Hundreds of explosive-contaminated marine sites exist globally, many of which contain the common munitions constituent hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX). Quantitative information about RDX transformation in coastal ecosystems is essential for management of many of these sites. Isotopically labelled RDX containing 15N in all 3 nitro groups was used to track the fate of...
Hydrologic signals and surprises in U.S. streamflow records during urbanization
Aditi S. Bhaskar, Kristina G. Hopkins, Brianne K Smith, Tim A Stephens, Andy J Miller
2020, Water Resources Research (56)
Urban development has been observed to lead to variable magnitudes of change for stormflow volume and directions of baseflow change across cities. This work examines temporal streamflow trends across the flow duration curve in 53 watersheds during periods of peak urban development, which ranged from 1939 to...
Gut contents from multiple morphs of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) at two offshore shoals in Lake Superior
Mark Vinson, John P. Hoffmann, A. M. Muir, Caroline Lynn Rosinski, C. C. Krueger, C.R. Bronte, M.J. Hansen, S. P. Sitar, Allen E. W., L.F. Baker, H. Swanson
2020, Journal of Great Lakes Research (46) 1382-1390
Four lake trout, Salvelinus namaycush, Walbaum 1792 morphs occur in Lake Superior: lean, siscowet, humper, and redfin. Diets of lean and siscowet have been relatively well described. However, less is known about diets of humper and redfin, and overall few studies have...
Direct and indirect effects of fire on eastern box turtles
K. Harris, Joseph D. Clark, R. Elmore, C.A. Harper
2020, Journal of Wildlife Management (84) 1384-1395
Prescribed fire is an increasingly important management tool for eastern deciduous forests, but relativity little is known about the direct effects of fire on the eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina). We used very high frequency (VHF) transmitters to monitor mortality, movement, and spatial ecology of 118 box turtles in...
Brackish tidal marsh management and the ecology of a declining freshwater turtle
Mickey Agha, Charles Yackulic, Melissa K. Riley, Blair Peterson, Brian D Todd
2020, Environmental Management (66) 644-653
Water management practices in tidal marshes of the San Francisco Bay Estuary, California are often aimed at increasing suitable habitat for threatened fish species and sport fishes. However, little is known about how best to manage habitat for other sensitive status species like the semiaquatic freshwater Western Pond Turtle (Actinemys...
Seismic stratigraphic framework of the continental shelf offshore Delmarva, U.S.A.: Implications for Mid-Atlantic Bight evolution since the Pliocene
Laura L. Brothers, David S. Foster, Elizabeth A. Pendleton, Wayne E. Baldwin
2020, Marine Geology (428)
Understanding how past coastal systems have evolved is critical to predicting future coastal change. Using over 12,000 trackline kilometers of recently collected, co-located multi-channel boomer, sparker and chirp seismic reflection profile data integrated with previously collected borehole and vibracore data, we...
