A guide to environmental DNA extractions for non-molecular trained biologists, ecologists, and conservation scientists
Jessica Marie Rieder, Eliane Jemmi, Margaret Hunter, Irene Adrian-Kalchhauser
2024, Environmental DNA (6)
Ecologists, biologists, and conservation scientists are increasingly interested in the use of environmental DNA (eDNA) data for research and potentially decision-making. While commercial DNA extraction kits are typically user-friendly and accessible, they may fail to deliver the desired results with inherently complex eDNA samples,...
Characterizing variability in geochemistry and mineralogy of western US dust sources
Abby L. Mangum, Gregory T. Carling, Barry R. Bickmore, Nicholas P. Webb, DeTiare L. Leifi, Janice Brahney, Diego P. Fernandez, Kevin A. Rey, Stephen T. Nelson, Landon Burgener, Joshua J. LeMonte, Alyssa N. Thompson, Beth A. Newingham, Michael C. Duniway, Zachary T. Aanderud
2024, Aeolian Research (70-71)
Dust events originate from multiple sources in arid and semi-arid regions, making it difficult to quantify source contributions. Dust geochemical/mineralogical composition, if the sources are sufficiently distinct, can be used to quantify the contributions from different sources. To test the...
North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center regional science plan—2023–28
The North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center
2024, Circular 1543
The U.S. Geological Survey North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (NC CASC), established in 2012, is part of a national network supporting climate-informed decisions that benefit wildlife and habitats. The NC CASC provides climate science for the U.S. Department of the Interior, State agencies, and Tribal nations to support effective...
Peak streamflow trends in Iowa and their relation to changes in climate, water years 1921–2020
Padraic S. O’Shea
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5064-C
This study summarizes trends and change points for peak and daily streamflow in Iowa from water years 1921 through 2020. Nonstationarity in peak streamflow in Iowa can include monotonic trends, change points, and changes in seasonality. Spatial patterns of nonstationarity in peak streamflow, daily streamflow, and monthly climatic data (observed...
Are the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios of earthquakes and microtremors the same?
Joseph Vantassel, Makbule Ilgac, Adda Athanasopoulos Zekkos, Alan Yong, Behzad Hassani, Antony Martin
2024, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (114) 3078-3092
We consider the similarities and differences between earthquake and microtremor horizontal‐to‐vertical spectral ratios (eHVSR and mHVSR, respectively) using a dataset of 161 sites in southern California. Quantitative comparisons are made in terms of the eHVSR and mHVSR lognormal median curves, as well as the frequencies and amplitudes associated with the...
Agricultural tile drains increase the susceptibility of streams to longer and more intense streamflow droughts
Seth Adelsperger, Darren Ficklin, Scott Robeson, Margaret Ann Zimmer, John C. Hammond, Damon M. Hall, J.P. Gannon
2024, Environmental Research Letters (19)
Streamflow droughts are receiving increased attention worldwide due to their impact on the environment and economy. One region of concern is the Midwestern United States, whose agricultural productivity depends on subsurface pipes known as tile drains to improve trafficability and soil conditions for crop growth. Tile drains accomplish this by...
Adaptation and Response in Drylands (ARID): Community insights for scoping a NASA terrestrial ecology field campaign in drylands
Andrew F. Feldman, Sasha C. Reed, Cibele Amaral, Alicja Babst-Kostecka, Flurin Babst, Joel A. Biederman, Charles Devine, Zheng Fu, Julia K. Green, Jessica Guo, Niall P. Hanan, Raymond F. Kokaly, Marcy Litvak, Natasha MacBean, David Moore, Dennis S. Ojima, Benjamin Poulter, Russell L. Scott, William K. Smith, Robert Swap, Compton J. Tucker, Lixin Wang, Jennifer D. Watts, Konrad Wessels, Fangyue Zhang, Wen Zhang
2024, Earth's Future (12)
Dryland ecosystems cover 40% of our planet's land surface, support billions of people, and are responding rapidly to climate and land use change. These expansive systems also dominate core aspects of Earth's climate, storing and exchanging vast amounts of water, carbon, and energy with the atmosphere. Despite their indispensable ecosystem...
Modeling the effects of temperature and limiting nutrients on the competition of an invasive floating plant, Pontederia crassipes, with submersed vegetation in a shallow lake
Linhao Xu, Don DeAngelis
2024, Plants (13)
The potential for a non-native plant species to invade a new habitat depends on broadscale factors such as climate, local factors such as nutrient availability, and the biotic community of the habitat into which the plant species is introduced. We developed a spatially explicit model to assess the risk...
Facies variation within outcrops of the Triassic Shublik Formation, northeastern Alaska
Julie A. Dumoulin, Katherine J. Whidden, William A. Rouse, Christina A. DeVera
2024, Professional Paper 1814-H
The Shublik Formation (Middle to Upper Triassic) is a heterogeneous unit that is a major hydrocarbon source rock in northern Alaska and the largest known Triassic phosphate accumulation in the world. This formation, which occurs in the subsurface and crops out within the Arctic Alaska basin, was deposited on a...
Evaluating a process-guided deep learning approach for predicting dissolved oxygen in streams
Jeffrey M Sadler, Lauren Elizabeth Koenig, Galen Gorski, Alice M. Carter, Robert O. Hall Jr.
2024, Hydrological Processes (38)
Dissolved oxygen (DO) is a critical water quality constituent that governs habitat suitability for aquatic biota, biogeochemical reactions and solubility of metals in streams. Recently introduced high-frequency sensors have increased our ability to measure DO, but we still lack the capacity to understand and predict DO concentrations at high spatial...
A benchmark dataset and workflow for landslide susceptibility zonation
Massimiliano Alvioli, Marco Loche, Liesbet Jacobs, Carlos H. Grohmann, Minu Treesa Abraham, Kunal Gupta, Neelima Satyam, Gianvito Scaringi, Txomin Bornaetxea, Mauro Rossi, Ivan Marchesini, Luigi Lombardo, Mateo Moreno, Stefan Steger, Corrado Camera, Greta Bajni, Guruh Samodra, Erwin Eko Wahyudi, Nanang Susyanto, Marko Sincic, Sanja Bernat Gazibara, Flavius Sirbu, Jewgenij Torizin, Nick Schussler, Benjamin B. Mirus, Jacob Bryson Woodard, Hector Aguilera, Jhonatan Steven Rivera-Rivera
2024, Earth-Science Reviews (258)
Landslide susceptibility shows the spatial likelihood of landslide occurrence in a specific geographical area and is a relevant tool for mitigating the impact of landslides worldwide. As such, it is the subject of countless scientific studies. Many methods exist for generating a susceptibility map, mostly falling under the...
Survey effort and targeted landbird community metrics at Indiana lowland forest restoration sites
Benjamin M West, Mark L. Wildhaber, Nicholas S. Green, John P. Isanhart, M. Victoria McDonald, Michael J. Hooper
2024, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (20) 1954-1968
Many sampling and analytical methods can estimate the abundance, distributions, and diversity of birds and other wildlife. However, challenges with sample size and analytical capacity can make these methods difficult to implement for resource-limited monitoring programs. To apprise efficient and attainable sampling designs for landbird monitoring programs with limited observational...
Free-roaming horses exceeding appropriate management levels affect multiple vital rates in greater sage-grouse
Jeffrey L. Beck, Megan C. Milligan, Kurt T. Smith, Phillip A. Street, Aaron C. Pratt, Christopher P. Kirol, Caitlyn P. Wanner, Jacob D. Hennig, Jonathan B. Dinkins, J. Derek Scasta, Peter S. Coates
2024, The Journal of Wildlife Management (88)
Since the passage of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, federal agencies have been responsible for managing free-roaming equids in the United States. Over the last 20 years, management has been hampered by direct opposition from advocacy groups, budget limitations, and a decline in the public’s willingness...
Large eddy simulation of cross-shore hydrodynamics under random waves in the inner surf and swash zones
Benjamin Tsai, Tian-Jian Hsu, Seok-Bong Lee, Maria Pontiki, Jack A. Puleo, Meagan E. Wengrove
2024, JGR Oceans (129)
A 3D large eddy simulation coupled with a free surface tracking scheme was used to simulate cross-shore hydrodynamics as observed in a large wave flume experiment. The primary objective was to enhance the understanding of wave-backwash interactions and the implications for observed morphodynamics. Two simulation cases were carried out to...
Estimating ungulate migration corridors from sparse movement data
Jennifer L. McKee, Julien Fattebert, Ellen O. Aikens, Jodi Berg, Scott Bergen, Eric K. Cole, Holly E. Copeland, Alyson B. Courtemanch, Sarah Dewey, Mark Hurley, Blake Lowrey, Jerod A. Merkle, Arthur D. Middleton, Tristan A. Nuñez, Hall Sawyer, Matthew J. Kauffman
2024, Ecosphere (15)
Many ungulates migrate between distinct summer and winter ranges, and identifying, mapping, and conserving these migration corridors have become a focus of local, regional, and global conservation efforts. Brownian bridge movement models (BBMMs) are commonly used to empirically identify these seasonal migration corridors; however, they require location data sampled at...
Debris-flow monitoring on volcanoes via a novel usage of a laser rangefinder
Alexandra M. Iezzi, Emily H Bryant, Weston Thelen, Craig Gabrielson, Seth C. Moran, Matthew R. Patrick, Edward F. Younger, Maciej K. Obryk
2024, Journal of Applied Volcanology (13)
Mount Rainier has had at least 11 large lahars over the last 6,000 years, including one occurring without evidence of eruptive activity. This prompted the creation of a lahar detection system that uses a combination of seismic, infrasound, and tripwires. We test a laser rangefinder placed...
Using a time-of-travel sampling approach to quantify per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) stream loading and source inputs in a mixed-source, urban catchment
Emily E. Woodward, Lisa A. Senior, Jacob Fleck, Larry B. Barber, Angela Hansen, Joseph W. Duris
2024, ACS ES&T Water (4) 4356-4367
Understanding per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) mass distribution in surface and groundwater systems can support source prioritization, load reduction, and water management. Thirteen sites within an urban catchment were sampled utilizing a time-of-travel sampling approach to minimize the influence of subdaily fluctuations in mass from PFAS...
Synchrony of alewife, Alosa pseudoharengus, year-class strength in the Great Lakes region
Les D. Warren, Andrew Edgar Honsey, David B. 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...
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...
Genomic data characterize reproductive ecology patterns in Michigan invasive Red Swamp Crayfish (Procambarus clarkii)
Nicole E. Adams, Jared Joseph Homola, Nicholas M. Sard, Lucas R. Nathan, Brian M. Roth, John D. Robinson, Kim T. Scribner
2024, Evolutionary Applications (17)
The establishment and spread of invasive species are directly related to intersexual interactions as dispersal and reproductive success are related to distribution, effective population size, and population growth. Accordingly, populations established by r-selected species are particularly difficult to suppress or eradicate. One such species, the red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii)...
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...
Latitudinal gradients and sex differences in morphology of the Black Oystercatcher (Haematopus bachmani)
Hannah Roodenrijs, Lena Ware, Cole Rankin, Mark Maftei, Mark Hipfner, Brian H. Robinson, Daniel Esler, Heather Coletti, David Green
2024, Ecology and Evolution (14)
Environment and behavior are widely understood to affect bird morphology, which can lead to differences among subspecies or populations within a wide-ranging species. Several patterns of latitudinal gradients in morphology have been described, though Allen's and Bergmann's rules are the most well-known and have...
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, J. 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...
