Pavement alters delivery of sediment and fallout radionuclides to urbanstreams
Allen C. Gellis, Christopher C. Fuller, Peter C. Van Metre, Barbara Mahler, C. Welty, Andrew Miller, Lucas A Nibert, Zachary J. Clifton, Jeremy Malen, J.T. Kemper
2020, Journal of Hydrology (588)
Sediment from urban impervious surfaces has the potential to be an important vector for contaminants, particularly where stormwater culverts and other buried channels draining large impervious areas exit from underground pipes into open channels. To better understand urban sediment sources and their relation to...
Ecology of influenza A viruses in wild birds and wetlands of Alaska
Andrew M. Ramey, Andrew B. Reeves
2020, Avian Diseases (64) 109-122
Alaska represents a globally important region for the ecology of avian-origin influenza A viruses (IAVs) given expansive wetlands in this region which serve as habitat for numerous hosts of IAVs that disperse among four continents during the annual cycle. Extensive sampling of wild birds for IAVs in Alaska since...
Methylmercury-Total mercury ratios in predator and primary consumer insects from Adirondack streams (New York, USA)
Karen Riva-Murray, Paul M. Bradley, Mark E. Brigham
2020, Ecotoxicology (29) 1658
Mercury (Hg) is a global pollutant that affects biota in remote settings due to atmospheric deposition of inorganic Hg, and its conversion to methylmercury (MeHg), the bioaccumulating and toxic form. Characterizing biotic MeHg is important for evaluating aquatic ecosystem responses to changes in Hg inputs. Aquatic insects possess many qualities...
The effects of swimming exercise and dissolved oxygen on growth performance, fin condition and survival of rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss
Thomas Waldrop, Steven Summerfelt, Patricia M. Mazik, P. Brett Kenney, Christopher Good
2020, Aquaculture Research (51) 2582-2589
Swimming exercise and dissolved oxygen (DO) are important parameters to consider when operating intensive salmonid aquaculture facilities. While previous research has focused on each of these two variables in rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, studies examining both variables in combination, and their potential interaction, are absent from the scientific literature. Both swimming...
North Carolina State climate report
Kenneth E. Kunkel, David R Easterling, Andrew Ballinger, Solomon Bililign, Sarah M Champion, D Reide Corbett, Kathie Dello, Jenny Dissen, James P. Kossin, Gary Lackmann, Rick Luettich, Baker Perry, Walter Robinson, Laura E. Stevens, Brooke C. Stewart, Adam Terando
2020, Report
Our scientific understanding of the climate system strongly supports the conclusion that North Carolina’s climate has changed in recent decades and the expectation that large changes—much larger than at any time in the state’s history—will occur if current trends in greenhouse gas concentrations continue. Even under a scenario where emissions...
Investigation of bed and den site selection by American black bears (Ursus americanus) in a landscape impacted by forest restoration treatments and wildfires
Susan M. Bard, James W. Cain III
2020, Forest Ecology and Management (460) 1-11
The combined effects of long-term fire suppression, logging, and overgrazing have negatively impacted many southwestern U.S. forests, resulting in decreased habitat quality for wildlife, and more frequent and severe wildfires. In response, land management agencies are implementing large-scale forest restoration treatments, but data on how wildlife respond to restoration...
Methodology for estimating the prospective CO2 storage resource of residual oil zones at the national and regional scale
Sean Sanguinito, Harpreet Singh, Evgeniy M. Myshakin, Angela L. Goodman, Robert M. Dilmore, Timothy C. Grant, David Morgan, Grant Bromhal, Peter D. Warwick, Sean T. Brennan, Philip A. Freeman, C. Ozgen Karacan, Charles Gorecki, Wesley Peck, Matthew Burton-Kelly, Neil Dotzenrod, Scott Frailey, Rajesh Pawar
2020, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control (96)
Residual oil zones (ROZs) are increasingly gaining interest as potential reservoirs for carbon dioxide (CO2) storage. Here, we present a national- and regional-scale methodology for estimating prospective CO2 storage resources in residual oil zones. This methodology uses a volumetric equation that accounts for CO2 storage as a free phase in pore space...
Validation of a screening method for the detection of colistin-resistant E. coli containing mcr-1 in feral swine feces
Jeffrey C Chandler, Alan B. Franklin, Sarah N. Bevins, Kevin T Bentler, Jonas Bonnedahl, Christina Ahlstrom, Bledar Bisha, Susan A. Shriner
2020, Journal of Microbiological Methods (172)
A method was developed and validated for the detection of colistin-resistant Escherichia coli containing mcr-1 in the feces of feral swine. Following optimization of an enrichment method using EC broth supplemented with colistin (1 µg/mL) and vancomycin (8 µg/mL), aliquots derived from 100 feral swine fecal samples were spiked with...
A 'weight of evidence' approach to evaluating structural equation models
James Grace
2020, One Ecosystem (5)
It is possible that model selection has been the most researched and most discussed topic in the history of both statistics and structural equation modeling (SEM). The reason for this is because selecting one model for interpretive use from amongst many possible models is both essential and difficult. The published...
Optimal spatial prioritization of control resources for elimination of invasive species under demographic uncertainty
Kim M. Pepin, Timothy J. Smyser, Amy J. Davis, Ryan S. Miller, Sophie McKee, Kurt C. VerCauteren, William L. Kendall, Chris Slootmaker
2020, Ecological Applications (30)
Populations of invasive species often spread heterogeneously across a landscape, consisting of local populations that cluster in space but are connected by dispersal. A fundamental dilemma for invasive species control is how to optimally allocate limited fiscal resources across local populations. Theoretical work based on perfect knowledge of demographic connectivity...
Eradication of peste des petits ruminants and the wildlife-livestock interface
Amanda E. Fine, Mathieu Pruvot, Camila Benfield, Alexandre Caron, Giovanni Cattoli, Philippe Chardonnet, Maurizio Dioli, Thomas Dulu, Martin Gilbert, Richard Kock, Juan Lubroth, Jeffery Mariner, Stephane Ostrowski, Satya Parida, Sasan Fereidouni, Enkhtuvshin Shiilegdamba, Jonathan M. Sleeman, Claudia Schultz, Jean-Jacques Soula, Yves van der Stede, Berhe G. Tekola, Chris Walzer, Steffen Zuther, Feliz Njeumi
2020, Frontiers in Veterinary Science (7)
Growing evidence suggests that multiple wildlife species can be infected with peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV), with important consequences for the potential maintenance of PPRV in communities of susceptible hosts, and the threat that PPRV may pose to the conservation of wildlife populations and resilience of ecosystems. Significant...
Colorado River flow dwindles as warming-driven loss of reflective snow energizes evaporation
Paul C. D. Milly, Krista A. Dunne
2020, Science (367) 1252-1255
The sensitivity of river discharge to climate-system warming is highly uncertain, and the processes that govern river discharge are poorly understood, which impedes climate-change adaptation. A prominent exemplar is the Colorado River, where meteorological drought and warming are shrinking a water resource that supports more than 1 trillion dollars of...
Bathymetry of Morris Lake (Newton Reservoir), New Jersey, 2018
Elizabeth A. Nystrom, Jerilyn V. Collenburg
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5010
Morris Lake, also known as Newton Reservoir, has been the source of drinking water for the Town of Newton, New Jersey, since the early 1900s. Although Morris Lake has been used as a source of drinking water for many years, its capacity was previously uncertain. In April 2018, the U.S....
Sub-annual streamflow responses to rainfall and snowmelt inputs in snow-dominated watersheds of the western U.S.
John C. Hammond, Stephanie K. Kampf
2020, Water Resources Research (56)
Streamflow generation in mountain watersheds is strongly influenced by snow accumulation and melt, and multiple studies have found that snow loss leads to earlier snowmelt timing and declines in annual streamflow. However, hydrologic responses to snow loss are heterogeneous, and not all areas experience streamflow declines....
Organic compounds in produced waters from the Bakken Formation and Three Forks Formation in the Williston Basin, North Dakota
Matthew S. Varonka, Tanya Gallegos, Anne L. Bates, Colin A. Doolan, William H. Orem
2020, Heliyon (6)
The organic composition of produced waters (flowback and formation waters) from the middle member of the Bakken Formation and the Three Forks Formation in the Williston Basin, North Dakota were examined to aid in the remediation of surface contamination and help develop treatment methods for produced-water recycling. Twelve produced water...
Building a landslide hazard indicator with machine learning and land surface models
T. A. Stanley, D. B. Kirschbaum, Steven Sobieszczyk, M. F. Jasinski, J. S. Borak, Stephen L. Slaughter
2020, Environmental Modelling & Software (129)
The U.S. Pacific Northwest has a history of frequent and occasionally deadly landslides caused by various factors. Using a multivariate, machine-learning approach, we combined a Pacific Northwest Landslide Inventory with a 36-year gridded hydrologic dataset from the National Climate Assessment – Land Data Assimilation System to produce a landslide hazard indicator (LHI) on a...
Landfill leachate contributes per-/poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and pharmaceuticals to municipal wastewater
Jason R. Masoner, Dana W. Kolpin, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Kelly L. Smalling, Stephanie Bolyard, Jennifer Field, Edward T. Furlong, James L. Gray, Duncan Lozinski, Debra Reinhart, Alix Rodowa, Paul M. Bradley
2020, Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology (6) 1300-1311
Widespread disposal of landfill leachate to municipal sewer infrastructure in the United States calls for an improved understanding of the relative organic-chemical contributions to the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) waste stream and associated surface-water discharge to receptors in the environment. Landfill leachate, WWTP influent, and WWTP effluent samples were collected...
A post-eruption study of gases and thermal waters at Okmok Volcano, Alaska
Deborah Bergfeld, William C. Evans, Andrew G. Hunt, Taryn Lopez, Janet Schaefer
2020, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (396)
We report here on the first focused study of gas discharges and thermal spring waters at Okmok Volcano since the 2008 phreatomagmatic eruptions. Results include the first compositional gas data from Okmok with minimal air contamination and the first data on magmatic carbon in Okmok spring waters. Chemical and isotopic...
Temporal evolution of measured and simulated infiltration following wildfire in the Colorado Front Range, USA: Shifting thresholds of runoff generation and hydrologic hazards
Brian A. Ebel
2020, Journal of Hydrology (585) 124765
Destructive flash floods and debris flows are a common menace following wildfire. The restoration of protection provided by forests from post-fire floods and debris flows depends on the recovery of infiltration and attendant reduction of infiltration-excess surface runoff generation. This work examines seven years of post-fire infiltration measurements and temporal...
Small-scale water deficits after wildfires create long-lasting ecological impacts
Rory O’Connor, Matthew J. Germino, David M Barnard, Caitlin M. Andrews, John B. Bradford, David S. Pilliod, Robert S. Arkle, Robert K Shriver
2020, Environmental Research Letters (15)
Ecological droughts are deficits in soil–water availability that induce threshold-like ecosystem responses, such as causing altered or degraded plant-community conditions, which can be exceedingly difficult to reverse. However, 'ecological drought' can be difficult to define, let alone to quantify, especially at spatial and temporal scales relevant to land managers. This...
Pooling resources across organizations — Multisource water-quality data for the Delaware River Basin
Jennifer C. Murphy, Megan E. Shoda
2020, Fact Sheet 2020-3006
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently launched a pilot Integrated Water Availability Assessment (IWAA) in the Delaware River Basin to explore, test, and refine systems and processes for assessing water availability for human and ecological uses based on water monitoring data. Water-quality monitoring provides citizens, managers, and scientists with the...
Abundance and productivity of marbled murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus) off central California during the 2019 breeding season
Jonathan J. Felis, Emily C. Kelsey, Josh Adams, Cheryl Horton, Laura White
2020, Data Series 1123
Marbled murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus) have been listed as “endangered” by the State of California and “threatened” by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 1992 in California, Oregon, and Washington. Information regarding marbled murrelet abundance, distribution, population trends, and habitat associations is critical for risk assessment, effective management, evaluation of...
Global plant trait relationships extend to the climatic extremes of the tundra biome
H. J. D. Thomas, A. D. Bjorkman, I. H. Myers-Smith, S.C. Elmendorf, Jens Kattge, Sandra Diaz, Mark Vellend, D. Blok, J. H. C. Cornelissen, B. C. Forbes, G. H. R. Henry, R.D. Hollister, S. Normand, Janet S. Prevey, C. Rixen, G. Schaepman-Strub, M. Wilmking, S. Wipf, W.K. Cornwell, P.S.A. Beck, D. Georges, S.J. Goetz, K. C. Guay, Nadja Ruger, N. A. Soudzilovskaia, Marko J. Spasojevic, Juha Alatalo, H. D. Alexander, A. Anadon-Rosell, S. Angers-Blondin, M. teBeest, L. T. Berner, R. G. Bjork, A. Buchwal, A. Buras, M. Carbognani, K. S. Christie, L. S. Collier, E. J. Cooper, B. Elberling, A. Eskelinen, E. R. Frei, O. Grau, P. Grogan, M. Hallinger, M. M. P. D. Heijmans, L. Hermanutz, J. M. G. Hudson, J.F. Johnstone, K. Hulber, M. Iturrate-Garcia, Colleen M. Iversen, F. Jaroszynska, E, Kaarlejarvi, A. Kulonen, L. J. Lamarque, T. C. Lantz, E. Levesque, C.E. Little, Anders Michelsen, A. Milbau, Jacob Nabe-Nielsen, S. S. Nielsen, J. M. Ninot, S. F. Oberbauer, J. Olofsson, V. G. Onipchenko, A. Petraglia, S. B. Rumpf, R. Shetti, J. D. M. Speed, K.N. Suding, K.D. Tape, M. Tomaselli, A. J. Trant, U. A. Treier, M. Tremblay, S. E. Venn, T. Vowles, S. Weijers, P. A. Wookey, T. J. Zamin, M. Bahn, B. Blonder, P. M. van Bodegom, B. Bond-Lamberty, G. Campetella, B. E. L. Cerabolini, F. S. Chapin III, Joseph M. Craine, M. Dainese, W. A. Green, S. Jansen, M. Kleyer, P. Manning, U. Niinemets, Y. Onoda, W. A. Ozinga, J. Penuelas, P. Poschlod, Peter B. Reich, B. Sandel, B. S. Schamp, S. N. Sheremetiev, F. T. de Vries
2020, Nature Communications (11)
The majority of variation in six traits critical to the growth, survival and reproduction of global plant species is thought to be organised along just two dimensions, corresponding to strategies of plant size and resource acquisition. However, it is unknown whether global plant trait relationships extend to climatic extremes, and...
Groundwater quality and geochemistry of West Virginia’s southern coal fields
Mark D. Kozar, Mitchell A. McAdoo, Karl B. Haase
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5059
Coal mining has been the dominant industry and land use in West Virginia’s southern coal fields since the mid-1800s. Mortality rates for a variety of serious chronic conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, and some forms of cancer in Appalachian coal mining regions, are higher than in areas lacking substantial...
A spatial analysis of climate gentrification in Orleans Parish, Louisiana post-Hurricane Katrina
Kyle T. Aune, Dean B. Gesch, Genee S. Smith
2020, Environmental Research (185)
BackgroundHurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans, Louisiana as a Category 3 storm in August 2005. Storm surges, levee failures, and the low-lying nature of New Orleans led to widespread flooding, damage to over 70% of occupied housing, and evacuation of 80–90% of city...
