Genome-wide association analysis of the resistance to infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus in two rainbow trout aquaculture lines confirms oligogenic architecture with several moderate effect quantitative trait loci
Yniv Palti, Roger L. Vallejo, Maureen K. Purcell, Guangtu Gao, Kristy L. Shewbridge, Roseanna L. Long, Christopher Setzke, Breno O. Fragomeni, Hao Cheng, Kyle E. Martin, Kerrry A. Naish
2024, Frontiers in Genetics (15)
Infectious hematopoietic necrosis (IHN) is a disease of salmonid fish that is caused by the IHN virus (IHNV), which can cause substantial mortality and economic losses in rainbow trout aquaculture and fisheries enhancement hatchery programs. In a previous study on a commercial rainbow trout breeding line that has...
Magnitude and frequency of floods in the Coastal Plain region of Louisiana, 2016
Paul A. Ensminger, Daniel M. Wagner, Amanda Whaling
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5031
To improve flood-frequency estimates for rural streams in the Coastal Plain region of Louisiana, generalized least-squares regression techniques were used to relate corresponding annual exceedance probability streamflows for 211 streamgages in the region to a suite of explanatory variables that include physical, climatic, pedologic, and land-use characteristics of the streamgage...
Biodiversity loss reduces global terrestrial carbon storage
Sarah R. Weiskopf, Forest Isbell, Maria Isabel Arce-Plata, Moreno Di Marco, Mike Harfoot, Justin A. Johnson, Susannah B. Lerman, Brian W. Miller, Toni Lyn Morelli, Akira S. Mori, Ensheng Weng, Simon Ferrier
2024, Nature Communications (15)
Natural ecosystems store large amounts of carbon globally, as organisms absorb carbon from the atmosphere to build large, long-lasting, or slow-decaying structures such as tree bark or root systems. An ecosystem’s carbon sequestration potential is tightly linked to its biological diversity. Yet when considering future projections, many carbon sequestration models...
Earthquake relocations delineate discrete a fault network and deformation corridor throughout Southeast Alaska and Southwest Yukon
Katherine M. Biegel, Jeremy M. Gosselin, Jan Dettmer, Maurice Colpron, Eva Enkelmann, Jonathan Caine
2024, Tectonics (43)
Deformation in southeastern Alaska and southwest Yukon is governed by the subduction and translation of the Pacific-Yakutat plates relative to the North American plate in the St. Elias region. Despite notable historical seismicity and major regional faults, studies of the region between the Fairweather and Denali faults are complicated by glacial...
Earthquake cycle mechanics during caldera collapse: Simulating the 2018 Kīlauea eruption
Joshua Allen Crozier, Kyle R. Anderson
2024, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth (129)
In multiple observed caldera-forming eruptions, the rock overlying a draining magma reservoir dropped downward along ring faults in sequences of discrete collapse earthquakes. These sequences are analogous to tectonic earthquake cycles and provide opportunities to examine fault mechanics and collapse eruption dynamics over multiple events. Collapse earthquake...
Ecological dissimilarity matters more than geographical distance when predicting land surface indicators using machine learning
Bo Zhou, Gregory S. Okin, Junzhe Zhang, Shannon L. Savage, Christopher J. Cole, Michael C. Duniway
2024, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (62)
Supervised training techniques, such as those used in machine learning, use generally large sets of in situ data to train models that can, in turn, be used to make predictions (or prediction maps) about the Earth’s surface in times or places where no in situ...
Evaluating the effectiveness of joint species distribution modeling for fresh water fish communities within large watersheds
Paul McLaughlin, Kevin Krause, Kelly O. Maloney, Taylor E Woods, Tyler Wagner
2024, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (81) 1248-1263
Accurately predicting species’ distributions is critical for the management and conservation of fish and wildlife populations. Joint Species Distribution Models (JSDMs) account for dependencies between species often ignored by traditional species distribution models. We evaluated how a JSDM approach could improve predictive strength for stream fish communities within large watersheds...
Quantifying intraspecific variation in host resistance ad tolerance to a lethal pathogen
B. Hardy, Erin L. Muths, W. C. Funk, L. L. Bailey
2024, Journal of Animal Ecology (94) 316-329
Testing for intraspecific variation for host tolerance or resistance in wild populations is important for informing conservation decisions about captive breeding, translocation, and disease treatment. Here, we test the importance of tolerance and resistance in multiple populations of boreal toads (Anaxyrus boreas boreas) against Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), the amphibian fungal pathogen...
Chronic wasting disease alters the movement behavior and habitat use of mule deer during clinical stages of infection
Gabriel M. Barrile, Paul C. Cross, Cheynne Stewart, Jennifer L. Malmberg, Rhiannon P. Jakopak, Justin Binfet, Kevin Montieth, Brandon Werner, Jessica Jennings-Gaines, JA Merkle
2024, Ecology and Evolution (14)
Integrating host movement and pathogen data is a central issue in wildlife disease ecology that will allow for a better understanding of disease transmission. We examined how adult female mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) responded behaviorally to infection with chronic wasting disease (CWD). We compared...
Assessing wild turkey productivity before and after a 14-day delay in the start date of the spring hunting season in Tennessee
Joseph O. Quehl, Lindsey M. Phillips, Vincent M. Johnson, Craig A. Harper, Joseph D. Clark, Roger D. Shields, David A. Buehler
2024, Ecology and Evolution (14)
Ten state wildlife management agencies in the United States, including six within the Southeast, have delayed their spring wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) hunting seasons since 2017 by five or more days to address concerns related to the potential effects of hunting on wild turkey seasonal productivity. One hypothesis posits that...
Updated range map of an endangered salamander and congeneric competitor reveals different niche preferences
Jo Avital Werba, David A. W. Miller, Adrianne Brand, Evan H. Campbell Grant
2024, Ecology and Evolution (14)
Estimating distributions for cryptic and highly range-restricted species induces unique challenges for species distribution modeling. In particular, bioclimatic covariates that are typically used to model species ranges at regional and continental scales may not show strong variation at scales of 100s and 10s of meters. This limits both the likelihood...
Accuracy, accessibility, and institutional capacity shape the utility of habitat models for managing and conserving rare plants on western public lands
Ella M. Samuel, Jennifer K. Meineke, Laine E. McCall, Lea B. Selby, Alison C. Foster, Zoe M. Davidson, Carol A. Dawson, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Sarah K. Carter
2024, Conservation Science and Practice
Public lands are often managed for multiple uses ranging from energy development to rare plant conservation. Habitat models can help land managers assess and mitigate potential effects of projects on rare plants, but it is unclear how models are currently being used. Our goal was...
Debris-flow entrainment modelling under climate change: Considering antecedent moisture conditions along the flow path
Anna Konz, Jacob Hirschberg, Brian McArdell, Benjamin B. Mirus, Tjalling de Haas, Perry Bartelt, Peter Molnar
2024, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (49) 2950-2964
Debris-flow volumes can increase along their flow path by entraining sediment stored in the channel bed and banks, thus also increasing hazard potential. Theoretical considerations, laboratory experiments and field investigations all indicate that the saturation conditions of the sediment along the flow path can...
Reservoir evolution, downstream sediment transport, downstream channel change, and synthesis of geomorphic responses of Fall Creek and Middle Fork Willamette River to water years 2012–18 streambed drawdowns at Fall Creek Lake, Oregon
Mackenzie K. Keith, J. Rose Wallick, Liam N. Schenk, Laurel E. Stratton Garvin, Gabriel W. Gordon, Heather M. Bragg
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5135
Executive SummaryChapter A. IntroductionFall Creek Dam impounds Fall Creek Lake, a 10-kilometer-long reservoir in western Oregon and is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) primarily for flood-risk management (or flood control) in late autumn through early spring months, as well as for water quality, irrigation, recreation, and...
Evaluation of DNA yield from various tissue and sampling sources for use in single nucleotide polymorphism panels
David L. Pearce, Jessie E. Edson, Chris S. Jennelle, W. David Walter
2024, Scientific Reports (14)
Genetics studies are used by wildlife managers and researchers to gain inference into a population of a species of interest. To gain these insights, microsatellites have been the primary method; however, there currently is a shift from microsatellites to single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). With the different DNA requirements between microsatellites...
Modeling coupled dynamics of an empirical predator-prey system to predict top predator recovery
Samantha N. M. Hamilton, M. T. Tinker, Joseph Jackson, Joseph A. Tomoleoni, Michael C. Kenner, Julie L. Yee, Tomoko Bell, Max C. N. Castorani, Benjamin H. Becker, Brent B. Hughes
2024, Biological Conservation (294) 110623
Limited data, time, and funding lead conservation managers to make difficult choices in managing species recovery. Coupled dynamical models are relied upon for decision support, but their application to empirical predator-prey systems has generally been restricted to small, tractable species. To broaden their use in conservation decision-making, we developed a...
U.S. Geological Survey data strategy 2023–33
Vivian B. Hutchison, Thomas E. Burley, Kyle W. Blasch, Paul E. Exter, Gregory L. Gunther, Aaron J. Shipman, Courtney M. Kelley, Cheryl A. Morris
2024, Circular 1517
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has long recognized the strategic importance and value of well-managed data assets as an integral component of scientific integrity and foundational to the advancement of scientific research, decision making, and public safety. The USGS investment in the science lifecycle, including collection of unbiased data assets,...
Status and understanding of groundwater quality in the Mojave Basin Domestic-Supply Aquifer study unit, 2018—California GAMA Priority Basin Project
Krishangi D. Groover, Miranda S. Fram, Zeno F. Levy
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5019
Groundwater quality in the western part of the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California, was investigated in 2018 as part of the California State Water Resources Control Board Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment Program Priority Basin Project. The Mojave Basin Domestic-Supply Aquifer study unit (MOBS) region was divided into...
Site response in the Walnut Creek–Concord region of the San Francisco Bay, California: Ground motion amplification in a fault-bounded basin
Stephen H. Hartzell, Alena L. Leeds, Leonardo Ramirez-Guzman, Victoria Langenheim, Robert G. Schmitt
2024, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (114) 2668-2686
Thirty‐seven portable accelerometers were deployed in the eastern San Francisco Bay communities of Walnut Creek and Concord to study site response in a fault‐bounded, urban, sedimentary basin. Local earthquakes were recorded for a period of two years from 2017 to 2019 resulting in 101 well‐recorded events. Site response is estimated...
Translocation in a fragmented river provides demographic benefits for imperiled fishes
Casey A. Pennock, Brian D. Healy, Matthew R. Bogaard, Mark C. McKinstry, Keith B. Gido, C. Nathan Cathcart, Brian Hines
2024, Ecosphere (15)
Fragmentation isolates individuals and restricts access to valuable habitat with severe consequences for populations, such as reduced gene flow, disruption of recolonization dynamics, reduced resiliency to disturbance, and changes in aquatic community structure. Translocations to mitigate the effects of fragmentation and habitat loss are common, but few are rigorously evaluated,...
Infectivity of wild-bird origin Influenza A viruses in Minnesota wetlands across seasons
Rebecca L. Poulson, Andrew B. Reeves, Christina Ahlstrom, Laura Celeste Scott, Laura E. Hubbard, Alinde Fojtik, Deborah L. Carter, David E. Stallknecht, Andrew M. Ramey
2024, Pathogens (13)
The environmental tenacity of influenza A viruses (IAVs) in the environment likely plays a role in their transmission; IAVs are able to remain infectious in aquatic habitats and may have the capacity to seed outbreaks when susceptible wild bird hosts utilize these same environments months or even seasons later....
Modeling forest snow using relative canopy structure metrics
C. David Moeser, Graham A. Sexstone, Jake Kurzweil
2024, Water (16)
Snow and watershed models typically do not account for forest structure and shading; therefore, they display substantial uncertainty when attempting to account for forest change or when comparing hydrological response between forests with varying characteristics. This study collected snow water equivalent (SWE) measurements in a snow-dominated forest in Colorado,...
A two-dimensional, reach-scale implementation of space-time image velocimetry (STIV) and comparison to particle image velocimetry (PIV)
Carl J. Legleiter, Paul J. Kinzel, Frank L. Engel, Lee R. Harrison, Gregory Hewitt
2024, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (10) 3093-3114
Image-based algorithms have become a powerful tool for estimating flow velocities in rivers. In this study, we generalize the space-time image velocimetry (STIV) framework for reach-scale application rather than along a cross section. The new algorithm provides information on both the magnitude and orientation...
A model for evaluation of sediment exposure and burial for freshwater mussels from heavy particle sedimentation
Bin Wang, Brandon James Sansom, Wenyu Zhu, James L. Kunz, M. Christopher Barnhart, Henry Brown, Stephen E. McMurray, Andrew D Roberts, Christopher Shulse, Caleb Knerr, Kathleen Trauth, Jeffery A. Steevens, Baolin Deng
2024, Ecological Modelling (493)
Freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionida) are an ecologically important faunal group. Excessive sediments, both in suspended and deposited formats, are believed to have negative effects on survival of freshwater mussels. However, there is a lack of quantitative tools for assessing the impact of abrupt and excessive sedimentation on freshwater mussel habitats....
Evidence on the ecological and physical effects of built structures in shallow, tropical coral reefs: A systematic map
Avery Paxton, Iris Foxfoot, Christina Cutshaw, D’amy Steward, Leanne Poussard, Trevor Riley, Todd Swannack, Candice Piercy, Safra Altman, Brandon Puckett, Curt D. Storlazzi, Shay Viehman
2024, Environmental Evidence (13)
Shallow, tropical coral reefs face compounding threats from climate change, habitat degradation due to coastal development and pollution, impacts from storms and sea-level rise, and pulse disturbances like blast fishing, mining, dredging, and ship groundings that reduce reef height and complexity. One approach toward restoring coral reef physical structure from...
