West Nile Virus transmission in winter: the 2013 Great Salt Lake Bald Eagle and Eared Grebes Mortality event
S. Ip, Arnaud J. Van Wettere, Leslie McFarlan, Valerie I. Shearn-Bochsler, Sammie L. Dickson, JoDee Baker, Gary Hatch, Kimberly Cavender, Renee Romaine Long, Barbara L. Bodenstein
2014, PLOS Current Outbreaks
West Nile Virus (WNV) infection has been reported in over 300 species of birds and mammals. Raptors such as eagles, hawks and falcons are remarkably susceptible, but reports of WNV infection in Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) are rare and reports of WNV infection in grebes (Podicipediformes) even rarer. We report...
fatalityCMR: capture-recapture software to correct raw counts of wildlife fatalities using trial experiments for carcass detection probability and persistence time
Guillaume Peron, James E. Hines
2014, Techniques and Methods 7-C11
Many industrial and agricultural activities involve wildlife fatalities by collision, poisoning or other involuntary harvest: wind turbines, highway network, utility network, tall structures, pesticides, etc. Impacted wildlife may benefit from official protection, including the requirement to monitor the impact. Carcass counts can often be conducted to quantify the number of...
Estimating abundances of interacting species using morphological traits, foraging guilds, and habitat
Robert M. Dorazio, Edward F. Connor
2014, PLoS ONE (9) 1-9
We developed a statistical model to estimate the abundances of potentially interacting species encountered while conducting point-count surveys at a set of ecologically relevant locations - as in a metacommunity of species. In the model we assume that abundances of species with similar traits (e.g., body size) are potentially correlated...
Blood lead concentrations in Alaskan tundra swans: linking breeding and wintering areas with satellite telemetry
Craig R. Ely, Christian Franson
2014, Ecotoxicology (23) 349-356
Tundra swans (Cygnus columbianus) like many waterfowl species are susceptible to lead (Pb) poisoning, and Pb-induced mortality has been reported from many areas of their wintering range. Little is known however about Pb levels throughout the annual cycle of tundra swans, especially during summer when birds are on remote northern...
Parasite-mediated selection drives an immunogenetic tradeoff in plains zebra (Equus quagga)
Pauline L. Kamath, Wendy C. Turner, Martina Kusters, Wayne M. Getz
2014, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (281)
Pathogen evasion of the host immune system is a key force driving extreme polymorphism in genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Although this gene family is well characterized in structure and function, there is still much debate surrounding the mechanisms by which MHC diversity is selectively maintained. Many studies...
Groundwater-quality data in seven GAMA study units: results from initial sampling, 2004-2005, and resampling, 2007-2008, of wells: California GAMA Program Priority Basin Project
Robert H. Kent, Kenneth Belitz, Miranda S. Fram
2014, Data Series 795
The Priority Basin Project (PBP) of the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program was developed in response to the Groundwater Quality Monitoring Act of 2001 and is being conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB). The GAMA-PBP began...
Guidelines for a priori grouping of species in hierarchical community models
Krishna Pacifici, Elise Zipkin, Jaime Collazo, Julissa I. Irizarry, Amielle A. DeWan
2014, Ecology and Evolution (4) 877-888
Recent methodological advances permit the estimation of species richness and occurrences for rare species by linking species-level occurrence models at the community level. The value of such methods is underscored by the ability to examine the influence of landscape heterogeneity on species assemblages at large spatial scales. A salient advantage...
Animal reintroductions: an innovative assessment of survival
Erin L. Muths, Larissa L. Bailey, Mary Kay Watry
2014, Biological Conservation (172) 200-208
Quantitative evaluations of reintroductions are infrequent and assessments of milestones reached before a project is completed, or abandoned due to lack of funding, are rare. However, such assessments, which are promoted in adaptive management frameworks, are critical. Quantification can provide defensible estimates of biological success, such as the number of...
Ghost of habitat past: historic habitat affects the contemporary distribution of giant garter snakes in a modified landscape.
Brian J. Halstead, Glenn D. Wylie, Michael L. Casazza
2014, Animal Conservation (17) 144-153
Historic habitat conditions can affect contemporary communities and populations, but most studies of historic habitat are based on the reduction in habitat extent or connectivity. Little is known about the effects of historic habitat on contemporary species distributions when historic habitat has been nearly completely removed, but species persist in...
Groundwater-quality data in the Klamath Mountains study unit, 2010: results from the California GAMA Program
Timothy M. Mathany, Kenneth Belitz
2014, Data Series 803
Groundwater quality in the 8,806-square-mile Klamath Mountains (KLAM) study unit was investigated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from October to December 2010, as part of the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program’s Priority Basin Project (PBP). The GAMA-PBP was developed in...
Strength of evidence for the effects of feral cats on insular wildlife: The Club Med Syndrome Part II
Steve C. Hess
2014, Conference Paper
Various types of evidence have been promulgated as proof for the effects of feral cats on wildlife, typically including numerous studies on predation inferred from diet, mortality attributed to pathogens, and photographic or videographic documentation. The strength of these types of evidence is often short of conclusive. For example, studies...
A deposit model for carbonatite and peralkaline intrusion-related rare earth element deposits
Philip L. Verplanck, Bradley S. Van Gosen, Robert R. Seal II, Anne E. McCafferty
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5070-J
Carbonatite and alkaline intrusive complexes, as well as their weathering products, are the primary sources of rare earth elements. A wide variety of other commodities have been exploited from carbonatites and alkaline igneous rocks including niobium, phosphate, titanium, vermiculite, barite, fluorite, copper, calcite, and zirconium. Other elements enriched in these...
Aspidoscelis deppii (black-bellied racerunner). Predation by turkey vulture.
Robert P. Reynolds, Christina A. Gebhard
2014, Herpetological Review (45) 124-124
Aspidoscelis deppii is widely distributed from Veracruz and Michoacan, Mexico, to Costa Rica (Köhler et al. 2006. The Amphibians and Reptiles of El Salvador, Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar, Florida. 238 pp.). Neotropical lizards are abundant and common prey to all classes of terrestrial vertebrates, and bird predation of lizards is...
Statistical evaluation of variables affecting occurrence of hydrocarbons in aquifers used for public supply, California
Matthew K. Landon, Carmen A. Burton, Tracy A. Davis, Kenneth Belitz, Tyler D. Johnson
2014, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (50) 179-195
The variables affecting the occurrence of hydrocarbons in aquifers used for public supply in California were assessed based on statistical evaluation of three large statewide datasets; gasoline oxygenates also were analyzed for comparison with hydrocarbons. Benzene is the most frequently detected (1.7%) compound among 17 hydrocarbons analyzed at generally low...
Seismological analyses of the 2010 March 11, Pichilemu, Chile Mw 7.0 and Mw 6.9 coastal intraplate earthquakes
Javier A. Ruiz, Gavin P. Hayes, Daniel Carrizo, Hiroo Kanamori, Anne Socquet, Diana Comte
2014, Geophysical Journal International (196)
On 2010 March 11, a sequence of large, shallow continental crust earthquakes shook central Chile. Two normal faulting events with magnitudes around Mw 7.0 and Mw 6.9 occurred just 15 min apart, located near the town of Pichilemu. These kinds of large intraplate, inland crustal earthquakes are rare above the...
The profound reach of the 11 April 2012 M 8.6 Indian Ocean earthquake: Short‐term global triggering followed by a longer‐term global shadow
Frederick Pollitz, Roland Burgmann, Ross S. Stein, Volkan Sevilgen
2014, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (104) 972-984
The 11 April 2012 M 8.6 Indian Ocean earthquake was an unusually large intraoceanic strike‐slip event. For several days, the global M≥4.5 and M≥6.5 seismicity rate at remote distances (i.e., thousands of kilometers from the mainshock) was elevated. The strike‐slip mainshock appears through its Love waves to have triggered a global...
Mercury bioaccumulation in Southern Appalachian birds, assessed through feather concentrations
Rebecca Hylton Keller, Lingtian Xie, David B. Buchwalter, Kathleen E. Franzreb, Theodore R. Simons
2014, Ecotoxicology (23) 304-316
Mercury contamination in wildlife has rarely been studied in the Southern Appalachians despite high deposition rates in the region. From 2006 to 2008 we sampled feathers from 458 birds representing 32 species in the Southern Appalachians for total mercury and stable isotope δ 15N. Mercury concentrations (mean ± SE) averaged 0.46 ± 0.02 μg g−1 (range 0.01–3.74 μg g−1). Twelve...
Benthic prey fish assessment, Lake Ontario 2013
Brian Weidel, Maureen Walsh, Michael J. Connerton
2014, NYSDEC Lake Ontario Annual Report 2013-12
The 2013 benthic fish assessment was delayed and shortened as a result of the U.S. Government shutdown, however the assessment collected 51 of the 62 planned bottom trawls. Over the past 34 years, Slimy Sculpin abundance in Lake Ontario has fluctuated, but ultimately decreased by two orders of magnitude, with...
Competitive interactions and resource partitioning between northern spotted owls and barred owls in western Oregon
J. David Wiens, Robert G. Anthony, Eric D. Forsman
2014, Wildlife Monographs (185) 1-50
The federally threatened northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) is the focus of intensive conservation efforts that have led to much forested land being reserved as habitat for the owl and associated wildlife species throughout the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Recently, however, a...
The effect of adjusting model inputs to achieve mass balance on time-dynamic simulations in a food-web model of Lake Huron
Brian J. Langseth, Michael L. Jones, Stephen C. Riley
2014, Ecological Modelling (273) 44-54
Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) is a widely used modeling tool in fishery research and management. Ecopath requires a mass-balanced snapshot of a food web at a particular point in time, which Ecosim then uses to simulate changes in biomass over time. Initial inputs to Ecopath, including estimates for biomasses, production...
On the role of budget sufficiency, cost efficiency, and uncertainty in species management
Max Post van der Burg, Bartholomew B. Bly, Tammy Vercauteren, J. Barry Grand, Andrew J. Tyre
2014, Journal of Wildlife Management (78) 153-163
Many conservation planning frameworks rely on the assumption that one should prioritize locations for management actions based on the highest predicted conservation value (i.e., abundance, occupancy). This strategy may underperform relative to the expected outcome if one is working with a limited budget or the predicted responses are uncertain. Yet,...
Status of forest birds on Rota, Mariana Islands
Richard J. Camp, Kevin W. Brinck, P. Marcos Gorresen, Fred A. Amidon, Paul M. Radley, S. Paul Berkowitz, Paul C. Banko
2014, Report, Hawaii Cooperative Studies Unit Technical Report
The western Pacific island of Rota is the third largest human inhabited island in the Mariana archipelago, and is designated an Endemic Bird Area. Between 1982 and 2012, 12 point-transect distance sampling surveys were conducted to assess population status. Surveys did not consistently sample the entire island; thus, we used...
Coupled hydrological and biogeochemical processes controlling variability of nitrogen species in streamflow during autumn in an upland forest
Stephen D. Sebestyen, James B. Shanley, Elizabeth W. Boyer, Carol Kendall, Daniel H. Doctor
2014, Water Resources Research (50) 1569-1591
Autumn is a season of dynamic change in forest streams of the northeastern United States due to effects of leaf fall on both hydrology and biogeochemistry. Few studies have explored how interactions of biogeochemical transformations, various nitrogen sources, and catchment flow paths affect stream nitrogen variation during autumn. To provide...
Landslides in the northern Colorado Front Range caused by rainfall, September 11-13, 2013
Jonathan W. Godt, Jeffrey A. Coe, Jason W. Kean, Rex L. Baum, Eric S. Jones, Edwin L. Harp, Dennis M. Staley, William D. Barnhart
2014, Fact Sheet 2013-3114
During the second week of September 2013, nearly continuous rainfall caused widespread landslides and flooding in the northern Colorado Front Range. The combination of landslides and flooding was responsible for eight fatalities and caused extensive damage to buildings, highways, and infrastructure. Three fatalities were attributed to a fast moving type...
Complexity versus certainty in understanding species’ declines
Shana M. Sundstrom, Craig R. Allen
2014, Diversity and Distributions (3) 344-355
Aim Our understanding of and ability to predict species declines is limited, despite decades of study. We sought to expand our understanding of species declines within a regional landscape by testing models using both traditional hypotheses and those derived from a complex adaptive systems approach. Location Our study area was the dry mixed...
