Filling the gaps: A Bayesian mixture model for imputing missing soil water content data
Kiona Ogle, Emma Reich, Kimberly Samuels-Crow, Marcy Litvak, John B. Bradford, Daniel Rodolphe Schlaepfer, Megan Devan
2025, Ecohydrology (18)
Soil water content (SWC) data are central to evaluating how soil moisture varies over time and space and influences critical plant and ecosystem functions, especially in water-limited drylands. However, sensors that record SWC at high frequencies often malfunction, leading to incomplete timeseries and limiting our understanding of dryland ecosystem dynamics....
Climate change effects on ecosystem services: Disentangling drivers of mixed responses
Marcy C. Delos, Ciara G. Johnson, Sarah R. Weiskopf, Janet Alice Cushing
2025, PLoS (20)
Climate change is a pervasive hazard that impacts the supply and demand of ecosystem goods and services (EGS) that maintain human well-being. A recent review found that the impacts of climate change on EGS are sometimes mixed, posing challenges for managers who need to adapt to these changes. We expand...
A real-time fish detection system for partially dewatered fish to support selective fish passage
Jonathan Gregory, Scott M. Miehls, Jesse Eickholt, Daniel Zielinski
2025, Sensors (25)
Recent advances in fish transportation technologies and deep machine learning-based fish classification have created an opportunity for real-time, autonomous fish sorting through a selective passage mechanism. This research presents a case study of a novel application that utilizes deep machine learning to detect partially dewatered fish exiting an Archimedes Screw...
Applications of unoccupied aerial systems (UAS) in landscape ecology: A review of recent research, challenges and emerging opportunities
Miguel L. Villarreal, Tara B.B. Bishop, Temuulen Ts. Sankey, William K. Smith, Matthew Alexander Burgess, Trevor Caughlin, Jeffrey K. Gillan, Caroline Havrilla, Tao Huang, Raymond LeBeau, Cindy L. Norton, Joel B. Sankey, Victoria Mary Scholl, Joshua W. Von Nonn, Erika Yao
2025, Landscape Ecology (40)
ContextUnoccupied aerial systems/vehicles (UAS/UAV, a.k.a. drones) have become an increasingly popular tool for ecological research. But much of the recent research is concerned with developing mapping and detection approaches, with few studies attempting to link UAS data to ecosystem processes and function. Landscape ecologists have long used high...
Using GPS tracking data to validate the conservation value of bird migration counts
Ron Efrat, Yael Lehnardt, Daniel Berkowic, Yossi Leshem, Roi Dor, Alexander E. Bragin, Evgeny Bragin, Todd E. Katzner, Nir Sapir
2025, Biological Conservation (302)
Effective conservation of migratory birds requires gathering of information about their population trends, often acquired using migratory bird counts. These schemes ideally operate at migratory bottlenecks, through which a significant portion of the counted migratory populations is funneled. Yet it is rare to validate the conservation value of the data...
Triangulating habitat suitability for the locally extirpated California grizzly bear
Michael C Mcinturff, Peter S. Alagona, Scott D. Cooper, Kaitlyn M. Gaynor, Sarah E. Anderson, Elizabeth S. Forbes, Robert Heilmayr, Elizabeth H.T. Hiroyasu, Bruce E. Kendall, Alexis M. Mychajliw, Molly Hardesty-Moore
2025, Biological Conservation (303)
Reintroducing locally extirpated wildlife species is often necessary to meet recovery goals. However, because current field data cannot be gathered about these species, efforts to identify suitable habitat are often complicated and controversial. Here we present a case study examining a novel approach for identifying suitable habitat for the locally...
Ungulate migrations of the Western United States, volume 5
Matthew Kauffman, Blake Lowrey, Jennifer L. McKee, Travis Allen, Chloe Beaupre, Jeffrey L. Beck, Scott Bergen, Justin Binfet, Shelly Blair, James W. Cain III, Peyton Carl, Todd Cornish, Michelle Cowardin, Rachel Curtis, Melia DeVivo, Jennifer Diamond, Katie Dugger, Orrin Duvuvuei, C.J. Ellingwood, Darby Finely, Jessica Fort, Eric Freeman, Ian Freeman, Jeff Gagnon, Emily Gelzer, Jacob Gray, Evan Greenspan, Curtis Hendricks, Valerie Hinojoza-Rood, Matthew Jeffress, Carolyn A. Kyle, Zack Lockyer, Cody McKee, Jerod Merkle, Jerrod Merrell, Matthew Mumma, Jake Powell, Craig Reddell, Adele K. Reinking, Robert Ritson, Sierra Robatcek, Benjamin S. Robb, Brianna M. Russo, Hall Sawyer, Cody Schroeder, Elissa Slezak, Scott Sprague, Erik Steiner, Alethea Steingisser, Tom Stephenson, Nicole Tatman, Kaitlyn L. Taylor, Don Whittaker, Travis Zaffarano
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5111
Many ungulates migrate between distinct summer and winter ranges to take advantage of spatially and temporally variable food sources and avoid threats such as predators and deep snow. In 2018, the U.S. Department of the Interior established Secretarial Order 3362, which provided Federal support to expand existing research efforts to...
Possible influence of water level management on nutrient flux in nearshore sediments of Kabetogama Lake, Minnesota, USA
James H. Larson, Sean Bailey, Ryan P. Maki, Victoria Christensen, Erin A. Stelzer, James C. Smith, Jamie F. LeDuc, Seth McWhorter
2025, Ecosphere (16)
Lake water level fluctuations are an important factor driving variation in many ecosystem processes. The nearshore sediments that are periodically exposed and re-inundated can develop distinct physical and chemical characteristics, especially in relationship to the organic matter content of the sediments and the particle size distribution. These sediment characteristics in...
Climate-related drivers of migratory bird health in the south-central USA
Renee A. McPherson, Katrina E. Alger, Erik K. Hofmeister
2025, Biological Reviews (100) 1272-1293
Migratory birds are species of concern that play important ecological roles while also supporting recreational opportunities for the hunting and birdwatching public. Direct and indirect effects of climate variability, extremes, and change on migratory bird health manifest at the individual, population, species, and community levels. This review focuses on the...
ShakeAlert® version 3: Expected performance in large earthquakes
Jeffrey J. McGuire, Carl W. Ulberg, Angela I. Lux, Maren Bose, J.R. Andrews, Deborah Smith, B. Crowell, Jessica R. Murray, I. Henson, R. Hartog, C. Felizardo, Minh Huynh, M. Aranha, Grace Alexandra Parker, Annemarie S. Baltay Sundstrom, Mark Hunter Murray, Glenn Biasi, Stephen Guiwits, Jessie K. Saunders, Andrew D. Good, V. Marcelo Santillan, C.W. Scrivener, Walter M. Szeliga, Timothy I. Melbourne, Victor Kress, Robert M. de Groot, Sara K. McBride, Douglas D. Given, Richard Allen, Thomas H. Heaton, Allen L. Husker, Valerie Thomas, Harold Tobin, Sumant Jha, Julian Bunn
2025, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (115) 533-561
The ShakeAlert earthquake early warning (EEW) system partners along with U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) licensed operators deliver EEW alerts to the public and trigger automated systems when a significant earthquake is expected to impact California, Oregon, or Washington. ShakeAlert’s primary goal is to provide usable warning times before the arrival...
Comparative assessment of a restored and natural wetland using 13C-DNA SIP reveals a higher potential for methane production in the restored wetland
Nora Hamovit, Taniya RoyChowdhury, Denise M. Akob, Xuesong Zhang, Gregory T. McCarty, Stephanie A. Yarwood
2025, Applied and Environmental Microbiology (91)
Wetlands are the largest natural source of methane (CH4), a potent greenhouse gas produced by methanogens. Methanogenesis rates are controlled by environmental factors such as redox potential, temperature, and carbon and electron acceptor availability and are presumably dependent on the composition of the active methanogen community. We collected intact soil...
Luminescence dating of stone structures in northeastern United States
Jim Feathers, Shannon A. Mahan
2025, American Antiquity
There is no consensus on who built the numerous stone structures that dot the archaeological landscape in the northeastern United States. Professional archaeologists traditionally have attributed them to colonial farmers, but increasing numbers of archaeologists have joined many nonprofessional groups and Native Americans in arguing for Indigenous origins. Better understanding...
Time-varying rates of organic and inorganic mass accumulation in southeast Louisiana marshes: Relationships to sea-level anomalies and tropical storms
Sophie Vincent, Carol Wilson, G.A. Snedden, Tracy Quirk
2025, Journal of Coastal Research (41) 452-467
Louisiana's coastal wetlands are complex systems that require a continuous input of organic and inorganic material to keep pace with relative sea-level rise. Coastal restoration projects such as sediment diversions are being implemented to mitigate land loss and increase availability of inorganic sediment to coastal wetlands, and marshes specifically rely...
Confluence of time and space: An innovation for quantifying dynamics of hydrologic floodplain connectivity with remote sensing and GIS
Hafez Ahmad, Leandro E. Miranda, Corey Garland Dunn, Melanie R. Boudreau, Michael E. Colvin, Padmanava Dash
2025, River Research and Applications (41) 1014-1029
Hydrologic connectivity is a crucial determinant of aquatic ecosystem services, governing the exchange of nutrients, sediments, chemicals, and biota. Various indices and metrics exist for quantifying hydrologic connectivity across diverse environments and scales. However, existing methodologies often fail to adequately capture lateral connectivity between floodplain lakes and streams across vast,...
Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 in double-crested cormorants (Nannopterum auritum) of the Chesapeake Bay, USA
Johanna Alexandra Harvey, Jeffery Dale Sullivan, Rebecca L. Poulson, Deborah L. Carter, Cindy P. Driscoll, Peter C. McGowan, Carl R. Callahan, Amy W. O'Donnell, Jennifer M. Mullinax, David E. Stallknecht, Diann Prosser
2025, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (61) 348-356
Double-crested Cormorants (Nannopterum auritum) have historically exhibited low levels of infection and antibodies to avian influenza virus (AIV). The recent global expansion of clade 2.3.4.4b A/goose/Guangdong/1/1996 highly pathogenic (HP) avian influenza virus H5N1 (HPAI H5N1) has resulted in large-scale mortalities across diverse waterbird taxa including cormorants. We sampled 32 and...
The 3D Elevation Program—Supporting Utah’s economy
Cynthia L. Ritmiller
2025, Fact Sheet 2025-3004
Introduction High-quality elevation data for Utah inform decision making to improve the State’s economy. Light detection and ranging (lidar) data are used to support infrastructure planning and management, assess natural resources, and improve resiliency to hazards. The expanding availability of current and more accurate lidar data helps to better support natural...
Hydrogeomorphic history, hydrodynamic conditions, and simulations of water levels and velocities from varying lake levels and streamflow for the Sheboygan Rivermouth and area of concern, Wisconsin
Faith A. Fitzpatrick, Stephen, M. Westenbroek, Paul C. Reneau, James D. Blount
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5125
In 2011–13, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted a study of the hydrogeomorphic setting and hydrodynamic conditions of the lower Sheboygan River and island complex within the backwater zone of Lake Michigan. Analyses of historical aerial photographs from 1938–2010 indicated that the Wildwood Islands complex had experienced mainly erosion and...
Impoundments facilitate upstream invasion and introgression: Case studies of fluvial black basses (Micropterus spp.) in the southeastern USA
A.T. Taylor, M.D. Tringali, James M. Long
2025, PLoS ONE (20)
Impoundment construction has resulted in the alternation and loss of fluvial habitats, threatening the persistence of many native fishes. Compounding this threat, non-native species stocked into impoundments often invade interconnected fluvial habitats, where they may negatively affect native species. Black basses (genus Micropterus) are popular sportfishes with divergent ecologies: some taxa...
Fungal impacts on Earth’s ecosystems
Nicola T. Case, Sarah J. Gurr, Matthew C. Fisher, David S. Blehert, Charles Boone, Arturo Casadevall, Anuradha Chowdhary, Christina A. Cuomo, Cameron R. Currie, David W. Denning, Iuliana V. Ene, Lillian K. Fritz-Laylin, Aleeza C. Gerstein, Neil A. R. Gow, Asiya Gusa, Iliyan D. Iliev, Timothy Y. James, Hailing Jin, Regine Kahmann, Bruce S. Klein, James W. Kronstad, Kyla S. Ost, Kabir G. Peay, Rebecca S. Shapiro, Donald C. Sheppard, Neta Shlezinger, Jason E. Stajich, Eva H. Stukenbrock, John W. Taylor, Gerard D. Wright, Leah E. Cowen, Joseph Heitman, Julia A. Segre
2025, Nature (638) 49-57
Over the past billion years, the fungal kingdom has diversified to more than two million species, with over 95% still undescribed. Beyond the well-known macroscopic mushrooms and microscopic yeast, fungi are heterotrophs that feed on almost any organic carbon, recycling nutrients through the decay of dead plants and animals and...
Cell penetrating peptide-mediated delivery of gene-silencing nucleic acids to the invasive common reed Phragmites australis via foliar application
Qing Ji, Kurt P. Kowalski, Edward M. Golenberg, Seung Ho Chung, Natalie D. Barker, Wesley A. Bickford, Ping Gong
2025, Plants (14)
As a popular tool for gene function characterization and gene therapy, RNA interference (RNAi)-based gene silencing has been increasingly explored for potential applications to control invasive species. At least two major hurdles exist when applying this approach to invasive plants: (1) the design and screening of species- and gene-specific biomacromolecules...
The effects of imidacloprid and polyester microfibers on the larval development of the endangered sunflower star
Alexandra G. Tissot, Elise F. Granek, Fiona Curliss, Augustin Kalytiak-Davis, Jason Hodin, Michelle L. Hladik
2025, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (44) 1107-1119
Sea star wasting syndrome (SSWS) has affected numerous species of sea star, with populations of Pycnopodia helianthoides (Brandt, 1835) left most at risk. As their populations are struggling to recover, it is important to gain a better understanding of the impacts that the multiple stressors in their habitats can have on their...
Systematic shifts in the variation among host individuals must be considered in climate-disease theory
Joseph R. Mihaljevic, David James Paez
2025, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (292)
To make more informed predictions of host–pathogen interactions under climate change, studies have incorporated the thermal performance of host, vector and pathogen traits into disease models to quantify effects on average transmission rates. However, this body of work has omitted the fact that variation in susceptibility among individual hosts affects...
Preprint: Simulated seasonal loads of total nitrogen and total phosphorus by major source from watersheds draining to Washington waters of the Salish Sea, 2005 through 2020
Noah Schmadel, Cristiana Figueroa-Kaminsky, Daniel Wise, Jamie K. Wasielewski, Zachary Johnson, Robert W. Black
2025, Preprint
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) have developed watershed models of seasonal load estimates of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) discharging into the Washington waters of the Salish Sea from 2005 through 2020. The modeling approach used was dynamic SPARROW (SPAtially...
Continuous stream discharge, salinity, and associated data collected in the lower St. Johns River and its tributaries, Florida, 2022
Jennifer N. Carson, Matthew T. Benacquisto
2025, Open-File Report 2024-1076
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, deepened the St. Johns River channel in Jacksonville, Florida, to accommodate larger, fully loaded cargo vessels. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, monitored stage, discharge, and (or) water temperature and salinity at 26 continuous...
Geologic map of MTM −15032 and −20032 quadrangles, western Ladon basin, Mars
Catherine M. Weitz, Sharon A. Wilson, John A. Grant, Rossman P. Irwin, III
James A. Skinner, editor(s)
2025, Scientific Investigations Map 3525
Our mapping efforts focused on the geomorphic terrains and geologic units contained within Mars Transverse Mercator (MTM) −15032 and −20032 quadrangles. These two quadrangles are located along the west side of Ladon basin and span lat −12.5° N. to −22.5° N. and long 325° E. to 330° E. The western...
