The Bird Banding Lab Is back online. Thank you for your patience
Antonio Celis-Murillo
2025, Newsletter
Note to All Banders was a special extra communication with more urgent information relevant to banders. This Note to All Banders was sent to U. S. bird banders on November 14, 2025, following the return of Bird Banding Lab staff after the 43-day furlough. This note includes information regarding staff...
Understanding abundances and behaviors of shorebirds in coastal Louisiana
Theodore J. Zenzal Jr., Amanda Nicole Anderson, Nicholas Enwright, Hana R. Thurman, Wyatt C. Cheney, Delaina LeBlanc, Robert C. Dobbs, Brock Geary, Hardin Waddle
2025, Preprint
Barrier islands provide resources and ecological services that are integral to economic and environmental interests, such as protection of coastal infrastructure and provision of wildlife habitat. Over time, barrier islands may become eroded and experience land loss, which can require management actions to restore island integrity. Barrier island restoration can...
Performance analysis of oil recovery and CO2 retention in a greenfield residual oil zone: CO2-EOR in Tall Cotton Field (Permian Basin, West Texas, USA)
C. Ozgen Karacan
2025, Carbon Capture Science and Technology (17)
Residual oil zones (ROZs) can offer significant oil resources via enhanced oil recovery (EOR) as well as subsurface carbon dioxide (CO2) retention during injection. If injected CO2 is anthropogenic, the ROZs can offer a substantial geologic storage potential. The ROZs below the oil/water contact (OWC) of main pay zones (MPZ) in...
Reconnaissance of potential alternate water supply sources for the City of Gary, West Virginia
Mark D. Kozar, Samuel H. Austin
2025, Open-File Report 2025-1037
Seven potential sources of water, consisting of free-flowing discharge from abandoned coal mines at six locations and one abandoned flooded underground coal mine air shaft, were sampled for chemical analysis to assess the quality of the groundwater emanating from the seven mine sources. The six free-flowing mine discharge sources were...
DeepFaune New England: A species classification model for trail camera images in northeastern North America
Laurence A. Clarfeld, Katherine D. Gieder, Angela K. Fuller, Zhongqi Miao, Alexej P.K. Sirén, Shevenell M. Webb, Toni Lyn Morelli, Jillian R. Kilborn, Catherine B. Callahan, Leighlan S. Prout, Rachel Cliché, Riley K. Patry, Christopher Bernier, Susan Staats, Therese M. Donovan
2025, Ecology and Evolution (15)
The DeepFaune New England model classifies wildlife species in trail camera images, identifying 24 taxa from northeastern North America with high (97%) accuracy. The model was adapted from the DeepFaune model for identifying European wildlife, demonstrating the practicality of transfer learning across continents. The majority of training...
Reply to the discussion by Pilfold “Polar bear mass change confirms hyperphagia follows ringed seal whelping”
Anthony M. Pagano, Stephen N. Atkinson, Louise C. Archer
2025, Arctic Science (11) 1-3
The spring is a critical period when polar bears (Ursus maritimus Phipps, 1774) are thought to have peak access to seals and acquire the majority of their annual energy requirements during a period of hyperphagia. Pagano et al. (Pagano A.M., Atkinson S.N., and Archer L.C. 2025. Arctic Science.11:1-14. doi:10.1139/as-2024-0051) examined the...
Using monitoring and partnerships to provide management-relevant information about Chesapeake Bay rivers
James S. Webber, Kaylyn S. Gootman, Kenneth Hyer, Peter J. Tango, Douglas L. Moyer
2025, Fact Sheet 2025-3045
The lands and waters of the Chesapeake Bay watershed provide more than $100 billion in economic benefits- an amount that is expected to increase by achieving the region’s clean-water goals. Achieving those goals requires accurate and timely information about the health of the watershed’s rivers and streams. The Chesapeake Bay...
The 3D Elevation Program—Supporting the economy of Massachusetts
Dan Walters
2025, Fact Sheet 2025-3044
Introduction Massachusetts extends from the mountains of the Appalachian system in the west of the State to the sandy beaches and rocky shorelines of the Atlantic coast in the east. Inland topographic data support a wide range of important activities, including geologic mapping, transportation planning, forest and wildlife management, quantifying ecological...
Sensitive environmental DNA methods for low-risk surveillance of at-risk bumble bees
Rodney T. Richardson, Grace Avalos, Cameron J. Garland, Regina Trott, Olivia Hager, Mark J. Hepner, Clayton D. Raines, Karen Goodell
2025, Molecular Ecology Resources (26)
Terrestrial environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques have been proposed as a means of sensitive, non-lethal pollinator monitoring. To date, however, no studies have provided evidence that eDNA methods can achieve detection sensitivity on par with traditional pollinator surveys. Using a large-scale dataset of eDNA and corresponding net surveys, we show that...
Land change, fire, and climate weaken carbon sink in the conterminous U.S.
Jinxun Liu, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Zhiliang Zhu, Mark A. Cochrane, Qiang Zhou, Bin Wang, Grant Domke, Paul Selmants, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Qiuan Zhu, Tamara Wilson, Kristin Byrd, Eric Ward, Terry Sohl, Todd Hawbaker, Zhen Zhang, Christopher Soulard, Kimberly Wickland, Robert G. Striegl
2025, Science Advances (11)
The land carbon sink of the conterminous United States was evaluated using a bottom-up modeling framework and 30-meter land change data from 1985 to 2020. This cross-scale, cross-landscape, and cross-system approach tracked fractional land cover changes and applied regional model calibration. Results show average terrestrial and aquatic carbon sinks of +110 ±...
Morphometric and geological characterization with statistical correlations for 33 tributary drainage basins of the San Juan River watershed in the Four Corners region, USA
K. E. Miltenberger, Zachary Shephard, Rachel Lynn Mixon, Johanna Blake, Shaleene Chavarria, Douglas Yager
2025, Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis (25)
Basin morphometry, climate and geology control how a hydrological network evolves over time, controlling the efficiency of weathering of elements from geological materials, and ultimately the input of sediment and dissolved constituents to river systems. Exceedances to the Navajo Nation surface water quality standards for trace metals have been reported...
Satellite tracking supports hypotheses of breeding allochrony and allopatry in the Endangered Pterodroma hasitata (Black-capped Petrel, Diablotin)
Yvan G. Satgé, J. Brian Patteson, Bradford S. Keitt, Chris P. Gaskin, Patrick G.R. Jodice
2025, Journal of Caribbean Ornithology (38) 59-66
Pterodroma hasitata, the Black-capped Petrel (locally known as Diablotin), is the only extant Pterodroma petrel nesting in the Caribbean. The species is listed as globally Endangered by the IUCN and was recently listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Pterodroma hasitata show a phenotypic gradient, ranging from a darker, smaller form to...
Megafaunal community structure on ferromanganese and phosphorite hardgrounds in the Southern California Borderland
Devin Vlach, Olivia S. Pereira, Francis Nguyen, Angelica Bradley, Kira Mizell, Lisa A. Levin
2025, Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography (224)
The Southern California Borderland (SCB) is a topographically complex region on the active continental margin that hosts varied hardground habitats, including ferromanganese (FeMn) crusts and phosphorites, marine minerals being considered for resource extraction. The SCB is influenced by seasonal upwelling and terrestrial inputs, and has a well-defined oxygen-minimum zone (OMZ)....
Fiber-optic sensing for earthquake hazards research, monitoring and early warning
Jeffrey J. McGuire, Andrew J. Barbour, Zack J. Spica, Verónica Rodríguez Tribaldos, Zhongwen Zhan, Bradley P. Lipovsky, Robert J. Mellors, Ettore Biondi, Clara Yoon, Martin Karrenbach, Adam T. Ringler, James William Atterholt, Avinash Nayak, Theresa Marie Sawi, Loic Viens, Eileen R. Martin, Allen L. Husker, Paul Bodin, Morgan P. Moschetti, Qibin Shi, Nathaniel C. Miller, Prisha Puri
2025, Seismological Research Letters
The use of fiber‐optic sensing systems in seismology has exploded in the past decade. Despite an ever‐growing library of ground‐breaking studies, questions remain about the potential of fiber‐optic sensing technologies as tools for advancing if not revolutionizing earthquake‐hazards‐related research, monitoring, and early warning systems. A working group convened to explore...
Potential for continental scientific drilling to inform fault mechanics and earthquake science
Elizabeth S. Cochran, Natalia Zakharova, Brett Carpenter, Folarin Kolawole, Nicholas W. Hayman, Hiroki Sone, Douglas R. Schmitt, Peter Eichhubl, William Ellsworth, Yves Guglielmi, Stephen H. Hickman, Harold J. Tobin
2025, Seismica (4)
Our understanding of fault mechanics and earthquake processes remains limited, largely due to minimal direct observations near active faults at seismogenic depths. This lack of data restricts our ability to accurately assess and mitigate both natural and human-induced seismic hazards. However, recent advancements in drilling capabilities and...
Cosmic dust reveals dynamic shifts in central Arctic sea-ice coverage over the past 30,000 years
Frank J. Pavia, Jesse Farmer, Laura Gemery, Thomas M. Cronin, Jonathan Treffkorn, Kenneth A. Farley
2025, Science (390) 628-632
Arctic sea-ice loss affects biological productivity, sustenance in coastal communities, and geopolitics. Forecasting these impacts requires mechanistic understanding of how Arctic sea ice responds to climate change, but this is limited by scarce long-term records. We present continuous 30,000-year reconstructions of sea-ice coverage from the Arctic Ocean based on measurements...
Occurrence and surface availability of Siskiyou Mountains Salamanders (Plethodon stormi) and Scott Bar Salamanders (P. asupak) in northern California
Brian Halstead, Daniel Antonio Macias, Casey D. Moss, Patrick M. Kleeman, Jonathan P. Rose
2025, Herpetologica (81) 336-345
Estimating the distributions of cryptic species is essential for conservation, yet our understanding is hampered by animal behavior and imperfect detection. We developed and implemented a multiscale occupancy survey protocol to estimate the probability of occurrence, probability of being active on the surface, and detection probability of two range-restricted terrestrial...
Spatial distribution and relative biomass of bigheaded carps in Lake Balaton, Hungary estimated from an environmental DNA survey
Nora Boross, Ardo Laszlo, Duane C. Chapman, Gergely Boros, Zoltán Vitál, Viktor Tóth, Nathan Thompson, Katy E. Klymus, Catherine A. Richter
2025, PLoS ONE (20)
Silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis), bighead carp (H. molitrix) and their hybrids, collectively known as bigheaded carps, have been introduced to Lake Balaton, Hungary. The current stock sizes are difficult to assess. We investigated environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques targeted for bigheaded carps, assessed the spatial distribution of eDNA in Lake Balaton,...
Global recreational consumption of non-native inland fish: Higher economic benefits, but lower nutritional value and climate resilience
Marco Milardi, Louisa E. Wood, Elizabeth A. Nyboer, Holly Susan Embke, Sui C. Phang, Abigail J. Lynch
2025, Science of the Total Environment (1005)
Inland recreational fisheries are globally significant leisure pursuits, with well-documented benefits to human health and well-being, but also one of the principal drivers of non-native fish introductions to enhance fishing opportunities, whether for sport or sustenance. In this study, we assess the relative reliance of global inland recreational fisheries on...
U.S. Geological Survey geomagnetic variometer data: Capitalizing on seismic infrastructure
Adam T. Ringler, Andrew Holcomb, E. Joshua Rigler, Spencer Wilbur, C. Balch, Corey Beutel, Brendan Ryan Geels, J. Guerra, A. Horton, Edward Kromer, Kristen A. Lewis, Jeffrey J. Love, Yolando Root, Claudia Kristina Rossavik, N. Shavers, John Spritzer, Tyler Storm, Alexandra Nicole Wernle, David C. Wilson
2025, Seismological Research Letters
The U.S. Geological Survey’s Geomagnetism Program is collaborating with the Earthquake Hazards Program and Global Seismographic Network Program to densify magnetic field observations. This collaboration focuses on the installation of magnetometers, or magnetic variometers, at existing seismic stations. Along with improving the density of space weather observations for hazard monitoring,...
Missing data in ecology: Syntheses, clarifications, and considerations
Michael Dumelle, Rob Trangucci, Amanda M. Nahlik, Anthony R Olsen, Kathryn Irvine, Karen A. Blocksom, Jay Ver Hoef, Claudio Fuentes
2025, Ecological Monographs (95)
In ecology and related sciences, missing data are common and occur in a variety of different contexts. When missing data are not handled properly, subsequent statistical estimates tend to be biased, inefficient, and lack proper confidence interval coverage. Missing data are often grouped into three categories: missing completely at random (MCAR),...
Too hot for comfort: Elevated temperatures influence gene expression and exceed thermal tolerance of bigmouth shiners, Ericymba dorsalis
Ella K. Humphrey, Jonathan J. Spurgeon, Lizabeth Bowen, Robert E. Wilson, Shannon C. Waters-Dynes, Braxton M. Newkirk, Sarah A. Sonsthagen
2025, Journal of Fish Biology
Environmental and associated ecosystem change may affect the persistence of fish species based on their ability to adapt to changing conditions, including decreasing flows and rising water temperatures. Exceeding the thermal tolerances of stream fish will likely result in a loss of ability to maintain metabolic processes. We evaluated the...
Refined chronology of late Quaternary eruptions at Harrat Khaybar, Saudi Arabia, with implications for magma dynamics and regional volcanic history
Abdullah Aohali, Shanaka L. de Silva, Alejandro Cisneros de Leon, Charles Lewis, Axel K. Schmitt, Martin Danišík, Mark E. Stelten, Sujoy Mukhopadhyay, Robert Duncan, Frank C. Ramos
2025, GSA Bulletin
Determining accurate and precise ages for Quaternary volcanic centers is essential for reconstructing volcanic field histories, understanding magmatic processes, and assessing potential hazards or risk. Harrat Khaybar, western Saudi Arabia, is one of the youngest and potentially most active volcanic fields on the Arabian plate, has been active since ca....
Quantifying depuration of methylmercury from fish consumption by travelers
Ryan F. Lepak, Jean H. Mve Beh, Clotaire Moukegni-Sika, Jean N.B. Binguema, Sarah E. Janssen, Jacob M. Ogorek, Michael Tate, Peter B. McIntyre
2025, Environment and Health
During a two-week field sampling expedition in Gabon, two American scientists consumed fish daily from the Ogooué River watershed. We sampled their scalp and facial hair periodically to evaluate hair as a biomarker to track shifts in methylmercury (MeHg) exposure from diet. Each individual differed in the onset and extent...
Predicting secretive species distribution using Bayesian networks with and without expert elicitation: A case study incorporating double-blind peer review
Dustin E. Brewer, Elisabeth B. Webb, Anne E. Mini, S. Keith McKnight
2025, Ecological Solutions and Evidence (6)
1. Species that are secretive, imperilled and consequently data deficient often re-quire conservation action despite limited available information. In such scenarios, Bayesian networks (BNs) offer a versatile and intuitive approach for utilizing various information sources, including literature reviews, community science data sets and expert knowledge. Although it...
