Improving earthquake forecasts during swarms with a duration model
Andrea L. Llenos, Nicholas van der Elst
2019, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
Earthquake swarms present a challenge for operational earthquake forecasting because they are driven primarily by transient external processes, such as fluid flow, the behavior and duration of which are difficult to predict. In this study, we develop a swarm duration model to estimate how long a swarm is likely to...
Potential sea level rise for the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana
Kathryn A. Spear, William Jones, Kereen Griffith, Blair E. Tirpak, Kimberly Walden
2019, Open-File Report 2019-1030
Situated in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain of the Gulf Coast Prairie Landscape Conservation Cooperative (GCP LCC), the Chitimacha Tribe is one of four federally recognized tribes in Louisiana. The Tribal seat, trust lands/ reservation, and adjacent Tribal owned lands are located near Charenton, Louisiana, totaling nearly 1,000 acres. The...
Restoration affects sexual reproductive capacity in a salt marsh
Scott F. Jones, Erik S. Yando, Camille Stagg, Courtney T. Hall, Mark W. Hester
2019, Estuaries and Coasts (42) 976-986
Plant sexual reproduction is an important driver of plant community maintenance, dispersal, and recovery from disturbance. Despite this, sexual reproduction in habitats dominated by clonally spreading perennial species, such as salt marshes, is often ignored. Communities dominated by long-lived perennial species can still depend on sexual reproduction for recolonizing large...
Bioavailable iron production in airborne mineral dust: Controls by chemical composition and solar flux
Eshani Hettiarachchi, Richard L. Reynolds, Harland L. Goldstein, Bruce M. Moskowitz, Gayan Rubasinghege
2019, Atmospheric Environment (205) 90-102
A large part of oceanic biological production is limited by the scarcity of dissolved iron. Mineral dust aerosol, processed under acidic atmospheric conditions, is the primary natural source of bioavailable iron to oceanic life. However,...
Functional variation at an expressed MHC class IIß locus associates with Ranavirus infection intensity in larval anuran populations
Anna E. Savage, Carly R. Muletz-Wolz, Evan H. Campbell Grant, Robert C. Fleischer, Kevin P. Mulder
2019, Immunogenetics (17) 335-346
Infectious diseases are causing catastrophic losses to biodiversity globally. Iridoviruses in the genus Ranavirus are among the leading causes of amphibian disease-related mortality. Polymorphisms in major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes are significantly associated with variation in amphibian susceptibility to pathogens. MHC genes encode diverse cell-surface molecules that can recognize and...
Spatial capture–recapture for categorically marked populations with an application to genetic capture–recapture
Ben C. Augustine, J. Andrew Royle, Sean M. Murphy, Richard B. Chandler, John J. Cox, Marcella Kelly
2019, Ecosphere (10)
Recently introduced unmarked spatial capture–recapture (SCR), spatial mark–resight (SMR), and 2‐flank spatial partial identity models (SPIMs) extend the domain of SCR to populations or observation systems that do not always allow for individual identity to be determined with certainty. For example, some species do not have natural marks that can...
Quaternary eolian sediments and Carolina Bays of the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain province
Christopher S. Swezey
2019, Conference Paper
Under modern conditions, the Atlantic Coastal Plain province of the eastern United States is not very conducive to widespread eolian sediment mobilization because of a humid and mesothermal climate, relatively low mean surface wind velocities (~1–3 m/sec), and relatively dense vegetation. LiDAR data, however, have revealed the presence of...
Living with wildfire in Montezuma County, Colorado: 2015 data report
Hannah Brenkert-Smith, James Meldrum, Pamela Wilson, Patricia A. Champ, Christopher M. Barth, Angela Boag
2019, Research Note RMRS-RN-81
Residents in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) can play an important role in reducing wildfire’s negative effects by performing wildfire risk mitigation on their property. This report offers insight into the wildfire risk mitigation activities and related considerations, such as attitudes, experiences, and concern about wildfire, for people with homes in...
Individual based modelling of fish migration in a 2-D river system: Model description and case study
Marcia N. Snyder, Nathan H. Schumaker, Joseph E Ebersole, Jason B. Dunham, Randy Comeleo, Matthew Keefer, Peter Leinenbach, Allen Brookes, Ben Cope, Jennifer Wu, John Palmer, Druscilla Keenan
2019, Landscape Ecology (34) 737-754
Context: Diadromous fish populations in the Pacific Northwest face challenges along their migratory routes from declining habitat quality, harvest, and barriers to longitudinal connectivity. These stressors complicate the prioritization of proposed management actions intended to improve conditions for migratory fishes including anadromous salmon and trout. Objectives: We describe a multi-scale hybrid...
Early career climate communications and networking
Ezra Markowitz, Michelle D. Staudinger
2019, Conference Paper
The Department of the Interior and the U.S. Geological Survey have made it a priority to train the next generation of scientists and resource managers. The Climate Adaptation Science Centers (CSC) and consortium institutions are working to contribute to this initiative by supporting and building a network of students across...
Mini-columns and ghost columns in Columbia river lava
James G. Moore
2019, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (374) 242-251
The master joints bounding the columns that make up the basal colonnade of large lava flows of the Columbia Plateau are, in places, flanked by sub-horizontal mini-columns that have grown normal to the master joints. The secondary mini-columns grow into the main columns and are clearly younger than them. They...
Energetic costs of aquatic locomotion in a subadult polar bear
Anthony M. Pagano, Amy Cutting, Nicole Nicassio-Hiskey, Amy Hash, Terrie M. Williams
2019, Marine Mammal Science (35) 649-659
Most marine mammals rely on swimming as their primary form of locomotion. These animals have evolved specialized morphologies, physiologies, and behaviors that have enabled them to efficiently move through an aquatic environment (Williams 1999). Such adaptations include body streamlining, modified plantar surfaces for propulsion, and abilities...
Relative prediction intervals reveal larger uncertainty in 3D approaches to predictive digital soil mapping of soil properties with legacy data
Travis Nauman, Michael C. Duniway
2019, Geoderma (347) 170-184
Fine scale maps of soil properties enable efficient land management and inform earth system models. Recent efforts to create soil property maps from field observations tend to use similar tree-based machine learning interpolation approaches, but often deal with depth of predictions, validation, and uncertainty differently. One of the main differences...
Using the value of information to improve conservation decision making
Friederike C. Bolam, Matthew J. Grainger, Kerrie L. Mengerson, Gavin B. Stewart, William J. Sutherland, Michael C. Runge, Philip J. K. McGowan
2019, Biological Reviews (94) 629-647
Conservation decisions are challenging, not only because they often involve difficult conflicts among outcomes that people value, but because our understanding of the natural world and our effects on it is fraught with uncertainty. Value of Information (VoI) methods provide an approach for understanding and managing uncertainty from the standpoint...
Microbial associations of four species of algal symbiont-bearing Foraminifers from the Florida Reef Tract, USA
Makenna M. Martin, Christina A. Kellogg, Pamela Hallock
2019, Journal of Foraminiferal Research (49) 178-190
While microbiome research is a rapidly expanding field of study, relatively little is known of the microbiomes associated with Foraminifera. This preliminary study investigated microbes associated with four species of Foraminifera, representing two taxonomic orders, which host three kinds of algal endosymbionts. A major objective was to explore potential influences...
The contribution of road-based citizen science to the conservation of pond-breeding amphibians
Sean Sterrett, Rachel A. Katz, William R. Fields, Evan H. Campbell Grant
2019, Journal of Applied Ecology (56) 988-995
Roadside amphibian citizen science (CS) programmes bring together volunteers focused on collecting scientific data while working to mitigate population declines by reducing road mortality of pond‐breeding amphibians. Despite the international popularity of these movement‐based, roadside conservation efforts (i.e. “big nights,” “bucket brigades” and “toad patrols”), direct benefits to conservation...
Mortality due to Tyzzer's disease of muskrats in northern Ohio, USA
Daniel A. Grear, Julia S. Lankton, Sara Zaleski, Mark Witt, Jeffrey M. Lorch
2019, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (55) 982-985
In 2017, we investigated a mortality event of muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) in Northwest Ohio, USA, and determined the causes of death to be from Tyzzer's disease due to Clostridium piliforme and Klebsiella pneumoniae septicemia. The gross presentation resembled tularemia, which highlighted the importance of a complete diagnostic investigation....
Offshore landslide hazard curves from mapped landslide size distributions
Eric L. Geist, Uri S. ten Brink
2019, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (124) 3320-3334
We present a method to calculate landslide hazard curves along offshore margins based on size distributions of submarine landslides. The method analyzes ten different continental margins, that were mapped by high-resolution multibeam sonar with landslide scar areas measured by a consistent GIS procedure. Statistical tests of several different probability distribution...
Pheno forecasts predict seasonal activity of pest and invasive species to support decision making
Theresa M. Crimmins, Katharine L. Gerst, Erin E. Posthumus, Alyssa Rosemartin, Jake Weltzin
2019, Report
The USA National Phenology Network’s Pheno Forecast maps indicate the status of insect pest or invasive plant life cycle stages in real time across the contiguous United States. This information can guide when to monitor or to undertake management activities. These maps, available at 2.5 km spatial resolution, are updated...
Life-history model for sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) at Lake Ozette, northwestern Washington—Users' guide
Andrea Woodward, Mike Haggerty, Patrick Crain
2019, Open-File Report 2019-1031
Salmon populations spawning in the Lake Ozette watershed of northwestern Washington were once sufficiently abundant to support traditional Tribal fisheries, and were later harvested by settlers. However, in 1974 and 1975, the sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) harvest decreased to 0 from a high of more than 17,500 in 1949, thus...
Extreme climatic variability during migration invokes physiological and dietary plasticity among spring migrating ducks
Adam K. Janke, Michael J. Anteau, Joshua D. Stafford
2019, Canadian Journal of Zoology (97) 340-351
Environmental stochasticity encountered during migration can have negative consequences for individuals and population demographics through direct reductions in survival or cross-seasonal impacts. We took advantage of substantial interannual variation in spring migration conditions over a 4 year field study to examine physiological and dietary variation among two species of migrant...
Grizzly bear depredation on grazing allotments in the Yellowstone ecosystem
Smith L. Wells, Lance B. McNew, Daniel B. Tyers, Frank T. van Manen, Daniel J. Thompson
2019, Journal of Wildlife Management (83) 556-566
Grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) conflicts with humans, including livestock depredation on public land grazing allotments, have increased during the last several decades within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) in the western United States as the grizzly bear population has grown in number and occupied range. Minimizing conflicts and improving conservation efficacy...
Earth history and the passerine superradiation
Carl H Oliveros, Daniel J Field, Daniel T Ksepka, F Keith Barker, Alexandre Aleixo, Michael J Andersen, Per Alstrom, Brett W Benz, Edward L Braun, Michael J Braun, Gustavo A Bravo, Robb T Brumfield, Terry Chesser, Santiago Claramunt, Joel Cracraft, Andrés M. Cuervo, Elizabeth P. Derryberry, Travis C. Glenn, Michael G. Harvey, Peter A. Hosner, Leo Joseph, Rebecca Kimball, Andrew L. Mack, Colin M. Miskelly, A. Townsend Peterson, Mark B. Robbins, Frederick H. Sheldon, Luís Fábio Silveira, Brian T. Smith, Noor D. White, Robert G. Moyle, Brant C. Faircloth
2019, PNAS (116) 7916-7925
Avian diversification has been influenced by global climate change, plate tectonic movements, and mass extinction events. However, the impact of these factors on the diversification of the hyperdiverse perching birds (passerines) is unclear because family level relationships are unresolved and the timing of splitting events among lineages is uncertain. We...
Geologic map of the central-southeast flank of Mauna Loa Volcano, Island of Hawaii, Hawaii
Frank A. Trusdell, John P. Lockwood
2019, Scientific Investigations Map 2932-B
Mauna Loa, the largest volcano on Earth, has erupted 33 times since written descriptions became available in 1832. Some eruptions began with only brief seismic unrest, while others followed several months to a year of increased seismicity. Once underway, its eruptions can produce lava flows that may reach the sea...
Effects of short-term, outdoor head-starting on growth and survival in the mojave desert tortoise (gopherus agassizii)
Tracey D. Tuberbille, Kurt A. Buhlmann, Rahel Sollmann, Melia G. Nafus, J. Mark Peaden, Jacob A. Daly, Brian D. Todd
2019, Herpetological Conservation and Biology (14) 171-184
The combination of life-history traits that makes some turtle species vulnerable to population declines also limits their ability to recover even after threats have been addressed. Because juvenile turtle survival is typically lower than adult survival, head-starting, the process of rearing juveniles...
