Modeled coastal-ocean pathways of land-sourced contaminants in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence
Melissa Moulton, Joseph B. Zambon, Zuo Xue, John C. Warner, Daoyang Bao, Dongxiao Yin, Zafer Defne, Ruoying He, Christie Hegermiller
2024, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans (129)
Extreme precipitation during Hurricane Florence, which made landfall in North Carolina in September 2018, led to breaches of hog waste lagoons, coal ash pits, and wastewater facilities. In the weeks following the storm, freshwater discharge carried pollutants, sediment, organic matter, and debris to the coastal ocean, contributing...
Temperature impacts on dengue incidence are nonlinear and mediated by climatic and socioeconomic factors: A meta-analysis
Devin Kirk, Samantha Straus, Marissa L. Childs, Mallory Harris, Lisa Couper, T. Jonathan Davies, Coreen Forbes, Alyssa-Lois Gehman, Maya L. Groner, Christopher Harley, Kevin D. Lafferty, Van Savage, Eloise Skinner, Mary I. O’Connor, Erin A. Mordecai
2024, PLOS Climate (3)
Temperature can influence mosquito-borne diseases like dengue. These effects are expected to vary geographically and over time in both magnitude and direction and may interact with other environmental variables, making it difficult to anticipate changes in response to climate change. Here, we investigate global variation in...
Shellfish aquaculture farms as foraging habitat for nearshore fishes and crabs
Karl Veggerby, Mark David Scheuerell, Beth Sanderson, Peter Kiffney, Bridget Ferriss
2024, Marine and Coastal Fisheries: Dynamics, Management, and Ecosystem Science (16)
ObjectiveOyster reefs across North America have declined precipitously over the past 140 years. In Washington State, Olympia oyster Ostrea lurida reefs historically provided water filtration and nearshore structural habitat for fishes and invertebrates, but this species is now functionally extinct across its historical range. In place of these naturally...
Subduction intraslab-interface fault interactions in the 2022 Mw 6.4 Ferndale, California earthquake sequence
David R. Shelly, Dara Elyse Goldberg, Kathryn Zerbe Materna, Robert John Skoumal, Jeanne L. Hardebeck, Clara Yoon, William L. Yeck, Paul S. Earle
2024, Science Advances (10)
The Mendocino triple junction, the intersection of the Pacific, North American, and Gorda plates, activates a collection of disparate faults that reconcile Cascadia subduction with San Andreas transform motion. The December 20, 2022, Mw 6.4 Ferndale, California earthquake occurred within this complex zone as strike-slip faulting within the subducting...
When to target control efforts? Using novel GPS telemetry to quantify drivers of invasive Argentine black and white tegu (Salvator merianae) movement
Brittany M. Mason, Sergio A. Balaguera-Reina, Adam Benjamin, Frank J. Mazzotti, Hartwig H. Hochmair, Hardin Waddle
2024, Biological Invasions (26) 1769-1785
In South Florida, the Argentine black and white tegu (Salvator merianae), a large, omnivorous lizard, has become a recent threat to the Everglades ecosystem. The increase in tegu observations, especially near ecologically sensitive areas such as Everglades National Park, makes informed management critical to contain the...
Modeling protective action decision-making in earthquakes by using explainable machine learning and video data
Xiaojian Zhang, Xilei Zhao, Dare Baldwin, Sara K. McBride, Josephine Bellizzi, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Nicolas Luco, Matthew Wood, Thomas J. Cova
2024, Scientific Reports (14)
Earthquakes pose substantial threats to communities worldwide. Understanding how people respond to the fast-changing environment during earthquakes is crucial for reducing risks and saving lives. This study aims to study people’s protective action decision-making in earthquakes by leveraging explainable machine learning and video data. Specifically, this study first collected real-world...
California community Earth Models for Seismic Hazard Assessments workshop report
Brad T. Aagaard, Scott Marshall, Sarah E. Minson, Dan Boyd, Marine A. Denolle, Eric J. Fielding, Alice-Agnes Gabriel, Christine A Goulet, Russell Graymer, Jeanne L. Hardebeck, Alexandra Elise Hatem, Evan Tyler Hirakawa, Tran Huynh, Lorraine Hwang, Karen Luttrell, Kathryn Materna, Laurent Montesi, Michael Oskin, Arthur Rodgers, Arben Pitarka, Judy Zachariasen
2024, Report
The California Community Earth Models for Seismic Hazard Assessments Workshop (https://www.scec.org/workshops/2024/california-community-models) was held online March 4–5, 2024, with more than 200 participants over the two days. In this report, we provide a summary of the key points from the presentations and discussions. We highlight three use cases that drive the...
Small forested watershed weathers effects of climate change better than a nearby urban watershed in Northern Virginia, USA
Aaron J. Porter, Karen C Rice
2024, Hydrological Processes (38)
South Fork Quantico Creek (SFQ; 19.8 square kilometre (km2), forested) and Fourmile Run (4MR; 32.4-km2, urban) are small watersheds in northern Virginia, United States. Precipitation and streamflow data for both watersheds were examined from water year (WY) 1952 through 2022. Temporal changes in hydrologic...
Evaluating the context dependency of large river nursery habitats for fishes in the lower Red River catchment
Paul Q. Ramsey, John Dattilo, Dennis DeVries, Shannon K. Brewer
2024, River Research and Applications (40) 761-779
Both fine- and coarse-scale physicochemical conditions affect the quantity and quality of nursery habitats within riverine ecosystems. Nursery habitats in large, braided, and sandbed streams such as the lower Red River of Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas are not well described and likely vary among species. Identification of nursery habitats is...
Prefabricated Zero Ascend Omnispecies (ZAO) modular fish passage modules using advanced manufacturing techniques
Katherine Leighton, Janine Bryan, Kevin Mulligan, Kevin G. Stewart, Paul Jacobson, David Duquette, Ravi Challa
2024, Report
The Zero Ascend Omnispecies (ZAO) fish passage attraction module “ZAO Attractor” is a novel system designed to facilitate upstream passage for a broad spectrum of fish species, with a particular focus on American shad and river herring (alewife and/or blueback herring). Combining the use of prefabricated, modular components with advanced...
Streamflow, base flow, and precipitation trends and simulated effects of Rush Springs aquifer groundwater withdrawals on base flows upgradient from Fort Cobb Reservoir, western Oklahoma
A.R. Trevisan, L.G. Labriola, J.H. Ellis
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5002
To better understand the relation between groundwater use in the Rush Springs aquifer and inflows to the Fort Cobb Reservoir, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation, used a previously published numerical groundwater-flow model and historical streamflow records to evaluate four scenarios to investigate how changing...
Molecular sexing of birds using quantitative PCR (qPCR) of sex-linked genes and logistic regression models
Eleni Leto Petrou, Laura Celeste Scott, Cherie Marie Mckeeman, Andrew M. Ramey
2024, Molecular Ecology Resources (24)
The ability to sex individuals is an important component of many behavioural and ecological investigations and provides information for demographic models used in conservation and species management. However, many birds are difficult to sex using morphological characters or traditional molecular sexing methods. In this...
Low flows from drought and water use reduced total dissolved solids fluxes in the Lower Colorado River Basin between 1976 to 2008
Annie L. Putman, Hannah Erin Mcilwain, Christine Rumsey, Thomas M. Marston
2024, Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies (52)
Study area:We evaluated the Virgin, Verde, Salt, and Gila Rivers in the Lower Colorado River Basin. The watersheds have extents in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, US and Sonora, MX.Study focus:We calculated trends in total dissolved solids (TDS) concentrations...
Matching decision support modeling frameworks to disease emergence stages and associated management objectives
Evan H. Campbell Grant, Brittany A. Mosher, Riley Bernard, Alexander Wright, Robin Russell
2024, Conservation Science and Practice (6)
Wildlife disease management decisions often require rapid responses to situations that are fraught with uncertainty. By recognizing that management is implemented to achieve specific objectives, resource managers and science partners can identify an analysis technique and develop a monitoring plan to evaluate management effectiveness. For...
Unravelling spatial heterogeneity of inundation pattern domains for 2D analysis of fluvial landscapes and drainage networks
Pierfranco Costabile, Carmelina Costanzo, Margherita Lombardo, Ethan J. Shavers, Larry Stanislawski
2024, Journal of Hydrology (632)
Fluvial landscape analysis is an essential part of geomorphology, hydrology, ecology, and cartography. It is traditionally focused on the transition between hillslopes and channel domain, in which the network drainage is represented by static flow lines. However, the natural fluctuations of the processes occurring in the watershed induce lateral and...
Seasonal and decadal subsurface thaw dynamics of an Aufeis feature investigated through numerical simulations
Alexi Lainis, Roseanna M. Neupauer, Joshua C. Koch, Michael Gooseff
2024, Hydrological Processes (38)
Aufeis (also known as icings) are large sheet-like masses of layered ice that form in river channels in arctic environments in the winter as groundwater discharges to the land surface and subsequently freezes. Aufeis are important sources of water for Arctic river ecosystems, bolstering late...
Insight into sources of benzene, TCE, and PFOA/PFAS in groundwater at Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Florida, through numerical particle-tracking simulations
Eric Swain, James E. Landmeyer, Michael A. Singletary , Shannon E. Provenzano
2024, Hydrology (11)
Past waste-disposal activities at Naval Air Station Whiting Field (NASWF) have led to elevated concentrations of contaminants in the underlying sand and gravel aquifer. Contaminants include two of the most commonly detected chemicals in groundwater in many countries (benzene and trichloroethylene (TCE)) and the “forever chemicals” per- and poly-fluoroalkyl...
Characterization of change in tree cover state and condition over the conterminous United States
Francis K Dwomoh, Roger F. Auch
2024, Forests (15)
Variability in the effects of disturbances and extreme climate events can lead to changes in tree cover over time, including partial or complete loss, with diverse ecological consequences. It is therefore critical to identify in space and time the change processes that lead to tree cover change. Studies of...
Southern fox squirrel and eastern gray squirrel interactions in a fire-maintained ecosystem
M.H. Guill, J.L. De La Cruz, M. Puckett, S.D. Klopfer, B. Martin, W. Mark Ford
2024, Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (11) 215-222
Southern fox squirrels (Sciurus niger niger) have been declining due to habitat fragmentation, cover type conversion, and fire suppression in the Southeast. A decrease in growing season burns has led to hardwood encroachment and forest mesophication that benefit the competing eastern gray squirrels (S. carolinensis). In the southern Coastal Plain...
Seasonal activity patterns of northern long-eared bats on the coastal Mid-Atlantic
Jesse L. De La Cruz, Nicholas J. Kalen, Elaine L. Barr, Emily D. Thorne, Alexander Silvis, Richard J. Reynolds, W. Mark Ford
2024, Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (11) 185-195
Conservation of bats declining from white-nose syndrome (WNS) impacts requires an understanding of both temporal and landscape-level habitat relationships. Traditionally, much of the research on bat ecology has focused on behavior of summer maternity colonies within species’ distribution cores, including that of the endangered northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis). To...
Surface elevation trends in North Carolina's coastal wetlands
Robbie Fearn, Cat Bowler, Rick Savage, Pat Donovoan-Bradenburg, Aaron Houran, Reide Corbett, Stu Hamilton, Carolyn Currin, Jenny Davis, Michael Greene, Anna Hilting, Brandon Puckett, Quentin Walker, Justin Ridge, Cayla Cothron, Sarah Spiegler, Marcelo Ardón, Mike Burchell, Nisse Goldberg, Aaron McCall, Eric Soderholm, Christine Voss, Lorie Sutter, Michelle Moorman, Justine Annaliese Neville, Ches Vervaeke
2024, Report
Coastal wetlands exist in the narrow fringe between uplands and open water and consequently, are uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of sea level rise (SLR). Predictive models suggest that in the coming decades sea level rise will lead to substantial losses of coastal wetland habitat in North Carolina. Empirical measurements...
Models: Tools for estimating and predicting subsidence
Vivek Bedekar, Tyler Hatch, Jonathan A. Traum, Gus Tolley, Abhishek Singh, Claudia C. Faunt
2024, Conference Paper, HydroVisions
No abstract available....
occupancyTuts: Occupancy modelling tutorials with RPresence
Therese M. Donovan, James E. Hines, Darryl MacKenzie
2024, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (15) 477-483
1. The occupancy modelling framework offers tremendous flexibility in estimating species abundance and distribution patterns while accounting for imperfect detection, and has seen rapid growth and adoption since its introduction at the beginning of the century.2. At the same time, in an era of big data, there are increasing demands...
Determining the distribution, status, and linkages of Agassiz's desert tortoise populations in the uplands surrounding the Coachella Valley
Michele R. Puffer, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Kristy L. Cummings
2024, Report, 2023 CVCC Annual Report
In support of the goals of the Coachella Valley Conservation Commission and the Bureau of Land Management, we performed surveys to determine the status, distribution, demographics, and possible genetic linkages of Agassiz’s desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) populations within the Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan (CVMSHCP) area during a...
Analysis adapted from text mining quantitively reveals abrupt and gradual plant-community transitions after fire in sagebrush steppe
Cara Applestein, Christopher R. Anthony, Matthew J. Germino
2024, Landscape Ecology (39)
ContextPlant communities vary both abruptly and gradually over time but differentiating between types of change can be difficult with existing classification and ordination methods. Structural topic modeling (STRUTMO), a text mining analysis, offers a flexible methodology for analyzing both types of temporal trends.ObjectivesOur objectives were to...
