A review of the effects of climate change on visitor use in US public lands and waters
Emily J. Wilkins, Sarah Lynn Rappaport Keener, Wylie Carr, Julianne Reas, Samantha G. Winder, Spencer A. Wood
2025, Science Report NPS/SR—2025/231
Climate change is affecting recreational visitor use in U.S. public lands and waters, causing changes to visitation levels, timing of trips, activity participation, and visitor safety. This report reviews the literature on how climate change is influencing visitor use in the United States and how visitor use may be affected...
The progression of basaltic–rhyolitic melt storage at Yellowstone Caldera
Ninfa Lucia Bennington, Adam Schultz, Paul A. Bedrosian, Esteban Bowles-Martinez, Kendra J. Lynn, Mark E. Stelten, Xiaolei Tu, Clifford Thurber
2025, Nature (637) 97-102
Yellowstone Caldera is one of the largest volcanic systems on Earth, hosting three major caldera-forming eruptions in the past two million years, interspersed with periods of less explosive, smaller-volume eruptions<a id="ref-link-section-d1654952e503" title="Christiansen, R. L. The Quaternary and Pliocene Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field of Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana Vol. 729 (US...
Sex differences in migration routes and non-breeding areas of a declining shorebird
Ann E. McKellar, Cheri L Gratto-Trevor, T. Lee Tibbitts
2025, Avian Conservation and Ecology (20)
Migratory birds face different threats and pressures across their annual cycle, and understanding the impact of these factors on individuals is critical to the conservation of avian populations. Individuals from the same breeding population may share the same non-breeding areas, and thus experience similar conditions, or they may travel to...
Evaluating effects of tracking device attachment methods on Black Oystercatchers Haematopus bachmani
Cole Rankin, Lena Ware, Brian H. Robinson, Daniel Esler, Heather Coletti, Mark Maftei, J Mark Hipfner, David Green
2025, Wader Study (131) 204-213
Advances in tracking technology are greatly improving our understanding of many aspects of avian ecology. However, the diversity of tracking devices and attachment methods necessitates better evaluation of how they affect particular taxa. We evaluated effects of tracking devices mounted on leg bands or attached using leg-loop harnesses on resighting...
Glass laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry analysis methods, precision, and accuracy data for tephra studies in Alaska
Jordan Edward Lubbers, Matthew W. Loewen
2025, Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Techniques and Methods 1
This publication reports the analytical conditions, standard reference material (SRM) results, and preferred post-processing methodologies for laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) measurements supporting tephra studies in Alaska between 2018 and 2024. We evaluate the long-term accuracy and precision of our methodologies by comparing our calculated SRM concentrations...
Public, bottled, and private drinking water: Shared contaminant-mixture exposures and effects challenge
Paul M. Bradley, Kristin M. Romanok, Kelly Smalling, Stephanie E. Gordon, Bradley J. Huffman, Katie Paul Friedman, Daniel L. Villeneuve, Brett R. Blackwell, Suzanne C. Fitzpatrick, Michael Focazio, Elizabeth Medlock-Kakaley, Shannon M. Meppelink, Ana Navas-Acien, Anne E. Nigra, Molly L. Schreiner
2025, Environment International (195)
BACKGROUND: Humans are primary drivers of environmental contaminant exposures worldwide, including in drinking-water (DW). In the United States (US), point-of-use DW (POU DW) is supplied via private tapwater (TW, predominantly private wells), public-supply TW, and bottled water (BW). Differences in management, monitoring, and messaging and lack of directly intercomparable exposure...
The diets of wild and reintroduced whooping cranes
Heather A. Neri, Glenn H. Olsen, Eric C. Kindahl, Susan L. Carney
2025, Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop (16) 203-209
Abstract: We characterized the diets of the recently established Eastern Migratory Population (EMP) and the extant Aransas Wood Buffalo population (AWBP). Starting in 2013, frozen proventriculus and ventriculus contents from previously collected dead whooping cranes from both populations were examined to identify dietary items and quantity. EMP whooping cranes (n...
Population estimates and land cover use of wintering Mountain Plovers in Texas
James E. Lyons, Brad A. Andres, Kelli L. Stone, Allison K. Pierce, Kammie L. Kruse
2025, Journal of Field Ornithology (96)
Conservation of migratory birds throughout the full annual cycle requires a comprehensive understanding of abundance and distribution in interconnected breeding, migration, and wintering habitats. The Mountain Plover (Anarhynchus montanus) is a rare endemic breeder of the Rocky Mountain and Great Plains regions that migrates to wintering grounds in the southwestern...
Predictability and behavior of water transfers across basin boundaries
Ken Eng, Laura Medalie, Kenneth D. Skinner, Tamara Ivahnenko, Julian A. Heilman, Jared David Smith
2025, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (61)
Inter-basin water transfers (IBTs) are important components of water balances of basins, and they can have substantial impact on regional water availability. Flow information is often not available at locations with known IBTs, which is a drawback in several published IBT databases. Few, if any, studies examine whether IBT flow...
Ensemble methods for parameter estimation of WRF-Hydro
Arezoo RafieeiNasab, Michael N. Fienen, Nina Omani, Ishita Srivastava, Aubrey Dugger
2025, Water Resources Research (61)
The WRF-Hydro hydrological model has been used in many applications in the past with some level of history matching in the majority of these studies. In this study, we use the iterative Ensemble Smoother (iES), a powerful parameter estimation methodology implemented in the open-source PEST++ software. The iES provides an...
Integrating Sr isotopes, microchemistry, and genetics to reconstruct Salmonidae species and life history
Ross Anthony Salerno, Remi Murdoch, Taylor Wilcox, Joanna Elmore, Jens Hegg, Catherine S Austin, Michael LeMoine, Jade Luckhurst, Alexandra Fraik, Molly Carney
2025, Archaeometry
Recent approaches to fisheries research emphasize the importance of the coproduction of knowledge in building resilient and culturally mindful fisheries management frameworks. Despite widespread recognition of the need for Indigenous knowledge and historical reference points as baseline data, archaeological data are rarely included in conservation biology research designs. Here we...
Shifts in marsh erosion, migration, and wave exposure over nearly two centuries of sea-level rise in the Gulf of Mexico
Kathryn Smith, Joseph F. Terrano, Robert L. Jenkins III, Jonathan L Pitchford, Davina Passeri, Christopher G. Smith
2025, Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science (313)
Coastal wetlands are economically important ecosystems, but are at risk to erosion from waves, storms, and sea level rise. However, marshes can persist under rising sea level through vertical accretion and migration into adjacent higher-elevation habitats. We measured rates of marsh shoreline change and migration and compared the results for...
Cleaner cuts: Farmed fish and skin-off fillets are lower in per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
Guillermo Figueroa-Munoz, Christina Amy Murphy, Kory Whittum, Joseph D. Zydlewski
2025, Science of the Total Environment (959)
The ubiquitous occurrence and persistence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in all environmental matrices and biota poses significant health risks to humans. Fish consumption is one of the main pathways humans are exposed to PFAS, yet general patterns in factors influencing PFAS content in fish fillets remain unknown. We...
A universal method for the simultaneous determination of environmental pollutants in marine biological samples: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and antibiotics as a case study
Di Fang, Ge Yang, Bentuo Xu, Jialin Li, Jiayi Lin, Chunmiao Zheng, Jason Tyler Magnuson, Wenhui Qiu
2025, ACS ES&T Water (5) 274-283
Conventional detection technologies for environmental contaminants have primarily focused on providing accurate qualitative and quantitative evaluations for single pollutant types, leading to increased costs and an inability to satisfy the growing demand for detecting a broader spectrum of pollutants. Here, we introduced a novel analytical method to simultaneously measure the...
Biophysical simulation of wetland surface water flow to predict changing water availability in the Everglades
Judson Harvey, Jay Choi, Walter Wilcox, Michael C. Brown, Wasantha Lal
2025, Ecological Engineering (212)
A central challenge for water managers is to adaptively manage water availability to meet societal needs while simultaneously protecting ecosystems. Progress restoring the Everglades requires predictions of how overland flow of surface water can be increased to rehydrate and revive downstream areas without causing unintended harms. We developed a biophysical...
Potential 2050 distributions of World Terrestrial Ecosystems from projections of changes in World Climate Regions and Global Land Cover
Roger Sayre, Charlie Frye, Sean Breyer, Patrick Roehrdanz, Paul Elsen, Kevin Butler, Clint Brown, Jill Janene Cress, Deniz Karagulle, Madeline T. Martin, Florencia Sangermano, Regan Smyth, Terry Sohl, Nicholas Wolff, Dawn Wright, Zhuoting Wu
2025, Global Ecology and Conservation (57)
The urgency to address ecosystem loss is paramount, as both land use change and climate change will continue to rapidly alter and degrade natural ecosystems and reduce the many services they provide. To support conservation actions that mitigate impacts from these dual threats, we have developed potential World Terrestrial Ecosystem...
Vertebrates in trade that pose high invasion risk to the United States
Wesley Daniel, Helen Sofaer, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Richard A. Erickson, Brett Alexander DeGregorio, Peder Scott Engelstad, Jonathan A. Freedman, Susan Canavan, Emily M. Dean, Michael J Adams, Charmayne L. Anderson, Mindy Barnett, Marybeth K. Brey, Kyle J. Brumm, Matthew S. Bunting, Emily Caffrey, Laura Cardador, Jacoby Carter, Phillip Cassey, Duane Chapman, Natalie M. Claunch, Timothy D. Counihan, Kristin P. Davis, Anant Deshwal, Andrew K. Douglas, Corey Garland Dunn, Chase Ehlo, Katie Everett, Jason M. Gleditsch, Andrew Grosse, Zoey Hendrickson, Steven C. Hess, Jeffrey E. Hill, Nick D. Holmes, Ana V. Longo, Julie L. Lockwood, Doran M. Mason, Ashley McDonald, Matthew Neilson, Kristen M. Reaver, Robert Reed, Caleb Powell Roberts, Jane S. Rogosch, Christina Romagosa, James C. Russell, Annie Simpson, Scott A. Smith, Jinelle Sperry, Quenton M. Tuckett, Kurt VerCauteren, J. Hardin Waddle, Christian Wanamaker, John D. Willson, Arden Williams, Deah Lieurance
2025, Biological Conservation (302)
The United States imports thousands of live vertebrate species annually as part of legal trade. Escapes and releases from captivity are major pathways of invasion, however, the risk posed by the thousands of imported vertebrate species has not been systematically assessed. We conducted a horizon scan that used a data-driven...
Age, growth, and reproductive biology of Achilles tang (Acanthurus achilles) around Hawai'i Island, USA
Timothy B. Grabowski, Richard Massey, Dawn McSwain, Annie Larson, Lillian Joy Tuttle Raz, Eva Schemmel, Danielle E. Bartz, Nikola Rodriguez
2025, Article
A culturally important food fish in Hawai'i, Achilles tang (Acanthurus achilles Shaw), recently experienced sharp declines in biomass, density, and average length in west Hawai'i Island. In December 2022, State resource managers placed a 2-year moratorium on the Achilles tang fishery in west Hawai'i Island so that the cause of the...
Identifying lakes critical to the westward spread and establishment of zebra mussels
David A. Creamer, Jane S. Rogosch, Renaldo Patino, Monica E. McGarrity
2025, Biological Conservation (302)
Damaging aquatic invasive species, such as the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha), pose an ongoing concern for potential introduction and establishment in the western United States. Our study applied habitat suitability indices and network analysis to identify lakes critical to the continued westward spread and establishment of zebra mussels from a key...
Practical application of time-lapse camera imagery to develop water-level data for three hydrologic monitoring sites in Wisconsin during water year 2020
Keegan Eland Johnson, Paul Reneau, Matthew J. Komiskey
2025, Journal of Hydrology X (26)
Using camera imagery to measure water level (camera-stage) is a well-researched area of study. Previous camera-stage studies have shown promising results when implementing this technology with tight constraints on test conditions. However, there is a need for a more comprehensive evaluation of the extensibility of camera-stage to practical applications. Therefore,...
Intersection of wildfire and legacy mining poses risk to water quality
Sheila F. Murphy, Johanna Blake, Brian A. Ebel, Deborah A. Martin
2025, Environmental Science and Technology (59) 35-44
Mining and wildfires are both landscape disturbances that pose elevated and substantial hazards to water supplies and ecosystems due to increased erosion and transport of sediment, metals, and debris to downstream waters. The risk to water supplies may be amplified when these disturbances occur in the same watershed. This work...
Evaluating approaches for integrating species distributions in spatial conservation planning
Jason M. Winiarski, Amy A. Shipley, Drew Nathan Fowler, Matthew D. Palumbo, Jacob N. Straub
2025, Conservation Science and Practice (7)
Map-based decision support tools (DSTs) that use species distributions are an important means of identifying priority areas for conservation. The 2020 Wisconsin Waterfowl Habitat Conservation Strategy (WWHCS) uses a DST to identify priority ecological landscapes and watersheds to guide waterfowl habitat projects. The WWHCS DST relies on waterfowl habitat suitability...
A case for occupancy as a state variable for wild bee monitoring
Clint Otto, S. Hollis Woodard, Larissa L. Bailey
2025, Biological Conservation (302)
Reports of widespread pollinator declines, data deficiencies, and inabilities to assess status and trends underscore the need for wild bee monitoring. Chief among the challenges with wild bee monitoring is identifying monitoring objectives and state variables. Here we make the case for considering occupancy, the proportion of area occupied, as...
Examining inter-regional and intra-seasonal differences in wintering waterfowl landscape associations among Pacific and Atlantic flyways
Matthew J. Hardy, Christopher K. Williams, Brian S. Ladman, Maurice E. Pitesky, Cory T. Overton, Michael L. Casazza, Elliott Matchett, Diann Prosser, Jeffrey J. Buler
2025, Journal of Avian Biology (2025)
The Central Valley of California (CVC) and Mid-Atlantic (MA) in the U.S. are both critical sites for nationwide food security, and many waterfowl species annually, especially during the winter, providing feeding and roosting locations for a variety of species. Mapping waterfowl distributions, using NEXRAD, may aid in the adaptive management...
Decision analysis of Integrated Pest Management: A case study on invasive sea lamprey in the Great Lakes Basin
Sean Alois Lewandoski, Kelly Filer Robinson, Travis O. Brenden, Ryan Booth, Peter Hrodey, John B. Hume, Thomas C. Pratt, Anne M Scott, Matthew Symbal, C. Michael Wagner, Nicholas S. Johnson
2025, Journal of Environmental Management (373)
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) provides a powerful framework for addressing threats to human well-being caused by nuisance species including invasives. We examined the hypothesis that adaptive management could erode barriers to IPM implementation by developing a decision-analytic adaptive management framework...
