Planetary dune workshop expands to include subaqueous processes
Timothy N. Titus, Gerald Bryant, David M. Rubin
2018, Eos, Earth and Space Science News (99)
Dune-like structures appear in the depths of Earth’s oceans, across its landscapes, and in the extremities of the solar system beyond. Dunes rise up under the thick dense atmosphere of Venus, and they have been found under the almost unimaginably ephemeral atmosphere of a comet....
On factors influencing air-water gas exchange in emergent wetlands
David T. Ho, Victor C. Engel, Sara Ferron, Benjamin Hickman, Jay Choi, Judson W. Harvey
2018, Journal of Geophysical Research G: Biogeosciences (123) 178-192
Knowledge of gas exchange in wetlands is important in order to determine fluxes of climatically and biogeochemically important trace gases and to conduct mass balances for metabolism studies. Very few studies have been conducted to quantify gas transfer velocities in wetlands, and many wind speed/gas exchange parameterizations used in oceanographic...
Pronounced centennial-scale Atlantic Ocean climate variability correlated with Western Hemisphere hydroclimate
Kaustubh Thirumalai, Terrence M. Quinn, Yuko Okumura, Julie N. Richey, Judson W. Partin, Richard Z. Poore, Eduardo Moreno-Chamarro
2018, Nature Communications (9) 1-11
Surface-ocean circulation in the northern Atlantic Ocean influences Northern Hemisphere climate. Century-scale circulation variability in the Atlantic Ocean, however, is poorly constrained due to insufficiently-resolved paleoceanographic records. Here we present a replicated reconstruction of sea-surface temperature and salinity from a site sensitive to North Atlantic circulation in the Gulf of...
Modulators of mercury risk to wildlife and humans in the context of rapid global change
Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Ellen K. Silbergeld, Niladri Basu, Paco Bustamante, Fernando Diaz-Barriga, William A. Hopkins, Karen A. Kidd, Jennifer F. Nyland
2018, Ambio (47) 170-197
Environmental mercury (Hg) contamination is an urgent global health threat. The complexity of Hg in the environment can hinder accurate determination of ecological and human health risks, particularly within the context of the rapid global changes that are altering many ecological processes, socioeconomic patterns, and other factors like infectious disease...
Dynamic interactions between coastal storms and salt marshes: A review
Nicoletta Leonardi, Iacopo Carnacina, Carmine Donatelli, Neil K. Ganju, Andrew James Plater, Mark Schuerch, Stijn Temmerman
2018, Geomorphology (301) 92-107
This manuscript reviews the progresses made in the understanding of the dynamic interactions between coastal storms and salt marshes, including the dissipation of extreme water levels and wind waves across marsh surfaces, the geomorphic impact of storms on salt marshes, the preservation of hurricanes signals and deposits into the...
Tidal extension and sea-level rise: recommendations for a research agenda
Scott H. Ensign, Gregory E. Noe
2018, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (16) 37-43
Sea-level rise is pushing freshwater tides upstream into formerly non-tidal rivers. This tidal extension may increase the area of tidal freshwater ecosystems and offset loss of ecosystem functions due to salinization downstream. Without considering how gains in ecosystem functions could offset losses, landscape-scale assessments of ecosystem functions may be biased...
Assessing intrinsic and specific vulnerability models ability to indicate groundwater vulnerability to groups of similar pesticides: A comparative study
Steven H. Douglas, Barnali Dixon, Dale W. Griffin
2018, Physical Geography (39) 487-505
With continued population growth and increasing use of fresh groundwater resources, protection of this valuable resource is critical. A cost effective means to assess risk of groundwater contamination potential will provide a useful tool to protect these resources. Integrating geospatial methods offers a means to quantify the risk of contaminant...
Morphological indicators of a mascon beneath Ceres' largest crater, Kerwan
Michael T. Bland, Anton Ermakov, Carol A. Raymond, David A. Williams, Tim J. Bowling, F. Preusker, Ryan S. Park, Simone Marchi, Julie C. Castillo-Rogez, R.R. Fu, Christopher T. Russell
2018, Geophysical Research Letters (45) 1297-1304
Gravity data of Ceres returned by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Dawn spacecraft is consistent with a lower density crust of variable thickness overlying a higher density mantle. Crustal thickness variations can affect the long‐term, postimpact modification of impact craters on Ceres. Here we show...
Sirenian life history
Robert K. Bonde
2018, Book chapter, Encyclopedia of marine mammals
Sirenians, including the manatees and dugongs, are large herbivorous mammals that have evolved to an aquatic form since the Eocene epoch. Sirenians have unique adaptations, including dense bone for ballast and a longitudinal hemidiaphragm separating paired lungs (which aid in maintaining a horizontal posture in the water column), species-specific rostral...
Resource competition model predicts zonation and increasing nutrient use efficiency along a wetland salinity gradient
Donald Schoolmaster, Camille L. Stagg
2018, Ecology (99) 670-680
A trade-off between competitive ability and stress tolerance has been hypothesized and empirically supported to explain the zonation of species across stress gradients for a number of systems. Since stress often reduces plant productivity, one might expect a pattern of decreasing productivity across the zones of the stress gradient. However,...
Perissodactyla diet
Kathryn A. Schoenecker
2018, Book chapter, Encyclopedia of animal cognition and behavior
Perissodactyla (Schoch 1989) includes tapirs, rhinoceros, wild asses, horses, and zebras. It is the order of hoofed mammals referred to as “odd-toed ungulates” because its members have one to three weight-bearing toes and walk on hoofs or “ungules.” They are herbivores that are specialized to exploit grasslands and brushy habitat...
Comparative analyses of hydrological responses of two adjacent watersheds to climate variability and change using the SWAT model
Sangchul Lee, In-Young Yeo, Ali M. Sadeghi, Gregory W. McCarty, Wells Hively, Megan W. Lang, Amir Sharifi
2018, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (22) 689-708
Water quality problems in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed (CBW) are expected to be exacerbated by climate variability and change. However, climate impacts on agricultural lands and resultant nutrient loads into surface water resources are largely unknown. This study evaluated the impacts of climate variability and change on two adjacent watersheds...
Limited contribution of ancient methane to surface waters of the U.S. Beaufort Sea shelf
Katy J. Sparrow, John D. Kessler, John R. Southon, Fenix Garcia-Tigreros, Kathryn M. Schreiner, Carolyn D. Ruppel, John B. Miller, Scott J. Lehman, Xiaomei Xu
2018, Science Advances (4)
In response to warming climate, methane can be released to Arctic Ocean sediment and waters from thawing subsea permafrost and decomposing methane hydrates. However, it is unknown whether methane derived from this sediment storehouse of frozen ancient carbon reaches the atmosphere. We quantified the fraction of methane derived from ancient...
Using expert knowledge to incorporate uncertainty in cause-of-death assignments for modeling of cause-specific mortality
Daniel P. Walsh, Andrew S. Norton, Daniel J. Storm, Timothy R. Van Deelen, Dennis M. Heisy
2018, Ecology and Evolution (8) 509-520
Implicit and explicit use of expert knowledge to inform ecological analyses is becoming increasingly common because it often represents the sole source of information in many circumstances. Thus, there is a need to develop statistical methods that explicitly incorporate expert knowledge, and can successfully leverage this information while properly accounting...
Estimating wetland connectivity to streams in the Prairie Pothole Region: An isotopic and remote sensing approach
J. R. Brooks, David M. Mushet, Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Scott G. Leibowitz, J. R. Christensen, Brian Neff, Donald O. Rosenberry, W. D. Rugh, L.C. Alexander
2018, Water Resources Research (54) 955-977
Understanding hydrologic connectivity between wetlands and perennial streams is critical to understanding the reliance of stream flow on inputs from wetlands. We used the isotopic evaporation signal in water and remote sensing to examine wetland‐stream hydrologic connectivity within the Pipestem Creek watershed, North Dakota, a watershed dominated by prairie‐pothole wetlands....
Radium mobility and the age of groundwater in public-drinking-water supplies from the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer system, north-central USA
Paul E. Stackelberg, Zoltan Szabo, Bryant C. Jurgens
2018, Applied Geochemistry (89) 34-48
High radium (Ra) concentrations in potable portions of the Cambrian-Ordovician (C-O) aquifer system were investigated using water-quality data and environmental tracers (3H, 3Hetrit, SF6, 14C and 4Herad) of groundwater age from 80 public-supply wells (PSWs). Groundwater ages were estimated by calibration of tracers to lumped parameter models and ranged from modern (<50 yr) in...
Environmental DNA (eDNA): A tool for quantifying the abundant but elusive round goby (Neogobius melanostomus)
Meredith B. Nevers, Muruleedhara Byappanahalli, Charles C. Morris, Dawn Shively, Katarzyna Przybyla-Kelly, Ashley M. Spoljaric, Joshua Dickey, Edward F. Roseman
2018, PLoS ONE (13) 1-22
Environmental DNA (eDNA) is revolutionizing biodiversity monitoring, occupancy estimates, and real-time detections of invasive species. In the Great Lakes, the round goby (Neogobius melanostomus), an invasive benthic fish from the Black Sea, has spread to encompass all five lakes and many tributaries, outcompeting or consuming native species; however, estimates of...
How could a freshwater swamp produce a chemical signature characteristic of a saltmarsh?
Terrence A. McCloskey, Christopher G. Smith, Kam-biu Liu, Marci E. Marot, Christian Haller
2018, ACS Earth and Space Chemistry (2) 9-20
Reduction–oxidation (redox) reaction conditions, which are of great importance for the soil chemistry of coastal marshes, can be temporally dynamic. We present a transect of cores from northwest Florida wherein radical postdepositional changes in the redox regime has created atypical geochemical profiles at the bottom of the sedimentary column. The...
Moving in the Anthropocene: Global reductions in terrestrial mammalian movements
Marlee A. Tucker, Katrin Bohning-Gaese, William F. Fagan, John Fryxell, Bram Van Moorter, Susan C Alberts, Abdullahi H. Ali, Andrew M. Allen, Nina Attias, Tal Avgar, Hattie Bartlam-Brooks, Bayarbaatar Buuveibaatar, Jerrold L. Belant, Alessandra Bertassoni, Dean Beyer, Laura Bidner, Floris M. van Beest, Stephen Blake, Niels Blaum, Chloe Bracis, Danielle Brown, P. J. Nico de Bruyn, Francesca Cagnacci, J.M. Calabrese, Constanca Camilo-Alves, Simon Chamaille-Jammes, Andre Chiaradia, Sarah C. Davidson, Todd Dennis, Stephen DeStefano, Duane R. Diefenbach, Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Julian Fennessy, Claudia Fichtel, Wolfgang Fiedler, Christina Fischer, Ilya Fischhoff, Christen H. Fleming, Adam T. Ford, Susanne A. Fritz, Benedikt Gehr, Jacob R. Goheen, Eliezer Gurarie, Mark Hebblewhite, Marco Heurich, A. J. Mark Hewison, Christian Hof, Edward Hurme, Lynne A. Isbell, Rene Janssen, Florian Jeltsch, Petra Kaczensky, Adam Kane, Peter M. Kappeler, Matthew J. Kauffman, Roland Kays, Duncan Kimuyu, Flavia Koch, Bart Kranstauber, Scott LaPoint, Peter Leimgruber, John D. C. Linnell, Pascual Lopez-Lopez, A. Catherine Markham, Jenny Mattisson, Emilia Patricia Medici, Ugo Mellone, E. Merrill, Guilherme de Miranda Mourao, Ronaldo G. Morato, Nicolas Morellet, Thomas A. Morrison, Samuel L. Diaz-Munoz, Atle Mysterud, Dejid Nandintsetseg, Ran Nathan, Aidin Niamir, John Odden, Robert B. O’Hara, Luiz G. R. Oliveira-Santos, Kirk A. Olson, Bruce D. Patterson, Rogerio Cunha de Paula, Luca Pedrotti, Bjorn Reineking, Martin Rimmler, T. L. Rogers, Christer Moe Rolandsen, Christopher S. Rosenberry, Daniel I. Rubenstein, Kamran Safi, Sonia Said, Nir Sapir, Hall Sawyer, Niels Martin Schmidt, Nuria Selva, Agnieszka Sergiel, Enkhtuvshin Shiilegdamba, Joao Paulo Silva, N. Singh, Erling J. Solberg, Orr Spiegel, Olav Strand, S.R. Sundaresan, Wiebke Ullmann, Ulrich Voigt, J. Wall, David W. Wattles, Martin Wikelski, Christopher C. Wilmers, John W. Wilson, George Wittemyer, Filip Zieba, Tomasz Zwijacz-Kozica, Thomas Mueller
2018, Science (359) 466-469
Animal movement is fundamental for ecosystem functioning and species survival, yet the effects of the anthropogenic footprint on animal movements have not been estimated across species. Using a unique GPS-tracking database of 803 individuals across 57 species, we found that movements of mammals in areas with a comparatively high human...
A tool for efficient, model-independent management optimization under uncertainty
Jeremy T. White, Michael N. Fienen, Paul M. Barlow, Dave E. Welter
2018, Environmental Modelling and Software (100) 213-221
To fill a need for risk-based environmental management optimization, we have developed PESTPP-OPT, a model-independent tool for resource management optimization under uncertainty. PESTPP-OPT solves a sequential linear programming (SLP) problem and also implements (optional) efficient, “on-the-fly” (without user intervention) first-order, second-moment (FOSM) uncertainty techniques to estimate model-derived constraint uncertainty. Combined...
Determinants of Pseudogymnoascus destructans within bat hibernacula: Implications for surveillance and management of white-nose syndrome
Michelle L. Verant, Elizabeth A. Bohuski, Katherine L. D. Richgels, Kevin J. Olival, Jonathan H. Epstein, David S. Blehert
2018, Journal of Applied Ecology (55) 820-829
Fungal diseases are an emerging global problem affecting human health, food security and biodiversity. Ability of many fungal pathogens to persist within environmental reservoirs can increase extinction risks for host species and presents challenges for disease control. Understanding factors that regulate pathogen spread and persistence in these...
A molecular investigation of soil organic carbon composition across a subalpine catchment
Hsiao-Tieh Hsu, Corey R. Lawrence, Matthew J. Winnick, John R. Bargar, Katharine Maher
2018, Soil Systems (2) 1-23
The dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) storage and turnover are a critical component of the global carbon cycle. Mechanistic models seeking to represent these complex dynamics require detailed SOC compositions, which are currently difficult to characterize quantitatively. Here, we address this challenge by using a novel approach that combines...
Nonbreeding home‐range size and survival of lesser prairie‐chickens
Samantha G. Robinson, David A. Haukos, Reid T. Plumb, Joseph M. Lautenbach, Daniel S. Sullins, John D. Kraft, Jonathan D. Lautenbach, Christian A. Hagen, James C. Pitman
2018, Journal of Wildlife Management (82) 413-423
The lesser prairie‐chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus), a species of conservation concern with uncertain regulatory status, has experienced population declines over the past century. Most research on lesser prairie‐chickens has focused on the breeding season, with little research conducted during the nonbreeding season, a period that exerts a strong influence on demography...
Seventy years of stream‐fish collections reveal invasions and native range contractions in an Appalachian (USA) watershed
Joseph D. Buckwalter, Emmanuel A. Frimpong, Paul L. Angermeier, Jacob N. Barney
2018, Diversity and Distributions (24) 219-232
AimKnowledge of expanding and contracting ranges is critical for monitoring invasions and assessing conservation status, yet reliable data on distributional trends are lacking for most freshwater species. We developed a quantitative technique to detect the sign (expansion or contraction) and functional form of range‐size changes for freshwater...
Biomarker responses of Peromyscus leucopus exposed to lead and cadmium in the Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District
W. Nelson Beyer, Stan W. Casteel, Kristen R. Friedrichs, Eric Gramlich, Ruth A. Houseright, John W. Nichols, Natalie Karouna-Renier, Dae Young Kim, Kathleen Rangen, Barnett A. Rattner, Sandra L. Schultz
2018, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (190) 1-16
Biomarker responses and histopathological lesions have been documented in laboratory mammals exposed to elevated concentrations of lead and cadmium. The exposure of white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) to these metals and the potential associated toxic effects were examined at three contaminated sites in the Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District...
