Assessing the sustainability of Pacific walrus harvest in a changing environment
Devin Johnson, Joseph Michael Eisaguirre, Rebecca L. Taylor, Erik Andersen, Joel Garlich-Miller
2024, Preprint
Harvest sustainability is a primary goal of wildlife management and conservation, and in a changing world it is increasingly important to consider environmental drivers of population dynamics alongside harvest in cohesive management plans. This is particularly pertinent for harvested species that are acutely experiencing effects of climate change. The Pacific...
Treed Gaussian processes for animal movement modeling
Camille J. Rieber, Trevor J. Hefley, David A. Haukos
2024, Ecology and Evolution (14)
Wildlife telemetry data may be used to answer a diverse range of questions relevant to wildlife ecology and management. One challenge to modeling telemetry data is that animal movement often varies greatly in pattern over time, and current continuous-time modeling approaches to handle such...
USGS invasive carp database management & integration support
Marybeth K. Brey, Andrea K. Fritts
2024, Report, 2023 Monitoring and response plan
Invasive carp tracking, monitoring, and contracted removal will continue throughout the Upper IWW system as part of an adaptive management effort to mitigate, control, and contain invasive carp. To help facilitate these actions, there is a need to compile and analyze data from the multitude of partner agencies that are...
Climate change
David Bickford, Guinevere O.U. Wogan, Deanna H. Olson, K.S. Seshadri, Mark C. Urban, Ana Carnaval, John Measey, Jodi J.L. Rowley, Sean Rovito, Rudolf von May, Susan Walls
Sally Wren, Arnael Borzee, Ruth Marcec-Greaves, Ariadne Angulo, editor(s)
2024, Book chapter, Amphibian conservation action plan: A status review and roadmap for global amphibian conservation
Amphibian ecology and distribution are strongly correlated with climate. Regional patterns of amphibian biodiversity are intimately linked to temperature, evapotranspiration rate, and clines in humidity. While amphibians are and will continue to be adversely affected by recent and projected changes in climate, research suggests that adaptation may happen more slowly...
Post-wildfire curve number estimates for the southern Rocky Mountains in Colorado, USA
Jeremy Giovando, Wyatt Reis, Rose Shillito, Elizabeth Shaloka, Christina Chow, Michael S. Kohn, Natalie Memarsadeghi
2024, Technical Report ERDC-TR-24-12
The curve number method first developed by the US Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service (now the Natural Resources Conservation Service) is often used for post-wildfire runoff assessments. These assessments are critical for land and emergency managers making decisions on life and property risks following a wildfire event. Three approaches...
Applying local and global sensitivity analysis to inform bigheaded carp management
Richard A. Erickson, Benjamin J. Marcek, Hannah Mann Thompson, Brian Schoenung, John M. Dettmers, Michael N. Fienen
2024, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Managment (15) 112-126
Natural resource managers commonly use population-level models to aid in understanding the status of target populations or the potential implications of management actions. Sensitivity analyses, specifically, local sensitivity analysis (LSA) and global sensitivity analysis (GSA), exist as tools to improve understanding of these models, the importance of specific parameters to...
Surficial geology and Quaternary fault map of the Las Vegas Valley, Clark County, Nevada
Seth Dee, Alan R. Ramelli, Craig M dePolo, Shannon A. Mahan
2024, Map 193
The Surficial Geology and Quaternary Fault Map of the Las Vegas Valley, Clark County, Nevada is a 1:50,000-scale compilation of published 1:24,000-scale geologic maps integrated with new field and desktop mapping. This geologic map compilation and GIS database are part of a broader study on the Quaternary faults in the Las Vegas...
A genomic hotspot of diversifying selection and structural change in the hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus)
Robert S. Cornman
2024, PeerJ (12)
BackgroundPrevious work found that numerous genes positively selected within the hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus) lineage are physically clustered in regions of conserved synteny. Here I further validate and expand on those finding utilizing an updated L. cinereus genome assembly and additional bat species as well as other tetrapod outgroups.MethodsA chromosome-level...
Towards entity-aware conditional variational inference for heterogeneous time-series prediction: An application to hydrology
Rahul Ghosh, Wallace Mcaliley, Arvind Renganathan, Michael Steinbach, Christopher Duffy, Vipin Kumar
2024, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 2024 SIAM International Conference on Data Mining (SDM)
Many environmental systems (e.g., hydrology basins) can be modeled as entity whose response (e.g., streamflow) depends on drivers (e.g., weather) conditioned on their characteristics (e.g., soil properties). We introduce Entity-aware Conditional Variational Inference (EA-CVI), a novel probabilistic inverse modeling approach, to deduce entity characteristics from observed driver-response...
Fire effects on geomorphic processes
Luke McGuire, Brian A. Ebel, Francis K. Rengers, Diana Vieira, Petter Nyman
2024, Nature Reviews Earth and Environment (5) 486-503
Fire-induced geomorphic changes, such as enhanced erosion and debris-flow activity, are expected to increase with climate change owing to increases in fire activity and rainfall intensification. In this Review, we summarize how landscape attributes, rainfall and burn severity influence post-fire geomorphic responses over a range of temporal and spatial scales....
Effects of telemetry collars on two free-roaming feral equid species
Kathryn A. Schoenecker, Sarah King, Jacob D. Hennig, Mary C. Cole, J. Derek Scasta, Jeffrey L. Beck
2024, PLoS ONE (19)
There are two species of free-roaming feral equids in North America: horses (Equus caballus) and donkeys or “burros” (E. asinus). Both species were introduced as domestic animals to North America in the early 1500s and currently inhabit rangelands across the western United States, Canada, and all continents except Antarctica. Despite their...
Human activities shape global patterns of decomposition rates in rivers
Scott Tiegs, Krista A. Capps, David M. Costello, John Paul Schmidt, Christopher J. Patrick, Jennifer Follstad Shah, Carri J. LeRoy, Vicenc Acuna, Ricardo Albarino, Daniel C. Allen, Cecilia Alonso, Patricio Andino, Clay Arango, Jukka Aroviita, Marcus Barbosa, Leon A. Barmuta, Colden V. Baxter, Brent Bellinger, Luz Boyero, Lyubov Bragina, Lee E. Brown, Andreas Bruder, Denise Bruesewitz, Francis Burdon, Marcos Callisto, Antonio G. Camacho, Cristina Canhoto, Maria Castillo, Eric Chauvet, Joanne Clapcott, Fanny Colas, Checo Colon-Gaud, Julien Cornut, Veronica Crespo-Perez, Wyatt F. Cross, Joseph M. Culp, Michael Danger, Olivier Dangles, Elvira de Eyto, Alison Derry, Veronica Diaz-Villanueva, Michael Douglas, Arturo Elosegi, Andrea Encalada, Sally Entrekin, Rodrigo Espinosa, Veronica Ferreira, Carmen Ferriol, Kyla Flanagan, Alexander Flecker, Tadeusz Fleituch, André Frainer, Nikolai Friberg, Paul C. Frost, Erica A. Garcia, Liliana Garcia-Lago, Pavel Garcia Soto, Mark Gessner, Sudeep Ghate, Darren Giling, Alan Gilmer, Jose Goncalves Jr., Rosario Gonzales, Manuel Graca, Mike Grace, Natalie A. Griffiths, Hans-Peter Grossart, Francois Guerold, Vlad Gulis, Pablo E. Gutiérrez-Fonseca, Luiz Hepp, Scott Higgins, Takuo Hishi, Joseph Huddart, John P. Hudson, Moss Imberger, Carlos Iniguez-Armijos, Mark Isken, Tomoya Iwata, Dave Janetski, Andrea Kirkwood, Aaron A. Koning, Sarian Kosten, Kevin Kuehn, Hjalmar Laudon, Peter Leavitt, Aurea Lemes da Silva, Shawn Leroux, Peter Lisi, Richard Mackenzie, Amy M Marcarelli, Frank Masese, Peter B. McIntyre, Brendan G. McKie, Adriana Medeiros, Kristian Meissner, Marko Milisa, Shailendra Mishra, Yo Miyake, Ashley Moerke, Shorok Mombrikotb, Robert J. Mooney, Tim Moulton, Timo Muotka, Junjiro N. Negishi, Vinicius Neres-Lima, Mika Nieminen, Jorge Nimptsch, Jakub Ondruch, Riku Paavola, Isabel Pardo, Edwin Peeters, Jesus Pozo, Aaron Prussian, Estefania Quenta, Brian Reid, John S. Richardson, Anna Rigosi, Jose Rincon, Geta Risnoveanu, Chris Robinson, Lorena Rodriguez-Gallego, Todd V Royer, James A. Rusak, Anna Santamans, Geza Selmeczy, Gelas Simiyu, Agnija Skuja, Jerzy Smykla, Ryan A. Sponseller, Kandikere Sridhar, Aaron Stoler, Christopher M. Swan, Franco Teixeira-de Mello, Jonathan Tonkin, Sari Uusheimo, Allison Veach, Sirje Vilbaste, Lena Vought, Chiao-Ping Wang, Jackson P. Webster, Paul B. Wilson, Stefan Woelfl, Guy Woodward, Marguerite A. Xenopoulos, Adam Yates, Chihiro Yoshimura, Catherine Yule, Yixin Zhang, Jacob Aaron Zwart
2024, Science (384) 1191-1195
Rivers and streams contribute to global carbon cycling by decomposing immense quantities of terrestrial plant matter. However, decomposition rates are highly variable and large-scale patterns and drivers of this process remain poorly understood. Using a cellulose-based assay to reflect the primary constituent of plant detritus, we generated a predictive model...
Evaluating satellite-transmitter backpack-harness effects on greater sage-grouse survival and device retention in the Great Basin
Carl G. Lundblad, Christopher R. Anthony, Tyler Dungannon, Kimberly A. Haab, Elizabeth M. Schuyler, Chelsea E. Sink, Katie M. Dugger, Christian A. Hagen
2024, The Wildlife Society Bulletin (48)
Wildlife tracking studies have become ubiquitous in ecology and now provide previously unobtainable data regarding individual movement, vital rates, and population demographics. However, tracking devices can potentially reduce survival of study subjects, generating biases in the vital rates they seek to measure. Previous studies have found that greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus...
Two risk assessments: Evaluating the use of indicator HF183 Bacteroides versus pathogen measurements for modelling recreational illness risks in an urban watershed
K Skiendzielewski, Tucker R. Burch, Joel P. Stokdyk, Shannon McGinnis, S McLoughlin, Aaron D. Firnstahl, Sandy Spencer, Mark A. Borchardt, Heather Murphy
2024, Water Research (259)
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of HF183 Bacteroides for estimating pathogen exposures during recreational water activities. We compared the use of Bacteroides-based exposure assessment to exposure assessment that relied on pathogen measurements. We considered two types of recreational water sites: those impacted by combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and...
A phylogeographical study of the discontinuously distributed Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus)
Kim T Scribner, Sandra Talbot, Barbara J. Pierson, John D Robinson, Richard B. Lanctot, Daniel Esler, Kathryn Dickson
2024, Ibis (166) 1218-1240
Species distributions are often indicative of historical biogeographical events and contemporary spatial biodiversity patterns. The Harlequin Duck Histrionicus histrionicus is a sea duck of conservation concern that has a disjunct distribution, with discrete portions of its range associated with northern Pacific and Atlantic Ocean basins. Movement...
Changes in soil erosion caused by wildfire: A conceptual biogeographic model
Philip J. Noske, Petter Nyman, Patrick N.J. Lane, Francis K. Rengers, Gary J. Sheridan
2024, Geomorphology (459)
Soil erosion rates after wildfire are strongly controlled by intrinsic properties such as topography, weather, climate, soil, and vegetation. These landscape and hydroclimatic properties are important in determining post-fire erosion rates; however, their influence on post-fire erosion and their interaction with the intensity...
Causal inference approaches reveal both positive and negative unintended effects of agricultural and urban management practices on instream biological condition
Sean Cassian Emmons, Taylor Woods, Matthew J. Cashman, Olivia Devereux, Gregory E. Noe, John A. Young, Scott Stranko, Jay V. Kilian, Katherine Hanna, Kelly O. Maloney
2024, Journal of Environmental Management (361)
Agricultural and urban management practices (MPs) are primarily designed and implemented to reduce nutrient and sediment concentrations in streams. However, there is growing interest in determining if MPs produce any unintended positive effects, or co-benefits, to instream biological and habitat...
Explosive 2018 eruptions at Kīlauea driven by a collapse-induced stomp-rocket mechanism
Joshua Allen Crozier, Josef Dufek, Leif Karlstrom, Kyle R. Anderson, Ryan Cain Cahalan, Weston Thelen, Mary Catherine Benage, Chao Liang
2024, Nature Geoscience (17) 572-578
Explosive volcanic eruptions produce hazardous atmospheric plumes composed of tephra particles, hot gas and entrained air. Such eruptions are generally driven by magmatic fragmentation or steam expansion. However, an eruption mechanism outside this phreatic–magmatic spectrum was suggested by a sequence of 12 explosive eruptions in May...
Comparing risk of chronic wasting disease occurrence using Bayesian hierarchical spatial models and different surveillance types
Kristin J. Bondo, Christopher S. Rosenberry, David Stainbrook, W. David Walter
2024, Ecological Modeling (493)
Spatial modeling of wildlife diseases can be used to describe patterns of disease risk, understand biological mechanisms of disease occurrence, and for spatial prediction. Risk of wildlife disease occurrence in relation to environmental variables is often modeled and predicted using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods, which are unsuitable for...
Development and evaluation of public-supply community water service area boundaries for the conterminous United States
Cheryl A. Buchwald, Natalie Houston, Jana S. Stewart, Ayman H. Alzraiee, Richard G. Niswonger, Joshua Larsen
2024, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (60) 879-896
The water service area dataset, derived from the National Boundary Dataset for public-supply water systems in the United States, offers a detailed resolution surpassing county-level assessments, emphasizing water-centric land use. Crucial for linking populations and infrastructure to system withdrawals, it supports the creation of a national public-supply water-use model, enhancing...
Behavioral trade-offs and multitasking by elk in relation to predation risk from Mexican gray wolves
Zachary J. Farley, Cara J. Thompson, Scott T. Boyle, Nicole M. Tatman, James W. Cain III
2024, Ecology and Evolution (14)
Predator non-consumptive effects (NCE) can alter prey foraging time and habitat use, potentially reducing fitness. Prey can mitigate NCEs by increasing vigilance, chewing-vigilance synchronization, and spatiotemporal avoidance of predators. We quantified the relationship between Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) predation risk and elk (Cervus...
Melded integrated population models
Justin J. Van Ee, Christian A. Hagen, David C. Pavlacky Jr., David A. Haukos, Andrew J . Lawrence, Ashley M Tanner, Blake A. Grisham, Kent A. Fricke, Liza G. Rossi, Grant M. Beauprez, Kurt E. Kuklinski, Russell Martin, Matthew D. Koslovsky, Troy B. Rintz, Mevin B. Hooten
2024, Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics (5)
Integrated population models provide a framework for assimilating multiple datasets to understand population dynamics. Understanding drivers of demography is key to improving wildlife management, and integrated population models have informed conservation practices for many species of conservation concern. Motivated by multiple surveys of lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus), we developed a...
Effects of drought and cloud-water interception on groundwater recharge and wildfire hazard for recent and future climate conditions, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Maui, and the Island of Hawaiʻi
Alan Mair, Delwyn S. Oki, Heidi L. Kane, Adam G. Johnson, Kolja Rotzoll
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5141
The Water-budget Accounting for Tropical Regions Model (WATRMod) code was used for Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Maui, and the Island of Hawaiʻi to estimate the spatial distribution of groundwater recharge, soil moisture, evapotranspiration, and climatic water deficit for a set of water-budget scenarios. The scenarios included historical and future drought conditions,...
Impact of Hurricane Irma on coral reef sediment redistribution at Looe Key Reef, Florida, USA
Kimberly Yates, Zachery Fehr, Selena Anne-Marie Johnson, David G. Zawada
2024, Ocean Science (20) 661-688
Understanding event-driven sediment transport in coral reef environments is essential to assessing impacts on reef species, habitats, restoration, and mitigation, yet a global knowledge gap remains due to limited quantitative studies. Hurricane Irma made landfall in the Lower Florida Keys with sustained 209 km h−1 winds and waves greater than 8 m on...
Estimated groundwater recharge for mid-century and end-of-century climate projections, Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, Moloka‘i, Lāna‘i, Maui, and the Island of Hawai‘i
Heidi L. Kane, Alan Mair, Adam G. Johnson, Kolja Rotzoll, James Mifflin, Delwyn S. Oki
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5130
Demand for freshwater in the State of Hawaiʻi is expected to increase by roughly 13 percent from 2020 to 2035. Groundwater availability in Hawaiʻi is affected by a number of factors, including land cover, rainfall, runoff, evapotranspiration, and climate change. To evaluate the availability of fresh groundwater under projected future-climate...
