Featured collection introduction: Connectivity of streams and wetlands to downstream waters
Laurie C. Alexander, Ken M. Fritz, Kate Schofield, Bradley Autrey, Julie DeMeester, Heather E. Golden, David C. Goodrich, William G. Kepner, Hadas R. Kiperwas, Charles R. Lane, Stephen D. LeDuc, Scott Leibowitz, Michael G. McManus, Amina I. Pollard, Caroline E. Ridley, Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Parker J. Wigington
2018, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (54) 287-297
Connectivity is a fundamental but highly dynamic property of watersheds. Variability in the types and degrees of aquatic ecosystem connectivity presents challenges for researchers and managers seeking to accurately quantify its effects on critical hydrologic, biogeochemical, and biological processes. However, protecting natural gradients of connectivity is key to protecting the...
Weather and landscape factors affect white-tailed deer neonate survival at ecologically important life stages in the Northern Great Plains
Eric S. Michel, Jonathan A. Jenks, Kyle D. Kaskie, Robert W. Klaver, William F. Jensen
2018, PLoS ONE (13) 1-17
Offspring survival is generally more variable than adult survival and may limit population growth. Although white-tailed deer neonate survival has been intensively investigated, recent work has emphasized how specific cover types influence neonate survival at local scales (single study area). These localized investigations have often led to inconsistences within the...
Biota connect aquatic habitats throughout freshwater ecosystem mosaics
Kate A. Schofield, Laurie C. Alexander, Caroline E. Ridley, Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Ken M. Fritz, Bradley Autrey, Julie DeMeester, William G. Kepner, Charles R. Lane, Scott Leibowitz, Amina I. Pollard
2018, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (54) 372-399
Freshwater ecosystems are linked at various spatial and temporal scales by movements of biota adapted to life in water. We review the literature on movements of aquatic organisms that connect different types of freshwater habitats, focusing on linkages from streams and wetlands to downstream waters. Here, streams, wetlands, rivers, lakes,...
Connectivity of streams and wetlands to downstream waters: An integrated systems framework
Scott G. Leibowitz, Parker J. Wigington, Kate A. Schoefield, Laurie C. Alexander, Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Heather E. Golden
2018, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (54) 298-322
Interest in connectivity has increased in the aquatic sciences, partly because of its relevance to the Clean Water Act. This paper has two objectives: (1) provide a framework to understand hydrological, chemical, and biological connectivity, focusing on how headwater streams and wetlands connect to and contribute to rivers; and (2)...
Montane-breeding bird distribution and abundance across national parks of southwestern Alaska
Courtney L. Amundson, Colleen M. Handel, Daniel R. Ruthrauff, T. Lee Tibbitts, Robert E. Gill Jr.
2018, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (9) 180-207
Between 2004 and 2008, biologists conducted an inventory of breeding birds during May–June primarily in montane areas (>100 m above sea level) in Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve (Aniakchak NMP), Katmai National Park and Preserve (Katmai NPP), and Lake Clark National Park and Preserve (Lake Clark NPP) in southwestern Alaska....
Geologic map of the Lower Valley quadrangle, Caribou County, Idaho
H. Peter Oberlindacher, R. David Hovland, Susan T. Miller, James G. Evans, Robert J. Miller
2018, Scientific Investigations Map 3215
The Lower Valley 7.5-minute quadrangle, located in the core of the Southeast Idaho Phosphate Resource Area, includes Mississippian to Triassic marine sedimentary rocks, Pliocene to Pleistocene basalt, and Tertiary to Holocene surficial deposits. The Mississippian to Triassic marine sedimentary sequence was deposited on a shallow shelf between an emergent craton...
Digital representation of exposures of Precambrian bedrock in parts of Dickinson and Iron Counties, Michigan, and Florence and Marinette Counties, Wisconsin
William F. Cannon, Ruth Schulte, Damon Bickerstaff
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1042
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted a program of bedrock geologic mapping in much of the central and western Upper Peninsula of Michigan from the 1940s until the late 1990s. Geologic studies in this region are hampered by a scarcity of bedrock exposures because of a nearly continuous blanket of...
Biological and ecological science for Michigan—The Great Lakes State
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2018, Fact Sheet 2018-3012
Michigan is rich in lakes, rivers, dune and rocky shorelines, forests, fish and wildlife, and has the longest freshwater coastline in the United States, 3,224 miles. Many enterprises critical to Michigan’s economy and cultural heritage are based on natural resources including commercial and sport fishing, hunting, and other outdoor recreation....
Distribution and seasonal differences in Pacific Lamprey and Lampetra spp eDNA across 18 Puget Sound watersheds
Carl O. Ostberg, Dorothy M. Chase, Michael C. Hayes, Jeffrey J. Duda
2018, PeerJ (6) 1-25
Lampreys have a worldwide distribution, are functionally important to ecological communities and serve significant roles in many cultures. In Pacific coast drainages of North America, lamprey populations have suffered large declines. However, lamprey population status and trends within many areas of this region are unknown and such information is needed...
Herbivory and eutrophication mediate grassland plant nutrient responses across a global climatic gradient
T. Michael Anderson, Daniel M. Griffith, James B. Grace, Eric M. Lind, Peter B. Adler, Lori A. Biederman, Dana M. Blumenthal, Pedro Daleo, Jennifer Firn, Nicole Hagenah, W. Stanley Harpole, Andrew S. MacDougall, Rebecca L. McCulley, Suzanne M. Prober, Anita C. Risch, Mahesh Sankaran, Martin Schutz, Eric W. Seabloom, Carly J. Stevens, Lauren Sullivan, Peter Wragg, Elizabeth T. Borer
2018, Ecology (99) 822-831
Plant stoichiometry, the relative concentration of elements, is a key regulator of ecosystem functioning and is also being altered by human activities. In this paper we sought to understand the global drivers of plant stoichiometry and compare the relative contribution of climatic vs. anthropogenic effects. We addressed this goal by...
Relating river discharge and water temperature to the recruitment of age‐0 White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus Richardson, 1836) in the Columbia River using over‐dispersed catch data
Timothy D. Counihan, Colin G. Chapman
2018, Journal of Applied Ichthyology (34) 279-289
The goals were to (i) determine if river discharge and water temperature during various early life history stages were predictors of age‐0 White Sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanus, recruitment, and (ii) provide an example of how over‐dispersed catch data, including data with many zero observations, can be used to better understand the effects...
N-mix for fish: estimating riverine salmonid habitat selection via N-mixture models
Nicholas A. Som, Russell W. Perry, Edward C. Jones, Kyle De Juilio, Paul Petros, William D. Pinnix, Derek L. Rupert
2018, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (75) 1048-1058
Models that formulate mathematical linkages between fish use and habitat characteristics are applied for many purposes. For riverine fish, these linkages are often cast as resource selection functions with variables including depth and velocity of water and distance to nearest cover. Ecologists are now recognizing the role that detection plays...
China, the United States, and competition for resources that enable emerging technologies
Andrew L. Gulley, Nedal T. Nassar, Sean Xun
2018, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (115) 4111-4115
Historically, resource conflicts have often centered on fuel minerals (particularly oil). Future resource conflicts may, however, focus more on competition for nonfuel minerals that enable emerging technologies. Whether it is rhenium in jet engines, indium in flat panel displays, or gallium in smart phones, obscure elements empower smarter, smaller, and...
A laboratory-calibrated model of coho salmon growth with utility for ecological analyses
Christopher V. Manhard, Nicholas A. Som, Russell W. Perry, John M. Plumb
2018, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (75) 682-690
We conducted a meta-analysis of laboratory- and hatchery-based growth data to estimate broadly applicable parameters of mass- and temperature-dependent growth of juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). Following studies of other salmonid species, we incorporated the Ratkowsky growth model into an allometric model and fit this model to growth observations from...
Barrier-island and estuarine-wetland physical-change assessment after Hurricane Sandy
Nathaniel G. Plant, Kathryn E.L. Smith, Davina Passeri, Christopher G. Smith, Julie Bernier
2018, Open-File Report 2017-1157
IntroductionThe Nation’s eastern coast is fringed by beaches, dunes, barrier islands, wetlands, and bluffs. These natural coastal barriers provide critical benefits and services, and can mitigate the impact of storms, erosion, and sea-level rise on our coastal communities. Waves and storm surge resulting from Hurricane Sandy, which made landfall along...
Disentangling the effects of low pH and metal mixture toxicity on macroinvertebrate diversity
Riccardo Fornaroli, Alessio Ippolito, Mari J. Tolkkinen, Heikki Mykra, Timo Muotka, Laurie S. Balistrieri, Travis S. Schmidt
2018, Environmental Pollution (235) 889-898
One of the primary goals of biological assessment of streams is to identify which of a suite of chemical stressors is limiting their ecological potential. Elevated metal concentrations in streams are often associated with low pH, yet the effects of these two potentially limiting factors of freshwater biodiversity are rarely...
On the sensitivity of annual streamflow to air temperature
Paul C.D. Milly, Jonghun Kam, Krista A. Dunne
2018, Water Resources Research (54) 2624-2641
Although interannual streamflow variability is primarily a result of precipitation variability, temperature also plays a role. The relative weakness of the temperature effect at the annual time scale hinders understanding, but may belie substantial importance on climatic time scales. Here we develop and evaluate a simple theory relating variations of...
Size‐assortative choice and mate availability influences hybridization between red wolves (Canis rufus) and coyotes (Canis latrans)
Joseph W. Hinton, John L. Gittleman, Frank T. van Manen, Michael J. Chamberlain
2018, Ecology and Evolution (8) 3927-3940
Anthropogenic hybridization of historically isolated taxa has become a primary conservation challenge for many imperiled species. Indeed, hybridization between red wolves (Canis rufus) and coyotes (Canis latrans) poses a significant challenge to red wolf recovery. We considered seven hypotheses to assess factors influencing hybridization between red wolves and coyotes via...
Linking animals aloft with the terrestrial landscape
Jeffrey J. Buler, Wylie C. Barrow Jr., Matthew Boone, Deanna K. Dawson, Robert H. Diehl, Frank R. Moore, Lori A. Randall, Timothy Schreckengost, Jaclyn A. Smolinsky
2018, Book chapter, Aeroecology
Despite using the aerosphere for many facets of their life, most flying animals (i.e., birds, bats, some insects) are still bound to terrestrial habitats for resting, feeding, and reproduction. Comprehensive broad-scale observations by weather surveillance radars of animals as they leave terrestrial habitats for migration or feeding flights can be...
Rising synchrony controls western North American ecosystems
Bryan A. Black, Peter van der Sleen, Emanuele Di Lorenzo, Daniel Griffin, William J. Sydeman, Jason B. Dunham, Ryan R. Rykaczewski, Marisol Garcia-Reyes, Mohammad Safeeq, Ivan Arismendi, Steven J. Bograd
2018, Global Change Biology (24) 2305-2314
Along the western margin of North America, the winter expression of the North Pacific High (NPH) strongly influences interannual variability in coastal upwelling, storm track position, precipitation, and river discharge. Coherence among these factors induces covariance among physical and biological processes across adjacent marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we show...
The GFDL global atmosphere and land model AM4.0/LM4.0: 1. Simulation characteristics with prescribed SSTs
M. Zhao, J.-C. Golaz, I. M. Held, H. Guo, V. Balaji, R. Benson, J.-H. Chen, X. Chen, L. J. Donner, J. P. Dunne, Krista A. Dunne, J. Durachta, S.-M. Fan, S. M. Freidenreich, S. T. Garner, P. Ginoux, L. M. Harris, L. W. Horowitz, J. P. Krasting, A. R. Langenhorst, Z. Liang, P. Lin, S.-J. Lin, S. L. Malyshev, E. Mason, Paul C.D. Milly, Y. Ming, V. Naik, F. Paulot, D. Paynter, P. Phillipps, A. Radhakrishnan, V. Ramaswamy, T. Robinson, D. Schwarzkopf, C. J. Seman, Elena Shevliakova, Z. Shen, H. Shin, L. Silvers, J. R. Wilson, M. Winton, A. T. Wittenberg, B. Wyman, B. Xiang
2018, Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems (10) 735-769
In this two‐part paper, a description is provided of a version of the AM4.0/LM4.0 atmosphere/land model that will serve as a base for a new set of climate and Earth system models (CM4 and ESM4) under development at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL). This version, with roughly 100 km...
The aerosphere as a network connector of organisms and their diseases
Jeremy D. Ross, Eli S. Bridge, Diann J. Prosser, John Y. Takekawa
2018, Book chapter, Aeroecology
Aeroecological processes, especially powered flight of animals, can rapidly connect biological communities across the globe. This can have profound consequences for evolutionary diversification, energy and nutrient transfers, and the spread of infectious diseases. The latter is of particular consequence for human populations, since migratory birds are known to host diseases...
An epidemiological model of virus transmission in salmonid fishes of the Columbia River Basin
Paige F. B. Ferguson, Rachel Breyta, Ilana L. Brito, Gael Kurath, Shannon L. LaDeau
2018, Ecological Modelling (377) 1-15
We have developed a dynamic epidemiological model informed by records of viral presence and genotypes to evaluate potential transmission routes maintaining a viral pathogen in economically and culturally important anadromous fish populations. In the Columbia River Basin, infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) causes severe disease, predominantly in juvenile steelhead trout...
Quantifying differences in responses of aquatic insects to trace metal exposure in field studies and short-term stream mesocosm experiments
Yuichi Iwasaki, Travis S. Schmidt, William H. Clements
2018, Environmental Science & Technology (52) 4378-4384
Characterizing macroinvertebrate taxa as either sensitive or tolerant is of critical importance for investigating impacts of anthropogenic stressors in aquatic ecosystems and for inferring causality. However, our understanding of relative sensitivity of aquatic insects to metals in the field and under controlled conditions in the laboratory or mesocosm experiments is...
Passage survival of juvenile steelhead, coho salmon, and Chinook salmon in Lake Scanewa and at Cowlitz Falls Dam, Cowlitz River, Washington, 2010–16
Theresa L. Liedtke, Tobias J. Kock, William Hurst
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1050
A multi-year evaluation was conducted during 2010–16 to evaluate passage survival of juvenile steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss), Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha), and coho salmon (O. kisutch) in Lake Scanewa, and at Cowlitz Falls Dam in the upper Cowlitz River Basin, Washington. Reservoir passage survival was evaluated in 2010, 2011, and...
