No long-term effect of black bear removal on elk calf recruitment in the southern Appalachians
Joseph G. Yarkovich, Jessica L. Braunstein, Jennifer M. Mullinax, Joseph D. Clark
2024, Journal of Wildlife Management (88)
In 2001 and 2002, 52 elk (Cervus canadensis; 21 males, 31 females), originally obtained from Elk Island National Park, Alberta, Canada, were transported and released into Cataloochee Valley in the northeastern portion of Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM, Park), North Carolina, USA. The annual population growth rate (λ) was...
Improved computational methods for probabilistic liquefaction hazard analysis
Andrew James Makdisi, Steven L. Kramer
2024, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering (176)
Current procedures for analysis of and design against liquefaction hazards focus primarily on the use of probabilistic ground motions at a single ground-shaking hazard level, with the cyclic loading represented by a peak ground acceleration (PGA) corresponding to a target...
Dam removal cost databases and drivers
Jennifer A. Bountry, Timothy J. Randle, Alvin Jansen, Jeffrey J. Duda, Suman Jumani, Desiree D. Tullos, Kyle McKay, Susan Bailey
2024, Final Report ST-2023-21084 and ENV-2023-002
The United States (U.S.) has over 90,000 dams listed in the National Inventory of Dams that provide vital infrastructure to support water management for municipal and industrial uses including irrigation, hydropower, flood control, navigation, recreation, and habitat, among other uses (NID 2023). The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and U.S. Army...
Systematic process for determining field-sampling effort required to know vegetation changes in large, disturbed rangelands where management treatments have been applied
Cara Applestein, Matthew J. Germino
2024, Rangeland Ecology and Management (92) 68-72
Adequate numbers of replicated, dispersed, and random samples are the basis for reliable sampling inference on resources of concern, particularly vegetation cover across large and heterogenous areas such as rangelands. Tools are needed to predict and assess data precision, specifically the sampling...
Going with the floe: Sea-ice movement affects distance and destination during Adélie penguin winter movements
Dennis Jongsomjit, Amelie Lescroël, Annie Schmidt, Simeon Lisovski, David G. Ainley, Ellen Hines, Megan Elrod, Katie M. Dugger, Grant Ballard
2024, Ecology (105)
Seasonal migration, driven by shifts in annual climate cycles and resources, is a key part of the life history and ecology of species across taxonomic groups. By influencing the amount of energy needed to move, external forces such as wind and ocean currents are often key drivers of migratory pathways...
Spatial distribution and diet of Lake Michigan juvenile lake trout
Benjamin Scott Leonhardt, Ralph W. Tingley III, Charles P. Madenjian, Lynn M. Ogilvie, Brian Roth, Jory L. Jonas, Jason B. Smith
2024, Journal of Great Lakes Research (50)
Most studies of Lake Michigan lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) have focused on adults, with scant attention to juveniles (<400 mm). We explored the spatial distribution and diet of juvenile lake trout using U.S. Geological Survey September bottom trawl data (2015–2022) and stomach...
Assessing the relationship between cyanobacteria blooms and respiratory-related hospital visits: Green Bay, Wisconsin 2017–2019
Jordan Murray, Amy M. Lavery, Blake A. Schaeffer, Bridget N. Seegers, Audrey F. Pennington, Elizabeth D. Hilborn, Savannah Boerger, Jennifer D. Runkle, Keith A. Loftin, Jennifer L. Graham, Richard Stumpf, Amanda Koch, Lorraine Backer
2024, International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health (255)
Potential acute and chronic human health effects associated with exposure to cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins, including respiratory symptoms, are an understudied public health concern. We examined the relationship between estimated cyanobacteria biomass and the frequency of respiratory-related hospital visits for residents living near Green Bay, Lake Michigan, Wisconsin...
Reduction of genetic diversity in ‘Alalā (Hawaiian crow; Corvus hawaiiensis) between the late 1800s and the late 1900s
Geneviève Blanchet, Mona Renee Bellinger, Anna M. Kearns, Nandadevi Cortes-Rodriguez, Bryce M. Masuda, Michael G. Campana, Christian Rutz, Robert C. Fleischer, Jolene T. Sutton
2024, Journal of Heredity (115) 32-44
Genetic and genomic data are increasingly used to aid conservation management of endangered species by providing insights into evolutionary histories, factors associated with extinction risks, and potential for future adaptation. For the ‘Alalā, or Hawaiian crow (Corvus hawaiiensis), genetic concerns include negative correlations between inbreeding and hatching success. However, it...
Target and suspect per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in fish from an AFFF-impacted waterway
Elena Nilsen, Derek J. Muensterman, Lya Carini, Ian R. Waite, Sean E. Payne, Jennifer Field, Jennifer L Peterson, Daniel Hafley, David Farrer, Gerrad D Jones
2024, Science of the Total Environment (906)
A major source of toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF) used in firefighting and training at airports and military installations, however, PFAS have many additional sources in consumer products and industrial processes. A field study was conducted on fish tissues from three reaches of the Columbia...
Recent, widespread nitrate decreases may be linked to persistent dissolved organic carbon increases in headwater streams recovering from past acidic deposition
Kevin Alexander Ryan, Gregory B. Lawrence
2024, Science of the Total Environment (906)
Long-term monitoring of water quality responses to natural and anthropogenic perturbation of watersheds informs policies for managing natural resources. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrate (NO3−) in streams draining forested landscapes provide valuable information on ecosystem function due to their biogeochemical reactivity and solubility in water....
Leveraging the strengths of citizen science and structured surveys to achieve scalable inference on population size
Andrew N. Stillman, Paige E. Howell, Guthrie S. Zimmerman, Emily R. Bjerre, Brian A. Millsap, Orin J. Robinson, Daniel Fink, Erica Francis Stuber, Viviana Ruiz-Gutierrez
2024, Journal of Applied Ecology (60) 2389-2399
Population size is a key metric for management and policy decisions, yet wildlife monitoring programmes are often limited by the spatial and temporal scope of surveys. In these cases, citizen science data may provide complementary information at higher resolution and greater extent.We present a case study demonstrating how data...
A novel approach to assessing natural resource injury with Bayesian networks
Freya Elizabeth Rowland, Christopher James Kotalik, Bruce G. Marcot, Jo Ellen Hinck, David Walters
2024, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (20) 562-573
Quantifying the effects of environmental stressors on natural resources is problematic because of complex interactions among environmental factors that influence endpoints of interest. This complexity, coupled with data limitations, propagates uncertainty that can make it difficult to causally associate specific environmental stressors with injury endpoints. The Natural Resource Damage Assessment...
Identifying demographic and environmental drivers of population dynamics and viability in an endangered top predator using an integrated model
Amanda J. Warlick, Gina K Himes Boor, Tamara L McGuire, Kim E. W. Shelden, Eiren K. Jacobson, Charlotte Boyd, Paul Wade, Andre E. Punt, Sarah J. Converse
2024, Animal Conservation (27) 240-252
Knowledge about the demographic and environmental factors underlying population dynamics is fundamental to designing effective conservation measures to recover depleted wildlife populations. However, sparse monitoring data or persistent knowledge gaps about threats make it difficult to identify the drivers of population dynamics. In situations...
Machine learning application to assess occurrence and saturations of methane hydrate in marine deposits offshore India
Leebyn Chong, Timothy Collett, C. Gabriel Creason, Yongkoo Seol, E.M. Myshakin
2024, Journal Interpretation (12) T63-T75
Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) were used to assess methane hydrate occurrence and saturation in marine sediments offshore India. The ANN analysis classifies the gas hydrate occurrence into three types: methane hydrate in pore space, methane hydrate in fractures, or no methane hydrate. Further, predicted saturation characterizes the volume of gas...
Episodic evolution of a protracted convergent margin revealed by detrital zircon geochronology in the Greater Caucasus
Dylan A Vasey, Leslie Garcia, Eric S. Cowgill, Charles Cashman Trexler, Tea Godoladze
2024, Basin Research (36)
Convergent margins play a fundamental role in the construction and modification of Earth's lithosphere and are characterized by poorly understood episodic processes that occur during the progression from subduction to terminal collision. On the northern margin of the active Arabia-Eurasia collision zone, the Greater...
Revisiting conservation units for the endangered mountain yellow-legged frog species complex (Rana muscosa, Rana sierrae) using multiple genomic methods
Allison Q. Byrne, Andrew P. Rothstein, Lydia L. Smith, Hannah Kania, Roland A. Knapp, Daniel M. Boiano, Cheryl J. Briggs, Adam R. Backlin, Robert N. Fisher, Erica Bree Rosenblum
2024, Conservation Genetics (25) 591-606
Insights from conservation genomics have dramatically improved recovery plans for numerous endangered species. However, most taxa have yet to benefit from the full application of genomic technologies. The mountain yellow-legged frog species complex, Rana muscosa and Rana sierrae, inhabits the Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse/Peninsular Ranges of California and Nevada....
Identifying predictors of translocation success in rare plant species
Joe Bellis, Oyomoare L. Osazuwa-Peters, Joyce Maschinski, Matthew J. Keir, Elliott W. Parsons, Thomas N. Kaye, Michael Kunz, Jennifer Possley, Eric Menges, Stacy A. Smith, Daniela Roth, Debbie Brewer, William E. Brumback, James J. Lange, Christal Niederer, Jessica B. Turner-Skoff, Megan Bontrager, Richard Braham, Michelle Coppoletta, Karen D. Holl, Paula Williamson, Timothy J. Bell, Jayne L. Jonas, Kathryn McEachern, Kathy L. Robertson, Sandra J. Birnbaum, Adam Dattilo, John J. Dollard Jr., Jeremie Fant, Wendy Kishida, Peter Lesica, Steven O. Link, Noel B. Pavlovic, Jackie Poole, Charlotte M. Reemts, Peter Stiling, David D. Taylor, Jonathan H. Titus, Priscilla J. Titus, Edith D. Adkins, Timothy Chambers, Mark W. Paschke, Katherine D. Heinman, Matthew A. Albrecht
2024, Conservation Biology (38)
The fundamental goal of a rare plant translocation is to create self-sustaining populations with the evolutionary resilience to persist in the long-term. Yet most plant translocation syntheses focus on a few factors influencing short-term benchmarks of success (e.g., survival and reproduction). Short-term benchmarks can be misleading when trying to infer...
Using down-scan capabilities from recreational-grade side-scan sonar systems to sample paddlefish and evaluate depth use in a reservoir
James M. Long, P. Joyce, L. Bruckerhoff, Robert Charles Lonsinger, W. Wolfenkoehler
2024, Article
Recreational-grade side-scan sonar (SSS) has only recently been applied to estimate abundance of Paddlefish Polyodon spathula, a large pelagic planktivore, in reservoirs. Current recreational-grade SSS units also have a dedicated down-scan channel, which may be useful for detecting Paddlefish in reservoirs because the range of depths they inhabit. We investigated the utility of...
Using multiple metal mixture models to predict toxicity of riverine sediment porewater to the benthic life stage of juvenile white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus)
Laurie S. Balistrieri
2024, Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (43) 62-73
Five metal mixture dose–response models were used to predict the toxicity of porewater to young sturgeon at areas of interest in the Upper Columbia River (WA, USA/BC, Canada) and to evaluate these models as tools for risk assessments. Dose components of metal mixture models...
Temperature thresholds for leaf damage from two extreme freeze events (2018 and 2021) near the northern range limit of black mangroves (Avicennia germinans) in southeastern North America
Simen Kaalstad, Michael Osland, Donna J. Devlin, C. Edward Proffitt, Laura Feher, Anna R. Armitage, Richard Day, Kathleen M. Swanson, Gordon Anderson, Brigid Berger, Just Cebrian, Karen L. Cummins, Kenneth H. Dunton, Ilka C. Feller, Alejandro Fierro-Cabo, Elena A. Flores, Andrew From, A. Randall Hughes, David A. Kaplan, Amy K. Langston, Melinda Martinez, Briana Martinez, Christopher J. Miller, Nathan G.F. Reaver, Colt R. Sanspree, Caitlin M. Snyder, Andrew P. Stetter, Jamie E. Thompson, Carlos Zamora-Tovar
2024, Estuaries and Coasts (47) 292-300
Extreme winter temperatures govern the northern range limit of black mangroves (Avicennia germinans) in southeastern North America. There is a pressing need for studies that advance our understanding of how extreme cold temperature events affect mangroves near their range limits. However, such events are infrequent and challenging to study at...
Long-term trends of local bird populations based on monitoring schemes: Are they suitable for justifying management measures?
Antonio J. Hernandez-Navarro, Francisco Robledano, María V. Jiménez-Franco, J. Andrew Royle, José F. Calvo
2024, Journal of Ornithology (165) 355-367
Local biodiversity monitoring is important to assess the effects of global change, but also to evaluate the performance of landscape and wildlife protection, since large-scale assessments may buffer local fluctuations, rare species tend to be underrepresented, and management actions are usually implemented on local scales. We...
Disparate data streams together yield novel survival estimates of Alaska-breeding Whimbrels
Daniel R. Ruthrauff, Christopher M. Harwood, T. Lee Tibbitts, Vijay P. Patil
2024, Ibis (166) 622-632
Survival estimates are critical components of avian ecology. In well-intentioned efforts to maximize the utility of one's research, survival estimates often derive from data that were not originally collected for survival assessments, and such post hoc analyses may include unintentional biases. We estimated the survival of Whimbrels captured and marked at two...
Using geospatial analysis to guide marsh restoration in Chesapeake Bay and beyond
Neil K. Ganju, Kate Ackerman, Zafer Defne
2024, Estuaries and Coasts (47) 1-17
Coastal managers are facing imminent decisions regarding the fate of coastal wetlands, given ongoing threats to their persistence. There is a need for objective methods to identify which wetland parcels are candidates for restoration, monitoring, protection, or acquisition due to limited resources and restoration techniques. Here,...
Beyond overlap: Considering habitat preference and fitness outcomes in the umbrella species concept
J. D. Carlisle, K. T. Smith, J. L. Beck, M. A. Murphy, Anna D. Chalfoun
2024, Animal Conservation (27) 212-225
Umbrella species and other surrogate species approaches to conservation provide an appealing framework to extend the reach of conservation efforts beyond single species. For the umbrella species concept to be effective, populations of multiple species of concern must persist in areas protected on behalf...
Nonlinear patterns of surface elevation change in coastal wetlands: The value of generalized additive models for quantifying rates of change
Laura Feher, Michael Osland, Darren Johnson, James Grace, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, David R. Stewart, Carlos A. Coronado-Molina, Fred H. Sklar
2024, Estuaries and Coasts (47) 1893-1902
In the face of accelerating climate change and rising sea levels, quantifying surface elevation change dynamics in coastal wetlands can help to develop a more complete understanding of the implications of sea-level rise on coastal wetland stability. The surface elevation table-marker horizon (SET-MH) approach has been...
