Complex mixtures of dissolved pesticides show potential aquatic toxicity in a synoptic study of Midwestern U.S. streams
Lisa H. Nowell, Patrick W. Moran, Travis S. Schmidt, Julia E. Norman, Naomi Nakagaki, Megan E. Shoda, Barbara Mahler, Peter C. Van Metre, Wesley W. Stone, Mark W. Sandstrom, Michelle L. Hladik
2018, Science of the Total Environment (613-614) 1469-1488
Aquatic organisms in streams are exposed to pesticide mixtures that vary in composition over time in response to changes in flow conditions, pesticide inputs to the stream, and pesticide fate and degradation within the stream. To characterize mixtures of dissolved-phase pesticides and degradates in Midwestern streams, a synoptic study was...
Snowshoe hare multi-level habitat use in a fire-adapted ecosystem
Laura C. Gigliotti, Benjamin C. Jones, Matthew J. Lovallo, Duane R. Diefenbach
2018, Journal of Wildlife Management (82)-435
Prescribed burning has the potential to improve habitat for species that depend on pyric ecosystems or other early successional vegetation types. For species that occupy diverse plant communities over the extent of their range, response to disturbances such as fire might vary based on post-disturbance vegetation dynamics among plant communities....
Catchment-scale determinants of nonindigenous minnow richness in the eastern United States
Brandon K. Peoples, Stephen R. Midway, Jefferson T. DeWeber, Tyler Wagner
2018, Ecology of Freshwater Fish (27) 138-145
Understanding the drivers of biological invasions is critical for preserving aquatic biodiversity. Stream fishes make excellent model taxa for examining mechanisms driving species introduction success because their distributions are naturally limited by catchment boundaries. In this study, we compared the relative importance of catchment-scale abiotic and biotic predictors of native...
Growth potential and habitat requirements of endangered age-0 pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) in the Missouri River, USA, determined using a individual-based model framework
David Deslauriers, Laura B. Heironimus, Tobias Rapp, Brian D. S. Graeb, Robert A. Klumb, Steven R. Chipps
2018, Ecology of Freshwater Fish (27) 198-208
An individual-based model framework was used to evaluate growth potential of the federally endangered pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) in the Missouri River. The model, developed for age-0 sturgeon, combines information on functional feeding response, bioenergetics and swimming ability to regulate consumption and growth within a virtual foraging arena. Empirical data...
Landscape capability models as a tool to predict fine-scale forest bird occupancy and abundance
Zachary G. Loman, William DeLuca, Daniel J. Harrison, Cynthia S. Loftin, Brian W. Rolek, Petra B. Wood
2018, Landscape Ecology (33) 77-91
ContextSpecies-specific models of landscape capability (LC) can inform landscape conservation design. Landscape capability is “the ability of the landscape to provide the environment […] and the local resources […] needed for survival and reproduction […] in sufficient quantity, quality and accessibility to meet the life...
Novel dermatophilosis and concurrent amyloidosis in Sanderlings (Calidris alba) from Louisiana, USA
Valerie I. Shearn-Bochsler, Jessica L. Schulz, Robert C. Dobbs, Jeffrey M. Lorch, J. Hardin Waddle, Daniel A. Grear
2018, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (54) 189-192
We observed Sanderlings (Calidris alba) with facial growths in coastal Louisiana, US during summer of 2016. Severe lesions were associated with lethargy and lack of a flight response. We determined that the skin growth etiology was a bacterium of the genus Dermatophilus, rarely reported infecting birds. Sanderlings also exhibited severe...
Streambed scour of salmon spawning habitat in a regulated river influenced by management of peak discharge
Andrew S. Gendaszek, Karl D. Burton, Christopher S. Magirl, Christopher P. Konrad
2018, Freshwater Biology (63) 917-927
In the Pacific Northwest of the United States, salmon eggs incubating within streambed gravels are susceptible to scour during floods. The threat to egg-to-fry survival by streambed scour is mitigated, in part, by the adaptation of salmon to bury their eggs below the typical depth of scour....
Pharmaceuticals in water, fish and osprey nestlings in Delaware River and Bay
Thomas G. Bean, Barnett A. Rattner, Rebecca S. Lazarus, Daniel D. Day, S. Rebekah Burket, Bryan W. Brooks, Samuel P. Haddad, William W. Bowerman
2018, Environmental Pollution (232) 533-545
Exposure of wildlife to Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) is likely to occur but studies of risk are limited. One exposure pathway that has received attention is trophic transfer of APIs in a water-fish-osprey food chain. Samples of water, fish plasma and osprey plasma were collected from Delaware River and Bay,...
Association between degradation of pharmaceuticals and endocrine-disrupting compounds and microbial communities along a treated wastewater effluent gradient in Lake Mead
Susanna M. Blunt, Joshua D. Sackett, Michael R. Rosen, Mark J. Benotti, Rebecca A. Trenholm, Brett J. Vanderford, Brian P. Hedlund, Duane P. Moser
2018, Science of the Total Environment (622-623) 1640-1648
The role of microbial communities in the degradation of trace organic contaminants in the environment is little understood. In this study, the biotransformation potential of 27 pharmaceuticals and endocrine-disrupting compounds was examined in parallel with a characterization of the native microbial community in water samples from four sites variously impacted...
Rainbow trout movement behavior and habitat occupancy are influenced by sex and Pacific salmon presence in an Alaska river system
Kevin M. Fraley, Jeffrey A. Falke, Megan V. McPhee, Anupma Prakash
2018, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (75) 525-537
We used spatially continuous field-measured and remotely-sensed aquatic habitat characteristics paired with weekly ground-based telemetry tracking and snorkel surveys to describe movements and habitat occupancy of adult rainbow trout (N = 82) in a runoff-fed, salmon-influenced southcentral Alaska river system. We found that during the ice-free feeding season (June through...
Riparian bird density decline in response to biocontrol of Tamarix from riparian ecosystems along the Dolores River in SW Colorado, USA
Abigail J. Darrah, Charles van Riper III
2018, Biological Invasions (20) 709-720
Biocontrol of invasive tamarisk (Tamarix spp.) in the arid Southwest using the introduced tamarisk beetle (Diorhabda elongata) has been hypothesized to negatively affect some breeding bird species, but no studies to date have documented the effects of beetle-induced defoliation on riparian bird abundance. We assessed the...
Patterns and correlates of giant sequoia foliage dieback during California’s 2012–2016 hotter drought
Nathan L. Stephenson, Adrian J. Das, Nicholas J. Ampersee, Kathleen G. Cahill, Anthony C. Caprio, John E. Sanders, A. Park Williams
2018, Forest Ecology and Management (419-420) 268-278
Hotter droughts – droughts in which unusually high temperatures exacerbate the effects of low precipitation – are expected to increase in frequency and severity in coming decades, challenging scientists and managers to identify which parts of forested landscapes may be most vulnerable. In 2014, in the middle of California’s historically...
Development of a dual luciferase activity and fluorescamine protein assay adapted to a 384 micro-well plate format: Reducing variability in human luciferase transactivation cell lines aimed at endocrine active substances
Jennifer Brennan, Donald E. Tillitt
2018, Toxicology in Vitro (47) 18-25
There is a need to adapt cell bioassays to 384-well and 1536-well formats instead of the traditional 96-well format as high-throughput screening (HTS) demands increase. However, the sensitivity and performance of the bioassay must be re-verified in these higher micro-well plates, and verification of cell health must also be HT...
Fish Bioenergetics 4.0: An R-based modeling application
David Deslauriers, Steven R. Chipps, James E. Breck, James A. Rice, Charles P. Madenjian
2018, Fisheries Magazine (42) 586-596
Bioenergetics modeling is a widely used tool in fisheries management and research. Although popular, currently available software (i.e., Fish Bioenergetics 3.0) has not been updated in over 20 years and is incompatible with newer operating systems (i.e., 64‐bit). Moreover, since the release of Fish Bioenergetics 3.0 in 1997, the number...
Bipartite networks improve understanding of effects of waterbody size and angling method on angler–fish interactions
Christopher J. Chizinski, Dustin R. Martin, Daizaburo Shizuka, Kevin L. Pope
2018, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (75) 72-81
Networks used to study interactions could provide insights to fisheries. We compiled data from 27 297 interviews of anglers across waterbodies that ranged in size from 1 to 12 113 ha. Catch rates of fish species among anglers grouped by species targeted generally differed between angling methods (bank or boat). We constructed...
Fuel-reduction management alters plant composition, carbon and nitrogen pools, and soil thaw in Alaskan boreal forest
April M. Melvin, Gerardo Celis, Jill F. Johnstone, A. David McGuire, Helene Genet, Edward A.G. Schuur, T. Scott Rupp, Michelle C. Mack
2018, Ecological Applications (28) 149-161
Increasing wildfire activity in Alaska's boreal forests has led to greater fuel-reduction management. Management has been implemented to reduce wildfire spread, but the ecological impacts of these practices are poorly known. We quantified the effects of hand-thinning and shearblading on above- and belowground stand characteristics, plant species composition, carbon (C)...
Evaluating trade-offs in bull trout reintroduction strategies using structured decision making
William R. Brignon, James T. Peterson, Jason B. Dunham, Howard A. Schaller, Carl B. Schreck
2018, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (75) 293-307
Structured decision making allows reintroduction decisions to be made despite uncertainty by linking reintroduction goals with alternative management actions through predictive models of ecological processes. We developed a decision model to evaluate the trade-offs between six bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) reintroduction decisions with the goal of maximizing the number of...
Using genetic and phenotypic comparisons to evaluate apparent segregation among Kokanee spawning groups
Steven L. Whitlock, Matthew R. Campbell, Michael C. Quist, Andrew M. Dux
2018, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (147) 43-60
Genetic and phenotypic traits of spatially and temporally segregated kokanee Oncorhynchus nerka spawning groups in Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho, were compared to test for evidence of divergence on the basis of ecotype (stream spawners versus shoreline spawners) and spawn timing and to describe morphological, life history, and reproductive variation within and among...
Trophic pathways supporting Arctic grayling in a small stream on the Arctic Coastal Plain, Alaska
Jason J. McFarland, Mark S. Wipfli, Matthew S. Whitman
2018, Ecology of Freshwater Fish (27) 184-197
Beaded streams are prominent across the Arctic Coastal Plain (ACP) of Alaska, yet prey flow and food web dynamics supporting fish inhabiting these streams are poorly understood. Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus) are a widely distributed upper-level consumer on the ACP and migrate into beaded streams to forage during the short...
The effectiveness of surrogate taxa to conserve freshwater biodiversity
David R. Stewart, Zachary E. Underwood, Frank J. Rahel, Annika W. Walters
2018, Conservation Biology (32) 183-194
Establishing protected areas has long been an effective conservation strategy, and is often based on more readily surveyed species. The potential of any freshwater taxa to be a surrogate of other aquatic groups has not been fully explored. We compiled occurrence data on 72 species of freshwater fish, amphibians, mussels,...
Wanted dead or alive: A state-space mark-recapture-recovery model incorporating multiple recovery types and state uncertainty
Nathan J. Hostetter, Beth Gardner, Allen F. Evans, Bradley M. Cramer, Quinn Payton, Ken Collis, Daniel D. Roby
2018, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (75) 1117-1127
We developed a state-space mark-recapture-recovery model that incorporates multiple recovery types and state uncertainty to estimate survival of an anadromous fish species. We apply the model to a dataset of out-migrating juvenile steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) tagged with passive integrated transponders, recaptured during outmigration, and recovered on bird colonies in...
The first hop: Use of Beaufort Sea deltas by hatch-year semipalmated sandpipers
Roy T. Churchwell, Steve J. Kendall, Stephen C. Brown, Arny L. Blanchard, Tuula E. Hollmen, Abby Powell
2018, Estuaries and Coasts (41) 280-292
River deltas along Alaska’s Beaufort Sea coast are used by hatch-year semipalmated sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) after leaving their terrestrial natal sites, but the drivers of their use of these stopover sites on the first “hop” of fall migration are unknown. We quantified sandpiper temporal distribution and abundance as...
Origins of lead in populations of raptors
Todd E. Katzner, M J Stuber, V A Slabe, J T Anderson, J L Cooper, L L Rhea, B A Milsap
2018, Animal Conservation (21) 232-240
Although poisoning from anthropogenically derived lead threatens wildlife of many species, routes of lead exposure are unclear and rarely empirically tested. We used blood lead concentration and isotope ratio (207Pb/206Pb) data from populations of four species of raptors from across North America to test hypotheses associated with lead exposure via...
Linking spring phenology with mechanistic models of host movement to predict disease transmission risk
Jerod Merkle, Paul C. Cross, Brandon M. Scurlock, Eric K. Cole, Alyson B. Courtemanch, Sarah Dewey, Matthew J. Kauffman
2018, Journal of Applied Ecology (55) 810-819
Disease models typically focus on temporal dynamics of infection, while often neglecting environmental processes that determine host movement. In many systems, however, temporal disease dynamics may be slow compared to the scale at which environmental conditions alter host space-use and accelerate disease transmission.Using a mechanistic movement modelling...
Discrete choice modeling of season choice for Minnesota turkey hunters
Susan A. Schroeder, David C. Fulton, Louis Cornicelli, Steven S. Merchant
2018, Journal of Wildlife Management (82) 457-465
Recreational turkey hunting exemplifies the interdisciplinary nature of modern wildlife management. Turkey populations in Minnesota have reached social or biological carrying capacities in many areas, and changes to turkey hunting regulations have been proposed by stakeholders and wildlife managers. This study employed discrete stated choice modeling to enhance understanding of...
