Using life history traits to assess climate change vulnerability in understudied species
Ross K Hinderer, Blake R. Hossack, Lisa A Eby
2024, Integrative Conservation (3) 368-381
Climate change is a primary threat to biodiversity, but for many species, we still lack information required to assess their relative vulnerability to changes. Climate change vulnerability assessment (CCVA) is a widely used technique to rank relative vulnerability to climate change based on species characteristics, such as their distributions, habitat...
Pragmatically mapping Phragmites with unoccupied aerial systems: A comparison of invasive species land cover classification using RGB and multispectral imagery
Alexandra Danielle Evans, Jennifer Marie Cramer, Victoria Mary Scholl, Erika E. Lentz
2024, Remote Sensing (16)
Unoccupied aerial systems (UASs) are increasingly being deployed in coastal environments to rapidly map and monitor changes to geomorphology, vegetation, and infrastructure, particularly in difficult to access areas. UAS data, relative to airplane or satellite data, typically have higher spatial resolution, sensor customization, and increased flexibility in temporal resolution, which...
Mixed responses of tenebrionid beetles to solar energy development in the Mojave Desert
Steven Mark Grodsky, Joshua W. Campbell, Karl A. Roeder, Evan Waite, Ethan R. Wright, M. Andrew Johnston
2024, Journal of Arid Environments (225)
Solar energy development causes land-use change and habitat alteration that may affect desert ecosystems. Tenebrionid beetles have evolved to exploit desert environments and heavily contribute to ecosystem functionality in aridlands, yet their species-specific, ecological responses to solar energy development are unknown. Our objective was to elucidate effects of solar energy...
Hydrological Simulation Program - FORTRAN (HSPF)
Michelle A. Stern, Charles N. Alpers
Alicia Cortes, editor(s)
2024, Report, Clear Lake watershed and lake remidiation
No abstract available....
Streamflow, water quality, and constituent loads and yields, Scituate Reservoir drainage area, Rhode Island, water year 2021
Kirk Smith, Alana B. Spaetzel
2024, Data Report 1203
As part of a long-term cooperative program to monitor water quality within the Scituate Reservoir drainage area, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with Providence Water (formerly Providence Water Supply Board) collected streamflow and water-quality data in tributaries to the Scituate Reservoir, Rhode Island. Streamflow and concentrations of chloride and...
Chapter 5. Sensor selection
Todd Caldwell, L. Rivera, M.H. Cosh, N. Gaur
N. Gaur, Matthew R. Levi, Pam Knox, editor(s)
2024, Report, Soil moisture quality guidance
No abstract available....
Trophic transfer of fipronil residues to black-footed ferrets: Implications for ferret safety, flea control, and plague mitigation
Tyler N. Tretten, David A. Eads, John P. Hughes, Gregory P. Dooley, Dean E. Biggins
2024, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (15) 461-469
Sylvatic plague, caused by the flea-borne bacterium Yersinia pestis, is an invasive disease in North America that causes reductions of native fauna and transforms ecosystems. Fipronil baits have shown promise in reducing flea loads on prairie dogs Cynomys spp. for plague mitigation. Many species depend on prairie dogs and their ecological influences, including...
Retention of T‐bar anchor tags by adult steelhead during their upstream migration
Nicholas S. Voss, Joshua L. McCormick, William J. Lubenau, Brett J. Bowersox, Timothy Copeland, Michael Quist
2024, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (44) 1385-1391
Objective: T-bar anchor tags can be used to obtain recapture data from anglers, directly estimate exploitation, and evaluate population dynamics. Unfortunately, their use by biologists to study anadromous salmonid fisheries is limited. Two hurdles to adoption include the functional difficulty of tagging large anadromous salmonids using conventional tagging equipment and...
Using remote sensing to identify habitat for wintering Henslow's Sparrows (Centronyx henslowii)
Sierra A. Moore, Abigail W. Dwire, Thomas J. Prebyl, Todd M. Schneider, Elizabeth Ann Hunter
2024, The Wilson Journal of Ornithology (136) 436-447
The Henslow's Sparrow (Centronyx henslowii) is a grassland bird species that overwinters in the southeastern United States and is a species of conservation concern due to population declines primarily caused by habitat loss. Henslow's Sparrows often overwinter in marginal habitats, such as powerline rights-of-way (ROWs), clear cuts, and field edges...
Structured decision-making workshop: Chronic wasting disease management in free-ranging cervids in Massachusetts
Martin J. R Feehan, Jonathan D. Cook, Margaret McEachran, Susan M. McCarthy, David Wattles, Meghan Crawford, Michael Huguenin, Graziella Vittoria DiRenzo
2024, Cooperator Science Series FWS/CSS-161-2024
This document describes the results of a 2.5-day rapid decision prototype workshop that evaluated management activities for chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Massachusetts (MA) that were either proactive (i.e., actions taken prior to CWD arrival/detection) or reactive (i.e., actions taken after CWD arrival/detection). The workshop was led by members of...
Cryospheric sciences at the U.S. Geological Survey
Caitlyn Florentine, Erich Peitzsch, Miriam C. Jones, Theodore B. Barnhart, Thomas M. Cronin
2024, Fact Sheet 2024-3043
IntroductionThe cryosphere is the collective parts of the Earth where water is in its frozen state and includes snow, glaciers, ice sheets, ice shelves, freshwater ice, sea ice, and permafrost. The cryosphere is a climate indicator and climate regulator. Surface cryosphere features, such as glaciers, snow, and sea ice, store...
A meta-analysis highlights the idiosyncratic nature of tradeoffs in laboratory models of virus evolution
Ketty Kabengele, Wendy Christine Turner, Paul E. Turner, C. Brandon Ogbunugafor
2024, Virus Evolution (10)
Different theoretical frameworks have been invoked to guide the study of virus evolution. Three of the more prominent ones are (i) the evolution of virulence, (ii) life history theory, and (iii) the generalism–specialism dichotomy. All involve purported tradeoffs between traits that define the evolvability and constraint of virus-associated phenotypes. However,...
Cumulative effects assessment of restoration programs: A framework to assess achievement of regional and programmatic goals
T. M. Davenport, D. A. Comba, P. S. Dalyander, Nicholas Enwright, Margaret L. Palmsten, Gregory Steyer, Megan La Peyre
2024, Cooperator Science Series CSS-162-2024
Increasing global investments focused on conservation and restoration of natural resources aim to address challenges presented by <span class="glossify-tooltip-link glossify-tooltip-popup" aria-label="Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since...
Disparities in Perimyotis subflavus body mass between cave and culvert hibernacula in Georgia, USA
Emily Ferrall, S. Perea, K.M. Morris, P.E. Pattavina, Brian J. Irwin, J. Hepinstall-Cymerman, S.B. Castleberry
2024, Ecology and Evololution (14)
The tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus), once common in the eastern United States, has experienced significant mortality due to white-nose syndrome (WNS), a fungal disease that primarily affects bats hibernating in caves and mines. In coastal regions of the southeastern United States, where caves and mines are scarce, tricolored bats often...
Gray wolf breeders are more vulnerable to harvest during the breeding season
Peter F. Rebholz, Lisette P. Waits, David Edward Ausband
2024, Wildlife Society Bulletin (48)
In cooperatively breeding carnivores, breeders are vital to perpetuating the group; the death or removal of an individual breeder can greatly affect group composition, genetic content, and short-term population growth. Understanding the number of breeders harvested and timing of harvest can increase our knowledge of how mortality affects groups of...
Cosmogenic 21Ne exposure ages on late Pleistocene moraines in Lassen Volcanic National Park, California, USA
Joseph P. Tulenko, Greg Balco, Michael A. Clynne, L.J. Patrick Muffler
2024, GChron (6) 639-652
We report new cosmogenic 21Ne in quartz exposure ages from 18 samples on three distinct moraines deposited in the Lost Creek drainage, approximately 3–7 km down-valley from Lassen Peak in Lassen Volcanic National Park. Although measuring 21Ne in quartz is generally straightforward, accurate 21Ne exposure...
High genetic diversity, low population genetic structure, strong natal philopatry, and longevity revealed in the Black Swift (Cypseloides niger borealis)
Carolyn Gunn, Kim Potter, Jennifer A. Fike, Sara J. Oyler-McCance
2024, The Wilson Journal of Ornithology (136) 448-457
Genetic diversity is a critical cornerstone of biodiversity and is a central goal in management and conservation biology. Such diversity has implications for survivability, adaptability, and resiliency of a species. This study aimed to determine levels of genetic diversity and population genetic structure in the Northern Black Swift (Cypseloides niger...
System characterization report on the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) sensor
Mahesh Shrestha, Aparajithan Sampath, Minsu Kim, Seonkyung Park
2024, Open-File Report 2021-1030-R
Executive Summary This report addresses system characterization of the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) sensor, an imaging spectrometer developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This report is part of a series of system characterization reports produced and delivered by the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and...
Rock sample photogrammetry protocol
Lucas Leonidus Evart
2024, Preprint
This step-by-step protocol describes the photogrammetry process used by the U.S. Geological Survey Spokane Imaging Lab (SPIMG) lab to create 3D models of geologic samples. Steps related to photographing small objects are applicable to photogrammetry in general, however, SPIMG-specific steps involving lab hardware and software may not be....
Tungsten skarn quantitative mineral resource assessment and gold, rare earth elements, graphite, and uranium qualitative assessments of the Kuldjuktau and Auminzatau Ranges, in the central Kyzylkum region, Uzbekistan
Joshua Aaron Coyan, Federico Solano, Cliff D. Taylor, Carol A. Finn, Steven M. Smith, Christopher S. Holm-Denoma, Laura Pianowski, Kelsey Elizabeth Crocker, Rustam Mirkamalov, Fareed Divaev, Abdulla Baratov, Botir Khakimov, Jurabek Azimov, Akrom Goipov, Jamshid Avulov, Shokir Akhmadov, Nurbek Inatov, Xurshid Janiev, Nafisa Dulabova
2024, Minerals 1240-1277
A new quantitative mineral resource assessment for tungsten skarn was conducted for the Auminzatau and Kuldjuktau mountain ranges in Central Uzbekistan, along with qualitative assessments of orogenic gold, rare earth elements (REEs), amorphous graphite, and uranium. By integrating a variety of geological, geochemical, geophysical, and remote sensing data sets, estimates...
Abundance-mediated species interactions
Joshua P. Twining, Ben Augustine, Andy Royle, Angela K. Fuller
2024, Ecology (106)
Species interactions shape biodiversity patterns, community assemblage, and the dynamics of wildlife populations. Ecological theory posits that the strength of interspecific interactions is fundamentally underpinned by the population sizes of the involved species. Nonetheless, prevalent approaches for modeling species interactions predominantly center around occupancy states. Here, we use simulations to...
Comments on the species limits of certain North American birds, part 1
Oscar W. Johnson, Shawn Billerman, Blanca Hernandez-Banos, Daniel F Lane, Pamela C. Rasmussen, J.V. Remsen Jr., Kevin Winker, R. Terry Chesser
2024, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club (144) 367-414
Although species limits of North American birds are relatively well-delineated, discrepancies among global lists identify species complexes that are subject to differences of opinion. As part of our work with the North American Classification Committee (NACC) of the American Ornithological Society, we here assess species limits in 11 such species...
Fall 2024 edition
Laura Cecilia Shriver
2024, Newsletter
No abstract available....
Rowing in the same direction using MIX— A tool to initiate the melding of individual disciplinary experts into an integrated interdisciplinary team
Martha E. Mather, Jason Bergtold, Marcellus Caldas, Ethan Bernick, Trisha Moore, Gabriel Granco, Aleksey Sheshukov, Ignacio Ciampitti
2024, Sustainability (16)
A common problem for interdisciplinary sustainability research is that scientists trained in different disciplines are often not rowing their boat effectively in the same direction. Sustainability tools can aid the implementation of this team-melding process. Here, our purpose is to illustrate our Multi-step Integrated graphical and structured discussion eXercise...
The Europa Imaging System (EIS) investigation
E.P. Turtle, A.S. McEwen, G.W. Patterson, C. M. Ernst, C.M. Elder, K.A. Slack, S.E. Hawkins, J. McDermott, H. M. Meyer, R. DeMajistre, R. Espiritu, H. Seifert, J. Niewola, Michael T. Bland, M.K. Becker, J. Centurelli, G.C. Collins, P. Corlies, H. Darlington, I. J. Daubar, C. Derr, C. Detelich, E. Donald, W. Edens, L. Fletcher, C. Gardner, F. Graham, C.J. Hansen, C. Haslebacher, A.G. Hayes, D. Humm, T.A. Hurford, Randolph L. Kirk, N. W. Kutsop, W.J. Lees, D. T. Lewis, S. London, A. Magner, M.A. Mills, A.C. Barr Mlinar, F. Morgan, F. Nimmo, A. Ocasio Milanes, S. Osterman, C.B. Phillips, A. Pommerol, L. Prockter, L.C. Quick, G. Robbins, J.M. Soderblom, B.A. Stewart, A. Stickle, S.S. Sutton, N. Thomas, I. Torres, O.J. Tucker, R.B. Van Auken, K.A. Wilk
2024, Space Science Reviews (220)
The Europa Imaging System (EIS) consists of a Narrow-Angle Camera (NAC) and a Wide-Angle Camera (WAC) that are designed to work together to address high-priority science objectives regarding Europa’s geology, composition, and the nature of its ice shell. EIS accommodates variable geometry and illumination during rapid, low-altitude flybys with both...
