Rainfall as a driver of post-wildfire flooding and debris flows: A review and synthesis
Natalie M. Collar, John A. Moody, Brian A. Ebel
2024, Earth-Science Reviews (260)
The increasing threat of post-wildfire hazards creates an imperative for improved post-wildfire flooding and debris flow prediction capabilities. Because rainfall is a primary driver of predictive hydrology and debris flow initiation and inundation models, recent efforts have emphasized the need for interdisciplinary collaboration between meteorology and post-wildfire hazard science that...
Evaluating the suitability of large-scale datasets to estimate nitrogen loads and yields across different spatial scales
Andres Felipe Suarez-Castro, Dale M. Robertson, Bernhard Lehner, Marcelo L. de Souza, Michael Kittridge, David A. Saad, Simon Linke, Rich W. McDowell, Mohammad H. Ranjbar, Olivier Ausseil, David P. Hamilton
2024, Water Research (268)
Decision makers are often confronted with inadequate information to predict nutrient loads and yields in freshwater ecosystems at large spatial scales. We evaluate the potential of using data mapped at large spatial scales (regional to global) and often coarse resolution to predict nitrogen yields at varying smaller scales (e.g., at...
Simulating present and future groundwater/surface-water interactions and stream temperatures in Beaver Creek, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Andrew T. Leaf, Megan J. Haserodt, Benjamin E. Meyer, Stephen, M. Westenbroek, Joshua C. Koch
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5126
In many places, coldwater ecosystems are facing increasing pressure from anthropogenic warming. This study examined stream temperatures and the water balance in the Beaver Creek watershed on the Kenai Peninsula in south-central Alaska—an area that is experiencing rapid warming. Low-gradient streams near the Kenai coast provide important spawning and rearing...
Wolf harvest management strategy evaluation: Annual Report, 2024
Hannah A. Sipe, Sarah Nelson Sells, Justin A. Gude, Kevin M. Podruzny, Molly Parks
2024, Report
Wolf harvest season setting is complicated and controversial. State law requires Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MFWP) to both reduce the wolf population and avoid federal relisting under the Endangered Species Act (Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, 2002). Disparate stakeholder groups each have different objectives for wolf management. For instance,...
Large differences in herbivore performance emerge from simple herbivore behaviors and fine-scale spatial heterogeneity in phytochemistry
Vincent S. Pan, Enakshi Ghosh, Paul J. Ode, William C. Wetzel, Kadeem J. Gilbert, Ian S. Pearse
2024, Ecology Letters (28)
Patterns of phytochemistry localisation in plant tissues are diverse within and across leaves. These spatial heterogeneities are important to the fitness of herbivores, but their effects on herbivore foraging and dietary experience remain elusive. We manipulated the spatial variance and clusteredness of a plant toxin in a...
Environmental DNA reveals invasion of Puerto Rican waterways by non-native Clarias catfish
Robert T. Paine, Mark W. Rogers, Amanda E. Rosenberger
2024, Cooperator Science Series CSS-164-2024
The Sharptooth walking catfish (Clarias gariepinus) is native to parts of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa but is one of the world's most invasive freshwater fish species. The species’ ability to invade is partly due to its ability to breathe atmospheric oxygen, thereby avoiding hypoxia or poor water quality...
Preliminary ground and airborne-based geophysical mapping and modelling of an active hydrothermal system at Mammoth Lakes, California
Jacob Elliott Anderson, Jonathan M.G. Glen, Claire Bouligand, Grant Harold Rea-Downing, Tait E. Earney
2024, Conference Paper, Using the Earth to Save the Earth
Mammoth Lakes, California hosts a productive hydrothermal system within the seismically active south moat of Long Valley Caldera. Surficial evidence of the shallow hydrothermal system includes discrete zones of tree-kill dispersed between Shady Rest Park and the Casa Diablo Geothermal Power Plant (40 MW), as well as east of the...
Don’t move a mussel: The role of key environmental drivers and management scale in assessing spatial variation in dreissenid spread risk in the Missouri River Basin
Joseph Raymond, Lucas Bair, Timothy D. Counihan, Wesley Daniel, Sofie Duntugan, Matthew Neilson, Michael R. Springborn
2024, Ecological Indicators (170)
The spread of non-native freshwater mussels in North America is a growing threat that has already resulted in substantial ecological and economic damage to infested areas. A primary vector by which invasive mussels spread is watercraft that are transported over land from an infested waterbody to an uninfested waterbody. Management...
The endangered Caney Mountain cave crayfish: A preliminary study of its habitat with brief life history notes
Emila A. Ellingsworth, R.J. DiStefano, Jacob Thomas Westhoff, B.M. O'Brian
2024, Freshwater Crayfish (29) 121-132
The stygobitic Caney Mountain cave crayfish, Orconectes stygocaneyi, is among the rarest crayfish species in North America. It is known only from Mud Cave, a small linear cave on the 3,200 ha Caney Mountain Conservation Area in Ozark County, Missouri. The species is listed as “Endangered” by the state of...
Hydrologic investigations and a preliminary conceptual model of the groundwater system at North Penn Area 1 Superfund Site, Souderton, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Lisa A. Senior, Dennis W. Risser, Daniel J. Goode, Philip H. Bird
2024, Open-File Report 2024-1080
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted hydrogeologic investigations, reviewed existing data, and developed a preliminary conceptual model of the groundwater system as part of technical support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at the North Penn Area 1 Superfund Site (hereafter, the NP1 Site) located within the Borough of...
Geologic map of Scoggins Dam, Henry Hagg Lake, and Scoggins Valley, Washington County, Oregon
Ray E. Wells, Scott E.K. Bennett, Joanna R. Redwine, Lydia M. Staisch, Christopher S. Holm-Denoma, Shannon A. Mahan
2024, Scientific Investigations Map 3528
New geologic mapping (Wells and others, 2020b) and geophysical mapping (Blakely and others, 2000; McPhee and others, 2014; Wells and others, 2020a) document kilometers of Cenozoic right-lateral offset along the Gales Creek Fault Zone, a major, northwest-striking fault zone forming the boundary between the Tualatin Valley and the Coast Range....
Dynamic treeline and cryosphere response to pronounced mid-Holocene climatic variability in the US Rocky Mountains
Gregory T. Pederson, Daniel Stahle, David B McWethy, Matthew Toohey, Johann Jungclaus, Craig Lee, Justin Martin, Mio Alt, Nickolas E. Kichas, Nathan J. Chellman, Joseph R. McConnell, Cathy Whitlock
2024, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (122)
Climate-driven changes in high-elevation forest distribution and reductions in snow and ice cover have major implications for ecosystems and global water security. In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of the Rocky Mountains (United States), recent melting of a high-elevation (3,091 m asl) ice patch exposed a mature stand of whitebark pine...
The MIEM guidelines: Minimum information for reporting of environmental metabarcoding data
Katy E. Klymus, Jacoby D. Baker, Cathryn L. Abbott, Rachel J. Brown, Joseph M. Craine, Zachary Gold, Margaret Hunter, Mark D. Johnson, Devin Nicole Jones-Slobodian, Michelle J. Jungbluth, Sean P. Jungbluth, Yer Lor, Aaron P. Maloy, Christopher M. Merkes, Rachel T. Noble, Nastassia V. Patin, Adam Sepulveda, Stephen Frank Spear, Joshua A. Steele, Miwa Takahashi, Alison W. Watts, Susanna Theroux
2024, Metabarcoding and Metagenomics (8)
Environmental DNA (eDNA) and RNA (eRNA) metabarcoding has become a popular tool for assessing biodiversity from environmental samples, but inconsistent documentation of methods, data and metadata makes results difficult to reproduce and synthesise. A working group of scientists have collaborated to produce a set...
Unburned habitat essential for amphibian breeding persistence following wildfire
Larissa L. Bailey, Rick Henderson, Wendy A. Estes-Zumpf, Charles C. Rhoades, Ellie Miller, Dominique R. Lujan, Erin L. Muths
2024, Global Ecology and Conservation (57)
Wildfire regimes are changing rapidly with widespread increase in the intensity, frequency, and duration of fire activity, especially in the western United States. Limited studies explore the impacts of wildfires on aquatic taxa and few focus on lentic habitats that are essential for amphibians, many of which are of conservation...
Investigation of land cover within wetland complexes at Dixie Meadows, Churchill County, Nevada, from October 2015 to January 2022
Joel B. Sankey, Nathaniel Bransky, Joshua Caster
2024, Open-File Report 2024-1029
The U.S. Geological Survey investigated land cover at subannual time steps within six wetland areas in Dixie Valley, Churchill County, Nevada, from October 2015 to January 2022. As requested by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, we used aerial photography and satellite remote sensing data to map surface water and...
Counting the chorus: A bioacoustic indicator of population density
Amanda K Navine, Richard J. Camp, Matthew J Weldy, Tom Denton, Patrick J. Hart
2024, Ecology Indicators (169)
Passive acoustic monitoring has grown in utility for tracking wildlife populations, although challenges remain when using acoustic detections to monitor population size and density. Distance sampling is considered the ‘gold standard’ for estimating animal densities but has several important limitations, especially for rare, cryptic, and high-density species. Here, we test...
The 3D Elevation Program—Supporting New Hampshire’s economy
Dan Walters
2024, Fact Sheet 2024-3056
Introduction The topography of New Hampshire ranges from the Coastal Lowlands to the Eastern New England Upland to the White Mountains region. High-quality statewide elevation data are useful in managing this very diverse landscape. For example, the short coastline, including the Great Bay estuary and the Hampton-Seabrook marshes, is of disproportionately...
Effectiveness of canine-assisted surveillance and human searches for early detection of invasive spotted lanternfly
Angela K. Fuller, Ben C. Augustine, Eric H. Clifton, Ann E. Hajek, Arden Blumenthal, Josh Beese, Aimee Hurt, Carrie J. Brown-Lima
2024, Ecological Applications (15)
Prevention and early detection of invasive species are championed as the most cost-effective and efficient strategies for reducing or preventing negative impacts on ecosystems. Spotted lanternfly (SLF), Lycorma delicatula, is a recently introduced invasive insect whose range in the United States has been expanding rapidly since it was first discovered in...
Nitrogen deposition weakens soil carbon control of nitrogen dynamics across the contiguous United States
Matthew A. Nieland, Piper Lacy, Steven D. Allison, Jennifer M Bhatnagar, Danica A Doroski, Serita D. Frey, Kristen Greaney, Sarah E Hobbie, Kuebbing. Sara E, David Bruce Lewis, Marshall D McDaniel, Steven Perakis, Steve M Raciti, Alanna N Shaw, Christine D Sprunger, Michael S Strickland, Pamela H. Templer, Corrine Vietorisz, Elisabeth Ward, Ashley D Keiser
2024, Global Change Biology (30)
Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition is unequally distributed across space and time, with inputs to terrestrial ecosystems impacted by industry regulations and variations in human activity. Soil carbon (C) content normally controls the fraction of mineralized N that is nitrified (ƒnitrified), affecting N bioavailability for plants and microbes. However, it is...
Seismic velocity changes from repetitive seismicity at Mauna Loa prior to and during its 2022 eruption
Alicia J. Hotovec-Ellis
2024, Bulletin of Volcanology (87)
Mauna Loa’s short-lived eruption from late November to early December 2022 marked the culmination of nearly a decade of elevated seismic activity and geodetic inflation. The volcano has been monitored by a network of permanent, short period and broadband seismometers. I used the continuous waveform data from that network starting...
An intercomparison of DOC estimated from fDOM sensors in wildfire affected streams of the western United States
Garrett Alexander Akie, David W. Clow, Sheila F. Murphy, Gregory D. Clark, Michael R. Meador, Brian A. Ebel
2024, Hydrological Processes (38)
Wildfires in the western United States (US) have been demonstrated to affect water quality, including dissolved organic carbon (DOC), in streams. Elevated post-wildfire DOC concentration poses a potential risk to drinking water treatment systems. In-stream measurements of fluorescent dissolved organic matter (fDOM), a proxy for DOC, have shown potential to...
Gene flow prevents genetic diversity loss despite small effective population size in fragmented grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) populations
Megan F. Turnock, Justin E. Teisberg, Wayne F. Kasworm, Matthew Richard Falcy, Michael F. Proctor, Lisette P. Waits
2024, Conservation Genetics (26) 279-291
Genetic monitoring is important in small, fragmented populations that rely on gene flow to maintain genetic diversity. The Selkirk, Yaak, and Cabinet grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) populations are among the smallest in North America and are near the southernmost extent of the species’ range. These populations received little to no...
Sensitivity analysis of a dynamic vegetation-sediment transport model using equadratures: Exploring inorganic accretion on a marsh platform
Rachel Allen, Neil K. Ganju, Tarandeep Kalra, Alfredo Aretxabaleta, Jessica R. Lacy
2024, JGR Earth Surface (129)
Salt marsh systems require a net import of inorganic sediment to maintain their structure in response to sea‐level rise. Marshes are affected by physical processes including tides, waves, sediment transport, and the influence of vegetation, and these processes interact in complex ways leading to sediment accretion or erosion. We implement...
Self-guided decision support groundwater modelling with Python
Rui Hugman, Jeremy T. White, Michael N. Fienen, Brioch Hemmings, Katie Markovich
2024, Journal of Open Source Education (7)
The GMDSI tutorial notebooks repository provides learners with a comprehensive set of tutorials for self-guided training on decision-support groundwater modelling using Python-based tools. Although targeted at groundwater modelling, they are based around model-agnostic tools and readily transferable to other environmental modelling workflows. The tutorials are divided into three parts. The...
A comparison of survival and behavior of lake whitefish following transmitter implantation using electro- or chemical immobilization
Lisa K. Izzo, Daniel J. Dembkowski, Thomas R. Binder, Scott P. Hansen, Christopher S. Vandergoot, Daniel A. Isermann
2024, Animal Biotelemetry (12)
Background The number of telemetry studies focused on lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) in the Laurentian Great Lakes has steadily increased over the last decade, but field tests of immobilization methods used for tag implantation, which have the potential to affect survival and behavior of fish after release, are lacking. We...
