The interacting roles of climate, soils, and plant production on soil microbial communities at a continental scale
Mark P. Waldrop, JoAnn M. Holloway, David B. Smith, Martin B. Goldhaber, R. E. Drenovsky, K. M. Scow, R. Dick, Daniel M. Howard, Bruce K. Wylie, James B. Grace
2017, Ecology (98) 1957-1967
Soil microbial communities control critical ecosystem processes such as decomposition, nutrient cycling, and soil organic matter formation. Continental scale patterns in the composition and functioning of microbial communities are related to climatic, biotic, and edaphic factors such as temperature and precipitation, plant community composition, and soil carbon, nitrogen, and pH....
Monitoring water content dynamics of biological soil crusts
Michael H. Young, Lynn F. Fenstermaker, Jayne Belnap
2017, Journal of Arid Environments (142) 41-49
Biological soil crusts (hereafter, “biocrusts”) dominate soil surfaces in nearly all dryland environments. To better understand the influence of water content on carbon (C) exchange, we assessed the ability of dual-probe heat-pulse (DPHP) sensors, installed vertically and angled, to measure changes in near-surface water content. Four DPHP sensors were installed...
Seasonal movements and multiscale habitat selection of Whooping Crane (Grus americana) in natural and agricultural wetlands
Bradley A. Pickens, Sammy L. King, Phillip L. Vasseur, Sara E. Zimorski, Will Selman
2017, Waterbirds (40) 322-333
Eleven of 15 species of cranes (family: Gruidae) are considered vulnerable or endangered, and the increase of agriculture and aquaculture at the expense of natural wetlands and grasslands is a threat to Gruidae worldwide. A reintroduced population of Whooping Crane (Grus americana) was studied in coastal and agricultural wetlands of...
Gradients in Catostomid assemblages along a reservoir cascade
Leandro E. Miranda, Kevin R. Keretz, Chelsea R. Gilliland
2017, River Research and Applications (33) 983-990
Serial impoundment of major rivers leads to alterations of natural flow dynamics and disrupts longitudinal connectivity. Catostomid fishes (suckers, family Catostomidae) are typically found in riverine or backwater habitats yet are able to persist in impounded river systems. To the detriment of conservation, there is limited information about distribution of...
Estimating the number of recreational anglers for a given waterbody
Kevin L. Pope, Larkin A. Powell, Brian S. Harmon, Mark A. Pegg, Christopher J. Chizinski
2017, Fisheries Research (191) 69-75
Knowing how many anglers use a given body of water is paramount for understanding components of a fishery related to angling pressure and harvest, yet no study has attempted to provide an estimate of the population size of anglers for a given waterbody. Here, we use information from creel surveys...
Use of spatial capture–recapture to estimate density of Andean bears in northern Ecuador
Santiago Molina, Angela K. Fuller, Dana J. Morin, J. Andrew Royle
2017, Ursus (28) 117-126
The Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus) is the only extant species of bear in South America and is considered threatened across its range and endangered in Ecuador. Habitat loss and fragmentation is considered a critical threat to the species, and there is a lack of knowledge regarding its distribution and abundance....
Complex networks of functional connectivity in a wetland reconnected to its floodplain
Laurel G. Larsen, Susan Newman, Colin Saunders, Judson Harvey
2017, Water Resources Research (53) 6089-6108
Disturbances such as fire or flood, in addition to changing the local magnitude of ecological, hydrological, or biogeochemical processes, can also change their functional connectivity—how those processes interact in space. Complex networks offer promise for quantifying functional connectivity in watersheds. The approach resolves connections between nodes in space based on...
Landform features and seasonal precipitation predict shallow groundwater influence on temperature in headwater streams
Zachary C. Johnson, Craig D. Snyder, Nathaniel P. Hitt
2017, Water Resources Research (53) 5788-5812
Headwater stream responses to climate change will depend in part on groundwater‐surface water exchanges. We used linear modeling techniques to partition likely effects of shallow groundwater seepage and air temperature on stream temperatures for 79 sites in nine focal watersheds using hourly air and water temperature measurements collected during summer...
A cosmopolitan late Ediacaran biotic assemblage: new fossils from Nevada and Namibia support a global biostratigraphic link
E. F. Smith, L. L. Nelson, S. M. Tweedt, H. Zeng, Jeremiah B. Workman
2017, Proceedings of the Royal Society B (284) 1-10
Owing to the lack of temporally well-constrained Ediacaran fossil localities containing overlapping biotic assemblages, it has remained uncertain if the latest Ediacaran (ca 550–541 Ma) assemblages reflect systematic biological turnover or environmental, taphonomic or biogeographic biases. Here, we report new latest Ediacaran fossil discoveries from the lower member of the Wood...
Seven recommendations to make your invasive alien species data more useful
Quentin J. Groom, Tim Adriaens, Peter Desmet, Annie Simpson, Aaike De Wever, Ioannis Bazos, Ana Cristina Cardoso, Lucinda Charles, Anastasia Christopoulou, Anna Gazda, Harry Helmisaari, Donald Hobern, Melanie Josefsson, Frances Lucy, Dragana Marisavljevic, Tomasz Oszako, Jan Pergl, Olivera Petrovic-Obradovic, Celine Prevot, Hans Peter Ravn, Gareth Richards, Alain Roques, Helen Roy, Marie-Anne A. Rozenberg, Riccardo Scalera, Elena Tricarico, Teodora Trichkova, Diemer Vercayie, Argyro Zenetos, Sonia Vanderhoeven
2017, Frontiers in Applied Mathematics and Statistics (3) 1-8
Science-based strategies to tackle biological invasions depend on recent, accurate, well-documented, standardized and openly accessible information on alien species. Currently and historically, biodiversity data are scattered in numerous disconnected data silos that lack interoperability. The situation is no different for alien species data, and this obstructs efficient retrieval, combination, and...
Evaluating population expansion of black bears using spatial capture-recapture
Catherine C. Sun, Angela K. Fuller, Matthew P. Hare, Jeremy E. Hurst
2017, Journal of Wildlife Management (81) 814-823
The population of American black bears (Ursus americanus) in southern New York, USA has been growing and expanding in range since the 1990s. This has motivated a need to anticipate future patterns of range expansion. We conducted a non-invasive, genetic, spatial capture-recapture (SCR) study to estimate black bear density and...
Evaluation of genetic population structure of smallmouth bass in the Susquehanna River basin, Pennsylvania
Megan K. Schall, Meredith L. Bartron, Timothy Wertz, Jonathan M. Niles, Cassidy H. Shaw, Tyler Wagner
2017, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (37) 850-861
The Smallmouth Bass Micropterus dolomieu was introduced into the Susquehanna River basin, Pennsylvania, nearly 150 years ago. Since introduction, it has become an economically and ecologically important species that supports popular recreational fisheries. It is also one of the most abundant top predators in the system. Currently, there is no...
Spatiotemporal analysis of changes in lode mining claims around the McDermitt Caldera, northern Nevada and southern Oregon
Joshua A. Coyan, Michael L. Zientek, Mark J. Mihalasky
2017, Natural Resources Research (26) 319-337
Resource managers and agencies involved with planning for future federal land needs are required to complete an assessment of and forecast for future land use every ten years. Predicting mining activities on federal lands is difficult as current regulations do not require disclosure of exploration results. In these cases, historic...
Comparison of American Fisheries Society (AFS) standard fish sampling techniques and environmental DNA for characterizing fish communities in a large reservoir
Christina R. Perez, Scott A. Bonar, Jon J. Amberg, Bridget Ladell, Christopher B. Rees, William T. Stewart, Curtis J. Gill, Chris Cantrell, Anthony Robinson
2017, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (37) 1010-1027
Recently, methods involving examination of environmental DNA (eDNA) have shown promise for characterizing fish species presence and distribution in waterbodies. We evaluated the use of eDNA for standard fish monitoring surveys in a large reservoir. Specifically, we compared the presence, relative abundance, biomass, and relative percent composition of Largemouth Bass Micropterus...
Geomagnetically induced currents: Science, engineering, and applications readiness
Antti Pulkkinen, E. Bernabeu, A. Thomson, A. Viljanen, R. Pirjola, D. Boteler, J. Eichner, P.J. Cilliers, D. Welling, N.P. Savani, R.S. Weigel, Jeffrey J. Love, Christopher Balch, C.M. Ngwira, G. Crowley, Adam Schultz, R. Kataoka, B. Anderson, D. Fugate, J.J. Simpson, M. MacAlester
2017, Space Weather (15) 828-856
This paper is the primary deliverable of the very first NASA Living With a Star Institute Working Group, Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GIC) Working Group. The paper provides a broad overview of the current status and future challenges pertaining to the science, engineering, and applications of the GIC problem. Science is...
Real-time geomagnetic monitoring for space weather-related applications: Opportunities and challenges
Jeffrey J. Love, Carol Finn
2017, Space Weather (15) 820-827
An examination is made of opportunities and challenges for enhancing global, real-time geomagnetic monitoring that would be beneficial for a variety of operational projects. This enhancement in geomagnetic monitoring can be attained by expanding the geographic distribution of magnetometer stations, improving the quality of magnetometer data, increasing acquisition sampling rates,...
Physical response of a back-barrier estuary to a post-tropical cyclone
Alexis Beudin, Neil Kamal Ganju, Zafer Defne, Alfredo Aretxabaleta
2017, Journal of Geophysical Research C: Oceans (122) 5888-5904
This paper presents a modeling investigation of the hydrodynamic and sediment transport response of Chincoteague Bay (VA/MD, USA) to Hurricane Sandy using the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment-Transport (COAWST) modeling system. Several simulation scenarios with different combinations of remote and local forces were conducted to identify the dominant physical processes. While 80% of...
Unique genome organization of non-mammalian papillomaviruses provides insights into the evolution of viral early proteins
Koenraad Van Doorslaer, Valeria Ruoppolo, Annie Schmidt, Amelie Lescroel, Dennis Jongsomjit, Megan Elrod, Simona Kraberger, Daisy Stainton, Katie M. Dugger, Grant Ballard, David G. Ainley, Arvind Varsani
2017, Virus Evolution (3)
The family Papillomaviridae contains more than 320 papillomavirus types, with most having been identified as infecting skin and mucosal epithelium in mammalian hosts. To date, only nine non-mammalian papillomaviruses have been described from birds (n = 5), a fish (n = 1), a snake (n = 1), and turtles (n = 2). The identification of papillomaviruses in sauropsids and a...
Puffins reveal contrasting relationships between forage fish and ocean climate in the North Pacific
William J. Sydeman, John F. Piatt, Sarah Ann Thompson, Marisol Garcia-Reyes, Scott A. Hatch, Mayumi L. Arimitsu, Leslie Slater, Jeffrey C. Williams, Nora A. Rojek, Stephani G. Zador, Heather M. Renner
2017, Fisheries Oceanography (26) 379-395
Long-term studies of predator food habits (i.e., ‘predator-based sampling’) are useful for identifying patterns of spatial and temporal variability of forage nekton in marine ecosystems. We investigated temporal changes in forage fish availability and relationships to ocean climate by analyzing diet composition of three puffin species (horned puffin Fratercula corniculata, tufted...
Microbial-sized, carboxylate-modified microspheres as surrogate tracers in a variety of subsurface environments: An overview
Ronald W. Harvey, David W. Metge, Denis R. LeBlanc
2017, Procedia Earth and Planetary Science (17) 372-375
Since 1986, fluorescent carboxylate-modified polystyrene/latex microspheres (FCM) have been co-injected into aquifers along with conservative tracers and viruses, bacteria, and (or) protozoa. Use of FCM has resulted in new information about subsurface transport behaviors of microorganisms in fractured crystalline rock, karst limestone, soils, and granular aquifers. FCM have been used...
Population characteristics and the influence of discharge on Bluehead Sucker and Flannelmouth Sucker
Zachary B. Klein, Matthew J. Breen, Michael C. Quist
2017, Copeia (105) 375-388
Rivers are among some of the most complex and important ecosystems in the world. Unfortunately, many fishes endemic to rivers have suffered declines in abundance and distribution suggesting that alterations to lotic environments have negatively influenced native fish populations. Of the 35 fishes native to the Colorado River basin (CRB),...
Monitoring land surface albedo and vegetation dynamics using high spatial and temporal resolution synthetic time series from Landsat and the MODIS BRDF/NBAR/albedo product
Zhuosen Wang, Crystal B. Schaaf, Qingson Sun, JiHyun Kim, Angela M. Erb, Feng Gao, Miguel O. Roman, Yun Yang, Shelley Petroy, Jeffrey Taylor, Jeffrey G. Masek, Jeffrey T. Morisette, Xiaoyang Zhang, Shirley A. Papuga
2017, International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation (59) 104-117
Seasonal vegetation phenology can significantly alter surface albedo which in turn affects the global energy balance and the albedo warming/cooling feedbacks that impact climate change. To monitor and quantify the surface dynamics of heterogeneous landscapes, high temporal and spatial resolution synthetic time series of albedo and the enhanced vegetation index...
Mapping informal small-scale mining features in a data-sparse tropical environment with a small UAS
Peter G. Chirico, Jessica D. Dewitt
2017, Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems (5) 69-91
This study evaluates the use of a small unmanned aerial system (UAS) to collect imagery over artisanal mining sites in West Africa. The purpose of this study is to consider how very high-resolution imagery and digital surface models (DSMs) derived from structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetric techniques from a small UAS can...
Estimating ages of Utah chubs by use of pectoral fin rays, otoliths, and scales
Kayla M Griffin, Zachary S. Beard, John M. Flinders, Michael C. Quist
2017, Western North American Naturalist (77) 189-194
Utah chub Gila atraria is native to the Upper Snake River system in Wyoming and Idaho and to the Lake Bonneville Basin in Utah and southeastern Idaho. However, the Utah chub has been introduced into many other waterbodies in the western United States, where it competes with ecologically and economically important species....
Population dynamics of brown trout (Salmo trutta) in Spruce Creek Pennsylvania: A quarter-century perspective
Gary D. Grossman, Robert F. Carline, Tyler Wagner
2017, Freshwater Biology (62) 1143-1154
We examined the relationship between density-independent and density-dependent factors on the demography of a dense, relatively unexploited population of brown trout in Spruce Creek Pennsylvania between 1985 and 2011.Individual PCAs of flow and temperature data elucidated groups of years with multiple high flow versus multiple low flow...
