Current limitations and recommendations to improve testing for the environmental assessment of endocrine active substances
Katherine K. Coady, Ronald C. Biever, Nancy D. Denslow, Melanie Gross, Patrick D. Guiney, Henrik Holbech, Natalie K. Karouna-Renier, Ioanna Katsiadaki, Hank Krueger, Steven L. Levine, Gerd Maack, Mike Williams, Jeffrey C. Wolf, Gerald T. Ankley
2017, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (13) 302-316
In the present study, existing regulatory frameworks and test systems for assessing potential endocrine active chemicals are described, and associated challenges are discussed, along with proposed approaches to address these challenges. Regulatory frameworks vary somewhat across geographies, but all basically evaluate whether a chemical possesses endocrine activity and whether this...
Who knew? First Myotis sodalis (Indiana Bat) maternity colony in the coastal plain of Virginia
Michael J. St. Germain, Andrew B. Kniowski, Alexander Silvis, W. Mark Ford
2017, Northeastern Naturalist (24) N5-N10
We report the first confirmed Myotis sodalis (Indiana Bat) maternity colony in Virginia, discovered at Fort A.P. Hill Military Reservation in Caroline County along the Piedmont-Coastal Plain Fall Line. Acoustic surveys conducted in 2014 indicated likely presence of Indiana Bats on the installation. Subsequent focal mist-netting during May–June 2015 resulted...
Recommended approaches to the scientific evaluation of ecotoxicological hazards and risks of endocrine-active substances
Peter Matthiessen, Gerald T. Ankley, Ronald C. Biever, Poul Bjerregaard, Christopher Borgert, Kristin Brugger, Amy Blankinship, Janice Chambers, Katherine K. Coady, Lisa Constantine, ZhiChao Dang, Nancy D. Denslow, David Dreier, Steve Dungey, L. Earl Gray, Melanie Gross, Patrick D. Guiney, Markus Hecker, Henrik Holbech, Taisen Iguchi, Sarah Kadlec, Natalie K. Karouna-Renier, Ioanna Katsiadaki, Yukio Kawashima, Werner Kloas, Henry Krueger, Anu Kumar, Laurent Lagadic, Annegaaike Leopold, Steven L. Levine, Gerd Maack, Sue Marty, James P. Meador, Ellen Mihaich, Jenny Odum, Lisa Ortego, Joanne L. Parrott, Daniel Pickford, Mike Roberts, Christoph Schaefers, Tamar Schwarz, Keith Solomon, Tim Verslycke, Lennart Weltje, James R. Wheeler, Mike Williams, Jeffery C. Wolf, Kunihiko Yamazaki
2017, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (13) 267-279
A SETAC Pellston Workshop® “Environmental Hazard and Risk Assessment Approaches for Endocrine-Active Substances (EHRA)” was held in February 2016 in Pensacola, Florida, USA. The primary objective of the workshop was to provide advice, based on current scientific understanding, to regulators and policy makers; the aim being to make considered, informed decisions...
South Polar Skua breeding populations in the Ross Sea assessed from demonstrated relationship with Adélie Penguin numbers
Deborah J. Wilson, Phil O’B. Lyver, Terry C. Greene, Amy L. Whitehead, Katie Dugger, Brian J. Karl, James R. F. Barringer, Roger McGarry, Annie M. Pollard, David G. Ainley
2017, Polar Biology (40) 577-592
In the Ross Sea region, most South Polar Skuas (Stercorarius maccormicki) nest near Adélie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) colonies, preying and scavenging on fish, penguins, and other carrion. To derive a relationship to predict skua numbers from better-quantified penguin numbers, we used distance sampling to estimate breeding...
Delta-Flux: An eddy covariance network for a climate-smart Lower Mississippi Basin
Benjamin R. K. Runkle, James R. Rigby, Michele L. Reba, Saseendran S. Anapalli, Joydeep Bhattacharjee, Ken W. Krauss, Lu Liang, Martin A. Locke, Kimberly A. Novick, Ruixiu Sui, Kosana Suvocarev, Paul M. White Jr.
2017, Agricultural & Environmental Letters (2)
Networks of remotely monitored research sites are increasingly the tool used to study regional agricultural impacts on carbon and water fluxes. However, key national networks such as the National Ecological Observatory Network and AmeriFlux lack contributions from the Lower Mississippi River Basin (LMRB), a highly productive agricultural area with opportunities...
Ground-rupturing earthquakes on the northern Big Bend of the San Andreas Fault, California, 800 A.D. to Present
Katherine M. Scharer, Ray J. Weldon, Glenn Biasi, Ashley Streig, Thomas E. Fumal
2017, Journal of Geophysical Research (122) 2193-2218
Paleoseismic data on the timing of ground-rupturing earthquakes constrain the recurrence behavior of active faults and can provide insight on the rupture history of a fault if earthquakes dated at neighboring sites overlap in age and are considered correlative. This study presents the evidence and ages for 11 earthquakes that...
New insights into nitrate dynamics in a karst groundwater system gained from in situ high-frequency optical sensor measurements
Stephen P. Opsahl, MaryLynn Musgrove, Richard N. Slattery
2017, Journal of Hydrology (546) 179-188
Understanding nitrate dynamics in groundwater systems as a function of climatic conditions, especially during contrasting patterns of drought and wet cycles, is limited by a lack of temporal and spatial data. Nitrate sensors have the capability for making accurate, high-frequency measurements of nitrate in situ, but have not yet been...
Intraspecific functional diversity of common species enhances community stability
Connor M. Wood, Shawn T. McKinney, Cynthia S. Loftin
2017, Ecology and Evolution (7) 1553-1560
Common species are fundamental to the structure and function of their communities and may enhance community stability through intraspecific functional diversity (iFD). We measured among-habitat and within-habitat iFD (i.e., among- and within-plant community types) of two common small mammal species using stable isotopes and functional trait dendrograms, determined whether iFD...
Top-down control of invertebrates by Ninespine Stickleback in Arctic ponds
Sarah M. Laske, Amanda E. Rosenberger, William J. Kane, Mark S. Wipfli, Christian E. Zimmerman
2017, Freshwater Science (36) 124-137
Despite their widespread presence in northern-latitude ecosystems, the ecological role of Ninespine Stickleback Pungitius pungitius is not well understood. Ninespine Stickleback can occupy both top and intermediate trophic levels in freshwater ecosystems, so their role in food webs as a predator on invertebrates and as a forage fish for upper level consumers...
Antarctic ice-core water (USGS49) – A new isotopic reference material for δ2H and δ18O measurements of water
Jennifer M. Lorenz, Haiping Qi, Tyler B. Coplen
2017, Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research (41) 63-68
As a result of the scarcity of isotopic reference waters for daily use, a new secondary isotopic reference material for international distribution has been prepared from ice-core water from the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. This isotopic reference material, designated as USGS49, was filtered, homogenised, loaded into glass ampoules, sealed with...
Land-use change and managed aquifer recharge effects on the hydrogeochemistry of two contrasting atoll island aquifers, Roi-Namur Island, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Mehrdad Hejazian, Jason J. Gurdak, Peter W. Swarzenski, Kingsley Odigie, Curt D. Storlazzi
2017, Applied Geochemistry (80) 58-71
Freshwater resources on low-lying atoll islands are highly vulnerable to climate change and sea-level rise. In addition to rainwater catchment, groundwater in the freshwater lens is a critically important water resource on many atoll islands, especially during drought. Although many atolls have high annual rainfall rates, dense natural vegetation...
Vulnerabilities to climate change of Massachusetts animal species of greatest conservation need
Hector Galbraith, Toni L. Morelli
2017, Report
Over the last decade, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has addressed the potential and actual impacts of climate change on state flora and fauna. The state’s involvement began in 2007 when, led by the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (DFW) and assisted by Manomet Center for Con-servation Research, it carried out...
When perception reflects reality: Non-native grass invasion alters small mammal risk landscapes and survival
Joseph P. Ceradnini, Anna D. Chalfoun
2017, Ecology and Evolution (7) 1823-1835
Modification of habitat structure due to invasive plants can alter the risk landscape for wildlife by, for example, changing the quality or availability of refuge habitat. Whether perceived risk corresponds with actual fitness outcomes, however, remains an important open question. We simultaneously measured how habitat changes due to a common...
Mercury exposure may influence fluctuating asymmetry in waterbirds
Garth Herring, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Joshua T. Ackerman
2017, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (36) 1599-1605
Variation in avian bilateral symmetry can be an indicator of developmental instability in response to a variety of stressors, including environmental contaminants. The authors used composite measures of fluctuating asymmetry to examine the influence of mercury concentrations in 2 tissues on fluctuating asymmetry within 4 waterbird species. Fluctuating asymmetry increased...
Mitogenomes and relatedness do not predict frequency of tool-use by sea otters
Katherine Ralls, Nancy Rotzel McInerney, Roderick B. Gagne, Holly B. Ernest, M. Tim Tinker, Jessica Fujii, Jesus Maldonado
2017, Biology Letters (13)
Many ecological aspects of tool-use in sea otters are similar to those in Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins. Within an area, most tool-using dolphins share a single mitochondrial haplotype and are more related to each other than to the population as a whole. We asked whether sea otters in California showed similar...
Role of raptors in contaminant research
Charles J. Henny
2017, Book chapter, The history of Patuxent: America’s wildlife research story (U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1422)
This chapter reviews the history of and approaches used in studies focused on the effects of contaminants on raptors and raptor populations at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (Patuxent) in Laurel, MD. Worldwide raptor declines following World War II were unprecedented and resulted in a sequence of major efforts at...
Subsurface volatile content of martian double-layer ejecta (DLE) craters
Donna Viola, Alfred S. McEwen, Colin M. Dundas, Shane Byrne
2017, Icarus (284) 325-343
Excess ice is widespread throughout the martian mid-latitudes, particularly in Arcadia Planitia, where double-layer ejecta (DLE) craters also tend to be abundant. In this region, we observe the presence of thermokarstically-expanded secondary craters that likely form from impacts that destabilize a subsurface layer of excess ice, which subsequently sublimates. The...
Winter 2016, Part B—Coastal oblique aerial photographs collected from Assateague Island, Virginia, to Montauk Point, New York, March 8–9, 2016
Karen L. M. Morgan
2017, Data Series 1030
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as part of the National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards project, conducts baseline and storm-response photography missions to document and understand the changes in the vulnerability of the Nation's coasts to extreme storms. On March 8–9, 2016, the USGS conducted an oblique aerial photographic survey...
Winter 2016, Part A—Coastal oblique aerial photographs collected from the South Carolina/North Carolina border to Assateague Island, Virginia, February 18–19, 2016
Karen L. M. Morgan
2017, Data Series 1029
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as part of the National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards project, conducts baseline and storm-response photography missions to document and understand the changes in the vulnerability of the Nation's coasts to extreme storms. On February 18–19, 2016, the USGS conducted an oblique aerial photographic survey...
Five-year external reviews of the eight department of interior climate science centers
Jill B. Rolland, P. B. Duffy, Clifford Duke, David Helweg, Stephen L. Katz, Olivia E. LeDee, Steven Quiring
2017, Report
No abstract available....
Contaminants of emerging concern in the Great Lakes Basin: A report on sediment, water, and fish tissue chemistry collected in 2010-2012
Steven J. Choy, Mandy L. Annis, JoAnn Banda, Sarah R. Bowman, Mark E. Brigham, Sarah M. Elliott, Daniel J. Gefell, Mark D. Jankowski, Zachary G. Jorgenson, Kathy Lee, Jeremy N. Moore, William A. Tucker
2017, Biological Technical Publication BTP-R3017-2013
Despite being detected at low levels in surface waters and sediments across the United States, contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in the Great Lakes Basin are not well characterized in terms of spatial and temporal occurrence. Additionally, although the detrimental effects of exposure to CECs on fish and wildlife have...
Preparing future fisheries professionals to make good decisions
Michael E. Colvin, James Peterson
2017, Fisheries (41) 473-474
Future fisheries professionals will face decision-making challenges in an increasingly complex field of fisheries management. Though fisheries students are well trained in the use of the scientific method to understand the natural world, they are rarely exposed to structured decision making (SDM) as part of an undergraduate or graduate education....
Defining snow drought and why it matters
Adrian Harpold, Michael D. Dettinger, Seshadri Rajagopal
2017, Eos, Earth and Space Science News (98)
On 12 February, water resource managers at the Oroville Dam issued an evacuation warning that forced some 180,000 Californians to relocate to higher ground. The story of how conditions got to this point involves several factors, but two clearly stand out: the need to prevent water shortages during a record...
Potential concerns with analytical Methods Used for the detection of Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans from archived DNA of amphibian swab samples, Oregon, USA
Deborah D. Iwanowicz, William B. Schill, Deanna H. Olson, M. J. Adams, Christine L. Densmore, Robert S. Cornman, Cynthia R. Adams, Chester Figiel, Chauncey W. Anderson, Andrew R Blaustein, Tara Chestnut
2017, Environmental Entomology (48) 352-355
Taxonomic identification of pollen has historically been accomplished via light microscopy but requires specialized knowledge and reference collections, particularly when identification to lower taxonomic levels is necessary. Recently, next-generation sequencing technology has been used as a cost-effective alternative for identifying bee-collected pollen; however, this novel approach has not been tested...
Aquatic concentrations of chemical analytes compared to ecotoxicity estimates
Mitchell S. Kostich, Robert W. Flick, Angela L. Batt, Heath E. Mash, J. Scott Boone, Edward T. Furlong, Dana W. Kolpin, Susan T. Glassmeyer
2017, Science of the Total Environment (579) 1649-1657
We describe screening level estimates of potential aquatic toxicity posed by 227 chemical analytes that were measured in 25 ambient water samples collected as part of a joint USGS/USEPA drinking water plant study. Measured concentrations were compared to biological effect concentration (EC) estimates, including USEPA aquatic life criteria, effective plasma...
