Visitor use and activities detected using trail cameras at forest restoration sites
Janice L. Albers, Mark L. Wildhaber, Nicholas S. Green, Matthew Struckhoff, Michael J. Hooper
2023, Ecological Restoration (41) 199-212
We used trail cameras to monitor human visits and activities at two sites in northeast Indiana being restored to bottomland hardwood forests. These sites, managed as nature preserves, are close to cities, where trails and parking lots have been added for ease of access. In this...
Prediction of the probability of elevated nitrate concentrations at groundwater depths used for drinking-water supply in the Puget Sound basin, Washington, 2004–19
Robert W. Black, Elise E. Wright, Valerie A.L. Bright, Alexander O. Headman
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5117
The Puget Sound basin encompasses the 13,700-square-mile area that drains to the Puget Sound and the adjacent marine waters of Washington State. Well more than 4 million people live within the basin, with numbers continuing to increase, who rely on the basin’s natural resources including groundwater. The Puget Sound Partnership...
Water, water everywhere, but every drop unique: Emerging challenges in the science to understand the role of contaminants in management of drinking water supplies
S.T. Glassmeyer, E.E. Burns, Michael J. Focazio, Edward Furlong, Matthew O. Gribble, M.A. Jahne, S.P. Keely, A.R. Kenicutt, Dana W. Kolpin, E.K. Medlock Kakaley, S.L. Pfaller
2023, GeoHealth (7)
The protection and management of water resources continues to be challenged by multiple and ongoing factors such as shifts in demographic, social, economic, and public health requirements. Physical limitations placed on access to potable supplies include natural and human-caused factors such as aquifer depletion, aging infrastructure, saltwater...
Ectoparasitism and energy infrastructure limit survival of preadult Golden Eagles in the Southern Great Plains
Robert K. Murphy, Brian A. Millsap, Dale W. Stahlecker, Clint W. Boal, Brian W. Smith, Shea D. Mullican, Corrie C. Borgman
2023, Journal of Raptor Research (57) 505-521
Much of the US Southern Great Plains (SGP) continues to undergo intensive energy development that could affect the region's Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), yet the species' population status there is unknown. During 2011–2020, we used satellite telemetry to assess annual survival rates and causes of mortality among 40 preadult (<3...
Declining American Goshawk (Accipiter atricapillus) nest site habitat suitability in a timber production landscape: Effects of abiotic, biotic, and forest management factors
Jason E. Bruggeman, Patricia L. Kennedy, David E. Andersen, Shelly Deisch, Eileen Dowd Stukel
2023, Journal of Raptor Research (57) 595-616
Conservation of the American Goshawk (Accipiter atricapillus; hereafter goshawk) has been contentious in relation to forest management. Higher quality goshawk nesting habitat is generally considered to consist of contiguous tracts of mature forest, due to goshawks' large home ranges, territoriality, and food requirements. The large trees of mature forest have...
Automated construction of Streamflow-Routing networks for MODFLOW—Application in the Mississippi Embayment region
Andrew T. Leaf
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5051
In humid regions with dense stream networks, surface water exerts a fundamental control on the water levels and flow directions of shallow groundwater. Understanding interactions between groundwater and surface water is critical for managing groundwater resources and groundwater-dependent ecosystems. Representing streams in groundwater models has historically been arduous and error...
Simulating groundwater flow in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain with a focus on the Mississippi Delta
Andrew T. Leaf, Leslie L. Duncan, Connor J. Haugh, Randall J. Hunt, James R. Rigby
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5100
The Mississippi Alluvial Plain has become one of the most important agricultural regions in the United States but relies heavily on groundwater for irrigation. On average, more than 12 billion gallons are withdrawn daily from the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer. Declining groundwater levels, especially in the Delta region of...
Updated estimates of water budget components for the Mississippi Embayment Region using a soil-water-balance model, 2000–2020
Martha G. Nielsen, Stephen, M. Westenbroek
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5080
A Soil-Water-Balance (SWB) model for the Mississippi embayment region in Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana was constructed and calibrated to gain insight into potential recharge patterns for the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer, which has had substantial drawdown under intense pumping stress over the last several decades. An analysis of...
Integrated science strategy for assessing and monitoring water availability and migratory birds for terminal lakes across the Great Basin, United States
Rebecca J. Frus, Cameron L. Aldridge, Michael L. Casazza, Collin Eagles-Smith, Garth Herring, Scott A. Hynek, Daniel K. Jones, Susan K Kemp, Thomas M. Marston, Christopher M. Morris, Ramon C. Naranjo, Cee S. Nell, David R. O'Leary, Cory T. Overton, Bryce A. Pulver, Brian E. Reichert, Christine A. Rumsey, Rudy Schuster, Cassandra D. Smith
2023, Circular 1516
Executive SummaryIn 2022, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) established the Saline Lake Ecosystems Integrated Water Availability Assessment (IWAAs) to monitor and assess the hydrology of terminal lakes in the Great Basin and the migratory birds and other wildlife dependent on those habitats. Scientists from across the USGS (with specialties in...
Train, inform, borrow, or combine? Approaches to process-guided deep learning for groundwater-influenced stream temperature prediction
Janet R. Barclay, Simon Nemer Topp, Lauren Elizabeth Koenig, Margaux Jeanne Sleckman, Alison P. Appling
2023, Water Resources Research (59)
Although groundwater discharge is a critical stream temperature control process, it is not explicitly represented in many stream temperature models, an omission that may reduce predictive accuracy, hinder management of aquatic habitat, and decrease user confidence. We assessed the performance of a previously-described process-guided deep learning model...
A decade of death and other dynamics: Deepening perspectives on the diversity and distribution of sea stars and wasting
Michael Dawson, Paige Duffin, Melina Giakoumis, Lauren M Schiebelhut, Rodrigo Beas-Luna, Keith Bosley, Rita Castilho, Christine Ewers-Saucedo, Katie Gavenus, Aimee Keller, Brenda Konar, John L. Largier, Julio Lorda, Melissa Miner, Monica Moritsch, Sergio Navarette, Peter T. Raimondi, Sarah Beth Traiger, Monica Turner, John Wares
2023, Biological Bulletin (244)
Mass mortality events provide valuable insight into biological extremes and also ecological interactions more generally. The sea star wasting epidemic that began in 2013 catalyzed study of the microbiome, genetics, population dynamics, and community ecology of several high-profile species inhabiting the northeastern...
Identifying structural priors in a hybrid differentiable model for stream water temperature modeling
Farshid Rahmani, Alison P. Appling, Dapeng Feng, Kathryn Lawson, Chaopeng Shen
2023, Water Resources Research (59)
Although deep learning models for stream temperature (Ts) have recently shown exceptional accuracy, they have limited interpretability and cannot output untrained variables. With hybrid differentiable models, neural networks (NNs) can be connected to physically based equations (called structural priors) to output intermediate variables such...
Satellite-derived prefire vegetation predicts variation in field-based invasive annual grass cover after fire
Christopher A Anthony, Cara Applestein, Matthew J. Germino
2023, Applied Vegetation Science (26)
AimsInvasion by annual grasses (IAGs) and concomitant increases in wildfire are impacting many drylands globally, and an understanding of factors that contribute to or detract from community resistance to IAGs is needed to inform postfire restoration interventions. Prefire vegetation condition is often unknown in rangelands but it...
Achieving success with RISE: A widely implementable, iterative, structured process for mastering interdisciplinary team science collaborations
Martha E. Mather, Gabriel Granco, Jason Bergtold, Marcellus Caldas, Jessica Heier Stamm, Aleksey Sheshukov, Matthew Sanderson, Melinda Daniels
2023, BioScience (73) 891-905
Scientific experts from different disciplines often struggle to mesh their specialized perspectives into the shared mindset that is needed to address difficult and persistent environmental, ecological, and societal problems. Many traditional graduate programs provide excellent research and technical skill training. However, these programs often do not teach a systematic way...
The effects of management practices on grassland birds—Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus)
Jill A. Shaffer, Lawrence D. Igl, Douglas H. Johnson, Marriah L. Sondreal, Christopher M. Goldade, Amy L. Zimmerman, Travis L. Wooten, Betty R. Euliss
2023, Professional Paper 1842-LL
Keys to Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) management are providing large areas of suitable habitat (for example, native or tame grasslands of moderate vegetative height and density, low shrub density, and moderate litter and forb cover), and protecting nesting habitat from disturbance during the breeding season. Bobolinks have been reported to use...
Using a coupled integral projection model to investigate interspecific competition during an invasion: An application to silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) and gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum)
James P Peirce, Gregory Sandland, David Schumann, Hannah Mann Thompson, Richard A. Erickson
2023, Letters in Biomathematics (10) 175-184
As a generalization of stage-based matrix models, integral projection models (IPMs) have been used to describe the size-based dynamics of wildlife and fisheries populations. Although some matrix models have explicitly included species interactions, few IPMs have expanded beyond single species, which limits their ability to describe the competitive dynamics of co-occuring...
Two-dimensional inverse energy cascade in a laboratory surf zone for varying wave directional spread
Christine Baker, Melissa Moulton, C Chris Chickadel, Emma Nuss, Margaret L. Palmsten, Katherine L. Brodie
2023, Physics of Fluids (35)
Surfzone eddies enhance the dispersion and transport of contaminants, bacteria, and larvae across the nearshore, altering coastal water quality and ecosystem health. During directionally spread wave conditions, vertical vortices (horizontal eddies) are injected near the ends of breaking crests. Energy associated with these eddies may be transferred to larger-scale, low-frequency...
Applying intrinsic potential models to evaluate salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) introduction into main-stem and tributary habitats upstream from the Skagit River Hydroelectric Project, northern Washington
Jeffrey J. Duda, Jill M. Hardiman
2023, Open-File Report 2023-1077
We assessed habitat suitability for salmonids across selected tributaries upstream from three hydroelectric dams on the upper Skagit River in Whatcom County, northern Washington. We used NetMap, a commercial toolset within the ArcMap geographic information system (GIS), to analyze stream attributes based upon a synthetic stream channel network derived from...
The context dependency of fish-habitat associations in separated karst ecoregions
Dusty A. Swedberg, Robert M. Mollenhauer, Shannon K. Brewer
2023, Ecology and Evolution (13)
Fish populations may be isolated via natural conditions in geographically separated ecoregions. Although reconnecting these populations is not a management goal, we need to understand how these populations persist across landscapes to develop meaningful conservation actions, particularly for species occupying sensitive karst ecosystems. Our study objective was to determine the...
Forage senescence and disease influence elk pregnancy across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
Owen R. Bidder, Thomas Connor, Juan M. Morales, Gregory J.M. Rickbeil, Jerod A. Merkle, Rebecca K. Fuda, Jared D. Rogerson, Brandon M. Scurlock, William H Edwards, Eric K. Cole, Douglas E. McWhirter, Alyson B. Courtemanch, Sarah Dewey, Matthew J. Kauffman, Daniel R. MacNulty, Johan T. du Toit, Daniel R. Stahler, Arthur D. Middleton
2023, Ecosphere (14)
For various temperate ungulate species, recent research has highlighted the potential for spring vegetation phenology (“green-up”) to influence individual condition, with purported benefits to population productivity. However, few studies have been able to measure the benefit on vital rates directly, and fewer still have investigated the comparative influence of other...
Bayesian hierarchical modeling for probabilistic estimation of tsunami amplitude from far-field earthquake sources
Georgios Boumis, Eric L. Geist, Danhyang Lee
2023, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans (128)
Evaluation of tsunami disaster risk for a coastal region requires reliable estimation of tsunami hazard, for example, wave amplitude close to the shore. Observed tsunami data are scarce and have poor spatial coverage, and for this reason probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis (PTHA) traditionally relies on numerical simulation...
Hydrogeology, karst, and groundwater availability of Monroe County, West Virginia
Mark D. Kozar, Daniel H. Doctor, William K. Jones, Nathan Chien, Cheyenne E. Cox, Randall C. Orndorff, David J. Weary, Mitchell R. Weaver, Mitchell A. McAdoo, Mercer Parker
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5121
Monroe County is in southeastern West Virginia, encompassing an area of 474 square miles. The area consists of karst and siliciclastic aquifers of Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, and Mississippian age and is in parts of two physiographic provinces: the Valley and Ridge Province to the east of Peters Mountain, and the...
Unprecedented distribution data for Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia and Y. jaegeriana) reveal contemporary climate associations of a Mojave Desert icon
Todd Esque, Daniel F. Shryock, Gabrielle A. Berr, Felicia Chen, Lesley A. DeFalco, Sabrina Mae Lewicki, Brent Lee Cunningham, Eddie J. Gaylord, Caitlin Shannon Poage, Gretchen Elizabeth Gantz, Ross Adrian Van Gaalen, Benjamin O Gottsacker, Amanda Marie Mcdonald, J.B. Yoder, C.I. Smith, K.E. Nussear
2023, Frontiers Ecology and Evolution (11)
Introduction: Forecasting range shifts in response to climate change requires accurate species distribution models (SDMs), particularly at the margins of species' ranges. However, most studies producing SDMs rely on sparse species occurrence datasets from herbarium records and public databases, along with random pseudoabsences. While environmental covariates used to fit SDMS...
Effect of straying, reproductive strategies, and ocean distribution on the structure of American shad populations
Camille Poulet, Geraldine Lassalle, Adrian Jordaan, Karin E. Limburg, Christopher C. Nack, Janet A. Nye, Andrew O’Malley, Betsy O’Malley-Barber, Dan S. Stich, John R. Waldman, Joseph D. Zydlewski, Patrick Lambert
2023, Ecosphere (14)
The use of species distribution models has proliferated, providing insights for sustainable management of migratory species in a globally changing environment. However, many of these models are based on statistical relationships developed from historical conditions that may not perform well under changing or even...
Examining the effect of environmental variability on the viability of endangered Steller sea lions using an integrated population model
Amanda J. Warlick, Devin S. Johnson, Katie L. Sweeney, Tom S. Gelatt, Sarah J. Converse
2023, Endangered Species Research (52) 343-361
Understanding spatio-temporal variability in demography and the influence of environmental conditions offers insight into the factors underlying population dynamics. This is particularly true for species with divergent demographic patterns across large geographic areas. The contrasting abundance trends observed across the range of Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) have been studied...
