Using expert knowledge to support Endangered Species Act decision‐making for data‐deficient species
Daniel Bruce Fitzgerald, David R. Smith, David C. Culver, Daniel Feller, Daniel W. Fong, Jeff Hajenga, Matthew L. Niemiller, Daniel C. Nolfi, Wil D. Orndorff, Barbara Douglas, Kelly O. Maloney, John A. Young
2021, Conservation Biology (35) 1627-1638
Many questions relevant to conservation decision making are characterized by extreme uncertainty due to lack of empirical data and complexity of the underlying ecological processes, leading to a rapid increase in the use of structured protocols to elicit expert knowledge. Published ecological applications often employ a modified Delphi method, where...
Snowpack signals in North American tree rings
Bethany L. Coulthard, Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Gregory T. Pederson, Edward R Cook, Jeremy Littell, Dan J. Smith
2021, Environmental Research Letters (16)
Climate change has contributed to recent declines in mountain snowpack and earlier runoff, which in turn has intensified hydrological droughts in western North America. Climate model projections suggest that continued and severe snowpack reductions are expected over the 21st century, with profound consequences for ecosystems and human welfare. Yet the...
The normal faulting 2020 Mw5.8 Lone Pine, Eastern California earthquake sequence
Egill Hauksson, Brian J. Olsen, Alex R.R. Grant, Jennifer R Andrews, Angela I. Chung, Susan E. Hough, Hiroo Kanamori, Sara McBride, Andrew J. Michael, Morgan T. Page, Zachary E. Ross, Deborah Smith, Sotiris Valkaniotis
2021, Seismological Research Letters (92) 679-698
The 2020 Mw">Mw 5.8 Lone Pine earthquake, the largest earthquake on the Owens Valley fault zone, eastern California, since the nineteenth century, ruptured an extensional stepover in that fault. Owens Valley separates two normal‐faulting...
Telemetry evaluation of carbon dioxide as a behavioral deterrent for invasive carps
Aaron R. Cupp, Ashley K Lopez, Justin Smerud, John A. Tix, Jose Rivera, Nicholas M. Swyers, Marybeth K. Brey, Christa M. Woodley, David L. Smith, Mark P. Gaikowski
2021, Journal of Great Lakes Research (47) 59-68
Carbon dioxide (CO2) mixed into water is being explored as a possible management strategy to deter the upstream movements of invasive carps through navigation locks and other migratory pinch-points. This study used two-dimensional acoustic telemetry to assess the effectiveness of dissolved CO2 as a chemosensory deterrent to two carp species in...
Hydrocarbons to carboxyl-rich alicyclic molecules: A continuum model to describe biodegradation of petroleum-derived dissolved organic matter in contaminated groundwater plumes
David C. Podgorski, Phoebe Zito, Anne M. Kellerman, Barbara A. Bekins, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Donald F. Smith, Xiaoyan Cao, Klaus Schmidt-Rohr, Sasha Wagner, Aron Stubbins, Robert G. M. Spencer
2021, Journal of Hazardous Materials (402)
Relationships between dissolved organic matter (DOM) reactivity and chemical composition in a groundwater plume containing petroleum-derived DOM (DOMHC) were examined by quantitative and qualitative measurements to determine the source and chemical composition of the compounds that persist downgradient. Samples were collected from a transect down...
Group density, disease, and season shape territory size and overlap of social carnivores
E. E. Brandell, Nicholas M. Fountain-Jones, Marie L. J. Gilbertson, Paul C. Cross, P. J. Hudson, Douglas W. Smith, Daniel R. Stahler, Craig Packer, Meggan E. Craft
2021, Journal of Animal Ecology (90) 87-101
1. The spatial organization of a population can influence the spread of information, behaviour, and pathogens. Territory size and territory overlap, components of spatial organization, provide key information as these metrics may be indicators of habitat quality, resource dispersion, contact rates, and environmental risk (e.g., indirectly transmitted pathogens). Furthermore, sociality...
Perspectives on the paleolimnology of the late Eocene Florissant lake from diatom and sedimentary evidence at Clare’s Quarry, Teller County, Colorado, USA
Mary Ellen Benson, Dena M. Smith, Sarah A. Spaulding
2021, Book chapter, From saline to freshwater: The diversity of western lakes in space and time
The late Eocene Florissant Formation in central Colorado is a rich and diverse continental Lagerstätte yielding well-preserved fossil assemblages from lacustrine and fluvial facies. This investigation focused on the lacustrine facies at Clare’s Quarry and used biotic and abiotic evidence to characterize aspects of the lake and processes that resulted...
The Long-term effect of bleeding for Limulus amebocyte lysate on annual survival and recapture of tagged horseshoe crabs
David R. Smith, Joshua Newhard, Conor P. McGowan, C. Alyssa Butler
2020, Frontiers in Marine Science (7)
In the U.S., 525,000 horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) per year have been captured during 2013–2017, brought to biomedical facilities, and bled to produce Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL), then mostly released to the area of capture. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission estimates short-term bleeding-induced mortality to be 15% (4% to...
Warmer temperatures interact with salinity to weaken physiological facilitation to stress in freshwater fishes
Richard H. Walker, Geoffrey D. Smith, Spencer B . Hudson, Susannah S. Susannah S. French, Annika W. Walters
2020, Conservation Physiology (8)
Management of stressors requires an understanding of how multiple stressors interact, how different species respond to those interactions and the underlying mechanisms driving observed patterns in species' responses. Salinization and rising temperatures are two pertinent stressors predicted to intensify in freshwater ecosystems, posing concern for how susceptible organisms achieve and...
A Bayesian framework for assessing extinction risk based on ordinal categories of population condition and projected landscape change
Daniel Bruce Fitzgerald, Andrew R Henderson, Kelly O. Maloney, Mary Freeman, John A. Young, Amanda E. Rosenberger, David C. Kazyak, David R. Smith
2020, Biological Conservation (253)
Many at-risk species lack standardized surveys across their range or quantitative data capable of detecting demographic trends. As a result, extinction risk assessments often rely on ordinal categories of risk based on explicit criteria or expert elicitation. This study demonstrates a...
Infectious diseases in Yellowstone’s wolves
Ellen E. Brandell, Emily S. Almberg, Paul C. Cross, Andrew P Dobson, Douglas W. Smith, Peter J. Hudson
2020, Book chapter, Yellowstone wolves: Science and discovery in the world's first national park
No abstract available....
Temperature and water-quality diversity and the effects of surface-water connection in off-channel features of the Willamette River, Oregon, 2015–16
Cassandra D. Smith, Joseph F. Mangano, Stewart A. Rounds
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5068
Water-quality conditions (including temperature) in the Willamette River and many of its adjacent off-channel features, such as alcoves and side channels, were monitored between river miles 67 (near Salem, Oregon) and 168 (near Eugene, Oregon) during the summers of 2015 and 2016. One or more parameters (water temperature, dissolved...
Habitat use by tiger prey in Thailand’s Western Forest Complex: What will it take to fill a half-full tiger landscape?
Pornkamol Jornburom, Somphot Duangchantrasiri, Sitthichai Jinamoy, Anak Pattanavibool, James E. Hines, Todd W. Arnold, John Fieberg, James L D Smith
2020, Journal for Nature Conservation (58)
Tiger populations are declining globally, and depletion of major ungulate prey is an important contributing factor. To better understand factors affecting prey distribution in Thailand’s Western Forest Complex (WEFCOM), we conducted sign surveys for gaur (Bos gaurus), banteng (Bos javanicus), and sambar (Rusa...
Toxicity of carbon dioxide to freshwater fishes: Implications for aquatic invasive species management
Aaron R. Cupp, Justin Smerud, Linnea M Thomas, Diane L. Waller, David L. Smith, Richard A. Erickson, Mark P. Gaikowski
2020, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (ET&C) (39) 2247-2255
Carbon dioxide (CO2) has been approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency as a new aquatic pesticide to control invasive Asian carps and other aquatic nuisance species in the United States. However, limited CO2 toxicity data could make it challenging for resource managers to characterize the potential risk to nontarget species...
A fishery after the decline: The Susquehanna River Smallmouth Bass story
Megan K. Schall, Geoffrey D. Smith, Vicki S. Blazer, Heather L. Walsh, Yan Li, Tyler Wagner
2020, Fisheries Magazine (45) 576-584
The Smallmouth Bass Micropterus dolomieu fishery in the Susquehanna River basin, Pennsylvania, is one of the most socioeconomically important fisheries in the region and has recently undergone considerable changes. These changes started in 2005, when disease was documented in young-of-the-year (age-0) Smallmouth Bass. Shortly thereafter, declines in abundance of both juveniles and...
Estimates of groundwater discharge by evapotranspiration, Stump Spring and Hiko Springs, Clark County, southern Nevada, 2016–18
Michael T. Moreo, Susan G. Buto, David W. Smith, Nora C. Nelson
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5075
This report documents methodology and results of a study that estimated groundwater discharge by evapotranspiration (GWET) from phreatophytic vegetation in two desert riparian areas with ephemeral spring discharge in Clark County, southern Nevada. The phreatophytes consisted primarily of western honey mesquite [Prosopis glandulosa var. torreyana (L.D. Benson) M.C. Johnst.] at Stump Spring and...
A standard operating procedure for the preparation of purposely killed juvenile salmon used to test survival model assumptions
Ryan G. Tomka, Theresa L. Liedtke, Conrad Frost, Collin D. Smith
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1083
This document describes a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the preparation of purposely killed juvenile salmon, implanted with telemetry transmitters, to be released into rivers, lakes, or streams to test one of the survival model assumptions. Procedures for releases of purposely killed fish (hereinafter dead fish releases) were developed by...
ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning System Performance During the 2019 Ridgecrest Earthquake Sequence
Angela Chung, Men-Andrin Meier, Jennifer Andrews, Maren Böse, Brendan Crowell, Jeffrey J. McGuire, Deborah Smith
2020, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (110) 1904-1923
During July 2019, a sequence of earthquakes including a Mw6.4 foreshock and a Mw7.1 mainshock occurred near Ridgecrest, California. ShakeAlert, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) ShakeAlert public Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) system being developed for the U.S. West Coast, was operational during this time, though public alerting was only available...
Estimation of vital population rates to assess the relative health of mussel assemblages in the Upper Mississippi River
Teresa Newton, Steven J. Zigler, Patricia R. Ries, Mike Davis, David R. Smith
2020, Freshwater Biology (65) 1726-1739
Native freshwater mussels are a guild of benthic, filter feeding invertebrates that perform important ecological functions in rivers. Because of their long lifespans (30–50 years or longer), mussels are slow to respond to human‐induced alterations. Thus, development of sensitive indicators of mussel population responses to river conditions and management would...
3D fault architecture controls the dynamism of earthquake swarm
Z. Ross, Elizabeth S. Cochran, D. Trugman, Jonathan D. Smith
2020, Science (368) 1357-1361
The vibrant evolutionary patterns made by earthquake swarms are incompatible with standard, effectively two-dimensional (2D) models for general fault architecture. We leverage advances in earthquake monitoring with a deep-learning algorithm to image a fault zone hosting a 4-year-long swarm in southern California. We infer that fluids are naturally injected into...
Hyperpigmented melanistic skin lesions of smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu from the Chesapeake Bay watershed
Vicki S. Blazer, Kelsey T. Young, Geoffrey D. Smith, Adam Sperry, Luke R. Iwanowicz
2020, Diseases of Aquatic Organisms (139) 199-212
Hyperpigmented melanistic skin lesions (HPMLs) of smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu are observed in the Potomac and Susquehanna rivers, Chesapeake Bay watershed, USA. Routine, nonlethal population surveys were conducted at 8 sites on the mainstem Susquehanna River and 9 on the Juniata River, a tributary of the Susquehanna River, between 2012 and 2018,...
Decision implementation and the double-loop process in adaptive management of horseshoe crab harvest in Delaware Bay
Conor P. McGowan, David Smith, James E. Lyons
2020, Book chapter, Structured decision making: Case studies in natural resource management
No abstract available....
Altitude of the potentiometric surface in the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer, spring 2018
Virginia L. McGuire, Ronald C. Seanor, William H. Asquith, Anna M. Nottmeier, David C. Smith, Roland W. Tollett, Wade H. Kress, Kellan R. Strauch
2020, Scientific Investigations Map 3453
A potentiometric-surface map for spring 2018 was created for the Mississippi River Valley alluvial (MRVA) aquifer using available groundwater-altitude data from 1,126 wells completed in the MRVA aquifer and from the altitude of the top of the water surface in area rivers from 66 streamgages. Personnel from Arkansas Natural Resources...
Introduction to multi-criteria decision analysis
Sarah J. Converse
Michael C. Runge, Sarah J. Converse, John J. Lyons, David R. Smith, editor(s)
2020, Book chapter, Structured decision making: Case studies in natural resource management
No abstract available....
Addressing disease risk to develop a health program for bighorn sheep in Montana
Sarah N. Sells, Michael S. Mitchell, Justin A. Gude
Michael C. Runge, Sarah J. Converse, James E. Lyons, David R. Smith, editor(s)
2020, Book chapter, Structured decision making: Case studies in natural resource management
No abstract available....