Modeling carbon fluxes in tidal forested wetlands in the Mississippi river deltaic plain under various hydrologic conditions: Implications for river diversions
Hongqing Wang, Ken W. Krauss, Gary P. Shaffer, Brett Patton, Daniel Kroes, Gregory E. Noe, Zhaohua Dai, Lindsey Dettwiller, Carl C. Trettin
2026, Wetlands Ecology and Management (34)
Our understanding of the impacts of climate change, sea-level rise (SLR), and freshwater management on the magnitude and variability of carbon fluxes in tidal forested wetlands remains limited. In this study, we applied a process-driven wetland biogeochemistry model, Wetland Carbon Assessment Tool—DeNitrification-DeComposition (WCAT-DNDC) model to explore responses of carbon fluxes...
Biocrust mosses and cyanobacteria exhibit distinct carbon uptake responses to variations in precipitation amount and frequency
Kristina E. Young, Osvaldo E. Sala, Anthony Darrouzet-Nardi, Colin L Tucker, Rebecca A Finger-Higgens, Megan Elyse Starbuck, Sasha C. Reed
2025, Ecology Letters (28)
Dryland organisms exhibit varied responses to changes in precipitation, including event size, frequency, and soil moisture duration, influencing carbon uptake and reserve management strategies. This principle, central to the pulse-reserve paradigm, has not been thoroughly evaluated in biological soil crusts (biocrusts), essential primary producers on dryland surfaces. We conducted two...
Mangrove habitat persistence and carbon vulnerability associated with increased nutrient loading and sea-level rise at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge (Sanibel Island, Florida, USA)
Ken Krauss, Jeremy R. Conrad, Jamie A. Duberstein, Eric Ward, Judith Z. Drexler, Kevin J. Buffington, Karen M. Thorne, Brian W. Benscoter, Haley Miller, Natalie T. Faron, Sergio Merino, Andrew From, Elitsa I. Peneva-Reed, Zhiliang Zhu
2023, Report
J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge (DDNWR) is located on Sanibel Island along the southwestern coast of Florida, USA. Sanibel Island is heavily developed, but DDNWR provides protection for a large mangrove area that supports biodiversity and recreational opportunity. However, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) eutrophication attributed to agriculture discharge...
Selenium hazards in the Salton Sea environment—Summary of current knowledge to inform future wetland management
Michael R. Rosen, Susan E.W. De La Cruz, Krishangi D. Groover, Isa Woo, Sarah A. Roberts, Melanie J. Davis, Cristiana Y. Antonino
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5042
Quaternary marine and continental shales in the western United States are sources of selenium that can be loaded into the aquatic environment through mining, agricultural, and energy production processes. The mobilization of selenium from shales through agricultural irrigation has been recognized since the 1930s; however, discovery of deformities in birds...
Influence of increased freshwater inflow on nitrogen and phosphorus budgets in a dynamic subtropical estuary, Barataria Basin, Louisiana
Hoonshin Jung, William K. Nuttle, Melissa Millman Baustian, Tim J. B. Carruthers
2023, Water (15)
Coastal Louisiana is currently experiencing high rates of wetland loss and large-scale ecosystem restoration is being implemented. One of the largest and most novel restoration projects is a controlled sediment diversion, proposed to rebuild and sustain wetlands by diverting sediment- and nutrient-rich water from the Mississippi River. However, the impact...
Conflict of energies: Spatially modeling mule deer caloric expenditure in response to oil and gas development
Samuel Norton Chambers, Miguel L. Villarreal, Olivia Jane Marie Duane, Seth M. Munson, Erica Francis Stuber, Gayle L Tyree, Eric K Waller, Michael C. Duniway
2022, Landscape Ecology (37) 2947-2961
ContextWildlife avoid human disturbances, including roads and development. Avoidance and displacement of wildlife into less suitable habitat due to human development can affect their energy expenditures and fitness. The heart rate and oxygen uptake of large mammals varies with both natural aspects of their habitat (terrain, climate, predators,...
Projected resurgence of COVID-19 in the United States in July—December 2021 resulting from the increased transmissibility of the Delta variant and faltering vaccination
Shaun Truelove, Claire P. Smith, Michelle Qin, Luke Mullany, Rebecca K. Borchering, Justin Lessler, Katriona Shea, Emily Howerton, Lucie Contamin, John Levander, J. Kerr, Harry Hochheiser, Matt Kinsey, Kate Tallaksen, Shelby Wilson, Lauren Shin, Kaitlin Rainwater-Lovett, Joseph Lemaitre, Juan Dent, Joshua Kaminsky, Elizabeth C. Lee, Javier Perez-Saez, Alison Hill, Dean Karlen, Matteo Chinazzi, Jessica Davis, Kunpeng Mu, Xinyue Xiong, Ana Pastore y Piontti, Alessandro Vespignani, Ajitesh Srivastava, Przemyslaw Porebski, Srinivasan Venkatramanan, Aniruddha Adiga, Bryan Lewis, Brian Klahn, Joseph Outten, M. Orr, G. Harrison, Benjamin Hurt, Jiangzhuo Chen, Anil Vullikanti, Madhav Marathe, Stefan Hoops, Parantapa Bhattacharya, Dustin Machi, Shi Chen, Rajib Paul, Daniel Janies, Jean-Claude Thill, Marta Galanti, Teresa Yamana, Sen Pei, Jeffrey L. Shaman, Jessica Healy, Rachel B. Slayton, Matthew Biggerstaff, Michael A Johansson, Michael C. Runge, Cecile Viboud
2022, eLife (11)
In Spring 2021, the highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant began to cause increases in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in parts of the United States. At the time, with slowed vaccination uptake, this novel variant was expected to increase the risk of pandemic resurgence in the US in summer and fall...
Increasing the uptake of ecological model results in policy decisions to improve biodiversity outcomes
Sarah R. Weiskopf, Zuzana Harmáčková, Ciara G. Johnson, Maria Cecilia Londono-Murcia, Brian W. Miller, Bonnie J.E. Myers, Laura M. Pereira, Maria Isabel Arce-Plata, Julia L. Blanchard, Simon Ferrier, Elizabeth A. Fulton, Mike Harfoot, Forest Isbell, Justin A. Johnson, Akira S. Mori, Ensheng Weng, Isabel M.D. Rosa
2022, Environmental Modelling & Software (149)
Models help decision-makers anticipate the consequences of policies for ecosystems and people; for instance, improving our ability to represent interactions between human activities and ecological systems is essential to identify pathways to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. However, use of...
Increased burning in a warming climate reduces carbon uptake in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem despite productivity gains
Paul D. Henne, Todd Hawbaker, Robert M. Scheller, Feng S Zhao, Hong S He, Wenru Xu, Zhiliang Zhu
2021, Journal of Ecology (109) 1148-1169
1. The effects of changing climate and disturbance on mountain forest carbon stocks vary with tree species distributions and over elevational gradients. Warming can increase carbon uptake by stimulating productivity at high elevations but also enhance carbon release by increasing respiration and the frequency, intensity, and size of wildfires.2. To...
Using the value of information to improve conservation decision making
Friederike C. Bolam, Matthew J. Grainger, Kerrie L. Mengerson, Gavin B. Stewart, William J. Sutherland, Michael C. Runge, Philip J. K. McGowan
2019, Biological Reviews (94) 629-647
Conservation decisions are challenging, not only because they often involve difficult conflicts among outcomes that people value, but because our understanding of the natural world and our effects on it is fraught with uncertainty. Value of Information (VoI) methods provide an approach for understanding and managing uncertainty from the standpoint...
A biodynamic understanding of dietborne and waterborne Ag uptake from Ag NPs in the sediment-dwelling oligochaete, Tubifex tubifex
Stine Rosendal Tangaa, Margrethe Winther-Nielsen, Henriette Selck, Marie Noele Croteau
2018, NanoImpact (11) 33-41
Metal nanoparticles (Me-NPs) are increasingly used in various products, such as inks and cosmetics, enhancing the likelihood of their release into aquatic environments. An understanding of the mechanisms controlling their bioaccumulation and ecotoxicity in aquatic biota will help support environmental risk assessment. Here we characterized unidirectional parameters for uptake and elimination of silver (Ag) in the sediment-dwelling oligochaete Tubifex...
Functional group, biomass, and climate change effects on ecological drought in semiarid grasslands
Scott D. Wilson, Daniel R. Schlaepfer, John B. Bradford, William K. Lauenroth, Michael C. Duniway, Sonia A. Hall, Khishigbayar Jamiyansharav, Gensuo Jia, Ariuntsetseg Lkhagva, Seth M. Munson, David A. Pyke, Britta Tietjen
2018, Journal of Geophysical Research G: Biogeosciences (123) 1072-1085
Water relations in plant communities are influenced both by contrasting functional groups (grasses, shrubs) and by climate change via complex effects on interception, uptake and transpiration. We modelled the effects of functional group replacement and biomass increase, both of which can be outcomes of invasion and vegetation management, and climate...
Modeling light use efficiency in a subtropical mangrove forest equipped with CO2 eddy covariance
J.G. Barr, V. Engel, J.D. Fuentes, D.O. Fuller, H. Kwon
2013, Biogeosciences (10) 2145-2158
Despite the importance of mangrove ecosystems in the global carbon budget, the relationships between environmental drivers and carbon dynamics in these forests remain poorly understood. This limited understanding is partly a result of the challenges associated with in situ flux studies. Tower-based CO2 eddy covariance (EC) systems are installed in...
Explaining differences between bioaccumulation measurements in laboratory and field data through use of a probabilistic modeling approach
Henriette Selck, Ken Drouillard, Karen Eisenreich, Albert A. Koelmans, Annemette Palmqvist, Anders Ruus, Daniel Salvito, Irv Schultz, A. Robin Stewart, Annie Weisbrod, Nico W. van den Brink, Martine van den Heuvel-Greve
2012, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (8) 42-63
In the regulatory context, bioaccumulation assessment is often hampered by substantial data uncertainty as well as by the poorly understood differences often observed between results from laboratory and field bioaccumulation studies. Bioaccumulation is a complex, multifaceted process, which calls for accurate error analysis. Yet, attempts to quantify and compare propagation...
Biogeochemistry of a temperate forest nitrogen gradient
Steven S. Perakis, Emily R. Sinkhorn
2011, Ecology (92) 1481-1491
Wide natural gradients of soil nitrogen (N) can be used to examine fundamental relationships between plant–soil–microbial N cycling and hydrologic N loss, and to test N-saturation theory as a general framework for understanding ecosystem N dynamics. We characterized plant production, N uptake and return in litterfall, soil gross and net...
Environmental controls on drainage behavior of an ephemeral stream
K.W. Blasch, T.P.A. Ferre, J.A. Vrugt
2010, Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment (24) 1077-1087
Streambed drainage was measured at the cessation of 26 ephemeral streamflow events in Rillito Creek, Tucson, Arizona from August 2000 to June 2002 using buried time domain reflectometry (TDR) probes. An unusual drainage response was identified, which was characterized by sharp drainage from saturation to near field capacity at each...
Changes in vegetation in northern Alaska under scenarios of climate change, 2003-2100: Implications for climate feedbacks
Eugénie S. Euskirchen, Anthony D. McGuire, F. Stuart Chapin III, S. Yi, Catharine Copass Thompson
2009, Ecological Applications (19) 1022-1043
Assessing potential future changes in arctic and boreal plant species productivity, ecosystem composition, and canopy complexity is essential for understanding environmental responses under expected altered climate forcing. We examined potential changes in the dominant plant functional types (PFTs) of the sedge tundra, shrub tundra, and boreal forest ecosystems in ecotonal...
Imprint of oaks on nitrogen availability and δ15N in California grassland-savanna: A case of enhanced N inputs?
S.S. Perakis, C.H. Kellogg
2007, Plant Ecology (191) 209-220
Woody vegetation is distributed patchily in many arid and semi-arid ecosystems, where it is often associated with elevated nitrogen (N) pools and availability in islands of fertility. We measured N availability and δ15N in paired blue-oak versus annual grass dominated patches to characterize the causes and consequences of spatial variation...
Preliminary results from a shallow water benthic grazing study
N.L. Jones, Stephen G. Monismith, Janet K. Thompson
2005, Interagency Ecological Program Newsletter (18) 7-13
The nutrient-rich, shallow waters of San Francisco Bay support high rates of primary production, limited not by nutrients but by light availability and benthic grazing (Alpine and others 1992; Cloern 1982). Phytoplankton blooms are an important food source for upper trophic levels. Consequently animal populations, such as fish, may suffer...
Ecohydrological control of deep drainage in arid and semiarid regions
M.S. Seyfried, S. Schwinning, Michelle Ann Walvoord, W. T. Pockman, B.D. Newman, R.B. Jackson, F. M. Phillips
2005, Ecology (86) 277-287
The amount and spatial distribution of deep drainage (downward movement of water across the bottom of the root zone) and groundwater recharge affect the quantity and quality of increasingly limited groundwater in arid and semiarid regions. We synthesize research from the fields of ecology and hydrology to address the issue...
Selenium loading through the Blackfoot River watershed--linking sources to ecosystem
Theresa S. Presser, Matthew Hardy, Mark Huebner, Paul J. Lamothe
James R. Hein, editor(s)
2004, Book chapter, Handbook of exploration and environmental geochemistry
The upper Blackfoot River watershed in southeast Idaho receives drainage from 11 of 16 phosphate mines that have extracted ore from the Phosphoria Formation, three of which are presently active. Toxic effects from selenium (Se), including death of livestock and deformity in aquatic birds, were documented locally in areas...
Acute salt marsh dieback in the Mississippi River deltaic plain: A drought-induced phenomenon?
K.L. McKee, I.A. Mendelssohn, M.D. Materne
2004, Global Ecology and Biogeography (13) 65-73
Aims Extensive dieback of salt marsh dominated by the perennial grass Spartina alterniflora occurred throughout the Mississippi River deltaic plain during 2000. More than 100,000 ha were affected, with 43,000 ha severely damaged. The aim of this work was to determine if sudden dieback could have been caused by a...
Root growth and function of three Mojave Desert grasses in response to elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration
C.K. Yoder, P. Vivin, L.A. DeFalco, J.R. Seemann, R.S. Nowak
2000, New Phytologist (145) 245-256
Root growth and physiological responses to elevated CO2 were investigated for three important Mojave Desert grasses: the C3 perennial Achnatherum hymenoides, the C4 perennial Pleuraphis rigida and the C3 annual Bromus madritensis ssp. rubens. Seeds of each species were grown at ambient (360 μl l−1) or elevated (1000 μl l−1)...
