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Explore WARC's science publications.

Filter Total Items: 3369

Hawksbill and green turtle niche overlap in a marine protected area, US Virgin Islands

Studying how species interact with their environment and other co-occurring species are 2 main aspects of ecology. For marine turtles, ocean currents drive migratory routes and may determine the location of surrounding foraging grounds. As a result, circumglobal species like the hawksbill turtle Eretmochelys imbricata and green turtle Chelonia mydas adapt to diverse foraging habitats and employ va
Authors
Melissa A. Moorehouse, John D. Baldwin, Kristen Hart

Glacial vicariance and secondary contact shape demographic histories in a freshwater mussel species complex

Characterizing the mechanisms influencing the distribution of genetic variation in aquatic species can be difficult due to the dynamic nature of hydrological landscapes. In North America’s Central Highlands, a complex history of glacial dynamics, long-term isolation, and secondary contact have shaped genetic variation in aquatic species. Although the effects of glacial history have been demonstrat
Authors
Nathan Johnson, Andrew R. Henderson, Jess W. Jones, Caitlin Beaver, Steve A. Ahlstedt, Gerald R. Dinkins, Nathan L. Eckert, Mark J. Endries, Jeffrey T. Garner, John L. Harris, Paul D. Hartfield, Don W. Hubbs, Timothy W. Lane, Monte A. McGregor, Kendall R. Moles, Cheryl Morrison, Matthew D. Wagner, James D. Williams, Chase H. Smith

Practical guide to measuring wetland carbon pools and fluxes

Wetlands cover a small portion of the world, but have disproportionate influence on global carbon (C) sequestration, carbon dioxide and methane emissions, and aquatic C fluxes. However, the underlying biogeochemical processes that affect wetland C pools and fluxes are complex and dynamic, making measurements of wetland C challenging. Over decades of research, many observational, experimental, and

Authors
Sheel Bansal, Irena F. Creed, Brian Tangen, Scott D. Bridgham, Ankur R. Desai, Ken Krauss, Scott C Neubauer, Gregory B. Noe, Donald O. Rosenberry, Carl C. Trettin, Kimberly Wickland, Scott T. Allen, Ariane Arias-Ortiz, Anna R. Armitage, Dennis Baldocchi, Kakoli Banerjee, David Bastviken, Peter Berg, Matthew J. Bogard, Alex T. Chow, William H. Conner, Christopher Craft, Courtney Creamer, Tonya Delsontro, Jamie Duberstein, Meagan J. Eagle, M. Siobhan Fennessey, Sarah A. Finkelstein, Mathias Goeckede, Sabine Grunwald, Meghan Halibisky, Ellen R. Herbert, Mohammad Jahangir, Olivia Johnson, Miriam C. Jones, Jeffrey Kelleway, Sarah Knox, Kevin D. Kroeger, Kevin Kuehn, David Lobb, Amanda Loder, Shizhou Ma, Damien Maher, Gavin McNicol, Jacob Meier, Beth A. Middleton, Christopher T. Mills, Purbasha Mistry, Abhijith Mitra, Courtney Mobilian, Amanda M. Nahlik, Sue Newman, Jessica O'Connell‬, Patty Oikawa, Max Post van der Burg, Charles A Schutte, Chanchung Song, Camille Stagg, Jessica Turner, Rodrigo Vargas, Mark Waldrop, Markus Wallin, Zhaohui Aleck Wang, Eric Ward, Debra A. Willard, Stephanie A. Yarwood, Xiaoyan Zhu

Observing coastal wetland transitions using national land cover products

Over the coming century, climate change and sea-level rise are predicted to cause widespread change to coastal wetlands. Estuarine vegetated wetlands can adapt to sea-level rise through both vertical development (i.e., biophysical feedbacks and sedimentation) and upslope/horizontal migration. Quantifying changes to estuarine vegetated wetlands over time can help to inform current and future decisi
Authors
Nicholas Enwright, Michael Osland, Karen M. Thorne, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, James Grace, Gregory Steyer, Nate Herold, Bogdan Chivoiu, Minoo Han

Less is more: Less herbicide does more when biological control is present in Pontederia crassipes

An experiment along with simulation modeling was applied to study the combinations of herbicide treatment and biological control that best limit invasive water hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes, formerly Eichhornia crassipes) in freshwater aquatic systems. The experiment consisted of 14 different treatments of P. crassipes in 1.67 m2 outdoor tank mesocosms. Seven treatments were with and seven were w
Authors
Linhao Xu, Ashley B.C. Goode, Philip W. Tipping, Melissa C. Smith, Lyn A. Gettys, Brittany K. Knowles, Eileen Pokorny, Luz Salinas, Don DeAngelis

Springing forward: Migrating songbirds catch up with the start of spring in North America

In temperate regions, the annual pattern of spring onset can be envisioned as a ‘green wave’ of emerging vegetation that moves across continents from low to high latitudes, signifying increasing food availability for consumers.Many herbivorous migrants ‘surf’ such resource waves, timing their movements to exploit peak vegetation resources in early spring. Although less well studied at the individu
Authors
Claire E. Nemes, Peter P. Marra, Theodore J. Zenzal, Samantha A. Collins, Bryant C. Dossman, Alexander R. Gerson, Camila Gómez, Ana M. González, Mariamar Gutierrez Ramirez, Sarah A. Hamer, Joseph Marty, Phillip L. Vasseur, Emily B. Cohen

Assessing the ecological risk of heavy metal sediment contamination from Port Everglades Florida USA

Port sediments are often contaminated with metals and organic compounds from anthropogenic sources. Remobilization of sediment during a planned expansion of Port Everglades near Fort Lauderdale, Florida (USA) has the potential to harm adjacent benthic communities, including coral reefs. Twelve sediment cores were collected from four Port Everglades sites and a control site; surface sediment was co
Authors
Dimitrios G. Giarikos, Laura White, Andre Daniels, Radleigh G. Santos, Paul E. Baldauf, Amy C. Hirons

Global dataset of soil organic carbon in tidal marshes

Tidal marshes store large amounts of organic carbon in their soils. Field data quantifying soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks provide an important resource for researchers, natural resource managers, and policy-makers working towards the protection, restoration, and valuation of these ecosystems. We collated a global dataset of tidal marsh soil organic carbon (MarSOC) from 99 studies that includes l
Authors
Tania L. Maxwell, André S. Rovai, Maria Fernanda Adame, Janine B. Adams, José Álvarez-Rogel, William E.N. Austin, Kim Beasy, Francesco Boscutti, Michael E. Böttcher, Tjeerd J. Bouma, Richard H. Bulmer, Annette Burden, Shannon A. Burke, Saritta Camacho, Doongar R. Chaudhary, Gail L. Chmura, Margareth Copertino, Grace M. Cott, Christopher Craft, John W. Day, Carmen B. de los Santos, Lionel Denis, Weixin Ding, Joanna C. Ellison, Carolyn J. Ewers Lewis, Luise Giani, Maria Gispert, Swanne Gontharet, José A. González-Pérez, M. Nazaret González-Alcaraz, Connor Gorham, Anna Elizabeth L. Graversen, Anthony Grey, Roberta Guerra, Qiang He, James R. Holmquist, Alice R. Jones, José A. Juanes, Brian P. Kelleher, Karen E. Kohfeld, Dorte Krause-Jensen, Anna Lafratta, Paul S. Lavery, Edward A. Laws, Carmen Leiva-Dueñas, Pei Sun Loh, Catherine E. Lovelock, Carolyn J. Lundquist, Peter I. Macreadie, Inés Mazarrasa, J. Patrick Megonigal, Joao M. Neto, Juliana Nogueira, Michael Osland, Jordi F. Pagès, Nipuni Perera, Eva-Maria Pfeiffer, Thomas Pollmann, Jacqueline L. Raw, María Recio, Ana Carolina Ruiz-Fernández, Sophie K. Russell, John M. Rybczyk, Marek Sammul, Christian Sanders, Rui Santos, Oscar Serrano, Matthias B. Siewert, Craig Smeaton, Zhaoliang Song, Carmen Trasar-Cepeda, Robert R. Twilley, Marijn Van de Broek, Stefano Vitti, Livia Vittori Antisari, Baptiste Voltz, Christy N. Wails, Raymond D. Ward, Melissa Warden, Jaxine Wolfe, Renmin Yang, Sebastian Zubrzycki, Emily Landis, Lindsey Smart, Mark Spalding, Thomas A. Worthington

Expanding our view of the cold-water coral niche and accounting of the ecosystem services of the reef habitat

Coral reefs are iconic ecosystems that support diverse, productive communities in both shallow and deep waters. However, our incomplete knowledge of cold-water coral (CWC) niche space limits our understanding of their distribution and precludes a complete accounting of the ecosystem services they provide. Here, we present the results of recent surveys of the CWC mound province on the Blake Plateau
Authors
Erik E. Cordes, Amanda Demopoulos, Andrew J. Davies, Ryan Gasbarro, Alexandria C. Rhoads, Elizabeth Loebeker, Derek Sowers, Jason Chaytor, Cheryl Morrison, Alexis M. Weinnig, Sandra Brooke, Jay J. Lunden, Furu Mienis, Samantha B. Joye, Andrea M. Quattrini, Tracey T. Sutton, Catherine S. McFadden, Jill Bourque, Jennifer McClain Counts, Brian D. Andrews, Melissa J. Betters, Peter J. Etnoyer, Gary A. Wolff, Bernie B. Bernard, James M. Brooks, Michael K. Rasser, Caitlin Adams

Isotopic niche partitioning in a multi-species assemblage

Multi-species assemblages can help identify key resources in their habitat by evaluating how they are partitioning their resources. Here we used the isotopic niche of loggerhead, Kemp’s ridley, and green sea turtles to assess their ecological niche within a Gulf of Mexico bay. Additionally, we assessed temporal and size-class variation in their diets by comparing the δ13C and δ15N values over vari
Authors
Carson L. Arends, Hannah B. Vander Zanden, Margaret Lamont

Expanding our view of the cold-water coral niche and accounting of the ecosystem services of the reef habitat

Coral reefs are iconic ecosystems that support diverse, productive communities in both shallow and deep waters. However, our incomplete knowledge of cold-water coral (CWC) niche space limits our understanding of their distribution and precludes a complete accounting of the ecosystem services they provide. Here, we present the results of recent surveys of the CWC mound province on the Blake Plateau
Authors
Erick E. Cordes, Amanda Demopoulos, Andrew Davies, Ryan Gasbarro, Alexandria Rhoads, Elizabeth Lobecker, Dereck Sowers, Jason Chaytor, Cheryl Morrison, Alexis Marie Weinnig, Sandra Brooke, Jay J. Lunden, Furu Mienis, Samantha B. Joye, Andrea M. Quattrini, Tracey Sutton, Catherine McFadden, Jill Bourque, Jennifer McClain Counts, Brian D. Andrews, Melissa Betters, Peter Etnoyer, Gary Wolff, Bernie Bernard, James Brooks, Michael Rasser, Caitlin Adams

Horizon scanning for potentially invasive non-native marine species to inform trans-boundary conservation management – Example of the northern Gulf of Mexico

Prevention of non-native species introductions and establishment is essential to avoid adverse impacts of invasive species in marine environments. To identify potential new invasive species and inform non-native species management options for the northern Gulf of Mexico (Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas), 138 marine species were risk screened for current and future climate conditions using t
Authors
Kathryn A. O'Shaughnessy, Lorenzo Vilizzi, Wesley M. Daniel, Monica E. McGarrity, Hanna Bauer, Leslie Hartman, Stephen Geiger, Paul Sammarco, Steve Kolian, Scott Porter, Jessica Dutton, Matthew R. McClure, Michael Norberg, Alex Fogg, Timothy J. Lyons, Justin Procopio, Lauren Bantista, Wayne A Bennett, Mary Wicksten, David B. Reeves, Julie Lively, Elizabeth M. Robinson, Jorge Brenner, Joseph Goy, Ashley Morgan-Olvera, Anna L.E. Yunnie, Gordon H. Copp