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Filter Total Items: 171126

Haploid gynogens facilitate disomic marker development in paleotetraploid sturgeons

Acipenseriformes (sturgeons and paddlefishes) are of substantial conservation concern, and development of genomic resources for these species is difficult due to past whole genome duplication. Development of disomic markers for polyploid organisms can be challenging due to difficulty in resolving alleles at a single locus from those among duplicated loci. In this study, we detail the development o
Authors
Richard Jr Flamio, Dominic G Swift, David S Portnoy, Kimberly Chojnacki, Aaron J. Delonay, Jeffrey Powell, Patrick Braaten, Edward J. Heist

Endangered Cape Sable seaside sparrow ecology: Actions towards recovery through landscape-scale ecosystem restoration

Understanding the ecology of endangered taxa and the factors affecting their population growth and decline is imperative for their recovery. In the southeastern USA, the Everglades wetland ecosystem supports a high diversity of species and communities, including many endemic and imperiled taxa, such as the federally endangered Cape Sable seaside sparrow Ammospiza maritima mirabilis (CSSS). The Eve
Authors
Allison Benscoter, Stephanie Romanach

A case study: Temporal trends of environmental stressors and reproductive health of smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) from a site in the Potomac River Watershed, Maryland, USA

Decades of poor reproductive success and young-of-the-year survival, combined with adult mortality events, have led to a decline in the smallmouth bass (SMB; Micropterus dolomieu) population in sections of the Potomac River. Previous studies have identified numerous biologic and environmental stressors associated with negative effects on SMB health. To better understand the impact of these stresso
Authors
Heather L. Walsh, Stephanie Gordon, Adam J. Sperry, Michael Kashiwagi, John E. Mullican, Vicki S. Blazer

Hybrid broadband ground-motion simulation validation of small magnitude active shallow crustal earthquakes in New Zealand

This article presents a comprehensive validation of the hybrid broadband ground-motion simulation approach (via the commonly used Graves and Pitarka method) in a New Zealand context with small magnitude point source ruptures using an extensive set of 5218 ground motions recorded at 212 sites from 479 active shallow crustal earthquakes across the country. Modifications to the simulation method infe
Authors
Robin L. Lee, Brendon A. Bradley, Peter J. Stafford, Robert Graves, Adrian Rodriguez-Marek

Verification of irrigated agricultural land acreage in 55 counties in Florida, 2013–21

In 2012, the Florida Legislature mandated that the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), Office of Agricultural Water Policy, promote an agricultural water-conservation program that would include a cost-share program and best management practices and that would aid the five water management districts in the development of consistent agricultural water-supply planning, as
Authors
Richard L. Marella, Joann F. Dixon

The influence of drying on the aeolian transport of river-sourced sand

Transgression and regression of water levels (stages) have impacted the evolution of aeolian landforms and sedimentary deposits throughout geologic history. We studied this phenomenon over a five-day period of reduced flow on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park, AZ, USA, in March 2021. These transient low flows exposed river-channel sand deposits to the air, causing progressive desicc
Authors
Joel B. Sankey, Joshua Caster, Alan Kasprak, Helen C. Fairley

Porosity, strength, and alteration – Towards a new volcano stability assessment tool using VNIR-SWIR reflectance spectroscopy

Volcano slope stability analysis is a critical component of volcanic hazard assessments and monitoring. However, traditional methods for assessing rock strength require physical samples of rock which may be difficult to obtain or characterize in bulk. Here, visible to shortwave infrared (350–2500 nm; VNIR–SWIR) reflected light spectroscopy on laboratory-tested rock samples from Ruapehu, Ohakuri, W
Authors
Gabor Kereszturi, Michael J. Heap, Lauren N. Schaefer, Herlan Darmawan, Frances M. Deegan, Ben M. Kennedy, Jean-Christophe Komorowski, Stuart Mead, Marina Rosas-Carbajal, Amy Ryan, Valentin R. Troll, Marlène C. Villeneuve, Thomas R. Walter

Understanding local adaptation to prepare populations for climate change

Adaptation within species to local environments is widespread in nature. Better understanding this local adaptation is critical to conserving biodiversity. However, conservation practices can rely on species’ trait averages or can broadly assume homogeneity across the range to inform management. Recent methodological advances for studying local adaptation provide the opportunity to fine-tune effor
Authors
Mariah H. Meek, Erik A. Beever, Soraia Barbosa, Sarah W. Fitzpatrick, Nicholas K. Fletcher, Cinnamon S. Mittan-Moreau, Brendan N. Reid, Shane C. Campbell-Staton, Nancy Green, Jessica J. Hellmann

Defining biologically relevant and hierarchically nested population units to inform wildlife management

Wildlife populations are increasingly affected by natural and anthropogenic changes that negatively alter biotic and abiotic processes at multiple spatiotemporal scales and therefore require increased wildlife management and conservation efforts. However, wildlife management boundaries frequently lack biological context and mechanisms to assess demographic data across the multiple spatiotemporal s
Authors
Michael O'Donnell, David R. Edmunds, Cameron L. Aldridge, Julie A. Heinrichs, Adrian P. Monroe, Peter S. Coates, Brian G. Prochazka, Steve E. Hanser, Lief A. Wiechman

Ingested toxicity of antimycin A to grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella and black carp Mylopharyngodon piceus in two carriers

Toxic baits are a potential control mechanism for nuisance carps, but rotenone-based baits for grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella have been ineffective. Failures have been attributed to the palatability of rotenone because innocuous training pellets are readily consumed prior to provision of piscicide baits. Several studies suggest antimycin A, a common alternative piscicide, typically applied dir
Authors
Patrick Kroboth, Duane Chapman, Jeffery Steevens, Curtis G. Byrd

Biofilms as potential reservoirs of stony coral tissue loss disease

Since 2014, corals throughout Florida’s Coral Reef have been plagued by an epizootic of unknown etiology, colloquially termed stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD). Although in Florida the movement of this waterborne coral disease has been consistent with natural transport via water currents, outbreaks in the Caribbean have been more sporadic, with infections occurring in locations inconsistent

Authors
James S. Evans, Valerie J. Paul, Christina A. Kellogg

Validation of a portable eDNA detection kit for invasive carps

Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is a rapid molecular detection technique that has been used as a diagnostic tool for detecting human and animal pathogens for over 20 years and is promising for detecting environmental DNA shed by invasive species. We designed a LAMP assay to detect the invasive carps, silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis)
Authors
Stacie A. Kageyama, Matthew Regh Hoogland, Tariq Tajjioui, Theresa M. Schreier, Richard A. Erickson, Christopher M. Merkes