Publications
These publications showcase the significant science conducted in our Science Centers.
Filter Total Items: 16778
A seasonally ice-free Arctic Ocean during the Last Interglacial
The extent and seasonality of Arctic sea ice during the Last Interglacial (129,000 to 115,000 years before present) is poorly known. Sediment-based reconstructions have suggested extensive ice cover in summer, while climate model outputs indicate year-round conditions in the Arctic Ocean ranging from ice free to fully ice covered. Here we use microfossil records from across the central Arctic Ocea
Authors
Flor Vermassen, Matt O'Regan, Agatha de Boer, Freederik Schenk, Mohammad Razmjooei, Gabriel West, Thomas M. Cronin, Martin Jakobsson, Helen Coxall
Rare earth element sources, end-use demand trends, and hydrometallurgical separations
Rare earth elements are increasing in demand due to the movement towards electrification. In particular, there is a growing need for high performance rare earth permanent magnets for motors and generators used to convert electrical energy to mechanical energy, and vice versa. Current trends in rare earth demand are reviewed and discussed as the specific rare earth metal demand can influence the ch
Authors
James Vaughan, Vitor L. Gontijo, Rick Valenta, Elisa Alonso
A Great Escape: Resource availability and density-dependence shape population dynamics along trailing range edges
Populations along geographical range limits are often exposed to unsuitable climate and low resource availability relative to core populations. As such, there has been a renewed focus on understanding the factors that determine range limits to better predict how species will respond to global change. Using recent theory on range limits and classical understanding of density dependence, we evaluate
Authors
Alexej Sirén, Marketa Zimova, Chris Sutherland, John T. Finn, Jillian R. Kilborn, Rachel M. Cliché, Leighlan S. Prout, L. Scott Mills, Toni Lyn Morelli
Evaluation of alternative groundwater-withdrawal scenarios on water levels in Kingsbury Pond, upper Charles River Basin, eastern Massachusetts
Kingsbury Pond is a glacial kettle pond in the town of Norfolk, Massachusetts, in the Mill River Basin, which is part of the Upper Charles River Basin in eastern Massachusetts. The pond is hydraulically connected to the surrounding groundwater-flow system, and water levels in the pond fluctuate in response to recharge to the aquifer from precipitation and wastewater return flows through septic sys
Authors
Paul M. Barlow, Paul J. Friesz, Jeffrey R. Barbaro
Waterfowl show spatiotemporal trends in influenza A H5 and H7 infections but limited taxonomic variation
Influenza A viruses in wild birds pose threats to the poultry industry, wild birds, and human health under certain conditions. Of particular importance are wild waterfowl, which are the primary reservoir of low pathogenicity influenza viruses that ultimately cause high pathogenicity outbreaks in poultry farms. Despite much work on the drivers of influenza A virus prevalence, the underlying viral s
Authors
Cody M. Kent, Sarah N. Bevins, Jennifer M. Mullinax, Jeffery D. Sullivan, Diann Prosser
Twenty-year record of salt marsh elevation dynamics in response to sea-level rise and storm-driven barrier island geomorphic processes: Fire Island, New York, USA
Twenty years of surface elevation table and marker horizon monitoring at three sites along the Fire Island (New York, USA) barrier island indicates that rates of marsh surface elevation change (Watch Hill, 4.4 mm year−1; Hospital Point, 3.5 mm year−1; Great Gun, − 0.3 mm year−1) were lower than the rate of monthly mean sea-level rise during the 2002–2022 monitoring period (5.1 mm year−1, NOAA Sand
Authors
Charles T. Roman, James C. Lynch, Donald Cahoon
Ten best practices for effective phenological research
The number and diversity of phenological studies has increased rapidly in recent years. Innovative experiments, field studies, citizen science projects, and analyses of newly available historical data are contributing insights that advance our understanding of ecological and evolutionary responses to the environment, particularly climate change. However, many phenological data sets have peculiarit
Authors
Richard Primack, Amanda S. Gallinat, Elizabeth R. Ellwood, Theresa M. Crimmins, Mark D. Schwartz, Michelle Staudinger, Abraham J. Miller-Rushing
The Chesapeake Bay Land Change Model (CBLCM): Simulating future land use scenarios and potential impacts on water quality
The Chesapeake Bay Land Change Model (CBLCM) is an open-source pseudo-cellular automata land change model tailored for loose coupling with watershed models. The CBLCM simulates infill development, residential and commercial development, natural land and agricultural land conversion, and growth served by sewer or septic wastewater treatment. The CBLCM is unique among land change models by simulatin
Authors
Peter Claggett, Labeeb Ahmed, Frederick Irani, Sarah McDonald, Renee Thompson
Closing the gap between science and management of cold-water refuges in rivers and streams
Human activities and climate change threaten coldwater organisms in freshwater ecosystems by causing rivers and streams to warm, increasing the intensity and frequency of warm temperature events, and reducing thermal heterogeneity. Cold-water refuges are discrete patches of relatively cool water that are used by coldwater organisms for thermal relief and short-term survival. Globally, cohesive man
Authors
Francine H. Mejia, Valerie Ouellet, Martin Briggs, Stephanie M. Carlson, Rose Casas-Mulet, Mollie Chapman, Matthias J. Collins, Stephen J. Dugdale, Joseph L. Ebersole, Danielle M. Frechette, Aimee H. Fullerton, Carol-Anne Gillis, Zachary Johnson, Christa Kelleher, Barret L. Kurylyk, Rebecca Lave, Benjamin Letcher, Knut M. Myrvold, Tracie-Lynn Nadeau, Helen Neville, Herve Piégay, Kathryn E. Smith, Diego Tonolla, Christian E. Torgersen
Crustal structure across the central Dead Sea Transform and surrounding areas: Insights into tectonic processes in continental transforms
New geophysical profiles across the central Dead Sea Transform (DST) near the Sea of Galilee, Israel, and surrounding highlands, augmented by static stress modeling, allow us to study continental transform plate deformation. The DST separates a ∼10 km thick sedimentary column above a thinned (16–23 km) crust to the west from a ∼7 km column above a ∼30-km thick crust to the east. Crustal thinning s
Authors
Uri S. ten Brink, Eldad Levi, Claudia Flores, Ivan Koulakov, Nadav Bronshtein, Zvi Ben-Avraham
Assessment of factors that influence human water demand for Providence, Rhode Island
To determine the most relevant climatic and economic factors driving water demand for Providence, Rhode Island, and to further the understanding of human interactions with water availability, linear regression models were developed to estimate single-family and multifamily residential, commercial, and industrial water demand for the service area of Providence Water for 2014–21. Monthly water use d
Authors
Timothy J. Stagnitta, Laura Medalie
Persistence of native riverine fishes downstream from two hydropower dams with contrasting operations
Identifying hydropower dam operations that lessen detrimental effects on downstream fauna could inform conservation strategies for native fishes. We compared occurrence of native fishes in 20 shoal habitats downstream from two differently operated hydropower dams in the Coosa River system, Georgia, USA. Species richness averaged 7 and 11, respectively, in surveys downstream from (1) a hydropeaking
Authors
Mary Freeman, Brett Albanese, Phillip M. Bumpers, Megan M. Hagler, Andrew J. Nagy, Byron J. Freeman, Seth J. Wenger