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Publications

These publications showcase the significant science conducted in our Science Centers.

Filter Total Items: 16778

Comparison of microscopy and metabarcoding to identify pollen used by the critically endangered rusty patched bumble bee, Bombus affinis

Taxonomic analysis of pollen collected by bees can provide insights into their host plant use, providing information about the plant species selected for targeted conservation strategies. The two main identification approaches used are morphological analysis of pollen samples affixed to microscope slides (i.e., microscopic palynology) and molecular analysis of samples. Both methods are widely used
Authors
Michael P. Simanonok, Deborah D. Iwanowicz, Clayton D Raines, Thomas J. Wood, Rufus Isaacs, Robert S. Cornman, Clint R.V. Otto

Environmental implications of Ptolemaic Period rodents and shrews from the Sacred Falcon Necropolis at Quesna, Egypt (Mammalia: Muridae and Soricidae)

BackgroundAssemblages of mummified and preserved animals in necropoleis of Ptolemaic Period Egypt (ca. 332–30 BC) document some aspects of the ceremonial and religious practices of the ancient Egyptians, but study of these animal remains can also provide insight into the local environments in which the animals and humans lived.ResultsExcavations of the Sacred Falcon Necropolis at Quesna in the Nil
Authors
Neal Woodman, Salima Ikram, Joanne Rowland

Sharing land via keystone structure: Retaining naturally regenerated trees may efficiently benefit birds in plantations

Meeting food/wood demands with increasing human population and per-capita consumption is a pressing conservation issue, and is often framed as a choice between land sparing and land sharing. Although most empirical studies comparing the efficacy of land sparing and sharing supported land sparing, land sharing may be more efficient if its performance is tested by rigorous experimental design and ha
Authors
Yuichi Yamaura, Akira Unno, Andy Royle

Soil elevation change in mangrove forests and marshes of the greater Everglades: A regional synthesis of surface elevation table-marker horizon (SET-MH) data

Coastal wetlands adapt to rising seas via feedbacks that build soil elevation, which lead to wetland stability. However, accelerated rates of sea-level rise can exceed soil elevation gain, leading to wetland instability and loss. Thus, there is a pressing need to better understand regional and landscape variability in rates of wetland soil elevation change. Here, we conducted a regional synthesis
Authors
Laura Feher, Michael Osland, Karen L. McKee, Kevin R.T. Whelan, Carlos A. Coronado-Molina, Fred H. Sklar, Ken Krauss, Rebecca Howard, Donald Cahoon, James C. Lynch, Lukas Lamb-Wotton, Tiffany G. Troxler, Jeremy R. Conrad, Gordon Anderson, William C. Vervaeke, Thomas J. Smith III, Nicole Cormier, Andrew From, Larry Allain

Bottled water contaminant exposures and potential human effects

Bottled water (BW) consumption in the United States and globally has increased amidst heightened concern about environmental contaminant exposures and health risks in drinking water supplies, despite a paucity of directly comparable, environmentally-relevant contaminant exposure data for BW. This study provides insight into exposures and cumulative risks to human health from inorganic/organic/micr
Authors
Paul M. Bradley, Kristin M. Romanok, Kelly L. Smalling, Michael J. Focazio, Nicola Evans, Suzanne C. Fitzpatrick, Carrie E Givens, Stephanie Gordon, James L. Gray, Emily M. Green, Dale W. Griffin, Michelle Hladik, Leslie K. Kanagy, John T. Lisle, Keith Loftin, R. Blaine McCleskey, Elizabeth Medlock-Kakaley, Ana Navas-Acien, David A. Roth, Paul F. South, Christopher P. Weis

Note to Banders, December 2022

Note to All Banders was a special extra communication with more urgent information relevant to banders. This Note to All Banders was sent to U.S. bird banders on December 20, 2022. This note includes holiday greetings and a review of the 2022 successes at the Bird Banding Laboratory. Throughout 2022, the BBL increased communication, engagement, and collaboration, within the Eastern Ecological Scie
Authors
Antonio Celis-Murillo

Quantifying permanent uplift due to lithosphere-hotspot interaction

Vertical motions that accompany the passage of the lithosphere over a mantle hotspot can shed light on the nature of the hotspot and its effect on the lithosphere. However, quantifying the temporal vertical and spatial extent, is challenging due to the paucity of evidence in the geological record. Here, we utilize dense seismic and well data covering the intersection of the Great Meteor Hotspot (G
Authors
Guy Lang, Uri S. ten Brink

GPS data from 2019 and 2020 campaigns in the Chesapeake Bay region towards quantifying vertical land motions

The Chesapeake Bay is a region along the eastern coast of the United States where sea-level rise is confounded with poorly resolved rates of land subsidence, thus new constraints on vertical land motions (VLM) in the region are warranted. In this paper, we provide a description of two campaign-style Global Positioning System (GPS) datasets, explain the methods used in data collection and validatio
Authors
Gabrielle Troia, Sarah Stamps, R. Russell Lotspeich, James M. Duda, Kurt J. McCoy, William Moore, Philippe Hensel, Ryan Hippenstiel, Thomas McKenna, David C. Andreasen, Charles Geoghegan, Thomas P Ulizo, Madeline Kronebusch, Joel A. Carr, David Walters, Neil Winn

PHREEQ-N-AMDTreat+REYs water-quality modeling tools to evaluate acid mine drainage treatment strategies for recovery of rare-earth elements

The PHREEQ-N-AMDTreat+REYs water-quality modeling tools have the fundamental capability to simulate aqueous chemical reactions and predict the formation of metal-rich solids during the treatment of acid mine drainage (AMD). These new user-friendly, publicly available tools were expanded from the PHREEQ-N-AMDTreat tools to include the precipitation of rare-earth elements plus yttrium (REYs) and the
Authors
Charles A. Cravotta

Determination and prediction of rare earth element eeochemical associations in acid mine drainage treatment wastes

Acid mine drainage (AMD) has been proposed by various researchers as a novel source of rare earth elements (REE), a group of elements that include critical metals for clean energy and modern technologies. REE tend to be sequestered in the Fe-Al-Mn-rich solids produced during the treatment of AMD. These solids are typically managed as waste, but could be a low-cost, readily available REE source. He
Authors
B.C. Hedin, Charles A. Cravotta, M.Y. Stuckman, C.L. Lopano, R.C. Capo, R.S. Hedin

Effects of release techniques on parent-reared whooping cranes in the eastern migratory population

Reintroduction of an Eastern Migratory Population (EMP) of whooping cranes (Grus americana) in the United States by release of captive-reared individuals began in 2001. As of 2020, the EMP has approximately 21 breeding pairs and has had limited recruitment of wild-hatched individuals, thus captive-reared juveniles continue to be released into breeding areas in Wisconsin to maintain the population.
Authors
Hillary L. Thompson, M. Susanna Mann, Marianne Wellington, Kim H. Boardman, Glenn H. Olsen

Preliminary evidence of anticoagulant rodenticide exposure in American kestrels (Falco sparverius) in the western United States

Although there is extensive evidence of declines in the American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) population across North America, the cause of such declines remains a mystery. One hypothesized driver of decline is anticoagulant rodenticide (AR) exposure, which could potentially cause mortality or reduced fitness. We investigated AR exposure in wild American Kestrels in Utah, USA. We collected and teste
Authors
Evan R. Buechley, Dave Oleyar, Jesse Watson, Jennifer Bridgeman, Steven Volker, David A. Goldade, Catherine E. Swift, Barnett A. Rattner