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Publications

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

Filter Total Items: 16782

Using mark-recapture models to estimate survival from telemetry data: Chapter 9.2

Analyzing telemetry data within a mark–recapture framework is a powerful approach for estimating demographic parameters (e.g., survival and movement probabilities) that might otherwise be difficult to measure. Yet many studies using telemetry techniques focus on fish behavior and fail to recognize the potential of telemetry data to provide information about fish survival. The sophistication of bot
Authors
Russell W. Perry, Theodore R. Castro-Santos, Christopher M. Holbrook, Benjamin P. Sandford

Tidal and groundwater fluxes to a shallow, microtidal estuary: Constraining inputs through field observations and hydrodynamic modeling

Increased nutrient loading to estuaries has led to eutrophication, degraded water quality, and ecological transformations. Quantifying nutrient loads in systems with significant groundwater input can be difficult due to the challenge of measuring groundwater fluxes. We quantified tidal and freshwater fluxes over an 8-week period at the entrance of West Falmouth Harbor, Massachusetts, a eutrophic,
Authors
Neil K. Ganju, Melanie Hayn, Shih-Nan Chen, Robert W. Howarth, Patrick J. Dickhudt, Alfredo L. Aretxabaleta, Roxanne Marino

Unintended consequences and trade-offs of fish passage

We synthesized evidence for unintended consequences and trade-offs associated with the passage of fishes. Provisioning of fish passageways at dams and dam removals are being carried out increasingly as resource managers seek ways to reduce fragmentation of migratory fish populations and restore biodiversity and nature-like ecosystem services in tributaries altered by dams. The benefits of provisio
Authors
Robert L. McLaughlin, Eric R. Smyth, Theodore Castro-Santos, Michael L. Jones, Marten A. Koops, Thomas C. Pratt, Luis-Antonio Vélez-Espino

Density and Genetic Structure of Black Bears in Coastal South Carolina

No abstract available.
Authors
J. Michael Drewry, Frank T. van Manen, Deanna M. Ruth

Dealing with uncertainty when assessing fish passage through culvert road crossings

Assessing the passage of aquatic organisms through culvert road crossings has become increasingly common in efforts to restore stream habitat. Several federal and state agencies and local stakeholders have adopted assessment approaches based on literature-derived criteria for culvert impassability. However, criteria differ and are typically specific to larger-bodied fishes. In an analysis to prior
Authors
Gregory B. Anderson, Mary Freeman, Byron J. Freeman, Carrie A. Straight, Megan M. Hagler, James Peterson

Habitat fragmentation effects on annual survival of the federally protected eastern indigo snake

The eastern indigo snake (Drymarchon couperi) is a federally listed species, most recently threatened by habitat loss and habitat degradation. In an effort to estimate snake survival, a total of 103 individuals (59 males, 44 females) were followed using radio-tracking from January 1998 to March 2004 in three landscape types that had increasing levels of habitat fragmentation: (1) conservation core
Authors
D.R. Breininger, M. J. Mazerolle, M.R. Bolt, M.L. Legare, J.H. Drese, J. E. Hines

Effect of 17β-trenbolone on male and female reproduction in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica)

The anabolic steroid 17β trenbolone (17β-TB), a known endocrine disrupting chemical, may influence reproductive functions in avian wildlife. We evaluated the effects of dietary exposure to 17β-TB at 5 and 20 ppm on reproductive functional endpoints in Japanese quail during and after sexual maturation. In the male, 5 and 20 ppm treatments revealed no differences in body and testes weight, testes hi
Authors
Paula F.P. Henry, Valorie G. Akuffo, Yu Chen, Natalie K. Karouna-Renier, Daniel T. Sprague, Murray R. Bakst

C3 and C4 biomass allocation responses to elevated CO2 and nitrogen: contrasting resource capture strategies

Plants alter biomass allocation to optimize resource capture. Plant strategy for resource capture may have important implications in intertidal marshes, where soil nitrogen (N) levels and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) are changing. We conducted a factorial manipulation of atmospheric CO2 (ambient and ambient + 340 ppm) and soil N (ambient and ambient + 25 g m-2 year-1) in an intertidal marsh co
Authors
K.P. White, J.A. Langley, Donald R. Cahoon, J.P. Megonigal

Evaluating prediction uncertainty of areas contributing recharge to well fields of multiple water suppliers in the Hunt-Annaquatucket-Pettaquamscutt River Basins, Rhode Island

Three river basins in central Rhode Island-the Hunt River, the Annaquatucket River, and the Pettaquamscutt River-contain 15 production wells clustered in 4 pumping centers from which drinking water is withdrawn. These high-capacity production wells, operated by three water suppliers, are screened in coarse-grained deposits of glacial origin. The risk of contaminating water withdrawn by these well
Authors
Paul J. Friesz

Estimating basin lagtime and hydrograph-timing indexes used to characterize stormflows for runoff-quality analysis

A nationwide study to better define triangular-hydrograph statistics for use with runoff-quality and flood-flow studies was done by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration. Although the triangular hydrograph is a simple linear approximation, the cumulative distribution of stormflow with a triangular hydrograph is a curvilinear S-curve that closely a
Authors
Gregory E. Granato

A modeling framework for integrated harvest and habitat management of North American waterfowl: Case-study of northern pintail metapopulation dynamics

We developed and evaluated the performance of a metapopulation model enabling managers to examine, for the first time, the consequences of alternative management strategies involving habitat conditions and hunting on both harvest opportunity and carrying capacity (i.e., equilibrium population size in the absence of harvest) for migratory waterfowl at a continental scale. Our focus is on the northe
Authors
Brady J. Mattsson, Michael C. Runge, J.H. Devries, G.S. Boomer, J.M. Eadie, D.A. Haukos, J. P. Fleskes, D. N. Koons, Wayne E. Thogmartin, R. G. Clark

Groundwater quality and simulation of sources of water to wells in the Marsh Creek valley at the U.S. Geological Survey Northern Appalachian Research Laboratory, Tioga County, Pennsylvania

This report provides a November 2010 snapshot of groundwater quality and an analysis of the sources of water to wells at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Northern Appalachian Research Laboratory (NARL) near Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. The laboratory, which conducts fisheries research, currently (2011) withdraws 1,000 gallons per minute of high-quality groundwater from three wells completed in the gl
Authors
Dennis W. Risser, Kevin J. Breen