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Mercury isotope values in shoreline spiders reveal transfer of aquatic mercury sources to terrestrial food webs
The transfer of aquatic contaminants, including mercury (Hg), to terrestrial food webs is an often-overlooked exposure pathway to terrestrial animals. While research has implemented the use of shoreline spiders to assess aquatic to terrestrial Hg transfer, it is unclear whether Hg sources, estimated from isotope ratios, can be successfully resolved to inform site assessments and remedy effectivene
Authors
Sarah E. Janssen, Christopher James Kotalik, Collin Eagles-Smith, Gale B. Beaubien, Joel C. Hoffman, Greg Peterson, Marc A. Mills, David Walters
Converting CRP grasslands to cropland, grazing land, or hayland: Effects on breeding bird abundances in the northern Great Plains of the United States
Recent declines of grassland bird populations in North America are linked to habitat loss and fragmentation associated with agricultural practices. One tool used to conserve soil, water and wildlife habitat on agricultural fields is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), the largest agricultural conservation program in the United States. Managers and conservationi
Authors
Lawrence Igl, Deborah A. Buhl, Max Post van der Burg, Douglas H. Johnson
Using geospatial analysis to guide marsh restoration in Chesapeake Bay and beyond
Coastal managers are facing imminent decisions regarding the fate of coastal wetlands, given ongoing threats to their persistence. There is a need for objective methods to identify which wetland parcels are candidates for restoration, monitoring, protection, or acquisition due to limited resources and restoration techniques. Here, we describe a new spatially comprehensive data set for Chesapeake B
Authors
Neil K. Ganju, Kate Ackerman, Zafer Defne
Native amphibian toxin reduces invasive crayfish feeding with potential benefits to stream biodiversity
BackgroundBiodiversity is generally reduced when non-native species invade an ecosystem. Invasive crayfish, Procambarus clarkii, populate California freshwater streams, and in the Santa Monica Mountains (Los Angeles, USA), their introduction has led to trophic cascades due to omnivorous feeding behavior and a rapid rate of population growth. The native California newt, Taricha torosa, possesses a
Authors
Gary M. Bucciarelli, Sierra J. Smith, Justin J. Choe, Phoebe D. Shin, Robert N. Fisher, Lee B. Kats
Approaches for assessing flows, concentrations, and loads of highway and urban runoff and receiving-stream stormwater in southern New England with the Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM)
The Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM) was designed to help quantify the risk of adverse effects of runoff on receiving waters, the potential need for mitigation measures, and the potential effectiveness of such management measures for reducing these risks. SELDM is calibrated using representative hydrological and water-quality input statistics. This report by the U.S. Geologi
Authors
Gregory E. Granato, Alana B. Spaetzel, Lillian C. Jeznach
So, you want to build a decision-support tool? Assessing successes, barriers, and lessons learned for tool design and development
The purpose of this study is to increase understanding of how the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is developing decision-support tools (DSTs) by documenting successes and barriers across all levels of USGS scientific tool creation and outreach. These findings will help streamline future tool design and development processes. We provide a synthesis of lessons learned and best practices across a spect
Authors
Amanda D. Stoltz, Amanda E. Cravens, Nicole M. Herman-Mercer, Chung Yi Hou
Design and utility of automatous, floating bait delivery platform for applying fish management baits
Using manufactured baits to attract fish to passive gear is common practice in fisheries management. The most common method is using hoop nets baited with soybean cakes or waste cheese to increase captures of multiple catfish species; however, these techniques are limited to how often bait is added, the type of bait, gear compatibility, and oversaturation of bait during soak time. The U.S. Geologi
Authors
James J. Wamboldt
Species management research program [postcard]
Executive SummaryOur nation’s fish and wildlife species face increasingly complex threats and challenges. Ensuring a healthy future for these species benefits all Americans, contributing to the abundance of our food supply, the well-being of diverse cultures and communities, and the future of biodiverse ecosystems. The U.S. Geological Survey Species Management Research Program (SMRP) plays a criti
Authors
Melanie J. Steinkamp, Mona Khalil, Sally House, Mark Wimer, David H. Hu, Michael J. Adams
Southern (California) sea otter population status and trends at San Nicolas Island, 2020–2023
The population of southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) at San Nicolas Island, California, has been monitored annually since the translocation of 140 southern sea otters to the island was completed in 1990. Monitoring efforts have varied in frequency and type across years. In 2017, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initiated a southern sea otter monitoring and research pla
Authors
Julie L. Yee, Joseph A. Tomoleoni, Michael C. Kenner, Jessica A. Fujii, Gena B. Bentall, Michelle M. Staedler, Brian B. Hatfield
Transferring deep learning models for hydrographic feature extraction from IfSAR data in Alaska
The National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) managed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is being updated with higher-quality feature representations through efforts that derive hydrography from 3DEP HR elevation datasets. Deriving hydrography from elevation through traditional flow routing and interactive methods is a complex, time-consuming process that must be tailored for different hydrogeomorphic
Authors
Larry V. Stanislawski, Nattapon Jaroenchai, Shaowen Wang, Ethan J. Shavers, Alexander Duffy, Philip T. Thiem, Zhe Jiang, Adam Camerer
Generalization quality metrics to support multiscale mapping: Hausdorff and average distance between polylines
Large geospatial datasets must often be generalized for analysis and display at reduced scales. Automated methods including artificial intelligence and deep learning are being applied to this problem, but the results are often analyzed on the basis of limited and subjective measures. To better support automation, a project is underway to develop a robust Python toolkit for computing objective metr
Authors
Barry J. Kronenfeld, Larry Stanislawski, Barbara P. Buttenfield, Ethan J. Shavers
Toward conciliation in the habitat fragmentation and biodiversity debate
Landscape-scale conservation planning is urgent given the extent of anthropogenic land-use change and its pervasive impacts on Earth’s biodiversity. However, such efforts are hindered by disagreements over the effects of habitat fragmentation on biodiversity that have persisted since the mid-1970s. We contend that nearly 50 years later, these disagreements have become a locked-in debate characteri
Authors
Jonathon Joseph Valente, Dustin G. Gannon, Jessica Hightower, Hankyu Kim, Kara G. Leimberger, Rossana Macedo, Josée Rousseau, Matthew Weldy, Rachel Zitomer, Lenore Fahrig, Robert J. Fletcher, Jianguo Wu, Matthew G. Betts