Publications
These publications showcase the significant science conducted in our Science Centers.
Filter Total Items: 16783
Earth history and the passerine superradiation
Avian diversification has been influenced by global climate change, plate tectonic movements, and mass extinction events. However, the impact of these factors on the diversification of the hyperdiverse perching birds (passerines) is unclear because family level relationships are unresolved and the timing of splitting events among lineages is uncertain. We analyzed DNA data from 4060 nuclear loci a
Authors
Carl H Oliveros, Daniel J Field, Daniel T Ksepka, F Keith Barker, Alexandre Aleixo, Michael J Andersen, Per Alstrom, Brett W Benz, Edward L Braun, Michael J Braun, Gustavo A Bravo, Robb T Brumfield, Terry Chesser, Santiago Claramunt, Joel Cracraft, Andrés M. Cuervo, Elizabeth P. Derryberry, Travis C. Glenn, Michael G. Harvey, Peter A. Hosner, Leo Joseph, Rebecca Kimball, Andrew L. Mack, Colin M. Miskelly, A. Townsend Peterson, Mark B. Robbins, Frederick H. Sheldon, Luís Fábio Silveira, Brian T. Smith, Noor D. White, Robert G. Moyle, Brant C. Faircloth
Simulating the effects of climate variability on waterbodies and wetland-dependent birds in the Prairie Pothole Region
Understanding how bird populations respond to changes in waterbody availability in the climatically variable Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North America hinges on being able to couple hydrological and climate modeling to represent potential future landscapes. Model experiments run with the Pothole Complex Hydrologic Model using downscaled climate data (variables relating to precipitation, temper
Authors
N.E. Mcintyre, G. Liu, J. Gorzo, C.K. Wright, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, F. Schwartz
Geology of the Mineral and Lake Anna West Quadrangles, Virginia
This map product is a cooperator series publication and, as such, does not have a specific abstract.
Geologic mapping for this map product was completed between 2014 and 2017, with most of the field work occurring between January 2016 and May 2017. Numerous foot traverses were completed along creeks and roads throughout the field area; the shore of Lake Anna was accessed by kayak to provide addit
Authors
Mark W. Carter, William C. Burton, Ryan J. McAleer, Mary DiGiacomo-Cohen, R. Tyler Sauer
Windows to the deep 2018: Exploration of the southeast US Continental margin
Windows to the Deep 2018: Exploration of the Southeast US Continental Margin was a 36-day expedition aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to acquire data on priority exploration areas identified by the ocean management and scientific communities. This expedition involved high-resolution multibeam sonar mapping and ROV dives, ranging from 340 m to 3,400 m depth, across the southeast US continental mar
Authors
Leslie R Sautter, Cheryl L. Morrison, Kasey Cantwell, Derek Sowers, Elizabeth Lobecker
Syn-collisional exhumation of hot middle crust in the Adirondack Mountains (New York, USA): Implications for extensional orogenesis in the southern Grenville province
Extensional deformation in the lower to middle continental crust is increasingly
recognized and shown to have significant impact on crustal architecture, magma
emplacement, fluid flow, and ore deposits. Application of the concept of extensional
strain to ancient orogenic systems, like the Grenville province of eastern North
America, has helped decipher the structural evolution of these regions. Th
Authors
Sean Regan, Gregory J. Walsh, Michael L. Williams, Jeffrey R. Chiarenzelli, Megan E. Toft, Ryan J. McAleer
Geology and biostratigraphy of the Upper Floridan aquifer in the greater Savannah region, Georgia and South Carolina
The Upper Floridan aquifer (UFA) of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida has been considered a regionally continuous stratigraphic sequence of Eocene to Miocene carbonate strata, with documented unconformities based on lithology and biostratigraphy. As part of an investigation of the regional subsurface geologic framework in the Atlantic Coastal Plain Province, three deep co
Authors
Jean Self-Trail, Mercer Parker, John T. Haynes, Arthur P. Schultz, Paul. F. Huddleston
Emerging investigator series: Atmospheric cycling of indium in the northeastern United States
Indium is critical to the global economy and is used in an increasing number of electronics and new energy technologies. However, little is known about its environmental behavior or impacts, including its concentrations or cycling in the atmosphere. This study determined indium concentrations in air particulate matter at five locations across the northeastern United States over the course of one y
Authors
Sarah Jane White, Harold F. Hemond
Establishing molecular methods to quantitatively profile gastric diet items of fish—Application to the invasive blue catfish (ictalurus furcatus)
Understanding the diet of invasive species helps researchers to more accurately assess the health, survivorship, growth, and stability of an invasive fish species, as well as their effects on native populations. Techniques capable of identifying multiple prey species from fish stomach contents have been developed. In this study, a multi-locus metabarcoding approach was used to identify fish and in
Authors
Deborah D. Iwanowicz, W. Bane Schill, Lakyn R. Sanders, Tim Groves, Mary C. Groves
Mid-latitude net precipitation decreased with Arctic warming during the Holocene
The latitudinal temperature gradient between the Equator and the poles influences atmospheric stability, the strength of the jet stream and extratropical cyclones. Recent global warming is weakening the annual surface gradient in the Northern Hemisphere by preferentially warming the high latitudes; however, the implications of these changes for mid-latitude climate remain uncertain. Here we show t
Authors
Cody Routson, Nicholas McKay, Darrell Kaufman, Hugues Goosse, Bryan Shuman, Jessica Rodysill, Toby Ault
How lipid content and temperature affect American shad (Alosa sapidissima) attempt rate and sprint swimming: Implications for overcoming migration barriers
How seasonal effects such as temperature increases and reduced lipid content affect the ability of anadromous fishes to traverse high-velocity barriers and sprint swimming is poorly understood. We evaluated American shad (Alosa sapidissima) swimming performance in a flume against high flow velocities (2.5–3.7 m·s−1) during the upstream migration period (April–May; temperatures 11.1–21.4 °C) to det
Authors
Shannon Michael Bayse, Stephen D. McCormick, Theodore R. Castro-Santos
Confronting uncertainty: Contributions of the wildlife profession to the broader scientific community
Most wildlife professionals are engaged in 1 or both of 2 basic endeavors: science and management. These endeavors are a focus of many other disciplines, leading to widespread sharing of general methodologies. Wildlife professionals have appropriately borrowed and assimilated many methods developed primarily in other disciplines but have also led the development of one class of quantitative method
Authors
James D. Nichols
Scale‐dependent effects of isolation on seasonal patch colonisation by two Neotropical freshwater fishes
The metapopulation paradigm has been central to improve the conservation and management of natural populations. However, despite the large number of studies on metapopulation dynamics, the overall support for the relationships on which the paradigm is based has not been strong. Here, we studied the occupancy dynamics of two Neotropical fishes (i.e., Pimelodella gracilis and Leporinus friderici) to
Authors
Jerry Penha, Karlo Y. P. Hakamada, James E. Hines, James D. Nichols