Publications
These publications showcase the significant science conducted in our Science Centers.
Filter Total Items: 16783
Sea level driven marsh expansion in a coupled model of marsh erosion and migration
Coastal wetlands are among the most valuable ecosystems on Earth, where ecosystem services such as flood protection depend nonlinearly on wetland size and are threatened by sea level rise and coastal development. Here we propose a simple model of marsh migration into adjacent uplands and couple it with existing models of seaward edge erosion and vertical soil accretion to explore how ecosystem con
Authors
Matthew L. Kirwan, David C. Walters, William G. Reay, Joel A. Carr
Subsea ice-bearing permafrost on the U.S. Beaufort Margin: 2. Borehole constraints
Borehole logging data from legacy wells directly constrain the contemporary distribution of subsea permafrost in the sedimentary section at discrete locations on the U.S. Beaufort Margin and complement recent regional analyses of exploration seismic data to delineate the permafrost's offshore extent. Most usable borehole data were acquired on a ∼500 km stretch of the margin and within 30 km of the
Authors
Carolyn D. Ruppel, Bruce M. Herman, Laura L. Brothers, Patrick E. Hart
Subsea ice-bearing permafrost on the U.S. Beaufort Margin: 1. Minimum seaward extent defined from multichannel seismic reflection data
Subsea ice-bearing permafrost (IBPF) and associated gas hydrate in the Arctic have been subject to a warming climate and saline intrusion since the last transgression at the end of the Pleistocene. The consequent degradation of IBPF is potentially associated with significant degassing of dissociating gas hydrate deposits. Previous studies interpreted the distribution of subsea permafrost on the U.
Authors
Laura L. Brothers, Bruce M. Herman, Patrick E. Hart, Carolyn D. Ruppel
Carbon dioxide fluxes reflect plant zonation and belowground biomass in a coastal marsh
Coastal wetlands are major global carbon sinks; however, they are heterogeneous and dynamic ecosystems. To characterize spatial and temporal variability in a New England salt marsh, greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes were compared among major plant‐defined zones during growing seasons. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes were compared in two mensurative experiments during summer months (2012–20
Authors
Serena Moseman-Valtierra, Omar I. Abdul-Aziz, Jianwu Tang, Khandker S. Ishtiaq, Kate Morkeski, Jordan Mora, Ryan K. Quinn, Rose M. Martin, Katharine Egan, Elizabeth Q. Brannon, Joanna C. Carey, Kevin D. Kroeger
Chewing lice of swan geese (Anser cygnoides): New host-parasite associations
Chewing lice (Phthiraptera) that parasitize the globally threatened swan goose Anser cygnoides have been long recognized since the early 19th century, but those records were probably biased towards sampling of captive or domestic geese due to the small population size and limited distribution of its wild hosts. To better understand the lice species parasitizing swan geese that are endemic to East
Authors
Chang-Yong Choi, John Y. Takekawa, Diann J. Prosser, Lacy M. Smith, Craig R. Ely, Anthony D. Fox, Lei Cao, Xin Wang, Nyambayar Batbayar, Tseveenmayadag Natsagdorj, Xiangming Xiao
Metabarcoding of fecal samples to determine herbivore diets: A case study of the endangered Pacific pocket mouse
Understanding the diet of an endangered species illuminates the animal’s ecology, habitat requirements, and conservation needs. However, direct observation of diet can be difficult, particularly for small, nocturnal animals such as the Pacific pocket mouse (Heteromyidae: Perognathus longimembris pacificus). Very little is known of the dietary habits of this federally endangered rodent, hindering m
Authors
Deborah D. Iwanowicz, Amy G. Vandergast, Robert S. Cornman, Cynthia R. Adams, Joshua R. Kohn, Robert N. Fisher, Cheryl S. Brehme
Pb-Sr isotopic and geochemical constraints on sources and processes of lead contamination in well waters and soil from former fruit orchards, Pennsylvania, USA: A legacy of anthropogenic activities
Isotopic discrimination can be an effective tool in establishing a direct link between sources of Pb contamination and the presence of anomalously high concentrations of Pb in waters, soils, and organisms. Residential wells supplying water containing up to 1600 ppb Pb to houses built on the former Mohr orchards commercial site, near Allentown, PA, were evaluated to discern anthropogenic from geoge
Authors
Robert A. Ayuso, Nora K. Foley
A comparative examination of cortisol effects on muscle myostatin and HSP90 gene expression in salmonids
Cortisol, the primary corticosteroid in teleost fishes, is released in response to stressors to elicit local
functions, however little is understood regarding muscle-specific responses to cortisol in these fishes.
In mammals, glucocorticoids strongly regulate the muscle growth inhibitor, myostatin, via glucocorticoid
response elements (GREs) leading to muscle atrophy. Bioinformatics methods sugges
Authors
Nicholas J. Galt, Stephen D. McCormick, Jacob Michael Froehlich, Peggy R. Biga
Effects of land use and sample location on nitrate-stream flow hysteresis descriptors during storm events
The U.S. Geological Survey's New Jersey and Iowa Water Science Centers deployed ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometric sensors at water-quality monitoring sites on the Passaic and Pompton Rivers at Two Bridges, New Jersey, on Toms River at Toms River, New Jersey, and on the North Raccoon River near Jefferson, Iowa to continuously measure in-stream nitrate plus nitrite as nitrogen (NO3 + NO2) conce
Authors
Lawrence S. Feinson, Jacob Gibs, Thomas E. Imbrigiotta, Jessica D. Garrett
Prediction of pesticide toxicity in Midwest streams
The occurrence of pesticide mixtures is common in stream waters of the United States, and the impact of multiple compounds on aquatic organisms is not well understood. Watershed Regressions for Pesticides (WARP) models were developed to predict Pesticide Toxicity Index (PTI) values in unmonitored streams in the Midwest and are referred to as WARP-PTI models. The PTI is a tool for assessing the rel
Authors
Megan E. Shoda, Wesley W. Stone, Lisa H. Nowell
Karst
Karst areas present unique hydrologic and hydrogeological characteristics that
are often challenging to investigate. These characteristics are largely dependent
on the extent of development of solution conduits within the underlying bedrock,
and the resulting integration of surface and subsurface drainage components
into a karst aquifer system. The investigation and characterization of
karst aquif
Authors
C.J. Taylor, D.H. Doctor
Bayesian cross-validation for model evaluation and selection, with application to the North American Breeding Bird Survey
The analysis of ecological data has changed in two important ways over the last 15 years. The development and easy availability of Bayesian computational methods has allowed and encouraged the fitting of complex hierarchical models. At the same time, there has been increasing emphasis on acknowledging and accounting for model uncertainty. Unfortunately, the ability to fit complex models has outstr
Authors
William A. Link, John R. Sauer