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

Filter Total Items: 16784

Baseline glucocorticoids are drivers of body mass gain in a diving seabird

Life-history trade-offs are influenced by variation in individual state, with individuals in better condition often completing life-history stages with greater success. Although resource accrual significantly impacts key life-history decisions such as the timing of reproduction, little is known about the underlying mechanisms driving resource accumulation. Baseline corticosterone (CORT, the primar
Authors
Holly Hennin, Alicia Berlin, Oliver P. Love

Mercury remediation in wetland sediment using zero-valent iron and granular activated carbon

Wetlands are hotspots for production of toxic methylmercury (MeHg) that can bioaccumulate in the food web. The objective of this study was to determine whether the application of zero-valent iron (ZVI) or granular activated carbon (GAC) to wetland sediment could reduce MeHg production and bioavailability to benthic organisms. Field mesocosms were installed in a wetland fringing Hodgdon Pond (Maine
Authors
Ariel S. Lewis, Thomas G. Huntington, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Aria Amirbahman

Integrating geological archives and climate models for the mid-Pliocene warm period

The mid-Pliocene Warm Period (mPWP) offers an opportunity to understand a warmer-than-present world and assess the predictive ability of numerical climate models. Environmental reconstruction and climate modelling are crucial for understanding the mPWP, and the synergy of these two, often disparate, fields has proven essential in confirming features of the past and in turn building confidence in p
Authors
Alan M. Haywood, Harry J. Dowsett, Aisling M. Dolan

Bioaccessibility tests accurately estimate bioavailability of lead to quail

Hazards of soil-borne Pb to wild birds may be more accurately quantified if the bioavailability of that Pb is known. To better understand the bioavailability of Pb to birds, we measured blood Pb concentrations in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) fed diets containing Pb-contaminated soils. Relative bioavailabilities were expressed by comparison with blood Pb concentrations in quail fed a Pb aceta
Authors
W. Nelson Beyer, Nicholas T Basta, Rufus L. Chaney, Paula F. P. Henry, David Mosby, Barnett A. Rattner, Kirk G. Scheckel, Dan Sprague, John Weber

Observations of recruitment and colonization by tunicates and associated invertebrates using giant one-meter2 recruitment plates at Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Large recruitment plates measuring 1 × 1 m were deployed over an 18-month period from September 2013 to March 2015 for the purpose of documenting recruitment and colonization processes of marine invertebrate species at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Each side of two plates was subdivided into 16 subareas (25 × 25 cm), and an observational strategy was developed whereby, at approximately two-week inter
Authors
Page C. Valentine, M.R. Carman, Dann S. Blackwood

The Laramide Caborca orogenic gold belt of northwestern Sonora, Mexico; white mica 40Ar/39Ar geochronology from gold-rich quartz veins

Introduction This report contains reduced 40Ar/39Ar geochronological data from 63 hydrothermal white mica samples separated from orogenic gold-rich quartz veins in the Laramide Caborca orogenic gold belt (COGB) of northwestern Sonora, Mexico. The main objective of this report is to present the sample locations, 40Ar/39Ar experimental methodology, and 40Ar/39Ar isotopic data. We include age spectra
Authors
Aldo Izaguirre, Michael J. Kunk, Alexander Iriondo, Ryan J. McAleer, Juan Antonio Caballero-Martinez, Enrique Espinosa-Arámburu

Effects of permafrost aggradation on peat properties as determined from a pan-Arctic synthesis of plant macrofossils

Permafrost dynamics play an important role in high-latitude peatland carbon balance and are key to understanding the future response of soil carbon stocks. Permafrost aggradation can control the magnitude of the carbon feedback in peatlands through effects on peat properties. We compiled peatland plant macrofossil records for the northern permafrost zone (515 cores from 280 sites) and classified s
Authors
Claire C. Treat, Miriam C. Jones, P. Camill, A. Gallego-Sala, M. Garneau, Jennifer W. Harden, G. Hugelius, E.S. Klein, Ulla Kokfelt, P. Kuhry, Julie Loisel, J.H. Mathijssen, J.A. O'Donnell, P.O. Oksanen, T.M. Ronkainen, A. B. K. Sannel, J. J. Talbot, C.M. Tarnocal, M. Valiranta

Evaluating a portable cylindrical bait trap to capture diamondback terrapins in salt marsh

Diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin) are currently in decline across much of their historical range, and demographic data on a regional scale are needed to identify where their populations are at greatest risk. Because terrapins residing in salt marshes are difficult to capture, we designed a cylindrical bait trap (CBT) that could be deployed in shallow tidal waters. From 2003 to 2006, tria
Authors
Paula F. P. Henry, G. Michael Haramis, Daniel D. Day

Ascent ability of brown trout, Salmo trutta, and two Iberian cyprinids − Iberian barbel, Luciobarbus bocagei, and northern straight-mouth nase, Pseudochondrostoma duriense − in a vertical slot fishway

Passage performance of brown trout (Salmo trutta), Iberian barbel (Luciobarbus bocagei), and northern straight-mouth nase (Pseudochondrostoma duriense) was investigated in a vertical slot fishway in the Porma River (Duero River basin, Spain) using PIT telemetry. We analysed the effects of different fishway discharges on motivation and passage success. Both cyprinid species ascended the fishway eas
Authors
Fco. Javier Sanz-Ronda, F.J. Bravo-Cordoba, J.F. Fuentes-Perez, Theodore R. Castro-Santos

Estimating time-dependent connectivity in marine systems

Hydrodynamic connectivity describes the sources and destinations of water parcels within a domain over a given time. When combined with biological models, it can be a powerful concept to explain the patterns of constituent dispersal within marine ecosystems. However, providing connectivity metrics for a given domain is a three-dimensional problem: two dimensions in space to define the sources and
Authors
Zafer Defne, Neil K. Ganju, Alfredo Aretxabaleta

Colored dissolved organic matter in shallow estuaries: relationships between carbon sources and light attenuation

Light availability is of primary importance to the ecological function of shallow estuaries. For example, benthic primary production by submerged aquatic vegetation is contingent upon light penetration to the seabed. A major component that attenuates light in estuaries is colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM). CDOM is often measured via a proxy, fluorescing dissolved organic matter (fDOM), due t
Authors
W.K. Oestreich, Neil K. Ganju, John W. Pohlman, Steven E. Suttles

A replacement name for Asthenes wyatti perijanus Phelps 1977

A recent near-complete phylogeny of the avian family Furnariidae (Derryberry et al. 2011) found a number of discrepancies between the phylogeny and the then-current taxonomy of the group, and several changes were proposed to reconcile the taxonomy of the family with the phylogeny. Among these was the merging of the genus Schizoeaca Cabanis 1873 into Asthenes Reichenbach 1853 (Derryberry et al. 201
Authors
R. Terry Chesser