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Publications

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

Filter Total Items: 16784

Accounting for false-positive acoustic detections of bats using occupancy models

1. Acoustic surveys have become a common survey method for bats and other vocal taxa. Previous work shows that bat echolocation may be misidentified, but common analytic methods, such as occupancy models, assume that misidentifications do not occur. Unless rare, such misidentifications could lead to incorrect inferences with significant management implications.   2. We fit a false-positive occupan
Authors
Matthew J. Clement, Thomas J. Rodhouse, Patricia C. Ormsbee, Joseph M. Szewczak, James D. Nichols

Photoperiod control of downstream movements of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar smolts

This study provides the first direct observations that photoperiod controls the initiation of downstream movement in Atlantic salmon Salmo salar smolts. Under simulated natural day length (LDN) conditions and seasonal increases in temperature, smolts increased their downstream movements five-fold for a period of 1 month in late spring. Under the same conditions, parr did not show changes in downst
Authors
Gayle B. Zydlewski, Daniel S. Stich, Stephen D. McCormick

Migratory patterns of hatchery and stream-reared Atlantic salmon Salmo salar smolts in the Connecticut River, U.S.A.

The timing of downstream migration and detection rates of hatchery-reared Atlantic salmon Salmo salar smolts and stream-reared smolts (stocked 2 years earlier as fry) were examined in the Connecticut River (U.S.A.) using passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags implanted into fish and then detected at a downstream fish bypass collection facility at Turners Falls, MA (river length 192 km). In two
Authors
Stephen D. McCormick, Alexander Haro, Darren T. Lerner, Michael F. O'Dea, Amy M. Regish

Development of intestinal ion-transporting mechanisms during smoltification and seawater acclimation in Atlantic salmon Salmo salar

This study investigated the expression of ion transporters involved in intestinal fluid absorption and presents evidence for developmental changes in abundance and tissue distribution of these transporters during smoltification and seawater (SW) acclimation of Atlantic salmonSalmo salar. Emphasis was placed on Na+, K+-ATPase (NKA) and Na+, K+, Cl− co-transporter (NKCC) isoforms, at both transcript
Authors
Henrik Sundh, Tom O. Nilsen, Jenny Lindström, Linda Hasselberg-Frank, Sigurd O. Stefansson, Stephen D. McCormick, K. Sundell

Mineral resource of the month: Vermiculite

Vermiculite comprises a group of hydrated, laminar magnesium-aluminum-iron silicate minerals resembling mica. They are secondary minerals, typically altered biotite, iron-rich phlogopite or other micas or clay-like minerals that are themselves sometimes alteration products of amphibole, chlorite, olivine and pyroxene. Vermiculite deposits are associated with volcanic ultramafic rocks rich in magne
Authors
Arnold O. Tanner

Macroevolutionary consequences of profound climate change on niche evolution in marine molluscs over the past three million years

In order to predict the fate of biodiversity in a rapidly changing world, we must first understand how species adapt to new environmental conditions. The long-term evolutionary dynamics of species' physiological tolerances to differing climatic regimes remain obscure. Here, we unite palaeontological and neontological data to analyse whether species' environmental tolerances remain stable across 3
Authors
E.E. Saupe, J.R. Hendricks, R.W. Portell, Harry J. Dowsett, A. M. Haywood, S.J. Hunter, B.S. Lieberman

Threshold-dependent sample sizes for selenium assessment with stream fish tissue

Natural resource managers are developing assessments of selenium (Se) contamination in freshwater ecosystems based on fish tissue concentrations. We evaluated the effects of sample size (i.e., number of fish per site) on the probability of correctly detecting mean whole-body Se values above a range of potential management thresholds. We modeled Se concentrations as gamma distributions with shape a
Authors
Nathaniel P. Hitt, David R. Smith

Visual pigments, oil droplets, lens, and cornea characterization in the whooping crane (Grus americana)

Vision has been investigated in many species of birds, but few studies have considered the visual systems of large birds and the particular implications of large eyes and long-life spans on visual system capabilities. To address these issues we investigated the visual system of the whooping crane Grus americana (Gruiformes, Gruidae), which is one of only two North American crane species. It is a l
Authors
Megan L. Porter, Alexandra C. N. Kingston, Robert McCready, Evan G. Cameron, Christopher M. Hofmann, Lauren Suarez, Glenn H. Olsen, Thomas W. Cronin, Phyllis R. Robinson

Development of ten microsatellite loci in the invasive giant African land snail, Achatina (=Lissachatina) fulica Bowdich, 1822

A suite of tetra-nucleotide microsatellite loci were developed for the invasive giant African land snail, Achatina (=Lissachatina) fulica Bowdich, 1822, from Ion Torrent next-generation sequencing data. Ten of the 96 primer sets tested amplified consistently in 30 snails from Miami, Florida, plus 12 individuals representative of their native East Africa, Indian and Pacific Ocean regions. The loci
Authors
Cheryl L. Morrison, Marcus J. Springmann, Deborah D. Iwanowicz, Christopher M. Wade

The role of conflict minerals, artisanal mining, and informal trading networks in African intrastate and regional conflicts

The relationship between natural resources and armed conflict gained public and political attention in the 1990s, when it became evident that the mining and trading of diamonds were connected with brutal rebellions in several African nations. Easily extracted resources such as alluvial diamonds and gold have been and continue to be exploited by rebel groups to fund their activities. Artisanal and
Authors
Peter G. Chirico, Katherine C. Malpeli

Comparison of the U.S. lead recycling industry in 1998 and 2011

Since 1998, the structure of the lead recycling industry has changed and trade patterns of the domestic lead recycling industry have shifted. Although the domestic demand for lead has remained relatively constant since 1998, production of lead has increasingly shifted to the domestic secondary lead industry. The last primary lead smelter in the United States closed at the end of 2013, at which tim
Authors
David R. Wilburn

Pesticides in U.S. streams and rivers: occurrence and trends during 1992-2011

During the 20 years from 1992 to 2011, pesticides were found at concentrations that exceeded aquatic-life benchmarks in many rivers and streams that drain agricultural, urban, and mixed-land use watersheds. Overall, the proportions of assessed streams with one or more pesticides that exceeded an aquatic-life benchmark were very similar between the two decades for agricultural (69% during 1992−2001
Authors
Wesley W. Stone, Robert J. Gilliom, Karen R. Ryberg