Publications

Restoration of former commercial salt evaporation ponds in the San Francisco Bay estuary is intended to reverse a severe decline (>79%) in tidal salt marshes. San Francisco Bay is a critical migratory stopover site and wintering area for shorebirds and waterfowl, and salt ponds are important high tide roosting and foraging areas. Conservation of past bird abundance is a stated goal of area restora

San Francisco Bay, California, USA is among the most anthropogenically altered estuaries in the entire United States, but the impact on sediment transport to the coastal ocean has not been quantified. Analysis of four historic bathymetric surveys has revealed large changes to the morphology of the San Francisco Bar, an ebb-tidal delta at the mouth of the San Francisco Bay. From 1873 to 2005 the ba

In order to estimate total mercury (HgT) loads entering San Francisco Bay, USA, via the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system, unfiltered water samples were collected between January 2002 and January 2006 during high flow events and analyzed for HgT. Unfiltered HgT concentrations ranged from 3.2 to 75 ng/L and showed a strong correlation (r2 = 0.8, p < 0.001, n = 78) to suspended sediment concentrat

Small fish are commonly used to assess mercury (Hg) risk to wildlife and monitor Hg in wetlands. However, limited research has evaluated short-term Hg variability in small fish, which can have important implications for monitoring programs and risk assessment. We conducted a time-series study of Hg concentrations in two small fish species representing benthic (longjaw mudsuckers [Gillichthys mirab

We used historical records of damaging landslides triggered by rainstorms and a newly developed Probabilistic Landslide Assessment Cost Estimation System (PLACES) to estimate the numbers and direct costs of future landslides in the 10-county San Francisco Bay region. Historical records of damaging landslides in the region are incomplete. Therefore, our estimates of numbers and costs of future land

We evaluated mercury (Hg) in five waterbird species representing three foraging guilds in San Francisco Bay, CA. Fish-eating birds (Forster's and Caspian terns) had the highest Hg concentrations in thier tissues, but concentrations in an invertebrate-foraging shorebird (black-necked stilt) were also elevated. Foraging habitat was important for Hg exposure as illustrated by within-guild differences

Relatively little is known about birds during the postfledging period when flighted chicks have left the nest and must learn to forage independently. We examined postfledging movements, habitat selection, and colony attendance of Forster's Terns (Sterna forsteri) radio-marked just before they fledged in San Francisco Bay, California. The proportion of the day spent at their natal colony declined a

Historic Hg mining in the Cache Creek watershed in the Central California Coast Range has contributed to the downstream transport of Hg to the San Francisco Bay-Delta. Different aspects of Hg mobilization in soils, including pedogenesis, fluvial redistribution of sediment, volatilization and eolian transport were considered. The greatest soil concentrations (>30 mg Hg kg-1) in Cache Creek are asso

Earthen levees of three isolated salt ponds known locally as the Alviso Island Ponds were intentionally breached in March 2006 to allow tidal exchange of the ponds with water from Coyote Creek. The water exchange transformed the previously fishless hypersaline ponds into lower salinity habitats suitable for fish life. This study documented fish utilization of the ponds, adjacent reaches of Coyote

Studying the dynamics and geochemical behavior of dissolved and particulate organic material is difficult because concentration and composition may rapidly change in response to aperiodic as well as periodic physical and biological forcing. Here we describe a method useful for quantifying fluxes and analyzing dissolved organic matter (DOM) dynamics. The method uses coupled optical and acoustic mea

San Francisco Bay (SFB) estuary sediments contain high levels of mercury (Hg), and tidal marsh resident species may be vulnerable to Hg contamination. We examined Hg concentrations in California black rails, a threatened waterbird species that inhabits SFB tidal salt marshes. We captured 127 black rails during the prebreeding and postbreeding seasons and examined the influence of site, sex, and ye

Little is known about the movements and habitat selection of California Black Rails (Laterallus jamaicensis coturniculus) in coastal California. We captured 130 Black Rails, of which we radio-marked 48, in tidal marshes in San Francisco Bay during 2005 and 2006. Our objective was to examine their home ranges, movements, and habitat selection to improve the species' conservation. The mean fixed-ker