USGS Western Ecological Research Center newsletters are posted regularly on our blog. Check back for a rundown of new research and events on ecology and wildlife science in California and Nevada. To add your name to our email subscription list, please contact xrojas-rocha@usgs.gov.
USGS Western Ecological Research Center newsletters are posted regularly on our blog. Check back for a rundown of new research and events on ecology and wildlife science in California, Nevada and the Pacific West. To add your name to our email subscription list, please contact xrojas-rocha@usgs.gov.
Download the current issue 4.15 (PDF | 0.722 MB)
HEADLINE
Sea Level Rise Will Drown Most Wetlands Along Oregon and Washington Coasts by 2110
Tidal marshes provide habitat for endangered wildlife and protect coastal communities from flooding. A new Open-File Report from USGS Western Ecological Research Center scientist Karen Thorne and others suggests that Oregon and Washington may lose most of these habitats in the next century. Researchers collected a suite of data including information on current and historical rates of sediment build-up, tidal flooding, and plant types. While their models showed most marshlands will remain over the next 50-70 years, the scientists predict that none of the wetlands will build up enough sediment to outpace sea level rise and consequently will convert to mudflats by 2110.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/thorne
http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ofr20151204
NEW OPEN-FILE REPORTS
Thorne, KM, BD Dugger, KJ Buffington, CM Freeman, CN Janousek, KW Powelson, GR Gutenspergen, JY Takekawa. 2015. Marshes to mudflats—Effects of sea-level rise on tidal marshes along a latitudinal gradient in the Pacific Northwest: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2015-1204, 54 p. plus appendixes, doi:10.3133/ofr20151204
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5447
Halstead, BJ, SM Skalos, ML Casazza, GD Wylie. 2015. A preliminary investigation of the variables affecting the distribution of giant gartersnakes (Thamnophis gigas) in the Sacramento Valley, California: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2015-1178, 34 p., doi:10.3133/ofr20151178
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5398
Halstead, BJ, SM Skalos, ML Casazza, GD Wylie. 2015. Realized detection and capture probabilities for the giant gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas) using modified floating aquatic funnel traps: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2015-1200, 36 p., doi:10.3133/ofr20151200
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5411In
NEW BOOK REVIEWS/CHAPTERS
Munoz, D and CM Aiello. 2015. Biology and Conservation of the North American Tortoises [Review of the book Biology and Conservation of North American Tortoises, In: Rostal, DC, ED McCoy, HR Mushinsky (eds.)]. Herpetological Review 46(2): 288-289.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5400
Pendleton, RL, BK Pendleton, SE Meyer, B Richardson, T Esque, SG Kitchen. 2015. Blackbrush (Coleogyne ramosissima Torr.): state of our knowledge and future challenges. In Huenneke, LF, C van Riper III, KA Hays-Gilpin (eds.). The Colorado Plateau VI: Science and Management at the Landscape Scale. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5399
NEW JOURNAL ARTICLES
Spenceley, A, J Mack, KH Berry. 2015. Gopherus agassizii (Agassiz’s Desert Tortoise) attempted predation. Herpetological Review 46(3): 422-423.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5410
Tian, H, S Zhou, L Dong, TP Van Boeckel, Y Cui, SH Newman, JY Takekawa, DJ Prosser, X Xiao, Y Wu, B Cazelles, S Huang, R Yang, BT Grenfell, B Xu. 2015. Avian influenza H5N1 viral and bird migration networks in Asia. PNAS 112(1): 172-177. doi:10.1073/pnas.1405216112
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5386
L Jones, S Ostoja, M Brooks, M Hutten. 2015-in press. Short-term response of Holcus lanatus L. (Common Velvetgrass) to chemical and manual control at Yosemite National Park, USA. Invasive Plant Science and Management.
doi:10.1614/IPSM-D-14-00060.1
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5296
Wogan, GOU and JQ Richmond. 2015. Niche divergence builds the case for ecological speciation in skinks of the Plestiodon skiltonianus species complex. Ecology and Evolution 5(20):4683–4695. doi:10.1002/ece3.1610
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5421
Pausas, JG, RB Pratt, JE Keeley, AL Jacobsen, AR Ramirez, A Vilagrosa, S Paula, IN Kaneakua-Pia, SD Davis. 2015. Towards understanding resprouting at the global scale. New Phytologist. doi:10.1111/nph.13644
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5436
Tonione, MA, RN Fisher, C Zhu, C Moritz. 2015. Deep divergence and structure in the Tropical Oceanic Pacific: a multilocus phylogeography of a widespread gekkonid lizard (Squamata: Gekkonidae: Gehyra oceanica). Journal of Biogeography. doi:10.1111/jbi.12645
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5420
Ackerman, JT, CA Eagles-Smith, MP Herzog, JL Yee, CA Hartman. 2015. Egg laying sequence influences egg mercury concentrations and egg size in three bird species: Implications for contaminant monitoring programs. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. In press. doi:10.1002/etc.3291
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5434
Coates, PS, ML Casazza, MA Ricca, BE Brussee, EJ Blomberg, KB Gustafson, CT Overton, DM Davis, LE Niell, SP Espinosa, SC Gardner, DJ Delehanty. 2015. Integrating spatially explicit indices of abundance and habitat quality: an applied example for greater sage-grouse management. Journal of Applied Ecology. Accepted Article. doi:10.1111/1365-2664.12558
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5419
AWARDS
Kevin Lafferty has been awarded a place on Thomson Reuters’ 2015 list of Highly Cited Researchers. Awards go to researchers whose work has had significant impacts in their fields, including those whose papers rank in the top 1% of citations by field.
http://www.news.ucsb.edu/2015/015996/citations-excellence
Emily Perkins received the Most Technologically Integrated Award for her 2015 ESRI Conference poster, which showcased a new interactive map that identifies and locates species vulnerable to disturbances in San Diego, CA.
EVENTS
November 2-3 and 4-5, 2015 (Ridgecrest, CA)
Kristin Berry held two workshops at the November Desert Tortoise Council. Her workshops introduced audiences to field techniques for studying desert tortoises, threats facing tortoises today, and more.
http://www.deserttortoise.org/
December 8, 2015 (Las Vegas, NV)
Todd Esque presented at the Desert Tortoise Managers Oversight Group (MOG)meeting in Las Vegas, NV, 8 December on USGS research on habitat quality and restoration and threats to the desert tortoise such as disease and predation. The MOG is dedicated to the restoration of viable populations of the desert tortoise in the desert SW.
December 13-18, 2015 (San Francisco, CA)
WERC scientists including Tim Tinker, Liz Bowen, Brian Hatfield, and Joseph Tomoleoniwill have their research presented at the 21st Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/Event.aspx?ID=227
IN THE NEWS
As The Sea Rises So Should the Urgency to Tackle the Problem Locally, Officials Agree (The Daily News)
This feature story on approaches to studying sea level rise in San Francisco Bay quotes Laura Valoppi on salt marshes’ potential to protect local communities.
http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_29074513/menlo-park-sea-rises-so-should-urgency-tackle
Adam Backlin Presents to ARMI in Washington, D.C.
Adam Backlin presented to the heads of Department of the Interior agencies, other Federal agencies, and partners at the 15th Annual Amphibian Research Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) Meeting in Washington, D.C. Backlin spoke on USGS-led recovery efforts to remove and create barriers to invasive fish and restore the habitat of the Federally endangered Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog (Rana muscosa).
OUTREACH NEWS
Photo credit: CSUN Women in Science
“CSUN’s Biology Careers Outside of Academia Symposium”
California State University, Northridge hosted Erin Boydston (background left) as a speaker at the Biology Careers Outside of Academia Symposium on December 2. Boydston spoke to over 50 students about her path to USGS and her current research on the behavior of bobcats, deer, and other animals near urban, southern California.
This newsletter is produced as a service to USGS WERC staff, colleagues, partners and the interested public. To add your email address to the mailing list or to report errors/suggestions, please contact xrojas-rocha@usgs.gov. Download the current issue (4.15).
- Overview
USGS Western Ecological Research Center newsletters are posted regularly on our blog. Check back for a rundown of new research and events on ecology and wildlife science in California and Nevada. To add your name to our email subscription list, please contact xrojas-rocha@usgs.gov.
USGS Western Ecological Research Center newsletters are posted regularly on our blog. Check back for a rundown of new research and events on ecology and wildlife science in California, Nevada and the Pacific West. To add your name to our email subscription list, please contact xrojas-rocha@usgs.gov.
Download the current issue 4.15 (PDF | 0.722 MB)
HEADLINE
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.Photo credit: Heath Bohlmann/NOAA National Estuarine Research Reserve Sea Level Rise Will Drown Most Wetlands Along Oregon and Washington Coasts by 2110
Tidal marshes provide habitat for endangered wildlife and protect coastal communities from flooding. A new Open-File Report from USGS Western Ecological Research Center scientist Karen Thorne and others suggests that Oregon and Washington may lose most of these habitats in the next century. Researchers collected a suite of data including information on current and historical rates of sediment build-up, tidal flooding, and plant types. While their models showed most marshlands will remain over the next 50-70 years, the scientists predict that none of the wetlands will build up enough sediment to outpace sea level rise and consequently will convert to mudflats by 2110.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/thorne
http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ofr20151204NEW OPEN-FILE REPORTS
Thorne, KM, BD Dugger, KJ Buffington, CM Freeman, CN Janousek, KW Powelson, GR Gutenspergen, JY Takekawa. 2015. Marshes to mudflats—Effects of sea-level rise on tidal marshes along a latitudinal gradient in the Pacific Northwest: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2015-1204, 54 p. plus appendixes, doi:10.3133/ofr20151204
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5447Halstead, BJ, SM Skalos, ML Casazza, GD Wylie. 2015. A preliminary investigation of the variables affecting the distribution of giant gartersnakes (Thamnophis gigas) in the Sacramento Valley, California: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2015-1178, 34 p., doi:10.3133/ofr20151178
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5398Halstead, BJ, SM Skalos, ML Casazza, GD Wylie. 2015. Realized detection and capture probabilities for the giant gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas) using modified floating aquatic funnel traps: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2015-1200, 36 p., doi:10.3133/ofr20151200
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5411InNEW BOOK REVIEWS/CHAPTERS
Munoz, D and CM Aiello. 2015. Biology and Conservation of the North American Tortoises [Review of the book Biology and Conservation of North American Tortoises, In: Rostal, DC, ED McCoy, HR Mushinsky (eds.)]. Herpetological Review 46(2): 288-289.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5400Pendleton, RL, BK Pendleton, SE Meyer, B Richardson, T Esque, SG Kitchen. 2015. Blackbrush (Coleogyne ramosissima Torr.): state of our knowledge and future challenges. In Huenneke, LF, C van Riper III, KA Hays-Gilpin (eds.). The Colorado Plateau VI: Science and Management at the Landscape Scale. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5399NEW JOURNAL ARTICLES
Spenceley, A, J Mack, KH Berry. 2015. Gopherus agassizii (Agassiz’s Desert Tortoise) attempted predation. Herpetological Review 46(3): 422-423.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5410Tian, H, S Zhou, L Dong, TP Van Boeckel, Y Cui, SH Newman, JY Takekawa, DJ Prosser, X Xiao, Y Wu, B Cazelles, S Huang, R Yang, BT Grenfell, B Xu. 2015. Avian influenza H5N1 viral and bird migration networks in Asia. PNAS 112(1): 172-177. doi:10.1073/pnas.1405216112
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5386L Jones, S Ostoja, M Brooks, M Hutten. 2015-in press. Short-term response of Holcus lanatus L. (Common Velvetgrass) to chemical and manual control at Yosemite National Park, USA. Invasive Plant Science and Management.
doi:10.1614/IPSM-D-14-00060.1
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5296Wogan, GOU and JQ Richmond. 2015. Niche divergence builds the case for ecological speciation in skinks of the Plestiodon skiltonianus species complex. Ecology and Evolution 5(20):4683–4695. doi:10.1002/ece3.1610
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5421Pausas, JG, RB Pratt, JE Keeley, AL Jacobsen, AR Ramirez, A Vilagrosa, S Paula, IN Kaneakua-Pia, SD Davis. 2015. Towards understanding resprouting at the global scale. New Phytologist. doi:10.1111/nph.13644
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5436Tonione, MA, RN Fisher, C Zhu, C Moritz. 2015. Deep divergence and structure in the Tropical Oceanic Pacific: a multilocus phylogeography of a widespread gekkonid lizard (Squamata: Gekkonidae: Gehyra oceanica). Journal of Biogeography. doi:10.1111/jbi.12645
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5420Ackerman, JT, CA Eagles-Smith, MP Herzog, JL Yee, CA Hartman. 2015. Egg laying sequence influences egg mercury concentrations and egg size in three bird species: Implications for contaminant monitoring programs. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. In press. doi:10.1002/etc.3291
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5434Coates, PS, ML Casazza, MA Ricca, BE Brussee, EJ Blomberg, KB Gustafson, CT Overton, DM Davis, LE Niell, SP Espinosa, SC Gardner, DJ Delehanty. 2015. Integrating spatially explicit indices of abundance and habitat quality: an applied example for greater sage-grouse management. Journal of Applied Ecology. Accepted Article. doi:10.1111/1365-2664.12558
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=5419AWARDS
Kevin Lafferty has been awarded a place on Thomson Reuters’ 2015 list of Highly Cited Researchers. Awards go to researchers whose work has had significant impacts in their fields, including those whose papers rank in the top 1% of citations by field.
http://www.news.ucsb.edu/2015/015996/citations-excellenceEmily Perkins received the Most Technologically Integrated Award for her 2015 ESRI Conference poster, which showcased a new interactive map that identifies and locates species vulnerable to disturbances in San Diego, CA.
EVENTS
November 2-3 and 4-5, 2015 (Ridgecrest, CA)
Kristin Berry held two workshops at the November Desert Tortoise Council. Her workshops introduced audiences to field techniques for studying desert tortoises, threats facing tortoises today, and more.
http://www.deserttortoise.org/December 8, 2015 (Las Vegas, NV)
Todd Esque presented at the Desert Tortoise Managers Oversight Group (MOG)meeting in Las Vegas, NV, 8 December on USGS research on habitat quality and restoration and threats to the desert tortoise such as disease and predation. The MOG is dedicated to the restoration of viable populations of the desert tortoise in the desert SW.December 13-18, 2015 (San Francisco, CA)
WERC scientists including Tim Tinker, Liz Bowen, Brian Hatfield, and Joseph Tomoleoniwill have their research presented at the 21st Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/Event.aspx?ID=227IN THE NEWS
As The Sea Rises So Should the Urgency to Tackle the Problem Locally, Officials Agree (The Daily News)
This feature story on approaches to studying sea level rise in San Francisco Bay quotes Laura Valoppi on salt marshes’ potential to protect local communities.
http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_29074513/menlo-park-sea-rises-so-should-urgency-tackle
Adam Backlin Presents to ARMI in Washington, D.C.
Adam Backlin presented to the heads of Department of the Interior agencies, other Federal agencies, and partners at the 15th Annual Amphibian Research Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) Meeting in Washington, D.C. Backlin spoke on USGS-led recovery efforts to remove and create barriers to invasive fish and restore the habitat of the Federally endangered Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog (Rana muscosa).OUTREACH NEWS
Photo credit: CSUN Women in Science
“CSUN’s Biology Careers Outside of Academia Symposium”
California State University, Northridge hosted Erin Boydston (background left) as a speaker at the Biology Careers Outside of Academia Symposium on December 2. Boydston spoke to over 50 students about her path to USGS and her current research on the behavior of bobcats, deer, and other animals near urban, southern California.This newsletter is produced as a service to USGS WERC staff, colleagues, partners and the interested public. To add your email address to the mailing list or to report errors/suggestions, please contact xrojas-rocha@usgs.gov. Download the current issue (4.15).