Explore WARC's science publications.
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Toward a national eDNA strategy for the United States
Environmental DNA (eDNA) data make it possible to measure and monitor biodiversity at unprecedented resolution and scale. As use-cases multiply and scientific consensus grows regarding the value of eDNA analysis, public agencies have an opportunity to decide how and where eDNA data fit into their mandates. Within the United States, many federal and state agencies are individually using eDNA data i
Authors
Ryan Kelly, David M. Lodge, Kai Lee, Susanna Theroux, Adam J. Sepulveda, Chris Scholin, Joseph M. Craine, Elizabeth Allan, Krista M. Nichols, Kim M. Parsons, Kelly D Goodwin, Zachary Gold, Francisco P. Chavez, Rachel T. Noble, Cathryn Abbott, Melinda R. Baerwald, Amanda Naaum, Peter Thielen, Ariel Simons, Christopher L. Jerde, Jeffrey J. Duda, Margaret Hunter, John Hagan, Rachel Meyer, Joshua Steele, Mark Stoeckle, Holly Bik, Christopher Meyer, Eric D. Stein, Karen James, Austen Thomas, Elif Demir-Hilton, Molly Timmers, John Griffith, Michael J Weise, Steve Weisberg
Rapidly changing range limits in a warming world: Critical data limitations and knowledge gaps for advancing understanding of mangrove range dynamics in the southeastern USA
Climate change is altering species’ range limits and transforming ecosystems. For example, warming temperatures are leading to the range expansion of tropical, cold-sensitive species at the expense of their cold-tolerant counterparts. In some temperate and subtropical coastal wetlands, warming winters are enabling mangrove forest encroachment into salt marsh, which is a major regime shift that has
Authors
Rémi Bardou, Michael Osland, Steven B. Scyphers, Christine C. Shepard, Karen E. Aerni, Jahson B. Alemu, Robert Crimian, Richard Day, Nicholas Enwright, Laura Feher, Sarah L. Gibbs, Kiera O'Donnell, Savannah H. Swinea, Kalaina Thorne, Sarit Truskey, Anna R. Armitage, Ronald J. Baker, Joshua L. Breithaupt, Kyle C. Cavanaugh, Just Cebrian, Karen Cummins, Donna J. Devlin, Jacob Doty, William L. Ellis, Ilka C. Feller, Christopher A. Gabler, Yiyang Kang, David A. Kaplan, John Paul Kennedy, Ken Krauss, Margaret Lamont, Kam-biu Liu, Melinda Martinez, Ashley M. Matheny, Giovanna M. McClenachan, Karen L. McKee, Irving A. Mendelssohn, Thomas C. Michot, Christopher J. Miller, Jena A. Moon, Ryan P. Moyer, James A. Nelson, Richard O'Connor, James W. Pahl, Jonathan L. Pitchford, C. Edward Proffitt, Tracy Quirk, Kara R. Radabaugh, Whitney A. Scheffel, Delbert L. Smee, Caitlin M. Snyder, Eric Sparks, Kathleen M. Swanson, William C. Vervaeke, Carolyn A. Weaver, Jonathan A Willis, Erik S. Yando, Qiang Yao, A. Randall Hughes
Monitoring status and trends in genetic diversity for the Convention on Biological Diversity: An ongoing assessment of genetic indicators in nine countries
Recent scientific evidence shows that genetic diversity must be maintained, managed, and monitored to protect biodiversity and nature's contributions to people. Three genetic diversity indicators, two of which do not require DNA-based assessment, have been proposed for reporting to the Convention on Biological Diversity and other conservation and policy initiatives. These indicators allow an appro
Authors
Sean M. Hoban, Jessica M. da Silva, Alicia Mastretta-Yanes, Catherine E. Grueber, Myriam Heuertz, Margaret Hunter, Joachim Mergeay, Ivan Paz-Vinas, Keiichi Fukaya, Fumiko Ishihama, Rebecca Jordan, Viktoria Köppä, María Camila Latorre-Cárdenas, Anna J. MacDonald, Victor Rincon-Parra, Per Sjögren-Gulve, Naoki Tani, Henrik Thurfjell, Linda Laikre
Plant migration due to winter climate change: Range expansion of tropical invasive plants in response to warming winters
Warming winters due to climate change can facilitate the range expansion of invasive non-native species. In the southeastern United States, the frequency and intensity of extreme winter temperatures determines the northern range limits of many tropical organisms including many species of invasive non-native plants. However, the effects of winter climate change on invasive species’ range limits hav
Authors
Michael Osland, Bogdan Chivoiu, Laura Feher, Leah Dale, Deah Lieurance, Wesley Daniel, Jessica E. Spencer
Isotopic niche of New Jersey terrapins suggests intraspecific resource partitioning, and little variability following a major hurricane
Diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin) are sexually dimorphic generalist turtles that inhabit salt marshes and estuaries along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States. On October 29th, 2012, Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New Jersey, USA, directly impacting terrapin populations inhabiting central and southern Barnegat Bay. To examine potential food web mediated impacts to the terr
Authors
Mathew Denton, Kristen Hart, John Wnek, Sarah A. Moss, Harold W. Avery
The concept of land bridge marshes in the Mississippi River Delta and implications for coastal restoration
Louisiana has high coastal wetland loss rates due to natural processes such as subsidence and anthropogenic activities such as construction of river levees and dams, pervasive alteration of surface hydrology by local industries such as oil and gas, and navigation. With the exception of the Atchafalaya River discharge area, most of Louisiana's marsh coastline is retreating and coastal marshes are d
Authors
John W. Day, Robert R. Twilley, Angelina Freeman, Brady Couvillion, Tracy Quirk, Navid H. Jafari, Giulio Mariotti, Rachael Hunter, Charles Norman, G. Paul Kemp, John R. White, Ehab Meselhe
A novel assembly pipeline and functional annotations for targeted sequencing: A case study on the globally threatened Margaritiferidae (Bivalvia: Unionida)
The proliferation of genomic sequencing approaches has significantly impacted the field of phylogenetics. Target capture approaches provide a cost-effective, fast and easily applied strategy for phylogenetic inference of non-model organisms. However, several existing target capture processing pipelines are incapable of incorporating whole genome sequencing (WGS). Here, we develop a new pipeline fo
Authors
André Gomes-dos-Santos, Elsa Froufe, John M. Pfeiffer, Nathan Johnson, Chase H. Smith, André M. Machado, L. Filipe C. Castro, Van Tu Do, Akimasa Hattori, Nicole Garrison, Nathan V. Whelan, Ivan N. Bolotov, Ilya V. Vikhrev, Alexander V. Kondakov, Mohamed Ghamizi, Vincent Prié, Arthur E. Bogan, Manuel Lopes Lima
Quantifying uncertainty in coastal salinity regime for biological application using quantile regression
Salinity regimes in coastal ecosystems are highly dynamic and driven by complex geomorphic and hydrological processes. Estuarine biota are generally adapted to salinity fluctuation, but are vulnerable to salinity extremes. Characterizing coastal salinity regime for ecological studies therefore requires representing extremes of salinity ranges at time scales relevant to ecology (e.g., daily, monthl
Authors
Simeon Yurek, Micheal S Allen, Mitchell Eaton, David Chagaris, Nathan Reaver, Julien Martin, Peter C Frederick, Mark Dehaven
Modeling impacts of saltwater intrusion on methane and nitrous oxide emissions in tidal forested wetlands
Emissions of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) from soils to the atmosphere can offset the benefits of carbon sequestration for climate change mitigation. While past study has suggested that both CH4 and N2O emissions from tidal freshwater forested wetlands (TFFW) are generally low, the impacts of coastal droughts and drought-induced saltwater intrusion on CH4 and N2O emissions remain unclear.
Authors
Hongqing Wang, Zhaohua Dai, Ken Krauss, Carl C. Trettin, Gregory B. Noe, Andrew J. Burton, Eric Ward
Community for data integration 2019 project report
The U.S. Geological Survey Community for Data Integration annually supports small projects focusing on data integration for interdisciplinary research, innovative data management, and demonstration of new technologies. This report provides a summary of the 14 projects supported in fiscal year 2019 and outlines their goals, activities, and accomplishments. Proposals in 2019 were encouraged to addre
Authors
Amanda N. Liford, Caitlin M. Andrews, Aparna Bamzai, Joseph A. Bard, David S. Blehert, John B. Bradford, Wesley M. Daniel, Sara L. Eldridge, Frank Engel, Jason A. Ferrante, Amy K. Gilmer, Margaret E. Hunter, Jeanne M. Jones, Benjamin Letcher, Frances L. Lightsom, Richard R. McDonald, Leah E. Morgan, Sasha C. Reed, Leslie Hsu
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS) Program, Volcano Hazards Program, Community for Data Integration (CDI), Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, National Wildlife Health Center, Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center, Southwest Biological Science Center, Volcano Science Center, Western Geographic Science Center, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center , Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Science Data Management
Monitoring of wave, current, and sediment dynamics along the Chincoteague living shoreline, Virginia
Nature-based features, also called living shorelines, are increasingly applied in coastal protection and restoration. However, the processes and mechanisms (feedbacks and interactions) of wave attenuation, current velocity change, and sediment deposition and erosion along the living shoreline remain unclear, thus limiting the adaptive management of living shoreline restoration projects for coastal
Authors
Hongqing Wang, Qin Chen, Nan Wang, William D. Capurso, Lukasz M. Niemoczynski, Ling Zhu, Gregg A. Snedden, Kevin S. Holcomb, Bowdoin W. Lusk, Carol W. Wilson, Sean R. Cornell
How do ambient conditions and management actions affect manatee movements and habitat use?
Kings Bay in northwest Florida, USA, is an important winter home of the largest aggregation of Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris), and the only location in the United States where visitors legally swim and interact with manatees. In addition to ambient conditions, visitors to the area and management actions have the potential to influence manatee behaviors. We tracked 32 manatees wit
Authors
Daniel Slone, Susan M. Butler, James P. Reid, Joyce Kleen, Joyce Palmer