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Wildfire and postfire restoration treatments have lasting effects on rodent habitat and community composition Wildfire and postfire restoration treatments have lasting effects on rodent habitat and community composition

Rangeland fires can quickly change the structure of wildlife habitat and cause changes that persist for years to decades. To facilitate habitat recovery, postfire restoration actions often involve sowing seeds of native and nonnative perennial grasses and shrubs. Empirical information on whether such restoration activities are effective and how wildlife will respond is unknown. We...
Authors
Savannah Lynn Bartel, Robert S. Arkle, David S. Pilliod

A global dataset of terrestrial biological nitrogen fixation A global dataset of terrestrial biological nitrogen fixation

Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is the main natural source of new nitrogen inputs in terrestrial ecosystems, supporting terrestrial productivity, carbon uptake, and other Earth system processes. We assembled a comprehensive global dataset of field measurements of BNF in all major N-fixing niches across natural terrestrial biomes derived from the analysis of 376 BNF studies. The...
Authors
Carla R. Reis Ely, Steven S. Perakis, Cory C. Cleveland, Duncan N.L. Menge, Sasha C. Reed, Sarah A. Batterman, Timothy E. Crews, Katherine A. Dynarski, Maga G. Gei, Michael J. Gundale, Sarah E. Jovan, Sian Kou-Giesbrecht, Mark B. Peoples, Emilio Rodriguez-Caballero, Verity G. Salmon, Fiona M. Soper, Anika P. Staccone, Benton N. Taylor, Bettina Weber, Nina Wurzburger

White-nose syndrome surveillance and bat monitoring activities in North Coast and Cascades Network parks 2016–2024 White-nose syndrome surveillance and bat monitoring activities in North Coast and Cascades Network parks 2016–2024

Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), the causative agent of white-nose syndrome (WNS) in bats, has caused serious declines in bat populations across North America. We conducted WNS surveillance in five different park units in the North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN) from 2016 to 2024, following the initial detection of Pd and WNS in Washington State in 2016. We captured and swabbed bats...
Authors
Tara Chestnut, Jenny Urbina, Michael Elizabeth Hansen, Rebecca M. McCaffery, Dylan J. Rhea-Fournier, Jennifer Allen, Taal Levi

Risks and rewards of pre-emergent herbicide (indaziflam) to defend core sagebrush-steppe ecosystems under suboptimal precipitation Risks and rewards of pre-emergent herbicide (indaziflam) to defend core sagebrush-steppe ecosystems under suboptimal precipitation

Protection of intact habitat from the spread of invasive plants is a global priority, especially where invaders alter wildfire occurrence. Invasion of perennial sagebrush-steppe ecosystems by cheatgrass and other fire-promoting exotic annual grasses (EAGs) is one of the most notorious examples of this problem. Protection and expansion of the remaining intact “core” sagebrush areas are...
Authors
Brynne Lazarus, Matthew Germino

The effects of forest harvesting on total and methylmercury concentrations in surface waters depend on harvest practices and physical site characteristics The effects of forest harvesting on total and methylmercury concentrations in surface waters depend on harvest practices and physical site characteristics

Forest harvesting can lead to mercury (Hg) mobilization from soils to aquatic habitats and promote the transformation of inorganic Hg to highly neurotoxic and bioaccumulative methyl-Hg (MeHg). Multiple past studies reveal broad variation of stream water MeHg and total Hg (THg) concentrations responses to forest harvesting, which has confounded messaging to forest and resource managers...
Authors
Karin Eklof, Heleen A. de Wit, Chris S. Eckley, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Susan L. Eggert, Robert W. Mackereth, Ulf Skyllberg, Liisa Ukonmaanaho, Matti Verta, Craig J Allan, Erik J.S. Emilson, Karen A. Kidd, Carl P.J. Mitchell, John Munthe, Tapani Sallantaus, Joel Segersten, Andrea Garcia Bravo, Randall Kolka, Colin P.R. McCarter, Petri Porvari, Eva Ring, Stephen Sebestyen, Ulf Sikstrom, Therese Zetterberg

A streamflow permanence classification model for forested streams that explicitly accounts for uncertainty and extrapolation A streamflow permanence classification model for forested streams that explicitly accounts for uncertainty and extrapolation

Accurate mapping of headwater streams and their flow status has important implications for understanding and managing water resources and land uses. However, accurate information is rare, especially in rugged, forested terrain. We developed a streamflow permanence classification model for forested lands in western Oregon using the latest light detection and ranging-derived hydrography...
Authors
Jonathan D. Burnett, Kristin L. Jaeger, Sherri L Johnson, Steven M. Wondzell, Jason Dunham, Matthew Irwin Barker, Emily Dawn Heaston, Nathan Chelgren, Michael G. Wing, Brian Staab, Michael E. Brown

Global terrestrial nitrogen fixation and its modification by agriculture Global terrestrial nitrogen fixation and its modification by agriculture

Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is the largest natural source of new nitrogen (N) that supports terrestrial productivity1,2, yet estimates of global terrestrial BNF remain highly uncertain3,4. Here we show that this uncertainty is partly because of sampling bias, as field BNF measurements in natural terrestrial ecosystems occur where N fixers are 17 times more prevalent than their...
Authors
Carla R. Reis Ely, Steven S. Perakis, Cory C. Cleveland, Duncan N.L. Menge, Sasha C. Reed, Benton N. Taylor, Sarah A. Batterman, Christopher M. Clark, Timothy E. Crews, Katherine A. Dynarski, Maga G. Gei, Michael J. Gundale, David F. Herridge, Sarah E. Jovan, Sian Kou-Giesbrecht, Mark B. Peoples, Johannes Piipponen, Emilio Rodriguez-Caballero, Verity G. Salmon, Fiona M. Soper, Anika P. Staccone, Bettina Weber, Christopher A. Williams, Nina Wurzburger

Simulated soundscapes and transfer learning boost the performance of acoustic classifiers under data scarcity Simulated soundscapes and transfer learning boost the performance of acoustic classifiers under data scarcity

1. The biodiversity crisis necessitates spatially extensive methods to monitor multiple taxonomic groups for evidence of change in response to evolving environmental conditions. Programs that combine passive acoustic monitoring and machine learning are increasingly used to meet this need. These methods require large, annotated datasets, which are time-consuming and expensive to produce...
Authors
Matthew J Weldy, Damon B. Lesmeister, Tom Denton, Adam Duarte, Ben J. Vernasco, Amandine Gasc, Jennifer Rowe, Michael J. Adams, Matthew G. Betts

Metabarcoding analysis of arthropod pollinator diversity: A methodological comparison of eDNA derived from flowers and DNA derived from bulk samples of insects Metabarcoding analysis of arthropod pollinator diversity: A methodological comparison of eDNA derived from flowers and DNA derived from bulk samples of insects

Limitations of traditional insect sampling methods have motivated the development and optimisation of new non-lethal methods capable of quantifying diverse arthropod communities. Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding using arthropod-specific primers has recently been investigated as a novel way to characterise arthropod communities from the DNA they deposit on the surface of plants...
Authors
Kara Suzanne Jones, David S. Pilliod, Aaron Aunins

Soil-microbial communities respond less than plant communities to synthetic- or bio-herbicides applied to address the exotic grass-fire cycle in rangelands Soil-microbial communities respond less than plant communities to synthetic- or bio-herbicides applied to address the exotic grass-fire cycle in rangelands

The exotic grass-fire cycle is degrading semiarid rangelands, such as the vast areas of shrub-steppe in North America now invaded by fire-promoting cheatgrass. Chemical- or bio-herbicides are sprayed onto soils to inhibit the invaders, but information on chemical- or bio-herbicide impacts to soil microbial communities is limited. We asked how the soil-microbiome responded to the...
Authors
Brynne E Lazarus, Rebecca Mueller, Matthew Germino

Fine-scale spatial risk models to predict avian collisions with power lines Fine-scale spatial risk models to predict avian collisions with power lines

1. Avian fatalities caused by collisions with overhead power lines are an important conservation issue worldwide. Although mitigation strategies can help reduce mortalities, given their considerable cost and the vast scale of power line infrastructure, cost-effective action requires that these efforts be prioritised to areas with the highest potential risk to birds. To date, this risk...
Authors
James M. Pay, Elissa Z. Cameron, Clare E. Hawkins, Christopher Johnson, Amelia J. Koch, Jason M. Wiersma, Todd E. Katzner
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