Articles

Anadromous fishes have been blocked from the middle Snake River basin since the construction of flood control, irrigation, and hydroelectric projects during the 19th and 20th centuries, culminating with the construction of Hells Canyon Dam (river kilometer [rkm] 398) in 1967. Seven large watersheds in the blocked area of the basin are under consideration for Pacific salmon reintroduction...

As part of an extended-duration production test from a natural gas hydrate reservoir on the Alaska North Slope, a suite of optical-fiber sensors was encased in the completion cement to provide stable downhole monitoring around each of the four project wells. How the sensors respond to changes in the reservoir over time depends in part on properties of the LiteCRETE, ArcticCem, or Tuned...

Vessel strikes are an increasing source of mortality for sea turtles in coastal waters with high recreational vessel traffic. We quantified flight initiation distance (FID) and avoidance behavior of green turtles Chelonia mydas in response to an approaching vessel traveling at different speeds in shallow coastal waters of Florida. Observational boat surveys were conducted at 3 vessel...

Optimizing environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding to maximize species detection while minimizing costs and effort remains a challenge, particularly in high-throughput workflows. In the marine intertidal zone off Point Conception, California, we compared eDNA richness accumulation between filtration approaches that differed in filter type and downstream processing, field and laboratory...

Quantitatively degassing pressure cores by controlled depressurization is a key approach to characterizing gas hydrate reservoirs by measuring the gas hydrate saturation (Sh) of sediments. We measured Sh for 53 core sections from the Alaska North Slope during the JOGMEC-DOE-USGS Collaborative Gas Hydrate R&D Project in Alaska, from subpermafrost sediments that were later subjected to an...

Demographic assessments are essential for effective biological conservation management, allowing early detection of population declines and timely allocation of resources to avoid possible crises. For species with slow life-history strategies like seabirds, only the breeding adults are monitored routinely. The dynamics of immatures, often unobservable from fledging to recruitment, are...

Despite the concerns surging around nanoplastics (NPs) regarding their prevalence and bioavailability in freshwater systems, robust detection of NPs in complex environmental matrices is hindered by the lack of standardized sample pretreatment and a mechanistic understanding of oxidative digestion. Here, we systematically investigate the interaction between hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and...

Understanding the relationship between breeding adults and juvenile recruitment is fundamental to conserving at-risk species. Knowing whether recruitment is depensatory or compensatory at low adult abundances can aid in developing conservation strategies and recovery goals. However, this relationship requires long-term monitoring of two life stages, which can be costly and uncommon...

Invasive species threaten both ecological systems and economies. Successful establishment is governed partly by demographic stochasticity, where random individual-level variation can significantly influence invasion dynamics. A critical factor is the Allee effect, which describes reduced population growth at low densities, potentially serving as a barrier to persistence. Size-dependent...

Zircon crystals from Plešovice hyperpotassic granulite (HPG) have been widely used as a reference material for LA-ICP-MS dating. Detailed cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging and trace element analysis reveal a complex internal structure of Plešovice zircon linked to extreme chemical heterogeneity, which allows us to distinguish different zircon domains formed during its crystallization: (i)...

Multi-jurisdictional management of adult lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) requires characterizing seasonal dynamics of their spatial distributions. Despite decades of research into lake sturgeon movement ecology, system-wide spatiotemporal behavior remains poorly understood in large lakes, particularly those with metapopulations differentiated by spawning river or migratory...

Invasive species can fundamentally alter fire regimes by modifying fuel characteristics, yet predicting their impacts on fire behavior remains challenging. Cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica), a highly invasive grass spreading across the southeastern US, has been associated with increased fuel loads and fire intensity, but it is unclear how its impacts on fuel load and fire behavior vary...