Articles

Expansions in the extent and infestation levels of exotic annual grass (EAG) within the rangelands of the western United States are well documented. Land managers are tasked with developing plans to limit EAG spread and prevent irreversible ecosystem deterioration. The most common EAG species and the subject of extensive study is Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass). Cheatgrass has spread...

Crude oil toxicity to early life stage fish is commonly attributed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). However, it remains unclear how the polar unresolved complex mixture (UCM), which constitutes the bulk of the water-soluble fraction of crude oil, contributes to crude oil toxicity. Additionally, the role of photomodification-induced toxicity in relation to the polar UCM is not...

We investigate a shallow lake basin for evidence of a large historic intraplate earthquake in western North America. Henrys Lake, Idaho is an atypical candidate for a lacustrine paleoseismic study given its shallow depth (~7 m) and low relief (≤2° slopes). Here, we test the earthquake-recording capacity of this basin type by showing sedimentological evidence of the 1959 M7.3 Hebgen Lake...

Groundwater resources frequently trend toward unsustainable levels because, absent effective institutions, individual water users generally act independently without considering the impacts on other users. Hydro-economic models (HEMs) of human-natural systems can play a positive role toward successful groundwater management by yielding valuable knowledge and insight. The current study...

Continuous processes in most applications are measured discretely with error. This complicates the task of detecting intersections and the number of intersections between two continuous processes (i.e., when the processes have the same value). Intersections of continuous processes are scientifically important but challenging to estimate from data. For example, in the field of animal...

Invasive species have substantial ecological and economic costs and removing them can require large investments by management agencies. Optimal spatial allocation of removal effort is critical for efficient and effective management of invasive species. Using a series of ecologically informed model simulations, we evaluated and compared different spatially explicit removal strategies for...

The One Health High-Level Expert Panel’s definition of One Health includes optimizing the health of people, animals (wild and domestic) and ecosystems. For many One Health practitioners, wildlife that can spread zoonoses are the focus, particularly if they can come in contact with people. However, ecosystem health is often best-indicated by less-encountered species, for instance...

Prairie streams of North America support native fishes that are adapted to the dynamic environment that characterizes these ecologically and economically important ecosystems. However, prairie streams have been altered by landscape changes that may affect the proportions of native and introduced species in fish communities. Herein, we investigate drivers of introduced fish in prairie...

Transdisciplinary projects can uncover crucial insights on people’s past and future risk-mitigation behavior. We focus on a novel risk context: increasing health threats from ticks on Staten Island, a New York City borough where the combination of high population density and extensive park systems and green spaces has resulted in a rise in locally-acquired tick-transmitted disease cases...

Over the past decade, Lyme and other tick-borne diseases have expanded into urban areas, including Staten Island, New York. While Lyme disease is often researched with a focus on human risk, domestic pets are also at risk of contracting the disease. The present study aims to describe differences in tick exposure, knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) between pet owners and non-owners...

Coastal change is a complex combination of multi-scale processes (e.g., wave-driven cross-shore and longshore transport; dune, bluff, and cliff erosion; overwash; fluvial and inlet sediment supply; and sea-level-driven recession). Historical sea-level-driven coastal recession on open ocean coasts is often outpaced by wave-driven change. However, future sea-level-driven coastal recession...

Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis has become a transformative technology, but sample collection methods lack standardization and sampling at effective frequencies requires considerable field effort. Autonomous eDNA samplers that can sample water at high frequencies offer potential solutions to these problems. We present results from four case studies using a prototype autonomous eDNA...