Articles

A respiratory disease epizootic at the National Bison Range (NBR) in Montana in 2016–2017 caused an 85% decline in the bighorn sheep population, documented by observations of its unmarked but individually identifiable members, the subjects of an ongoing long-term study. The index case was likely one of a small group of young bighorn sheep on a short-term exploratory foray in early summer...

Archaeologists and researchers in allied fields have long sought to understand human colonization of North America. When, how, and from where did people migrate, and what were the consequences of their arrival for the established fauna and landscape are enduring questions. Here, we present evidence from excavated surfaces of in situ human footprints from White Sands National Park (New...

This study focuses on characterizing the contributions of key terrestrial pathways that deliver dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to streams during hydrological events and on elucidating factors governing variation in water and DOC fluxes from these pathways. We made high-frequency measurements of discharge, specific conductance (SC), and fluorescent dissolved organic matter (FDOM) during...

Carbon dioxide emissions from active subaerial volcanoes represent 20–50% of the annual global volcanic CO2 flux (Barry et al., 2014). Passive degassing of carbon from the flanks of volcanoes, and the associated accumulation of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) within nearby groundwater, also represents a potentially important, yet poorly constrained flux of carbon to the surface (Werner...

Information about past ecosystem dynamics and human activities is stored in the ice of Colle Gnifetti glacier in the Swiss Alps. Adverse climatic intervals incurred crop failures and famines and triggered reestablishment of forest vegetation but also societal resilience through innovation. Historical documents and lake sediments record these changes at local—regional scales but often...

For the past ∼12 years the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network has been automatically detecting and locating tectonic tremor across the Cascadia subduction zone, resulting in a catalog of more than 500,000 tremor epicenters to date, which has served as a valuable resource for tremor and slip research. This manuscript presents an updated methodology for routine tremor detection in Cascadia...

Conservation planning involves identifying and selecting actions to best achieve objectives for managing natural, social and cultural resources. Conservation problems are often high dimensional when specified as combinatorial or portfolio problems and when multiple competing objectives are considered at varying spatial and temporal scales. Although analytical techniques such as modern...

In many regions of the world, climate change is projected to reduce water availability through changes in the hydrological cycle, including more frequent and intense droughts, as well as seasonal shifts in precipitation. In water-limited ecosystems, such as drylands, lower soil water availability may exceed the adaptive capacity of many organisms, leading to cascading ecological effects...

Bee conservation is a topic of global concern, particularly in agroecosystems where their contribution to crop pollination is highly valued. Over a decade ago, bees and other pollinators were made a priority of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), a U.S. federal program that pays land owners to establish a conservation cover, typically grassland, on environmentally sensitive farmland...

Preferential sampling is a form of data collection that may significantly distort the histogram and the semivariogram of spatially correlated data. Typical situations are a higher sampling density at high-valued areas favorable for mining, and highly contaminated areas in need of environmental remediation. Multiple statistical procedures are devoted to obtaining representative statistics...

Although birdwatchers comprise a large and growing proportion of the American public, there is a lack of racial and ethnic diversity in the birdwatching community. Previous research suggests that this homogeneity is self-perpetuating, as ethno-racial minorities are less likely to pursue activities in which no one they know participates. However, it is unclear whether this trend in...

The Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus dolomieu; SMB) is a widely distributed black bass species, but the southwestern edge of the species range within the Interior Highlands contains some of the most divergent ecotypes. The Neosho subspecies (M. d. velox) inhabits tributaries of the Arkansas River within the Ozark Mountains and a second lineage is reported from drainages of the Ouachita...