Publications

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) created a virtual training series for the Afghanistan Ministry of Energy and Water (MEW), now known as the National Water Affairs Regulation Authority (NWARA), to provide critical hydrological training as an alternative to an in-person training. The USGS was scheduled to provide in-person surface-water training for NWARA during 2020; however, travel was...

Many grass-dominated ecosystems in dryland regions have experienced increasing woody plant density and abundance during the past century. In many cases, this process has led to land degradation and declines in ecosystem functions. An example is the Chihuahuan Desert in the southwestern United States, which experienced different stages of shrub encroachment in the past 150 years. Among a...

Dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total alkalinity (TA) are fundamental components of carbonate systems that control pH and buffering capacity of the receiving water body. Three coastal marshes with contrasting salinities in Barataria Basin, Louisiana, USA, were sampled to understand seasonal changes in porewater carbonate chemistry and its impact on surrounding water bodies. Each...

Post-fledging brood division is a poorly understood, yet widespread suite of avian behaviours that includes both division of parental care and spatial division of a brood. For most species, the differences in parental care between adult males and females and the behavioural mechanisms explaining spatial patterns of brood division are unknown. We studied brood division in golden-winged...

Megathrust earthquakes and their associated tsunamis cause some of the worst natural disasters. In addition to earthquakes, a wide range of slip behaviors are present at subduction zones, including slow earthquakes that span multiple orders of spatial and temporal scales. Understanding these events may shed light on the stress or strength conditions of the megathrust fault. Out of all...

Aquatic pathogens are a major concern for fish hatchery production, fisheries management, and conservation, and disease control needs to be addressed. Two important salmonid pathogens are Myxobolus cerebralis and Flavobacterium psychrophilum that cause whirling disease and bacterial coldwater disease (BCWD), respectively. Innate disease resistance is a potential option for reducing...

Detrital zircon U-Pb studies of mudstone provenance are rare but may preferentially fingerprint distal zircon sources. To examine this issue, Pierre Shale and Trinidad Sandstone deposited in a Late Cretaceous deltaic environment in the Raton Basin, Colorado (USA), were measured for detrital zircon U-Pb age by laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry. Two major detrital...

The freshwater opossum shrimp Mysis diluviana can undergo extensive diel vertical migration (DVM) to feed in shallow, prey rich strata at night. Bright moonlight limits their night-time migration presumably due to predator avoidance. Using a linked, foraging-bioenergetics model, we evaluated the cost of avoiding predators by simulating the effects of prey density, water temperature, and...

We report a draft genome sequence of a previously undescribed calicivirus from a single brown bullhead inhabiting Lake Memphremagog, Vermont/Quebec. The genome is 7,413 nucleotides long and is most similar to the Atlantic salmon calicivirus (nucleotide identity; 64.7%).

Some jurisdictions in the eastern United States have reduced harvest of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) because of perceived declines in recruitment and population size over the last decade. Although the restoration of American black bears (Ursus americanus) and the colonization of coyotes (Canis latrans) have increased fawn predation in some areas, limited information exists...

Landslides in Minnesota have caused loss of life, damaged infrastructure, and negatively affected Minnesota’s natural resources. Landslides increase the amount of sediment contributed to lakes and rivers, with negative consequences for water quality and aquatic habitats. Recent mapping reveals that landslide susceptible areas within Minnesota primarily occur on steep slopes adjacent to...

Species distributions are governed by processes occurring at multiple spatial scales. For species with complex life cycles, the needs of all life stages must be met within the dispersal limitations of the species. Multi-scale processes can be particularly important for these species, where small-scale patterns in specific habitat components can affect the distribution of one life stage...