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Theory predicts that higher biodiversity in the tropics is maintained by specialized interactions among plants and their natural enemies that result in conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD). By using more than 3000 species and nearly 2.4 million trees across 24 forest plots worldwide, we show that global patterns in tree species diversity reflect not only stronger CNDD at tropical versus temperate latitudes but also a latitudinal shift in the relationship between CNDD and species abundance. CNDD was stronger for rare species at tropical versus temperate latitudes, potentially causing the persistence of greater numbers of rare species in the tropics. Our study reveals fundamental differences in the nature...
Gross primary production (GPP) is the Earth’s largest carbon flux into the terrestrial biosphere and plays a critical role in regulating atmospheric chemistry and global climate. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS)-MOD17 data product is a widely used remote sensing-based model that provides global estimates of spatiotemporal trends in GPP. When the MOD17 algorithm is applied to regional scale heterogeneous landscapes, input data from coarse resolution land cover and climate products may increase uncertainty in GPP estimates, especially in high productivity tropical ecosystems. We examined the influence of using locally specific land cover and high-resolution local climate input data on MOD17 estimates...
Environmental mercury (Hg) contamination is an urgent global health threat. The complexity of Hg in the environment can hinder accurate determination of ecological and human health risks, particularly within the context of the rapid global changes that are altering many ecological processes, socioeconomic patterns, and other factors like infectious disease incidence, which can affect Hg exposures and health outcomes. However, the success of global Hg-reduction efforts depends on accurate assessments of their effectiveness in reducing health risks. In this paper, we examine the role that key extrinsic and intrinsic drivers play on several aspects of Hg risk to humans and organisms in the environment. We do so within...
Process-based modeling of regional NO3− fluxes to groundwater is critical for understanding and managing water quality, but the complexity of NO3− reactive transport processes make implementation a challenge. This study introduces a regional vertical flux method (VFM) for efficient estimation of reactive transport of NO3− in the vadose zone and groundwater. The regional VFM was applied to 443 well samples in central-eastern Wisconsin. Chemical measurements included O2, NO3−, N2 from denitrification, and atmospheric tracers of groundwater age including carbon-14, chlorofluorocarbons, tritium, and tritiogenic helium. VFM results were consistent with observed chemistry, and calibrated parameters were in-line with estimates...
group of river managers, stakeholders, and scientists met during summer 2005 to design a more naturalized flow regime for the Lower Missouri River (LMOR). The objective was to comply with requirements under the U.S. Endangered Species Act to support reproduction and survival of threatened and endangered species, with emphasis on the endangered pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus), while minimizing negative effects to existing social and economic benefits of prevailing river management. Specific hydrograph requirements for pallid sturgeon reproduction are unknown, hence much of the design process was based on features of the natural flow regime. Environmental flow components (EFCs) extracted from the reference...
The West Branch Susquehanna River basin has a drainage area of 6,955 square miles in north-central Pennsylvania and comprises Hydrologic Accounting Unit 020502. A National Stream Quality Accounting Network (NASQAN) waterquality data collection site, maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey, is located on the river near its mouth at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Water-quality data are collected at numerous other sites throughout the basin by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources, Bureau of Water Quality Management. Data collected from the NASQAN site and the sites operated by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources from 1962 to 1982 were used to evaluate water-quality variability in the...
The floods of August 1955 were an unprecedented disaster in a arge area of the northeastern United States. They rank among the most destructive in the country's his ory. Augmented by the antecedent hurricane sto m of August 11-15, the rainfall of August 17-20 accompanying hurricane Diane reached maximum val es of 17 to 19 inches in south-central Massachusett • Record-breaking floods resulted within a broad re ion extending from southeastern Pennsylvania to east rn Massachusetts. The floods were outstanding in four categories: The large geogra hie area covered by floods of such magnitude; the ex ensive damage and loss .of life ranking with the grea est recorded in this country; the degree to which prio records were...
Explanations for the lack of acid geothermal springs in Tibet are inferred from a comprehensive hydrochemical comparison of Tibetan geothermal waters with those discharged from Yellowstone (USA) and two active volcanic areas, Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia) and Miravalles (Costa Rica) where acid springs are widely distributed and diversified in terms of geochemical characteristic and origin. For the hydrothermal areas investigated in this study, there appears to be a relationship between the depths of magma chambers and the occurrence of acid, chloride-rich springs formed via direct magmatic fluid absorption. Nevado del Ruiz and Miravalles with magma at or very close to the surface (less than 1–2 km) exhibit very acidic...
In this paper, we emphasize that the Standard Method hot peroxide treatment procedure for acidity determination (hot acidity) directly measures net acidity or net alkalinity, but that more than one water-quality measure can be useful as a measure of the severity of acid mine drainage. We demonstrate that the hot acidity is related to the pH, alkalinity, and dissolved concentrations of Fe, Mn, and Al in fresh mine drainage. We show that the hot acidity accurately indicates the potential for pH to decrease to acidic values after complete oxidation of Fe and Mn, and it indicates the excess alkalinity or that required for neutralization of the sample. We show that the hot acidity method gives consistent, interpretable...
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The downstream effects of timber harvest in the Ozarks of Missouri can be evaluated by analogy to other geographic areas and by historical analysis of responses to past land use activities. Based on research from other geographic regions, timber harvest in the Ozarks would be expected to have minor effects on annual water yield and dissolved-phase water quality. The potential exists for haul roads to increase stormflow discharges and sediment yields. Of the possible downstream effects, sediment yield is potentially the most severe and difficult to predict; siting and design of roads are probably the most critical management concerns for minimizing downstream effects. Historical analysis shows that Ozark streams...
The Texas Louisiana continental slope is one of the few remaining frontiers for hydrocarbon exploration within the US Exclusive Economic Zone. This area has a complex seafloor morphology and highly discontinuous shallow stratigraphy that are the result of deformation by the highly mobile Louann salt that underlies much of this margin shoreward of the Sigsbee Escarpment.Gas hydrates exist both on the sea floor and at depth throughout the gas hydrate stability zone which extends to several hundred meters beneath the sea floor at greater water depths. Multibeam bathymetry, GLORIA sidescan sonar imagery, and site-specific studies have identified the presence of faults, mass-wasting deposits, variable sediment types,...
Deepwater sculpin are important in oligotrophic lakes as one of the few fishes that use deep profundal habitats and link invertebrates in those habitats to piscivores. In Lake Ontario the species was once abundant, however drastic declines in the mid-1900s led some to suggest the species had been extirpated and ultimately led Canadian and U.S. agencies to elevate the species' conservation status. Following two decades of surveys with no captures, deepwater sculpin were first caught in low numbers in 1996 and by the early 2000s there were indications of population recovery. We updated the status of Lake Ontario deepwater sculpin through 2016 to inform resource management and conservation. Our data set was comprised...
For 40 years, the Biological Survey of Canada (BSC) has encouraged and organised studies of the arthropod fauna of Canada, through the wide involvement of the scientific community and the leadership of an expert steering committee. The benefits of the BSC to science include the completion of major cooperative projects to acquire and synthesise knowledge (documenting faunas in the Yukon, Canadian grasslands, and other significant regions and habitats), the assembly and organisation of information and specimens, and improved communication among entomologists. Its efforts have led to valuable monographs, scientific briefs, newsletters, and other products summarised here, including documents that are also useful to...
Purpose The Interagency Coastal Wetlands Workgroup (ICWWG) helps to address coastal wetland loss by bringing together seven federal agencies with programs and authorities that support protection and management of coastal wetlands. Background Wetlands in coastal watersheds of the U.S. were lost at an average rate of 80,000 acres per year between 2004 and 2009. This is an increase from 59,000 acres per year between 1998 and 2004 as documented by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in their reports on the Status and Trends of Wetlands in the Coastal Watersheds. The ICWWG was formed in 2009 in response to these loss trends. Coastal wetlands include saltwater...
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We present and evaluate a framework for estimating concentrations of pharmaceuticals over time in wildlife feeding at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The framework is composed of a series of predictive steps involving the estimation of pharmaceutical concentration in wastewater, accumulation into wildlife food items, and uptake by wildlife with subsequent distribution into, and elimination from, tissues. Because many pharmacokinetic parameters for wildlife are unavailable for the majority of drugs in use, a read-across approach was employed using either rodent or human data on absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion. Comparison of the different steps in the framework against experimental data for...
Machine learning techniques were applied to a large (n > 10,000) compliance monitoring database to predict the occurrence of several redox-active constituents in groundwater across a large watershed. Specifically, random forest classification was used to determine the probabilities of detecting elevated concentrations of nitrate, iron, and arsenic in the Fox, Wolf, Peshtigo, and surrounding watersheds in northeastern Wisconsin. Random forest classification is well suited to describe the nonlinear relationships observed among several explanatory variables and the predicted probabilities of elevated concentrations of nitrate, iron, and arsenic. Maps of the probability of elevated nitrate, iron, and arsenic can be...
Article for outlet: Fisheries Research. Abstract: Quantifying temporal and spatial trends in abundance or relative abundance is required to evaluate effects of harvest and changes in habitat for exploited and endangered fish populations. In many cases, the proportion of the population or stock that is captured (catchability or capture probability) is unknown but is often assumed to be constant over space and time. We used data from a large-scale mark-recapture study to evaluate the extent of spatial and temporal variation, and the effects of fish density, fish size, and environmental covariates, on the capture probability of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in the Colorado River, AZ. Estimates of capture probability...
The Brunswick and the underlying Lockatong Formations are comprised of littrifled Mesozoic sediments that constitute part of the Newark Basin in southeastern Pennsylvania (USA). These fractured rocks form an important regional aquifer that consists of gmdational sequences of shale, siltstone, and sandstone, with fluid transport occurring primarily in fractures. An extensive suite of geophysical logs was obtained in seven wells located at the borough of Iamsdale, PA in order to characterize the areal hydrogeologic system. Analyses of these data indicate that the aquifer can be separated into two distinct structural domains which may, in turn, reflect different mechanical responses to basin bxtension: (1) In the shallow...
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