WERC research roundups are in a biweekly format, complete with PDF version. Check back every two weeks for a run down of new research and events from the USGS Western Ecological Research Center. To add your name to the email distribution list for the PDF newsletter, please contact blandis@usgs.gov.

Download the current issue (1.11)

HEADLINE


Nate Stephenson. Image Credit: Nathan Stephenson/USGS

Nathan Stephenson Receives National Award from National Park Service
WERC scientist Nathan Stephenson has been honored by the National Park Service with the Director’s Award for Natural Resource Research. Based out of the WERC Sequoia and Kings Canyon Field Station, Stephenson is a leader in research and long-term monitoring of Western U.S. forest ecosystems, contributing to our knowledge of forestry science, climate change effects, parks management and more. “Due to Nate’s commitment to the Sierra Nevada and his original research in forested ecosystems and their maintenance processes, he has become an internationally acknowledged expert on forest ecology,” says the service. This is Stephenson’s second nomination for this national award, whose previous receipient was noted biologist E.O. Wilson in 2010.
http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=PeopleNews&id=3591
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/outreach.aspx?RecordID=142




NEW JOURNAL ARTICLES

Stephens, SL, REJ Boerner, JJ Moghaddas, EEY Moghaddas, BM Collins, CB Dow, C Edminster, CE Fiedler, DL Fry, BR Hartsough, JE Keeley, EE Knapp, JD McIver, CN Skinner, A Youngblood. 2012. Fuel treatment impacts on estimated wildfire carbon loss from forests in Montana, Oregon, California, and Arizona. Ecosphere 3(5). doi: 10.1890/ES11-00289.1
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=4737


Soldánová, M, AM Kuris, Scholz, T, KD Lafferty. 2012. The role of spatial and temporal heterogeneity and competition in structuring trematode communities in the great pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis (L.). Journal of Parasitology 98(3): 460-471. doi: 10.1645/GE-2964.1
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=4736


Miller, DAW, CS Brehme, JE Hines, JD Nichols, RN Fisher. 2012. Joint estimation of habitat dynamics and species interactions: disturbance reduces co-occurence of non-native predators with an endangered toad. Journal of Animal Ecology. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2012.02001.x.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=4734


Jacobson, ER, KH Berry, JFX Wllehan Jr, F Origgi, AL Childress, J Braun, M Schrenzel, J Yee, B Rideout. 2012. Serologic and molecular evidence for testudinid herpesvirus 2 infection in wild Agassiz’s desert tortoise, Gopherus agassizii. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 48(3): 747-757.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=4733


Coates, PS, ML Casazza, BJ Halstead, JP Fleskes. 2012. Relative value of managed wetlands and tidal marshlands for wintering northern pintails. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management. doi: 10.3996/102011-JFWM-062
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=4696


Athearn, ND, JY Takekawa, JD Bluso-Demers, JM Shinn, LA Brand, CW Robinson-Nilsen, CM Strong. 2012. Variability in habitat value of commercial salt production ponds: implications for waterbird management and tidal marsh restoration planning. Hydrobiologia. doi: 10.1007/s10750-012-1177-y
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=4696




NEW WERC PUBLICATION BRIEFS

Density-Dependent Nest Survival and the Benefits of Having Neighbors
Nest predation levels are a key part of waterfowl demography studies, but considerable uncertainty remains as to whether nest predation is density-dependent. Published in Oecologia, new research by Josh Ackerman and UC Davis colleagues found local nest dispersion — rather than larger-scale measures of nest density — may play a more important role in density-dependent nest predation.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=4732


Mercury Exposure Suppresses Stress Response in Juvenile Birds
New research by Josh Ackerman, Garth Herring and Mark Herzog published in Environmental Science and Technology indicates that chronic mercury exposure may suppress baseline corticosterone concentrations in Forster’s tern (Sterna forsteri) chicks, and suggests that a juvenile bird’s ability to respond to stress may be reduced.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=4729


Mercury May Reduce Body Condition of Endangered California Clapper Rails
USGS researchers examined mercury exposure in 133 California clapper rails within tidal marsh habitats of San Francisco Bay from 2006 to 2010, with birds collected from Arrowhead Marsh, Colma Creek Marsh, Cogswell Marsh, and Faber-Laumeister Marsh. The research by Josh Ackerman, Cory Overton, Mike Casazza, Robin Keister, Mark Herzog and Collin Eagles-Smith found a percentage of feather, blood and egg samples with mercury concentrations that could put rails at risk for impaired reproduction.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=4730


USGS scientists measure a California clapper rail. Image credit: USGS.




EVENTS

June 25-27, 2012 (Los Angeles, CA)
WERC scientist Jon Keeley was among the panelists at the Tuesday working group sessions at The Mediterranean City conference on climate change adaptation.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/Event.aspx?ID=110


June 26, 2012 (San Diego, CA)
WERC scientists Robert Fisher, Carlton Rochester, Denise Clark and others presented at the San Diego Multiple Species Conservation Program’s Annual Report Workshop, a public meeting discussing habitat planning efforts in San Diego County informed by WERC research. Contact Robert Fisher for details.


July 15-18, 2012 (Oakland, CA)
The 2012 SCB North America Congress for Conservation Biology will include several presentations and tours featuring WERC scientists, including Erin Boydston, Arriana Brand and Laura Valoppi. Interior Assistant Secretary Anne Castle will be a plenary speaker.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/Event.aspx?ID=93




IN THE NEWS

Wildfire Risk to Homes Is Most Related to Location, Study Finds (Los Angeles Times) profiles the new study by Jon Keeley, Teresa Brennan and colleagues, revealing that housing density and location were determinants of housing loss in San Diego and Ventura County wildfires.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-wildfire-houses-20120616,0,4730156.story


Mercury Stays Put (Estuary News) quotes Laura Valoppi about mercury monitoring in Alviso, CA. USGS is studying whether levee breaches from salt pond restoration will disperse legacy mercury.
http://www.sfestuary.org/PDF/newsletters/Estuary-June2012-Web.pdf


Common Parasite May Increase Suicide Risk (MyHealthNewsDaily.com) reports on a study in the Archives of General Psychiatry, and quotes Kevin Lafferty as an outside expert on the biology of the parasite Toxoplasma gondii.
http://www.myhealthnewsdaily.com/2790-parasite-suicide-risk.html


California Landscape Conservation Cooperative to Fund Eight Conservation-Based Science Projects in 2012 (CaliforniaLCC.org) announced the 2012 awarded projects of the California LCC. Supported WERC scientists include Joe Fleskes’ research on climate change and waterfowl ecology in the San Francisco Bay Estuary, as well as research by John Takekawa, Susan De La Cruz and Isa Woo on intertidal foraging of migratory birds in the San Francisco Bay Estuary.
http://californialcc.org/news13.html


The Science of Predicting Which Houses Will Survive Wildfires (KUNC Greely, Colorado) cites the WERC Southern California Wildfire Risk Scenario Project as part of its coverage of the current Colorado wildfires, interviewing co-PI Alexandra Syphard.
http://www.kunc.org/post/science-predicting-which-houses-will-survive-wildfires


Image courtesy of KUNC.




FROM THE BLOG

Why Are Biologists Studying Housing Loss from Wildfires?
Guest writer Alexandra Syphard answers the question. An ecologist with the Conservation Biology Institute, Syphard is a co-PI on the WERC Southern California Wildfire Risk Scenario Project.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/outreach.aspx?RecordID=141

This Biweekly Update is produced as a service to USGS/WERC staff, colleagues, partners and the interested public. To add your email address to the mailing list or to report errors/suggestions, please contact blandis@usgs.gov. Download the current issue (1.11)