8 results match your criteria: "US Geological Survey Leetown Science Center[Affiliation]"

Article Synopsis
  • Mussels of the Bathymodiolus genus are common in hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, relying on chemosynthetic bacteria for survival; however, identifying their species is challenging.
  • DNA analysis from three cold seep sites indicated that Bathymodiolus childressi is the most common species, with a few instances of B. mauritanicus and B. heckerae.
  • The study also revealed diverse microbial communities in mussel gills that change depending on the site, highlighting different ecological roles and suggesting variations in their reliance on methanotrophy versus sulfur oxidation.
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Water temperature is a primary driver of stream ecosystems and commonly forms the basis of stream classifications. Robust models of stream temperature are critical as the climate changes, but estimating daily stream temperature poses several important challenges. We developed a statistical model that accounts for many challenges that can make stream temperature estimation difficult.

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Modelling the effects of environmental change on populations is a key challenge for ecologists, particularly as the pace of change increases. Currently, modelling efforts are limited by difficulties in establishing robust relationships between environmental drivers and population responses. We developed an integrated capture-recapture state-space model to estimate the effects of two key environmental drivers (stream flow and temperature) on demographic rates (body growth, movement and survival) using a long-term (11 years), high-resolution (individually tagged, sampled seasonally) data set of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) from four sites in a stream network.

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There is growing concern over the effects of increased salinization on freshwater organisms, which are largely unknown for unionid mussels. Adult and larval Elliptio complanata were exposed to low-level salt concentrations to determine the effects on mussel survival, physiology, and reproduction. Adults were exposed to salt concentrations of 0 parts per thousand (ppt), 2 ppt, 4 ppt, and 6 ppt NaCl and monitored over 7 d for mortality.

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Phenotypic variation in body size can result from within-cohort variation in birth dates, among-individual growth variation and size-selective processes. We explore the relative effects of these processes on the maintenance of wide observed body size variation in stream-dwelling brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). Based on the analyses of multiple recaptures of individual fish, it appears that size distributions are largely determined by the maintenance of early size variation.

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pedagog: software for simulating eco-evolutionary population dynamics.

Mol Ecol Resour

May 2010

Program In Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA S.O. Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center, US Geological Survey/Leetown Science Center, One Migratory Way, Turners Falls, MA 01376, USA Northern Research Station, US Forest Service, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.

pedagog is a Windows program that can be used to determine power for, and validate inferences drawn from, eco-evolutionary studies. It models dynamics of multiple populations and their interactions through individual-based simulations while simultaneously recording genotype, pedigree and trait information at the individual level. pedagog also allows for specification of heritable traits, natural and sexual selection acting upon those traits, population sampling schemes and incorporation of genetic and demographic errors into the output.

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create: a software to create input files from diploid genotypic data for 52 genetic software programs.

Mol Ecol Resour

May 2008

Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA, S.O. Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center, US Geological Survey/Leetown Science Center, One Migratory Way, Turners Falls, MA 01376, USA, Northern Experimental Research Station, US Forest Service, 201 Holdsworth Hall, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.

create is a Windows program for the creation of new and conversion of existing data input files for 52 genetic data analysis software programs. Programs are grouped into areas of sibship reconstruction, parentage assignment, genetic data analysis, and specialized applications. create is able to read in data from text, Microsoft Excel and Access sources and allows the user to specify columns containing individual and population identifiers, birth and death data, sex data, relationship information, and spatial location data.

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Life history dependent morphometric variation in stream-dwelling Atlantic salmon.

Oecologia

December 2003

S.O. Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center, US Geological Survey/Leetown Science Center, P.O. Box 796, One Migratory Way, Turners Falls, MA 01376, USA.

The time course of morphometric variation among life histories for stream-dwelling Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar L.) parr (age-0+ to age-2+) was analyzed. Possible life histories were combinations of parr maturity status in the autumn (mature or immature) and age at outmigration (smolt at age-2+ or later age).

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