Science news and reports: Can predator control help native fish?; Grant programs benefit Central Valley species and habitats; Yosemite forest fire an example of things to come; New strains of phytophtora breaking the mold, and more …

In science news this week, Can predator control help native fish?; Grant programs benefit Central Valley species and habitats; Yosemite forest fire an example of things to come; Phytophtora: New strains breaking the mold; Groundwater an important factor in food security; Groundwater modeling breakthrough; If you don’t invest in your water supply, somebody else will and it won’t be pretty; No, you can’t blame in on El Niño … but it’s still a forecaster’s best friend and more …

Can predator control help native fish? “Even introduced, non-native fishes get their day on Capitol Hill. On June 3, the House of Representatives passed an amendment to the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriation Act that requires consideration of predator control efforts in recovery plans for federal Endangered Species Act (ESA)-protected species. If this amendment passes the Senate, it could open up new avenues for handling introduced fish species that prey on protected salmonids and minnows in Sacramento-San Joaquin waterways. Striped, largemouth, and smallmouth bass and white and channel catfish are all non-native fishes that consume ESA-protected species in Sacramento-San Joaquin waterways (Nobriga and Feyrer 2007). Little is known about the abundances, distributions and predation rates for many of these non-native piscivores – but we do know that abundances and predation rates can be very high. … ” Read more from the FishBio blog here: Can predator control help native fish?

Grant programs benefit Central Valley species and habitats: “Since 1996, two federally-funded grant programs have provided significant contributions towards species and habitats that were adversely impacted by the Central Valley Project: the Central Valley Project Improvement Act Habitat Restoration Program and the Central Valley Project Conservation Program. … The current emphases of the programs are land protection (e.g., fee title or conservation easement), habitat restoration, research (e.g., studies and surveys), and species captive propagation and reintroduction projects. Land protection projects have the highest priority and normally receive at least 50 percent of available funding. Almost 200 diverse and beneficial projects have been funded by the programs. Many of these projects were continuing phases of prior projects, such as restoration following protection, or sequential years of captive propagation, to improve the likelihood of success. ... ” Read more from the US Fish and Wildlife Service Field Notes here: Grant programs benefit Central Valley species and habitats

Yosemite forest fire an example of things to come: “A hunter’s illegal campfire in Stanislaus National Forest adjacent to Yosemite National Park started what would become the Rim fire, the third largest fire in California history, that burned from August through October 2013. The fire burned about 400 square miles inside and outside Yosemite, with 78 square miles burned on the worst day. “We would never be able to do an experiment on this, never be able to burn the forest in this way, so this natural experiment is a perfect opportunity to see what happens,” said Alan H. Taylor, professor of geography. Taylor and Lucas Harris, graduate student in geography, studied the forest’s recovery in the aftermath of the Rim fire. They report their results in the current issue of Ecosystems. “This area burned at uncharacteristically high severity and did so even though fire weather was not particularly extreme,” said Taylor. “The fire does not appear to have restored the forest to before fire suppression, but altered it.” … ” Read more from Science Daily here: Yosemite forest fire an example of things to come

Phytophtora: New strains breaking the mold: “Early last year, the San Francisco Public Utility Commission (SFPUC) received a shipment of sickly-looking toyon, a California perennial shrub, from a native plant nursery. The water agency had been planting toyon on restoration sites in central Alameda County as mitigation for the large water infrastructure projects it is undertaking nearby. On examination, the toyon roots appeared badly discolored and so, as is the protocol in such instances, the agency sent the plants out for testing, and one came up positive for a dangerous, nonnative species of microscopic parasite in a group of organisms named Phytophthora. The discovery has jolted the Bay Area habitat restoration community and could dramatically change the way the native plant industry does business. ... ” Read more from Bay Nature here: Phytophtora: New strains breaking the mold

Groundwater an important factor in food security: “Thirsty cities, fields and livestock drink deeply from aquifers, natural sources of groundwater. But a study of three of the most-tapped aquifers in the United States shows that overdrawing from these resources could lead to difficult choices affecting not only domestic food security but also international markets. University of Illinois professors of civil and environmental engineering Ximing Cai and Megan Konar, along with graduate student Landon Marston and Lehigh University professor Tara Troy, studied groundwater consumption from three main aquifer systems. Reliance on these aquifers intensified so much from 2000 to 2008 that it accounted for 93 percent of groundwater depletion in the U.S. They published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. … ” Read more from PhysOrg here: Groundwater from aquifers an important factor in food security

Groundwater modeling breakthrough: “A University of Wyoming professor has made a discovery that answers a nearly 100-year-old question about water movement, with implications for agriculture, hydrology, climate science and other fields. After decades of effort, Fred Ogden, UW’s Cline Chair of Engineering, Environment and Natural Resources in the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, and a team of collaborators published their findings in the journal Water Resources Research this spring. The paper, titled “A new general 1-D vadose zone flow solution method,” presents an equation to replace a difficult and unreliable formula that’s stymied hydrologic modelers since 1931. “I honestly never thought I would be involved in a discovery in my field,” Ogden says. … ” Read more from Science Daily here: Groundwater modeling breakthrough

If you don’t invest in your water supply, somebody else will and it won’t be pretty: “Would you be willing to pay more for your water bill every month if it meant that there would be less pollution in nearby rivers? What if it also meant that the food you eat was produced using less chemicals, or that you’d be able to enjoy more bird watching? That sounds like a pretty good deal to me, but most communities take the seemingly easier but more expensive route of building bigger treatment plants to clean already polluted water. Treatment plants are critical, but the dirtier the water is coming into the plant, the harder and more expensive it is to clean. ... ” Read more from the Cool Green Science blog here: If you don’t invest in your water supply, somebody else will and it won’t be pretty

No, you can’t blame in on El Niño … but it’s still a forecaster’s best friend: “After El Niño conditions were declared in March and Climate Prediction Center’s latest forecast predicted El Niño’s continued strengthening during the upcoming summer and fall, I think it is safe to say we are well within the time period where everything will be blamed on El Niño. It rained on your wedding day? El Niño. Had an outdoor picnic ruined by a late afternoon thunderstorm? El Niño. Was it hot …during the summer? El Niño. Usually these are exaggerations. Mike Halpert and Tony Barnston in past posts have shown what type of U.S. and global impacts are associated with an El Niño for the late fall and winter and for the summer, respectively. But aside from its effect on seasonal hurricane activity, El Niño impacts over the US during the summer are minimal at best. … ” Read more from the ENSO blog here: No, you can’t blame in on El Niño … but it’s still a forecaster’s best friend

Scientists recruit public to help study ‘the blob’: “A huge mass of unusually warm water that scientists have dubbed “The Blob” has lurked off the West Coast for much of the past two years and speculation is growing that it may be connected in some way with the drought plaguing West Coast states. So researchers are planning a new study to see what role The Blob – as well as human-induced climate change – may have played in creating the parched conditions in California, Oregon and Washington. And they are looking for your help. … ” Read more from PhysOrg here: Scientists recruit public to help study ‘the blob’

The Inland Penetration of Atmospheric Rivers over Western North America: A Lagrangian Analysis: “Although atmospheric rivers (ARs) are typically regarded as coastal events, their impacts can be felt further inland as well. Recent work by Rutz et al. (2015) uses a forward trajectory analysis and AR thresholding criteria to examine the inland penetration of ARs over western North America, and identifies geographic corridors where inland-penetrating ARs are most likely. This paper builds on the earlier work led by Jon Rutz (Rutz and Steenburgh 2012 – Atmos. Sci. Lett., and Rutz et al. 2014 – Mon. Wea. Rev.) as part of his PhD dissertation with Jim Steenburgh at Univ. of Utah. Combined with recent results from Alexander et al. (2015, J. Hydrometeor) that used backward trajectories to examine inland penetration of ARs, as well as earlier studies on Arizona AR events (Neiman et al. 2013, Hughes et al. 2014; both in J. Hydrometeor.) and across the west (Ralph et al. 2014; J. Contemporary Water Resources Research and Education), it is now clear that ARs play a critical role in Western U.S. extreme precipitation, even well inland from the coastal areas where they were first studied. These results improve our understanding of water vapor transport and precipitation over the interior western U.S., and hence contribute to ongoing research interests and efforts at CW3E regarding the causes and prediction of extreme weather and water events across the Western U.S.” More information from the Center for Western Water and Weather Extremes here: The Inland Penetration of Atmospheric Rivers over Western North America: A Lagrangian Analysis

State of the Trout 2015: “This report details the status and trends within 28 separate species and subspecies of trout and char that are native to the U.S. Trout naturally occur in 38 of the 50 United States. … Of 28 native trout species and subspecies, three are extinct and six are listed as threatened or endangered. Excluding the extinct trout, 52 percent (13 of 25) occupy less than 25 percent of their historical habitat and are at high risk from at least one major threat. Nearly all native trout — 92 percent — face some level of risk. We divide our analysis into 10 large ecoregions: Pacific Coast, Central Valley/Sierra Nevada, Interior Columbia/Northern Rockies, Interior Basins, Southern Rockies/Colorado Plateau, Southwest, Great Lakes/Upper Mississippi, Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast. Trout status, threats and success stories of how to deal with these threats are described within this regional context. … ” Read the report here: State of the Trout 2015

Past water patterns drive present wading bird numbers: “Wading bird numbers in the Florida Everglades are driven by water patterns that play out over multiple years according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey and Florida Atlantic University. Previously, existing water conditions were seen as the primary driving factor affecting numbers of birds, but this research shows that the preceding years’ water conditions and availability are equally important. “We’ve known for some time that changes in water levels trigger a significant response by wading birds in the Everglades,” said James Beerens, the study’s lead author and an ecologist at USGS. “But what we discovered in this study is the importance of history. What happened last year can tell you what to expect this year.” … ” Read more from Science Daily here: Past water patterns drive present wading bird numbers

Recycled water, salt tolerant grass a water saving pair: “Plants need water. People need water. Unfortunately, there’s only so much clean water to go around—and so the effort begins to find a solution. Luckily for people, some plants are able to make do without perfectly clean water, leaving more good water for drinking. One strategy is to use treated wastewater, containing salt leftover from the cleaning process, to water large areas of turf grass. These areas include athletic fields and golf courses. Golf courses alone use approximately 750 billion gallons of water annually in arid regions. However, most plants cannot tolerate a lot of salt. ... ” Read more from PhysOrg here: Recycled water, salt-tolerant grass a water saving pair

Water used for hydraulic fracturing varies widely across the United States: “The amount of water required to hydraulically fracture oil and gas wells varies widely across the country, according to the first national-scale analysis and map of hydraulic fracturing water usage detailed in a new USGS study accepted for publication in Water Resources Research, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. The research found that water volumes for hydraulic fracturing averaged within watersheds across the United States range from as little as 2,600 gallons to as much as 9.7 million gallons per well. In addition, from 2000 to 2014, median annual water volume estimates for hydraulic fracturing in horizontal wells had increased from about 177,000 gallons per oil and gas well to more than 4 million gallons per oil well and 5.1 million gallons per gas well. Meanwhile, median water use in vertical and directional wells remained below 671,000 gallons per well. For comparison, an Olympic-sized swimming pool holds about 660,000 gallons. ... ” Read more from USGS here: Water Used for Hydraulic Fracturing Varies Widely Across United States

Maven’s XKCD Comic Pick of the Week …

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About Science News and Reports: This weekly feature, posted every Thursday, is a collection of the latest scientific research and reports with a focus on relevant issues to the Delta and to California water, although other issues such as climate change are sometimes included. Do you have an item to be included here? Submissions of relevant research and other materials is welcome. Email Maven.

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