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Steven (Paul) Berkowitz

Hawai‘i’s endangered waterbirds have experienced epizootics caused by ingestion of prey that accumulated a botulinum neurotoxin produced by the anaerobic bacterium Clostridium botulinum (avian botulism; Type C). Waterbird carcasses, necrophagous flies, and their larvae initiate and spread avian botulism, a food-borne paralytic disease lethal to waterbirds. Each new carcass has potential to develop toxin-accumulating necrophagous vectors amplifying outbreaks and killing hundreds of endangered birds. Early carcass removal is an effective mitigation strategy for preventing avian intoxication, toxin concentration in necrophagous and secondary food webs, and reducing the magnitude of epizootics. However, rapid detection...
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This dataset (in ESRI file geodatabase format) contains inundation areas for various future scenarios of sea-level rise (SLR), groundwater rise, and storm waves at Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Four types of inundation scenarios are considered: (1) passive SLR, (2) passive SLR including groundwater rise, (3) wave-driven inundation during storm events, and (4) wave-driven inundation during storm events including groundwater rise. For each of these four scenarios, five different levels of SLR are considered: 0.00 m, +0.50 m, +1.00 m, +1.50 m, and +2.00 m. We considered each scenario at mean high water in order to predict inundation during the more damaging part of the tidal range. Each of the...
Hawai‘i’s endangered waterbirds have experienced epizootics caused by ingestion of prey that accumulated a botulinum neurotoxin produced by the anaerobic bacterium Clostridium botulinum (avian botulism; Type C). Waterbird carcasses, necrophagous flies, and their larvae initiate and spread avian botulism, a food-borne paralytic disease lethal to waterbirds. Each new carcass has potential to develop toxin-accumulating necrophagous vectors amplifying outbreaks and killing hundreds of endangered birds. Early carcass removal is an effective mitigation strategy for preventing avian intoxication, toxin concentration in necrophagous and secondary food webs, and reducing the magnitude of epizootics. However, rapid detection...
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This dataset contains a screen-digitized coastline for Midway Atoll (Sand, Eastern, and Spit Islands) based on a DigitalGlobe WorldView-2 satellite image taken on January 14, 2010. The digitized coastline was not corrected for tide since no digital elevation model was available at the time the image was collected. Like most of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, this coastline is very dynamic and changes considerably from season to season, year to year, as erosion and depsoition of sand are in constant flux.
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Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Sea-level Rise Scenarios and Models 2010-2015
This data release consists of two ESRI geodatabases that store inundation areas for various future scenarios of sea-level rise (SLR), groundwater rise, and storm waves for Laysan Island and Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Five types of inundation scenarios are considered: (1) passive SLR, (2) passive SLR including groundwater rise, (3) wave-driven inundation during storm events, (4) wave-driven inundation during storm events including groundwater rise, and (5) wave-driven inundation during storm events, assuming unlimited seawater volumes and no infiltration (i.e., theoretical maximum). This scenario applies only to Laysan Island which has topographic depressions that fill with water during flood...
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