Comprehensive demographic dataset for Cape Cod, MA, US including population statistics, household income, housing units, education levels, employment data, and transportation with year-over-year changes.

Report provided to Barnstable County, MA entitled Bay scallop population structure on Cape Cod and the evaluation of enhancement efforts based on genetic markers: The use of microsatellite markers to improve bay scallop stock enhancement efforts Jan 2005

Ancestry coefficients from TESS of samples that showed significant admixture.

The microsatellite amplicon sizes of the 3 major haplotypes in base pairs.

Small mammal monitoring at Cape Cod National Seashore began in 2000. Small mammals are an important component of the park's fauna. In addition to their direct contribution to species richness, they play a major role in trophic dynamics, consuming plant material and invertebrates, and in turn serving as prey items for a number of species of snakes, raptorial birds, and small to mid-sized carnivorous mammals. Through these relationships, small mammals may directly influence population levels of insect pests and disease vectors such as gypsy moths and deer ticks, as well as certain regionally rare hawks and owls. In addition, through secondary effects, small mammals have the potential to influence species up and down the food chain. At Cape Cod National Seashore, small mammals are monitored to determine their abundance, distribution, and habitat relationships.

Waterbody or Watershed Names: Cape Cod National Seashore

Sponsor: Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program

Data submitted in fulfillment of a 2008 Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative grant.

Paper Abstract: We counted and measured Sphodros rufipes (Latreille 1829) pursewebs in two survey plots on Tuckernuck Island, Massachusetts. Tuckernuck is 50 Km south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and is entirely owned by private landowners or conservation organizations; biological research activities are supported and encouraged by residents on a limited basis. Our objectives were to quantify web density and determine the main components of the S. rufipes diet. We counted 479 webs in the two plots and report web densities between 0.058 and 0.18 webs/m2; denser than previously reported populations. Contrary to most previously published literature on S. rufipes, we noted the predominance of the grass-like sedge, Carex pensylvanica, rather than trees, as a web support. However, we also offer the first report of S. rufipes using a conifer (Pinus rigida) as a web support. Coleopterans and isopods made up 79 percent of the prey parts collected from 56 pursewebs. We suggest that the Tuckernuck population offers an opportunity to collect important long-term demographic data.

Datasets: sphodrosWebLocations.csv - data from two specific areas sphodrosSpiderMeasurements.csv - measurements of live spiders borrowed from their webs sphodrosRandomWebLocations.csv - data for webs found by happenstance sphodrosDiet.csv - diet data from body parts collected from Sphodros webs sphodrosDataDictionary.csv

Sites from which samples were collected and the number of haplotype identified from each site.

The Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow (CSSS; Ammospiza maritima mirabilis) is an endangered species that has experienced population declines of more than 60% since the 1990s. The CSSS is restricted in geographic extent to a relatively small area of remaining marl prairie in the southern Florida Everglades and remains in six subpopulation areas (named A-F). There has been over two decades of field research conducted on the CSSS across its six subpopulations, but a statistically robust analysis of the bird’s demographic parameters utilizing all data has yet to be completed. To address this gap, we conducted demographic analysis of the CSSS population using an integrated population model (IPM). The IPM provides a flexible framework to incorporate three separate CSSS data types (range-wide counts, mark-recapture, productivity) into a single model to estimate demographic processes and population trajectories. We calculated: (1) annual estimates of annual population size, survival, and productivity; (2) coefficient estimates of hydrologic and environmental variables on survival and productivity; (3) estimates of annual population growth and its correlation with demographic rates; and (4) a population viability analysis (PVA) that includes predicted population size and demographic rates 10 years into the future, and probabilities of extinction and quasi-extinction. This data release contains the code to run the IPM and PVA in addition to providing the parameter estimates from the model.

description: Due to continued coastal population growth and increased threats of erosion, current data on trends and rates of shoreline movement are required to inform shoreline and floodplain management. The Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management launched the Shoreline Change Project in 1989 to identify erosion-prone areas of the coast. In 2001, a 1994 shoreline was added to calculate both long- and short-term shoreline change rates at 40-meter intervals along ocean-facing sections of the Massachusetts coast. The Coastal and Marine Geology Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, has compiled reliable historical shoreline data along open-facing sections of the Massachusetts coast under the Massachusetts Shoreline Change Mapping and Analysis Project 2013 Update. Two oceanfront shorelines for Massachusetts (approximately 1,800 km in total length) were (1) delineated using 2008/09 color aerial orthoimagery, and (2) extracted from topographic LIDAR datasets (2007) obtained from NOAA's Ocean Service, Coastal Services Center. The new shorelines were integrated with existing Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management and USGS historical shoreline data in order to compute long- and short-term rates using the latest version of the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS).; abstract: Due to continued coastal population growth and increased threats of erosion, current data on trends and rates of shoreline movement are required to inform shoreline and floodplain management. The Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management launched the Shoreline Change Project in 1989 to identify erosion-prone areas of the coast. In 2001, a 1994 shoreline was added to calculate both long- and short-term shoreline change rates at 40-meter intervals along ocean-facing sections of the Massachusetts coast. The Coastal and Marine Geology Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, has compiled reliable historical shoreline data along open-facing sections of the Massachusetts coast under the Massachusetts Shoreline Change Mapping and Analysis Project 2013 Update. Two oceanfront shorelines for Massachusetts (approximately 1,800 km in total length) were (1) delineated using 2008/09 color aerial orthoimagery, and (2) extracted from topographic LIDAR datasets (2007) obtained from NOAA's Ocean Service, Coastal Services Center. The new shorelines were integrated with existing Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management and USGS historical shoreline data in order to compute long- and short-term rates using the latest version of the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS).

description: Due to continued coastal population growth and increased threats of erosion, current data on trends and rates of shoreline movement are required to inform shoreline and floodplain management. The Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management launched the Shoreline Change Project in 1989 to identify erosion-prone areas of the coast. In 2001, a 1994 shoreline was added to calculate both long- and short-term shoreline change rates at 40-meter intervals along ocean-facing sections of the Massachusetts coast. The Coastal and Marine Geology Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, has compiled reliable historical shoreline data along open-facing sections of the Massachusetts coast under the Massachusetts Shoreline Change Mapping and Analysis Project 2013 Update. Two oceanfront shorelines for Massachusetts (approximately 1,800 km) were (1) delineated using 2008/09 color aerial orthoimagery, and (2) extracted from topographic LIDAR datasets (2007) obtained from NOAA's Ocean Service, Coastal Services Center. The new shorelines were integrated with existing Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management and USGS historical shoreline data in order to compute long- and short-term rates using the latest version of the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS).; abstract: Due to continued coastal population growth and increased threats of erosion, current data on trends and rates of shoreline movement are required to inform shoreline and floodplain management. The Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management launched the Shoreline Change Project in 1989 to identify erosion-prone areas of the coast. In 2001, a 1994 shoreline was added to calculate both long- and short-term shoreline change rates at 40-meter intervals along ocean-facing sections of the Massachusetts coast. The Coastal and Marine Geology Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, has compiled reliable historical shoreline data along open-facing sections of the Massachusetts coast under the Massachusetts Shoreline Change Mapping and Analysis Project 2013 Update. Two oceanfront shorelines for Massachusetts (approximately 1,800 km) were (1) delineated using 2008/09 color aerial orthoimagery, and (2) extracted from topographic LIDAR datasets (2007) obtained from NOAA's Ocean Service, Coastal Services Center. The new shorelines were integrated with existing Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management and USGS historical shoreline data in order to compute long- and short-term rates using the latest version of the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS).

This data release contains the R code to run an integrated population model (IPM) for the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow (CSSS; Ammospiza maritima mirabilis), a federally endangered bird endemic to a small part of the Everglades in southern Florida, USA, and provides the parameter estimates from the model. The IPM synthesizes thirty years (1992-2021) of range-wide surveys, mark-resight, and nest monitoring data to estimate annual abundance, apparent survival, fecundity, and growth for six separately managed CSSS ‘subpopulations’ (A-F). A suite of hydrologic and fire metrics within occupied and potentially occupied areas for each subpopulation were calculated to evaluate the effects of hydroperiod on juvenile and adult survival, and the effects of water depth variability, amount of dry area, time since fire, and percent area burned on fecundity. Hydrologic metrics were derived from daily Everglades Depth Estimation Network water stage surfaces from 1991–2021 and fire metrics were derived from shapefiles of daily fire extent and dates for the years 1983–2021 from the National Park Service. Data and R code to calculate hydrologic and fire metrics are provided in this data release. CSSS data are not provided owing to restrictions on endangered species.

PhiPT estimates for B. microti from human patients by regiona.

Since the 1970s, the magnitude of turtle cold-stun strandings have increased dramatically within the northwestern Atlantic. Here, we examine oceanic, atmospheric, and biological factors that may affect the increasing trend of cold-stunned Kemp’s ridleys in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts, United States of America. Using machine learning and Bayesian inference modeling techniques, we demonstrate higher cold-stunning years occur when the Gulf of Maine has warmer sea surface temperatures in late October through early November. Surprisingly, hatchling numbers in Mexico, a proxy for population abundance, was not identified as an important factor. Further, using our Bayesian count model and forecasted sea surface temperature projections, we predict more than 2,300 Kemp’s ridley turtles may cold-stun annually by 2031 as sea surface temperatures continue to increase within the Gulf of Maine. We suggest warmer sea surface temperatures may have modified the northerly distribution of Kemp’s ridleys and act as an ecological bridge between the Gulf Stream and nearshore waters. While cold-stunning may currently account for a minor proportion of juvenile mortality, we recommend continuing efforts to rehabilitate cold-stunned individuals to maintain population resiliency for this critically endangered species in the face of a changing climate and continuing anthropogenic threats.

This dataset summarizes the commercial and recreational striped bass fisheries conducted in Massachusetts. Data sources used to characterize the state fisheries come from monitoring programs of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (Marine Fisheries, the Division) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries), which are considered to be essential elements of the long-term management approach described in Section 3 of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Fisheries Management Report No. 41 (Amendment #6 to the Interstate Fishery management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass (IFMP)). Fisheries data are compiled from four Massachusetts regions (Cape Cod Canal, Southern Massachusetts, Cape Cod Bay, Northern Massachusetts). Data begins with year 1986 and is updated to present years as data is made available.

As the climate warms, species that cannot tolerate changing conditions will only persist if they undergo range shifts. Redistribution ability may be particularly variable for benthic marine species that disperse as pelagic larvae in ocean currents. The blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, has recently experienced a warming-related range contraction in the southeastern USA and may face limitations to northward range shifts within the Gulf of Maine where dominant coastal currents flow southward. Thus, blue mussels might be especially vulnerable to warming, and understanding dispersal patterns is crucial given the species' relatively long planktonic larval period (>1 month). To determine whether trace elemental “fingerprints” incorporated in mussel shells could be used to identify population sources (i.e. collection locations), we assessed the geographic variation in shell chemistry of blue mussels collected from seven populations between Cape Cod, Massachusetts and northern Maine. Across this ∼500 km of coastline, we were able to successfully predict population sources for over two-thirds of juvenile individuals, with almost 80% of juveniles classified within one site of their collection location and 97% correctly classified to region. These results indicate that significant differences in elemental signatures of mussel shells exist between open-coast sites separated by ∼50 km throughout the Gulf of Maine. Our findings suggest that elemental “fingerprinting” is a promising approach for predicting redistribution potential of the blue mussel, an ecologically and economically important species in the region.