
Scott HotalingUtah State University | USU · Department of Watershed Sciences
Scott Hotaling
PhD
About
104
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Introduction
Additional affiliations
September 2017 - April 2022
August 2011 - July 2017
Publications
Publications (104)
Glacier ecosystems are teeming with life on, beneath, and to a lesser degree, within their icy masses. This conclusion largely stems from polar research, with less attention paid to mountain glaciers that overlap environmentally and ecologically with their polar counterparts in some ways, but diverge in others. One difference lies in the susceptibi...
In alpine regions worldwide, climate change is dramatically altering ecosystems and affecting biodiversity in many ways. For streams, receding alpine glaciers and snowfields, paired with altered precipitation regimes, are driving shifts in hydrology, species distributions, basal resources, and threatening the very existence of some habitats and bio...
Implementation of the coalescent model in a Bayesian framework is an emerging strength in genetically-based species delimitation studies. By providing an objective measure of species diagnosis, these methods represent a quantitative enhancement to the analysis of multi-locus data, and complement more traditional methods based on phenotypic and ecol...
Perhaps the most important recent advance in species delimitation has been the development of model-based approaches to objectively diagnose species diversity from genetic data. Additionally, the growing accessibility of next-generation sequence datasets provides powerful insights into genome-wide patterns of divergence during speciation. However,...
Climate warming is causing rapid loss of glaciers and snowpack in mountainous regions worldwide. These changes are predicted to negatively impact the habitats of many range-restricted species, particularly endemic, mountaintop species dependent on the unique thermal and hydrologic conditions found only in glacier-fed and snowmelt-driven alpine stre...
Snow algae darken the surface of snow, reducing albedo and accelerating melt. However, the impact of subsurface snow algae (e.g., when cells are covered by recent snowfall) on albedo is unknown. Here, we examined the impact of subsurface snow algae on surface energy absorption by adding up to 2 cm of clean snow to surface algal blooms and measuring...
The narrow-foot hygrotus diving beetle (Hygrotus diversipes Leech, 1966) is a rare and endemic aquatic beetle only known from central Wyoming. Hygrotus diversipes was discovered in 1964 and became a Category II Candidate Species under the Endangered Species Act in 1984, which led to surveys that discovered the beetle in 3 additional streams. We com...
Snow algal blooms decrease snow albedo and increase local melt rates. However, the causes behind the size and frequency of these blooms are still not well understood. One factor likely contributing is nutrient availability, specifically nitrogen and phosphorus. The nutrient requirements of the taxa responsible for these blooms are not known. Here,...
Alpine streams support unique biodiversity because of their isolation in the river network and harsh environmental conditions. Variation in water sources to alpine streams are an important driver of benthic community structure; however, studies with long-term data on stream abiotic characteristics and biological communities remain relatively rare....
Understanding biotic interactions and how they vary across habitats is important for assessing the vulnerability of communities to climate change. Receding glaciers in high mountain areas can lead to the hydrologic homogenization of streams and reduce habitat heterogeneity, which are predicted to drive declines in regional diversity and imperil end...
Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) have enabled teleost fishes to repeatedly colonize polar seas. Four AFP types have convergently evolved in several fish lineages. AFPs inhibit ice crystal growth and lower cellular freezing point. In lineages with AFPs, species inhabiting colder environments may possess more AFP copies. Elucidating how interspecific diffe...
Pteronarcys californica (Newport 1848) is commonly referred to as the giant salmonfly and is the largest species of stonefly (Insecta: Plecoptera) in the western United States. Historically, it was widespread and abundant in western rivers, but populations have experienced a substantial decline in the past few decades, becoming locally extirpated i...
During the summer melt, snow algae commonly form large-scale blooms in areas with seasonal or year-round snow coverage. Snow algal blooms, in which the dominating species belong to Chlorophyta (green algae), decrease snow albedo and increase local melt rates. However, the causes behind the size and frequency of these blooms are still not well under...
Caddisflies (Trichoptera) are among the most diverse groups of freshwater animals with more than 16 000 described species. They play a fundamental role in freshwater ecology and environmental engineering in streams, rivers and lakes. Because of this, they are frequently used as indicator organisms in biomonitoring programmes. Despite their importan...
We present a genome assembly from one male Meconema thalassinum (the oak bush-cricket; Arthropoda; Insecta; Orthoptera; Tettigoniidae). The genome sequence is 9,039.1 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 15 chromosomal pseudomolecules, including the X sex chromosome. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and is 15.6...
Lakes are sentinels of environmental change. In cold climates, lake ice phenology—the timing and duration of ice cover during winter—is a key control on ecosystem function. Ice phenology is likely driven by a complex interplay between physical characteristics and climatic conditions. Under climate change, lakes are generally freezing later, melting...
Caddisflies (Trichoptera) are among the most diverse groups of freshwater animals, with more than 16,000 described species. They play an outsized role in freshwater ecology and environmental engineering in streams, rivers, and lakes. Because of this, they are frequently used as indicator organisms in biomonitoring programs. Despite their importance...
Snow algae contribute to snowmelt by darkening the surface, reducing its albedo. However, the potential consequences of algae under the surface (such as after a fresh snowfall) on albedo reduction is not known. In this study, we examined the impact of sub-surface snow algae on surface energy absorption. The results indicate energy absorption across...
Repetitive elements (REs) are integral to the composition, structure, and function of eukaryotic genomes, yet remain understudied in most taxonomic groups. We investigated REs across 601 insect species and report wide variation in REs dynamics across groups. Analysis of associations between REs and protein-coding genes revealed dynamic evolution at...
Lakes are sentinels of environmental change. In cold climates, lake ice phenology–the timing and duration of ice cover during winter–is a key control on ecosystem function. Ice phenology is driven by a complex interplay between physical characteristics and climatic conditions. Under climate change, lakes are generally freezing later, melting out ea...
Arthropod silk is vital to the evolutionary success of hundreds of thousands of species. The primary proteins in silks are often encoded by long, repetitive gene sequences. Until recently, sequencing and assembling these complex gene sequences has proven intractable given their repetitive structure. Here, using high-quality long-read sequencing, we...
Glaciers cover nearly 10% of the Earth's surface and are unique biomes dominated by microbial communities that support key ecosystem processes. The melting of glaciers is among the most conspicuous consequences of global climate change, with impacts on microbial ecology and associated biogeochemistry. However, we are still missing an integrative un...
. Bees are prolific, vital pollinators in agricultural and natural settings, but some taxa
are declining. Surveying bees is crucial to understand the needs of these taxa; however, we lack a fine-grained understanding of assemblages associated with different
sampling methods that would enable us to analyse data range-wide.
. Here we examine the diff...
Background
Generating the most contiguous, accurate genome assemblies given available sequencing technologies is a long-standing challenge in genome science. With the rise of long-read sequencing, assembly challenges have shifted from merely increasing contiguity to correctly assembling complex, repetitive regions of interest, ideally in a phased m...
Understanding biotic interactions and how they vary across habitats is important for assessing the vulnerability of communities to climate change. Receding glaciers in high mountain areas can lead to the hydrologic homogenization of streams and reduce habitat heterogeneity, which are predicted to drive declines in regional diversity and imperil end...
Vulnerability to warming is often assessed using short‐term metrics such as the critical thermal maximum (CTMAX), which represents an organism's ability to survive extreme heat. However, the long‐term effects of sub‐lethal warming are an essential link to fitness in the wild, and these effects are not adequately captured by metrics like CTMAX.
The...
Arthropod silk is vital to the evolutionary success of hundreds of thousands of species. The primary proteins in silks are often encoded by long, repetitive gene sequences. Until recently, sequencing and assembling these complex gene sequences has proven intractable given their repetitive structure. Here, using high-quality long-read sequencing, we...
Glaciers are rapidly receding under climate change. A melting cryosphere will dramatically alter global sea levels, carbon cycling, and water resource availability. Glaciers host rich biotic communities that are dominated by microbial diversity, and this biodiversity can impact surface albedo, thereby driving a feedback loop between biodiversity an...
Generating the most contiguous, accurate genome assemblies given available sequencing technologies is a long-standing challenge in genome science. With the rise of long-read sequencing, assembly challenges have shifted from merely increasing contiguity to correctly assembling complex, repetitive regions of interest, ideally in a phased manner. At p...
Insect silk is a versatile biomaterial. Lepidoptera and Trichoptera display some of the most diverse uses of silk, with varying strength, adhesive qualities, and elastic properties. Silk fibroin genes are long (>20 Kbp), with many repetitive motifs that make them challenging to sequence. Most research thus far has focused on conserved N- and C-term...
Antarctic winters are challenging for terrestrial invertebrates, and species that live there have specialised adaptations to conserve energy and protect against cold injury in the winter. However, rapidly occurring climate change in these regions will increase the unpredictability of winter conditions, and there is currently a dearth of knowledge o...
Aim
To quantify avian biodiversity and habitat preference and describe behavior in an enigmatic, understudied ecosystem: mountain glaciers and snowfields.
Location
Mountains in the Pacific Northwest of western North America: British Columbia (CA), Washington and Oregon (USA).
Taxon
Birds observed within our study area and focal habitat.
Methods...
Under climate change, glaciers are rapidly receding worldwide. A melting cryosphere will dramatically alter global sea levels, carbon cycling, and water resource availability. Glaciers also host rich biotic communities that are dominated by microbial diversity and this biodiversity can impact surface albedo, thereby driving a feedback loop between...
Insect silk is an incredibly versatile biomaterial. Lepidoptera and their sister lineage, Trichoptera, display some of the most diverse uses of silk with varying strength, adhesive qualities and elastic properties. It is well known that silk fibroin genes are long (> 20 kb) and have many repetitive motifs. These features make these genes challengin...
Repetitive elements (REs) are integral to the composition, structure, and function of eukaryotic genomes. Yet, RE dynamics remain understudied in many taxonomic groups, preventing holistic understanding of how genomes and species evolve. Here, we investigated REs across 601 insect species (20 orders) to better understand the RE landscape of insects...
Long‐read sequencing is driving a new reality for genome science where highly contiguous assemblies can be produced efficiently with modest resources. Genome assemblies from long‐read sequences are particularly exciting for understanding the evolution of complex genomic regions that are often difficult to assemble. In this study, we leveraged long‐...
Rapid recession of glaciers and snowfields is threatening the habitats of cold-water biodiversity worldwide. In many ice-sourced headwaters of western North America, stoneflies in the genus Lednia (Plecoptera: Nemouridae) are a prominent member of the invertebrate community. With a broad distribution in mountain streams and close ties to declining...
In less than 25 y, the field of animal genome science has transformed from a discipline seeking its first glimpses into genome sequences across the Tree of Life to a global enterprise with ambitions to sequence genomes for all of Earth’s eukaryotic diversity [H. A. Lewin et al. , Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 115, 4325–4333 (2018)]. As the field ra...
Context
The global recession of glaciers and perennial snowfields is reshaping mountain ecosystems. Beyond physical changes to the landscape and altered downstream hydrology, the implications of glacier decline for biodiversity are poorly known. Before predictions can be made about how climate change will affect wildlife in glacier-associated ecosy...
The field of plant genome sequencing has grown rapidly in the past 20 years, leading to increases in the quantity and quality of publicly available genomic resources. The growing wealth of genomic data from an increasingly diverse set of taxa provides unprecedented potential to better understand the genome biology and evolution of land plants. Here...
Long-read sequencing is driving a new reality for genome science where highly contiguous assemblies can be produced efficiently with modest resources. Genome assemblies from long-read sequencing are particularly exciting for understanding the evolution of complex genomic regions that are often difficult to assemble. In this study, we leveraged long...
In less than 25 years, the field of animal genome science has transformed from a discipline seeking its first glimpses into genome sequences across the Tree of Life to a global enterprise with ambitions to sequence genomes for all of Earth’s eukaryotic diversity (1). As the field rapidly moves forward, it is important to take stock of the progress...
The first insect genome (Drosophila melanogaster) was published two decades ago. Today, nuclear genome assemblies are available for a staggering 601 insect species representing 20 orders. In this study, we analyzed the most-contiguous assembly for each species and provide a “state of the field” perspective, emphasizing taxonomic representation, ass...
The global cryosphere, Earth's frozen water, is in precipitous decline. The ongoing and predicted impacts of cryosphere loss are diverse, ranging from disappearance of entire biomes to crises of water availability. Covering approximately one-fifth of the planet, mass loss from the terrestrial cryosphere is driven primarily by a warming atmosphere b...
The field of plant genomics has grown rapidly in the past 20 years, leading to dramatic increases in both the quantity and quality of publicly available genomic resources. With an ever-expanding wealth of genomic data from an increasingly diverse set of taxa, unprecedented potential exists to better understand the evolution and genome biology of pl...
Modern genetic data sets present unprecedented opportunities to understand the evolutionary origins of diverse taxonomic groups. When the timing of key events is known, it is also possible to investigate biogeographic history in the context of major phenomena (e.g., cooling of a major ocean). In this study, we investigated the biogeographic history...
Peer‐review and subject‐matter editing is the backbone of scientific publishing. However, early‐career researchers (ECRs) are given few opportunities to participate in the editorial process beyond reviewing articles. Thus, a disconnect exists: science needs high‐quality editorial talent to conduct, oversee and improve the publishing process, yet we...
How aquatic insects cope with cold temperatures is poorly understood. This is particularly true for high-elevation species, which often experience a seasonal risk of freezing. In the Rocky Mountains, nemourid stoneflies (Plecoptera: Nemouridae) are a major component of mountain stream biodiversity and are typically found in streams fed by glaciers...
Significance
Population structure and speciation are shaped by a combination of biotic and abiotic factors. The tiger salamander complex has been considered a key group in which life history variation has led to a rapid rate of speciation, driven in large part by the evolution of obligate paedomorphosis—a condition in which adults maintain an aquat...
Peer-review and subject-matter editing is the backbone of scientific publishing. However, early career researchers (ECRs) are given few opportunities to participate in the editorial process beyond reviewing articles. Thus, a disconnect exists: science needs high-quality editorial talent to conduct, oversee, and improve the publishing process, yet w...
The first insect genome ( Drosophila melanogaster ) was published two decades ago. Today, nuclear genome assemblies are available for a staggering 601 insect species representing 20 orders. In this study, we analyzed the most-contiguous assembly for each species and provide a “state of the field” perspective, emphasizing taxonomic representation, a...
Modern genetic data sets present unprecedented opportunities to understand the evolutionary origins of taxonomic groups comprising hundreds to thousands of species. When the timing of key events are known, it is also possible to investigate biogeographic history in the context of major phenomena (e.g., continental drift). In this study, we investig...
Mountains are global biodiversity hotspots where cold environments and their associated ecological communities are predicted to be threatened by climate warming. Considerable research attention has been devoted to understanding the ecological effects of alpine glacier and snowfield recession. However, much less attention has been given to identifyi...
Alpine regions are changing rapidly due to loss of snow and ice in response to ongoing climate change. While studies have documented ecological responses in alpine lakes and streams to these changes, our ability to predict such outcomes is limited. We propose that the application of fundamental rules of life can help develop necessary predictive fr...
Climate change is dramatically altering high-elevation streams around the world through the recession of glaciers and other meltwater sources. Rapidly changing hydrological regimes imperil entire communities of mountain stream biodiversity. We have monitored high-elevation streams in the Teton Range since 2015, with a specific focus on understandin...
Mountains are global biodiversity hotspots where cold environments and their associated ecological communities are expected to shift upward and disappear as climates warm. Considerable research attention has been focused on the ecological effects of alpine glacier and snowfield recession and warming temperatures in aquatic and terrestrial habitats....
Near-term extirpations of macroinvertebrates are predicted for mountain streams worldwide as a warming climate drives the recession of high-elevation ice and snow. However, hydrological sources likely vary in their resistance to climate change, and thus streams fed by more resistant sources could persist as climate refugia for imperiled biota. In 2...
Climate change is altering conditions in high-elevation streams worldwide, with largely unknown effects on resident communities of aquatic insects. Here, we review the challenges of climate change for high-elevation aquatic insects and how they may respond, focusing on current gaps in knowledge. Understanding current effects and predicting future i...
Aquatic insects comprise 10% of all insect diversity, can be found on every continent except Antarctica, and are key components of freshwater ecosystems. However, aquatic insect genome biology lags dramatically behind that of terrestrial insects. If genomic effort was spread evenly, one aquatic insect genome would be sequenced for every ~9 terrestr...
Aquatic insects comprise 10% of all insect diversity, can be found on every continent except Antarctica, and are key components of freshwater ecosystems. Yet aquatic insect genome biology lags dramatically behind that of terrestrial insects. If genomic effort was spread evenly, one aquatic insect genome would be sequenced for every ∼9 terrestrial i...
Rapid glacier recession is altering the physical conditions of headwater streams. Stream temperatures are predicted to rise and become increasingly variable, putting entire meltwater‐associated biological communities at risk of extinction. Thus, there is a pressing need to understand how thermal stress affects mountain stream insects, particularly...
Aquatic invertebrates are excellent indicators of ecosystem quality; however, choosing a sampling method can be difficult. Each method and associated protocol has advantages and disadvantages, and finding the approach that minimizes biases yet fulfills management objectives is crucial. To test the effects of both sampling methods and sample handlin...
The North American tiger salamander species complex, including its flagship species the axolotl, has long been a source of biological fascination. The complex exhibits a wide range of variation in developmental life history strategies, including populations and individuals that undergo metamorphosis and those able to forego metamorphosis and retain...
A bstract
The North American tiger salamander species complex, including its best-known species, the Mexican axolotl, has long been a source of biological fascination. The complex exhibits a wide range of variation in developmental life history strategies, including populations and individuals that undergo metamorphosis, those able to forego metamo...
How aquatic insects cope with cold temperatures is poorly understood. This is particularly true for high-elevation species that often experience a seasonal risk of freezing. In the Rocky Mountains, nemourid stoneflies (Plecoptera: Nemouridae) are a major component of mountain stream biodiversity and are typically found in streams fed by glaciers an...