Evaluation of statistically downscaled GCM output as input for hydrological and stream temperature simulation in the Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint River Basin (1961–99)
Lauren E. Hay, Jacob H. LaFontaine, Steven L. Markstrom
2014, Earth Interactions (18) 1-32
The accuracy of statistically downscaled general circulation model (GCM) simulations of daily surface climate for historical conditions (1961–99) and the implications when they are used to drive hydrologic and stream temperature models were assessed for the Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint River basin (ACFB). The ACFB is a 50 000 km2 basin located in the...
Earth observation based assessment of the water production and water consumption of Nile Basin agro-ecosystems
Wim Bastiaanssen, Poolad Karimi, Lisa-Maria Rebelo, Zheng Duan, Gabriel B. Senay, Lal Muthuwatte, Vladimir Smakhtin
2014, Remote Sensing (6) 10306-10334
The increasing competition for water resources requires a better understanding of flows, fluxes, stocks, and the services and benefits related to water consumption. This paper explains how public domain Earth Observation data based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Second Generation Meteosat (MSG), Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) and various...
A design for a sustained assessment of climate forcings and feedbacks on land use land cover change
Thomas Loveland, Rezaul Mahmood
2014, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (95) 1563-1572
Land use and land cover change (LULCC) significantly influences the climate system. Hence, to prepare the nation for future climate change and variability, a sustained assessment of LULCC and its climatic impacts needs to be undertaken. To address this objective, not only do we need to determine contemporary trends in...
Detecting emergence, growth, and senescence of wetland vegetation with polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data
Alisa L. Gallant, Shannon G. Kaya, Lori White, Brian Brisco, Mark F. Roth, Walter J. Sadinski, Jennifer Rover
2014, Water (6) 694-722
Wetlands provide ecosystem goods and services vitally important to humans. Land managers and policymakers working to conserve wetlands require regularly updated information on the statuses of wetlands across the landscape. However, wetlands are challenging to map remotely with high accuracy and consistency. We investigated the use of multitemporal polarimetric synthetic...
Evapotranspiration variability and its association with vegetation dynamics in the Nile Basin, 2002–2011
Henok Alemu, Gabriel B. Senay, Armel T. Kaptue, Valeriy Kovalskyy
2014, Remote Sensing (6) 5885-5908
Evapotranspiration (ET) is a vital component in land-atmosphere interactions. In drylands, over 90% of annual rainfall evaporates. The Nile Basin in Africa is about 42% dryland in a region experiencing rapid population growth and development. The relationship of ET with climate, vegetation and land cover in the basin during 2002–2011...
Normative standards for land use in Vermont: Implications for biodiversity
Charles A. Bettigole, Therese M. Donovan, Robert Manning, John Austin
2014, Biological Conservation (169) 392-400
The conversion of natural lands to developed uses poses a great threat to global terrestrial biodiversity. Natural resource managers, tasked with managing wildlife as a public trust, require techniques for predicting how much and where wildlife habitat is likely to be converted in the future. Here, we develop a methodology to estimate the “social carrying...
Spatio-temporal patterns and climate variables controlling of biomass carbon stock of global grassland ecosystems from 1982 to 2006
Jiangzhou Xia, Shuguang Liu, Shunlin Liang, Yang Chen, Wenfang Xu, Wenping Yuan
2014, Remote Sensing (6) 1783-1802
Grassland ecosystems play an important role in subsistence agriculture and the global carbon cycle. However, the global spatio-temporal patterns and environmental controls of grassland biomass are not well quantified and understood. The goal of this study was to estimate the spatial and temporal patterns of the global grassland biomass and...
A new map of global ecological land units — An ecophysiographic stratification approach
Roger Sayre, Jack Dangermond, Charlie Frye, Randy Vaughan, Peter Aniello, Sean P. Breyer, Douglas Cribbs, Dabney Hopkins, Richard Nauman, William Derrenbacher, Dawn J. Wright, Clint Brown, Charles Convis, Jonathan H. Smith, Laurence Benson, D. Paco VanSistine, Harumi Warner, Jill Janene Cress, Jeffrey J. Danielson, Sharon L. Hamann, Thomas Cecere, Ashwan D. Reddy, Devon Burton, Andrea Grosse, Diane TRUE, Marc Metzger, Jens Hartmann, Nils Moosdorf, Hans Durr, Marc Paganini, Pierre Defourny, Olivier Arino, Simone Maynard, Mark Anderson, Patrick Comer
2014, Book
In response to the need and an intergovernmental commission for a high resolution and data-derived global ecosystem map, land surface elements of global ecological pattern were characterized in an ecophysiographic stratification of the planet. The stratification produced 3,923 terrestrial ecological land units (ELUs) at a base resolution of 250 meters....
13.3 – Stable Isotope Geochemistry of Mineral Deposits
W.C. Pat Shanks III
2014, Book chapter, Reference module in earth systems and environmental sciences: Treatise on geochemistry (Second Edition)
In this chapter, the intent is to summarize the results of traditional stable isotope studies (mainly H, B, O, C, and S) that have greatly contributed to the understanding of ore-forming processes over the last 60 years and to provide an up-to-date assessment of the application of new nontraditional isotope...
Effects of iron on optical properties of dissolved organic matter
Brett Poulin, Joseph N. Ryan, George R. Aiken
2014, Environmental Science & Technology (48) 10098-10106
Iron is a source of interference in the spectroscopic analysis of dissolved organic matter (DOM); however, its effects on commonly employed ultraviolet and visible (UV–vis) light adsorption and fluorescence measurements are poorly defined. Here, we describe the effects of iron(II) and iron(III) on the UV–vis absorption and fluorescence of solutions...
Projecting future grassland productivity to assess thesustainability of potential biofuel feedstock areas in theGreater Platte River Basin
Yingxin Gu, Bruce K. Wylie, Stephen P. Boyte, Khem P. Phuyal
2014, GCB Bioenergy (6) 35-43
This study projects future (e.g., 2050 and 2099) grassland productivities in the Greater Platte River Basin (GPRB) using ecosystem performance (EP, a surrogate for measuring ecosystem productivity) models and future climate projections. The EP models developed from a previous study were based on the satellite vegetation index, site geophysical and...
Evidence of natural reproduction by Muskellunge in middle Tennessee rivers
Lila H. Warren, Phillip William Bettoli
2014, Southeastern Naturalist (13) 506-514
Native Esox masquinongy (Muskellunge) in the Cumberland River drainage, TN, were nearly extirpated in the 1970s due to decades of over-fishing and habitat degradation from coal mining, logging, and other land-use practices. In an effort to preserve the species in that drainage, a stocking program began in 1976 in the upper Caney...
Arsenic associated with historical gold mining in the Sierra Nevada foothills: Case study and field trip guide for Empire Mine State Historic Park, California
Charles N. Alpers, Perry A Myers, Daniel Millsap, Tamsen B Regnier
Robert J. Bowell, Charles N. Alpers, Heather E. Jamieson, D. Kirk Nordstrom, Juraj Majzlan, editor(s)
2014, Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry (79) 553-587
The Empire Mine, together with other mines in the Grass Valley mining district, produced at least 21.3 million troy ounces (663 tonnes) of gold (Au) during the 1850s through the 1950s, making it the most productive hardrock Au mining district in California history (Clark 1970). The Empire Mine...
Development of a multimetric index for fish assemblages in a cold tailwater in Tennessee
Tomas J. Ivasauskas, Phillip William Bettoli
2014, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (143) 495-507
Tailwaters downstream of hypolimnetic-release hydropeaking dams exhibit a unique combination of stressors that affects the structure and function of resident fish assemblages. We developed a statistically and biologically defensible multimetric index of fish assemblages for the Caney Fork River below Center Hill Dam, Tennessee. Fish assemblages were sampled at five...
Understanding the value of imperfect science from national estimates of bird mortality from window collisions
Craig S. Machtans, Wayne E. Thogmartin
2014, Condor (116) 3-7
The publication of a U.S. estimate of bird–window collisions by Loss et al. is an example of the somewhat contentious approach of using extrapolations to obtain large-scale estimates from small-scale studies. We review the approach by Loss et al. and other authors who have published papers on human-induced avian mortality...
Tsunami-generated sediment wave channels at Lake Tahoe, California-Nevada, USA
James G. Moore, Richard A. Schweickert, Christopher A. Kitts
2014, Geosphere (10) 757-768
A gigantic ∼12 km3 landslide detached from the west wall of Lake Tahoe (California-Nevada, USA), and slid 15 km east across the lake. The splash, or tsunami, from this landslide eroded Tioga-age moraines dated as 21 ka. Lake-bottom short piston cores recovered sediment as old as 12 ka that did not...
The temperature-productivity squeeze: Constraints on brook trout growth along an Appalachian river continuum
J. Todd Petty, David Thorne, Brock M. Huntsman, Patricia M. Mazik
2014, Hydrobiologia (727) 151-166
We tested the hypothesis that brook trout growth rates are controlled by a complex interaction of food availability, water temperature, and competitor density. We quantified trout diet, growth, and consumption in small headwater tributaries characterized as cold with low food and high trout density, larger tributaries characterized as cold with...
New imaging of submarine landslides from the 1964 earthquake near Whittier, Alaska, and a comparison to failures in other Alaskan fjords
Peter J. Haeussler, Thomas E. Parsons, David P. Finlayson, Patrick J. Hart, Jason D. Chaytor, Holly F. Ryan, Homa J. Lee, Keith A. Labay, Andrew Peterson, Lee Liberty
2014, Book chapter, Submarine mass movements and their consequences, Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research Vol. 37
The 1964 Alaska M w 9.2 earthquake triggered numerous submarine slope failures in fjords of southern Alaska. These failures generated local tsunamis, such as at Whittier, where they inundated the town within 4 min of the beginning of shaking. Run-up was up to 32 m, with 13 casualties....
Changes in vegetation and biological soil crust communities on sand dunes stabilizing after a century of grazing on San Miguel Island, Channel Island National Park, California
Kristine L. Zellman
2014, Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist (7) 225-245
San Miguel Island is the westernmost of the California Channel Islands and one of the windiest areas on the west coast of North America. The majority of the island is covered by coastal sand dunes, which were stripped of vegetation and subsequently mobilized due to droughts and sheep ranching during...
Adult survival, apparent lamb survival, and body condition of desert bighorn sheep in relation to habitat and precipitation on the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, Arizona
Matthew Overstreet, Colleen A. Caldwell, James W. Cain III
2014, Cooperator Science Series 109-2014
The decline of desert bighorn sheep on the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge (KNWR) beginning in 2003 stimulated efforts to determine the factors limiting survival and recruitment. We 1) determined pregnancy rates, body fat, and estimated survival rates of adults and lambs; 2) investigated the relationship between precipitation, forage conditions, previous...
USGS reservoir and lake gage network: Elevation and volumetric contents data, and their uses
Anita C. Kroska
2014, Lakeline (Spring 2014) 8-12
In December of 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) marked the 125th anniversary of the installation of its first official water level and streamflow gage, on the Rio Grande at Embudo, New Mexico. The gage was installed because it was recognized that water data were important to expanding irrigation needs....
Segmentation of plate coupling, fate of subduction fluids, and modes of arc magmatism in Cascadia, inferred from magnetotelluric resistivity
Philip E. Wannamaker, Rob L. Evans, Paul A. Bedrosian, Martyn J. Unsworth, Virginie Maris, R. Shane McGary
2014, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (15) 4230-4253
Five magnetotelluric (MT) profiles have been acquired across the Cascadia subduction system and transformed using 2-D and 3-D nonlinear inversion to yield electrical resistivity cross sections to depths of ∼200 km. Distinct changes in plate coupling, subduction fluid evolution, and modes of arc magmatism along the length of Cascadia are...
Northern Pintail
Robert G. Clark, Joseph P. Fleskes, Karla L. Guyn, David A. Haukos, Jane E. Austin, Michael R. Miller
2014, The Birds of North America
This medium-sized dabbling duck of slender, elegant lines and conservative plumage coloration is circumpolar in distribution and abundant in North America, with core nesting habitat in Alaska and the Prairie Pothole Region of southern Canada and the northern Great Plains. Breeders favor shallow wetlands interspersed throughout prairie grasslands or arctic...
Reptilia: Testudines: Emydidae Graptemys gibbonsi - Pascagoula Map Turtle
Jeffrey E. Lovich, Joshua R. Ennen
2014, Book chapter, Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptile
The Pascagoula Map Turtle, Graptemys gibbonsi, is a large riverine species that exhibits pronounced sexual dimorphism, where females attain a maximum carapace length (CL) of 295 mm and males a maximum of 141 mm (Lovich et al. 2009). Mean adult female CL (248 mm) can be well over twice the...
How much Is enough? Minimal responses of water quality and stream biota to partial retrofit stormwater management in a suburban neighborhood
Allison H. Roy, Lee K. Rhea, Audrey L. Mayer, William D. Shuster, Jake J. Beaulieu, Matthew E. Hopton, Matthew A. Morrison, Ann E. St. Amand
2014, PLoS ONE (9) 1-14
Decentralized stormwater management approaches (e.g., biofiltration swales, pervious pavement, green roofs, rain gardens) that capture, detain, infiltrate, and filter runoff are now commonly used to minimize the impacts of stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces on aquatic ecosystems. However, there is little research on the effectiveness of retrofit, parcel-scale stormwater management...
