Integration of bed characteristics, geochemical tracers, current measurements, and numerical modeling for assessing the provenance of beach sand in the San Francisco Bay Coastal System
Patrick L. Barnard, Amy C. Foxgrover, Edwin P.L. Elias, Li H. Erikson, James R. Hein, Mary McGann, Kira Mizell, Robert J. Rosenbauer, Peter W. Swarzenski, Renee K. Takesue, Florence L. Wong, Don Woodrow
2013, Marine Geology (345) 181-206
Over 150 million m3 of sand-sized sediment has disappeared from the central region of the San Francisco Bay Coastal System during the last half century. This enormous loss may reflect numerous anthropogenic influences, such as watershed damming, bay-fill development, aggregate mining, and dredging. The reduction in Bay sediment also appears to be...
Regional contingencies in the relationship between aboveground Bbomass and litter in the world’s grasslands
Lydia R. O’Halloran, Elizabeth T. Borer, Eric W. Seabloom, Andrew S. MacDougall, Elsa E. Cleland, Rebecca L. McCulley, Sarah Hobbie, W. Stan Harpole, Nicole M. DeCrappeo, Cheng-Jin Chu, Jonathan D. Bakker, Kendi F. Davies, Guozhen Du, Jennifer Firn, Nicole Hagenah, Kirsten S. Hofmockel, Johannes M.H. Knops, Wei Li, Brett A. Melbourne, John W. Morgan, John L. Orrock, Suzanne M. Prober, Carly J. Stevens
2013, PLoS ONE (8)
Based on regional-scale studies, aboveground production and litter decomposition are thought to positively covary, because they are driven by shared biotic and climatic factors. Until now we have been unable to test whether production and decomposition are generally coupled across climatically dissimilar regions, because we lacked replicated data collected within...
The effect of coachwhip presence on body size of North American racers suggests competition between these sympatric snakes
David A. Steen, Christopher J.W. McClure, Lora L. Smith, Brian J. Halstead, C. Kenneth Dodd Jr., William B. Sutton, James R. Lee, Danna L. Baxley, W. Jeffrey Humphries, Craig Guyer
2013, Journal of Zoology (289) 86-93
When sympatric species compete, character divergence may help maintain coexistence. Snakes are often found in species-rich assemblages while exploiting similar resources; because snake body size is a relatively plastic trait that determines the range of prey sizes an individual may consume, divergence in body size between sympatric species may arise...
VisTrails SAHM: visualization and workflow management for species habitat modeling
Jeffrey T. Morisette, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Tracy R. Holcombe, Colin B. Talbert, Drew A. Ignizio, Marian Talbert, Claudio Silva, David Koop, Alan Swanson, Nicholas E. Young
2013, Ecography: Pattern and Diversity in Ecology (36) 129-135
The Software for Assisted Habitat Modeling (SAHM) has been created to both expedite habitat modeling and help maintain a record of the various input data, pre- and post-processing steps and modeling options incorporated in the construction of a species distribution model through the established workflow management and visualization VisTrails software....
Intercontinental dispersal of bacteria and archaea by transpacific winds
D. Smith, H. Timonen, D. Jaffe, Dale W. Griffin, M. Birmele, K.D. Perry, P.D. Ward, M. Roberts
2013, Applied and Environmental Microbiology (79) 1134-1139
Microorganisms are abundant in the upper atmosphere, particularly downwind of arid regions, where winds can mobilize large amounts of topsoil and dust. However, the challenge of collecting samples from the upper atmosphere and reliance upon culture-based characterization methods have prevented a comprehensive understanding of globally dispersed airborne microbes. In spring...
Valuing morbidity from wildfire smoke exposure: a comparison of revealed and stated preference techniques
Leslie Richardson, John B. Loomis, Patricia A. Champ
2013, Land Economics (89) 76-100
Estimating the economic benefits of reduced health damages due to improvements in environmental quality continues to challenge economists. We review welfare measures associated with reduced wildfire smoke exposure, and a unique dataset from California’s Station Fire of 2009 allows for a comparison of cost of illness (COI) estimates with willingness...
Consumption of freshwater bivalves by muskrats in the Green River, Kentucky
Kimberly Asmus Hersey, Joseph D. Clark, James B. Layzer
2013, American Midland Naturalist (170) 248-259
Muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) are known to prey on freshwater bivalves (mussels and clams) and can negatively impact imperiled mussel species. However, factors that influence muskrat predation on bivalves are poorly understood. We evaluated the feeding ecology of muskrats in the Green River, Kentucky, by using stable isotope analysis of muskrat...
Monitoring the status of forests and rangelands in the Western United States using ecosystem performance anomalies
Matthew B. Rigge, Bruce Wylie, Yingxin Gu, Jayne Belnap, Khem P. Phuyal, Larry Tieszen
2013, International Journal of Remote Sensing (34) 4049-4068
The effects of land management and disturbance on ecosystem performance (i.e. biomass production) are often confounded by those of weather and site potential. The current study overcomes this issue by calculating the difference between actual and expected ecosystem performance (EEP) to generate ecosystem performance anomalies (EPA). This study aims to...
Volatile fluxes through the Big Bend section of the San Andreas Fault, California: helium and carbon-dioxide systematics
Justin T. Kulongoski, David R. Hilton, Peter H. Barry, Bradley K. Esser, Darren Hillegonds, Kenneth Belitz
2013, Chemical Geology (339) 92-102
To investigate the source of volatiles and their relationship to the San Andreas Fault System (SAFS), 18 groundwater samples were collected from wells near the Big Bend section of the SAFS in southern California and analyzed for helium and carbon abundance and isotopes. Concentrations of 4He, corrected for air-bubble entrainment,...
Temporal and spatial distribution of alteration, mineralization and fluid inclusions in the transitional high-sulfidation epithermal-porphyry copper system at Red Mountain, Arizona
Pilar Lecumberri-Sanchez, M. Claiborne Newton III, Erik C. Westman, Robert J. Kamilli, Vertrees M. Canby, Robert J. Bodnar
2013, Journal of Geochemical Exploration (125) 80-93
Red Mountain, Arizona, is a Laramide porphyry Cu system (PCD) that has experienced only a modest level of erosion compared to most other similar deposits in the southwestern United States. As a result, the upper portion of the magmatic–hydrothermal system, which represents the transition from shallower high-sulfidation epithermal mineralization to...
Limitation and facilitation of one of the world's most invasive fish: an intercontinental comparison
Phaedra E. Budy, Gary P. Thiede, Javier Lobon-Cervia, Gustavo Gonzolez Fernandez, Peter McHugh, Angus McIntosh, Lief Asbjorn Vollestad, Eloy Becares, Phillip Jellyman
2013, Ecology (94) 356-367
Purposeful species introductions offer opportunities to inform our understanding of both invasion success and conservation hurdles. We evaluated factors determining the energetic limitations of brown trout (Salmo trutta) in both their native and introduced ranges. Our focus was on brown trout because they are nearly globally distributed, considered one of...
You're standing on it! Coal-tar-based pavement sealcoat and environmental and human health
Barbara Mahler, Peter C. Van Metre
2013, APWA Reporter 64-66
Coal-tar-based sealcoat—a product marketed to protect and beautify asphalt pavement—is a potent source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to air, soils, streams and lakes, and homes. Does its use present a risk to human health? Results from a new study by researchers from Baylor University and the...
Association mapping of genetic risk factors for chronic wasting disease in wild deer
Tomomi Matsumoto, Michael D. Samuel, Trent Bollinger, Margo Pybus, David W. Coltman
2013, Evolutionary Applications (6) 340-352
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal transmissible spongiform encephalopathy affecting North American cervids. We assessed the feasibility of association mapping CWD genetic risk factors in wild white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) using a panel of bovine microsatellite markers from three homologous deer linkage groups predicted...
Using isotopes of dissolved inorganic carbon species and water to separate sources of recharge in a cave spring, northwestern Arkansas, USA Blowing Spring Cave
Katherine J. Knierim, Erik Pollock, Phillip D. Hays
2013, Acta Carsologica (42) 261-276
Blowing Spring Cave in northwestern Arkansas is representative of cave systems in the karst of the Ozark Plateaus, and stable isotopes of water (δ18O and δ2H) and inorganic carbon (δ13C) were used to quantify soil-water, bedrock-matrix water, and precipitation contributions to cave-spring flow during storm events to understand controls on...
Rapid increases and time-lagged declines in amphibian occupancy after wildfire
Blake R. Hossack, Winsor H. Lowe, Paul Stephen Corn
2013, Conservation Biology (27) 219-228
Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and severity of drought and wildfire. Aquatic and moisture-sensitive species, such as amphibians, may be particularly vulnerable to these modified disturbance regimes because large wildfires often occur during extended droughts and thus may compound environmental threats. However, understanding of the effects of...
Evaluating ion exchange resin efficiency and oxidative capacity for the separation of uranium(IV) and uranium(VI)
Deborah L. Stoliker, Douglas B. Kent, Nazila Kaviani, James A. Davis
2013, Geochemical Transactions (14)
Biodiversity losses and conservation trade-offs: Assessing future urban growth scenarios for a North American trade corridor
Miguel L. Villarreal, Laura M. Norman, Cynthia S.A. Wallace, Kenneth G. Boykin
2013, International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services and Management (9) 90-103
The Sonoran Desert and Apache Highlands ecoregions of North America are areas of exceptionally high plant and vertebrate biodiversity. However, much of the vertebrate biodiversity is supported by only a few vegetation types with limited distributions, some of which are increasingly threatened by changing land uses. We assessed the impacts...
Crowdsourcing to Acquire Hydrologic Data and Engage Citizen Scientists: CrowdHydrology
Michael N. Fienen, Chris Lowry
2013, Ground Water (51) 151-156
Spatially and temporally distributed measurements of processes, such as baseflow at the watershed scale, come at substantial equipment and personnel cost. Research presented here focuses on building a crowdsourced database of inexpensive distributed stream stage measurements. Signs on staff gauges encourage citizen scientists to voluntarily send hydrologic measurements (e.g., stream...
Mapping river bathymetry with a small footprint green LiDAR: Applications and challenges
Paul J. Kinzel, Carl J. Legleiter, Jonathan M. Nelson
2013, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (49) 183-204
Airborne bathymetric Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) systems designed for coastal and marine surveys are increasingly sought after for high-resolution mapping of fluvial systems. To evaluate the potential utility of bathymetric LiDAR for applications of this kind, we compared detailed surveys collected using wading and sonar techniques with measurements from...
Present weather and climate: evolving conditions
Martin P Hoerling, Michael Dettinger, Klaus Wolter, Jeff Lukas, Jon K. Eischeid, Rama Nemani, Brant Liebmann, Kenneth E. Kunkel
2013, Book chapter, Assessment of climate change in southwest United States: a report prepared for the National Climate Assessment
This chapter assesses weather and climate variability and trends in the Southwest, using observed climate and paleoclimate records. It analyzes the last 100 years of climate variability in comparison to the last 1,000 years, and links the important features of evolving climate conditions to river flow variability in four of...
Late quaternary slip-rate variations along the Warm Springs Valley fault system, northern Walker Lane, California-Nevada border
Ryan Gold, Craig dePolo, Richard W. Briggs, Anthony Crone, John Goss
2013, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (103) 542-558
The extent to which faults exhibit temporally varying slip rates has important consequences for models of fault mechanics and probabilistic seismic hazard. Here, we explore the temporal behavior of the dextral‐slip Warm Springs Valley fault system, which is part of a network of closely spaced (10–20 km) faults in the...
The utility of atmospheric analyses for the mitigation of artifacts in InSAR
James Foster, John Kealy, Tiziana Cherubini, S. Businger, Zhong Lu, Michael Murphy
2013, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (118) 748-758
The numerical weather models (NWMs) developed by the meteorological community are able to provide accurate analyses of the current state of the atmosphere in addition to the predictions of the future state. To date, most attempts to apply the NWMs to estimate the refractivity of the atmosphere at the time...
Fishery population and habitat assessment in Puerto Rico streams: Phase 2 final report
Thomas J. Kwak, William E. Smith, Elissa N. Buttermore, Patrick B. Cooney, W. Gregory Cope
2013, Report
This document serves as the Final Report for research on Puerto Rico stream fishes and their habitat funded by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, in the form of a grant to the North Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. This research was also conducted to...
Use of classification trees to apportion single echo detections to species: Application to the pelagic fish community of Lake Superior
Daniel L. Yule, Jean V. Adams, Thomas R. Hrabik, Mark R. Vinson, Zebadiah Woiak, Tyler D. Ahrenstroff
2013, Fisheries Research (140) 123-132
Acoustic methods are used to estimate the density of pelagic fish in large lakes with results of midwater trawling used to assign species composition. Apportionment in lakes having mixed species can be challenging because only a small fraction of the water sampled acoustically is sampled with trawl gear. Here we...
Identification of contamination in a lake sediment core using Hg and Pb isotopic compositions, Lake Ballinger, Washington, USA
John E. Gray, Michael J. Pribil, Peter C. Van Metre, David M. Borrok, Anita Thapalia
2013, Applied Geochemistry (29) 1-12
Concentrations and isotopic compositions of Hg and Pb were measured in a sediment core collected from Lake Ballinger, near Seattle, Washington, USA. Lake Ballinger has been affected by input of metal contaminants emitted from the Tacoma smelter, which operated from 1887 to 1986 and was located about 53 km south...
