Black-tailed and white-tailed jackrabbits in the American West: History, ecology, ecological significance, and survey methods
Matthew Simes, Kathleen M. Longshore, Kenneth E. Nussear, Greg L. Beatty, David E. Brown, Todd C. Esque
2015, Western North American Naturalist (75) 491-519
Across the western United States, Leporidae are the most important prey item in the diet of Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos). Leporids inhabiting the western United States include black-tailed (Lepus californicus) and white-tailed jackrabbits (Lepus townsendii) and various species of cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus spp.). Jackrabbits (Lepus spp.) are particularly important components...
Groundwater recharge assessment at local and episodic scale in a soil mantled perched karst aquifer in southern Italy
V. Allocca, P. De Vita, F. Manna, John R. Nimmo
2015, Journal of Hydrology (529) 843-853
Groundwater recharge assessment of karst aquifers, at various spatial and temporal scales, is a major scientific topic of current importance, since these aquifers play an essential role for both socio-economic development and fluvial ecosystems. In this study, groundwater recharge was estimated at local and episodic scales in a representative...
Ground motion-simulations of 1811-1812 New Madrid earthquakes, central United States
L. Ramirez-Guzman, Robert Graves, Kim Olsen, Oliver S. Boyd, Chris H. Cramer, Stephen H. Hartzell, Sidao Ni, Paul G. Somerville, Robert Williams, Jinquan Zhong
2015, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (105) 1961-1988
We performed a suite of numerical simulations based on the 1811–1812 New Madrid seismic zone (NMSZ) earthquakes, which demonstrate the importance of 3D geologic structure and rupture directivity on the ground‐motion response throughout a broad region of the central United States (CUS) for these events. Our simulation set consists of...
Malaclemys terrapin rhizophorarum (mangrove diamond-backed terrapin)
Mathew J. Denton, Kristen M. Hart, Anton Oelinik, Roger Wood, John N. Baldwin
2015, Herpetological Review (46) 426-427
MALACLEMYS TERRAPIN RHIZOPHORARUM (Mangrove Diamond-backed Terrapin). DIET. Malaclemys terrapin rhizophorarum, one of seven subspecies of M. terrapin, inhabits subtropical mangrove habitats in South Florida, USA. In temperate climates M. terrapin is largely carnivorous, feeding primarily on gastropods, bivalves, and decapod crustaceans (Tucker et. al. 1995. Herpetologica 51:167–181; Butler et. al....
Z chromosome divergence, polymorphism and relative effective population size in a genus of lekking birds
Sara J. Oyler-McCance, Robert S. Cornman, Kenneth L. Jones, Jennifer A. Fike
2015, Heredity (115) 452-459
Sex chromosomes contribute disproportionately to species boundaries as they diverge faster than autosomes and often have reduced diversity. Their hemizygous nature contributes to faster divergence and reduced diversity, as do some types of selection. In birds, other factors (mating system and bottlenecks) can further decrease the effective population size of...
Seasonal thermal ecology of adult walleye (Sander vitreus) in Lake Huron and Lake Erie
Tyler B Peat, Todd A. Hayden, Lee F G Gutowsky, Christopher S. Vandergoot, David G. Fielder, Charles P. Madenjian, Karen J Murchie, John M. Dettmers, Charles C. Krueger, Steven J. Cooke
2015, Journal of Thermal Biology (53) 98-106
The purpose of this study was to characterize thermal patterns and generate occupancy models for adult walleye from lakes Erie and Huron with internally implanted biologgers coupled with a telemetry study to assess the effects of sex, fish size, diel periods, and lake. Sex, size, and diel periods had no...
Groundwater-level and storage-volume changes in the Equus Beds aquifer near Wichita, Kansas, predevelopment through January 2015
Joshua A. Whisnant, Cristi V. Hansen, Patrick J. Eslick
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5121
Development of the Wichita well field began in the 1940s in the Equus Beds aquifer to provide the city of Wichita, Kansas, a new water-supply source. After development of the Wichita well field began, groundwater levels began to decline. Extensive development of irrigation wells that began in the 1970s also...
Evidence that dorsally mounted satellite transmitters affect migration chronology of Northern Pintails
Jerry W. Hupp, Sergei Kharitonov, Noriyuki M. Yamaguchi, K. Ozaki, Paul L. Flint, John M. Pearce, Ken-ichi Tokita, Tetsuo Shimada, Hiroyoshi Higuchi
2015, Journal of Ornithology (156) 977-989
We compared migration movements and chronology between Northern Pintails (Anas acuta) marked with dorsally mounted satellite transmitters and pintails marked only with tarsus rings. During weekly intervals of spring and autumn migration between their wintering area in Japan and nesting areas in Russia, the mean distance that ringed pintails had...
Life stage influences the resistance and resilience of black mangrove forests to winter climate extremes
Michael J. Osland, Richard H. Day, Andrew S. From, Megan L. McCoy, Jennie L. McLeod, Jeffrey Kelleway
2015, Ecosphere (6)
In subtropical coastal wetlands on multiple continents, climate change-induced reductions in the frequency and intensity of freezing temperatures are expected to lead to the expansion of woody plants (i.e., mangrove forests) at the expense of tidal grasslands (i.e., salt marshes). Since some ecosystem goods and services would be affected by...
Olistostrome shed eastward from the Antler orogenic forebulge, Bisoni-McKay area, Fish Creek Range, central Nevada
Forrest G. Poole, Charles Sandberg
2015, Book chapter, Unusual central Nevada geologic terranes produced by Late Devonian antler orogeny and Alamo impact
The Bisoni-McKay area, a structurally isolated, fault-bounded horst, offset eastward at the south end of the Fish Creek Range, displays a geologic terrane that is previously unrecorded in Nevada, and perhaps elsewhere in North America. This unique terrane is an olistostrome that was shed eastward by listric faulting from the...
Remote sensing of actual evapotranspiration from croplands
Trent W. Biggs, George P. Petropoulos, Naga Manohar Velpuri, Michael Marshall, Edward P. Glenn, Pamela L. Nagler, Alex Messina
Prasad S. Thenkabail, editor(s)
2015, Book chapter, Remote sensing of water resources, disasters, and urban studies
Agriculture accounted for the majority of human water use and for more than 90% of global freshwater consumption during the twentieth century (Hoekstra and Mekonnen, 2012; Shiklomanov, 2000). Streamflow depletion due to enhanced evapotranspiration (ET) from irrigated crops impacts freshwater ecosystems globally (Foley et al., 2005). Water scarcity limits crop...
Understanding natural capital
Robert F. Stallard
Jefferson S. Hall, Vanessa Kirn, Estrella Yanguas-Fernandez, editor(s)
2015, Book chapter, Managing watersheds for ecosystem services in the steepland neotropics
This chapter serves to introduce the geophysics of Neotropical steeplands. Topics are covered in a general manner with hyperlinks to active research and monitoring sites (such as the National Hurricane Center and US Geological Survey publication). Topics covered include ‘tropical climate and weather,’ ‘climate variations and trends,’ Neotropical ‘geology, and...
Reconstructing turbidity in a glacially influenced lake using the Landsat TM and ETM+ surface reflectance climate data record archive, Lake Clark, Alaska
Carson Baughman, Benjamin M. Jones, Krista K. Bartz, Daniel Young, Christian E. Zimmerman
2015, Remote Sensing (7) 13692-13710
Lake Clark is an important nursery lake for sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in the headwaters of Bristol Bay, Alaska, the most productive wild salmon fishery in the world. Reductions in water clarity within Alaska lake systems as a result of increased glacial runoff have been shown to reduce salmon production...
Preface to the special issue on gas hydrate drilling in the Eastern Nankai Trough
Koji Yamamoto, Carolyn D. Ruppel
2015, Marine and Petroleum Geology (66) 295-295
Methane hydrate traps enormous amounts of methane in frozen deposits in continental margin sediments, and these deposits have long been targeted for studies investigating their potential as an energy resource. As a concentrated form of methane that occurs at shallower depths than conventional and most unconventional gas reservoirs, methane hydrates...
Comparative analysis of riverscape genetic structure in rare, threatened and common freshwater mussels
Heather S. Galbraith, David T. Zanatta, Chris C. Wilson
2015, Conservation Genetics (16) 845-857
Freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionoida) are highly imperiled with many species on the verge of local extirpation or global extinction. This study investigates patterns of genetic structure and diversity in six species of freshwater mussels in the central Great Lakes region of Ontario, Canada. These species vary in their...
Localization and seasonal variation of blue pigment (sandercyanin) in walleye (Sander vitreus)
Wayne Schaefer, Mark Schmitz, Vicki S. Blazer, Tim Ehlinger, John Berges
2015, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (72) 281-289
Several fish species, including the walleye (Sander vitreus), have “yellow” and “blue” color morphs. In S. vitreus, one source of the blue color has been identified as a bili-binding protein pigment (sandercyanin), found in surface mucus of the fish. Little is known about the production of the pigment or about its functions....
Differentiating induced and natural seismicity using space-time-magnitude statistics applied to the Coso Geothermal field
Martin Schoenball, Nicholas C. Davatzes, Jonathan M. G. Glen
2015, Geophysical Research Letters (42) 6221-6228
A remarkable characteristic of earthquakes is their clustering in time and space, displaying their self-similarity. It remains to be tested if natural and induced earthquakes share the same behavior. We study natural and induced earthquakes comparatively in the same tectonic setting at the Coso Geothermal Field. Covering the preproduction and...
Geochemical legacies and the future health of cities: A tale of two neurotoxins in urban soils
Gabriel M. Fillipelli, Martin R. Risch, Mark A. S. Laidlaw, Deborah E. Nichols, Julie Crewe
2015, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene
The past and future of cities are inextricably linked, a linkage that can be seen clearly in the long-term impacts of urban geochemical legacies. As loci of population as well as the means of employment and industry to support these populations, cities have a long history of co-locating contaminating practices...
Maximum likelihood Bayesian model averaging and its predictive analysis for groundwater reactive transport models
Gary P. Curtis, Dan Lu, Ming Ye
2015, Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies (529) 1859-1873
While Bayesian model averaging (BMA) has been widely used in groundwater modeling, it is infrequently applied to groundwater reactive transport modeling because of multiple sources of uncertainty in the coupled hydrogeochemical processes and because of the long execution time of each model run. To resolve these problems, this study analyzed...
Suburban watershed nitrogen retention: Estimating the effectiveness of stormwater management structures
Benjamin J. Koch, Catherine M. Febria, Roger M. Cooke, Jacob D. Hosen, Matthew E. Baker, Abigail R. Colson, Solange Filoso, Katharine Hayhoe, J. V. Loperfido, Anne M.K. Stoner, Margaret A. Palmer
2015, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene
Excess nitrogen (N) is a primary driver of freshwater and coastal eutrophication globally, and urban stormwater is a rapidly growing source of N pollution. Stormwater best management practices (BMPs) are used widely to remove excess N from runoff in urban and suburban areas, and are expected to perform under a...
Riders on the storm: selective tidal movements facilitate the spawning migration of threatened delta smelt in the San Francisco Estuary
W.A. Bennett, Jon R. Burau
2015, Estuaries and Coasts (38) 826-835
Migration strategies in estuarine fishes typically include behavioral adaptations for reducing energetic costs and mortality during travel to optimize reproductive success. The influence of tidal currents and water turbidity on individual movement behavior were investigated during the spawning migration of the threatened delta smelt, Hypomesus transpacificus, in the northern...
Regional and temporal differences in nitrate trends discerned from long-term water quality monitoring data
Edward G. Stets, Valerie J. Kelly, Charles G. Crawford
2015, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (51) 1394-1407
Riverine nitrate (NO3) is a well-documented driver of eutrophication and hypoxia in coastal areas. The development of the elevated river NO3 concentration is linked to anthropogenic inputs from municipal, agricultural, and atmospheric sources. The intensity of these sources has varied regionally, through time, and in response to multiple causes such as...
Spatial and temporal movement dynamics of brook Salvelinus fontinalis and brown trout Salmo trutta
L.A. Davis, Tyler Wagner, Meredith L. Barton
2015, Environmental Biology of Fishes (98) 2049-2065
Native eastern brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis and naturalized brown trout Salmo trutta occur sympatrically in many streams across the brook trout’s native range in the eastern United States. Understanding within- among-species variability in movement, including correlates of movement, has implications for management and conservation. We radio tracked 55 brook trout...
Effects of climate change on long-term population growth of pronghorn in an arid environment
Jay V. Gedir, James W. Cain III, Grant Harris, Trey T. Turnbull
2015, Ecosphere (6) 1-20
Climate often drives ungulate population dynamics, and as climates change, some areas may become unsuitable for species persistence. Unraveling the relationships between climate and population dynamics, and projecting them across time, advances ecological understanding that informs and steers sustainable conservation for species. Using pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) as an ecological model,...
Climate, water use, and land surface transformation in an irrigation intensive watershed - streamflow responses from 1950 through 2010
Joseph Dale, Chris B. Zou, William J. Andrews, James M. Long, Ye Liang, Lei Qiao
2015, Agricultural Water Management (160) 144-152
Climatic variability and land surface change have a wide range of effects on streamflow and are often difficult to separate. We analyzed long-term records of climate, land use and land cover, and re-constructed the water budget based on precipitation, groundwater levels, and water use from 1950 through 2010 in the...
