“All Models Are Wrong, but Some Are Useful”
Edward H. Field
2015, Seismological Research Letters (86) 291-293
Building a new model, especially one used for policy purposes, takes considerable time, effort, and resources. In justifying such expenditures, one inevitably spends a lot of time denigrating previous models. For example, in pitching the third Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast (UCERF3) (http://www.WGCEP.org/UCERF3), criticisms of the previous model included...
Entrainment of bed material by Earth-surface mass flows: review and reformulation of depth-integrated theory
Richard M. Iverson, Chaojun Ouyang
2015, Reviews of Geophysics (53) 1-32
Earth-surface mass flows such as debris flows, rock avalanches, and dam-break floods can grow greatly in size and destructive potential by entraining bed material they encounter. Increasing use of depth-integrated mass- and momentum-conservation equations to model these erosive flows motivates a review of the underlying theory. Our review indicates that...
Coles Hill Uranium Deposit, Virginia, United States, and the Application of UNFC-2009
Susan M. Hall
2015, Book chapter, Application of UNFC to Nuclear Fuel Resources - Selected Case Studies
The case study presented here reviews the uranium resource estimates and summarizes the property situation of the Coles Hill uranium Deposit. Uranium resources at Coles Hill are then classified according to UNFC-2009. The Coles Hill Deposit is located in Pittsylvania County, southern Virginia, United States (Figure 14). Coles Hill was...
A summary of the late Cenozoic stratigraphic and tectonic history of the Santa Clara Valley, California
Victoria E. Langenheim, Robert C. Jachens, Carl M. Wentworth, Russell W. Graymer, Richard G. Stanley, Robert J. McLaughlin, Robert W. Simpson, Robert A. Williams, D. W. Andersen, David A. Ponce
2015, Geosphere (11) 50-62
The late Cenozoic stratigraphic and tectonic history of the Santa Clara Valley illustrates the dynamic nature of the North American–Pacific plate boundary and its effect on basin and landscape development. Prior to early Miocene time, the area that became Santa Clara Valley consisted of eroding Franciscan complex basement structurally interleaved...
Yellowstone grizzly bear investigations — Annual report of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team 2014
Frank T. van Manen, Mark A. Haroldson, Suzanna C. Soileau, editor(s)
2015, Report
This Annual Report summarizes results of grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) monitoring and research conducted in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST) during 2014. The report also contains a summary of grizzly bear management actions to address conflict situations. ...
Book reviews: The Double-crested Cormorant, plight of a feathered pariah, by L.R. Wires/The birds of New Hampshire by Allan R, Keith and Robert P. Fox
R. Todd Engstrom, Daniel D. Roby, Jon S. Greenlaw
2015, The Auk (132) 315-317
No abstract available....
Non-perturbational surface-wave inversion: A Dix-type relation for surface waves
Matthew M. Haney, Victor C. Tsai
2015, Geophysics (80) EN167-EN177
We extend the approach underlying the well-known Dix equation in reflection seismology to surface waves. Within the context of surface wave inversion, the Dix-type relation we derive for surface waves allows accurate depth profiles of shear-wave velocity to be constructed directly from phase velocity data, in contrast to perturbational methods....
Causes and consequences of ecosystem service regionalization in a coastal suburban watershed
Wilfred M. Wollheim, Mark B. Green, Brian A. Pellerin, Nathaniel B. Morse, Charles S. Hopkinson
2015, Estuaries and Coasts (1) 19-34
The demand for ecosystem services and the ability of natural ecosystems to provide those services evolve over time as population, land use, and management practices change. Regionalization of ecosystem service activity, or the expansion of the area providing ecosystem services to a population, is a common response in densely populated...
Geologic setting of the proposed Fallon FORGE Site, Nevada: Suitability for EGS research and development
James E. Faulds, Douglas Blankenship, Nicholas H. Hinz, Andrew Sabin, Josh Nordquist, Stephen H. Hickman, Jonathan M.G. Glen, Mack Kennedy, Drew Siler, Ann Robinson-Tait, Colin F. Williams, Peter Drakos, Wendy M. Calvin
2015, GRC Transactions (39) 293-302
The proposed Fallon FORGE site lies within and adjacent to the Naval Air Station Fallon (NASF) directly southeast of the town of Fallon, Nevada, within the large basin of the Carson Sink in west-central Nevada. The site is located on two parcels that include land owned by the NASF and...
Bayesian models: A statistical primer for ecologists
N. Thompson Hobbs, Mevin Hooten
2015, Book
Bayesian modeling has become an indispensable tool for ecological research because it is uniquely suited to deal with complexity in a statistically coherent way. This textbook provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the latest Bayesian methods—in language ecologists can understand. Unlike other books on the subject, this one emphasizes...
Future land-use scenarios and the loss of wildlife habitats in the southeastern United States
Sebastian Martinuzzi, John C. Withey, Anna M. Pidgeon, Andrew Plantinga, Alexa McKerrow, Steven G. Williams, David P. Helmers, Volker C. Radeloff
2015, Ecological Applications (25) 160-171
Land-use change is a major cause of wildlife habitat loss. Understanding how changes in land-use policies and economic factors can impact future trends in land use and wildlife habitat loss is therefore critical for conservation efforts. Our goal here was to evaluate the consequences of future land-use changes under different...
Golden Eagle predation of an adult turkey vulture
Clint W. Boal
2015, Bulletin of the Texas Ornithological Society (48) 53-55
The Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) is a large, apex predator that occurs at low densities, has a long life span, experiences delayed maturity, has low reproductive rates, and has no natural predators (Watson 1997, Kochert et al. 2002). Golden Eagles are sensitive to anthropogenic driven landscape changes in land cover...
Groundwater conditions in Utah, spring of 2015
Carole B. Burden
2015, Cooperative Investigations Report 56
This is the fifty-second in a series of annual reports that describe groundwater conditions in Utah. Reports in this series, published cooperatively by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Rights, and the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Water Quality, provide...
Ursus maritimus
Oystein Wiig, Steven C. Amstrup, Todd C. Atwood, Kristin L Kaidre, Nicholas J Lunn, Martyn E. Obbard, Eric V. Regehr, Gregory W. Thiemann
2015, Book chapter, The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015
No abstract available....
Population connectivity of deep-sea corals
Cheryl L. Morrison, Amy Baco, Martha S. Nizinski, D. Katharine Coykendall, Amanda W.J. Demopoulos, Walter Cho, Tim Shank
2015, NOAA Technical Memorandum X-12
Identifying the scale of dispersal among habitats has been a challenge in marine ecology for decades (Grantham et al., 2003; Kinlan & Gaines, 2003; Hixon, 2011). Unlike terrestrial habitats in which barriers to dispersal may be obvious (e.g. mountain ranges, rivers), few absolute barriers to dispersal are recognizable in the...
2014 status of the Lake Ontario lower trophic levels
Kristen T. Holeck, Lars G. Rudstam, Christopher Hotaling, Russ D. McCullough, Dave Lemon, Web Pearsall, Jana Lantry, Michael J. Connerton, Steve LaPan, Zy Biesinger, Brian F. Lantry, Maureen Walsh, Brian Weidel
2015, NYSDEC Lake Ontario Annual Report 2014-16
Soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) concentrations have been stable in nearshore and offshore habitats since 1998 (0.4 – 3.3 μg/L). SRP concentrations were low in 2014; Apr/May – Oct mean values were <1 μg/L at most sites. Spring TP concentrations at individual sites exceeded 10 μg/L on occasion, but spring means...
Twentieth-century shifts in forest structure in California: Denser forests, smaller trees, and increased dominance of oaks
Patrick J. McIntyre, James H. Thorne, Christopher R. Dolanc, Alan L. Flint, Lorraine E. Flint, Maggi Kelly, David D. Ackerly
2015, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (112) 1458-1463
We document changes in forest structure between historical(1930s) and contemporary (2000s) surveys of California vegetation through comparisons of tree abundance and size across the state and within several ecoregions. Across California, tree density in forested regions increased by 30% between the two time periods, whereas forest biomass in the same...
Stable-isotope and solute-chemistry approaches to flow characterization in a forested tropical watershed, Luquillo Mountains, Puerto Rico
Martha A. Scholl, James B. Shanley, Sheila F. Murphy, Jane K Willenbring, Marcie Occhi, Grizelle Gonzalez
2015, Applied Geochemistry (63) 484-497
The prospect of changing climate has led to uncertainty about the resilience of forested mountain watersheds in the tropics. In watersheds where frequent, high rainfall provides ample runoff, we often lack understanding of how the system will respond under conditions of decreased rainfall or drought. Factors that govern water supply,...
Ground-based thermal imaging of stream surface temperatures: Technique and evaluation
Scott A. Bonar, Sally J. Petre
2015, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (35) 1209-1218
We evaluated a ground-based handheld thermal imaging system for measuring water temperatures using data from eight southwestern USA streams and rivers. We found handheld thermal imagers could provide considerably more spatial information on water temperature (for our unit one image = 19,600 individual temperature measurements) than traditional methods could supply...
Estimating bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) abundance using noninvasive sampling at a mineral lick within a National Park Wilderness Area
Kathryn A. Schoenecker, Mary Kay Watry, Laura E. Ellison, Michael A. Schwarz, Gordon Luikart
2015, Western North American Naturalist (75) 181-191
Conservation of species requires accurate population estimates. We used genetic markers from feces to determine bighorn sheep abundance for a herd that was hypothesized to be declining and in need of population status monitoring. We sampled from a small but accessible portion of the population's range where animals naturally congregate...
Plague bacterium as a transformer species in prairie dogs and the grasslands of western North America
David A. Eads, Dean E. Biggins
2015, Conservation Biology (29) 1086-1093
Invasive transformer species change the character, condition, form, or nature of ecosystems and deserve considerable attention from conservation scientists. We applied the transformer species concept to the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis in western North America, where the pathogen was introduced around 1900. Y. pestis transforms grassland ecosystems by severely depleting the abundance...
Phenological response of an Arizona dryland forest to short-term climatic extremes
Jessica J. Walker, Kirsten de Beurs, Randolph Wynne
2015, Remote Sensing (7) 10832-10855
Baseline information about dryland forest phenology is necessary to accurately anticipate future ecosystem shifts. The overarching goal of our study was to investigate the variability of vegetation phenology across a dryland forest landscape in response to climate alterations. We analyzed the influence of site characteristics and climatic conditions on the...
Assessing distribution and movement of blue catfish in Kansas reservoirs
Martha E. Mather, Kayla M. Gerber, Zachary Peterson
2015, Cooperator Science Series FWS/CSS-117-2015
This report is organized into three chapters that address six objectives. The first chapter addresses objectives 1-3. The second chapter addresses objectives 4-5. The third chapter addresses objective 6. The objectives for the project are listed below for reference....
Study 8: Prevalence and load of Nanophyetus salmincola infection in outmigrating steelhead trout from five Puget Sound rivers
M.F. Chen, B.A. Stewart, Kevin Senkvik, Paul Hershberger
2015, Book chapter, Puget Sound steelhead marine survival: 2013-2015 research findings summary
Nanophyetus salmincola is a parasitic trematode, or flatworm, that infects salmonid fishes in the Pacific Northwest, including Washington, Oregon, and portions of California. The adult worm lives in the intestine of fish-eating birds and mammals. Eggs shed into the water hatch into miracidia which penetrate the first intermediate host, one...
Hydrothermal, biogenic, and seawater components in metalliferous black shales of the Brooks Range, Alaska: Synsedimentary metal enrichment in a carbonate ramp setting
John F. Slack, David Selby, Julie A. Dumoulin
2015, Economic Geology (110) 653-675
Trace element and Os isotope data for Lisburne Group metalliferous black shales of Middle Mississippian (early Chesterian) age in the Brooks Range of northern Alaska suggest that metals were sourced chiefly from local seawater (including biogenic detritus) but also from externally derived hydrothermal fluids. These black shales are interbedded with...
