Widespread seismicity excitation throughout central Japan following the 2011 M=9.0 Tohoku earthquake and its interpretation by Coulomb stress transfer
S. Toda, R.S. Stein, J. Lin
2011, Geophysical Research Letters (38)
We report on a broad and unprecedented increase in seismicity rate following the M=9.0 Tohoku mainshock for M ≥ 2 earthquakes over inland Japan, parts of the Japan Sea and Izu islands, at distances of up to 425 km from the locus of high (≥15 m) seismic slip on the...
Recent storm and tsunami coarse-clast deposit characteristics, southeast Hawai'i
B. M. Richmond, Sebastian Watt, M. Buckley, B. E. Jaffe, G. Gelfenbaum, R.A. Morton
2011, Marine Geology (283) 79-89
Deposits formed by extreme waves can be useful in elucidating the type and characteristics of the depositional event. The study area on the southeast coast of the island of Hawaiʻi is characterized by the presence of geologically young basalts of known age that are mantled by recent wave-derived sedimentary deposits....
Notes on the origin of inertinite macerals in coal: Evidence for fungal and arthropod transformations of degraded macerals
J.C. Hower, J.M.K. O’Keefe, C.F. Eble, A. Raymond, B. Valentim, T.J. Volk, A.R. Richardson, Anne B. Satterwhite, R.S. Hatch, J.D. Stucker, M.A. Watt
2011, International Journal of Coal Geology (86) 231-240
The role of fungus in the formation of coal macerals, both as a primary contributor in the form of a fungus fossil/maceral funginite, and in their role in degrading wood, thus producing degraded maceral forms, has been established. Fungus, in the course of breaking down the lignin and cellulose in wood,...
Cougar survival and source-sink structure on Greater Yellowstone's Northern Range
T.K. Ruth, M.A. Haroldson, K.M. Murphy, P.C. Buotte, M.G. Hornocker, H.B. Quigley
2011, Journal of Wildlife Management (75) 1381-1398
We studied survival and causes of mortality of radiocollared cougars (Puma concolor) on the Greater Yellowstone Northern Range (GYNR) prior to (1987–1994) and after wolf (Canis lupus) reintroduction (1998–2005) and evaluated temporal, spatial, and environmental factors that explain variation in adult, subadult, and kitten survival. Using Program MARK and multimodel...
Predominant bacteria isolated from moribund Fusconaia ebena ebonyshells experiencing die-offs in Pickwick Reservoir, Tennessee River, Alabama
C. E. Starliper, J. Powell, J.T. Garner, W. B. Schill
2011, Journal of Shellfish Research (30) 359-366
Mussel die-offs have been noted in recent years in Pickwick Reservoir, Tennessee River, Alabama. The primary affected species was Fusconaia ebena, but also affected to lesser degrees were Ellipsaria lineolata, Quadrula pustulosa, and Quadrula quadrula. These events were characterized by large numbers of empty shells—fresh-dead and live individuals that were...
Fire, grazing history, lichen abundance, and winter distribution of caribou in Alaska's taiga
William B. Collins, Bruce W. Dale, Layne G. Adams, Darien E. McElwain, Kyle Joly
2011, Journal of Wildlife Management (75) 369-377
In the early 1990s the Nelchina Caribou (Rangifer tarandus) Herd (NCH) began a dramatic shift to its current winter range, migrating at least an additional 100 km beyond its historic range. We evaluated the impacts of fire and grazing history on lichen abundance and subsequent use and distribution by the NCH....
Watershed morphology of highland and mountain ecoregions in eastern Oklahoma
D. K. Splinter, Daniel C. Dauwalter, R. A. Marston, William Fisher
2011, Professional Geographer (63) 131-143
The fluvial system represents a nested hierarchy that reflects the relationship among different spatial and temporal scales. Within the hierarchy, larger scale variables influence the characteristics of the next lower nested scale. Ecoregions represent one of the largest scales in the fluvial hierarchy and are defined by recurring patterns of...
Links between type E botulism outbreaks, lake levels, and surface water temperatures in Lake Michigan, 1963-2008
Brenda Moraska Lafrancois, Stephen C. Riley, David S. Blehert, Anne E. Ballmann
2011, Journal of Great Lakes Research (37) 86-91
Relationships between large-scale environmental factors and the incidence of type E avian botulism outbreaks in Lake Michigan were examined from 1963 to 2008. Avian botulism outbreaks most frequently occurred in years with low mean annual water levels, and lake levels were significantly lower in outbreak years than in non-outbreak years....
New technique for quantification of elemental hg in mine wastes and its implications for mercury evasion into the atmosphere
A.D. Jew, C.S. Kim, James J. Rytuba, M.S. Gustin, Gordon E. Brown Jr.
2011, Environmental Science & Technology (45) 412-417
Mercury in the environment is of prime concern to both ecosystem and human health. Determination of the molecular-level speciation of Hg in soils and mine wastes is important for understanding its sequestration, mobility, and availability for methylation. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy carried out under ambient P-T conditions...
Diet and gut morphology of male mallards during winter in North Dakota
R.E. Olsen, R. R. Cox Jr., A. D. Afton, C.D. Ankney
2011, Waterbirds (34) 59-69
A free-ranging Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) population was investigated during winter (December-January 1996-1999) below the Garrison Dam, North Dakota, USA, to relate diet to gut morphology variation in males. Four explanatory variables (fish consumption, male age, winter, and body size) were evaluated as to whether they influenced five response variables associated...
Critical nitrogen deposition loads in high-elevation lakes of the western US inferred from paleolimnological records
J.E. Saros, David W. Clow, T. Blett, A.P. Wolfe
2011, Water, Air, & Soil Pollution (216) 193-202
Critical loads of nitrogen (N) from atmospheric deposition were determined for alpine lake ecosystems in the western US using fossil diatom assemblages in lake sediment cores. Changes in diatom species over the last century were indicative of N enrichment in two areas, the eastern Sierra Nevada, starting between 1960 and...
Enhancement of long period components of recorded and synthetic ground motions using InSAR
J.A. Abell, J. Carlos de la Llera, Charles W. Wicks Jr.
2011, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering (31) 817-829
Tall buildings and flexible structures require a better characterization of long period ground motion spectra than the one provided by current seismic building codes. Motivated by that, a methodology is proposed and tested to improve recorded and synthetic ground motions which are consistent with the observed co-seismic displacement field...
Adaptive management of natural resources-framework and issues
Byron K. Williams
2011, Journal of Environmental Management (92) 1346-1353
Adaptive management, an approach for simultaneously managing and learning about natural resources, has been around for several decades. Interest in adaptive decision making has grown steadily over that time, and by now many in natural resources conservation claim that...
Study design and sampling intensity for demographic analyses of bear populations
R.B. Harris, C.C. Schwartz, R.D. Mace, M.A. Haroldson
2011, Ursus (22) 24-36
The rate of population change through time (??) is a fundamental element of a wildlife population's conservation status, yet estimating it with acceptable precision for bears is difficult. For studies that follow known (usually marked) bears, ?? can be estimated during some defined time by applying either life-table or matrix...
Using a semi-natural stream to produce young sturgeons for conservation stocking: Maintaining natural selection during spawning and rearing
B. Kynard, D. Pugh, T. Parker, Micah Kieffer
2011, Journal of Applied Ichthyology (27) 420-424
Young sturgeons used for conservation stocking are presently produced using the same methods used for commercial culture. To determine if young sturgeons could be produced without relaxing natural selection factors, we developed a semi‐natural stream where we annually studied mating of wild shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) observed movement of gametes...
Seasonal distribution of Gulf of Mexico sturgeon in the pensacola bay system, Florida
M.S. Duncan, B.M. Wrege, Frank M. Parauka, J. Jeffery Isely
2011, Journal of Applied Ichthyology (27) 316-321
Temporal and spatial distributions of Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi were assessed in the Pensacola bay system, Florida, using stationary ultrasonic telemetry. Fifty‐eight Gulf sturgeon were tagged within the Escambia (n = 26), Yellow (n = 8), Blackwater (n = 12) and Choctawhatchee Rivers (n = 12) in June, July, September and October, 2005. Fifty‐four Gulf sturgeon...
Compositional diversity and geologic insights of the Aristarchus crater from Moon Mineralogy Mapper data
J.F. Mustard, C.M. Pieters, P.J. Isaacson, J.W. Head, S. Besse, R. N. Clark, R.L. Klima, N.E. Petro, M.I. Staid, J.M. Sunshine, C.J. Runyon, S. Tompkins
2011, Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets (116)
The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) acquired high spatial and spectral resolution data of the Aristarchus Plateau with 140 m/pixel in 85 spectral bands from 0.43 to 3.0 m. The data were collected as radiance and converted to reflectance using the observational constraints and a solar spectrum scaled to the Moon-Sun...
Developing empirical collapse fragility functions for global building types
K. Jaiswal, D. Wald, D. D’Ayala
2011, Earthquake Spectra (27) 775-795
Building collapse is the dominant cause of casualties during earthquakes. In order to better predict human fatalities, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) program requires collapse fragility functions for global building types. The collapse fragility is expressed as the probability of collapse at discrete...
Growth of plutons by incremental emplacement of sheets in crystal-rich host: Evidence from Miocene intrusions of the Colorado River region, Nevada, USA
C. F. Miller, D.J. Furbish, B.A. Walker, L.L. Claiborne, G.C. Koteas, H.A. Bleick, J.S. Miller
2011, Tectonophysics (500) 65-77
Growing evidence supports the notion that plutons are constructed incrementally, commonly over long periods of time, yet field evidence for the multiple injections that seem to be required is commonly sparse or absent. Timescales of up to several million years, among other arguments, indicate that the dominant volume does...
Distribution and seasonal dynamics of arsenic in a shallow lake in northwestern New Jersey, USA
J. L. Barringer, Z. Szabo, T.P. Wilson, J.L. Bonin, T. Kratzer, K. Cenno, T. Romagna, M. Alebus, B. Hirst
2011, Environmental Geochemistry and Health (33) 1-22
Elevated concentrations of arsenic (As) occurred during warm months in water from the outlet of Lake Mohawk in northwestern New Jersey. The shallow manmade lake is surrounded by residential development and used for recreation. Eutrophic conditions are addressed by alum and copper sulfate applications and aerators operating in the summer....
Gas geochemistry of the Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well, Alaska North Slope: implications for gas hydrate exploration in the Arctic
T.D. Lorenson, T. S. Collett, R.B. Hunter
2011, Marine and Petroleum Geology (28) 343-360
Gases were analyzed from well cuttings, core, gas hydrate, and formation tests at the BPXA-DOE-USGS Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well, drilled within the Milne Point Unit, Alaska North Slope. The well penetrated a portion of the Eileen gas hydrate deposit, which overlies the more deeply buried Prudhoe Bay,...
Linking biomarkers to reproductive success of caged fathead minnows in streams with increasing urbanization
J. Crago, Steven R. Corsi, D. Weber, R. Bannerman, R. Klaper
2011, Chemosphere (82) 1669-1674
Reproductive and oxidative stress biomarkers have been recommended as tools to assess the health of aquatic organisms. Though validated in the laboratory, there are few studies that tie a change in gene expression to adverse reproductive or population outcomes in the field. This paper looked at 17 streams with varying...
Use of hydrologic and hydrodynamic modeling for ecosystem restoration
J. Obeysekera, L. Kuebler, S. Ahmed, M.-L. Chang, V. Engel, Christian D. Langevin, Eric D. Swain, Y. Wan
2011, Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology (41) 447-488
Planning and implementation of unprecedented projects for restoring the greater Everglades ecosystem are underway and the hydrologic and hydrodynamic modeling of restoration alternatives has become essential for success of restoration efforts. In view of the complex nature of the South Florida water resources system, regional-scale (system-wide) hydrologic models have been...
Stochastic population dynamics in populations of western terrestrial garter snakes with divergent life histories
David A. Miller, W.R. Clark, S.J. Arnold, A.M. Bronikowski
2011, Ecology (92) 1658-1671
Comparative evaluations of population dynamics in species with temporal and spatial variation in life‐history traits are rare because they require long‐term demographic time series from multiple populations. We present such an analysis using demographic data collected during the interval 1978–1996 for six populations of western terrestrial garter snakes (Thamnophis elegans)...
Coexistence in streams: Do source-sink dynamics allow salamanders to persist with fish predators?
Adam J. Sepulveda, W.H. Lowe
2011, Oecologia (166) 1043-1054
Theory suggests that source–sink dynamics can allow coexistence of intraguild predators and prey, but empirical evidence for this coexistence mechanism is limited. We used capture–mark–recapture, genetic methods, and stable isotopes to test whether source–sink dynamics promote coexistence between stream fishes, the intraguild predator, and stream salamanders (Dicamptodon aterrimus), the intraguild...
