Site-occupancy distribution modeling to correct population-trend estimates derived from opportunistic observations
M. Kery, J. Andrew Royle, Hans Schmid, M. Schaub, B. Volet, G. Hafliger, N. Zbinden
2010, Conservation Biology (24) 1388-1397
Species' assessments must frequently be derived from opportunistic observations made by volunteers (i.e., citizen scientists). Interpretation of the resulting data to estimate population trends is plagued with problems, including teasing apart genuine population trends from variations in observation effort. We devised a way to correct for annual variation in effort...
Mercury in the blood and eggs of American kestrels fed methylmercury chloride
John B. French, Richard S. Bennett, Ronald Rossmann
2010, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (29) 2206-2210
American kestrels (Falco sparverius) were fed diets containing methylmercury chloride (MeHg) at 0, 0.6, 1.7, 2.8, 3.9, or 5.0 µg/g (dry wt) starting approximately eight weeks before the onset of egg laying. Dietary treatment was terminated after 12 to 14 weeks, and unhatched eggs were collected for Hg analysis. Blood samples...
A 15 000-year record of climate change in northern New Mexico, USA, inferred from isotopic and elemental contents of bog sediments
L. M. Cisneros-Dozal, J.M. Heikoop, J. Fessenden, R. Scott Anderson, P.A. Meyers, Craig D. Allen, M. Hess, T. Larson, G. Perkins, M. Rearick
2010, Journal of Quaternary Science (25) 1001-1007
Elemental (C, N, Pb) and isotopic (δ13C, δ15N) measurements of cored sediment from a small bog in northern New Mexico reveal changes in climate during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Abrupt increases in Pb concentration and δ13C values ca. 14 420 cal. YBP indicate significant runoff to the shallow lake that...
Potential environmental influences on variation in body size and sexual size dimorphism among Arizona populations of the western diamond-backed rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox)
Melissa Amarello, Erica M. Nowak, Emily N. Taylor, Gordon W. Schuett, Roger A. Repp, Philip C. Rosen, David L. Hardy Sr.
2010, Journal of Arid Environments (74) 1443-1449
Differences in resource availability and quality along environmental gradients are important influences contributing to intraspecific variation in body size, which influences numerous life-history traits. Here, we examined variation in body size and sexual size dimorphism (SSD) in relation to temperature, seasonality, and precipitation among 10 populations located throughout Arizona of...
Predicting coastal cliff erosion using a Bayesian probabilistic model
Cheryl J. Hapke, Nathaniel G. Plant
2010, Marine Geology (278) 140-149
Regional coastal cliff retreat is difficult to model due to the episodic nature of failures and the along-shore variability of retreat events. There is a growing demand, however, for predictive models that can be used to forecast areas vulnerable to coastal erosion hazards. Increasingly, probabilistic models are being employed that...
Historical arroyo formation: documentation of magnitude and timing of historical changes using repeat photography
Robert H. Webb, Richard Hereford
Robert H. Webb, Diane E. Boyer, Raymond M. Turner, editor(s)
2010, Book chapter, Repeat photography: methods and applications in the natural sciences
Intensity, magnitude, location and attenuation in India for felt earthquakes since 1762
Walter Szeliga, Susan Hough, Stacey Martin, Roger G. Bilham
2010, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (100) 570-584
A comprehensive, consistently interpreted new catalog of felt intensities for India (Martin and Szeliga, 2010, this issue) includes intensities for 570 earthquakes; instrumental magnitudes and locations are available for 100 of these events. We use the intensity values for 29 of the instrumentally recorded events to develop new intensity versus...
A practitioner's tool for assessing glide crack activity
Jordy Hendrikx, Erich H. Peitzsch, Daniel B. Fagre
2010, Conference Paper, Proceedings, 2010 International Snow Science Workshop
Glide cracks can result in full-depth glide avalanche release. Avalanches from glide cracks are notoriously difficult to forecast, but are a reoccurring problem in a number of different avalanche forecasting programs across a range of snow climates. Despite this, there is no consensus for how to best manage, mitigate, or...
Geologic controls on thermal maturity patterns in Pennsylvanian coal-bearing rocks in the Appalachian basin
Leslie F. Ruppert, James C. Hower, Robert T. Ryder, Jeffrey R. Levine, Michael H. Trippi, William C. Grady
2010, International Journal of Coal Geology (81) 169-181
Thermal maturation patterns of Pennsylvanian strata in the Appalachian basin were determined by compiling and contouring published and unpublished vitrinite reflectance (VR) measurements. VR isograd values range from 0.6% in eastern Ohio and eastern Kentucky (western side of the East Kentucky coal field) to greater than 5.5% in eastern Pennsylvania (Southern Anthracite field,...
Heat tracer methods
Richard W. Healy
2010, Book chapter, Estimating groundwater recharge
The flow of heat in the subsurface is closely linked to the movement of water (Ingebritsen et al., 2006). As such, heat has been used as a tracer in groundwater studies for more than 100 years (Anderson, 2005). As with chemical and isotopic tracers (Chapter 7), spatial or temporal...
Linking process to pattern: estimating spatiotemporal dynamics of a wildlife epidemic from cross‐sectional data
Dennis M. Heisey, Erik E. Osnas, Paul C. Cross, Damien O. Joly, Julia A. Langenberg, Michael W. Miller
2010, Ecological Monographs (80) 221-240
Underlying dynamic event processes unfolding in continuous time give rise to spatiotemporal patterns that are sometimes observable at only a few discrete times. Such event processes may be modulated simultaneously over several spatial (e.g., latitude and longitude) and temporal (e.g., age, calendar time, and cohort) dimensions. The ecological challenge is...
Characterizing wet slab and glide slab avalanche occurrence along the Going-to-the-Sun Road, Glacier National Park, Montana, USA
Erich H. Peitzsch, Jordy Hendrikx, Daniel B. Fagre, Blase Reardon
2010, Conference Paper, Proceedings: 2010 international snow science workshop
Wet slab and glide slab snow avalanches are dangerous and yet can be particularly difficult to predict. Both wet slab and glide slab avalanches are thought to depend upon free water moving through the snowpack but are driven by different processes. In Glacier National Park, Montana, both types of avalanches...
A review of silver-rich mineral deposits and their metallogeny
Frederick Graybeal, Peter G. Vikre
2010, Book chapter, The challenge of finding new mineral resources: Global metallogeny, innovative exploration, and new discoveries; SEG Special Publication 15 Vol. 1
Mineral deposits with large inventories or high grades of silver are found in four genetic groups: (1) volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS), (2) sedimentary exhalative (SEDEX), (3) lithogene, and, (4) magmatichydrothermal. Principal differences between the four groups relate to source rocks and regions, metal associations, process and timing of mineralization, and...
Modeling methods
Richard W. Healy
2010, Book chapter, Estimating groundwater recharge
Simulation models are widely used in all types of hydrologic studies, and many of these models can be used to estimate recharge. Models can provide important insight into the functioning of hydrologic systems by identifying factors that influence recharge. The predictive capability of models can be used to evaluate how...
Hierarchical multi-scale classification of nearshore aquatic habitats of the Great Lakes: Western Lake Erie
J.E. McKenna, C. Castiglione
2010, Journal of Great Lakes Research (36) 757-771
Classification is a valuable conservation tool for examining natural resource status and problems and is being developed for coastal aquatic habitats. We present an objective, multi-scale hydrospatial framework for nearshore areas of the Great Lakes. The hydrospatial framework consists of spatial units at eight hierarchical scales from the North American...
Characterization of dissolved organic matter in fogwater by excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy
J.E. Birdwell, K.T. Valsaraj
2010, Atmospheric Environment (44) 3246-3253
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) present in fogwater samples collected in southeastern Louisiana and central-eastern China has been characterized using excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy. The goal of the study was to illustrate the utility of fluorescence for obtaining information on the large fraction of organic carbon in fogwaters (typically >40% by...
Population trends in northern spotted owls: Associations with climate in the Pacific Northwest
E.M. Glenn, R.G. Anthony, E.D. Forsman
2010, Biological Conservation (143) 2543-2552
We used reverse time capture-mark-recapture models to describe associations between rate of population change (??) and climate for northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) at six long-term study areas in Washington and Oregon, USA. Populations in three of six areas showed strong evidence of declining populations, while populations in two...
Characterization of recombinant Raccoonpox Vaccine Vectors in Chickens
S.-H. Hwa, Keith P. Iams, Jeffrey S. Hall, B.A. Kingstad, Jorge E. Osorio
2010, Avian Diseases (54) 1157-1165
Raccoonpox virus (RCN) has been used as a recombinant vector against several mammalian pathogens but has not been tested in birds. The replication of RCN in chick embryo fibroblasts (CEFs) and chickens was studied with the use of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 hemagglutinin (HA) as a model antigen...
Seismic hazard of the Enriquillog-Plantain Garden fault in Haiti inferred from palaeoseismology
C.S. Prentice, P. Mann, A. J. Crone, R.D. Gold, K.W. Hudnut, R.W. Briggs, R.D. Koehler, P. Jean
2010, Nature Geoscience (3) 789-793
The Enriquillog-Plantain Garden fault zone is recognized as one of the primary plate-bounding fault systems in Haiti. The strike-slip fault runs adjacent to the city of Port-au-Prince and was initially thought to be the source of the 12 January 2010, M w 7.0 earthquake. Haiti experienced significant earthquakes in 1751...
Recruitment of burbot (Lota lota L.) in Lake Erie: An empirical modelling approach
M.A. Stapanian, L.D. Witzel, A. Cook
2010, Ecology of Freshwater Fish (19) 326-337
World-wide, many burbot Lota lota (L.) populations have been extirpated or are otherwise in need of conservation measures. By contrast, burbot made a dramatic recovery in Lake Erie during 1993-2001 but declined during 2002-2007, due in part to a sharp decrease in recruitment. We used Akaike's Information Criterion to evaluate...
Conservation practice establishment in two northeast Iowa watersheds: Strategies, water quality implications, and lessons learned
Philip W. Gassman, J.A. Tisl, E.A. Palas, C.L. Fields, T.M. Isenhart, K. E. Schilling, C.F. Wolter, L.S. Seigley, M.J. Helmers
2010, Journal of Soil and Water Conservation (65) 381-392
Coldwater trout streams are important natural resources in northeast Iowa. Extensive efforts have been made by state and federal agencies to protect and improve water quality in northeast Iowa streams that include Sny Magill Creek and Bloody Run Creek, which are located in Clayton County. A series of three water...
Sampling in ecology and evolution - bridging the gap between theory and practice
C.H. Albert, Nigel G. Yoccoz, T.C. Edwards, C.H. Graham, N.E. Zimmermann, W. Thuiller
2010, Ecography (33) 1028-1037
Sampling is a key issue for answering most ecological and evolutionary questions. The importance of developing a rigorous sampling design tailored to specific questions has already been discussed in the ecological and sampling literature and has provided useful tools and recommendations to sample and analyse ecological data. However, sampling issues...
Can selection on nest size from nest predation explain the latitudinal gradient in clutch size?
L. Biancucci, T. E. Martin
2010, Journal of Animal Ecology (79) 1086-1092
1. Latitudinal variation in clutch sizes of birds is a well described, but poorly understood pattern. Many hypotheses have been proposed, but few have been experimentally tested, and none have been universally accepted by researchers. 2. The nest size hypothesis posits that higher nest predation in the tropics favours selection...
Groundwater nutrient concentrations during prairie reconstruction on an Iowa landscape
M.D. Tomer, K. E. Schilling, C.A. Cambardella, P. Jacobson, P. Drobney
2010, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment (139) 206-213
One anticipated benefit of ecosystem restoration is water quality improvement. This study evaluated NO3-N and phosphorus in subsurface waters during prairie establishment following decades of row-crop agriculture. A prairie seeding in late 2003 became established in 2006. Wells and suction cup samplers were monitored for NO3-N and phosphorus. Nitrate-N varied...
Quantifying potential tsunami hazard in the Puysegur subduction zone, south of New Zealand
G.P. Hayes, K.P. Furlong
2010, Geophysical Journal International (183) 1512-1524
Studies of subduction zone seismogenesis and tsunami potential, particularly of large subduction zones, have recently seen a resurgence after the great 2004 earthquake and tsunami offshore of Sumatra, yet these global studies have generally neglected the tsunami potential of small subduction zones such as the Puysegur subduction zone, south of...
