A rain splash transport equation assimilating field and laboratory measurements
T. Dunne, D.V. Malmon, S.M. Mudd
2010, Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface (115)
Process-based models of hillslope evolution require transport equations relating sediment flux to its major controls. An equation for rain splash transport in the absence of overland flow was constructed by modifying an approach developed by Reeve (1982) and parameterizing it with measurements from single-drop laboratory experiments and simulated rainfall on...
Theory, methods and tools for determining environmental flows for riparian vegetation: Riparian vegetation-flow response guilds
D.M. Merritt, M. L. Scott, Poff N. Leroy, G.T. Auble, D.A. Lytle
2010, Freshwater Biology (55) 206-225
Riparian vegetation composition, structure and abundance are governed to a large degree by river flow regime and flow-mediated fluvial processes. Streamflow regime exerts selective pressures on riparian vegetation, resulting in adaptations (trait syndromes) to specific flow attributes. Widespread modification of flow regimes by humans has resulted in extensive alteration of...
Population dynamics of the sand shiner (notropis stramineus) in non-wadeable rivers of Iowa
C. D. Smith, T.E. Neebling, M.C. Quist
2010, Journal of Freshwater Ecology (25) 617-626
The sand shiner (Notropis stramineus) is a common cyprinid found throughout the Great Plains region of North America that plays an important ecological role in aquatic systems. This study was conducted to describe population dynamics of sand shiners including age structure, growth, mortality, and recruitment variability in 15 non-wadeable rivers...
Are inland wolf-ungulate systems influenced by marine subsidies of Pacific salmon?
Layne G. Adams, Sean D. Farley, Craig A. Stricker, Dominic J. Demma, Gretchen H. Roffler, Dennis C. Miller, Robert O. Rye
2010, Ecological Applications (20) 251-262
Wolves (Canis lupus) in North America are considered obligate predators of ungulates with other food resources playing little role in wolf population dynamics or wolf–prey relations. However, spawning Pacific salmon (Oncorhyncus spp.) are common throughout wolf range in northwestern North America and may provide a marine subsidy affecting inland wolf–ungulate...
Red imported fire ant impacts on upland arthropods in Southern Mississippi
D.M. Epperson, Craig R. Allen
2010, American Midland Naturalist (163) 54-63
Red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) have negative impacts on a broad array of invertebrate species. We investigated the impacts of fire ants on the upland arthropod community on 20???40 ha study sites in southern Mississippi. Study sites were sampled from 19972000 before, during, and after fire ant bait treatments...
Limited hydrologic response to Pleistocene climate change in deep vadose zones - Yucca Mountain, Nevada
J.B. Paces, L.A. Neymark, J. F. Whelan, J. L. Wooden, S.P. Lund, B.D. Marshall
2010, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (300) 287-298
Understanding the movement of water through thick vadose zones, especially on time scales encompassing long-term climate change, is increasingly important as societies utilize semi-arid environments for both water resources and sites viewed as favorable for long-term disposal or storage of hazardous waste. Hydrologic responses to Pleistocene climate change within a...
Laboratory chalcopyrite oxidation by Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans: Oxygen and sulfur isotope fractionation
R.S. Thurston, K.W. Mandernack, Wayne C. Shanks III
2010, Chemical Geology (269) 252-261
Laboratory experiments were conducted to simulate chalcopyrite oxidation under anaerobic and aerobic conditions in the absence or presence of the bacterium Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans. Experiments were carried out with 3 different oxygen isotope values of water (??18OH2O) so that approach to equilibrium or steady-state isotope fractionation for different starting conditions could...
Estimating length of avian incubation and nestling stages in afrotropical forest birds from interval-censored nest records
T.R. Stanley, W.D. Newmark
2010, The Auk (127) 79-85
In the East Usambara Mountains in northeast Tanzania, research on the effects of forest fragmentation and disturbance on nest survival in understory birds resulted in the accumulation of 1,002 nest records between 2003 and 2008 for 8 poorly studied species. Because information on the length of the incubation and nestling...
Importance of coastal change variables in determining vulnerability to sea- and lake-level change
E.A. Pendleton, E.R. Thieler, S.J. Williams
2010, Journal of Coastal Research (26) 176-183
In 2001, the U.S. Geological Survey began conducting scientific assessments of coastal vulnerability to potential future sea- and lake-level changes in 22 National Park Service sea- and lakeshore units. Coastal park units chosen for the assessment included a variety of geological and physical settings along the U.S. Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf...
Wintering area DDE source to migratory white-faced ibis revealed by satellite telemetry and prey sampling
M.A. Yates, Mark R. Fuller, Charles J. Henny, W.S. Seegar, Jorge H. Garcia
2010, Ecotoxicology (19) 153-162
Locations of contaminant exposure for nesting migratory species are difficult to fully understand because of possible additional sources encountered during migration or on the wintering grounds. A portion of the migratory white-faced ibis (Plegadis chihi) nesting at Carson Lake, Nevada continues to be exposed to dichloro-diphenyldichloro-ethylene (DDE) with no change,...
Late Ordovician-Early Silurian chitinozoans from north-eastern and western Illinois, USA
A. Butcher, Donald G. Mikulic, Joanne Kluessendorf
2010, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology (159) 81-93
Samples of uppermost Ordovician and Silurian strata from two cores from north-eastern and western Illinois were processed for chitinozoans. Due to apparent sea-floor oxidation or palaeoenvironmental constraints, very few samples yielded specimens, but those that did allow tentative correlation with established biostratigraphical zonations for the Chitinozoa. Samples from the Wilhelmi...
Ensemble habitat mapping of invasive plant species
T.J. Stohlgren, P. Ma, S. Kumar, M. Rocca, J.T. Morisette, C. S. Jarnevich, N. Benson
2010, Risk Analysis (30) 224-235
Ensemble species distribution models combine the strengths of several species environmental matching models, while minimizing the weakness of any one model. Ensemble models may be particularly useful in risk analysis of recently arrived, harmful invasive species because species may not yet have spread to all suitable habitats, leaving species-environment relationships...
Faunal assemblages and multi-scale habitat patterns in headwater tributaries of the South Fork Trinity River - an unregulated river embedded within a multiple-use landscape
H.H. Welsh, G.R. Hodgson, J.J. Duda, J.M. Emlen
2010, Animal Biodiversity and Conservation (33) 63-87
Headwaters can represent 80% of stream kilometers in a watershed, and they also have unique physical and biological properties that have only recently been recognized for their importance in sustaining healthy functioning stream networks and their ecological services. We sampled 60 headwater tributaries in the South Fork Trinity River, a...
Causes for the decline of suspended-sediment discharge in the Mississippi River system, 1940-2007
R.H. Meade, J. A. Moody
2010, Hydrological Processes (24) 35-49
Before 1900, the Missouri-Mississippi River system transported an estimated 400 million metric tons per year of sediment from the interior of the United States to coastal Louisiana. During the last two decades (1987-2006), this transport has averaged 145 million metric tons per year. The cause for this substantial decrease in...
Survival and breeding of polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea in relation to sea ice
E.V. Regehr, C.M. Hunter, H. Caswell, Steven C. Amstrup, I. Stirling
2010, Journal of Animal Ecology (79) 117-127
1. Observed and predicted declines in Arctic sea ice have raised concerns about marine mammals. In May 2008, the US Fish and Wildlife Service listed polar bears (Ursus maritimus) - one of the most ice-dependent marine mammals - as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act. 2. We evaluated the...
Mineralogy and the release of trace elements from slag from the Hegeler Zinc smelter, Illinois (USA)
Nadine M. Piatak, Robert R. Seal II
2010, Applied Geochemistry (25) 302-320
Slag from the former Hegeler Zn-smelting facility in Illinois (USA) is mainly composed of spinifex Ca-rich plagioclase, fine-grained dendritic or coarse-grained subhedral to anhedral clinopyroxenes, euhedral to subhedral spinels, spherical blebs of Fe sulfides, silicate glass, and less commonly fayalitic olivine. Mullite and quartz were also identified in one sample...
Spatial distribution of pingos in Northern Asia
G. Grosse, Benjamin M. Jones
2010, Cryosphere Discussions (4) 1781-1837
Pingos are prominent periglacial landforms in vast regions of the Arctic and Subarctic. They are indicators of modern and past conditions of permafrost, surface geology, hydrology and climate. A first version of a detailed spatial geodatabase of more than 6000 pingo locations in a 3.5 ?? 106 km2 region of...
Ecological hierarchies and self-organisation - Pattern analysis, modelling and process integration across scales
H. Reuter, F. Jopp, J. M. Blanco-Moreno, C. Damgaard, Y. Matsinos, D.L. DeAngelis
2010, Basic and Applied Ecology (11) 572-581
A continuing discussion in applied and theoretical ecology focuses on the relationship of different organisational levels and on how ecological systems interact across scales. We address principal approaches to cope with complex across-level issues in ecology by applying elements of hierarchy theory and the theory of complex adaptive systems. A...
Impacts of hikers on aquatic invertebrates in the North Fork of the Virgin River, Utah
A.M. Caires, M.R. Vinson, A.M.D. Brasher
2010, Southwestern Naturalist (55) 551-557
Effects of in-stream hiking on benthic standing stocks and drifting aquatic invertebrates and on organic matter were examined in the North Fork of the Virgin River, Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah. Densities of drifting aquatic invertebrates and organic matter increased with increasing numbers of hikers and reached a threshold...
Selection, trans-species polymorphism, and locus identification of major histocompatibility complex class IIβ alleles of New World ranid frogs
Karen M. Kiemnec-Tyburczy, Jonathan Q. Richmond, Anna E. Savage, Kelly R. Zamudio
2010, Immunogenetics (62) 741-751
Genes encoded by the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) play key roles in the vertebrate immune system. However, our understanding of the evolutionary processes and underlying genetic mechanisms shaping these genes is limited in many taxa, including amphibians, a group currently impacted by emerging infectious diseases. To further elucidate the evolution...
Satellite observations of a surtseyan eruption: Hunga Ha'apai, Tonga
R. Greg Vaughan, Peter W. Webley
2010, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (198) 177-186
On March 17, 2009, a surtseyan eruption occurred around Hunga Ha'apai Island, Tonga. A series of observations from the high-spatial resolution Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), and the high-temporal resolution Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), was used to estimate the magnitude, location, start time, and duration of...
Detrital zircon provenance from three turbidite depocenters of the Middle-Upper Triassic Songpan-Ganzi complex, central China: Record of collisional tectonics, erosional exhumation, and sediment production
A.L. Weislogel, S.A. Graham, E. Z. Chang, J. L. Wooden, G. E. Gehrels
2010, Geological Society of America Bulletin (122) 2041-2062
To test the idea that the voluminous upper Middle to Upper Triassic turbidite strata in the Songpan-Ganzi complex of central China archive a detrital record of Dabie ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) terrane unroofing, we report 2080 single detrital U-Pb zircon ages by sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe-reverse geometry (SHRIMP-RG) and laser ablation-inductively coupled...
Seismic hazard mapping of California considering site effects
E. Kalkan, C.J. Wills, D.M. Branum
2010, Earthquake Spectra (26) 1039-1055
In this paper, we have combined the U.S. Geological Survey's National Seismic Hazard Maps model with the California geologic map showing 17 generalized geologic units that can be defined by their VS30. We regrouped these units into seven VS30 values and calculated a probabilistic seismic hazard map for the entire...
The annual cycles of phytoplankton biomass
Monika Winder, James E. Cloern
2010, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (365) 3215-3226
Terrestrial plants are powerful climate sentinels because their annual cycles of growth, reproduction and senescence are finely tuned to the annual climate cycle having a period of one year. Consistency in the seasonal phasing of terrestrial plant activity provides a relatively low-noise background from which phenological shifts can be detected...
Geological evolution of the Antongil Craton, NE Madagascar
D. I. Schofield, Ronald J. Thomas, K. M. Goodenough, B. De Waele, P. E. J. Pitfield, R. M. Key, W. Bauer, G. J. Walsh, D. J. Lidke, A.V. Ralison, M. Rabarimanana, J. M. Rafahatelo, T. Randriamananjara
2010, Precambrian Research (182) 187-203
The Antongil Craton, along with the Masora and Antananarivo cratons, make up the fundamental Archaean building blocks of the island of Madagascar. They were juxtaposed during the late-Neoproterozoic to early Palaeozoic assembly of Gondwana. In this paper we give a synthesis of the geology of the Antongil Craton and present...