Book review: New concepts and discoveries: the Geological Society of Nevada 2015 Symposium Proceedings
Warren C. Day
2016, Economic Geology (111) 543-546
The Nevada Geological Society has a long history of convening meetings and workshops focused on the geology and metallogeny of the western United States relevant to the mineral exploration and mining community across the Great Basin. One outgrowth of the Geological Society of Nevada’s 2015 Symposium is a two-volume set,...
Seasonal changes in atmospheric noise levels and the annual variation in pigeon homing performance
Jonathan T. Hagstrum, Hugh P. McIsaac, Douglas P. Drob
2016, Journal of Comparative Physiology A (202) 413-424
Repeated releases of experienced homing pigeons from single sites were conducted between 1972 and 1974 near Cornell University in upstate New York and between 1982 and 1983 near the University of Pittsburgh in western Pennsylvania, USA. No annual variation in homing performance was observed at these sites in eastern North...
Differences in coastal subsidence in southern Oregon (USA) during at least six prehistoric megathrust earthquakes
Yvonne Milker, Alan R. Nelson, Benjamin P. Horton, Simon E. Engelhart, Lee-Ann Bradley, Robert C. Witter
2016, Quaternary Science Reviews (142) 143-163
Stratigraphic, sedimentologic (including CT 3D X-ray tomography scans), foraminiferal, and radiocarbon analyses show that at least six of seven abrupt peat-to-mud contacts in cores from a tidal marsh at Talbot Creek (South Slough, Coos Bay), record sudden subsidence (relative sea-level rise) during great megathrust earthquakes at the Cascadia subduction zone....
Reevaluation of the Crooked Ridge River- Early Pleistocene (ca. 2 Ma) age and origin of the White Mesa Alluvium, northeastern Arizona
Richard Hereford, Sue Beard, William R. Dickinson, Karl E. Karlstrom, Matthew T. Heizler, Laura J. Crossey, Lee Amoroso, Kyle House, Mark Pecha
2016, Geosphere (12) 768-789
Essential features of the previously named and described Miocene Crooked Ridge River in northeastern Arizona (USA) are reexamined using new geologic and geochronologic data. Previously it was proposed that Cenozoic alluvium at Crooked Ridge and southern White Mesa was pre–early Miocene, the product of a large, vigorous late Paleogene river...
Natural thorium resources and recovery: Options and impacts
Timothy Ault, Bradley S. Van Gosen, Steven Krahn, Allen Croff
2016, Nuclear Technology (194) 136-151
This paper reviews the front end of the thorium fuel cycle, including the extent and variety of thorium deposits, the potential sources of thorium production, and the physical and chemical technologies required to isolate and purify thorium. Thorium is frequently found within rare earth element–bearing minerals that exist in diverse...
Development and use of mathematical models and software frameworks for integrated analysis of agricultural systems and associated water use impacts
K. R. Fowler, E.W. Jenkins, M. Parno, J.C. Chrispell, A. I. Colon, Randall T. Hanson
2016, AIMS Agriculture and Food (1) 208-226
The development of appropriate water management strategies requires, in part, a methodology for quantifying and evaluating the impact of water policy decisions on regional stakeholders. In this work, we describe the framework we are developing to enhance the body of resources available to policy makers, farmers, and other community members...
Scientifically defensible fish conservation and recovery plans: Addressing diffuse threats and developing rigorous adaptive management plans
Kathleen G. Maas-Hebner, Carl B. Schreck, Robert M. Hughes, Alan Yeakley, Nancy Molina
2016, Fisheries (41) 276-285
We discuss the importance of addressing diffuse threats to long-term species and habitat viability in fish conservation and recovery planning. In the Pacific Northwest, USA, salmonid management plans have typically focused on degraded freshwater habitat, dams, fish passage, harvest rates, and hatchery releases. However, such plans inadequately address...
First records of Canis dirus and Smilodon fatalis from the late Pleistocene Tule Springs local fauna, upper Las Vegas Wash, Nevada
Eric Scott, Kathleen B. Springer
2016, PeerJ (4)
Late Pleistocene groundwater discharge deposits (paleowetlands) in the upper Las Vegas Wash north of Las Vegas, Nevada, have yielded an abundant and diverse vertebrate fossil assemblage, the Tule Springs local fauna (TSLF). The TSLF is the largest open-site vertebrate fossil assemblage dating to the Rancholabrean North American Land Mammal Age...
Making it and breaking it in the Midwest: Continental assembly and rifting from modeling of EarthScope magnetotelluric data
Paul A. Bedrosian
2016, Precambrian Research (278) 337-361
A three-dimensional lithospheric-scale resistivity model of the North American mid-continent has been estimated based upon EarthScope magnetotelluric data. Details of the resistivity model are discussed in relation to lithospheric sutures, defined primarily from aeromagnetic and geochronologic data, which record the southward growth of the Laurentian margin in the Proterozoic. The...
Measuring the relationship between sportfishing trip expenditures and anglers’ species preferences
James M. Long, Richard T. Melstrom
2016, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (36) 731-737
We examined the relationship between fishing trip expenditures and anglers’ species preferences from a survey of Oklahoma resident anglers conducted in 2014. Understanding patterns in fishing trip expenditures is important because a significant share of state wildlife agency revenue comes from taxes on purchases of fishing equipment. Presently, there is...
What do we really know about the role of microorganisms in iron sulfide mineral formation?
Aude A. Picard, Amy Gartman, Peter R. Girguis
2016, Frontiers in Earth Science (4)
Iron sulfide mineralization in low-temperature systems is a result of biotic and abiotic processes, though the delineation between these two modes of formation is not always straightforward. Here we review the role of microorganisms in the precipitation of extracellular iron sulfide minerals. We summarize the evidence that links sulfur-metabolizing microorganisms...
The relative contribution of climate to changes in lesser prairie-chicken abundance
Beth E. Ross, David A. Haukos, Christian A. Hagen, James Pitman
2016, Ecosphere (7)
Managing for species using current weather patterns fails to incorporate the uncertainty associated with future climatic conditions; without incorporating potential changes in climate into conservation strategies, management and conservation efforts may fall short or waste valuable resources. Understanding the effects of climate change on species in the Great Plains of...
Change in numbers of resident and migratory shorebirds at the Cabo Rojo Salt Flats, Puerto Rico, USA (1985–2014)
Morgan A. Parks, Jaime A. Collazo, Jose A. Colon, Katsi R. Ramos Alvarez, Oscar Diaz
2016, Waterbirds (39) 209-214
North American migratory shorebirds have declined markedly since the 1980s, underscoring the importance of population surveys to conduct status and trend assessments. Shorebird surveys were conducted during three multi-year periods between 1985 and 2014 and used to assess changes in numbers and species composition at the Cabo Rojo Salt Flats,...
Deriving habitat models for northern long-eared bats from historical detection data: A case study using the Fernow Experimental Forest
W. Mark Ford, Alexander Silvis, Jane L. Rodrigue, Andrew B. Kniowski, Joshua B. Johnson
2016, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (7) 86-98
The listing of the northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) as federally threatened under the Endangered Species Act following severe population declines from white-nose syndrome presents considerable challenges to natural resource managers. Because the northern long-eared bat is a forest habitat generalist, development of effective conservation measures will depend on appropriate...
Extending Alaska's plate boundary: tectonic tremor generated by Yakutat subduction
Aaron G. Wech
2016, Geology (44) 587-590
The tectonics of the eastern end of the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone are complicated by the inclusion of the Yakutat microplate, which is colliding into and subducting beneath continental North America at near-Pacific-plate rates. The interaction among these plates at depth is not well understood, and further east, even less is...
Recent changes in stream flashiness and flooding, and effects of flood management in North Carolina and Virginia
Beatriz Mogollon, Emmanuel A. Frimpong, Andrew B. Hoegh, Paul L. Angermeier
2016, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (52) 561-577
The southeastern United States has undergone anthropogenic changes in landscape structure, with the potential to increase (e.g., urbanization) and decrease (e.g., reservoir construction) stream flashiness and flooding. Assessment of the outcome of such change can provide insight into the efficacy of current strategies and policies to manage water resources. We...
Changes in rates of capture and demographics of Myotis septentrionalis (Northern Long-eared Bat) in Western Virginia before and after onset of white-nose syndrome
Richard J. Reynolds, Karen E. Powers, Wil Orndorff, W. Mark Ford, Christopher S. Hobson
2016, Northeastern Naturalist (23) 195-204
Documenting the impacts of white-nose syndrome (WNS) on demographic patterns, such as annual survivorship and recruitment, is important to understanding the extirpation or possible stabilization and recovery of species over time. To document demographic impacts of WNS on Myotis septentrionalis (Northern Long-eared Bat), we mistnetted at sites in western Virginia...
Effects of repeated simulated removal activities on feral swine movements and space use
Justin W. Fischer, Dan McMurtry, Chad R. Blass, W. David Walter, Jeff Beringer, Kurt C. VerCauterren
2016, European Journal of Wildlife Research (62) 285-292
Abundance and distribution of feral swine (Sus scrofa) in the USA have increased dramatically during the last 30 years. Effective measures are needed to control and eradicate feral swine populations without displacing animals over wider areas. Our objective was to investigate effects of repeated simulated removal activities on feral...
Mixed stock analysis of Lake Michigan's Lake Whitefish Coregonus clupeaformis commercial fishery
Ryan Andvik, Brian L. Sloss, Justin A. VanDeHey, Randall M. Claramunt, Scott P. Hansen, Daniel A. Isermann
2016, Journal of Great Lakes Research (42) 660-667
Lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) support the primary commercial fishery in Lake Michigan. Discrete genetic stocks of lake whitefish have been identified and tagging data suggest stocks are mixed throughout much of the year. Our objectives were to determine if (1) differential stock harvest occurs in the commercial catch, (2) spatial...
Cenozoic sea level and the rise of modern rimmed atolls
Michael Toomey, Andrew Ashton, Maureen E. Raymo, J. Taylor Perron
2016, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (451) 73-83
Sea-level records from atolls, potentially spanning the Cenozoic, have been largely overlooked, in part because the processes that control atoll form (reef accretion, carbonate dissolution, sediment transport, vertical motion) are complex and, for many islands, unconstrained on million-year timescales. Here we combine existing observations of atoll morphology and corelog stratigraphy...
Population viability analysis for endangered Roanoke logperch
James H. Roberts, Paul L. Angermeier, Gregory B. Anderson
2016, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (7) 46-64
A common strategy for recovering endangered species is ensuring that populations exceed the minimum viable population size (MVP), a demographic benchmark that theoretically ensures low long-term extinction risk. One method of establishing MVP is population viability analysis, a modeling technique that simulates population trajectories and forecasts extinction risk based on...
Body size distributions signal a regime shift in a lake ecosystem
Trisha Spanbauer, Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler, Tarsha Eason, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Kirsty L. Nash, Jeffery R. Stone, Craig A. Stow, Shana M. Sundstrom
2016, Proceedings of the Royal Society B (283)
Communities of organisms, from mammals to microorganisms, have discontinuous distributions of body size. This pattern of size structuring is a conservative trait of community organization and is a product of processes that occur at multiple spatial and temporal scales. In this study, we assessed whether body size patterns serve as...
Lithium brines: A global perspective
LeeAnn Munk, Scott Hynek, Dwight Bradley, David Boutt, Keith A. Labay, Hillary Jochens
Philip L. Verplanck, Murray W. Hitzman, editor(s)
2016, Book chapter, Rare earth and critical elements in ore deposits
Lithium is a critical and technologically important element that has widespread use, particularly in batteries for hybrid cars and portable electronic devices. Global demand for lithium has been on the rise since the mid-1900s and is projected to...
Building a subduction zone observatory
Joan S. Gomberg, Paul Bodin, Jody Bourgeois, Susan Cashman, Darrel Cowan, Kenneth C. Creager, Brendan Crowell, Alison Duvall, Arthur D. Frankel, Frank I. Gonzalez, Heidi Houston, Paul Johnson, Harvey Kelsey, Una Miller, Emily C. Roland, David Schmidt, Lydia M. Staisch, John Vidale, William Wilcock, Erin Wirth
2016, Eos, Earth and Space Science News
Subduction zones contain many of Earth’s most remarkable geologic structures, from the deepest oceanic trenches to glacier-covered mountains and steaming volcanoes. These environments formed through spectacular events: Nature’s largest earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions are born here....
Trophic dynamics of shrinking Subarctic lakes: naturally eutrophic waters impart resilience to rising nutrient and major ion concentrations
Tyler Lewis, Mark S. Lindberg, Joel A. Schmutz, Patricia J. Heglund, Joshua H. Schmidt, Adam J. Dubour, Jennifer R. Rover, Mark R. Bertram
2016, Oecologia (181) 583-596
Shrinking lakes were recently observed for several Arctic and Subarctic regions due to increased evaporation and permafrost degradation. Along with lake drawdown, these processes often boost aquatic chemical concentrations, potentially impacting trophic dynamics. In particular, elevated chemical levels may impact primary productivity, which may in turn influence populations of primary...
