Analysis of the present and future winter Pacific-North American teleconnection in the ECHAM5 global and RegCM3 regional climate models
Andrea M. Allan, Steven W. Hostetler, Jay R. Alder
2014, Climate Dynamics (42) 1671-1682
We use the NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis (NCEP) and the MPI/ECHAM5 general circulation model to drive the RegCM3 regional climate model to assess the ability of the models to reproduce the spatiotemporal aspects of the Pacific-North American teleconnection (PNA) pattern. Composite anomalies of the NCEP-driven RegCM3 simulations for 1982–2000 indicate that the...
Threshold concepts: implications for the management of natural resources
Glenn R. Guntenspergen, John Gross
2014, Book chapter, Application of threshold concepts in natural resource decision making
Threshold concepts can have broad relevance in natural resource management. However, the concept of ecological thresholds has not been widely incorporated or adopted in management goals. This largely stems from the uncertainty revolving around threshold levels and the post hoc analyses that have generally been used to identify them. Natural...
North American amphibians: Distribution and diversity
David M. Green, Linda A. Weir, Gary S. Casper, Michael Lannoo, editor(s)
2014, Book
Some 300 species of amphibians inhabit North America. The past two decades have seen an enormous growth in interest about amphibians and an increased intensity of scientific research into their fascinating biology and continent-wide distribution.This atlas presents the spectacular diversity of North American amphibians in a geographic context. It covers...
Risks of avian influenza transmission in areas of intensive free-ranging duck production with wild waterfowl
Julien Cappelle, Delong Zhao, Marius Gilbert, Scott H. Newman, John Y. Takekawa, Nicolas Gaidet, Diann J. Prosser, Ying Liu, Peng Li, Yuelong Shu, Xiangming Xiao
2014, EcoHealth (11) 109-119
For decades, southern China has been considered to be an important source for emerging influenza viruses since key hosts live together in high densities in areas with intensive agriculture. However, the underlying conditions of emergence and spread of avian influenza viruses (AIV) have not been studied in detail, particularly the...
Pacific Continental Shelf Environmental Assessment (PaCSEA): aerial seabird and marine mammal surveys off northern California, Oregon, and Washington, 2011-2012
Josh Adams, Jonathan J. Felis, John W. Mason, John Y. Takekawa
2014, BOEM 2014-003
Marine birds and mammals comprise an important community of meso- and upper-trophic-level predators within the northern California Current System (NCCS). The NCCS is located within one of the world’s four major eastern boundary currents and is characterized by an abundant and diverse marine ecosystem fuelled seasonally by wind-driven upwelling which...
Resource selection by the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) relative to terrestrial-based habitats and meteorological conditions
J. Matthew Johnson, Susan M. Haig, Carl J. Schwarz, John W. Glendening, L. Joseph Burnett, Daniel George, Jesse Grantham
2014, PLoS ONE (9)
Condors and vultures are distinct from most other terrestrial birds because they use extensive soaring flight for their daily movements. Therefore, assessing resource selection by these avian scavengers requires quantifying the availability of terrestrial-based habitats, as well as meteorological variables that influence atmospheric conditions necessary for soaring. In this study,...
ASPRS research on quantifying the geometric quality of lidar data
Aparajithan Sampath, Hans K. Heidemann, Gregory L. Stensaas, Jon Christopherson
2014, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 201-205
The ASPRS Lidar Cal/Val (calibration/validation) Working Group led by the US Geological Survey (USGS) to establish “Guidelines on Geometric Accuracy and Quality of Lidar Data” has made excellent progress via regular teleconferences and meetings. The group is focused on identifying data quality metrics and establishing a set of guidelines for...
Social-ecological resilience and law
Ahjond S. Garmestani, Craig R. Allen, editor(s)
2014, Book
Environmental law envisions ecological systems as existing in an equilibrium state, reinforcing a rigid legal framework unable to absorb rapid environmental changes and innovations in sustainability. For the past four decades, “resilience theory,” which embraces uncertainty and nonlinear dynamics in complex adaptive systems, has provided a robust, invaluable foundation for...
Habitat use by subyearling Chinook and coho salmon in Lake Ontario tributaries
James H. Johnson
2014, Journal of Great Lakes Research (40) 149-154
The habitat use of subyearling Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) was examined in three tributaries of Lake Ontario. A total of 1781 habitat observations were made on Chinook salmon (698) and coho salmon (1083). During both spring and fall, subyearling coho salmon used pool habitat with...
Trade-offs in experimental designs for estimating post-release mortality in containment studies
Mark W. Rogers, Andrew B Barbour, Kyle L Wilson
2014, Fisheries Research (151) 130-135
Estimates of post-release mortality (PRM) facilitate accounting for unintended deaths from fishery activities and contribute to development of fishery regulations and harvest quotas. The most popular method for estimating PRM employs containers for comparing control and treatment fish, yet guidance for experimental design of PRM studies with containers is lacking....
Sampling trace organic compounds in water: a comparison of a continuous active sampler to continuous passive and discrete sampling methods
Alissa L. Coes, Nicholas V. Paretti, William T. Foreman, Jana L. Iverson, David A. Alvarez
2014, Science of the Total Environment (473-474) 731-741
A continuous active sampling method was compared to continuous passive and discrete sampling methods for the sampling of trace organic compounds (TOCs) in water. Results from each method are compared and contrasted in order to provide information for future investigators to use while selecting appropriate sampling methods for their research....
Monitoring Hawaiian waterbirds: evaluation of sampling methods to produce reliable estimates
Richard J. Camp, Kevin W. Brinck, Eben H. Paxton, Christina Leopold
2014, Report, Hawaii Cooperative Studies Unit Technical Report
We conducted field trials to assess several different methods of estimating the abundance of four endangered Hawaiian waterbirds: the Hawaiian duck (Anas wyvilliana), Hawaiian coot (Fulica alai), Hawaiian common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus sandvicensis) and Hawaiian stilt (Himantopus mexicanus knudseni). At two sites on Oʽahu, James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge and...
A deglacial and Holocene record of climate variability in south-central Alaska from stable oxygen isotopes and plant macrofossils in peat
Miriam C. Jones, Matthew J. Wooller, Dorothy M. Peteet
2014, Quaternary Science Reviews (87) 1-11
We used stable oxygen isotopes derived from bulk peat (δ18OTOM), in conjunction with plant macrofossils and previously published carbon accumulation records, in a ∼14,500 cal yr BP peat core (HT Fen) from the Kenai lowlands in south-central Alaska to reconstruct the climate history of the area. We find that patterns are...
Getting the message across: using ecological integrity to communicate with resource managers
Brian R. Mitchell, Geraldine L. Tierney, E. William Schweiger, Kathryn M. Miller, Don Faber-Langendoen, James B. Grace
2014, Book chapter, Application of threshold concepts in natural resource decision making
This chapter describes and illustrates how concepts of ecological integrity, thresholds, and reference conditions can be integrated into a research and monitoring framework for natural resource management. Ecological integrity has been defined as a measure of the composition, structure, and function of an ecosystem in relation to the system’s natural...
Volcanology: Look up for magma insights
Paul Segall, Kyle Anderson
2014, Nature Geoscience (7) 168-169
Volcanic plumes can be hazardous to aircraft. A correlation between plume height and ground deformation during an eruption of Grímsvötn Volcano, Iceland, allows us to peer into the properties of the magma chamber and may improve eruption forecasts....
Dynamic hyporheic exchange at intermediate timescales: testing the relative importance of evapotranspiration and flood pulses
Laurel G. Larsen, Judson W. Harvey, Morgan M. Maglio
2014, Water Resources Research (50) 318-335
Hyporheic fluxes influence ecological processes across a continuum of timescales. However, few studies have been able to characterize hyporheic fluxes and residence time distributions (RTDs) over timescales of days to years, during which evapotranspiration (ET) and seasonal flood pulses create unsteady forcing. Here we present a data-driven, particle-tracking piston model...
Geospatial optimization of siting large-scale solar projects
Jordan Macknick, Ted Quinby, Emmet Caulfield, Margot Gerritsen, James E. Diffendorfer, Seth S. Haines
2014, Technical Report NREL/TP-6A50-61375
Recent policy and economic conditions have encouraged a renewed interest in developing large-scale solar projects in the U.S. Southwest. However, siting some large-scale solar projects, such as concentrating solar power (CSP), is complex. In addition to the quality of the solar resource, solar developers must take into consideration many environmental, social, and...
Melt inclusions
Audétat A., Jacob B. Lowenstern
2014, Book chapter, Reference module in earth systems and environmental sciences: Treatise on geochemistry
Melt inclusions are small droplets of silicate melt that are trapped in minerals during their growth in a magma. Once formed, they commonly retain much of their initial composition (with some exceptions) unless they are re-opened at some later stage. Melt inclusions thus offer several key advantages over whole rock...
Characteristic length scales and time-averaged transport velocities of suspended sediment in the mid-Atlantic Region, USA
James Pizzuto, Edward R. Schenk, Cliff R. Hupp, Allen Gellis, Greg Noe, Elyse Williamson, Diana L. Karwan, Michael O'Neal, Julia Marquard, Rolf E. Aalto, Denis Newbold
2014, Water Resources Research (50) 790-805
Watershed Best Management Practices (BMPs) are often designed to reduce loading from particle-borne contaminants, but the temporal lag between BMP implementation and improvement in receiving water quality is difficult to assess because particles are only moved downstream episodically, resting for long periods in storage between transport events. A theory is...
Retrospective analysis of associations between water quality and toxic blooms of golden alga (Prymnesium parvum) in Texas reservoirs: Implications for understanding dispersal mechanisms and impacts of climate change
Reynaldo Patino, D. Dawson, Matthew M. VanLandeghem
2014, Harmful Algae (33) 1-11
Toxic blooms of golden alga (GA, Prymnesium parvum) in Texas typically occur in winter or early spring. In North America, they were first reported in Texas in the 1980s, and a marked range expansion occurred in 2001. Although there is concern about the influence of climate change on the future...
Where the bison roam: public-private partnership supports potential restoration
J.T. Wilson, Kate A. Schoenecker
2014, Report
A little over one hundred years ago, plains bison were prolific in the Great American West. Reports describe herds containing thousands of animals migrating through the central and western states, totaling 20–30 million across their entire range. With commercial, unregulated hunting in the late 1800s came the rapid demise of...
Using natural range of variation to set decision thresholds: a case study for great plains grasslands
Amy J. Symstad, Jayne L. Jonas
Glenn R. Guntenspergen, editor(s)
2014, Book chapter, Application of threshold concepts in natural resource decision making
Natural range of variation (NRV) may be used to establish decision thresholds or action assessment points when ecological thresholds are either unknown or do not exist for attributes of interest in a managed ecosystem. The process for estimating NRV involves identifying spatial and temporal scales that adequately capture the heterogeneity...
Distribution and transmission of the highly pathogenic parasite Ichthyophonus in marine fishes of Alaska
Jacob L. Gregg, Courtney A. Grady, Rachel L. Thompson, Maureen K. Purcell, Carolyn S. Friedman, Paul K. Hershberger
2014, Report
A combination of field surveys, molecular typing, and laboratory experiments were used to improve our understanding of the distribution and transmission mechanisms of fish parasites in the genus Ichthyophonus. Ichthyophonus spp. infections were detected from the Bering Sea to the coast of Oregon in 10 of 13 host species surveyed....
Plants in alpine environments
Matthew J. Germino
2014, Book chapter, Ecology and the environment
Alpine and subalpine plant species are of special interest in ecology and ecophysiology because they represent life at the climate limit and changes in their relative abundances can be a bellwether for climate-change impacts. Perennial life forms dominate alpine plant communities, and their form and function reflect various avoidance, tolerance, or...
A Bayesian network approach to predicting nest presence of thefederally-threatened piping plover (Charadrius melodus) using barrier island features
Katherina D. Gieder, Sarah M. Karpanty, James D. Fraser, Daniel H. Catlin, Benjamin T. Gutierrez, Nathaniel G. Plant, Aaron M. Turecek, E. Robert Thieler
2014, Ecological Modelling (276) 38-50
Sea-level rise and human development pose significant threats to shorebirds, particularly for species that utilize barrier island habitat. The piping plover (Charadrius melodus) is a federally-listed shorebird that nests on barrier islands and rapidly responds to changes in its physical environment, making it an excellent species with which to...
