Common challenges for ecological modelling: synthesis of facilitated discussions held at the symposia organized for the 2009 conference of the International Society for Ecological Modelling in Quebec City, Canada, (October 6-9, 2009)
Guy R. Larocque, D. Mailly, T.-X. Yue, M. Anand, C. Peng, C. Kazanci, M. Etterson, P. Goethals, S.E. Jorgensen, J.R. Schramski, E.J.B. McIntire, D.J. Marceau, B. Chen, G.Q. Chen, Z.F. Yang, B. Novotna, N. Luckai, Jagtar S. Bhatti, J. Liu, A. Munson, Andrew M. Gordon, J.C. Ascough
2011, Ecological Modelling (222) 2456-2468
The eleven symposia organized for the 2009 conference of the International Society for Ecological Modelling (ISEM 2009) held in Quebec City, Canada, October 6–9, 2009, included facilitated discussion sessions following formal presentations. Each symposium focused on a specific subject, and all the subjects could be classified into three broad categories:...
Tiny intraplate earthquakes triggered by nearby episodic tremor and slip in Cascadia
J.E. Vidale, A.J. Hotovec, A. Ghosh, K. C. Creager, J. Gomberg
2011, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (12)
Episodic tremor and slip (ETS) has been observed in many subduction zones, but its mechanical underpinnings as well as its potential for triggering damaging earthquakes have proven difficult to assess. Here we use a seismic array in Cascadia of unprecedented density to monitor seismicity around a moderate 16 day ETS...
Geology and petroleum potential of the north and east margins of the Siberian Craton, north of the Arctic Circle
T. R. Klett, C. J. Wandrey, Janet K. Pitman
2011, Geological Society Memoir 413-431
The Siberian Craton consists of crystalline rocks and superimposed Precambrian sedimentary rocks deposited in rift basins. Palaeozoic rocks, mainly carbonates, were deposited along the margins of the craton to form an outwardly younger concentric pattern that underlies an outward-thickening Mesozoic sedimentary section. The north and east margins of the Siberian...
Long-term biases in geomagnetic K and aa indices
Jeffrey J. Love
2011, Annales Geophysicae (29) 1365-1375
Analysis is made of the geomagnetic-activity aa index and its source K-index data from groups of ground-based observatories in Britain, and Australia, 1868.0–2009.0, solar cycles 11–23. The K data show persistent biases, especially for high (low) K-activity levels at British (Australian) observatories. From examination of multiple subsets of the K data we infer that the biases are not...
A revised 87Sr/86Sr curve for the Silurian: Implications for global ocean chemistry and the Silurian timescale
Bradley D. Cramer, Axel Munnecke, D. I. Schofield, K.M. Haase, A. Haase-Schramm
2011, Journal of Geology (119) 335-349
Recent recalibration of the Silurian timescale and improved global chronostratigraphic correlation of Silurian strata significantly altered the Silurian 87Sr/86Sr curve and the temporal extent of available data. Whereas previous Silurian 87Sr/86Sr composites showed a generally monotonic increase throughout the Silurian, revisions to the Silurian timescale now require a major increase in the...
Rain pulse response of soil CO2 exchange by biological soil crusts and grasslands of the semiarid Colorado Plateau, United States
David R. Bowling, Edmund E. Grote, Jayne Belnap
2011, Journal of Geophysical Research G: Biogeosciences (116)
Biological activity in arid grasslands is strongly dependent on moisture. We examined gas exchange of biological soil crusts (biocrusts), the underlying soil biotic community, and the belowground respiratory activity of C3 and C4 grasses over 2 years in southeast Utah, USA. We used soil surface CO2 flux and the amount...
Molecular detection of vertebrates in stream water: A demonstration using rocky mountain tailed frogs and Idaho giant salamanders
C.S. Goldberg, D. S. Pilliod, R.S. Arkle, L.P. Waits
2011, PLoS ONE (6)
Stream ecosystems harbor many secretive and imperiled species, and studies of vertebrates in these systems face the challenges of relatively low detection rates and high costs. Environmental DNA (eDNA) has recently been confirmed as a sensitive and efficient tool for documenting aquatic vertebrates in wetlands and in a large river...
Denitrification and inference of nitrogen sources in the karstic Floridan Aquifer
J.B. Heffernan, A.R. Albertin, M.L. Fork, B. G. Katz, M.J. Cohen
2011, Biogeosciences Discussions (8) 10247-10294
Aquifer denitrification is among the most poorly constrained fluxes in global and regional nitrogen budgets. The few direct measurements of denitrification in groundwaters provide limited information about its spatial and temporal variability, particularly at the scale of whole aquifers. Uncertainty in estimates of denitrification may also lead to underestimates of...
In situ measurements of post-fire debris flows in southern California: Comparisons of the timing and magnitude of 24 debris-flow events with rainfall and soil moisture conditions
J. W. Kean, D.M. Staley, S.H. Cannon
2011, Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface (116)
Debris flows often occur in burned steeplands of southern California, sometimes causing property damage and loss of life. In an effort to better understand the hydrologic controls on post-fire debris-flow initiation, timing and magnitude, we measured the flow stage, rainfall, channel bed pore fluid pressure and hillslope soil-moisture accompanying 24...
Diagnostic methodology is critical for accurately determining the prevalence of ichthyophonus infections in wild fish populations
R. Kocan, H. Dolan, P. Hershberger
2011, Journal of Parasitology (97) 344-348
Several different techniques have been employed to detect and identify Ichthyophonus spp. in infected fish hosts; these include macroscopic observation, microscopic examination of tissue squashes, histological evaluation, in vitro culture, and molecular techniques. Examination of the peer-reviewed literature revealed that when more than 1 diagnostic method is used, they often...
Generalized bootstrap method for assessment of uncertainty in semivariogram inference
Ricardo A. Olea, E. Pardo-Iguzquiza
2011, Mathematical Geosciences (43) 203-228
The semivariogram and its related function, the covariance, play a central role in classical geostatistics for modeling the average continuity of spatially correlated attributes. Whereas all methods are formulated in terms of the true semivariogram, in practice what can be used are estimated semivariograms and models based on samples. A...
FeS-coated sand for removal of arsenic(III) under anaerobic conditions in permeable reactive barriers
Y.-S. Han, T.J. Gallegos, A.H. Demond, K.F. Hayes
2011, Water Research (45) 593-604
Iron sulfide (as mackinawite, FeS) has shown considerable promise as a material for the removal of As(III) under anoxic conditions. However, as a nanoparticulate material, synthetic FeS is not suitable for use in conventional permeable reactive barriers (PRBs). This study developed a methodology for coating a natural silica sand to...
Plant invasions in mountains: Global lessons for better management
K.L. McDougall, A.A. Khuroo, Lloyd L. Loope, C.G. Parks, A. Pauchard, Z.A. Reshi, I. Rushworth, C. Kueffer
2011, Mountain Research and Development (31) 380-387
Mountains are one of few ecosystems little affected by plant invasions. However, the threat of invasion is likely to increase because of climate change, greater anthropogenic land use, and continuing novel introductions. Preventive management, therefore, will be crucial but can be difficult to promote when more pressing problems are unresolved...
Satellite and ground observations of the June 2009 eruption of Sarychev Peak volcano, Matua Island, Central Kuriles
A. Rybin, M. Chibisova, P. Webley, T. Steensen, P. Izbekov, Christina A. Neal, V. Realmuto
2011, Bulletin of Volcanology (73) 1377-1392
After 33 years of repose, one of the most active volcanoes of the Kurile island arc—Sarychev Peak on Matua Island in the Central Kuriles—erupted violently on June 11, 2009. The eruption lasted 9 days and stands among the largest of recent historical eruptions in the Kurile Island chain. Satellite monitoring of the...
Improving occupancy estimation when two types of observational error occur: Non-detection and species misidentification
David Miller, James D. Nichols, B.T. McClintock, Evan H. Campbell Grant, L.L. Bailey, L.A. Weir
2011, Ecology (92) 1422-1428
Efforts to draw inferences about species occurrence frequently account for false negatives, the common situation when individuals of a species are not detected even when a site is occupied. However, recent studies suggest the need to also deal with false positives, which occur when species are misidentified so that a...
Diversity and distribution of white-tailed deer mtDNA lineages in chronic wasting disease (CWD) outbreak areas in southern Wisconsin, USA
K.G. Rogers, S.J. Robinson, M.D. Samuel, D.A. Grear
2011, Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A (74) 1521-1535
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy affecting North American cervids. Because it is uniformly fatal, the disease is a major concern in the management of white-tailed deer populations. Management programs to control CWD require improved knowledge of deer interaction, movement, and population connectivity that could influence disease...
Sedimentary successions of the Arctic Region (58–64° to 90°N) that may be prospective for hydrocarbons
Arthur Grantz, Robert A. Scott, Sergey S. Drachev, Thomas E. Moore, Zenon C. Valin
2011, Geological Society Memoir (35) 17-37
A total of 143 sedimentary successions that contain, or may be prospective for, hydrocarbons were identified in the Arctic Region north of 58–64°N and mapped in four quadrants at a scale of 1:11 000 000. Eighteen of these successions (12.6%) occur in the Arctic Ocean Basin, 25 (17.5%) in the...
Geology and petroleum potential of the Timan-Pechora Basin Province, Russia
Christopher J. Schenk
2011, Geological Society Memoir 283-294
The Timan–Pechora Basin Province represents the northeastern-most cratonic block of Eastern European Russia. More than 16 billion barrels of oil (BBO) and 40 trillion cubic feet of gas (TCFG) have been discovered in this basin. Three geological assessment units (AU) were defined for assessing the potential for undiscovered oil and...
Data sharing by scientists: Practices and perceptions
Carol Tenopir, Suzie Allard, K. Douglass, Arsev Umur Aydinoglu, Lei Wu, Eleanor Read, Maribeth Manoff, Mike Frame
2011, PLoS ONE (6) 1-21
BackgroundScientific research in the 21st century is more data intensive and collaborative than in the past. It is important to study the data practices of researchers – data accessibility, discovery, re-use, preservation and, particularly, data sharing. Data sharing is a valuable part of the scientific method allowing...
Impacts of past climate and sea level change on Everglades wetlands: placing a century of anthropogenic change into a late-Holocene context
Debra A. Willard, C.E. Bernhardt
2011, Climatic Change (107) 59-80
We synthesize existing evidence on the ecological history of the Florida Everglades since its inception ~7 ka (calibrated kiloannum) and evaluate the relative impacts of sea level rise, climate variability, and human alteration of Everglades hydrology on wetland plant communities. Initial freshwater peat accumulation began between 6 and 7 ka...
Optical maturity variation in lunar spectra as measured by Moon Mineralogy Mapper data
J.W. Nettles, M. Staid, S. Besse, J. Boardman, R. N. Clark, D. Dhingra, P. Isaacson, R. Klima, G. Kramer, C.M. Pieters, L.A. Taylor
2011, Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets (116)
High spectral and spatial resolution data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument on Chandrayaan-1 are used to investigate in detail changes in the optical properties of lunar materials accompanying space weathering. Three spectral parameters were developed and used to quantify spectral effects commonly thought to be associated with increasing...
Management intensity alters decomposition via biological pathways
Kyle Wickings, A. Stuart Grandy, Sasha Reed, Cory Cleveland
2011, Biogeochemistry (104) 365-379
Current conceptual models predict that changes in plant litter chemistry during decomposition are primarily regulated by both initial litter chemistry and the stage-or extent-of mass loss. Far less is known about how variations in decomposer community structure (e.g., resulting from different ecosystem management types) could influence litter chemistry during decomposition....
The significance of turbulent flow representation in single-continuum models
Thomas Reimann, C. Rehrl, W.B. Shoemaker, T. Geyer, S. Birk
2011, Water Resources Research (47)
Karst aquifers exhibit highly conductive features caused from rock dissolution processes. Flow within these structures can become turbulent and therefore can be expressed by nonlinear gradient functions. One way to account for these effects is by coupling a continuum model with a conduit network. Alternatively, turbulent flow can be considered...
Feature-based and statistical methods for analyzing the Deepwater Horizon oil spill with AVIRIS imagery
R.S. Rand, R. N. Clark, K.E. Livo
2011, Proceedings of SPIE (8158)
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill covered a very large geographical area in the Gulf of Mexico creating potentially serious environmental impacts on both marine life and the coastal shorelines. Knowing the oil's areal extent and thickness as well as denoting different categories of the oil's physical state is important for...
Biogeochemistry of a temperate forest nitrogen gradient
Steven S. Perakis, Emily R. Sinkhorn
2011, Ecology (92) 1481-1491
Wide natural gradients of soil nitrogen (N) can be used to examine fundamental relationships between plant–soil–microbial N cycling and hydrologic N loss, and to test N-saturation theory as a general framework for understanding ecosystem N dynamics. We characterized plant production, N uptake and return in litterfall, soil gross and net...
