Biological phosphorus cycling in dryland regions
Jayne Belnap
Else Bunemann, Astrid Oberson, Emmanuel Frossard, editor(s)
2011, Book chapter, Phosphorus in action
The relatively few studies done on phosphorus (P) cycling in arid and semiarid lands (drylands) show many factors that distinguish P cycling in drylands from that in more mesic regions. In drylands, most biologically relevant P inputs and losses are from the deposition and loss of dust. Horizontal and vertical...
Early detection and rapid response
Randy G. Westbrooks, Robert E. Eplee
Daniel Simberloff, Marcel Rejmánek, editor(s)
2011, Book chapter, Encyclopedia of biological invasions
Prevention is the first line of defense against introduced invasive species - it is always preferable to prevent the introduction of new invaders into a region or country. However, it is not always possible to detect all alien hitchhikers imported in cargo, or to predict with any degree of certainty...
Effects of model layer simplification using composite hydraulic properties
Eve L. Kuniansky, Nicasio Sepulveda
Lakshmanan Elango, editor(s)
2011, Book chapter, Hydraulic conductivity: Issues, determination and applications
Groundwater provides much of the fresh drinking water to more than 1.5 billion people in the world (Clarke et al., 1996) and in the United States more that 50 percent of citizens rely on groundwater for drinking water (Solley et al., 1998). As aquifer systems are developed for water supply,...
Low strength of deep San Andreas fault gouge from SAFOD core
David A. Lockner, Carolyn A. Morrow, Diane E. Moore, Stephen H. Hickman
2011, Nature (472) 82-86
The San Andreas fault accommodates 28–34 mm yr−1 of right lateral motion of the Pacific crustal plate northwestward past the North American plate. In California, the fault is composed of two distinct locked segments that have produced great earthquakes in historical times, separated by a 150-km-long creeping zone. The San Andreas Fault Observatory...
Fire and the fire regime framework
Jon E. Keeley, William J. Bond, Ross A. Bradstock, Juli G. Pausas, Philip W. Rundel
2011, Book chapter, Fire in Mediterranean ecosystems: Ecology, evolution and management
A global view of potential vs. actual vegetation distributions points to fire as a major driver of biome distribution and determinant of community structure (Bond et al. 2005). In ecological terms, fire acts much like an herbivore, consuming biomass and competing with biotic consumers for resources, and in this sense...
Fire-related plant traits
Jon E. Keeley, William J. Bond, Ross A. Bradstock, Juli G. Pausas, Philip W. Rundel
2011, Book chapter, Fire in Mediterranean ecosystems: Ecology, evolution and management
As illustrated in Fig. 2.1 there are four environmental parameters that are necessary to determine the distribution of fire-prone ecosystems. However, they are insufficient to predict ecosystem responses to fire without a detailed understanding of the fire regime (see Fig. 2.7). Different fire regimes have very different potentials for recovery...
THE SKIN | Functional morphology of the integumentary system in fishes
D.G. Elliott
Anthony P. Farrell, editor(s)
2011, Book chapter, Encyclopedia of fish physiology
The integument that covers the outer surface of a fish’s body and fins is a multifunctional organ, with morphological features highly adapted to carry out these functions. The integument consists of two layers. The outer layer, the epidermis, is essentially cellular in structure, comprised of a multilayered epithelium that usually...
Swallows as a sentinel species for contaminant exposure and effect studies
Christine M. Custer
John G. Elliott, Christine Annette Bishop, Christy A. Morrissey, editor(s)
2011, Book chapter, Wildlife ecotoxicology: Forensic approaches
Tree swallows are an important model species to study the effects of contaminants in wild bird populations and have been used extensively in studies across North America. The advantages of swallows compared to other avian species are detailed. Three case histories are provided where swallows have been successfully used in...
Nonrandom patterns of roost emergence in big brown bats, Eptesicus fuscus
E.H. Gillam, Thomas J. O’Shea, R.M. Brigham
2011, Journal of Mammalogy (92) 1253-1260
In most colonial species of bats individuals emerge en masse from day roosts each evening to begin foraging. Although some aspects of emergence behavior are understood, one previously unexplored area is the specific order in which individuals emerge. The goal of our research was to determine if big brown bats, Eptesicus...
Migration and wintering areas of glaucous-winged Gulls from south-central Alaska
Scott A. Hatch, V.A. Gill, D.M. Mulcahy
2011, Condor (113) 340-351
We used satellite telemetry to investigate the migration patterns and wintering areas of Glaucous-winged Gulls (Larus glaucescens) from Middleton Island, Alaska, where this species' population increased tenfold from the 1970s to the 1990s. Fall migration spanned 11 weeks, including numerous stopovers en route, apparently for feeding. Spring migration from wintering...
Near-field hazard assessment of March 11, 2011 Japan Tsunami sources inferred from different methods
Y. Wei, V.V. Titov, A. Newman, G. Hayes, Liujuan Tang, C. Chamberlin
2011, Conference Paper, OCEANS'11 - MTS/IEEE Kona, Program Book
Tsunami source is the origin of the subsequent transoceanic water waves, and thus the most critical component in modern tsunami forecast methodology. Although impractical to be quantified directly, a tsunami source can be estimated by different methods based on a variety of measurements provided by deep-ocean tsunameters, seismometers, GPS, and...
Exchange of groundwater and surface-water mediated by permafrost response to seasonal and long term air temperature variation
S. Ge, J. McKenzie, C. Voss, Q. Wu
2011, Geophysical Research Letters (38)
Permafrost dynamics impact hydrologic cycle processes by promoting or impeding groundwater and surface water exchange. Under seasonal and decadal air temperature variations, permafrost temperature changes control the exchanges between groundwater and surface water. A coupled heat transport and groundwater flow model, SUTRA, was modified to simulate groundwater flow and heat...
Evaluation of TRIGRS (transient rainfall infiltration and grid-based regional slope-stability analysis)'s predictive skill for hurricane-triggered landslides: A case study in Macon County, North Carolina
Z. Liao, Y. Hong, D. Kirschbaum, R.F. Adler, J.J. Gourley, R. Wooten
2011, Natural Hazards (58) 325-339
The key to advancing the predictability of rainfall-triggered landslides is to use physically based slope-stability models that simulate the transient dynamical response of the subsurface moisture to spatiotemporal variability of rainfall in complex terrains. TRIGRS (transient rainfall infiltration and grid-based regional slope-stability analysis) is a USGS landslide prediction model, coded...
Genetic differentiation of the Kittlitz's Murrelet Brachyramphus brevirostris in the Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska
T.P. Birt, D. Mackinnon, John F. Piatt, Vicki L. Friesen
2011, Marine Ornithology: Journal of Seabird Research and Conservation (39) 45-51
Information about the distribution of genetic variation within and among local populations of the Kittlitz's Murrelet Brachyramphus brevirostris is needed for effective conservation of this rare and declining species. We compared variation in a 429 base pair fragment of the mitochondrial control region and 11 microsatellite loci among 53 Kittlitz's...
Evidence of two genetic clusters of manatees with low genetic diversity in Mexico and implications for their conservation
C. Nourisson, B. Morales-Vela, J. Padilla-Saldivar, K.P. Tucker, A. Clark, L. D. Olivera-Gomez, Robert K. Bonde, P. McGuire
2011, Genetica (139) 833-842
The Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus) occupies the tropical coastal waters of the Greater Antilles and Caribbean, extending from Mexico along Central and South America to Brazil. Historically, manatees were abundant in Mexico, but hunting during the pre-Columbian period, the Spanish colonization and throughout the history of Mexico, has resulted...
Predator-induced demographic shifts in coral reef fish assemblages
B.I. Ruttenberg, S.L. Hamilton, S.M. Walsh, Mary Donovan, Alan M. Friedlander, E. DeMartini, E. Sala, S.A. Sandin
2011, PLoS ONE (6)
In recent years, it has become apparent that human impacts have altered community structure in coastal and marine ecosystems worldwide. Of these, fishing is one of the most pervasive, and a growing body of work suggests that fishing can have strong effects on the ecology of target species, especially top...
Geology and petroleum potential of the rifted margins of the Canada Basin
D.W. Houseknecht, Kenneth J. Bird
2011, Geological Society Memoir 509-526
Three sides of the Canada Basin are bordered by high-standing, conjugate rift shoulders of the Chukchi Borderland, Alaska and Canada. The Alaska and Canada margins are mantled with thick, growth-faulted sediment prisms, and the Chukchi Borderland contains only a thin veneer of sediment. The rift-margin strata of Alaska and Canada...
Circum-Arctic mapping project: New magnetic and gravity anomaly maps of the Arctic
C. Gaina, S.C. Werner, R. Saltus, S. Maus, S. Aaro, D. Damaske, R. Forsberg, V. Glebovsky, Kevin K. Johnson, J. Jonberger, T. Koren, J. Korhonen, T. Litvinova, G. Oakey, O. Olesen, O. Petrov, M. Pilkington, T. Rasmussen, B. Schreckenberger, M. Smelror
2011, Geological Society Memoir 39-48
New Circum-Arctic maps of magnetic and gravity anomalies have been produced by merging regional gridded data. Satellite magnetic and gravity data were used for quality control of the long wavelengths of the new compilations. The new Circum-Arctic digital compilations of magnetic, gravity and some of their derivatives have been analyzed...
Dynamic resource allocation in conservation planning
D. Golovin, A. Krause, B. Gardner, Sarah J. Converse, S. Morey
2011, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the National Conference on Artificial Intelligence
Consider the problem of protecting endangered species by selecting patches of land to be used for conservation purposes. Typically, the availability of patches changes over time, and recommendations must be made dynamically. This is a challenging prototypical example of a sequential optimization problem under uncertainty in computational sustainability. Existing techniques...
Maintenance of phenotypic variation: Repeatability, heritability and size-dependent processes in a wild brook trout population
B. H. Letcher, J.A. Coombs, K.H. Nislow
2011, Evolutionary Applications (4) 602-615
Phenotypic variation in body size can result from within-cohort variation in birth dates, among-individual growth variation and size-selective processes. We explore the relative effects of these processes on the maintenance of wide observed body size variation in stream-dwelling brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). Based on the analyses of multiple recaptures of...
Acetate availability and its influence on sustainable bioremediation of Uranium-contaminated groundwater
K.H. Williams, P.E. Long, J.A. Davis, M.J. Wilkins, A. L. N’Guessan, Carl Steefel, L. Yang, D. Newcomer, F.A. Spane, L.J. Kerkhof, L. Mcguinness, R. Dayvault, Derek R. Lovley
2011, Geomicrobiology Journal (28) 519-539
Field biostimulation experiments at the U.S. Department of Energy's Integrated Field Research Challenge (IFRC) site in Rifle, Colorado, have demonstrated that uranium concentrations in groundwater can be decreased to levels below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) drinking water standard (0.126 μM). During successive summer experiments – referred to as...
Informal and formal trail monitoring protocols and baseline conditions: Acadia National Park
Jeffrey L. Marion, Jeremy F. Wimpey, L. Park
2011, Report
At Acadia National Park, changing visitor use levels and patterns have contributed to an increasing degree of visitor use impacts to natural and cultural resources. To better understand the extent and severity of these resource impacts and identify effective management techniques, the park sponsored this research to develop monitoring protocols,...
Consequences of long-distance swimming and travel over deep-water pack ice for a female polar bear during a year of extreme sea ice retreat
George M. Durner, J.P. Whiteman, H.J. Harlow, Steven C. Amstrup, E.V. Regehr, M. Ben-David
2011, Polar Biology (34) 975-984
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) prefer to live on Arctic sea ice but may swim between ice floes or between sea ice and land. Although anecdotal observations suggest that polar bears are capable of swimming long distances, no data have been available to describe in detail long distance swimming...
Relationships among rotational and conventional grazing systems, stream channels, and macroinvertebrates
K.L. Raymond, B. Vondracek
2011, Hydrobiologia (669) 105-117
Cattle grazing in riparian areas can reduce water quality, alter stream channel characteristics, and alter fish and macroinvertebrate assemblage structure. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Services has recommended Rotational Grazing (RG) as an alternative management method on livestock and dairy operations to protect riparian areas and water...
Independent effects of temperature and precipitation on modeled runoff in the conterminous United States
Gregory J. McCabe, David M. Wolock
2011, Water Resources Research (47)
A water‐balance model is used to simulate time series of water‐year runoff for 4 km × 4 km grid cells for the conterminous United States during the 1900–2008 period. Model outputs are used to examine the separate effects of precipitation and temperature on runoff variability. Overall, water‐year runoff has increased...
