Physical condition and stress levels during early development reflect feeding rates and predict pre- and post-fledging survival in a nearshore seabird
Juliet S. Lamb, Kathleen M. O’Reilly, Patrick G.R. Jodice
2016, Conservation Physiology (4)
The effects of acute environmental stressors on reproduction in wildlife are often difficult to measure because of the labour and disturbance involved in collecting accurate reproductive data. Stress hormones represent a promising option for assessing the effects of environmental perturbations on altricial young; however, it is necessary first to establish...
Soil phosphorus cycling in tropical soils: An ultisol and oxisol perspective
Sasha C. Reed, Tana E. Wood
2016, Book chapter, Soil phosphorus
Phosphorus (P) is essential for life. It is the backbone of our DNA, provides energy for biological reactions, and is an integral component of cell membranes. As such, it is no surprise that P availability plays a strong role in regulating ecosystem structure and function (Wassen et al. 2005, Elser...
Deserts
Jayne Belnap, Robert H. Webb, Todd Esque, Matthew L. Brooks, Lesley A. DeFalco, James A. MacMahon
2016, Book chapter, Ecosystems of California
The deserts of California (Lead photo, Fig. 1) occupy approximately 38% of California’s landscape (Table 1) and consist of three distinct deserts: the Great Basin Desert, Mojave Desert, and Colorado Desert, the latter of which is a subdivision of the Sonoran Desert (Brown and Lowe 1980). The wide range of...
2015 status of the Lake Ontario lower trophic levels
Kristen T. Holeck, Lars G. Rudstam, Christopher Hotaling, Russ D. McCullough, Dave Lemon, Web Pearsall, Jana Lantry, Michael J. Connerton, Steve LaPan, Zy Biesinger, Brian F. Lantry, Maureen Walsh, Brian Weidel
2016, NYSDEC Lake Ontario Annual Report 2015-16
Offshore spring total phosphorus (TP) in 2015 was 4.2 μ g/L, the same as in 2014; this is lower than 2001 - 2013, but there is no significant time trend 2001 - 2015. Offshore soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) was very low in 2015; Apr/May - Oct mean values were <1...
Trophic overlap between native and invasive stream crayfish
Daniel D. Magoulick, Glenn L. Piercey
2016, Hydrobiologia (766) 237-246
We examined trophic dynamics of a stream food web where invasive Orconectes neglectus appear to be displacing native O. eupunctus in the Spring River drainage of the Ozark Highlands, Missouri and Arkansas, USA. We collected crayfish species and possible food sources seasonally from a site of sympatry on the South Fork Spring River. We...
Decision analysis for habitat conservation of an endangered, range-limited salamander
Orin J. Robinson, Conor P. McGowan, J.J. Apodaca
2016, Animal Conservation (19) 561-569
Many species of conservation concern are habitat limited and often a major focus of management for these species is habitat acquisition and/or restoration. Deciding the location of habitat restoration or acquisition to best benefit a protected species can be a complicated subject with competing management objectives, ecological uncertainties and stochasticity....
A simple prioritization tool to diagnose impairment of stream temperature for coldwater fishes in the Great Basin
Jeffrey A. Falke, Jason B. Dunham, David Hockman-Wert, Randy A. Pahl
2016, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (36) 147-160
We provide a simple framework for diagnosing the impairment of stream water temperature for coldwater fishes across broad spatial extents based on a weight-of-evidence approach that integrates biological criteria, species distribution models, and geostatistical models of stream temperature. As a test case, we applied our approach to identify stream reaches...
Discontinuities concentrate mobile predators: Quantifying organism-environment interactions at a seascape scale
Christina G. Kennedy, Martha E. Mather, Joseph M. Smith, John T. Finn, Linda A. Deegan
2016, Ecosphere (7)
Understanding environmental drivers of spatial patterns is an enduring ecological problem that is critical for effective biological conservation. Discontinuities (ecologically meaningful habitat breaks), both naturally occurring (e.g., river confluence, forest edge, drop-off) and anthropogenic (e.g., dams, roads), can influence the distribution of highly mobile organisms that have land- or seascape...
Geology of the Mount Rogers area, revisited: Evidence of Neoproterozoic continental rifting, glaciation, and the opening and closing of the Iapetus ocean, Blue Ridge, VA–NC–TN
Arthur J. Merschat, C. Scott Southworth, Christopher S. Holm-Denoma, Ryan J. McAleer
Arthur J. Merschat, editor(s)
2016, Book chapter, Geology of the Mount Rogers area, revisited, Blue Ridge, VA–NC–TN: Carolina Geological Society Annual Field Trip Guidebook
Recent field and geochronological studies in eight 7.5-minute quadrangles near Mount Rogers in Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee recognize important stratigraphic and structural relationships for the Neoproterozoic Mount Rogers and Konnarock formations, the northeast end of the Mountain City window, the separation of Mesoproterozoic rocks of the Blue Ridge into...
Microhabitat suitability and niche breadth of common and imperiled Atlantic Slope freshwater mussels
Tamara J. Pandolfo, Thomas J. Kwak, W. Gregory Cope
2016, Freshwater Mollusk Biology and Conservation (19) 27-50
Knowledge of the habitat suitability of freshwater mussels (family Unionidae) is necessary for effective decision making in conservation and management. We empirically measured microhabitat use for 10 unionid mussel species, including the U.S. federally endangered Alasmidonta heterodon, at 20 sites in the Tar River basin, North Carolina, USA. We also...
Fledgling survival increases with development time and adult survival across north and south temperate zones
Penn Lloyd, Thomas E. Martin
2016, Ibis (158) 135-143
Slow life histories are characterized by high adult survival and few offspring, which are thought to allow increased investment per offspring to increase juvenile survival. Consistent with this pattern, south temperate zone birds are commonly longer-lived and have fewer young than north temperate zone species. However, comparative analyses of juvenile...
Acoustic doppler velocimeter backscatter for quantification of suspended sediment concentration in South San Francisco Bay
Mehmet Ozturk, Paul A. Work
2016, Conference Paper, Coastal engineering proceedings
A data set was acquired on a shallow mudflat in south San Francisco Bay that featured simultaneous, co-located optical and acoustic sensors for subsequent estimation of suspended sediment concentrations (SSC). The optical turbidity sensor output was converted to SSC via an empirical relation derived at a nearby site using bottle...
Recent and possible future variations in the North American Monsoon
Andrew Hoell, Chris Funk, Mathew Barlow, Shraddhanand Shukla
2016, Book chapter, The monsoons and climate change
The dynamics and recent and possible future changes of the June–September rainfall associated with the North American Monsoon (NAM) are reviewed in this chapter. Our analysis as well as previous analyses of the trend in June–September precipitation from 1948 until 2010 indicate significant precipitation increases over New Mexico and the...
Potentially induced earthquakes during the early twentieth century in the Los Angeles Basin
Susan E. Hough, Morgan T. Page
2016, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (106) 2419-2435
Recent studies have presented evidence that early to mid‐twentieth‐century earthquakes in Oklahoma and Texas were likely induced by fossil fuel production and/or injection of wastewater (Hough and Page, 2015; Frohlich et al., 2016). Considering seismicity from 1935 onward, Hauksson et al. (2015) concluded that there is no evidence for significant induced activity...
Site effects in Port-au-Prince (Haiti) from the analysis of spectral ratio and numerical simulations.
Sadrac St. Fleur, Etienne Bertrand, Francoise Courboulex, Bernard Mercier de Lepinay, Anne Deschamps, Susan E. Hough, Giovanna Cultrera, Dominique Boisson, Claude Prepetit
2016, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (106) 1298-1315
To provide better insight into seismic ground motion in the Port‐au‐Prince metropolitan area, we investigate site effects at 12 seismological stations by analyzing 78 earthquakes with magnitude smaller than 5 that occurred between 2010 and 2013. Horizontal‐to‐vertical spectral ratio on earthquake recordings and a standard spectral ratio were applied to...
Significance of beating observed in earthquake responses of buildings
Mehmet Çelebi, S. F. Ghahari, E. Taciroglu
2016, Conference Paper, 16th U.S.-Japan-New Zealand Workshop on the Improvement of Structural Engineering and Resiliency
The beating phenomenon observed in the recorded responses of a tall building in Japan and another in the U.S. are examined in this paper. Beating is a periodic vibrational behavior caused by distinctive coupling between translational and torsional modes that typically have close frequencies. Beating is prominent in the prolonged...
Field and laboratory determination of water-surface elevation and velocity using noncontact measurements
Jonathan M. Nelson, Paul J. Kinzel, Mark Walter Schmeeckle, Richard R. McDonald, Justin T. Minear
2016, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 20th Congress of the Asia Pacific Division of the International Association for Hydro Environment Engineering & Research
Noncontact methods for measuring water-surface elevation and velocity in laboratory flumes and rivers are presented with examples. Water-surface elevations are measured using an array of acoustic transducers in the laboratory and using laser scanning in field situations. Water-surface velocities are based on using particle image velocimetry or other machine vision...
The concept of stress in fish
Carl B. Schreck, Lluis Tort
2016, Fish Physiology (35) 1-34
The general physiological response of fish to threatening situations, as with all vertebrates, is referred to as stress. A stress response is initiated almost immediately following the perception of a stressor. Mildly stressful situations can have beneficial or positive effects (eustress), while higher severities induce <a...
Upper bound of pier scour in laboratory and field data
Stephen Benedict, Andral W. Caldwell
2016, Transportation Research Record (2588) 145-153
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the South Carolina Department of Transportation, conducted several field investigations of pier scour in South Carolina and used the data to develop envelope curves defining the upper bound of pier scour. To expand on this previous work, an additional cooperative investigation was...
Upper bound of abutment scour in laboratory and field data
Stephen Benedict
2016, Transportation Research Record (2588) 154-162
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the South Carolina Department of Transportation, conducted a field investigation of abutment scour in South Carolina and used those data to develop envelope curves that define the upper bound of abutment scour. To expand on this previous work, an additional cooperative investigation was...
Small mammal communities in eastern redcedar forest
Christopher J. Reddin, David G. Krementz
2016, American Midland Naturalist (175) 113-119
Eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) is a fire-intolerant tree species that has encroached into grassland ecosystems throughout central and eastern North America. Many land managers are interested in removing eastern redcedar to restore native grasslands. We surveyed small mammals using mark-recapture methods in eastern redcedar forest, warm-season grassland, and oldfield habitats...
Effects of a growth check on daily age estimates of age-0 alligator gar
Richard A. Snow, James M. Long
2016, Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (3) 6-10
Accurate age and growth information is essential for a complete knowledge of life history, growth rates, age at sexual maturity, and average life span in fishes. Alligator gar are becoming increasingly managed throughout their range and because this species spawns in backwater flooded areas, their offspring are prone to stranding...
Establishing a baseline of estuarine submerged aquatic vegetation resources across salinity zones within coastal areas of the northern Gulf of Mexico
Eva R. Hillmann, Kristin DeMarco, Megan K. LaPeyre
2016, Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (3) 25-32
Coastal ecosystems are dynamic and productive areas that are vulnerable to effects of global climate change. Despite their potentially limited spatial extent, submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) beds function in coastal ecosystems as foundation species, and perform important ecological services. However, limited understanding of the factors controlling SAV distribution and abundance...
Brackish marsh zones as a waterfowl habitat resource in submerged aquatic vegetation beds in the northern Gulf of Mexico
Kristin DeMarco, Eva R. Hillmann, Michael G. Brasher, Megan K. LaPeyre
2016, Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (3) 261-269
Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) beds are shallow coastal habitats that are increasingly exposed to the effects of sea-level rise (SLR). In the northern Gulf of Mexico (nGoM), an area especially vulnerable to SLR, the abundance and distribution of SAV food resources (seeds, rhizomes, and tissue) can influence the carrying...
A GIS model of habitat suitability for Solanum conocarpum (Solanaceae) in St. John, US Virgin Islands
Matthew D. Palumbo, Jonathan P. Fleming, Omar A. Monsegur, Francisco Vilella
2016, Caribbean Naturalist (36) 1-10
Solanum conocarpum (Solanaceae) (Marron Bacora) is a rare, dry-forest shrub endemic to the island of St. John, US Virgin Islands, considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Given its status as a species of conservation concern, we incorporated environmental characteristics of 3 observed populations and 5 additional known locations...
