From patterns to causal understanding: Structural equation modeling (SEM) in soil ecology
Nico Eisenhauer, Jeff R Powell, James B. Grace, Matthew A. Bowker
2015, Pedobiologia (58) 65-72
In this perspectives paper we highlight a heretofore underused statistical method in soil ecological research, structural equation modeling (SEM). SEM is commonly used in the general ecological literature to develop causal understanding from observational data, but has been more slowly adopted by soil ecologists. We provide some basic information on...
Landscape characteristics influencing the genetic structure of greater sage-grouse within the stronghold of their range: a holistic modeling approach
Jeff R Row, Sara J. Oyler-McCance, Jennifer A. Fike, Michael S. O’Donnell, Kevin E. Doherty, Cameron L. Aldridge, Zachary H. Bowen, Brad C. Fedy
2015, Ecology and Evolution (5) 1955-1969
Given the significance of animal dispersal to population dynamics and geographic variability, understanding how dispersal is impacted by landscape patterns has major ecological and conservation importance. Speaking to the importance of dispersal, the use of linear mixed models to compare genetic differentiation with pairwise resistance derived from landscape resistance surfaces...
Dam-breach analysis and flood-inundation mapping for selected dams in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and near Atoka, Oklahoma
Molly J. Shivers, S. Jerrod Smith, Trevor S. Grout, Jason M. Lewis
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5052
Dams provide beneficial functions such as flood control, recreation, and storage of water supplies, but they also entail risk; dam breaches and resultant floods can cause substantial property damage and loss of life. The State of Oklahoma requires each owner of a high-hazard dam, which the Federal Emergency Management Agency...
Geologic and structural controls on rupture zone fabric: A field-based study of the 2010 Mw 7.2 El Mayor–Cucapah earthquake surface rupture
Orlando Teran, John L. Fletcher, Michael Oskin, Thomas Rockwell, Kenneth W. Hudnut, Ronald Spelz, Sinan Akciz, Ana Paula Hernandez-Flores, Alexander Morelan
2015, Geosphere (11) 899-920
We systematically mapped (scales >1:500) the surface rupture of the 4 April 2010 Mw (moment magnitude) 7.2 El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake through the Sierra Cucapah (Baja California, northwestern Mexico) to understand how faults with similar structural and lithologic characteristics control rupture zone fabric, which is here defined by the thickness, distribution,...
Characterizing ground motions that collapse steel special moment-resisting frames or make them unrepairable
Anna H. Olsen, Thomas H. Heaton, John F. Hall
2015, Earthquake Spectra (31) 813-840
This work applies 64,765 simulated seismic ground motions to four models each of 6- or 20-story, steel special moment-resisting frame buildings. We consider two vector intensity measures and categorize the building response as “collapsed,” “unrepairable,” or “repairable.” We then propose regression models to predict the building responses from the intensity...
Hydrogeologic framework of the Santa Clara Valley, California
Randall T. Hanson
2015, Geosphere (11) 606-637
The hydrologic framework of the Santa Clara Valley in northern California was redefined on the basis of new data and a new hydrologic model. The regional groundwater flow systems can be subdivided into upper-aquifer and lower-aquifer systems that form a convergent flow system within a basin bounded by mountains...
Source limitation of carbon gas emissions in high-elevation mountain streams and lakes
John T. Crawford, Mark M. Dornblaser, Emily H. Stanley, David W. Clow, Robert G. Striegl
2015, Journal of Geophysical Research G: Biogeosciences (120) 952-964
Inland waters are an important component of the global carbon cycle through transport, storage, and direct emissions of CO2 and CH4 to the atmosphere. Despite predictions of high physical gas exchange rates due to turbulent flows and ubiquitous supersaturation of CO2—and perhaps also CH4—patterns of gas emissions are essentially undocumented...
Structure of the Koyna-Warna Seismic Zone, Maharashtra, India: A possible model for large induced earthquakes elsewhere
Rufus D. Catchings, M.M. Dixit, Mark R. Goldman, S. Kumar
2015, Journal of Geophysical Research (120) 3479-3506
The Koyna-Warna area of India is one of the best worldwide examples of reservoir-induced seismicity, with the distinction of having generated the largest known induced earthquake (M6.3 on 10 December 1967) and persistent moderate-magnitude (>M5) events for nearly 50 years. Yet, the fault structure and tectonic setting that has accommodated the...
Population connectivity of endangered Ozark big-eared bats (Corynorhinus townsendii ingens)
Dana N. Lee, Richard C. Stark, William L. Puckette, Meredith J. Hamilton, David M. Leslie Jr., Ronald A. Van Den Bussche
2015, Journal of Mammalogy (96) 522-530
The endangered Ozark big-eared bat (Corynorhinus townsendii ingens) is restricted to eastern Oklahoma and western and north-central Arkansas, where populations may be susceptible to losses of genetic variation due to patchy distribution of colonies and potentially small effective population sizes. We used mitochondrial D-loop DNA sequences and 15 nuclear microsatellite...
Towards a global terrestrial species monitoring program
Dirk S. Schmeller, Romain Julliard, Peter J. Bellingham, Monika Böhm, Neil Brummitt, Alessandro Chiarucci, Denis Couvet, Sarah Elmendorf, David M. Forsyth, Jaime Garcia Moreno, Richard D. Gregory, William E. Magnusson, Laura J. Martin, Melodie A. McGeoch, Jean-Baptiste Mihoub, Henrique M. Pereira, Vânia Proença, Chris van Swaay, Tetsukazu Yahara, Jayne Belnap
2015, Journal for Nature Conservation (25) 51-57
Introduction: The Convention for Biological Diversity’s (CBD) Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 envisions that “By 2050, biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people.” Although 193 parties have adopted these goals, there is little infrastructure in...
Structure, diversity, and biophysical properties of old-growth forestsin the Klamath region, USA
Phillip J. van Mantgem, Daniel A Starr
2015, Northwest Science (89) 170-181
The diverse old-growth forests in Klamath region of northern California and southern Oregon provide valuable ecosystem services (e.g., maintaining watersheds, wildlife habitat, recreation), but may be vulnerable to a wide range of stressors, including invasive species, disrupted disturbance regimes, and climatic change. Yet our understanding of how forest structure in...
Introduction to special section: China shale gas and shale oil plays
Shu Jiang, Hongliu Zeng, Jinchuan Zhang, Neil Fishman, Baojun Bai, Xianming Xiao, Tongwei Zhang, Geoffrey S. Ellis, Xinjing Li, Bryony Richards-McClung, Dongsheng Cai, Yongsheng Ma
2015, Interpretation (3) SJi-SJii
In the last 10 years, the success of shale gas and shale oil productions as a result of technological advances in horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing and nanoscale reservoir characterization have revolutionized the energy landscape in the United States. Resource assessment by the China Ministry of Land and Resources in...
Vegetation community response to tidal marsh restoration of a large river estuary
Lisa J. Belleveau, John Y. Takekawa, Isa Woo, Kelley L. Turner, Jesse B. Barham, Jean E. Takekawa, Christopher S. Ellings, Gerardo Chin-Leo
2015, Northwest Science (89) 136-147
Estuaries are biologically productive and diverse ecosystems that provide ecosystem services including protection of inland areas from flooding, filtering freshwater outflows, and providing habitats for fish and wildlife. Alteration of historic habitats, including diking for agriculture, has decreased the function of many estuarine systems, and recent conservation efforts have been...
Ordovician of Germany Valley, West Virginia: 12th International Symposium on the Ordovician System mid-conference field trip
John T. Haynes, Keith E. Goggin, Randall C. Orndorff
2015, Stratigraphy (12) 252-288
No abstract available....
Strontium isotopes delineate fine-scale natal origins and migration histories of Pacific salmon
Sean R. Brennan, Christian E. Zimmerman, Diego P. Fernandez, Thure E. Cerling, Megan V. McPhee, Matthew J. Wooller
2015, Science Advances (1)
Highly migratory organisms present major challenges to conservation efforts. This is especially true for exploited anadromous fish species, which exhibit long-range dispersals from natal sites, complex population structures, and extensive mixing of distinct populations during exploitation. By tracing the migratory histories of individual Chinook salmon caught in fisheries using strontium...
Groundwater movement, recharge, and perchlorate occurrence in a faulted alluvial aquifer in California (USA)
John A. Izbicki, Nicholas F. Teague, Paul B. Hatzinger, John Karl Bohlke, Neil C. Sturchio
2015, Hydrogeology Journal (23) 467-491
Perchlorate from military, industrial, and legacy agricultural sources is present within an alluvial aquifer in the Rialto-Colton groundwater subbasin, 80 km east of Los Angeles, California (USA). The area is extensively faulted, with water-level differences exceeding 60 m across parts of the Rialto-Colton Fault separating the Rialto-Colton and Chino groundwater...
Comparison of three preservation techniques for slowing dissolution of calcareous nannofossils in organic rich sediments
Ellen Seefelt, Jean Self-Trail, Arthur P. Schultz
2015, Micropaleontology (61) 149-164
In an attempt to halt or reduce dissolution of calcareous nannofossils in organic and/or pyrite-rich sediments, three different methods of short-term storage preservation were tested for efficacy: vacuum packing, argon gas replacement, and buffered water. Abundance counts of calcareous nannofossil assemblages over a six month period showed that none of...
Modelling the enigmatic Late Pliocene Glacial Event - Marine Isotope Stage M2
Aisling M. Dolan, Alan M. Haywood, Stephen J. Hunter, Julia C. Tindall, Harry J. Dowsett, Daniel J. Hill, Steven J. Pickering
2015, Global and Planetary Change (128) 47-60
The Pliocene Epoch (5.2 to 2.58 Ma) has often been targeted to investigate the nature of warm climates. However, climate records for the Pliocene exhibit significant variability and show intervals that apparently experienced a cooler than modern climate. Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) M2 (~ 3.3 Ma) is a globally recognisable cooling event that...
Optimizing water depth for wetland-dependent wildlife could increase wetland restoration success, water efficiency, and water security
Christopher P. Nadeau, Courtney J. Conway
2015, Restoration Ecology (23) 292-300
Securing water for wetland restoration efforts will be increasingly difficult as human populations demand more water and climate change alters the hydrologic cycle. Minimizing water use at a restoration site could help justify water use to competing users, thereby increasing future water security. Moreover, optimizing water depth for focal species...
Intertidal biological indicators of coseismic subsidence during the Mw 7.8 Haida Gwaii, Canada, earthquake
Peter J. Haeussler, Robert C. Witter, Kelin Wang
2015, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (105) 1265-1279
The 28 October 2012 Mw 7.8 Haida Gwaii earthquake was a megathrust earthquake along the very obliquely convergent Queen Charlotte margin of British Columbia, Canada. Coseismic deformation is not well constrained by geodesy, with only six Global Positioning System (GPS) sites and two tide gauge stations within 250 km of the rupture area....
Consequences of actively managing a small Bull Trout population in a fragmented landscape
Robert K. Al-Chokhachy, Sean Moran, Peter McHugh, Shana Bernall, Wade Fredenberg, Joseph M. DosSantos
2015, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (144) 515-531
Habitat fragmentation, which affects many native salmonid species, is one of the major factors contributing to the declines in distribution and abundance of Bull Trout Salvelinus confluentus. Increasingly, managers are considering options to maintain and enhance the persistence of isolated local populations through active management strategies. Understanding the ecological consequences of...
What lies beneath: geophysical mapping of a concealed Precambrian intrusive complex along the Iowa–Minnesota border
Benjamin J. Drenth, Raymond R. Anderson, Klaus J. Schulz, Joshua M. Feinberg, Val W. Chandler, William F. Cannon
2015, Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences (52) 279-293
Large-amplitude gravity and magnetic highs over northeast Iowa are interpreted to reflect a buried intrusive complex composed of mafic–ultramafic rocks, the northeast Iowa intrusive complex (NEIIC), intruding Yavapai province (1.8–1.72 Ga) rocks. The age of the complex is unproven, although it has been considered to be Keweenawan (∼1.1 Ga). Because...
Life-stage-specific physiology defines invasion extent of a riverine fish
David J. Lawrence, David A. Beauchamp, Julian D. Olden
2015, Journal of Animal Ecology (84) 879-888
Many ecologists have called for mechanism-based investigations to identify the underlying controls on species distributions. Understanding these controls can be especially useful to construct robust predictions of how a species range may change in response to climate change or the extent to which a non-native species may...
Comparing activated alumina with indigenous laterite and bauxite as potential sorbents for removing fluoride from drinking water in Ghana
Laura Craig, Lisa L. Stillings, David L. Decker, James M. Thomas
2015, Applied Geochemistry (56) 50-66
Fluoride is considered beneficial to teeth and bones when consumed in low concentrations, but at elevated concentrations it can cause dental and skeletal fluorosis. Most fluoride-related health problems occur in poor, rural communities of the developing world where groundwater fluoride concentrations are high and the primary sources of drinking water...
How a national vegetation classification can help ecological research and management
Scott Franklin, Patrick Comer, Julie Evens, Exequiel Ezcurra, Don Faber-Langendoen, Janet Franklin, Michael Jennings, Carmen Josse, Chris Lea, Orie Loucks, Esteban Muldavin, Robert K. Peet, Serguei Ponomarenko, David G. Roberts, Ayzik Solomeshch, Todd Keeler-Wolf, James Van Kley, Alan Weakley, Alexa McKerrow, Marianne Burke, Carol Spurrier
2015, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (13) 185-186
The elegance of classification lies in its ability to compile and systematize various terminological conventions and masses of information that are unattainable during typical research projects. Imagine a discipline without standards for collection, analysis, and interpretation; unfortunately, that describes much of 20th-century vegetation ecology. With differing methods, how do we...
