Deterring off-trail hiking in protected natural areas: Evaluating options with surveys and unobtrusive observation: Final report
K.A. Hockett, Y.F. Clark, J.L. Leung, Marion, L. Park
2010, Report
This report presents the results of research conducted on the 96-acre Bear Island along the Billy Goat Trail, Section A (BGT) that evaluated visitor motivations for off-trail hiking and the efficacy of four treatments designed to reduce this activity. This research was prompted by concerns about the impact of an...
Climate Change and Sea-Level Rise in Florida - An Update of the Effects of Climate Change on Florida's Ocean and Coastal Resources
2010, Report
Bayesian Inference: with ecological applications
William A. Link, Richard J. Barker
2010, Book
This text provides a mathematically rigorous yet accessible and engaging introduction to Bayesian inference with relevant examples that will be of interest to biologists working in the fields of ecology, wildlife management and environmental studies as well as students in advanced undergraduate statistics.. This text opens the door to Bayesian...
Low genetic variation and evidence of limited dispersal in the regionally important Belize manatee
M.E. Hunter, N. E. Auil-Gomez, K.P. Tucker, R. K. Bonde, J. Powell, P.M. McGuire
2010, Animal Conservation (13) 592-602
The Antillean subspecies of the West Indian manatee Trichechus manatus is found throughout Central and South America and the Caribbean. Because of severe hunting pressure during the 17th through 19th centuries, only small populations of the once widespread aquatic mammal remain. Fortunately, protections in Belize reduced hunting in the 1930s...
Microbial degradation of plant leachate alters lignin phenols and trihalomethane precursors
Brian A. Pellerin, Peter J. Hernes, John Franco Saraceno, Robert G.M. Spencer, Brian A. Bergamaschi
2010, Journal of Environmental Quality (39) 946-954
Although the importance of vascular plant-derived dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in freshwater systems has been studied, the role of leached DOC as precursors of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) during drinking water treatment is not well known. Here we measured the propensity of leachates from four crops and four aquatic macrophytes to...
Metal exposure and effects in voles and small birds near a mining haul road in Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Alaska
William G. Brumbaugh, Miguel A. Mora, Thomas W. May, David N. Phalen
2010, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (170) 73-86
Voles and small passerine birds were live-captured near the Delong Mountain Regional Transportation System (DMTS) haul road in Cape Krusenstern National Monument in northwest Alaska to assess metals exposure and sub-lethal biological effects. Similar numbers of animals were captured from a reference site in southern Cape Krusenstern National Monument for...
Long-term persistence of spent lead shot in tundra wetlands
Paul L. Flint, Jason L. Schamber
2010, Journal of Wildlife Management (74) 148-151
We seeded experimental plots with number 4 lead pellets and sampled these plots for 10 years to assess the settlement rate of pellets in tundra wetland types commonly used by foraging waterfowl. After 10 years, about 10% of pellets remained within 6 cm of the surface, but >50% remained within...
Limits on the adaptability of coastal marshes to rising sea level
Matthew L. Kirwan, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Andrea D’Alpaos, James T. Morris, Simon M. Mudd, Stijn Temmerman
2010, Geophysical Research Letters (37) 1-5
Assumptions of a static landscape inspire predictions that about half of the world's coastal wetlands will submerge during this century in response to sea-level acceleration. In contrast, we use simulations from five numerical models to quantify the conditions under which ecogeomorphic feedbacks allow coastal wetlands to adapt to projected changes...
Match or mismatch: The influence of phenology on size-dependent life history and divergence in population structure
Jost Borcherding, Peter Beeck, Donald L. DeAngelis, Werner R. Scharf
2010, Journal of Animal Ecology (79) 1101-1112
1. In gape-limited predators, body size asymmetries determine the outcome of predator-prey interactions. Due to ontogenetic changes in body size, the intensity of intra- and interspecific interactions may change rapidly between the match situation of a predator-prey system and the mismatch situation in which competition, including competition with the prey, dominates. 2....
Marine tephrochronology of the Mt. Edgecumbe volcanic field, southeast Alaska, USA
Jason A. Addison, James E. Beget, Thomas A. Ager, Bruce P. Finney
2010, Quaternary Research (73) 277-292
The Mt. Edgecumbe Volcanic Field (MEVF), located on Kruzof Island near Sitka Sound in southeast Alaska, experienced a large multiple-stage eruption during the last glacial maximum (LGM)-Holocene transition that generated a regionally extensive series of compositionally similar rhyolite tephra horizons and a single well-dated dacite (MEd) tephra. Marine sediment cores...
Landscape and vegetation effects on avian reproduction on bottomland forest restorations
Daniel J. Twedt, Scott G. Somershoe, Kirsten R. Hazler, Robert J. Cooper
2010, Journal of Wildlife Management (74) 423-436
Forest restoration has been undertaken on >200,000 ha of agricultural land in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, USA, during the past few decades. Decisions on where and how to restore bottomland forests are complex and dependent upon landowner objectives, but for conservation of silvicolous (forest-dwelling) birds, ecologists have espoused restoration through planting...
Making molehills out of mountains: Landscape genetics of the Mojave desert tortoise
Bridgette E. Hagerty, Kenneth E. Nussear, Todd C. Esque, C. Richard Tracy
2010, Landscape Ecology (26) 267-280
Heterogeneity in habitat often influences how organisms traverse the landscape matrix that connects populations. Understanding landscape connectivity is important to determine the ecological processes that influence those movements, which lead to evolutionary change due to gene flow. Here, we used landscape genetics and statistical models to evaluate hypotheses that could...
Effects of urbanization on carnivore species distribution and richness
Miguel A. Ordenana, Kevin R. Crooks, Erin E. Boydston, Robert N. Fisher, Lisa M. Lyren, Shalene Siudyla, Christopher D. Haas, Sierra Harris, Stacie A. Hathaway, Greta M. Turschak, A. Keith Miles, Dirk H. Van Vuren
2010, Journal of Mammalogy (91) 1322-1331
Urban development can have multiple effects on mammalian carnivore communities. We conducted a meta-analysis of 7,929 photographs from 217 localities in 11 camera-trap studies across coastal southern California to describe habitat use and determine the effects of urban proximity (distance to urban edge) and intensity (percentage of area urbanized) on...
Facilitation drives 65 years of vegetation change in the Sonoran Desert
Bradley J. Butterfield, Julio L. Betancourt, Raymond M. Turner, John M. Briggs
2010, Ecology (91) 1132-1139
Ecological processes of low‐productivity ecosystems have long been considered to be driven by abiotic controls with biotic interactions playing an insignificant role. However, existing studies present conflicting evidence concerning the roles of these factors, in part due to the short temporal extent of most data sets and inability to test...
Effects of Hurricane Katrina on an incipient population of giant salvinia Salvinia molesta in the lower Pascagoula River, Mississippi
Pam L. Fuller, Mike G. Pursley, Dale Diaz, Wesley Devers
2010, Gulf and Caribbean Research (22) 63-66
The objectives of this study were to: 1) survey the lower Pascagoula River Basin and determine the post–storm distribution and abundance of giant salvinia; 2) control any remaining giant salvinia through physical and/or chemical means; 3) determine the fate of the bio–control agents; and 4) determine if re–introduction of salvinia...
Impact craters on Titan
Charles A. Wood, Ralph Lorenz, Randy Kirk, Rosaly Lopes, Karl Mitchell, Ellen Stofan, Cassini RADAR Team
2010, Icarus 334-344
Five certain impact craters and 44 additional nearly certain and probable ones have been identified on the 22% of Titan's surface imaged by Cassini's high-resolution radar through December 2007. The certain craters have morphologies similar to impact craters on rocky planets, as well as two with radar bright, jagged rims....
Formation of the Wiesloch Mississippi Valley-type Zn-Pb-Ag deposit in the extensional setting of the Upper Rhinegraben, SW Germany
Katharina Pfaff, Ludwig H. Hildebrandt, David L. Leach, Dorrit E. Jacob, Gregor Markl
2010, Mineralium Deposita (45) 647-666
The Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) Zn–Pb–Ag deposit in the Wiesloch area, Southwest Germany, is controlled by graben-related faults of the Upper Rhinegraben. Mineralization occurs as vein fillings and irregular replacement ore bodies consisting of sphalerite, banded sphalerite, galena, pyrite, sulfosalts (jordanite and geocronite), barite, and calcite in the Middle Triassic carbonate...
Alluvial diamond resource potential and production capacity assessment of the Central African Republic
Peter G. Chirico, Francis Barthelemy, Francois A. Ngbokoto
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5043
In May of 2000, a meeting was convened in Kimberley, South Africa, and attended by representatives of the diamond industry and leaders of African governments to develop a certification process intended to assure that rough, exported diamonds were free of conflict concerns. This meeting was supported later in 2000 by...
Alluvial diamond resource potential and production capacity assessment of Mali
Peter G. Chirico, Francis Barthelemy, Fatiaga Kone
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5044
In May of 2000, a meeting was convened in Kimberley, South Africa, and attended by representatives of the diamond industry and leaders of African governments to develop a certification process intended to assure that rough, exported diamonds were free of conflictual concerns. This meeting was supported later in 2000 by...
Flood hydrology and methylmercury availability in Coastal Plain rivers
Paul M. Bradley, Celeste A. Journey, Francis H. Chapelle, Mark A. Lowery, Paul Conrads
2010, Environmental Science & Technology (44) 9285-9290
Mercury (Hg) burdens in top-predator fish differ substantially between adjacent South Carolina Coastal Plain river basins with similar wetlands coverage. In the Congaree River, floodwaters frequently originate in the Blue Ridge and Piedmont regions, where wetlands coverage and surface water dissolved methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations are low. Piedmont-driven flood events can...
Forecasting hurricane impact on coastal topography: Hurricane Ike
Nathaniel G. Plant, Hilary F. Stockdon, Sallenger Jr., Michael J. Turco, Jeffery W. East, Arthur A. Taylor, Wilson A. Shaffer
2010, Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union (91) 65-72
Extreme storms can have a profound impact on coastal topography and thus on ecosystems and human-built structures within coastal regions. For instance, landfalls of several recent major hurricanes have caused significant changes to the U.S. coastline, particularly along the Gulf of Mexico. Some of these hurricanes (e.g., Ivan in 2004,...
Food-web structure of seep sediment macrobenthos from the Gulf of Mexico
Amanda W.J. Demopoulos, Daniel Gualtieri, Kaitlin Kovacs
2010, Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography (57) 1972-1981
The slope environment of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) supports dense communities of seep megafaunal invertebrates that rely on endosymbiotic bacteria for nutrition. Seep sediments also contain smaller macrofaunal invertebrates whose nutritional pathways are not well understood. Using stable-isotope analysis, we investigate the utilization of chemosynthetically fixed and methane-derived organic...
Fish population dynamics in a seasonally varying wetland
Donald L. DeAngelis, Joel C. Trexler, Chris Cosner, Adam Obaza, Fred Jopp
2010, Ecological Modelling (221) 1131-1137
Small fishes in seasonally flooded environments such as the Everglades are capable of spreading into newly flooded areas and building up substantial biomass. Passive drift cannot account for the rapidity of observed population expansions. To test the reaction-diffusion mechanism for spread of the fish, we estimated their diffusion coefficient and...
Feeding preferences of West Indian manatees in Florida, Belize, and Puerto Rico as indicated by stable isotope analysis
Christy D. Alves-Stanley, Graham A.J. Worthy, Robert K. Bonde
2010, Marine Ecology Progress Series (402) 255-267
The endangered West Indian manatee Trichechus manatus has 2 recognized subspecies: the Florida T. m. latirostris and Antillean T. m. manatus manatee, both of which are found in freshwater, estuarine, and marine habitats. A better understanding of manatee feeding preferences and habitat use is essential to establish criteria on which conservation plans can be based. Skin...
Field detection of avian influenza virus in wild birds: evaluation of a portable rRT-PCR system and freeze-dried reagents
John Y. Takekawa, Samuel A. Iverson, Annie K. Schultz, Nichola J. Hill, Carol J. Cardona, Walter M. Boyce, Joseph P. Dudley
2010, Journal of Virological Methods (166) 92-97
Wild birds have been implicated in the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAIV) of the H5N1 subtype, prompting surveillance along migratory flyways. Sampling of wild birds is often conducted in remote regions, but results are often delayed because of limited local analytical capabilities, difficulties with sample transportation and permitting,...
