Using resilience and resistance concepts to manage threats to sagebrush ecosystems, Gunnison sage-grouse, and Greater sage-grouse in their eastern range: A strategic multi-scale approach
Jeanne C. Chambers, Jeffrey L. Beck, Steve Campbell, John Carlson, Thomas J. Christiansen, Karen J. Clause, Jonathan B. Dinkins, Kevin E. Doherty, Kathleen A. Griffin, Douglas W. Havlina, Kenneth F. Mayer, Jacob D. Hennig, Laurie L. Kurth, Jeremy D. Maestas, Mary E. Manning, Brian A. Mealor, Clinton McCarthy, Marco A. Perea, David A. Pyke
2016, General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-356
This report provides a strategic approach developed by a Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies interagency working group for conservation of sagebrush ecosystems, Greater sage-grouse, and Gunnison sage-grouse. It uses information on (1) factors that influence sagebrush ecosystem resilience to disturbance and resistance to nonnative invasive annual grasses and...
Clinal patterns in genetic variation for northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens): Conservation status and population histories
Craig A. Stockwell, Justin D.L. Fisher, Kyle I. McLean
2016, Wetlands (36) 437-443
The security of the northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens) varies spatially with populations east and west of North Dakota considered as secure and at risk, respectively. We used genetic markers to characterize the conservation status of northern leopard frog populations across North Dakota. We used multiple regression analyses...
Hydrology of prairie wetlands: Understanding the integrated surface-water and groundwater processes
Masaki Hayashi, Garth van der Kamp, Donald O. Rosenberry
2016, Wetlands (36) 237-254
Wetland managers and policy makers need to make decisions based on a sound scientific understanding of hydrological and ecological functions of wetlands. This article presents an overview of the hydrology of prairie wetlands intended for managers, policy makers, and researchers new to this field (e.g., graduate students), and a quantitative...
Baseline reference range for trace metal concentrations in whole blood of wild and managed West Indian Manatees (Trichechus manatus) in Florida and Belize
Noel Y. Takeuchi, Michael T. Walsh, Robert K. Bonde, James A. Powell, Dean A. Bass, Joseph C. Gaspard, David S. Barber
2016, Aquatic Mammals (42) 440-453
The West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) is exposed to a number of anthropogenic influences, including metals, as they inhabit shallow waters with close proximity to shore. While maintaining homeostasis of many metals is crucial for health, there is currently no baseline reference range that can be used to make clinical...
Using structure from motion photogrammetry to examine glide snow avalanches
Erich H. Peitzsch, Jordy Hendrikx, Daniel B. Fagre
2016, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the International Snow Science Workshop
Structure from Motion (SfM), a photogrammetric technique, has been used extensively and successfully in many fields including geosciences over the past few years to create 3D models and high resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) from aerial or oblique photographs. SfM has recently been used in a limited capacity in snow avalanche research and...
Using continuous underway isotope measurements to map water residence time in hydrodynamically complex tidal environments
Bryan D. Downing, Brian A. Bergamaschi, Carol Kendall, Tamara E. C. Kraus, Kate J. Dennis, Jeffery A. Carter, Travis von Dessonneck
2016, Environmental Science & Technology (50) 13387-13396
Stable isotopes present in water (δ2H, δ18O) have been used extensively to evaluate hydrological processes on the basis of parameters such as evaporation, precipitation, mixing, and residence time. In estuarine aquatic habitats, residence time (τ) is a major driver of biogeochemical processes, affecting trophic subsidies and conditions in fish-spawning habitats....
Modeling the effects of land cover and use on landscape capability for urban ungulate populations
H. Brian Underwood, Chellby R. Kilheffer
Robert A. Francis, James D. A. Millington, Michael A. Chadwick, editor(s)
2016, Book chapter
Expanding ungulate populations are causing concerns for wildlife professionals and residents in many urban areas worldwide. Nowhere is the phenomenon more apparent than in the eastern US, where urban white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations are increasing. Most habitat suitability models for deer have been developed in rural areas...
mizuRoute version 1: A river network routing tool for a continental domain water resources applications
Naoki Mizukami, Martyn P. Clark, Kevin Sampson, Bart Nijssen, Yixin Mao, Hilary McMillan, Roland J. Viger, Steven L. Markstrom, Lauren E. Hay, Ross Woods, Jeffrey R. Arnold, Levi D. Brekke
2016, Geoscientific Model Development (9) 2223-2238
This paper describes the first version of a stand-alone runoff routing tool, mizuRoute. The mizuRoute tool post-processes runoff outputs from any distributed hydrologic model or land surface model to produce spatially distributed streamflow at various spatial scales from headwater basins to continental-wide river systems. The tool can utilize both traditional...
Managing adaptively for multifunctionality in agricultural systems
Jennifer Hodbod, Olivier Barreteau, Craig R. Allen, Daniele Magda
2016, Journal of Environmental Management (183) 379-388
The critical importance of agricultural systems for food security and as a dominant global landcover requires management that considers the full dimensions of system functions at appropriate scales, i.e. multifunctionality. We propose that adaptive management is the most suitable management approach for such goals, given its ability to reduce uncertainty...
Re-Occupancy of Breeding Territories by Ferruginous Hawks in Wyoming: Relationships to Environmental and Anthropogenic Factors
Zachary P. Wallace, Patricia L. Kennedy, John R. Squires, Robert J. Oakleaf, Lucretia E. Olson, Katie M. Dugger
2016, PLoS ONE (11)
Grassland and shrubland birds are declining globally due in part to anthropogenic habitat modification. Because population performance of these species is also influenced by non-anthropogenic factors, it is important to incorporate all relevant ecological drivers into demographic models. We used design-based sampling and occupancy models to test relationships of environmental...
High nitrate concentrations in some Midwest United States streams in 2013 after the 2012 drought
Peter C. Van Metre, Jeffrey W. Frey, MaryLynn Musgrove, Naomi Nakagaki, Sharon L. Qi, Barbara Mahler, Michael E. Wieczorek, Daniel T. Button
2016, Journal of Environmental Quality (45) 1696-1704
Nitrogen sources in the Mississippi River basin have been linked to degradation of stream ecology and to Gulf of Mexico hypoxia. In 2013, the USGS and the USEPA characterized water quality stressors and ecological conditions in 100 wadeable streams across the midwestern United States. Wet conditions in 2013 followed a...
Temporal and spatial trends in nutrient and sediment loading to Lake Tahoe, California-Nevada, USA
Robert Coats, Jack Lewis, Nancy L. Alvarez, Patricia Arneson
2016, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (52) 1347-1365
Since 1980, the Lake Tahoe Interagency Monitoring Program (LTIMP) has provided stream-discharge and water quality data—nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and suspended sediment—at more than 20 stations in Lake Tahoe Basin streams. To characterize the temporal and spatial patterns in nutrient and sediment loading to the lake, and improve the usefulness...
Detection of water and/or hydroxyl on asteroid (16) Psyche
Driss Takir, Vishnu Reddy, Juan A. Sanchez, Michael K. Shepard, Joshua P. Emery
2016, Astronomical Journal (153)
In order to search for evidence of hydration on M-type asteroid (16) Psyche, we observed this object in the 3 μm spectral region using the long-wavelength cross-dispersed (LXD: 1.9–4.2 μm) mode of the SpeX spectrograph/imager at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility. Our observations show that Psyche exhibits a 3 μm absorption feature, attributed...
Identifying alternate pathways for climate change to impact inland recreational fishers
Len M. Hunt, Eli P. Fenichel, David C. Fulton, Robert Mendelsohn, Jordan W. Smith, Tyler D. Tunney, Abigail J. Lynch, Craig P. Paukert, James E. Whitney
2016, Fisheries (41) 362-372
Fisheries and human dimensions literature suggests that climate change influences inland recreational fishers in North America through three major pathways. The most widely recognized pathway suggests that climate change impacts habitat and fish populations (e.g., water temperature impacting fish survival) and cascades to impact fishers. Climate change also impacts recreational...
Uncertainty quantification and propagation for projections of extremes in monthly area burned under climate change: A case study in the coastal plain of Georgia, USA
Adam J. Terando, Brian J. Reich, Krishna Pacifici, Jennifer Costanza, Alexa McKerrow, Jaime A. Collazo
Karin L. Riley, Peter Webley, Matthew Thompson, editor(s)
2016, Book chapter, Natural hazard uncertainty assessment: Modeling and decision support
Human‐caused climate change is predicted to affect the frequency of hazard‐linked extremes. Unusually large wildfires are a type of extreme event that is constrained by climate and can be a hazard to society but also an important ecological disturbance. This chapter focuses on changes in the frequency of extreme monthly...
Prediction of fish and sediment mercury in streams using landscape variables and historical mining
Charles N. Alpers, Julie L. Yee, Joshua T. Ackerman, James L. Orlando, Darrell G. Slotton, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale
2016, Science of the Total Environment (571) 364-379
Widespread mercury (Hg) contamination of aquatic systems in the Sierra Nevada of California, U.S., is associated with historical use to enhance gold (Au) recovery by amalgamation. In areas affected by historical Au mining operations, including the western slope of the Sierra Nevada and downstream areas in northern California, such as...
Unmanned aircraft systems in wildlife research: Current and future applications of a transformative technology
Katherine S. Christie, Sophie L. Gilbert, Casey L. Brown, Michael Hatfield, Leanne Hanson
2016, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (14) 241-251
Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) – also called unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones – are an emerging tool that may provide a safer, more cost-effective, and quieter alternative to traditional research methods. We review examples where UAS have been used to document wildlife abundance, behavior, and habitat, and illustrate the...
Oxygen, hydrogen, sulfur, and carbon isotopes in the Pea Ridge magnetite-apatite deposit, southeast Missouri, and sulfur isotope comparisons to other iron deposits in the region
Craig A. Johnson, Warren C. Day, Robert O. Rye
2016, Economic Geology (111) 2017-2032
Oxygen, hydrogen, sulfur, and carbon isotopes have been analyzed in the Pea Ridge magnetite-apatite deposit, the largest historic producer among the known iron deposits in the southeast Missouri portion of the 1.5 to 1.3 Ga eastern granite-rhyolite province. The data were collected to investigate the sources of ore fluids,...
The Bonneville Flood—A veritable débâcle
Jim E. O'Connor
2016, Book chapter, Developments in earth surface processes, vol. 20
The Bonneville Flood was one of the largest floods on Earth. First discovered by G.K. Gilbert in the 1870s during his inspection of the outlet at Red Rock Pass, it was rediscovered in the 1950s by Harold Malde and coworkers, leading to mapping and assessment of spectacular flood features along...
Environmental implications of the use of sulfidic back-bay sediments for dune reconstruction — Lessons learned post Hurricane Sandy
Geoffrey S. Plumlee, William Benzel, Todd M. Hoefen, Philip L. Hageman, Suzette A. Morman, Timothy J. Reilly, Monique Adams, Cyrus J. Berry, Jeffrey Fischer, Irene Fisher
2016, Marine Pollution Bulletin (107) 459-471
Some barrier-island dunes damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Sandy's storm surges in October 2012 have been reconstructed using sediments dredged from back bays. These sand-, clay-, and iron sulfide-rich sediments were used to make berm-like cores for the reconstructed dunes, which were then covered by beach sand. In November 2013,...
The Chuar Petroleum System, Arizona and Utah
Paul G. Lillis
2016, Book chapter, Hydrocarbon source rocks in unconventional plays, Rocky Mountain Region
The Neoproterozoic Chuar Group consists of marine mudstone, sandstone and dolomitic strata divided into the Galeros and Kwagunt Formations, and is exposed only in the eastern Grand Canyon, Arizona. Research by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in the late 1980s identified strata within the group to be possible petroleum source...
Evolution of the Lower Tertiary Elko Lake Basin, a potential hydrocarbon source rock in Northeast Nevada
Ronald C. Johnson, Justin E. Birdwell
Michael P. Dolan, Debra K. Higley, Paul G. Lillis, editor(s)
2016, Book chapter, Hydrocarbon Source Rocks in Unconventional Plays, Rocky Mountain Region
No abstract available....
Genetic variation and structure in remnant population of critically endangered Melicope zahlbruckneri
J. A. Raji, Carter T. Atkinson
2016, Journal of Biodiversity & Endangered Species (4) 1-8
The distribution and amount of genetic variation within and between populations of plant species are important for their adaptability to future habitat changes and also critical for their restoration and overall management. This study was initiated to assess the genetic status of the remnant population of Melicope zahlbruckneri–a critically endangered...
Diadophis Punctuatus (Ring-necked Snake). Diet.
Dustin A. Wood, Jason Myrand, Andrew T. Holycross
2016, Herpetological Review (47) 146-146
No abstract available....
Response of fish assemblages to declining acidic deposition in Adirondack Mountain lakes, 1984–2012
Barry P. Baldigo, Karen Roy, Charles T. Driscoll
2016, Atmospheric Environment (146) 223-235
Adverse effects of acidic deposition on the chemistry and fish communities were evident in Adirondack Mountain lakes during the 1980s and 1990s. Fish assemblages and water chemistry in 43 Adirondack Long-Term Monitoring (ALTM) lakes were sampled by the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation and the New York State Department of Environmental...
