Scale-dependent habitat selection and size-based dominance in adult male American alligators
Bradley A. Strickland, Francisco Vilella, Jerrold L. Belant
2016, PLoS ONE 1-16
Habitat selection is an active behavioral process that may vary across spatial and temporal scales. Animals choose an area of primary utilization (i.e., home range) then make decisions focused on resource needs within patches. Dominance may affect the spatial distribution of conspecifics and concomitant habitat selection. Size-dependent social dominance hierarchies...
Insights into shallow magmatic processes at Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaiʻi, from a multiyear continuous gravity time series
Michael P. Poland, Daniele Carbone
2016, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (121) 5477-5492
Continuous gravity data collected near the summit eruptive vent at Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaiʻi, during 2011–2015 show a strong correlation with summit-area surface deformation and the level of the lava lake within the vent over periods of days to weeks, suggesting that changes in gravity reflect variations in volcanic activity. Joint...
Experimental warming in a dryland community reduced plant photosynthesis and soil CO2 efflux although the relationship between the fluxes remained unchanged
Timothy M. Wertin, Jayne Belnap, Sasha C. Reed
2016, Functional Ecology (31) 297-305
1. Drylands represent our planet's largest terrestrial biome and, due to their extensive area, maintain large stocks of carbon (C). Accordingly, understanding how dryland C cycling will respond to climate change is imperative for accurately forecasting global C cycling and future climate. However, it remains difficult to predict how increased...
Characterizing potentially induced earthquake rate changes in the Brawley Seismic Zone, southern California
Andrea L. Llenos, Andrew J. Michael
2016, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (106) 2045-2062
The Brawley seismic zone (BSZ), in the Salton trough of southern California, has a history of earthquake swarms and geothermal energy exploitation. Some earthquake rate changes may have been induced by fluid extraction and injection activity at local geothermal fields, particularly at the North Brawley Geothermal Field (NBGF) and at...
Organic petrology and geochemistry of mudrocks from the lacustrine Lucaogou Formation, Santanghu Basin, northwest China: Application to lake basin evolution
Paul C. Hackley, Neil Fishman, Tao Wu, Gregory Baugher
2016, International Journal of Coal Geology (168) 20-34
Exploration for tight oil in the frontier Santanghu Basin of northwest China has resulted in recent commercial discoveries sourced from the lacustrine Upper Permian Lucaogou Formation, already considered a “world class source rock” in the Junggar Basin to the west. Here we apply an integrated analytical program to carbonate-dominated mudrocks...
Maxent modeling for predicting potential distribution of goitered gazelle in central Iran: the effect of extent and grain size on performance of the model
Rasoul Khosravi, Mahmoud-Reza Hemami, Mansoureh Malekian, Alan L. Flint, Lorraine E. Flint
2016, Turkish Journal of Zoology (40) 574-585
The spatial scale of environmental layers is an important factor to consider in developing an understanding of ecological processes. This study employed Maxent modeling to investigate the geographic distribution of goitered gazelle, Gazella subgutturosa (Güldenstädt, 1780), in central Iran using uncorrelated variables at a spatial resolution of 250 m. We...
Persistent slip rate discrepancies in the eastern California (USA) shear zone
Eileen Evans, Wayne R. Thatcher, Frederick Pollitz, Jessica R. Murray
2016, Geology (44) 691-694
Understanding fault slip rates in the eastern California shear zone (ECSZ) using GPS geodesy is complicated by potentially overlapping strain signals due to many sub-parallel strike-slip faults and by inconsistencies with geologic slip rates. The role of fault system geometry in describing ECSZ deformation may be investigated with total variation...
Shale-gas assessment: Comparison of gas-in-place versus performance-based approaches
H. Stueck, David W. Houseknecht, D. Franke, Donald L. Gautier, A. Bahr, S. Ladage
2016, Natural Resources Research (25) 315-329
The recent interest in exploration for shale gas increases the demand for a reliable, compatible resource assessment. Many different assessment methods are used, commonly depending on types and quantity of data available, which may lead to significantly divergent results for the same shale-gas play. This study compares results obtained using...
Global biodiversity monitoring: from data sources to essential biodiversity variables
Vania Proenca, Laura J. Martin, Henrique M. Pereira, Miguel Fernandez, Louise McRae, Jayne Belnap, Monika Böhm, Neil Brummitt, Jaime Garcia-Moreno, Richard D. Gregory, Joao P Honrado, Norbert Jurgens, Michael Opige, Dirk S. Schmeller, Patricia Tiago, Chris A van Sway
2016, Biological Conservation (213) 256-263
Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) consolidate information from varied biodiversity observation sources. Here we demonstrate the links between data sources, EBVs and indicators and discuss how different sources of biodiversity observations can be harnessed to inform EBVs. We classify sources of primary observations into four types: extensive and intensive monitoring schemes,...
Timing of ice retreat alters seabird abundances and distributions in the southeast Bering Sea
Martin Renner, Sigrid Salo, Lisa B. Eisner, Kathy J. Kuletz, Jarrod A. Santora, Patrick Ressler, Carol Ladd, John F. Piatt, Gary S. Drew, George L. Hunt
2016, Biology Letters (12)
Timing of spring sea-ice retreat shapes the southeast Bering Sea food web. We compared summer seabird densities and average bathymetry depth distributions between years with early (typically warm) and late (typically cold) ice retreat. Averaged over all seabird species, densities in early-ice-retreat-years were 10.1% (95% CI: 1.1–47.9%) of that in...
Duration of fuels reduction following prescribed fire in coniferous forests of U.S. national parks in California and the Colorado Plateau
Phillip J. van Mantgem, Laura Lalemand, MaryBeth Keifer, Jeffrey M. Kane
2016, Forest Ecology and Management (379) 265-272
Prescribed fire is a widely used forest management tool, yet the long-term effectiveness of prescribed fire in reducing fuels and fire hazards in many vegetation types is not well documented. We assessed the magnitude and duration of reductions in surface fuels and modeled fire hazards in coniferous forests across nine...
Highly conductive horizons in the Mesoproterozoic Belt-Purcell Basin: Sulfidic early basin strata as key markers of Cordilleran shortening and Eocene extension
Paul A. Bedrosian, Stephen E. Box
2016, Book chapter, Belt basin: Window to Mesoproterozoic Earth
We investigated the crustal structure of the central Mesoproterozoic Belt Basin in northwestern Montana and northern Idaho using a crustal resistivity section derived from a transect of new short- and long-period magnetotelluric (MT) stations. Two- and three-dimensional resistivity models were generated from these data in combination with data collected previously...
Synthesis of common management concerns associated with dam removal
Desiree D. Tullos, Mathias J. Collins, J. Ryan Bellmore, Jennifer A. Bountry, Patrick J. Connolly, Patrick B. Shafroth, Andrew C. Wilcox
2016, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (52) 1179-1206
Managers make decisions regarding if and how to remove dams in spite of uncertainty surrounding physical and ecological responses, and stakeholders often raise concerns about certain negative effects, regardless of whether or not these concerns are warranted at a particular site. We used a dam-removal science database supplemented with other...
Use of free water by nesting lesser prairie-chickens
Samantha G. Robinson, David A. Haukos, Daniel S. Sullins, Reid T. Plumb
2016, Southwestern Naturalist (61) 187-193
The lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) is a grassland grouse of semiarid regions. Use of free water has been hypothesized as necessary for egg formation during drought. We assessed the use of hydrogen isotopes (deuterium, δ2H) to determine if female lesser prairie-chickens use and incorporate free water during egg formation by...
Estimating 40 years of nitrogen deposition in global biomes using the SCIAMACHY NO2 column
Xuehe Lu, Xiuying Zhang, Jinxun Liu, Jiaxin Jin
2016, International Journal of Remote Sensing (37) 4964-4978
Owing to human activity, global nitrogen (N) cycles have been altered. In the past 100 years, global N deposition has increased. Currently, the monitoring and estimating of N deposition and the evaluation of its effects on global carbon budgets are the focus of many researchers. NO2 columns retrieved by space-borne sensors...
Geomorphic responses of Duluth-area streams to the June 2012 flood, Minnesota
Faith A. Fitzpatrick, Christopher A. Ellison, Christiana R. Czuba, Benjamin M. Young, Molly M. McCool, Joel T. Groten
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5104
In 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, completed a geomorphic assessment of 51 Duluth-area stream sites in 20 basins to describe and document the stream geomorphic changes associated with the June 2012 flood. Heavy rainfall caused flood peaks with annual exceedance probabilities of...
Hydrology of flooded and wetland forests
T. M. Williams, Ken W. Krauss, T. Okruszko
D. Amatya, T. M. Williams, L. Bren, C. de Jong, editor(s)
2016, Book chapter, Forest hydrology: Processes, management and assessment
In this chapter we will examine the hydrology of forested areas that are subject to soil saturation by rain, groundwater, or surface flooding. They include mangroves and other tidal forests, the forested portions of peatlands, and tree dominated wetlands defined by the Ramsar Convention (Mathews 1993)....
Delta smelt habitat in the San Francisco Estuary: A reply to Manly, Fullerton, Hendrix, and Burnham’s “Comments on Feyrer et al. Modeling the effects of future outflow on the abiotic habitat of an imperiled estuarine fish"
Frederick V. Feyrer, Ken B. Newman, Matthew Nobriga, Ted Sommer
2016, Estuaries and Coasts (39) 287-289
Manly et al. (2015) commented on the approach we (Feyrer et al. 2011) used to calculate an index of the abiotic habitat of delta smelt Hypomesus transpacificus. The delta smelt is an annual fish species endemic to the San Francisco Estuary (SFE) in California, USA. Conserving the delta smelt population...
Application of organic petrography in North American shale petroleum systems: A review
Paul C. Hackley, Brian J. Cardott
2016, International Journal of Coal Geology (163) 8-51
Organic petrography via incident light microscopy has broad application to shale petroleum systems, including delineation of thermal maturity windows and determination of organo-facies. Incident light microscopy allows practitioners the ability to identify various types of organic components and demonstrates that solid bitumen is the dominant organic matter occurring in shale...
Arctic sea ice a major determinant in Mandt's black guillemot movement and distribution during non-breeding season
G.J. Divoky, David C. Douglas, I. J. Stenhouse
2016, Biology Letters (12)
Mandt's black guillemot (Cepphus grylle mandtii) is one of the few seabirds associated in all seasons with Arctic sea ice, a habitat that is changing rapidly. Recent decreases in summer ice have reduced breeding success and colony size of this species in Arctic Alaska. Little is known about the species'...
Associations of stream health to altered flow and water temperature in the Sierra Nevada, California
Daren M. Carlisle, S. Mark Nelson, Jason T. May
2016, Ecohydrology (9) 930-941
Alteration of streamflow and thermal conditions may adversely affect lotic invertebrate communities, but few studies have assessed these phenomena using indicators that control for the potentially confounding influence of natural variability. We designed a study to assess how flow and thermal alteration influence stream health – as indicated by the...
Elucidating the role of vegetation in the initiation of rainfall-induced shallow landslides: Insights from an extreme rainfall event in the Colorado Front Range
Luke McGuire, Francis K. Rengers, Jason W. Kean, Jeffrey A. Coe, Benjamin B. Mirus, Rex L. Baum, Jonathan W. Godt
2016, Geophysical Research Letters (43) 9084-9092
More than 1100 debris flows were mobilized from shallow landslides during a rainstorm from 9 to 13 September 2013 in the Colorado Front Range, with the vast majority initiating on sparsely vegetated, south facing terrain. To investigate the physical processes responsible for the observed aspect control, we made measurements of...
Three-dimensional numerical modeling of mixing at the junction of the Calumet-Sag Channel and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal: A comparison between density-driven and advection-driven mixing
Dongchen Wang, Som Dudda, P. Ryan Jackson, Marcelo H. Garcia
George Constantinescu, Marcelo H. Garcia, Dan Hanes, editor(s)
2016, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the International Conference on Fluvial Hydraulics (River Flows 2016)
The Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS) includes the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal (CSSC) and the Calumet-Sag Channel (Cal-Sag), the two primary, man-made connections between the Mississippi River Basin and the Great Lakes. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) monitors diversion of Great Lakes water at a streamgage just downstream of...
Resource management and operations in southwest South Dakota: Climate change scenario planning workshop summary January 20-21, 2016, Rapid City, SD
Nicholas A. Fisichelli, Gregor W. Schuurman, Amy J. Symstad, Andrea Ray, Brian Miller, Molly Cross, Erika Rowland
2016, Natural Resource Report NPS/NRSS/NRR—2016/1289
The Scaling Climate Change Adaptation in the Northern Great Plains through Regional Climate Summaries and Local Qualitative-Quantitative Scenario Planning Workshops project synthesizes climate data into 3-5 distinct but plausible climate summaries for the northern Great Plains region; crafts quantitative summaries of these climate futures for two focal areas; and applies...
Yosemite Hydroclimate Network: Distributed stream and atmospheric data for the Tuolumne River watershed and surroundings
Jessica D. Lundquist, James W. Roche, Harrison Forrester, Courtney Moore, Eric Keenan, Gwyneth Perry, Nicoleta Cristea, Brian Henn, Karl Lapo, Bruce McGurk, Daniel R. Cayan, Michael D. Dettinger
2016, Water Resources Research (52) 7478-7489
Regions of complex topography and remote wilderness terrain have spatially varying patterns of temperature and streamflow, but due to inherent difficulties of access, are often very poorly sampled. Here we present a data set of distributed stream stage, streamflow, stream temperature, barometric pressure, and air temperature from the Tuolumne River...
