Life-history tradeoffs and reproductive cycles in Spotted Owls
Ricka E. Stoelting, R. J. Gutierrez, William L. Kendall, M. Zachariah Peery
2015, The Auk (132) 46-64
The study of tradeoffs among life-history traits has long been key to understanding the evolution of life-history strategies. However, more recently, evolutionary ecologists have realized that reproductive costs have the potential to influence population dynamics. Here, we tested for costs of reproduction in the California Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis occidentalis), and...
An evaluation of the relations between flow regime components, stream characteristics, species traits and meta-demographic rates of warmwater stream fishes: Implications for aquatic resource management
James T. Peterson, C.P. Shea
2015, River Research and Applications (31) 1227-1241
Fishery biologists are increasingly recognizing the importance of considering the dynamic nature of streams when developing streamflow policies. Such approaches require information on how flow regimes influence the physical environment and how those factors, in turn, affect species-specific demographic rates. A more cost-effective alternative could be the use of dynamic...
Modeling multi-scale resource selection for bear rubs in northwestern Montana
Matthew J. Morgan, Mark Hebblewhite, Michael S. Mitchell, Jeffrey B. Stetz, Katherine C. Kendall, Ross T. Carlson
2015, Ursus (26) 28-39
Both black (Ursus americanus) and grizzly bears (U. arctos) are known to rub on trees and other objects, producing a network of repeatedly used and identifiable rub sites. In 2012, we used a resource selection function to evaluate hypothesized relationships between locations of 887 bear rubs in northwestern Montana, USA,...
Non-lethal assessment of freshwater mussel physiological response to changes in environmental factors
Andrea K. Fritts, James T. Peterson, Jason M. Wisniewski, Robert B. Bringolf
2015, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (72) 1460-1468
The development of effective nonlethal biomonitoring techniques is imperative for the preservation of imperiled freshwater mussel populations. Changes in hemolymph chemistry profiles and tissue glycogen are potential biomarkers for nonlethally monitoring stress in mussels. We sampled three species in the Flint River Basin over 2 years to evaluate how these...
Karst of the Mid-Atlantic region in Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia
Daniel H. Doctor, David J. Weary, David K. Brezinski, Randall C. Orndorff, Lawrence E. Spangler
David K. Brezinski, Jeffrey Halka, Richard A. Ortt Jr., editor(s)
2015, Book chapter, Tripping from the Fall Line: Field Excursions for the GSA Annual Meeting, Baltimore, 2015
The Mid-Atlantic region hosts some of the most mature karst landscapes in North America, developed in highly deformed rocks within the Piedmont and Valley and Ridge physiographic provinces. This guide describes a three-day excursion to examine karst development in various carbonate rocks by following Interstate 70 west from Baltimore across...
Hydrologic and geochemical dynamics of vadose zone recharge in a mantled karst aquifer: Results of monitoring drip waters in Mystery Cave, Minnesota
Daniel H. Doctor, E. Calvin Alexander Jr., Roy A. Jameson, Scott C. Alexander
2015, Conference Paper, National Cave and Karst Research Institute Symposium 5, Proceedings of the 14th Multidisciplinary Conference on Sinkholes and the Engineering and Environmental Impacts of Karst
Caves provide direct access to flows through the vadose zone that recharge karst aquifers. Although many recent studies have documented the highly dynamic processes associated with vadose zone flows in karst settings, few have been conducted in mantled karst settings, such as that of southeastern Minnesota. Here we present some...
A semi-automated tool for reducing the creation of false closed depressions from a filled LIDAR-derived digital elevation model
John Wall, Daniel H. Doctor, Silvia Terziotti
2015, Conference Paper, National Cave and Karst Research Institute Symposium 5, Proceedings of the 14th Multidisciplinary Conference on Sinkholes and the Engineering and Environmental Impacts of Karst
Closed depressions on the land surface can be identified by ‘filling’ a digital elevation model (DEM) and subtracting the filled model from the original DEM. However, automated methods suffer from artificial ‘dams’ where surface streams cross under bridges and through culverts. Removal of these false depressions from an elevation model...
Diel resource partitioning among juvenile Atlantic Salmon, Brown Trout, and Rainbow Trout during summer
James H. Johnson, James E. McKenna Jr.
2015, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (35) 586-597
Interspecific partitioning of food and habitat resources has been widely studied in stream salmonids. Most studies have examined resource partitioning between two native species or between a native species and one that has been introduced. In this study we examine the diel feeding ecology and habitat use of three species...
Physiological preparedness and performance of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar smolts in relation to behavioural salinity preferences and thresholds
D.S. Stich, G.B. Zydlewski, Joseph D. Zydlewski
2015, Journal of Fish Biology (88) 595-617
This study investigated the relationships between behavioural responses of Atlantic salmon Salmo salarsmolts to saltwater (SW) exposure and physiological characteristics of smolts in laboratory experiments. It concurrently described the behaviour of acoustically tagged smolts with respect to SW and tidal cycles during estuary migration. Salmo salar smolts increased their use of SW relative...
A spatial individual-based model predicting a great impact of copious sugar sources and resting sites on survival of Anopheles gambiae and malaria parasite transmission
Lin Zhu, Whitney A. Qualls, John M Marshall, Kris L. Arheart, Donald L. DeAngelis, John W. McManus, Sekou F. Traore, Seydou Doumbia, Yosef Schlein, Gunter C. Muller, John C. Beier
2015, Malaria Journal (14)
BackgroundAgent-based modelling (ABM) has been used to simulate mosquito life cycles and to evaluate vector control applications. However, most models lack sugar-feeding and resting behaviours or are based on mathematical equations lacking individual level randomness and spatial components of mosquito life. Here, a spatial individual-based...
A 2-D process-based model for suspended sediment dynamics: A first step towards ecological modeling
F. M. Achete, M. van der Wegen, D. Roelvink, B. Jaffe
2015, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (19) 2837-2857
In estuaries suspended sediment concentration (SSC) is one of the most important contributors to turbidity, which influences habitat conditions and ecological functions of the system. Sediment dynamics differs depending on sediment supply and hydrodynamic forcing conditions that vary over space and over time. A robust sediment transport model is a...
Cr(VI) occurrence and geochemistry in water from public-supply wells in California
John A. Izbicki, Michael Wright, Whitney A. Seymour, R. Blaine McCleskey, Miranda S. Fram, Kenneth Belitz, Bradley K. Esser
2015, Applied Geochemistry (63) 203-217
Hexavalent chromium, Cr(VI), in 918 wells sampled throughout California between 2004 and 2012 by the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment-Priority Basin Project (GAMA-PBP) ranged from less than the study reporting limit of 1 microgram per liter (μg/L) to 32 μg/L. Statewide, Cr(VI) was reported in 31 percent of wells and equaled...
Climate change and wildfire risk in an expanding wildland–urban interface: a case study from the Colorado Front Range Corridor
Zhihua Liu, Michael C. Wimberly, Aashis Lamsal, Terry L. Sohl, Todd Hawbaker
2015, Landscape Ecology (30) 1943-1957
Context Wildfire is a particular concern in the wildland–urban interface (WUI) of the western United States where human development occurs close to flammable natural vegetation. Objectives (1) Assess the relative influences of WUI expansion versus climate-driven fire regime change on spatial and temporal...
Kelp, cobbles, and currents: Biologic reduction of coarse grain entrainment stress
Claire C Masteller, Noah J Finnegan, Jonathan A. Warrick, Ian M. Miller
2015, Geology (43) 543-546
Models quantifying the onset of sediment motion do not typically account for the effect of biotic processes because they are difficult to isolate and quantify in relation to physical processes. Here we investigate an example of the interaction of kelp (Order Laminariales) and coarse sediment transport in the coastal zone,...
Observations on the migration of bacillus spores outside a contaminated facility during a decontamination efficacy study
Erin E. Silvestri, Sarah Perkins, Robert Lordo, William Kovacik, Tonya L. Nichols, Charlena Yoder Bowling, Dale W. Griffin, Frank W. Schaefer III
2015, Journal of Bioterrorism & Biodefense (6) 1-7
The potential for an intentional wide-area or indoor release of Bacillus anthracis spores remains a concern, but the fate and transport of B. anthracis spores in indoor and outdoor environments are not well understood. Some studies have examined the possibility of spore transport within ventilation systems and in buildings and...
Evaluation of a fine sediment removal tool in spring-fed and snowmelt driven streams
Adam J. Sepulveda, Megan J. Layhee, Zach Sutphin, Juddson D. Sechrist
2015, Ecological Restoration (33) 303-315
The accumulation of fine-grained sediments impairs the structure and function of streams, so removing fine sediments may be required to achieve restoration objectives. There has been little work on methods of removing excess sediment or on the efficacy of the methods. We used a 4-year before-after-control-impact design in southeastern Idaho...
Context of ancient aqueous environments on Mars from in situ geologic mapping at Endeavour Crater
L.S. Crumpler, R. E. Arvidson, J. Bell, B. C. Clark, B. A. Cohen, W. H. Farrand, Ralf Gellert, M. Golombek, J. A. Grant, E. Guinness, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, J. R. Johnson, B. Jolliff, D. W. Ming, D. W. Mittlefehldt, T. Parker, J. W. Rice Jr., S. W. Squyres, R. Sullivan, A. S. Yen
2015, Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets (120) 538-569
Using the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, we have compiled one of the first field geologic maps on Mars while traversing the Noachian terrain along the rim of the 22 km diameter Endeavour Crater (Latitude −2°16′33″, Longitude −5°10′51″). In situ mapping of the petrographic, elemental, structural, and stratigraphic characteristics of outcrops and rocks...
Developing in situ non-destructive estimates of crop biomass to address issues of scale in remote sensing
Michael T. Marshall, Prasad S. Thenkabail
2015, Remote Sensing (7) 808-835
Ground-based estimates of aboveground wet (fresh) biomass (AWB) are an important input for crop growth models. In this study, we developed empirical equations of AWB for rice, maize, cotton, and alfalfa, by combining several in situ non-spectral and spectral predictors. The non-spectral predictors included: crop height (H), fraction of absorbed...
Using spatiotemporal statistical models to estimate animal abundance and infer ecological dynamics from survey counts
Paul B. Conn, Devin S. Johnson, Jay M. Ver Hoef, Mevin Hooten, Joshua M. London, Peter L. Boveng
2015, Ecological Monographs (85) 235-252
Ecologists often fit models to survey data to estimate and explain variation in animal abundance. Such models typically require that animal density remains constant across the landscape where sampling is being conducted, a potentially problematic assumption for animals inhabiting dynamic landscapes or otherwise exhibiting considerable spatiotemporal variation in density. We...
Population density influences dispersal in female white-tailed deer
Clayton L. Lutz, Duane R. Diefenbach, Christopher S. Rosenberry
2015, Journal of Mammalogy (96) 494-501
Dispersal behavior in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) predominantly occurs in 1-year-old males; however, females of the same age also disperse. The timing of female dispersal during fawning season and low dispersal rates suggest that competition for mates and reduced inbreeding are not ultimate causes of female dispersal, as suggested for...
Baseline blood Pb levels of black-necked stilts on the upper Texas coast
Thomas V. Riecke, Warren C. Conway, David A. Haukos, Jena A. Moon, Christopher E. Comer
2015, Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (95) 465-469
There are no known biological requirements for lead (Pb), and elevated Pb levels in birds can cause a variety of sub-lethal effects and mortality. Historic and current levels of Pb in mottled ducks (Anas fulvigula) suggest that environmental sources of Pb remain available on the upper Texas coast....
Evidence for skipped spawning in a potamodromous cyprinid, humpback chub (Gila cypha), with implications for demographic parameter estimates
Kristen Nicole Pearson, William L. Kendall, Dana L. Winkelman, William R. Persons
2015, Fisheries Research (170) 50-59
Our findings reveal evidence for skipped spawning in a potamodromous cyprinid, humpback chub (HBC; Gila cypha ). Using closed robust design mark-recapture models, we found, on average, spawning HBC transition to the skipped spawning state (<img class="imgLazyJSB inlineImage" title="View the MathML source" src="http://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0165783615001563-si1.gif"...
Effects of climate and plant phenology on recruitment of moose at the southern extent of their range
Kevin L. Monteith, Robert W. Klaver, Kent Hersey, A. Andrew Holland, Timothy P. Thomas, Matthew Kauffman
2015, Oecologia (178) 1137-1148
Climate plays a fundamental role in limiting the range of a species, is a key factor in the dynamics of large herbivores, and is thought to be involved in declines of moose populations in recent decades. We examined effects of climate and growing-season phenology on recruitment (8–9 months old) of...
Breeding habitat associations and predicted distribution of an obligate tundra-breeding bird, Smith's Longspur
Teri C. Wild, Steven J. Kendall, Nikki Guldager, Abby N. Powell
2015, The Condor (117) 3-17
Smith's Longspur (Calcarius pictus) is a species of conservation concern which breeds in Arctic habitats that are expected to be especially vulnerable to climate change. We used bird presence and habitat data from point-transect surveys conducted at 12 sites across the Brooks Range, Alaska, 2003–2009, to identify breeding areas, describe...
Mineral wealth, natural economic resources of New Zealand: Chapter 12 in A continent on the move - New Zealand geoscience revealed
Tony Christie, Dave Craw, Jeffrey L. Mauk
Ian Graham, editor(s)
2015, Book chapter, A continent on the move - New Zealand geoscience revealed
No abstract available....
