Stream seepage and groundwater levels, Wood River Valley, south-central Idaho, 2012-13
James R. Bartolino
2014, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5151
Stream discharge and water levels in wells were measured at multiple sites in the Wood River Valley, south-central Idaho, in August 2012, October 2012, and March 2013, as a component of data collection for a groundwater-flow model of the Wood River Valley aquifer system. This model is a cooperative and...
Patterns of lake occupancy by fish indicate different adaptations to life in a harsh Arctic environment
Trevor B. Haynes, Amanda E. Rosenberger, Mark S. Lindberg, Matthew Whitman, Joel A. Schmutz
2014, Freshwater Biology (59) 1884-1896
Summary For six fish species sampled from 86 lakes on the Arctic Coastal Plain, Alaska, we examined whether lake occupancy was related to variables representing lake size, colonisation potential and/or the presence of overwintering habitat. We found the relative importance of each factor for a given species could be related to its...
Using posts to an online social network to assess fishing effort
Dustin R. Martin, Christopher J. Chizinski, Kent M. Eskridge, Kevin L Pope
2014, Fisheries Research (157) 24-27
Fisheries management has evolved from reservoir to watershed management, creating a need to simultaneously gather information within and across interacting reservoirs. However, costs to gather information on the fishing effort on multiple reservoirs using traditional creel methodology are often prohibitive. Angler posts about reservoirs online provide a unique medium to...
Use of oviduct-inserted acoustic transmitters and positional telemetry to estimate timing and location of spawning: a feasibility study in lake trout, Salvelinus namaycush
Thomas R. Binder, Christopher M. Holbrook, Scott M. Miehls, Henry T. Thompson, Charles C. Krueger
2014, Animal Biotelemetry (2)
Background Oviduct-inserted transmitters have shown promise for determining precise location of spawning in fishes. Use of traditional manual tracking to locate expelled oviduct transmitters is laborious and accurate estimates of time of transmitter expulsion require frequent surveys. We tested the feasibility of using oviduct-inserted transmitters with positional telemetry to estimate time...
Geophysical expression of a buried niobium and rare earth element deposit: the Elk Creek carbonatite, Nebraska, USA
Benjamin J. Drenth
2014, Interpretation (2) SJ169-SJ179
The lower Paleozoic Elk Creek carbonatite is a 6–8-km-diameter intrusive complex buried under 200 m of sedimentary rocks in southeastern Nebraska. It hosts the largest known niobium deposit in the U.S. and a rare earth element (REE) deposit. The carbonatite is composed of several lithologies, the relations of which are...
Quantifying biomineralization of zinc in the Rio Naracauli (Sardinia, Italy), using a tracer injection and synoptic sampling
Giovanni De Giudici, Richard B. Wanty, F. Podda, Briant A. Kimball, Philip L. Verplanck, P. Lattanzi, R. Cidu, D. Medas
2014, Chemical Geology (384) 110-119
Streams draining mined areas throughout the world commonly have high concentrations of Zn. Because Zn is not easily removed from stream water and because it can be toxic to aquatic organisms, its presence is a persistent problem. The discovery of biomineralization of Zn-bearing solids in the mine drainage of Rio...
Examining the contribution of the observed global warming trend to the California droughts of 2012/13 and 2013/14
Christopher C. Funk, Andrew Hoell, Daithi Stone
2014, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (95) S11-S15
No abstract available....
Soil resources influence vegetation and response to fire and fire-surrogate treatments in sagebrush-steppe ecosystems
Benjamin M. Rau, Jeanne C. Chambers, David A. Pyke, Bruce A. Roundy, Eugene W. Schupp, Paul Doescher, Todd G. Caldwell
2014, Rangeland Ecology and Management (67) 506-521
Current paradigm suggests that spatial and temporal competition for resources limit an exotic invader, cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.), which once established, alters fire regimes and can result in annual grass dominance in sagebrush steppe. Prescribed fire and fire surrogate treatments (mowing, tebuthiuron, and imazapic) are used to reduce woody fuels...
Resilience and resistance of sagebrush ecosystems: implications for state and transition models and management treatments
Jeanne C. Chambers, Richard F. Miller, David I. Board, David A. Pyke, Bruce A. Roundy, James B. Grace, Eugene W. Schupp, Robin J. Tausch
2014, Rangeland Ecology and Management (67) 440-454
In sagebrush ecosystems invasion of annual exotics and expansion of piñon (Pinus monophylla Torr. and Frem.) and juniper (Juniperus occidentalis Hook., J. osteosperma [Torr.] Little) are altering fire regimes and resulting in large-scale ecosystem transformations. Management treatments aim to increase resilience to disturbance and enhance resistance to invasive species by...
A cautionary note on the discrete uniform prior for the binomial N: Reply
William Link
2014, Ecology (95) 2677-2679
No abstract available....
Ecological scale of bird community response to piñon-juniper removal
Steven T. Knick, Steven E. Hanser, Matthias Leu
2014, Rangeland Ecology and Management (67) 553-562
Piñon (Pinus spp.) and juniper (Juniperus spp.) removal is a common management approach to restore sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) vegetation in areas experiencing woodland expansion. Because many management treatments are conducted to benefit sagebrush-obligate birds, we surveyed bird communities to assess treatment effectiveness in establishing sagebrush bird communities at study sites...
Projections of the Ganges-Brahmaputra precipitation: downscaled from GCM predictors
Md Shahriar Pervez, Geoffrey M. Henebry
2014, Journal of Hydrology (517) 120-134
Downscaling Global Climate Model (GCM) projections of future climate is critical for impact studies. Downscaling enables use of GCM experiments for regional scale impact studies by generating regionally specific forecasts connecting global scale predictions and regional scale dynamics. We employed the Statistical Downscaling Model (SDSM) to downscale 21st century precipitation...
Using sightability-adjusted brood-pair ratios to estimate waterfowl productivity
Anthony M. Pagano, Courtney L. Amundson, Matt Pieron, Todd W. Arnold, Timothy C. Kimmel
2014, Wildlife Society Bulletin (38) 566-573
Historically, biologists used brood-pair ratios (BPRs) as an index to waterfowl productivity to help guide management decisions and evaluate conservation practices. However, BPRs are biased by imperfect detection probabilities, especially for broods. We conducted roadside surveys for breeding waterfowl pairs on 7–8 study sites in the springs of 2006–2008 in...
Multiscale habitat selection of wetland birds in the northern Gulf Coast
Bradley A. Pickens, Sammy L. King
2014, Estuaries and Coasts (37) 1301-1311
The spatial scale of habitat selection has become a prominent concept in ecology, but has received less attention in coastal ecology. In coastal marshes, broad-scale marsh types are defined by vegetation composition over thousands of hectares, water-level management is applied over hundreds of hectares, and fine-scale habitat is depicted by...
Integrated conceptual ecological model and habitat indices for the southwest Florida coastal wetlands
G. Lynn Wingard, J. L. Lorenz
2014, Ecological Indicators (44) 92-107
The coastal wetlands of southwest Florida that extend from Charlotte Harbor south to Cape Sable, contain more than 60,000 ha of mangroves and 22,177 ha of salt marsh. These coastal wetlands form a transition zone between the freshwater and marine environments of the South Florida Coastal Marine Ecosystem (SFCME). The coastal wetlands...
Conserving Prairie Pothole Region wetlands and surrounding grasslands: evaluating effects on amphibians
David M. Mushet, Jordan L. Neau
2014, Report
The maintenance of viable and genetically diverse populations of amphibians in the Prairie Pothole Region of the United States depends on upland as well as wetland over-wintering and landscape level habitat features.Prairie pothole wetlands provide important amphibian breeding habitat while grasslands surrounding these wetlands provide foraging habitat for adults, overwintering...
Phenological adjustment in arctic bird species: relative importance of snow melt and ecological factors
Joseph R. Liebezeit, K. E. B. Gurney, Michael E. Budde, Steve Zack, David H. Ward
2014, Polar Biology (37) 1309-1320
Previous studies have documented advancement in clutch initiation dates (CIDs) in response to climate change, most notably for temperate-breeding passerines. Despite accelerated climate change in the Arctic, few studies have examined nest phenology shifts in arctic breeding species. We investigated whether CIDs have advanced for the most abundant breeding shorebird...
Experimental test of theory for the stability of partially saturated vertical cut slopes
Michael M. Morse, N. Lu, Alexandra Wayllace, Jonathan W. Godt, W.A. Take
2014, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering (140)
This paper extends Culmann's vertical-cut analysis to unsaturated soils. To test the extended theory, unsaturated sand was compacted to a uniform porosity and moisture content in a laboratory apparatus. A sliding door that extended the height of the free face of the slope was lowered until the vertical cut failed....
Northern bobwhite predator avoidance behavior in response to varying types of threat
R.A. Perkins, Clint W. Boal, Dale Rollins, R. Perez
2014, Journal of Wildlife Management (78) 1272-1281
The flight behavior and cover use of northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) have been examined in several studies, but the current data lack quantitative measures of how bobwhites respond to natural threats. We examined aspects of bobwhite behavior in response to 4 threat categories: researcher, hunter, raptor, and mammal. We found...
Inorganic elements in green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas): relationships among external and internal tissues
Derek R. Faust, Michael J. Hooper, George P. Cobb, Melanie Barnes, Donna Shaver, Shauna Ertolacci, Philip N. Smith
2014, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (33) 2020-2027
Inorganic elements from anthropogenic sources have entered marine environments worldwide and are detectable in marine organisms, including sea turtles. Threatened and endangered classifications of sea turtles have heretofore made assessments of contaminant concentrations difficult because of regulatory restrictions on obtaining samples using nonlethal techniques. In the present study, claw and...
Indo-Pacific sea surface temperature influences on failed consecutive rainy seasons over eastern Africa
Andrew Hoell, Christopher C. Funk
2014, Climate Dynamics (43) 1645-1660
Rainfall over eastern Africa (10°S–10°N; 35°E–50°E) is bimodal, with seasonal maxima during the "long rains" of March–April–May (MAM) and the "short rains" of October–November–December (OND). Below average precipitation during consecutive long and short rains seasons over eastern Africa can have devastating long-term impacts on water availability and agriculture. Here, we...
Quaternary ostracode and foraminiferal biostratigraphy and paleoceanography in the western Arctic Ocean
Thomas M. Cronin, Lauren H. DeNinno, L.V. Polyak, Emma K. Caverly, Richard Z. Poore, Alec R. Brenner, J. Rodriguez-Lazaro, R.E. Marzen
2014, Marine Micropaleontology (111) 118-133
The stratigraphic distributions of ostracodes and selected calcareous benthic and planktic foraminiferal species were studied in sediment cores from ~ 700 to 2700 m water depth on the Northwind, Mendeleev, and Lomonosov Ridges in the western Arctic Ocean. Microfaunal records in most cores cover mid- to late Quaternary sediments deposited in the...
Use of isotopic sulfur to determine whitebark pine consumption by Yellowstone bears: a reassessment
Charles C. Schwartz, Justin E. Teisberg, Jennifer K. Fortin, Mark A. Haroldson, Christopher Servheen, Charles T. Robbins, Frank T. van Manen
2014, Wildlife Society Bulletin (38) 664-670
Use of naturally occurring stable isotopes to estimate assimilated diet of bears is one of the single greatest breakthroughs in nutritional ecology during the past 20 years. Previous research in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), USA, established a positive relationship between the stable isotope of sulfur (δ34S) and consumption of...
Sampling from living organisms
Christina A. Kellogg
2014, Book chapter, Biofouling methods
Living organisms, unlike inanimate surfaces, seem to exert some control over their surface microbiota, in many cases maintaining conserved, species-specific microbial communities. Microbial ecologists seek to characterize and identify these microbes to understand the roles they are playing in the larger organism's biology....
The effect of call libraries and acoustic filters on the identification of bat echolocation
Matthew Clement, Kevin L Murray, Donald I Solick, Jeffrey C Gruver
2014, Ecology and Evolution (4) 3482-3493
Quantitative methods for species identification are commonly used in acoustic surveys for animals. While various identification models have been studied extensively, there has been little study of methods for selecting calls prior to modeling or methods for validating results after modeling. We obtained two call libraries with a combined 1556...
