Geographic variability in elevation and topographic constraints on the distribution of native and nonnative trout in the Great Basin
Dana R. Warren, Jason B. Dunham, David Hockman-Wert
2014, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (143) 205-218
Understanding local and geographic factors influencing species distributions is a prerequisite for conservation planning. Our objective in this study was to model local and geographic variability in elevations occupied by native and nonnative trout in the northwestern Great Basin, USA. To this end, we analyzed a large existing data set...
Leave no trace in the outdoors
Jeffrey L. Marion
2014, Book
The essential guide for enjoying the outdoors without harming the environment. - Details the seven core principles of Leave No Trace ethics and practices - Covers hiking, campfires, food storage, and personal hygiene - Endorsed by the USDI National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and...
Deep-sea coral record of human impact on watershed quality in the Mississippi River Basin
Nancy G. Prouty, E. Brendan Roark, Alan E. Koenig, Amanda W.J. Demopoulos, Fabian C. Batista, Benjamin D. Kocar, David Selby, Matthew D. McCarthy, Furu Mienis
2014, Global Biogeochemical Cycles (28) 29-43
One of the greatest drivers of historical nutrient and sediment transport into the Gulf of Mexico is the unprecedented scale and intensity of land use change in the Mississippi River Basin. These landscape changes are linked to enhanced fluxes of carbon and nitrogen pollution from the Mississippi River, and persistent...
Effects of climate change and urban development on the distribution and conservation of vegetation in a Mediterranean type ecosystem
Bray Beltran, Janet Franklin, Alexandra D. Syphard, Helen M. Regan, Lorraine E. Flint, Alan L. Flint
2014, International Journal of Geographical Information Science (28) 1561-1589
Climate and land-use changes are projected to threaten biodiversity over this century. However, few studies have considered the spatial and temporal overlap of these threats to evaluate how ongoing land-use change could affect species ranges projected to shift outside conservation areas. We evaluated climate change and urban development effects on...
An ontology design pattern for surface water features
Gaurav Sinha, David Mark, Dave Kolas, Dalia Varanka, Boleslo E. Romero, Chen-Chieh Feng, E. Lynn Usery, Joshua Liebermann, Alexandre Sorokine
2014, Conference Paper, Geographic Information Science: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference, GIScience
Surface water is a primary concept of human experience but concepts are captured in cultures and languages in many different ways. Still, many commonalities exist due to the physical basis of many of the properties and categories. An abstract ontology of surface water features based only on those physical properties...
Uncertainty and extreme events in future climate and hydrologic projections for the Pacific Northwest: providing a basis for vulnerability and core/corridor assessments
Jeremy S. Littell, Guillaume S. Mauger, Eric P. Salathe, Alan F. Hamlet, Se-Yeun Lee, Matt R. Stumbaugh, Marketa Elsner, Robert Norheim, Eric R. Lutz, Nathan J. Mantua
2014, Report
The purpose of this project was to (1) provide an internally-consistent set of downscaled projections across the Western U.S., (2) include information about projection uncertainty, and (3) assess projected changes of hydrologic extremes. These objectives were designed to address decision support needs for climate adaptation and resource management actions. Specifically,...
Fossil plants from a proximal alluvial-fan complex: Implications for late Paleozoic sedimentary processes in western tropical Pangea
Jacqueline E. Huntoon, Krystle Boks, Len Mankowski, Tara L. Campbell Wyrembelski, Russell F. Dubiel, John D. Stanesco
2014, Book chapter, Geology of Utah's far south
No abstract available....
Arsenic speciation in solids using X-ray absorption spectroscopy
Andrea L. Foster, Chris S. Kim
2014, Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry (79) 257-369
Synchrotron-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is an in situ, minimally-destructive, element-specific, molecular-scale structural probe that has been employed to study the chemical forms (species) of arsenic (As) in solid and aqueous phases (including rocks, soils, sediment, synthetic compounds, and numerous types of biota including humans) for more than 20 years....
Pictorial account and landscape evolution of the crevasses near Fort St. Philip, Louisiana
Glenn M. Suir, William R. Jones, Adrienne L. Garber, John A. Barras
2014, MRG&P Report 2
Quantifying the effects of active natural and constructed crevasses is critical to the planning and success of future ecosystem restoration activities. This document provides a historical overview of landscape changes within the vicinity of the natural crevasses near Fort St. Philip, Louisiana. A significant event influencing landscape change within the...
Interrelations among the soil-water retention, hydraulic conductivity, and suction-stress characteristic curves
Ning Lu, Murat Kaya, Jonathan W. Godt
2014, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering (140)
The three fundamental constitutive relations that describe fluid flow, strength, and deformation behavior of variably saturated soils are the soil-water retention curve (SWRC), hydraulic conductivity function (HCF), and suction-stress characteristic curve (SSCC). Until recently, the interrelations among the SWRC, HCF, and SSCC have not been well established. This work sought...
Elk monitoring in Lewis and Clark National Historical Park: 2008-2012 synthesis report
Paul C. Griffin, Kurt J. Jenkins, Carla Cole, Chris Clatterbuck, John Boetsch, Katherine Beirne
2014, Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/NCCN/NRTR--2014/837
Maintaining elk (Cervus elaphus roosevelti) herds that frequent Lewis and Clark National Historical Park (NHP) is central to the park’s purpose of preserving the historic, cultural, scenic, and natural resources associated with the winter encampment of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Elk were critically important to the Lewis and Clark...
Resource selection and space use by sea ducks during the non-breeding season: Implications for habitat conservation planning in urbanized estuaries
Susan E. W. De La Cruz, John M. Eadie, A. Keith Miles, Julie Yee, Kyle A. Spragens, Eric C. Palm, John Y. Takekawa
2014, Biological Conservation (169) 68-78
Wide-ranging marine birds rely on multiple habitats for wintering, breeding, and migrating, and their conservation may be dependent on protecting networks of key areas. Urbanized estuaries are critical wintering and stopover areas for many declining sea ducks in North America; however, conservation measures within estuaries are difficult to establish given...
Automated Cropland Classification Algorithm (ACCA) for California using multi-sensor remote sensing
Zhuoting Wu, Prasad S. Thenkabail, James Verdin
2014, Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing (80) 81-90
Increasing pressure to feed the growing population with scarce water resources requires accurate and routine cropland mapping. This paper develops and implements a rule-based automated cropland classification algorithm (ACCA) using multi-sensor remote sensing data. Pixel-by-pixel accuracy assessments showed that ACCA produced an overall accuracy of 96 percent (Khat = 0.8) when...
Source and progression of a submarine landslide and tsunami: The 1964 Great Alaska earthquake at Valdez
Thomas E. Parsons, Eric L. Geist, Holly F. Ryan, Homa J. Lee, Peter J. Haeussler, Patrick Lynett, Patrick E. Hart, Ray W. Sliter, Emily C. Roland
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth (119) 8502-8516
Like many subduction zone earthquakes, the deadliest aspects of the 1964 M = 9.2 Alaska earthquake were the tsunamis it caused. The worst of these were generated by local submarine landslides induced by the earthquake. These caused high runups, engulfing several coastal towns in Prince William Sound. In this paper, we study one...
Processes of zinc attenuation by biogenic manganese oxides forming in the hyporheic zone of Pinal Creek, Arizona
Christopher C. Fuller, John R. Bargar
2014, Environmental Science & Technology (48) 2165-2172
The distribution and speciation of Zn sorbed to biogenic Mn oxides forming in the hyporheic zone of Pinal Creek, AZ, was investigated using extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and microfocused synchrotron X-ray fluorescence (μSXRF) mapping, and chemical extraction. μSXRF and chemical extractions show that contaminant Zn co-varied with Mn...
Powell Center Newsletter, Volume 1, Issue 2
Marcia McNiff
2014, Report
Bi-annual newsletter for the John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis, covering news from the last half of FY2014...
Interspecific hybridization contributes to high genetic diversity and apparent effective population size in an endemic population of mottled ducks (Anas fulvigula maculosa)
Jeffrey L. Peters, Sarah A. Sonsthagen, Philip Lavretsky, Michael Rezsutek, William P. Johnson, Kevin G. McCracken
2014, Conservation Genetics (15) 509-520
Under drift-mutation equilibrium, genetic diversity is expected to be correlated with effective population size (Ne). Changes in population size and gene flow are two important processes that can cause populations to deviate from this expected relationship. In this study, we used DNA sequences from six independent loci to examine the...
Integrating disparate lidar data at the national scale to assess the relationships between height above ground, land cover and ecoregions
Jason M. Stoker, Mark A. Cochrane, David P. Roy
2014, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing (80) 59-70
With the acquisition of lidar data for over 30 percent of the US, it is now possible to assess the three-dimensional distribution of features at the national scale. This paper integrates over 350 billion lidar points from 28 disparate datasets into a national-scale database and evaluates if height above ground...
Legumes in prairie restoration: evidence for wide cross-nodulation and improved inoculant delivery
Elena Beyhaut, Diane L. Larson, Deborah L. Allan, Peter H. Graham
2014, Plant and Soil (377) 245-258
Background and aims Prairie restoration aims to create self-sustaining, resilient prairies that ameliorate biodiversity loss and soil deterioration associated with conversion of native grasslands to agriculture. Legumes are a key component of the nitrogen-limited prairie ecosystem. Evidence suggests that lack of suitable rhizobia may explain legume absence from restored prairies. This...
Reproductive ecology of American Oystercatchers nesting on shell rakes
Patrick G.R. Jodice, Janet M. Thibault, S.A. Collins, Mark D. Spinks, Felicia J. Sanders
2014, Condor (116) 588-598
Degradation of nesting habitat for coastal birds has led to the use of nontraditional nesting habitat. The American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) is listed as a "Species of High Concern'' by the U. S. Shorebird Conservation Plan and is declining in the southern portion of its U. S. breeding range, where...
Asian carp distribution in North America
K. Baerwaldt, Amy Benson, K. Irons
2014, Report
No abstract available....
Rhynchelmis subgenus Sutroa Eisen new rank, with two new species from western North America (Annelida, Clitellata, Lumbriculidae)
Steven V. Fend, James L. Carter
2014, Zootaxa (3760) 180-210
The lumbriculid Rhynchelmis subgenus Sutroa Eisen, 1888 new rank is defined for a group of Nearctic species having multiple diverticula originating at the spermathecal ducts and eversible penial bulbs. Characters are confirmed in specimens of the type species, Rhynchelmis (Sutroa) rostrata (Eisen, 1888), collected from the type locality. Rhynchelmis (Sutroa)...
2012 monitoring and tracking wet nitrogen deposition at Rocky Mountain National Park
Kristi Morris, Alisa Mast, Gregory Wetherbee, Jill Baron, Curt Taipale, Tamara Blett, David Gay, Jared Heath
2014, Natural Resource Report NPS/NRSS/ARD/NRR--2014/757
No abstract available....
Linking channel hydrology with riparian wetland accretion in tidal rivers
Scott H. Ensign, Gregory B. Noe, Cliff R. Hupp
2014, Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface (119) 28-44
The hydrologic processes by which tide affects river channel and riparian morphology within the tidal freshwater zone are poorly understood, yet are fundamental to predicting the fate of coastal rivers and wetlands as sea level rises. We investigated patterns of sediment accretion in riparian wetlands along the non-tidal through oligohaline...
Status of pelagic prey fishes in Lake Michigan, 2013
David M. Warner, Steven A. Farha, Timothy P. O’Brien, Lynn Ogilvie, Randall M. Claramunt, Dale Hanson
2014, Report
Acoustic surveys were conducted in late summer/early fall during the years 1992-1996 and 2001-2013 to estimate pelagic prey fish biomass in Lake Michigan. Midwater trawling during the surveys as well as target strength provided a measure of species and size composition of the fish community for use in scaling acoustic...
