Residency times and patterns of movement of postbreeding dunlin on a subarctic staging area in Alaska
Nils Warnock, Colleen M. Handel, Robert E. Gill Jr., Brian J. McCaffery
2013, Arctic (66) 407-416
Understanding how individuals use key resources is critical for effective conservation of a population. The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) in western Alaska is the most important postbreeding staging area for shorebirds in the subarctic North Pacific, yet little is known about movements of shorebirds there during the postbreeding period. To address...
Are captive tortoises a reservoir for conservation? An assessment of genealogical affiliation of captive Gopherus agassizii to local, wild populations
Kristin H. Berry, Taylor Edwards
2013, Conservation Genetics (14) 649-659
The conservation of tortoises poses a unique situation because several threatened species are commonly kept as pets within their native ranges. Thus, there is potential for captive populations to be a reservoir for repatriation efforts. We assess the utility of captive populations of the threatened Agassiz’s desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii)...
User's guide and metadata for WestuRe: U.S. Pacific Coast estuary/watershed data and R tools
M.R. Frazier, D.A. Reusser, H. Lee II, L.M. McCoy, C. Brown, W. Nelson
2013, Report
Overview There are about 350 estuaries along the U.S. Pacific Coast (U.S. Fish andWildlife 2011). Basic descriptive data for these estuaries, such as their size and watershed area, are important for coastal-scale research and conservation planning. However, this information is spread among many sources, making it difficult to find and standardize....
Extent of endocrine disruption in fish of western and Alaskan National Parks
Carl B. Schreck, Michael Kent
2013, Report
In 2008 2009, 998 fish were collected from 43 water bodies across 11 western Alaskan national parks and analyzed for reproductive abnormalities. Exposure to estrogenic substances such as pesticides can induce abnormalities like intersex. Results suggest there is a greater propensity for male intersex fish collected from parks located in...
Riparian litter inputs to streams in the central Oregon Coast Range
Stephanie K. Hart, David E. Hibbs, Steven S. Perakis
2013, The Society for Freshwater Science (32) 343-358
Riparian-zone vegetation can influence terrestrial and aquatic food webs through variation in the amount, timing, and nutritional content of leaf and other litter inputs. We investigated how riparian-forest community composition, understory density, and lateral slope shaped vertical and lateral litter inputs to 16 streams in the Oregon Coast Range. Riparian...
ECALS: Loading studies interim report July 2013
Katy E. Klymus, Cathy A. Richter, Duane Chapman, Craig P. Paukert
2013, Report
Since the initial detection of Asian carp moving up the Mississippi Basin, the potential for invasion of the Great Lakes by Silver Carp and Bighead Carp has been a major concern to stakeholders. To combat this problem, sampling for environmental DNA (eDNA) is used to monitor the waterways near Lake...
Post-paleozoic stratigraphy of western Tennessee and adjacent portions of the upper Mississippi embayment
Richard Gordon Stearns
2013, Report of Investigations of the Tennessee Department of Conservation, Division of Geology 2
Population attributes of lake trout in Tennessee reservoirs
Drew Russell, Phillip William Bettoli
2013, Southeastern Naturalist (12) 217-232
We sampled stocked Salvelinus namaycush (Lake Trout) in Watauga Lake and South Holston Lake, TN using experimental gill nets in 2009-2010 to describe their growth, longevity, and condition. Annuli in sagittal otoliths formed once a year in early spring in both reservoirs. South Holston Lake (n = 99 Lake Trout)...
Changes to oak woodland stand structure and ground flora composition caused by thinning and burning
Carter O. Kinkead, John M. Kabrick, Michael C. Stambaugh, Keith W. Grabner
2013, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 18th Central Hardwoods Forest Conference
Our objective was to quantify the cumulative effects of prescribed burning and thinning on forest stocking and species composition at a woodland restoration experiment site in the Ozark Highlands of Missouri. Our study used four treatments (burn, harvest, harvest and burn, control) on three slope position and aspect combinations (south,...
Of travertine and time: otolith chemistry and microstructure detect provenance and demography of endangered humpback chub in Grand Canyon, USA
Karin E. Limburg, Todd A. Hayden, William E. Pine III, Michael D. Yard, Reinhard Kozdon, John W. Valley
2013, PLoS ONE (8)
We developed a geochemical atlas of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon and in its tributary, the Little Colorado River, and used it to identify provenance and habitat use by Federally Endangered humpback chub, Gila cypha. Carbon stable isotope ratios (δ13C) discriminate best between the two rivers, but fine...
The geomorphic effectiveness of a large flood on the Rio Grande in the Big Bend region: insights on geomorphic controls and post-flood geomorphic response
David J. Dean, John C. Schmidt
2013, Geomorphology (201) 183-198
Since the 1940s, the Rio Grande in the Big Bend region has undergone long periods of channel narrowing, which have been occasionally interrupted by rare, large floods that widen the channel (termed a channel reset). The most recent channel reset occurred in 2008 following a 17-year period of extremely low...
Modeling trends from North American Breeding Bird Survey data: a spatially explicit approach
Florent Bled, John R. Sauer, Keith L. Pardieck, Paul Doherty, J. Andy Royle
2013, PLoS ONE (8)
Population trends, defined as interval-specific proportional changes in population size, are often used to help identify species of conservation interest. Efficient modeling of such trends depends on the consideration of the correlation of population changes with key spatial and environmental covariates. This can provide insights into causal mechanisms and allow...
Relationships between ecosystem metabolism, benthic macroinvertebrate densities, and environmental variables in a sub-arctic Alaskan river
Emily R. Benson, Mark S. Wipfli, Joanne E. Clapcott, Nicholas F. Hughes
2013, Hydrobiologia (701) 189-207
Relationships between environmental variables, ecosystem metabolism, and benthos are not well understood in sub-arctic ecosystems. The goal of this study was to investigate environmental drivers of river ecosystem metabolism and macroinvertebrate density in a sub-arctic river. We estimated primary production and respiration rates, sampled benthic macroinvertebrates, and monitored light intensity,...
Moving forward with imperfect information
Kristen Averyt, Levi D. Brekke, David E. Busch, Laurna Kaatz, Leigh Welling, Eric H. Hartge, Tom Iseman
2013, Book chapter, Assessment of climate change in the southwest United States: A report prepared for the National Climate Assessment
This chapter summarized the scope of what is known and not known about climate in the Southwestern United States. There is now more evidence and more agreement among climate scientists about the physical climate and related impacts in the Southwest compared with that represented in the 2009 National Climate Assessment...
The stability of sulfate and hydrated sulfate minerals near ambient conditions and their significance in environmental and planetary sciences
I-Ming Chou, Robert R. Seal II, Alian Wang
2013, Journal of Asian Earth Sciences (62) 734-758
Sulfate and hydrated sulfate minerals are abundant and ubiquitous on the surface of the Earth and also on other planets and their satellites. The humidity-buffer technique has been applied to study the stability of some of these minerals at 0.1 MPa in terms of temperature-relative humidity space on the basis...
Sediment Transport from Urban, Urbanizing, and Rural Areas in Johnson County, Kansas, 2006-08
Casey J. Lee
2013, Book
1. Studies have commonly illustrated that erosion and sediment transport from construction sites is extensive, typically 10-100X that of background levels. 2. However, to our knowledge, the affects of construction and urbanization have rarely been assessed (1) since erosion and sediment controls have been required at construction sites, and (2) at...
Abundance and distribution of feral pigs at Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge, 2010-2013
Steven C. Hess, Christina R. Leopold, Steven J. Kendall
2013, Technical Report HCSU-045
The Hakalau Forest Unit of the Big Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex has intensively managed feral pigs (Sus scrofa) and monitored feral pig presence with surveys of all managed areas since 1988. Results of all available data regarding pig management activities through 2004 were compiled and analyzed, but no further...
Electromagnetic-induction logging to monitor changing chloride concentrations
Loren F. Metzger, John A. Izbicki
2013, Ground Water (51) 108-121
Water from the San Joaquin Delta, having chloride concentrations up to 3590 mg/L, has intruded fresh water aquifers underlying Stockton, California. Changes in chloride concentrations at depth within these aquifers were evaluated using sequential electromagnetic (EM) induction logs collected during 2004 through 2007 at seven multiple-well sites as deep as...
Mapping behavioral landscapes for animal movement: a finite mixture modeling approach
Jeff A. Tracey, Jun Zhu, Erin E. Boydston, Lisa M. Lyren, Robert N. Fisher, Kevin R. Crooks
2013, Ecological Applications (23) 654-669
Because of its role in many ecological processes, movement of animals in response to landscape features is an important subject in ecology and conservation biology. In this paper, we develop models of animal movement in relation to objects or fields in a landscape. We take a finite mixture modeling approach...
Desertification of rangelands: 4.20
D. P. C. Peters, B. T. Bestelmeyer, K. M. Havstad, A. Rango, S. R. Archer, A. C. Comrie, H. R. Gimblett, L. López-Hoffman, O. E. Sala, E. R. Vivoni, M. L. Brooks, J. Brown, H. C. Monger, J. H. Goldstein
2013, Book chapter, Climate vulnerability: understanding and addressing threats to essential resources: vulnerability of ecosystems to climate
Desertification, the broad-scale conversion of perennial grasslands to dominance by annuals or xerophytic shrubs, has affected drylands globally over the past several centuries. Desertification is a cumulative threat that includes both climatic (e.g., drought) and land-use drivers (e.g., livestock overgrazing, fire). In this chapter, we determine the vulnerability of different...
Habitat interaction between two species of chipmunk in the Basin and Range Province of Nevada
Christopher Lowrey, Kathleen M. Longshore
2013, Western North American Naturalist (73) 129-136
Interspecies interactions can affect how species are distributed, put constraints on habitat expansion, and reduce the fundamental niche of the affected species. Using logistic regression, we analyzed and compared 174 Tamias palmeri and 94 Tamias panamintinus within an isolated mountain range of the Basin and Range Province of southern Nevada....
Science-based management of public lands in southern Nevada
Matthew L. Brooks, Jeanne C. Chambers
2013, General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-303-11
Landmark legislation provides guiding principles for land management planning in southern Nevada and the rest of the United States. Such legislation includes, but is not limited to, the Forest Service Organic Administration Act of 1897 (16 U.S>C. 473-478, 479-482 and 551), National Park Service Organic Act of 1916 (U.S.C. Title...
Wind erosion from a sagebrush steppe burned by wildfire: measurements of PM10 and total horizontal sediment flux
Natalie S. Wagenbrenner, Matthew J. Germino, Brian K. Lamb, Peter R. Robichaud, Randy B. Foltz
2013, Aeolian Research (10) 25-36
Wind erosion and aeolian transport processes are under studied compared to rainfall-induced erosion and sediment transport on burned landscapes. Post-fire wind erosion studies have predominantly focused on near-surface sediment transport and associated impacts such as on-site soil loss and site fertility. Downwind impacts, including air quality degradation and deposition of dust or...
Genetic relationships among some subspecies of the Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus L.), inferred from mitochondrial DNA control-region sequences
Clayton M. White, Sarah A. Sonsthagen, George K. Sage, Clifford Anderson, Sandra L. Talbot
2013, The Auk (130) 78-87
The ability to successfully colonize and persist in diverse environments likely requires broad morphological and behavioral plasticity and adaptability, and this may partly explain why the Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) exhibits a large range of morphological characteristics across their global distribution. Regional and local differences within Peregrine Falcons were sufficiently...
Novel foraging in the swash zone on Pacific sand crabs (Emerita analoga, Hippidae) by mallards
Kevin D. Lafferty, John P. McLaughlin, Jenifer E. Dugan
2013, Wilson Journal of Ornithology (125) 423-426
Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) have been observed foraging on intertidal Pacific sand crabs (Hippidae, Emerita analoga) in the swash zone of sandy beaches around Coal Oil Point Reserve, California, and several other beaches on the west coast since at least November 2010. Unlike foraging shorebirds, Mallards do not avoid incoming swashes....
