Direct U-Pb dating of Cretaceous and Paleocene dinosaur bones, San Juan Basin, New Mexico: COMMENT
Alan E. Koenig, Spencer G. Lucas, Leonid A. Neymark, Andrew B. Heckert, Robert M. Sullivan, Steven E. Jasinski, Denver W. Fowler
2012, Geology (40) e262-e262
Based on U-Pb dating of two dinosaur bones from the San Juan Basin of New Mexico (United States), Fassett et al. (2011) claim to provide the first successful direct dating of fossil bones and to establish the presence of Paleocene dinosaurs. Fassett et al. ignore previously published work that directly...
Arsenic speciation in food chains from mid-Atlantic hydrothermal vents
Vivien F. Taylor, Brian P. Jackson, Matthew R. Siegfried, Jana Navratilova, Kevin A. Francesconi, Julie Kirshtein, Mary Voytek
2012, Environmental Chemistry (9) 130-138
Arsenic concentration and speciation were determined in benthic fauna collected from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge hydrothermal vents. The shrimp species, Rimicaris exoculata, the vent chimney-dwelling mussel, Bathymodiolus azoricus, Branchipolynoe seepensis, a commensal worm of B. azoricus and the gastropod Peltospira smaragdina showed variations in As concentration and in stable isotope (δ13C...
Demographics, diet, movements, and survival of an isolated, unmanaged raccoon Procyon lotor (Procyonidae, Carnivora) population on the Outer Banks of North Carolina
Arielle Waldstein Parsons, Theodore R. Simons, Allan F. O’Connell, Michael K. Stoskopf
2012, Mammalia (77) 21-30
Raccoons (Procyon lotor) are highly adaptable meso-carnivores that inhabit many environments, including the Atlantic barrier islands, where their role as predators of declining, beach-nesting bird and turtle species is of particular interest. Population models that improve our understanding of predator-prey dynamics are receiving increasing attention in the literature; however, their...
Bathythermal habitat use by strains of Great Lakes- and Finger Lakes-origin lake trout in Lake Huron after a change in prey fish abundance and composition
Roger A. Bergstedt, Ray L. Argyle, Charles C. Krueger, William W. Taylor
2012, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (141) 263-274
A study conducted in Lake Huron during October 1998–June 2001 found that strains of Great Lakes-origin (GLO) lake trout Salvelinus namaycush occupied significantly higher temperatures than did Finger Lakes-origin (FLO; New York) lake trout based on data from archival (or data storage) telemetry tags that recorded only temperature. During 2002...
Effects of low-density feeding on elk–fetus contact rates on Wyoming feedgrounds
Tyler G. Creech, Paul C. Cross, Brandon M. Scurlock, Eric Maichak, Jared D. Rogerson, John C. Henningsen, Scott Creel
2012, Journal of Wildlife Management (76) 877-886
High seroprevalance for Brucella abortus among elk on Wyoming feedgrounds suggests that supplemental feeding may influence parasite transmission and disease dynamics by altering the rate at which elk contact infectious materials in their environment. We used proximity loggers and video cameras to estimate rates of elk-to-fetus contact (the primary source...
Industrial diamond
D.W. Olson
2012, Mining Engineering (64) 62-63
Estimated 2011 world production of natural and synthetic industrial diamond was about 4.45 billion carats. During 2011, natural industrial diamonds were produced in more than 20 countries, and synthetic industrial diamond was produced in at least 13 countries. About 98 percent of the combined natural and synthetic global output was...
Industrial garnet
D.W. Olson
2012, Mining Engineering (64) 64-64
Garnet has been used as a gemstone since the Bronze Age. However, garnet's angular fractures, relatively high hardness and specific gravity, chemical inertness, and nontoxicity make it ideal for many industrial applications. It is also free of crystalline silica and can be recycled....
Bauxite and alumina
E.L. Bray
2012, Mining Engineering (64) 35-36
The United States is import-reliant for nearly all of the bauxite that it consumes. Small amounts of bauxite and bauxitic clays are produced in Alabama, Arkansas and Georgia for nonmetallurgical uses. Metallurgical-grade bauxite (crude dry) imports in 2011 totaled 9.54 Mt (10.5 million st), 18 percent more than the quantity...
Mineral resource of the month: aluminum
E. Lee Bray
2012, Earth (57) 25-25
The article offers information on aluminum, a mineral resource which is described as the third-most abundant element in Earth's crust. According to the article, aluminum is the second-most used metal. Hans Christian Oersted, a Danish chemist, was the first to isolate aluminum in the laboratory. Aluminum is described as lightweight,...
Development of a quantitative assay to measure expression of transforming growth factor ß (TGF-ß) in Lost River sucker (Deltistes luxatus) and shortnose sucker (Chasmistes brevirostris) and evaluation of potential pitfalls in use with field-collected samples
Laura S. Robertson, Christopher A. Ottinger, Summer M. Burdick, Scott P. VanderKooi
2012, Fish and Shellfish Immunology (32) 890-898
The Nature Conservancy is in the process of restoring the Williamson River Delta in an attempt to recreate important juvenile habitat for the endangered shortnose sucker Chasmistes brevirostris and the endangered Lost River sucker Deltistes luxatus. Measurement of TGF-β mRNA expression level was one of the indicators chosen to evaluate...
Peat
L.E. Apodaca
2012, Mining Engineering (64) 79-80
In 2011, domestic production of peat, excluding Alaska, was estimated to be 605 kt (667,000 st), compared with 628 kt (629,000 st) in 2010. In 2011, imports increased to 1.1. Mt (1.2 million st) compared with 947 kt (1 million st) in 2010, and exports were estimated to have decreased...
Assessing California groundwater susceptibility using trace concentrations of halogenated volatile organic compounds
Daniel A. Deeds, Justin T. Kulongoski, Kenneth Belitz
2012, Environmental Science & Technology (46) 13128-13135
Twenty-four halogenated volatile organic compounds (hVOCs) and SF6 were measured in groundwater samples collected from 312 wells across California at concentrations as low as 10–12 grams per kilogram groundwater. The hVOCs detected are predominately anthropogenic (i.e., “ahVOCs”) and as such their distribution delineates where groundwaters are impacted and susceptible to...
Pumice and pumicite
R.D. Crangle Jr.
2012, Mining Engineering (64) 85-86
Production of pumice in the United States during 2011 was estimated to be 380 kt (420,000 st), a 3-percent decrease compared with 2010. The unit value of pumice varied by end use in 2011. Pumice used as an abrasive was priced at $10.39/t ($9.30/st), while specialty-grade pumice, used in cosmetics,...
Ecological effects of climate change on salt marsh wildlife: a case study from a highly urbanized estuary
Karen M. Thorne, John Y. Takekawa, Deborah L. Elliott-Fisk
2012, Journal of Coastal Research (28) 1477-1487
Coastal areas are high-risk zones subject to the impacts of global climate change, with significant increases in the frequencies of extreme weather and storm events, and sea-level rise forecast by 2100. These physical processes are expected to alter estuaries, resulting in loss of intertidal wetlands and their component wildlife species....
A meeting of the waters: interdisciplinary challenges and opportunities in tidal rivers
Scott H. Ensign, Gregory B. Noe, Cliff R. Hupp, Sergio Fagherazzi
2012, Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union (95) 455-456
At the interface of estuarine tides and freshwater rivers lie wetland and aquatic ecosystems, which experience dramatic effects of sea level rise. There, nontidal channels and riparian floodplains are transforming into tidal ecosystems, and tidal freshwater ecosystems are receiving increasing salinity. These river-floodplain systems have both fluvial characteristics, including meandering...
Ecology of bison, elk, and vegetation in an arid ecosystem
Kathryn A. Schoenecker
2012, Thesis
Herbivory has profound effects on vegetation production and structure in many different plant communities. The influence of herbivory on plants and ultimately ecosystem processes is shaped by the types of plants consumed, the intensity of herbivory, the evolutionary history of grazing, and the availability of water and nutrients to plants....
Nearshore hydrodynamics as loading and forcing factors for Escherichia coli contamination at an embayed beach
Zhongfu Ge, Richard L. Whitman, Meredith B. Nevers, Mantha S. Phanikumar, Muruleedhara N. Byappanahalli
2012, Limnology and Oceanography (57) 362-381
Numerical simulations of the transport and fate of Escherichia coli were conducted at Chicago's 63rd Street Beach, an embayed beach that had the highest mean E. coli concentration among 23 similar Lake Michigan beaches during summer months of 2000-2005, in order to find the cause for the high bacterial contamination....
Ecology and evolution of pine life histories
Jon E. Keeley
2012, Annals of Forest Science (69) 445-453
Introduction - Pinus is a diverse genus of trees widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Understanding pine life history is critical to both conservation and fire management. Objectives - Here I lay out the different pathways of pine life history adaptation and a brief overview of pine evolution and the very...
Why the 2002 Denali fault rupture propagated onto the Totschunda fault: implications for fault branching and seismic hazards
David P. Schwartz, Peter J. Haeussler, Gordon G. Seitz, Timothy E. Dawson
2012, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (117)
The propagation of the rupture of the Mw7.9 Denali fault earthquake from the central Denali fault onto the Totschunda fault has provided a basis for dynamic models of fault branching in which the angle of the regional or local prestress relative to the orientation of the main fault and branch...
Biogeochemistry: unexpected uptake
Jayne Belnap
2012, Nature Geoscience (5) 443-444
Lichens, cyanobacteria, mosses and algae coat many terrestrial surfaces. These biological covers turn out to play an important role in the global cycling of carbon and nitrogen....
Evaluation of otoliths Salt Creek pupfish (Cyprinodon salinus salinus) for use in analyses of age and growth
Maria C. Dzul, D. Bailey Gaines, Jesse R. Fischer, Michael C. Quist, Stephen J. Dinsmore
2012, Southwestern Naturalist (57) 412-416
We collected Salt Creek pupfish (Cyprinodon salinus salinus) from Salt Creek, Death Valley, California, in November 2009 and May 2010. The purpose of our study was to determine whether otoliths displayed interpretable marks that might be used for estimating age and growth. Otoliths exhibited alternating bands of opaque and translucent...
Glass wool filters for concentrating waterborne viruses and agricultural zoonotic pathogens
Hana T. Millen, Jordan C. Gonnering, Ryan K. Berg, Susan K. Spencer, William E. Jokela, John M. Pearce, Jackson S. Borchardt, Mark A. Borchardt
2012, Journal of Visualized Experiments (61)
The key first step in evaluating pathogen levels in suspected contaminated water is concentration. Concentration methods tend to be specific for a particular pathogen group, for example US Environmental Protection Agency Method 1623 for Giardia and Cryptosporidium1, which means multiple methods are required if the sampling program is targeting more...
Improving PAGER's real-time earthquake casualty and loss estimation toolkit: a challenge
K. S. Jaiswal, D.J. Wald
2012, Conference Paper, The 15th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering: September 24-28, 2012, Lisbon, Portugal
We describe the on-going developments of PAGER’s loss estimation models, and discuss value-added web content that can be generated related to exposure, damage and loss outputs for a variety of PAGER users. These developments include identifying vulnerable building types in any given area, estimating earthquake-induced damage and loss statistics by...
Common clay and shale
R.L. Virta
2012, Mining Engineering (64) 45-46
Common clay is a natural, fine-grained material composed of hydrous aluminum silicates. Shale is a laminated sedimentary rock formed by the consolidation of clay, mud and/or silt....
Ambystoma maculatum (spotted salamander). Reproduction
Brad M. Glorioso, Hardin Waddle, Jeromi Hefner
2012, Herpetological Review (43) 627-628
No abstract avaailable....
