Sex-related differences in habitat associations of wintering American Kestrels in California's Central Valley
E.R. Pandolfino, M.P. Herzog, Z. Smith
2011, Journal of Raptor Research (45) 236-243
We used roadside survey data collected from 19 routes over three consecutive winters from 2007–08 to 2009–10 to compare habitat associations of male and female American Kestrels (Falco sparverius) in the Central Valley of California to determine if segregation by sex was evident across this region. As a species,...
Depositional and diagenetic variability within the Cambrian Mount Simon Sandstone: Implications for carbon dioxide sequestration
B.B. Bowen, R.I. Ochoa, N.D. Wilkens, J. Brophy, T.R. Lovell, N. Fischietto, C.R. Medina, J.A. Rupp
2011, Environmental Geosciences (18) 69-89
The Cambrian Mount Simon Sandstone is the major target reservoir for ongoing geologic carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration demonstrations throughout the midwest United States. The potential CO2 reservoir capacity, reactivity, and ultimate fate of injected CO2 depend on textural and compositional properties determined by depositional and diagenetic histories that vary vertically and laterally...
Ecoregional differences in late-20th-century land-use and land-cover change in the U.S. northern great plains
Roger F. Auch, K. L. Sayler, D.E. Napton, Janis L. Taylor, M.S. Brooks
2011, Great Plains Research (21) 231-243
Land-cover and land-use change usually results from a combination of anthropogenic drivers and biophysical conditions found across multiple scales, ranging from parcel to regional levels. A group of four Level 111 ecoregions located in the U.S. northern Great Plains is used to demonstrate the similarities and differences in land change...
Channel evolution on the dammed Elwha River, Washington, USA
A.E. Draut, J.B. Logan, M. C. Mastin
2011, Geomorphology (127) 71-87
Like many rivers in the western U.S., the Elwha River, Washington, has changed substantially over the past century in response to natural and human forcing. The lower river is affected by two upstream dams that are slated for removal as part of a major river restoration effort. In preparation for...
Decreasing prevalence of brucellosis in red deer through efforts to control disease in livestock
E. Serrano, P.C. Cross, M. Beneria, A. Ficapal, J. Curia, X. Marco, S. Lavin, I. Marco
2011, Epidemiology and Infection (139) 1626-1630
When a pathogen infects a number of different hosts, the process of determining the relative importance of each host species to the persistence of the pathogen is often complex. Removal of a host species is a potential but rarely possible way of discovering the importance of that species to the...
Redefinition of the crater-density and absolute-age boundaries for the chronostratigraphic system of Mars
S.C. Werner, K. L. Tanaka
2011, Icarus (215) 603-607
For the boundaries of each chronostratigraphic epoch on Mars, we present systematically derived crater-size frequencies based on crater counts of geologic referent surfaces and three proposed “standard” crater size–frequency production distributions as defined by (a) a simple −2 power law, (b) Neukum and Ivanov, (c) Hartmann. In turn, these crater...
Zircon from historic eruptions in Iceland: Reconstructing storage and evolution of silicic magmas
T.L. Carley, C. F. Miller, J. L. Wooden, I.N. Bindeman, A. P. Barth
2011, Mineralogy and Petrology (102) 135-161
Zoning patterns, U-Th disequilibria ages, and elemental compositions of zircon from eruptions of Askja (1875 AD), Hekla (1158 AD), Öræfajökull (1362 AD) and Torfajökull (1477 AD, 871 AD, 3100 BP, 7500 BP) provide insights into the complex, extended, histories of silicic magmatic systems in Iceland. Zircon compositions, which are correlated...
Summary of intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting detection probability of marsh birds
Courtney J. Conway, J.P. Gibbs
2011, Wetlands (31) 403-411
Many species of marsh birds (rails, bitterns, grebes, etc.) rely exclusively on emergent marsh vegetation for all phases of their life cycle, and many organizations have become concerned about the status and persistence of this group of birds. Yet, marsh birds are notoriously difficult to monitor due to their secretive...
Sphene and zircon in the Highland Range volcanic sequence (Miocene, southern Nevada, USA): Elemental partitioning, phase relations, and influence on evolution of silicic magma
L.L. Colombini, C. F. Miller, G.A.R. Gualda, J. L. Wooden, J.S. Miller
2011, Mineralogy and Petrology (102) 29-50
Sphene is prominent in Miocene plutonic rocks ranging from diorite to granite in southern Nevada, USA, but it is restricted to rhyolites in coeval volcanic sequences. In the Highland Range volcanic sequence, sphene appears as a phenocryst only in the most evolved rocks (72–77 mass% SiO2; matrix glass 77–78 mass%...
College and university environmental programs as a policy problem (Part 1): Integrating Knowledge, education, and action for a better world?
S.G. Clark, M.B. Rutherford, M.R. Auer, D.N. Cherney, R.L. Wallace, David J. Mattson, D. A. Clark, L. Foote, N. Krogman, P. Wilshusen, T. Steelman
2011, Environmental Management (47) 701-715
The environmental sciences/studies movement, with more than 1000 programs at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, is unified by a common interest—ameliorating environmental problems through empirical enquiry and analytic judgment. Unfortunately, environmental programs have struggled in their efforts to integrate knowledge across disciplines and educate students to...
Widespread inclination shallowing in Permian and Triassic paleomagnetic data from Laurentia: Support from new paleomagnetic data from Middle Permian shallow intrusions in southern Illinois (USA) and virtual geomagnetic pole distributions
M. Domeier, R. Van Der Voo, F.B. Denny
2011, Tectonophysics (511) 38-52
Recent paleomagnetic work has highlighted a common and shallow inclination bias in continental redbeds. The Permian and Triassic paleomagnetic records from Laurentia are almost entirely derived from such sedimentary rocks, so a pervasive inclination error will expectedly bias the apparent polar wander path of Laurentia in a significant way. The...
Recent storm and tsunami coarse-clast deposit characteristics, southeast Hawai'i
B. M. Richmond, Sebastian Watt, M. Buckley, B. E. Jaffe, G. Gelfenbaum, R.A. Morton
2011, Marine Geology (283) 79-89
Deposits formed by extreme waves can be useful in elucidating the type and characteristics of the depositional event. The study area on the southeast coast of the island of Hawaiʻi is characterized by the presence of geologically young basalts of known age that are mantled by recent wave-derived sedimentary deposits....
A distribution-based parameterization for improved tomographic imaging of solute plumes
Adam Pidlisecky, K. Singha, F. D. Day-Lewis
2011, Geophysical Journal International (187) 214-224
Difference geophysical tomography (e.g. radar, resistivity and seismic) is used increasingly for imaging fluid flow and mass transport associated with natural and engineered hydrologic phenomena, including tracer experiments, in situ remediation and aquifer storage and recovery. Tomographic data are collected over time, inverted and differenced against a background image to produce ‘snapshots’...
Alphacoronaviruses in new World bats: Prevalence, persistence, phylogeny, and potential for interaction with humans
C. Osborne, P.M. Cryan, T. J. O'Shea, L.M. Oko, C. Ndaluka, C.H. Calisher, A.D. Berglund, M.L. Klavetter, R. A. Bowen, K.V. Holmes, S.R. Dominguez
2011, PLoS ONE (6) 1-11
Bats are reservoirs for many different coronaviruses (CoVs) as well as many other important zoonotic viruses. We sampled feces and/or anal swabs of 1,044 insectivorous bats of 2 families and 17 species from 21 different locations within Colorado from 2007 to 2009. We detected alphacoronavirus RNA in bats of 4...
Geographic profiling to assess the risk of rare plant poaching in natural areas
J.A. Young, F.T. Van Manen, C.A. Thatcher
2011, Environmental Management (48) 577-587
We demonstrate the use of an expert-assisted spatial model to examine geographic factors influencing the poaching risk of a rare plant (American ginseng, Panax quinquefolius L.) in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, USA. Following principles of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), we identified a hierarchy of 11 geographic factors deemed important...
Habitat use of nesting and brood-rearing King Rails in the Illinois and Upper Mississippi River Valleys
A.J. Darrah, D.G. Krementz
2011, Waterbirds (34) 160-167
Most studies of King Rail (Rallus elegans) have investigated habitat use during the nesting season, while few comparisons have been made between the nesting and brood-rearing seasons. King Rails were located during the nesting season in Missouri using repeated surveys with call playback, and systematic searches for broods were conducted...
Comparison of ground motions from hybrid simulations to nga prediction equations
L.M. Star, J.P. Stewart, R.W. Graves
2011, Earthquake Spectra (27) 331-350
We compare simulated motions for a Mw 7.8 rupture scenario on the San Andreas Fault known as the ShakeOut event, two permutations with different hypocenter locations, and a Mw 7.15 Puente Hills blind thrust scenario, to median and dispersion predictions from empirical NGA ground motion prediction equations. We find the...
Real-time monitoring of CO2 storage sites: Application to Illinois Basin-Decatur Project
G. Picard, T. Berard, E. Chabora, S. Marsteller, S. Greenberg, R.J. Finley, U. Rinck, R. Greenaway, C. Champagnon, J. Davard
2011, Energy Procedia (4) 5594-5598
Optimization of carbon dioxide (CO2) storage operations for efficiency and safety requires use of monitoring techniques and implementation of control protocols. The monitoring techniques consist of permanent sensors and tools deployed for measurement campaigns. Large amounts of data are thus generated. These data must be managed and integrated for interpretation...
Magnetic susceptibility as a proxy for investigating microbially mediated iron reduction
F.M. Mewafy, E.A. Atekwana, D.D. Werkema, L.D. Slater, D. Ntarlagiannis, A. Revil, M. Skold, Geoffrey N. Delin
2011, Geophysical Research Letters (38)
We investigated magnetic susceptibility (MS) variations in hydrocarbon contaminated sediments. Our objective was to determine if MS can be used as an intrinsic bioremediation indicator due to the activity of iron-reducing bacteria. A contaminated and an uncontaminated core were retrieved from a site contaminated with crude oil near Bemidji, Minnesota...
Application of the CO2-PENS risk analysis tool to the Rock Springs Uplift, Wyoming
P.H. Stauffer, R.J. Pawar, R.C. Surdam, Z. Jiao, H. Deng, B.C. Lettelier, H.S. Viswanathan, D.L. Sanzo, G. N. Keating
2011, Energy Procedia (4) 4084-4091
We describe preliminary application of the CO2-PENS performance and risk analysis tool to a planned geologic CO2 sequestration demonstration project in the Rock Springs Uplift (RSU), located in south western Wyoming. We use data from the RSU to populate CO2-PENS, an evolving system-level modeling tool developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory....
Home range dynamics, habitat selection, and survival of Greater Roadrunners
S.W. Kelley, D. Ransom Jr., J.A. Butcher, G.G. Schulz, B.W. Surber, W.E. Pinchak, C.A. Santamaria, L.A. Hurtado
2011, Journal of Field Ornithology (82) 165-174
Greater Roadrunners (Geococcyx californianus) are common, poorly studied birds of arid and semi-arid ecosystems in the southwestern United States. Conservation of this avian predator requires a detailed understanding of their movements and spatial requirements that is currently lacking. From 2006 to 2009, we quantified home-range and core area sizes and...
OSL dating of a Pleistocene maar: Birket Ram, the Golan heights
U. Shaanan, N. Porat, O. Navon, R. Weinberger, A. Calvert, Y. Weinstein
2011, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (201) 397-403
Direct dating of maars and their phreatomagmatic deposits is difficult due to the dominance of lithic (host rock) fragments and glassy particles of the juvenile magma. In this paper we demonstrate that optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating can be successfully used for age determination of phreatomagmatic deposits. We studied the...
Economic impacts of the ShakeOut scenario
A. Rose, D. Wei, A. Wein
2011, Earthquake Spectra (27) 539-557
For the ShakeOut Earthquake Scenario, we estimate $68 billion in direct and indirect business interruption (BI) and $11 billion in related costs in addition to the $113 billion in property damage in an eight-county Southern California region. The modeled conduits of shock to the economy are property damage and lifeline...
Alteration of streamflow magnitudes and potential ecological consequences: A multiregional assessment
Daren M. Carlisle, David M. Wolock, Michael R. Meador
2011, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (9) 264-270
Human impacts on watershed hydrology are widespread in the US, but the prevalence and severity of stream‐flow alteration and its potential ecological consequences have not been quantified on a national scale. We assessed streamflow alteration at 2888 streamflow monitoring sites throughout the conterminous US. The magnitudes of mean annual (1980–2007)...
Short-term effects of burn season on flowering phenology of savanna plants
N.B. Pavlovic, S. A. Leicht-Young, R. Grundel
2011, Plant Ecology (212) 611-625
We examined the effect of season of burn on flowering phenology of groundlayer species, in the year following burns, in a mesic-sand Midwestern oak savanna. Burn treatments were fall, early-season, growing-season, late-season, and 1 or 5 years after a prior early-season wildfire. For these treatments, we compared the number of...
