Reassessment of stable continental regions of Southeast Asia
R. L. Wheeler
2011, Seismological Research Letters (82) 971-983
Probabilistic seismic-hazard assessments of the central and eastern United States (CEUS) require estimates of the size of the largest possible earthquake (Mmax). In most of the CEUS, sparse historical seismicity does not provide a record of moderate and large earthquakes that is sufficient to constrain Mmax. One remedy for the...
Distribution of lake sturgeon in New York: 11 years of restoration management
Marc Chalupnicki, Dawn E. Dittman, D.M. Carlson
2011, American Midland Naturalist (165) 364-371
Lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) are native within the Lake Ontario drainage basin and listed as threatened by New York State. In 1995 the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) initiated restoration management of lake sturgeon. This management included both protection of extant populations and stocking of uninhabited...
Occupancy and abundance of wintering birds in a dynamic agricultural landscape
M.W. Miller, E.V. Pearlstine, Robert Dorazio, F.J. Mazzotti
2011, Journal of Wildlife Management (75) 751-761
Effective monitoring programs are designed to track changes in the distribution, occurrence, and abundance of species. We developed an extension of Royle and Kéry's (2007) single species model to estimate simultaneously temporal changes in probabilities of detection, occupancy, colonization, extinction, and species turnover using data on calling anuran amphibians, collected...
Using spatiotemporal models and distance sampling to map the space use and abundance of newly metamorphosed Western Toads (Anaxyrus boreas)
Nathan D. Chelgren, Barbara Samora, M. J. Adams, Brome McCreary
2011, Herpetological Conservation and Biology (6) 175-190
High variability in abundance, cryptic coloration, and small body size of newly metamorphosed anurans have limited demographic studies of this life-history stage. We used line-transect distance sampling and Bayesian methods to estimate the abundance and spatial distribution of newly metamorphosed Western Toads (Anaxyrus boreas) in terrestrial habitat surrounding a montane...
Sequence stratigraphy and a revised sea-level curve for the Middle Devonian of eastern North America
Carlton E. Brett, G.C. Baird, A.J. Bartholomew, M.K. DeSantis, C. A. Ver Straeten
2011, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (304) 21-53
The well-exposed Middle Devonian rocks of the Appalachian foreland basin (Onondaga Formation; Hamilton Group, Tully Formation, and the Genesee Group of New York State) preserve one of the most detailed records of high-order sea-level oscillation cycles for this time period in the world. Detailed examination of coeval units in distal...
Simulating the potential effects of climate change in two Colorado basins and at two Colorado ski areas
William Battaglin, Lauren E. Hay, Steve Markstrom
2011, Earth Interactions (15) 1-23
The mountainous areas of Colorado are used for tourism and recreation, and they provide water storage and supply for municipalities, industries, and agriculture. Recent studies suggest that water supply and tourist industries such as skiing are at risk from climate change. In this study, a distributed-parameter watershed model, the Precipitation-Runoff...
Estimating temporal trend in the presence of spatial complexity: A Bayesian hierarchical model for a wetland plant population undergoing restoration
T.J. Rodhouse, K.M. Irvine, K.T. Vierling, L.A. Vierling
2011, PLoS ONE (6)
Monitoring programs that evaluate restoration and inform adaptive management are important for addressing environmental degradation. These efforts may be well served by spatially explicit hierarchical approaches to modeling because of unavoidable spatial structure inherited from past land use patterns and other factors. We developed Bayesian hierarchical models to estimate trends...
Enhancement of long period components of recorded and synthetic ground motions using InSAR
J.A. Abell, J. Carlos de la Llera, Charles W. Wicks Jr.
2011, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering (31) 817-829
Tall buildings and flexible structures require a better characterization of long period ground motion spectra than the one provided by current seismic building codes. Motivated by that, a methodology is proposed and tested to improve recorded and synthetic ground motions which are consistent with the observed co-seismic displacement field...
Spatial variation in transient water table responses: Differences between an upper and lower hillslope zone
D.R.W. Haught, H. J. Van Meerveld
2011, Hydrological Processes (25) 3866-3877
To better understand storage-runoff dynamics, transient groundwater responses were examined in one of the steep watersheds in British Columbia's coastal mountains. Streamflow and piezometric data were collected for 1year to determine the spatial and temporal relations between transient groundwater levels and discharge. Correlations between piezometer responses and lag-time analysis were...
Study design and sampling intensity for demographic analyses of bear populations
R.B. Harris, C.C. Schwartz, R.D. Mace, M.A. Haroldson
2011, Ursus (22) 24-36
The rate of population change through time (??) is a fundamental element of a wildlife population's conservation status, yet estimating it with acceptable precision for bears is difficult. For studies that follow known (usually marked) bears, ?? can be estimated during some defined time by applying either life-table or matrix...
Balancing energy development and conservation: A method utilizing species distribution models
Catherine S. Jarnevich, M.K. Laubhan
2011, Environmental Management (47) 926-936
Alternative energy development is increasing, potentially leading to negative impacts on wildlife populations already stressed by other factors. Resource managers require a scientifically based methodology to balance energy development and species conservation, so we investigated modeling habitat suitability using Maximum Entropy to develop maps that could be used with other...
Mechanism of the 1996-97 non-eruptive volcano-tectonic earthquake swarm at Iliamna Volcano, Alaska
Diana Roman, John A. Power
2011, Bulletin of Volcanology (73) 143-153
A significant number of volcano-tectonic (VT) earthquake swarms, some of which are accompanied by ground deformation and/or volcanic gas emissions, do not culminate in an eruption. These swarms are often thought to represent stalled intrusions of magma into the mid- or shallow-level crust. Real-time assessment of the likelihood that a...
Multimodel inference and adaptive management
S.E. Rehme, L.A. Powell, Craig R. Allen
2011, Journal of Environmental Management (92) 1360-1364
Ecology is an inherently complex science coping with correlated variables, nonlinear interactions and multiple scales of pattern and process, making it difficult for experiments to result in clear, strong inference. Natural resource managers, policy makers, and stakeholders rely on science to provide timely and accurate management recommendations. However, the time...
Rapid diagnosis of avian influenza virus in wild birds: Use of a portable rRT-PCR and freeze-dried reagents in the field
John Y. Takekawa, N.J. Hill, A.K. Schultz, S. A. Iverson, C.J. Cardona, W.M. Boyce, J.P. Dudley
2011, Journal of Visualized Experiments (54)
Wild birds have been implicated in the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) of the H5N1 subtype, prompting surveillance along migratory flyways. Sampling of wild birds for avian influenza virus (AIV) is often conducted in remote regions, but results are often delayed because of the need to transport samples...
Resource selection by black-footed ferrets in South Dakota and Montana
D.S. Jachowski, J.J. Millspaugh, E. Biggins, T.M. Livieri, Marc R. Matchett, C.D. Rittenhouse
2011, Natural Areas Journal (31) 218-225
The black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes), once extinct in the wild, remains one of the most critically endangered mammals in North America despite 18 years of reintroduction attempts. Because black-footed ferrets are specialized predators of prairie dogs (Cynomys sp.), a better understanding of how black-footed ferrets select resources might provide insight...
Occurrence of azoxystrobin, propiconazole, and selected other fungicides in US streams, 2005-2006
William A. Battaglin, Mark W. Sandstrom, Kathryn Kuivila, Dana W. Kolpin, Michael T. Meyer
2011, Water, Air, & Soil Pollution (218) 307-322
Fungicides are used to prevent foliar diseases on a wide range of vegetable, field, fruit, and ornamental crops. They are generally more effective as protective rather than curative treatments, and hence tend to be applied before infections take place. Less than 1% of US soybeans were treated with a fungicide...
Role of the fish astyanax aeneus (Characidae) as a keystone nutrient recycler in low-nutrient neotropical streams
G. E. Small, C. M. Pringle, M. Pyron, J.H. Duff
2011, Ecology (92) 386-397
Nutrient recycling by animals is a potentially important biogeochemical process in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Stoichiometric traits of individual species may result in some taxa playing disproportionately important roles in the recycling of nutrients relative to their biomass, acting as keystone nutrient recyclers. We examined factors controlling the relative...
Tracking solutes and water from subsurface drip irrigation application of coalbed methane-produced waters, Powder River Basin, Wyoming
Mark A. Engle, Carleton R. Bern, Richard W. Healy, J.I. Sams, J.W. Zupancic, K.T. Schroeder
2011, Environmental Geosciences (18) 169-187
One method to beneficially use water produced from coalbed methane (CBM) extraction is subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) of croplands. In SDI systems, treated CBM water (injectate) is supplied to the soil at depth, with the purpose of preventing the buildup of detrimental salts near the surface. The technology is...
Formation pressure testing at the Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well, Alaska North Slope: Operational summary, history matching, and interpretations
B. Anderson, S. Hancock, S. Wilson, C. Enger, Timothy S. Collett, R. Boswell, R. Hunter
2011, Marine and Petroleum Geology (28) 478-492
In February 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy, BP Exploration (Alaska), and the U.S. Geological Survey, collected open-hole pressure-response data, as well as gas and water sample collection, in a gas hydrate reservoir (the BPXA-DOE-USGS Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well) using Schlumberger's Modular Dynamics Formation Tester (MDT)...
An Analysis of the Published Mineral Resource Estimates of the Haji-Gak Iron Deposit, Afghanistan
David M. Sutphin, Karine Renaud, Lawrence J. Drew
2011, Natural Resources Research (20) 329-353
The Haji-Gak iron deposit of eastern Bamyan Province, eastern Afghanistan, was studied extensively and resource calculations were made in the 1960s by Afghan and Russian geologists. Recalculation of the resource estimates verifies the original estimates for categories A (in-place resources known in detail), B (in-place resources known in moderate detail),...
The effects of isolation on the demography and genetic diversity of long-lived species: Implications for conservation and management of the gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus)
J.R. Ennen, R.D. Birkhead, B.R. Kreiser, D.L. Gaillard, C.P. Qualls, J.E. Lovich
2011, Herpetological Conservation and Biology (6) 202-214
In the southeastern United States, habitat loss has fragmented the landscape and isolated many populations of this region's flora and fauna, which has presumably resulted in smaller population sizes and reduced levels of genetic diversity. For example, forestry practices and anthropogenic disturbances are both cited as factors fragmenting the once...
New information on the braincase of the North American therizinosaurian (Theropoda, Maniraptora) Falcarius utahensis
David Smith, Lindsay E. Zanno, R. Kent Sanders, Donald D. Deblieux, James I. Kirkland
2011, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology (31) 387-404
Many disarticulated bones from multiple individuals of a primitive therizinosaurian, referred to Falcarius utahensis, were found in the paucispecific Crystal Geyser bonebed in the Lower Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation of eastern Utah. To date, more than 2000 specimens from this species have been excavated. Included in this collection are two partial...
Columbus crater and other possible groundwater-fed paleolakes of Terra Sirenum, Mars
J.J. Wray, R.E. Milliken, Colin M. Dundas, Gregg A. Swayze, J. C. Andrews-Hanna, A.M. Baldridge, M. Chojnacki, J.L. Bishop, B.L. Ehlmann, S.L. Murchie, Roger N. Clark, F.P. Seelos, L.L. Tornabene, S. W. Squyres
2011, Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets (116)
Columbus crater in the Terra Sirenum region of the Martian southern highlands contains light‐toned layered deposits with interbedded sulfate and phyllosilicate minerals, a rare occurrence on Mars. Here we investigate in detail the morphology, thermophysical properties, mineralogy, and stratigraphy of these deposits; explore their regional context; and interpret the crater's...
An analysis of modern pollen rain from the Maya lowlands of northern Belize
T. Bhattacharya, T. Beach, David B. Wahl
2011, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology (164) 109-120
In the lowland Maya area, pollen records provide important insights into the impact of past human populations and climate change on tropical ecosystems. Despite a long history of regional paleoecological research, few studies have characterized the palynological signatures of lowland ecosystems, a fact which lowers confidence in ecological inferences made...
An introduction to the practical and ethical perspectives on the need to advance and standardize the intracoelomic surgical implantation of electronic tags in fish
R.S. Brown, M.B. Eppard, K.J. Murchie, Jennifer L. Nielsen, S. J. Cooke
2011, Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries (21) 1-9
The intracoelomic surgical implantation of electronic tags (including radio and acoustic telemetry transmitters, passive integrated transponders and archival biologgers) is frequently used for conducting studies on fish. Electronic tagging studies provide information on the spatial ecology, behavior and survival of fish in marine and freshwater systems. However, any surgical procedure,...
