A proposed origin for fossilized Pennsylvanian plant cuticles by pyrite oxidation (Sydney Coalfield, Nova Scotia, Canada)
E.L. Zodrow, Maria Mastalerz
2009, Bulletin of Geosciences (84) 227-240
Fossilized cuticles, though rare in the roof rocks of coal seam in the younger part of the Pennsylvanian Sydney Coalfield, Nova Scotia, represent nearly all of the major plant groups. Selected for investigation, by methods of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and elemental analysis, are fossilized cuticles (FCs) and cuticles...
Effect of time dependence on probabilistic seismic-hazard maps and deaggregation for the central Apennines, Italy
A. Akinci, F. Galadini, D. Pantosti, Mark D. Petersen, L. Malagnini, D. Perkins
2009, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (99) 585-610
We produce probabilistic seismic-hazard assessments for the central Apennines, Italy, using time-dependent models that are characterized using a Brownian passage time recurrence model. Using aperiodicity parameters, ?? of 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7, we examine the sensitivity of the probabilistic ground motion and its deaggregation to these parameters. For the seismic...
On selecting a prior for the precision parameter of Dirichlet process mixture models
R.M. Dorazio
2009, Journal of Statistical Planning and Inference (139) 3384-3390
In hierarchical mixture models the Dirichlet process is used to specify latent patterns of heterogeneity, particularly when the distribution of latent parameters is thought to be clustered (multimodal). The parameters of a Dirichlet process include a precision parameter ?? and a base probability measure G0. In problems where ?? is...
Predicting dietborne metal toxicity from metal influxes
M.-N. Croteau, S. N. Luoma
2009, Environmental Science & Technology (43) 4915-4921
Dietborne metal uptake prevails for many species in nature. However, the links between dietary metal exposure and toxicity are not well understood. Sources of uncertainty include the lack of suitable tracers to quantify exposure for metals such as copper, the difficulty to assess dietary processes such as food ingestion rate,...
Interactions between soil thermal and hydrological dynamics in the response of Alaska ecosystems to fire disturbance
Shuhua Yi, A. David McGuire, Jennifer Harden, Eric Kasischke, Kristen L. Manies, Larry Hinzman, Anna K. Liljedahl, J. Randerson, Heping Liu, Vladimir E. Romanovsky, Sergey S. Marchenko, Yongwon Kim
2009, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (114)
Soil temperature and moisture are important factors that control many ecosystem processes. However, interactions between soil thermal and hydrological processes are not adequately understood in cold regions, where the frozen soil, fire disturbance, and soil drainage play important roles in controlling interactions among these processes. These interactions were investigated with...
Thermal characteristics of amphibian microhabitats in a fire-disturbed landscape
B. R. Hossack, L.A. Eby, C.G. Guscio, P.S. Corn
2009, Forest Ecology and Management (258) 1414-1421
Disturbance has long been a central issue in amphibian conservation, often regarding negative effects of logging or other forest management activities, but some amphibians seem to prefer disturbed habitats. After documenting increased use of recently burned forests by boreal toads (Bufo boreas), we hypothesized that burned habitats provided improved thermal...
Intercomparison, interpretation, and assessment of spring phenology in North America estimated from remote sensing for 1982-2006
M.A. White, K. M. de Beurs, K. Didan, D.W. Inouye, A.D. Richardson, O.P. Jensen, J. O'Keefe, G. Zhang, R.R. Nemani, Leeuwen W.J.D. van W.J.D., Jesslyn F. Brown, A. de Wit, M. Schaepman, X. Lin, M. Dettinger, A.S. Bailey, J. Kimball, M.D. Schwartz, D. D. Baldocchi, J.T. Lee, W.K. Lauenroth
2009, Global Change Biology (15) 2335-2359
Shifts in the timing of spring phenology are a central feature of global change research. Long-term observations of plant phenology have been used to track vegetation responses to climate variability but are often limited to particular species and locations and may not represent synoptic patterns. Satellite remote sensing is instead...
Accretionary orogens through Earth history
Peter A. Cawood, A. Kroner, W.J. Collins, T.M. Kusky, Walter D. Mooney, B.F. Windley
2009, Geological Society Special Publication 1-36
Accretionary orogens form at intraoceanic and continental margin convergent plate boundaries. They include the supra-subduction zone forearc, magmatic arc and back-arc components. Accretionary orogens can be grouped into retreating and advancing types, based on their kinematic framework and resulting geological character. Retreating orogens (e.g. modern western Pacific) are undergoing long-term...
Satellite-marked waterfowl reveal migratory connection between H5N1 outbreak areas in China and Mongolia
D.J. Prosser, John Y. Takekawa, S. H. Newman, B. Yan, David C. Douglas, Y. Hou, Z. Xing, Dongxiao Zhang, T. Li, Y. Li, D. Zhao, W.M. Perry, E.C. Palm
2009, Ibis (151) 568-576
The role of wild birds in the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 has been greatly debated and remains an unresolved question. However, analyses to determine involvement of wild birds have been hindered by the lack of basic information on their movements in central Asia. Thus, we initiated a...
Effects of geolocation archival tags on reproduction and adult body mass of sooty shearwaters (Puffinus griseus)
J. Adams, D. Scott, S. McKechnie, G. Blackwell, S.A. Shaffer, H. Moller
2009, New Zealand Journal of Ecology (36) 355-366
We attached 11 g (1.4% body-mass equivalent) global location sensing (GLS) archival tag packages to tarsi of 25 breeding sooty shearwaters (Puffinus griseus, titi) on Whenua Hou (Codfish Island), New Zealand during the chick-rearing period in 2005. Compared with chicks reared by non-handled adults that did not carry tags, deployment...
Geomorphic controls on mercury accumulation in soils from a historically mined watershed, Central California Coast Range, USA
J.M. Holloway, M. B. Goldhaber, J.M. Morrison
2009, Applied Geochemistry (24) 1538-1548
Historic Hg mining in the Cache Creek watershed in the Central California Coast Range has contributed to the downstream transport of Hg to the San Francisco Bay-Delta. Different aspects of Hg mobilization in soils, including pedogenesis, fluvial redistribution of sediment, volatilization and eolian transport were considered. The greatest soil concentrations...
An Integrated Social, Economic, and Ecologic Conceptual (ISEEC) framework for considering rangeland sustainability
W.E. Fox, D.W. McCollum, J.E. Mitchell, L.E. Swanson, U.P. Kreuter, J.A. Tanaka, G.R. Evans, Heintz H. Theodore, R.P. Breckenridge, P.H. Geissler
2009, Society and Natural Resources (22) 593-606
Currently, there is no standard method to assess the complex systems in rangeland ecosystems. Decision makers need baselines to create a common language of current rangeland conditions and standards for continued rangeland assessment. The Sustainable Rangeland Roundtable (SRR), a group of private and public organizations and agencies, has created a...
Divergence in an obligate mutualism is not explained by divergent climatic factors
W. Godsoe, Espen Strand, C.I. Smith, J.B. Yoder, T. C. Esque, O. Pellmyr
2009, New Phytologist (183) 589-599
Adaptation to divergent environments creates and maintains biological diversity, but we know little about the importance of different agents of ecological divergence. Coevolution in obligate mutualisms has been hypothesized to drive divergence, but this contention has rarely been tested against alternative ecological explanations. Here, we use a well-established example of...
Gene-expression signatures of Atlantic salmon's plastic life cycle
N. Aubin-Horth, B. H. Letcher, H.A. Hofmann
2009, General and Comparative Endocrinology (163) 278-284
How genomic expression differs as a function of life history variation is largely unknown. Atlantic salmon exhibits extreme alternative life histories. We defined the gene-expression signatures of wild-caught salmon at two different life stages by comparing the brain expression profiles of mature sneaker males and immature males, and early migrants...
Time-series modeling of reservoir effects on river nitrate concentrations
A.L. Schoch, K. E. Schilling, K.-S. Chan
2009, Advances in Water Resources (32) 1197-1205
Saylorville Reservoir is a 24.1 km2 impoundment of the Des Moines River located approximately 10 km north of the City of Des Moines, Iowa, USA. Surface water from the Des Moines River used for drinking water supply is impaired for nitrate-nitrogen. Monthly mean nitrate concentration data collected upstream and downstream...
Decision making with epistemic uncertainty under safety constraints: An application to seismic design
D. Veneziano, A. Agarwal, E. Karaca
2009, Probabilistic Engineering Mechanics (24) 426-437
The problem of accounting for epistemic uncertainty in risk management decisions is conceptually straightforward, but is riddled with practical difficulties. Simple approximations are often used whereby future variations in epistemic uncertainty are ignored or worst-case scenarios are postulated. These strategies tend to produce sub-optimal decisions. We develop a general framework...
Coastal marsh response to historical and future sea-level acceleration
M. Kirwan, S. Temmerman
2009, Quaternary Science Reviews (28) 1801-1808
We consider the response of marshland to accelerations in the rate of sea-level rise by utilizing two previously described numerical models of marsh elevation. In a model designed for the Scheldt Estuary (Belgium-SW Netherlands), a feedback between inundation depth and suspended sediment concentrations allows marshes to quickly adjust their elevation...
Retention of riverine sediment and nutrient loads by coastal plain floodplains
G.B. Noe, C.R. Hupp
2009, Ecosystems (12) 728-746
Despite the frequent citation of wetlands as effective regulators of water quality, few quantitative estimates exist for their cumulative retention of the annual river loads of nutrients or sediments. Here we report measurements of sediment accretion and associated carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus accumulation as sedimentation over feldspar marker horizons placed...
Supply and dispersal of flood sediment from a steep, tropical watershed: Hanalei Bay, Kauai, Hawaii, USA
A.E. Draut, Michael H. Bothner, M.E. Field, Richard L. Reynolds, S.A. Cochran, J.B. Logan, C. D. Storlazzi, C.J. Berg
2009, Geological Society of America Bulletin (121) 574-585
In contrast to many small, mountainous watersheds in temperate coastal regions, where fluvial discharge and wave energy commonly coincide, deposition and reworking of tropical flood sediment can be seasonally decoupled, and this has important implications for coral-reef ecosystems. An understanding of the interaction between tropical flood sedimentation and wave climate...
A serological survey of infectious disease in Yellowstone National Park's canid community
E.S. Almberg, L.D. Mech, D.W. Smith, J.W. Sheldon, R.L. Crabtree
2009, PLoS ONE (4)
Background: Gray wolves (Canis lupus) were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park (YNP) after a >70 year absence, and as part of recovery efforts, the population has been closely monitored. In 1999 and 2005, pup survival was significantly reduced, suggestive of disease outbreaks. Methodology/Principal Findings: We analyzed sympatric wolf, coyote (Canis...
Identifying pathways and processes affecting nitrate and orthophosphate inputs to streams in agricultural watersheds
A. J. Tesoriero, J.H. Duff, D.M. Wolock, N.E. Spahr, J.E. Almendinger
2009, Journal of Environmental Quality (38) 1892-1900
Understanding nutrient pathways to streams will improve nutrient management strategies and estimates of the time lag between when changes in land use practices occur and when water quality effects that result from these changes are observed. Nitrate and orthophosphate (OP) concentrations in several environmental compartments were examined in watersheds having...
The Lake Huron pelagic fish community: persistent spatial pattern along biomass and species composition gradients
D.M. Warner, J.S. Schaeffer, T. P. O’Brien
2009, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (66) 1199-1215
Spatial patterns in the biomass of pelagic fish in Lake Huron have persisted over 10 years even though biomass decreased 86% and the fish community shifted from dominance by non-native species (rainbow smelt, Osmerus mordax) to dominance by native species (bloater, Coregonus hoyi). Based on multivariate analyses of acoustic biomass...
A critical evaluation of crustal dehydration as the cause of an overpressured and weak San Andreas Fault
P.M. Fulton, D.M. Saffer, B.A. Bekins
2009, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (284) 447-454
Many plate boundary faults, including the San Andreas Fault, appear to slip at unexpectedly low shear stress. One long-standing explanation for a "weak" San Andreas Fault is that fluid release by dehydration reactions during regional metamorphism generates elevated fluid pressures that are localized within the fault, reducing the effective normal...
A grid-doubling finite-element technique for calculating dynamic three-dimensional spontaneous rupture on an earthquake fault
Michael Barall
2009, Geophysical Journal International (178) 845-859
We present a new finite-element technique for calculating dynamic 3-D spontaneous rupture on an earthquake fault, which can reduce the required computational resources by a factor of six or more, without loss of accuracy. The grid-doubling technique employs small cells in a thin layer surrounding the fault. The remainder of...
Along-Arc and Back-Arc Attenuation, Site Response, and Source Spectrum for the Intermediate-Depth 8 January 2006 M 6.7 Kythera, Greece, Earthquake
David M. Boore, A.A. Skarlatoudis, B.N. Margaris, B.P. Costas, C. Ventouzi
2009, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (99) 2410-2434
An M 6.7 intermediate-depth (66 km), in-slab earthquake occurring near the island of Kythera in Greece on 8 January 2006 was well recorded on networks of stations equipped with acceleration sensors and with broadband velocity sensors. All data were recorded digitally using recording instruments with resolutions ranging from almost 11...
