Spatial interactions of yarded White-tailed Deer, Odocoileus virginianus
M.E. Nelson, G.A. Sargeant
2008, Canadian Field-Naturalist (122) 221-225
We examined the spatial interactions of nine female White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in two deeryards (winter aggregations) in northeastern Minnesota during February-April 1999. Global positioning system (GPS) collars yielded seven pair-wise comparisons of deer that were located at the same time (???1 minute apart) and mat used overlapping areas. Deer...
Assessing deep-seated landslide susceptibility using 3-D groundwater and slope-stability analyses, southwestern Seattle, Washington
Dianne L. Brien, Mark E. Reid
2008, Reviews in Engineering Geology (20) 83-101
In Seattle, Washington, deep-seated landslides on bluffs along Puget Sound have historically caused extensive damage to land and structures. These large failures are controlled by three-dimensional (3-D) variations in strength and pore-water pressures. We assess the slope stability of part of southwestern Seattle using a 3-D limit-equilibrium analysis coupled with...
A prototype system for forecasting landslides in the Seattle, Washington, area
Alan F. Chleborad, Rex L. Baum, Jonathan W. Godt, Philip S. Powers
2008, Reviews in Engineering Geology (20) 103-120
Empirical rainfall thresholds and related information form the basis of a prototype system for forecasting landslides in the Seattle area. The forecasts are tied to four alert levels, and a decision tree guides the use of thresholds to determine the appropriate level. From analysis of historical landslide data, we developed...
Modeling rainfall conditions for shallow landsliding in Seattle, Washington
Jonathan W. Godt, William H. Schulz, Rex L. Baum, William Z. Savage
2008, Reviews in Engineering Geology (20) 137-152
We describe the results from an application of a distributed, transient infiltration–slope-stability model for an 18 km2 area of southwestern Seattle, Washington, USA. The model (TRIGRS) combines an infinite slope-stability calculation and an analytic, one-dimensional solution for pore-pressure diffusion in a soil layer of finite depth in response to time-varying rainfall. The...
Global change and biological soil crusts: Effects of ultraviolet augmentation under altered precipitation regimes and nitrogen additions
J. Belnap, S. L. Phillips, S. Flint, J. Money, M. Caldwell
2008, Global Change Biology (14) 670-686
Biological soil crusts (BSCs), a consortium of cyanobacteria, lichens, and mosses, are essential in most dryland ecosystems. As these organisms are relatively immobile and occur on the soil surface, they are exposed to high levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition, rising temperatures, and alterations in precipitation...
Non-spore forming eubacteria isolated at an altitude of 20,000 m in Earth's atmosphere: extended incubation periods needed for culture-based assays
Dale W. Griffin
2008, Aerobiologia (24) 19-25
On 13 August 2004, an atmospheric sample was collected at an altitude of 20,000 m along a west to east transect over the continental United States by NASA’s Stratospheric and Cosmic Dust Program. This sample was then shipped to the US Geological Survey’s Global Desert Dust program for microbiological analyses....
Studies on geological background and source of fluorine in drinking water in the North China Plate fluorosis areas
K. Luo, F. Feng, H. Li, C. L. Chou, Z. Feng, D. Yunshe
2008, Toxicological and Environmental Chemistry (90) 237-246
Endemic fluorosis in northern China is usually produced by high fluorine (F) content in drinking water. Thirty-one samples of drinking waters, mainly well waters and nearly 200 samples of rocks, loess, and coal were analyzed for F content using the combustion hydrolysis-fluoride-ion selective electrode (ISE) method. The geologic cross sections...
Congruent population structure inferred from dispersal behaviour and intensive genetic surveys of the threatened Florida scrub-jay (Aphelocoma cœrulescens)
A. Coulon, J.W. Fitzpatrick, R. Bowman, B.M. Stith, C.A. Makarewich, L.M. Stenzler, I.J. Lovette
2008, Molecular Ecology (17) 1685-1701
The delimitation of populations, defined as groups of individuals linked by gene flow, is possible by the analysis of genetic markers and also by spatial models based on dispersal probabilities across a landscape. We combined these two complimentary methods to define the spatial pattern of genetic structure among remaining populations...
Ground-motion modeling of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, part I: Validation using the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
Brad T. Aagaard, T.M. Brocher, D. Dolenc, D. Dreger, R.W. Graves, S. Harmsen, S. Hartzell, S. Larsen, M.L. Zoback
2008, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (98) 989-1011
We compute ground motions for the Beroza (1991) and Wald et al. (1991) source models of the 1989 magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake using four different wave-propagation codes and recently developed 3D geologic and seismic velocity models. In preparation for modeling the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, we use this well-recorded...
Multi-scale responses of vegetation to removal of horse grazing from Great Basin (USA) mountain ranges
E.A. Beever, R.J. Tausch, W.E. Thogmartin
2008, Plant Ecology (196) 163-184
Although free-roaming equids occur on all of the world's continents except Antarctica, very few studies (and none in the Great Basin, USA) have either investigated their grazing effects on vegetation at more than one spatial scale or compared characteristics of areas from which grazing has been removed to those of...
Comparison of rainbow smelt age estimates from fin rays and otoliths
M. G. Walsh, A.P. Maloy, T. P. O’Brien
2008, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (28) 42-49
Rainbow smelt Osmerus mordax, although nonnative, are an important component of the offshore food web in the Laurentian Great Lakes. In Lake Ontario, we estimate ages of rainbow smelt annually to study population dynamics such as year-class strength and age-specific growth and mortality. Since the early 1980s, we have used...
Analysis of an unconfined aquifer subject to asynchronous dual-tide propagation
K. Rotzoll, A. I. El-Kadi, S. B. Gingerich
2008, Ground Water (46) 239-250
Most published solutions for aquifer responses to ocean tides focus on the one-sided attenuation of the signal as it propagates inland. However, island aquifers experience periodic forcing from the entire coast, which can lead to integrated effects of different tidal signals, especially on narrow high-permeability islands. In general, studies disregard...
A review of the endemic Hawaiian Drosophilidae and their host plants
K.N. Magnacca, D. Foote, P. M. O’Grady
2008, Zootaxa 1-58
The Hawaiian Drosophilidae is one of the best examples of rapid speciation in nature. Nearly 1,000 species of endemic drosophilids have evolved in situ in Hawaii since a single colonist arrived over 25 million years ago. A number of mechanisms, including ecological adaptation, sexual selection, and geographic isolation, have been...
Observations of mixed-aged litters in brown bears
J. E. Swenson, M.A. Haroldson
2008, Ursus (19) 73-79
We report on 3 cases of mixed-aged litters (young born in different years) in brown bears (Ursus arctos); in 1 instance the cub-of-the-year (hereafter called cubs) died in the den. Two cases occurred in Sweden after mothers were separated from their young during the breeding season. In one, the mother...
Sensitivity of summer climate to anthropogenic land-cover change over the Greater Phoenix, AZ, region
M. Georgescu, G. Miguez-Macho, L. T. Steyaert, C.P. Weaver
2008, Journal of Arid Environments (72) 1358-1373
This work evaluates the first-order effect of land-use/land-cover change (LULCC) on the summer climate of one of the nation's most rapidly expanding metropolitan complexes, the Greater Phoenix, AZ, region. High-resolution-2-km grid spacing-Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) simulations of three "wet" and three "dry" summers were carried out for two different...
Rethinking avian response to Tamarix on the lower Colorado River: A threshold hypothesis
Charles van Riper III, K.L. Paxton, C. O'brien, P.B. Shafroth, L.J. McGrath
2008, Restoration Ecology (16) 155-167
Many of the world's large river systems have been greatly altered in the past century due to river regulation, agriculture, and invasion of introduced Tamarix spp. (saltcedar, tamarisk). These riverine ecosystems are known to provide important habitat for avian communities, but information on responses of birds to differing levels of...
Chronic wasting disease in a Wisconsin white-tailed deer farm
D.P. Keane, D.J. Barr, P.N. Bochsler, S.M. Hall, T. Gidlewski, K. I. O’Rourke, T.R. Spraker, M.D. Samuel
2008, Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation (20) 698-703
In September 2002, chronic wasting disease (CWD), a prion disorder of captive and wild cervids, was diagnosed in a white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) from a captive farm in Wisconsin. The facility was subsequently quarantined, and in January 2006 the remaining 76 deer were depopulated. Sixty animals (79%) were found to...
Experience preferences as mediators of the wildlife related recreation participation: Place attachment relationship
D.H. Anderson, D.C. Fulton
2008, Human Dimensions of Wildlife (13) 73-88
The human dimensions literature challenges the notion that settings are simply features and attributes that can be manipulated to satisfy public demand; instead, people view specific recreation settings as unique kinds of places. Land managers provide recreation experience opportunities, but most conventional management frameworks do not allow managers to address...
Compound-specific isotope analysis: Questioning the origins of a trichloroethene plume
S. M. Eberts, C. Braun, S. Jones
2008, Environmental Forensics (9) 85-95
Stable carbon isotope ratios of trichloroethene (TCE), cis-1,2- dichloroethene, and trans-1,2-dichloroethene were determined by use of gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectroscopy to determine whether compound-specific stable carbon isotopes could be used to help understand the origin and history of a TCE groundwater plume in Fort Worth, TX. Calculated ??13C values...
Do non-native plant species affect the shape of productivity-diversity relationships?
J.M. Drake, E.E. Cleland, M. C. Horner-Devine, E. Fleishman, C. Bowles, M. D. Smith, K. Carney, S. Emery, J. Gramling, D.B. Vandermast, J.B. Grace
2008, American Midland Naturalist (159) 55-66
The relationship between ecosystem processes and species richness is an active area of research and speculation. Both theoretical and experimental studies have been conducted in numerous ecosystems. One finding of these studies is that the shape of the relationship between productivity and species richness varies considerably among ecosystems and at...
Land cover and forest formation distributions for St. Kitts, Nevis, St. Eustatius, Grenada and Barbados from decision tree classification of cloud-cleared satellite imagery
E.H. Helmer, T.A. Kennaway, D.H. Pedreros, M. L. Clark, H. Marcano-Vega, L.L. Tieszen, T.R. Ruzycki, S.R. Schill, C.M.S. Carrington
2008, Caribbean Journal of Science (44) 175-198
Satellite image-based mapping of tropical forests is vital to conservation planning. Standard methods for automated image classification, however, limit classification detail in complex tropical landscapes. In this study, we test an approach to Landsat image interpretation on four islands of the Lesser Antilles, including Grenada and St. Kitts, Nevis and...
Nutrient dynamics as indicators of karst processes: Comparison of the Chalk aquifer (Normandy, France) and the Edwards aquifer (Texas, U.S.A.)
B.J. Mahler, D. Valdes, M. Musgrove, N. Massei
2008, Journal of Contaminant Hydrology (98) 36-49
Karst aquifers display a range of geologic and geomorphic characteristics in a wide range of climatic and land-use settings; identification of transport dynamics representative of karst aquifers in general could help advance our understanding of these complex systems. To this end, nutrient, turbidity, and major ion dynamics in response to...
Inverse modeling of surface-water discharge to achieve restoration salinity performance measures in Florida Bay, Florida
E.D. Swain, D.E. James
2008, Journal of Hydrology (351) 188-202
The use of numerical modeling to evaluate regional water-management practices involves the simulation of various alternative water-delivery scenarios, which typically are designed intuitively rather than analytically. These scenario simulations are used to analyze how specific water-management practices affect factors such as water levels, flows, and salinities. In lieu of testing...
Effects of grade control structures on the macroinvertebrate assemblage of an agriculturally impacted stream
M.E. Litvan, T.W. Stewart, C.L. Pierce, C.J. Larson
2008, River Research and Applications (24) 218-233
Nearly 400 rock rip-rap grade control structures (hereafter GCS) were recently placed in streams of western Iowa, USA to reduce streambank erosion and protect bridge infrastructure and farmland. In this region, streams are characterized by channelized reaches, highly incised banks and silt and sand substrates that normally support low macroinvertebrate...
Modeled tephra ages from lake sediments, base of Redoubt Volcano, Alaska
C.J. Schiff, D. S. Kaufman, K.L. Wallace, A. Werner, T.-L. Ku, T.A. Brown
2008, Quaternary Geochronology (3) 56-67
A 5.6-m-long lake sediment core from Bear Lake, Alaska, located 22 km southeast of Redoubt Volcano, contains 67 tephra layers deposited over the last 8750 cal yr, comprising 15% of the total thickness of recovered sediment. Using 12 AMS 14C ages, along with the 137Cs and 210Pb activities of recent...
