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The U.S. Geological Survey and other international agencies have collaborated to conduct laboratory and field validations of acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) measurements of streamflow. Laboratory validations made in a large towing basin show that the mean differences between tow cart velocity and ADCP bottom-track and water-track velocities were -0.51...

Oak savannas were historically common but are currently rare in the Midwestern United States. We assessed possible associations of bird species with savannas and other threatened habitats in the region by relating fire frequency and vegetation characteristics to seasonal densities of 72 bird species distributed across an open-forest gradient in...

The warming associated with changes in snow cover in northern high-latitude terrestrial regions represents an important energy feedback to the climate system. Here, we simulate snow cover-climate feedbacks (i.e. changes in snow cover on atmospheric heating) across the Pan-arctic over two distinct warming periods during the 20th century, 1910-1940 and...

Following seismic activity in late September 2004, the current eruption of Mount St. Helens began with an explosive steam and ash emission on 1 October 2004, with hot dacite emerging from the crater floor on 11 October 2004. Nearly two years later, with more than 80 million cubic meters of...

To facilitate estimation of streamflow characteristics at an ungauged site, hydrologists often define a region of influence containing gauged sites hydrologically similar to the estimation site. This region can be defined either in geographic space or in the space of the variables that are used to predict streamflow (predictor variables)....

Implementation of CO2 capture and geological storage (CCGS) technology at the scale needed to achieve a significant and meaningful reduction in CO2 emissions requires knowledge of the available CO2 storage capacity. CO2 storage capacity assessments may be conducted at various scales-in decreasing order of size and increasing order of resolution:...

Transport and behavior of pink shrimp Farfantepenaeus duorarum larvae were investigated on the southwestern Florida (SWF) shelf of the Gulf of Mexico between the Dry Tortugas spawning grounds and Florida Bay nursery grounds. Stratified plankton samples and hydrographic data were collected at 2 h intervals at 3 stations located on a cross-shelf transect....

Wildlife populations typically are described by Markovian models, with population dynamics influenced at each point in time by current but not previous population levels. Considerable work has been done on identifying optimal management strategies under the Markovian assumption. In this paper we generalize this work to non-Markovian systems, for which...

The exposure analysis modeling system (EXAMS), a pesticide fate model developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, was modified to model the fate of the herbicides atrazine and metolachlor in a small tidally dominated estuary (Bath Creek) in North Carolina, USA where freshwater inflow accounts for only 3% of the...

Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) data were used to visually map landslides, headscarps, and denuded slopes in Seattle, Washington. Four times more landslides were mapped than by previous efforts that used aerial photographs. The mapped landforms (landslides, headscarps, and denuded slopes) were created by many individual landslides. The spatial distribution...

Factors influencing breeding initiation of the endangered Laysan Teal Anas laysanensis were studied on Laysan Island in the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge between 1998 and 2006. Sixty-two radio-tagged adult females were tracked for 30-180 days to locate and describe their nest sites. In addition, the Laysan Teal were surveyed...

Availability of food resources is an important factor in avian habitat selection. Food resources for terrestrial birds often are closely related to vegetation structure and composition. Identification of plant species important in supporting food resources may facilitate vegetation management to achieve objectives for providing bird habitat. We used fecal analysis...

Population genetics can provide information about the demographics and dynamics of invasive species that is beneficial for developing effective control strategies. We studied the population genetics of feral cats on Hawai'i Island by microsatellite analysis to evaluate genetic diversity and population structure, assess gene flow and connectivity among three populations,...

This paper examines the contemporary land-cover changes in two western Great Plains ecoregions between 1973 and 2000. Agriculture and other land uses can have a substantial effect on grassland cover that varies regionally depending on the primary driving forces of change. In order to better understand change, the rates, types,...

Assessments of acidic deposition effects on aquatic ecosystems have often been hindered by complications from naturally occurring organic acidity. Measurements of pH and ANCG, the most commonly used indicators of chemical effects, can be substantially influenced by the presence of organic acids. Relationships between pH and inorganic Al, which is...

Limitations of the existing earthquake ground motion database lead to scaling of records to obtain seismograms consistent with a ground motion target for structural design and evaluation. In the engineering seismology community, acceptable limits for 'legitimate' scaling vary from one (no scaling allowed) to 10 or more. The concerns expressed...

The restoration or conservation of predators could reduce seroprevalences of certain diseases in prey if predation selectively removes animals exhibiting clinical signs. We assessed disease seroprevalences and blood parameters of 115 adult female elk (Cervus elaphus) wintering on the northern range of Yellowstone National Park [YNP] during 2000-2005 and compared...

A methodology to systematically rank volcanic threat was developed as the basis for prioritizing volcanoes for long-term hazards evaluations, monitoring, and mitigation activities. A ranking of 169 volcanoes in the United States and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (U.S. volcanoes) is presented based on scores...

The radar reflectivity of an ice-sheet bed is a primary measurement for discriminating between thawed and frozen beds. Uncertainty in englacial radar attenuation and its spatial variation introduces corresponding uncertainty in estimates of basal reflectivity. Radar attenuation is proportional to ice conductivity, which depends on the concentrations of acid and...

Biological soil crusts are key mediators of carbon and nitrogen inputs for arid land soils and often represent a dominant portion of the soil surface cover in arid lands. Free-living soil nematode communities reflect their environment and have been used as biological indicators of soil condition. In this study, we...

The fate of terrestrially-derived dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is important to carbon (C) cycling in both terrestrial and aquatic environments, and recent evidence suggests that climate warming is influencing DOC dynamics in northern ecosystems. To understand what determines the fate of terrestrial DOC, it is essential to quantify the chemical...

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With the exception of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which emerged in humans after cross-species transmissions of simian immunodeficiency viruses from nonhuman primates, immunodeficiency viruses of the family Lentiviridae represent species-specific viruses that rarely cross species barriers to infect new hosts. Among the Felidae, numerous immunodeficiency-like lentiviruses have been documented, but...

The average annual base flow/recharge was determined for streamflow-gaging stations throughout Wisconsin by base-flow separation. A map of the State was prepared that shows the average annual base flow for the period 1970-99 for watersheds at 118 gaging stations. Trend analysis was performed on 22 of the 118 streamflow-gaging stations...

We show that using borehole measurements in tectonomagnetic experiments allows enhancement of the observed signals. New magnetic dipoles, which vary with stress changes from mechanical sources, are produced on the walls of the borehole. We evaluate such an effect quantitatively. First we formulate a general expression for the borehole effect...