Size dimorphism, molt status, and body mass variation of prairie falcons nesting in the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area
Karen Steenhof, James O. McKinley
2006, Journal of Raptor Research (40) 71-75
Thirty-nine bald eagles found sick or dead in 13 States during 1969 and 1970 were analyzed for pesticide residues. Residues of DDE, dieldrin, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's), and mercury were detected in all bald eagle carcasses; DDD residues were detected in 38; DDT, heptachlor epoxide, and dichlorobenzophenone (DCBP) were detected less...
Long-term golden eagle studies in Denali National Park and Preserve
Carol L. McIntyre, Karen Steenhof, Michael N. Kochert, Michael W. Collopy
2006, Alaska Park Science (5) 42-45
Phylogeography and genetic identification of the newly-discovered populations of torrent salamanders (Rhyacotriton cascade and R. variegatus) in the central Cascades (USA)
R.S. Wagner, Mark P. Miller, Susan M. Haig
2006, Herpetologica (62) 63-70
Newly discovered populations of Rhyacotritonidae were investigated for taxonomic identity, hybridization, and sympatry. Species in the genus Rhyacotriton have been historically difficult to identify using morphological characters. Mitochondrial (mtDNA) 16S ribosomal RNA sequences (491 bp) and allozymes (6 loci) were used to identify the distribution of populations occurring intermediate between the...
Are migrating raptors guided by a geomagnetic compass?
Kasper Thorup, Mark R. Fuller, T. Alerstam, M. Hake, N. Kjellen, R. Standberg
2006, Animal Behaviour (72) 875-880
We tested whether routes of raptors migrating over areas with homogeneous topography follow constant geomagnetic courses more or less closely than constant geographical courses. We analysed the routes taken over land of 45 individual raptors tracked by satellite-based radiotelemetry: 25 peregrine falcons, Falco peregrinus, on autumn migration between North and...
Populations and habitat relationships of Piute ground squirrels in southwest Idaho
Karen Steenhof, Eric Yensen, Michael N. Kochert, K. Gage
2006, Western North American Naturalist (66) 482-491
Piute ground squirrels (Spermophilus mollis idahoensis) are normally above ground from late January until late June or early July in the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area in southwestern Idaho. In 2002 they were rarely seen above ground after early May. Because of the ecological importance of ground...
Effects of radio marking on prairie falcons: Attachment failures provide insights about survival
Karen Steenhof, Kirk K. Bates, Mark R. Fuller, Michael N. Kochert, J.O. McKinley, Paul M. Lukacs
2006, Wildlife Society Bulletin (34) 116-126
From 1999-2002, we attached satellite-received platform transmitter terminals (PTTs) to 40 adult female prairie falcons (Falco mexicanus) on their nesting grounds in the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area (NCA) in southwest Idaho. We used 3 variations of a backpack harness design that had been used previously on...
Landscape Assessment: Ground measure of severity, the Composite Burn Index; and Remote sensing of severity, the Normalized Burn Ratio
C.H. Key, N.C. Benson
2006, Report, FIREMON: Fire Effects Monitoring and Inventory System.
Abstract has not been submitted...
Landscape context mediates influence of local food abundance on wetland use by wintering shorebirds in an agricultural valley
Oriane W. Taft, Susan M. Haig
2006, Biological Conservation (128) 298-307
While it is widely understood that local abundance of benthic invertebrates can greatly influence the distribution and abundance of wetland birds, no studies have examined if wetland landscape context can mediate this relationship. We studied the influence of wetland food abundance and landscape context on use of agricultural wetlands by...
Sex determination of Pohnpei Micronesian kingfishers using morphological and molecular genetic techniques
Dylan C. Kesler, I.F. Lopes, Susan M. Haig
2006, Journal of Field Ornithology (77) 229-232
Conservation-oriented studies of Micronesian Kingfishers (Todiramphus cinnamominus) have been hindered by a lack of basic natural history information, despite the status of the Guam subspecies (T. c. cinnamominus) as one of the most endangered species in the world. We used tissue samples and morphometric measures from museum specimens and wild-captured...
Northern Florida reef tract benthic metabolism scaled by remote sensing
J. C. Brock, K. K. Yates, R. B. Halley, I. B. Kuffner, C. W. Wright, B.G. Hatcher
2006, Marine Ecology Progress Series (312) 123-139
Holistic rates of excess organic carbon production (E) and calcification for a 0.5 km2 segment of the backreef platform of the northern Florida reef tract (NFRT) were estimated by combining biotope mapping using remote sensing with community metabolic rates determined with a benthic incubation system. The use of ASTER multispectral...
Demographic patterns and harvest vulnerability of chronic wasting disease infected white-tailed deer in Wisconsin
D.A. Grear, M.D. Samuel, J.A. Langenberg, D. Keane
2006, Journal of Wildlife Management (70) 546-553
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal disease of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) caused by transmissible protease-resistant prions. Since the discovery of CWD in southern Wisconsin in 2001, more than 20,000 deer have been removed from a >2,500-km2 disease eradication zone surrounding the three initial cases. Nearly all deer removed...
Modelling river discharge and precipitation from estuarine salinity in the northern Chesapeake Bay: Application to Holocene palaeoclimate
C. Saenger, T. Cronin, R. Thunell, C. Vann
2006, Holocene (16) 467-477
Long-term chronologies of precipitation can provide a baseline against which twentieth-century trends in rainfall can be evaluated in terms of natural variability and anthropogenic influence. However, there are relatively few methods to quantitatively reconstruct palaeoprecipitation and river discharge compared with proxies of other climatic factors, such as temperature. We developed...
Diurnal variation in rates of calcification and carbonate sediment dissolution in Florida Bay
K. K. Yates, R. B. Halley
2006, Estuaries and Coasts (29) 24-39
Water quality and criculation in Florida Bay (a shallow, subtropical estuary in south Florida) are highly dependent upon the development and evolution of carbonate mud banks distributed throughout the Bay. Predicting the effect of natural and anthropogenic perturbations on carbonate sedimentation requires an understanding of annual,...
Fracture in Westerly granite under AE feedback and constant strain rate loading: Nucleation, quasi-static propagation, and the transition to unstable fracture propagation
B.D. Thompson, R.P. Young, D.A. Lockner
2006, Conference Paper, Pure and Applied Geophysics
New observations of fracture nucleation are presented from three triaxial compression experiments on intact samples of Westerly granite, using Acoustic Emission (AE) monitoring. By conducting the tests under different loading conditions, the fracture process is demonstrated for quasi-static fracture (under AE Feedback load), a slowly developing unstable fracture (loaded at...
Basic concepts for the linear model of ground water level recession
A. T. Rutledge
2006, Ground Water (44) 483-487
Basic concepts are illustrated for the display of ground water level recession as a linear plot on a semilog graph, as first described by Rorabaugh. This exponential decay function can be achieved if there is a definable outflow boundary such as a lake or river and if water levels are...
Using Modified Mercalli Intensities to estimate acceleration response spectra for the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
J. Boatwright, H. Bundock, L. C. Seekins
2006, Earthquake Spectra (22)
We derive and test relations between the Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) and the pseudo-acceleration response spectra at 1.0 and 0.3 s - SA(1.0 s) and SA(0.3 s) - in order to map response spectral ordinates for the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Recent analyses of intensity have shown that MMI ???...
Differences in tsunami generation between the December 26, 2004 and March 28, 2005 Sumatra earthquakes
E.L. Geist, S.L. Bilek, D. Arcas, V.V. Titov
2006, Earth, Planets and Space (58) 185-193
Source parameters affecting tsunami generation and propagation for the Mw > 9.0 December 26, 2004 and the Mw = 8.6 March 28, 2005 earthquakes are examined to explain the dramatic difference in tsunami observations. We evaluate both scalar measures (seismic moment, maximum slip, potential energy) and finite-source repre-sentations (distributed slip...
Distribution and sources of surfzone bacteria at Huntington Beach before and after disinfection on an ocean outfall - A frequency-domain analysis
M.A. Noble, J. P. Xu, G.L. Robertson, L.K. Rosenfeld
2006, Marine Environmental Research (61) 494-510
Fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) were measured approximately 5 days a week in ankle-depth water at 19 surfzone stations along Huntington Beach and Newport Beach, California, from 1998 to the end of 2003. These sampling periods span the time before and after treated sewage effluent, discharged into the coastal ocean from...
An evaluation of a reagentless method for the determination of total mercury in aquatic life
Sekeenia Haynes, Richard D. Gragg, Elijah Johnson, Larry Robinson, Carl E. Orazio
2006, Water, Air, & Soil Pollution (172) 359-374
Multiple treatment (i.e., drying, chemical digestion, and oxidation) steps are often required during preparation of biological matrices for quantitative analysis of mercury; these multiple steps could potentially lead to systematic errors and poor recovery of the analyte. In this study, the Direct Mercury Analyzer (Milestone Inc., Monroe, CT) was utilized...
Geochemical evidence for the origin of late Quaternary loess in central Alaska
D.R. Muhs, J. R. Budahn
2006, Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences (43) 323-337
Loess is extensive in central Alaska, but there are uncertainties about its source and the direction of paleo-winds that deposited it. Both northerly and southerly winds have been inferred. The most likely sources of loess are the Tanana River (south), the Nenana River (southeast), and the Yukon River (north). Late...
Concentration and distribution of sixty-one elements in coals from DPR Korea
Jiawen Hu, B. Zheng, R. B. Finkelman, B. Wang, M. Wang, S. Li, D. Wu
2006, Fuel (85) 679-688
Fifty coal samples (28 anthracite and 22 lignites) were collected from both main and small coal mines in DPR Korea prioritized by resource distribution and coal production. The concentrations of 61 elements in 50 coal samples were determined by several multielement and element-specific techniques, including inductively coupled plasma atomic emission...
Calculated volumes of individual shield volcanoes at the young end of the Hawaiian Ridge
Joel E. Robinson, Barry W. Eakins
2006, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (151) 309-317
High-resolution multibeam bathymetry and a digital elevation model of the Hawaiian Islands are used to calculate the volumes of individual shield volcanoes and island complexes (Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, the Maui Nui complex, and Hawaii), taking into account subsidence of the Pacific plate under the load of the Hawaiian Ridge. Our...
Grain size-sensitive creep in ice II
T. Kubo, W.B. Durham, L.A. Stern, S. H. Kirby
2006, Science (311) 1267-1269
Rheological experiments on fine-grained water ice II at low strain rates reveal a creep mechanism that dominates at conditions of low stress. Using cryogenic scanning electron microscopy, we observed that a change in stress exponent from 5 to 2.5 correlates strongly with a decrease in grain size from about 40...
Distribution of stress drop, stiffness, and fracture energy over earthquake rupture zones
Joe B. Fletcher, Art McGarr
2006, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (111)
Using information provided by slip models and the methodology of McGarr and Fletcher (2002), we map static stress drop, stiffness (k = ????/u, where ???? is static stress drop and u is slip), and fracture energy over the slip surface to investigate the earthquake rupture process and energy budget. For...
Tectonic stressing in California modeled from GPS observations
T. Parsons
2006, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (111)
What happens in the crust as a result of geodetically observed secular motions? In this paper we find out by distorting a finite element model of California using GPS-derived displacements. A complex model was constructed using spatially varying crustal thickness, geothermal gradient, topography, and creeping faults. GPS velocity observations were...
