Event detection performance of the PLUM earthquake early warning algorithm in southern California
Elizabeth S. Cochran, Julian J. Bunn, Sarah E. Minson, Annemarie S. Baltay, Deborah L. Kilb, Y. Kodera, Mitsuyuki Hoshiba
2019, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (109) 1524-1541
We test the Japanese ground‐motion‐based earthquake early warning (EEW) algorithm, propagation of local undamped motion (PLUM), in southern California with application to the U.S. ShakeAlert system. In late 2018, ShakeAlert began limited public alerting in Los Angeles to areas of expected modified Mercalli intensity (IMMI) 4.0+ for magnitude 5.0+ earthquakes....
Seasonal occurrence and abundance of dabbling ducks across the continental United States: Joint spatio-temporal modelling for the Genus Anas
John M. Humphreys, Jennifer L. Murrow, Jeffery D. Sullivan, Diann Prosser
2019, Diversity and Distributions (25) 1497-1508
Estimating the distribution and abundance of wildlife is an essential task in species conservation, wildlife management and habitat prioritization. Although a host of methods and tools have been proposed to accomplish this undertaking, several challenges remain in accurately forecasting occurrence and abundance for highly mobile species. Exhibiting extensive geographic ranges...
Negative impacts of summer heat on Sierra Nevada tree seedlings
Emily V. Moran, Adrian J. Das, Jon Keeley, Nathan L. Stephenson
2019, Ecosphere (10)
Understanding the response of forests to climate change is important for predicting changes in biodiversity and ecosystem services, including carbon storage. Seedlings represent a key demographic stage in these responses, because seedling establishment is necessary for population persistence and spread, and because the conditions allowing seedlings to survive and grow...
Land-use change and the ecological consequences of personality in small mammals
Allison M. Brehm, Alessio Mortelliti, George A. Maynard, Joseph D. Zydlewski
2019, Ecology Letters (22) 1387-1395
Many plants rely on animals for seed dispersal, but are all individuals equally effective at dispersing seeds? If not, then the loss of certain individual dispersers from populations could have cascade effects on ecosystems. Despite the importance of seed dispersal for forest ecosystems, variation among individual...
Reserve design to optimize functional connectivity and animal density
Amrita Gupta, Bistra Dilkina, Dana Morin, Angela K. Fuller, J. Andrew Royle, Chris Sutherland, Carla Gomes
2019, Conservation Biology (35) 1023-1034
Ecological distance-based spatial capture–recapture models (SCR) are a promising approach for simultaneously estimating animal density and connectivity, both of which affect spatial population processes and ultimately species persistence. We explored how SCR models can be integrated into reserve-design frameworks that explicitly acknowledge both the spatial distribution of individuals and their...
Spatial patterns of meadow sensitivities to interannual climate variability in the Sierra Nevada
Christine M. Albano, Meredith L. McClure, Shana E. Gross, Wesley Kitlasten, Christopher Soulard, Charles Morton, Justin Huntington
2019, Ecohydrology (12)
Conservation of montane meadows is a high priority for land and water managers given their critical role in buffering the effects of climate variability and their vulnerability to increasing temperatures and evaporative demands. Recent advances in cloud computing have provided new opportunities to examine ecological responses to climate variability over...
Transient population dynamics impede restoration and may promote ecosystem transformation after disturbance
Robert K. Shriver, Caitlin M. Andrews, Robert Arkle, David Barnard, Michael C. Duniway, Matthew J. Germino, David S. Pilliod, David A. Pyke, Justin L. Welty, John B. Bradford
2019, Ecology Letters (22) 1357-1366
The apparent failure of ecosystems to recover from increasingly widespread disturbance is a global concern. Despite growing focus on factors inhibiting resilience and restoration, we still know very little about how demographic and population processes influence recovery. Using inverse and forward demographic modelling of 531 post‐fire...
Concurrent assessment of epidemiological and operational uncertainties for optimal outbreak control: Ebola as a case study
Shou-Li Li, Matthew J. Ferrari, Ottar N. Bjornstad, Michael C. Runge, Christopher J Fonnesbeck, Michael J. Tildesley, David Pannell, Katriona Shea
2019, Proceedings of the Royal Society B (286)
Determining how to best manage an epidemiological outbreak may be hindered by both epidemiological uncertainty (i.e. about epidemiological processes) and operational uncertainty (i.e. about the effectiveness of candidate interventions). These two uncertainties are rarely addressed concurrently in epidemic studies, impeding decision-making. We present an approach to simultaneously address both...
Exploring controls on debris-flow surge velocity and peak discharge at Chalk Cliffs, Colorado, USA
Joel B. Smith, Jason W. Kean, Jeffrey A. Coe
2019, Conference Paper, Debris-flow hazards mitigation : mechanics, monitoring, modeling, and assessment ; proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Debris-Flow Hazards Mitigation, Golden, Colorado, USA, June 10-13, 2019
We present a series of debris-flow events and use combined sensor and video data to explore how sediment concentration and triggering rainfall intensity affect the velocity and discharge of debris-flow surges generated by surface-water runoff. We analyze an initial data set of 49 surges from four debris-flow events recorded by...
An evaluation of debris-flow runout model accuracy and complexity in Montecito, CA: Towards a framework for regional inundation-hazard forecasting
Erin Bessette-Kirton, Jason W. Kean, Jeffrey A. Coe, Francis K. Rengers, Dennis M. Staley
2019, Conference Paper, Debris-flow hazards mitigation : mechanics, monitoring, modeling, and assessment ; proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Debris-Flow Hazards Mitigation, Golden, Colorado, USA, June 10-13, 2019
Numerous debris-flow inundation models have been applied retroactively to noteworthy events around the world. While such studies can be useful in identifying controlling factors, calibrating model parameters, and assessing future hazards in specific study areas, model parameters tailored to individual events can be difficult to apply regionally. The advancement of...
Begging behavior as an honest signal of need and parent-offspring association during the post-fledging dependency period
Kayla L. Davis, Sarah M. Karpanty, Jeffrey A. Spendelow, Jonathan B. Cohen, Melissa A. Althouse, Katharine C Parsons, Cristin F. Luttazi
2019, Ecology and Evolution (9) 7497-7508
Honest signaling mechanisms can function to appropriate care to hungry offspring and avoid misdirected care of unrelated offspring. Begging, the behavior by which offspring solicit food and parental care, may be an honest signaling mechanism for need, as well as association of parents and offspring. Roseate terns (Sterna dougallii) exhibit...
Evaluating community-level response to management actions across a diverse Hawaiian forest bird community
Alban Guillaumet, Eben H. Paxton
2019, Ecological Applications (29) 1236-1246
Although species‐specific approaches are necessary to understand the dynamics of individual species composing a community, they do not offer a framework for making optimal management decisions at the community level. Here, we present a simple framework for comparing the response of entire communities to multiple management scenarios. Our approach uses...
Real-time monitoring of debris-flow velocity and mass deformation from field experiments with high sample rate lidar and video
Francis K. Rengers, Thomas Rapstine, Kate E. Allstadt, Michael Olsen, Michael Bunn, Richard M. Iverson, Jason W. Kean, Ben Leshchinsky, Matthew Logan, Mahyar Sharifi-Mood, Maciej K. Obryk, Joel B. Smith
2019, Conference Paper, Debris-flow hazards mitigation : mechanics, monitoring, modeling, and assessment ; proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Debris-Flow Hazards Mitigation
Debris flows evolve in both time and space in complex ways, commonly starting as coherent failures but then quickly developing structures such as roll waves and surges. This process is readily observed, but difficult to study or quantify because of the speed at which it occurs. Many methods for studying...
Looking through the window of disturbance at post-wildfire debris-flow hazards
Luke McGuire, Francis K. Rengers, Jason W. Kean, Dennis M. Staley, Hui Tang, Ann Youberg
2019, Conference Paper, Debris-flow hazards mitigation : mechanics, monitoring, modeling, and assessment ; proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Debris-Flow Hazards Mitigation
The extreme heat from wildfire alters soil properties and incinerates vegetation, leading to changes in infiltration capacity, ground cover, soil erodibility, and rainfall interception. These changes promote increases in runoff and sediment transport that increase the likelihood of runoff-generated debris flows. Over a period of several years, referred to as...
Topographic change detection at Chalk Cliffs, Colorado, USA, using Airborne LiDAR and UAS-based Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry
Katherine R Barnhart, Francis K. Rengers, Ghent Jessica N, Gregory E. Tucker, Jeffrey A. Coe, Jason W. Kean, Joel B. Smith, Dennis M. Staley, William Kleiber, Ashton M Wiens
2019, Conference Paper, Debris-flow hazards mitigation : mechanics, monitoring, modeling, and assessment ; proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Debris-Flow Hazards Mitigation
The Chalk Cliffs debris-flow site is a small headwater catchment incised into highly fractured and hydrothermally altered quartz monzonite in a semi-arid climate. Over half of the extremely steep basin is exposed bedrock. Debris flows occur multiple times per year in response to rainstorm events, typically during the summer monsoon...
Airborne waveform lidar simulator using the radiative transfer of a laser pulse
Minsu Kim
2019, Applied Sciences (9)
An airborne lidar simulator creates a lidar point cloud from a simulated lidar system, flight parameters, and the terrain digital elevation model (DEM). At the basic level, the lidar simulator computes the range from a lidar system to the surface of a terrain using the geomatics lidar equation. The simple...
Spatially consistent high-resolution land surface temperature mosaics for thermophysical mapping of the Mojave Desert
Scott A Nowicki, Richard D. Inman, Todd Esque, Kenneth Nussear, Christopher S. Edwards
2019, Sensors (19)
Daytime and nighttime thermal infrared observations acquired by the ASTER and MODIS instruments onboard the NASA Terra spacecraft have produced a dataset that can be used to map thermophysical properties across large regions, which have implications on surface processes, thermal environments and habitat suitability for desert species. ASTER scenes acquired...
Hydrologic and hydraulic analyses of selected streams in Richland County, Ohio
Chad J. Ostheimer
2019, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5011
Hydrologic and hydraulic analyses were done for selected reaches of Clear Fork Mohican River and Cedar Fork in Richland County, Ohio. To update and expand a portion of the Federal Emergency Management Agency detailed Flood Insurance Study, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District initiated a...
Benthic foraminiferal biotic events related to the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum along the California Margin
Kristin McDougall-Reid, Cedric M John
2019, Marine Micropaleontology (150)
The faunal expression of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is well documented in deep-sea sediments. However, few studies have examined continental margin sections, especially active margins. The Moreno and Lodo formations, Central California, were deposited along the eastern margin of a north-south trending forearc basin on the convergent margin of...
Quantitative evaluation of vitrinite reflectance in shale using Raman spectroscopy and multivariate analysis
Jason S. Lupoi, Paul C. Hackley, E. Birsic, Luke P. Fritz, Logan Solotky, Amy Weislogel, Steve Schlaegle
2019, Fuel (254)
The current research builds upon a previously published study that demonstrated the combination of Raman spectroscopy coupled with multivariate analysis (MVA) for the prediction of thermal maturity in coal by evaluating the efficacy of this method for the prediction of thermal maturity in shale. MVA techniques eliminate analyst bias in...
A general model of temporary aquatic habitat use: Water phenology as a life history filter
Kurt C. Heim, Jeffrey A. Falke, Thomas E. McMahon, Mark S. Wipfli, Leonardo Calle
2019, Fish and Fisheries (20) 802-816
Temporary aquatic habitats are not widely appreciated fish habitat. However, fish navigate the transient waters of intertidal zones, floodplains, intermittent and ephemeral streams, lake margins, seasonally frozen lakes and streams, and anthropogenic aquatic habitats across the globe to access important resources. The selective pressures imposed by water impermanence (i.e., freezing,...
Evaluating mechanisms of plant‐mediated effects on herbivore persistence and occupancy across an ecoregion
Jennifer L. Wilkening, Evan J. Cole, Erik A. Beever
2019, Ecosphere (10)
Contemporary climate change is rapidly creating one of the greatest challenges for management and conservation during the 21st century. Mountain ecosystems, which have a high degree of spatial heterogeneity and contain numerous habitat specialists, have been identified as particularly vulnerable. We used data from multiple years across sites spanning a...
Refinement of eDNA as an early monitoring tool at the landscape-level: Study design considerations
Erica L. Mize, Richard A. Erickson, Christopher M. Merkes, N. Berndt, K.D. Bockrath, J. Credico, N. Grueneis, J. Merry, Kyle Mosel, M.T. Tuttle-Lau, K. Von Ruden, Jon Amberg, K. Baerwaldt, S.T. Finney, E.M. Monroe
2019, Ecological Applications (29)
Natural resource managers use data on the spatial range of species to guide management decisions. These data come from survey or monitoring efforts that use a wide variety of tools. Environmental DNA (eDNA) is a surveillance tool that uses genetic markers for detecting species and holds potential as a...
Ecosystem scale loss of grazing habitat impacted by abundance of dominant herbivores
Brian D. Uher-Koch, Joel A. Schmutz, Heather M. Wilson, R Michael Anthony, Thomas L Day, Thomas F Fondell, Brian T. Person, James S. Sedinger
2019, Ecosphere (10)
Grazing lawns, patches of grazing tolerant plants with high nutrient value, provide important habitat for herbivores, and changes in abundance can impact herbivore populations. Grazing lawns are maintained in quality and quantity by repeated grazing and are a result of a positive feedback since the availability of grazing lawn...
Adaptive harvest management for the Svalbard population of pink‐footed geese: 2019 progress summary
Fred Johnson, Henning Heldbjerg, Kevin K. Clausen, Jesper Madsen
2019, Report
This report describes an Adaptive Harvest Management (AHM) program designed to maintain the Svalbard population of Pink-footed Geese (Anser brachyrhynchus) near their target level (60,000) by providing sustainable harvests in Norway and Denmark. Specifically, this report provides recent monitoring and assessment results and their implications for the 2019 hunting season. In...
