A natural experiment on the condition-dependence of achromatic plumage reflectance in black-capped chickadees
L. D'Alba, Caroline R. Van Hemert, Colleen M. Handel, M.D. Shawkey
2011, PLoS ONE (6)
Honest advertisement models posit that only individuals in good health can produce and/or maintain ornamental traits. Even though disease has profound effects on condition, few studies have experimentally tested its effects on trait expression and even fewer have identified a mechanistic basis for these effects. Recent evidence suggests that black...
Sediment dynamics and the burial and exhumation of bedrock reefs along an emergent coastline as elucidated by repetitive sonar surveys: Northern Monterey Bay, CA
C. D. Storlazzi, T.A. Fregoso, N.E. Golden, D.P. Finlayson
2011, Marine Geology (289) 46-59
Two high-resolution bathymetric and acoustic backscatter sonar surveys were conducted along the energetic emergent inner shelf of northern Monterey Bay, CA, USA, in the fall of 2005 and the spring of 2006 to determine the impact of winter storm waves, beach erosion, and river floods on biologically-important siliclastic bedrock reef...
Habitat use and movement of the endangered Arroyo Toad (Anaxyrus californicus) in coastal southern California
M.J. Mitrovich, E.A. Gallegos, L.M. Lyren, R.E. Lovich, Robert N. Fisher
2011, Journal of Herpetology (45) 319-328
Information on the habitat use and movement patterns of Arroyo Toads (Anaxyrus californicus) is limited. The temporal and spatial characteristics of terrestrial habitat use, especially as it relates to upland use in coastal areas of the species' range, are poorly understood. We present analyses of radiotelemetry data from 40...
Late-Holocene climate evolution at the WAIS Divide site, West Antarctica: Bubble number-density estimates
John M. Fegyveresi, R. B. Alley, M. K. Spencer, J. J. Fitzpatrick, E.J. Steig, J.W.C. White, J.R. McConnell, K.C. Taylor
2011, Journal of Glaciology (57) 629-638
A surface cooling of ∼1.7°C occurred over the ∼two millennia prior to ∼1700 CE at the West Antarctic ice sheet (WAIS) Divide site, based on trends in observed bubble number-density of samples from the WDC06A ice core, and on an independently constructed accumulation-rate history using annual-layer dating corrected for density...
Estimating water supply arsenic levels in the New England bladder cancer study
J.R. Nuckols, Freeman L.E. Beane, J.H. Lubin, M.S. Airola, D. Baris, J. D. Ayotte, A. Taylor, C. Paulu, M.R. Karagas, J. Colt, M.H. Ward, A.-T. Huang, W. Bress, S. Cherala, D.T. Silverman, K.P. Cantor
2011, Environmental Health Perspectives (119) 1279-1285
Background: Ingestion of inorganic arsenic in drinking water is recognized as a cause of bladder cancer when levels are relatively high (≥ 150 µg/L). The epidemiologic evidence is less clear at the low-to-moderate concentrations typically observed in the United States. Accurate retrospective exposure assessment over a long time period is...
Demographic and genetic status of an isolated population of bog turtles (Glyptemys muhlenbergii): Implications for managing small populations of long-lived animals
Shannon E. Pittman, T.L. King, S. Faurby, M.E. Dorcas
2011, Conservation Genetics (12) 1589-1601
In this study, we sought to determine the population stability and genetic diversity of one isolated population of the federally-threatened bog turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii) in North Carolina. Using capture–recapture data, we estimated adult survival and population growth rate from 1992 to 2007. We found that the population decreased from an...
A large and persistent carbon sink in the world's forests
Y. Pan, R.A. Birdsey, J. Fang, R. Houghton, P.E. Kauppi, W.A. Kurz, O.L. Phillips, A. Shvidenko, S.L. Lewis, J.G. Canadell, P. Ciais, R.B. Jackson, S.W. Pacala, A. David McGuire, S. Piao, A. Rautiainen, S. Sitch, D. Hayes
2011, Science (333) 988-993
The terrestrial carbon sink has been large in recent decades, but its size and location remain uncertain. Using forest inventory data and long-term ecosystem carbon studies, we estimate a total forest sink of 2.4 ± 0.4 petagrams of carbon per year (Pg C year–1) globally for...
A short note on ground-motion recordings from the M 7.9 Wenchuan, China, earthquake and ground-motion prediction equations in the Central and Eastern United States
Z. Wang, M. Lu
2011, Seismological Research Letters (82) 731-734
The 12 May 2008 Wenchuan earthquake (M 7.9) occurred along the western edge of the eastern China SCR and was well recorded by modern strong-motion instruments: 93 strong-motion stations within 1.4 to 300 km rupture distance recorded the main event. Preliminary comparisons show some similarities between ground-motion attenuation in the...
Methods for assessing the stability of slopes during earthquakes-A retrospective
R.W. Jibson
2011, Engineering Geology (122) 43-50
During the twentieth century, several methods to assess the stability of slopes during earthquakes were developed. Pseudostatic analysis was the earliest method; it involved simply adding a permanent body force representing the earthquake shaking to a static limit-equilibrium analysis. Stress-deformation analysis, a later development, involved much more complex modeling of...
Modeling regional coral reef responses to global warming and changes in ocean chemistry: Caribbean case study
R. W. Buddemeier, D.R. Lane, J.A. Martinich
2011, Climatic Change (109) 375-397
Climatic change threatens the future of coral reefs in the Caribbean and the important ecosystem services they provide. We used a simulation model [COMBO (“COral Mortality and Bleaching Output”)] to estimate future coral cover in the part of the eastern Caribbean impacted by a massive coral bleaching event in 2005....
Landscape drivers of regional variation in the relationship between total phosphorus and chlorophyll in lakes
Tyler Wagner, Patricia A. Soranno, Katherine E. Webster, Kendra Spence Cheruvelil
2011, Freshwater Biology (56) 1811-1824
1. For north temperate lakes, the well-studied empirical relationship between phosphorus (as measured by total phosphorus, TP), the most commonly limiting nutrient and algal biomass (as measured by chlorophyll a, CHL) has been found to vary across a wide range of landscape settings. Variation in the parameters of these TP–CHL regressions has...
Sea surface temperatures of the mid-Piacenzian Warm Period: A comparison of PRISM3 and HadCM3
Harry J. Dowsett, A.M. Haywood, P.J. Valdes, Marci M. Robinson, D.J. Lunt, D.J. Hill, D.K. Stoll, Kevin M. Foley
2011, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (309) 83-91
It is essential to document how well the current generation of climate models performs in simulating past climates to have confidence in their ability to project future conditions. We present the first global, in-depth comparison of Pliocene sea surface temperature (SST) estimates from a coupled ocean–atmosphere climate model experiment...
Portrait of a small population of boreal toads (anaxyrus boreas)
E. Muths, R. D. Scherer
2011, Herpetologica (67) 369-377
Much attention has been given to the conservation of small populations, those that are small because of decline, and those that are naturally small. Small populations are of particular interest because ecological theory suggests that they are vulnerable to the deleterious effects of environmental, demographic, and genetic stochasticity as well...
Assessing historical rate changes in global tsunami occurrence
E.L. Geist, T. Parsons
2011, Geophysical Journal International (187) 497-509
The global catalogue of tsunami events is examined to determine if transient variations in tsunami rates are consistent with a Poisson process commonly assumed for tsunami hazard assessments. The primary data analyzed are tsunamis with maximum sizes >1m. The record of these tsunamis appears to be complete since approximately 1890....
A trans-dimensional Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm for model assessment using frequency-domain electromagnetic data
B. J. Minsley
2011, Geophysical Journal International (187) 252-272
A meaningful interpretation of geophysical measurements requires an assessment of the space of models that are consistent with the data, rather than just a single, ‘best’ model which does not convey information about parameter uncertainty. For this purpose, a trans-dimensional Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm is developed for...
Shear-wave velocity characterization of the USGS Hawaiian strong-motion network on the Island of Hawaii and development of an NEHRP site-class map
Ivan G. Wong, Kenneth Stokoe, Brady R. Cox, Jiabei Yuan, Keith L. Knudsen, Fabia Terra, Paul G. Okubo, Yin-Cheng Lin
2011, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (101) 2252-2269
To assess the level and nature of ground shaking in Hawaii for the purposes of earthquake hazard mitigation and seismic design, empirical ground-motion prediction models are desired. To develop such empirical relationships, knowledge of the subsurface site conditions beneath strong-motion stations is critical. Thus, as a first step...
40Ar/39Ar dating of tuff vents in the Campi Flegrei caldera (southern Italy): Toward a new chronostratigraphic reconstruction of the Holocene volcanic activity
L. Fedele, D.D. Insinga, A.T. Calvert, V. Morra, A. Perrotta, C. Scarpati
2011, Bulletin of Volcanology (73) 1323-1336
The Campi Flegrei hosts numerous monogenetic vents inferred to be younger than the 15 ka Neapolitan Yellow Tuff. Sanidine crystals from the three young Campi Flegrei vents of Fondi di Baia, Bacoli and Nisida were dated using 40Ar/39Ar geochronology. These vents, together with several other young edifices, occur roughly along the...
Storage as a Metric of Catchment Comparison
J. P. McNamara, D. Tetzlaff, K. Bishop, C. Soulsby, M. Seyfried, N.E. Peters, Brent T. Aulenbach, R. Hooper
2011, Hydrological Processes (25) 3364-3371
The volume of water stored within a catchment, and its partitioning among groundwater, soil moisture, snowpack, vegetation, and surface water are the variables that ultimately characterize the state of the hydrologic system. Accordingly, storage may provide useful metrics for catchment comparison. Unfortunately, measuring and predicting the amount of water present...
Time-lapse three-dimensional inversion of complex conductivity data using an active time constrained (ATC) approach
M. Karaoulis, A. Revil, D.D. Werkema, B. J. Minsley, W.F. Woodruff, A. Kemna
2011, Geophysical Journal International (187) 237-251
Induced polarization (more precisely the magnitude and phase of impedance of the subsurface) is measured using a network of electrodes located at the ground surface or in boreholes. This method yields important information related to the distribution of permeability and contaminants in the shallow subsurface. We propose a new time-lapse...
Diffuse Pacific-North American plate boundary: 1000 km of dextral shear inferred from modeling geodetic data
T. Parsons, W. Thatcher
2011, Geology (39) 943-946
Geodetic measurements tell us that the eastern part of the Basin and Range Province expands in an east-west direction relative to stable North America, whereas the western part of the province moves to the northwest. We develop three-dimensional finite element representations of the western United States lithosphere in an effort...
Short-term sandbar variability based on video imagery: Comparison between Time-Average and Time-Variance techniques
R.M.C. Guedes, L.J. Calliari, K. T. Holland, N.G. Plant, P.S. Pereira, F.N.A. Alves
2011, Marine Geology (289) 122-134
Time–exposure intensity (averaged) images are commonly used to locate the nearshore sandbar position (xb), based on the cross-shore locations of maximum pixel intensity (xi) of the bright bands in the images. It is not known, however, how the breaking patterns seen in Variance images (i.e. those created through standard deviation of pixel intensity...
Century-scale variability in global annual runoff examined using a water balance model
G.J. McCabe, D.M. Wolock
2011, International Journal of Climatology (31) 1739-1748
A monthly water balance model (WB model) is used with CRUTS2.1 monthly temperature and precipitation data to generate time series of monthly runoff for all land areas of the globe for the period 1905 through 2002. Even though annual precipitation accounts for most of the temporal and spatial variability in...
Standardized North American marsh bird monitoring protocol
Courtney J. Conway
2011, Waterbirds (34) 319-346
Little is known about the population status of many marsh-dependent birds in North America but recent efforts have focused on collecting more reliable information and estimates of population trends. As part of that effort, a standardized survey protocol was developed in 1999 that provided guidance for conducting marsh bird surveys...
Mars Global Digital Dune Database (MGD3): North polar region (MC-1) distribution, applications, and volume estimates
R.K. Hayward
2011, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (36) 1967-1972
The Mars Global Digital Dune Database (MGD3) now extends from 90°N to 65°S. The recently released north polar portion (MC‐1) of MGD3 adds ~844 000 km2 of moderate‐ to large‐size dark dunes to the previously released equatorial portion (MC‐2 to MC‐29) of the database. The database, available in GIS‐ and...
Diversity and biogeochemical structuring of bacterial communities across the Porangahau ridge accretionary prism, New Zealand
L.J. Hamdan, P.M. Gillevet, J. W. Pohlman, M. Sikaroodi, J. Greinert, R.B. Coffin
2011, FEMS Microbiology Ecology (77) 518-532
Sediments from the Porangahau ridge, located off the northeastern coast of New Zealand, were studied to describe bacterial community structure in conjunction with differing biogeochemical regimes across the ridge. Low diversity was observed in sediments from an eroded basin seaward of the ridge and the community was dominated by uncultured...
