Alternative states of a semiarid grassland ecosystem: implications for ecosystem services
Mark E. Miller, R. Travis Belote, Matthew A. Bowker, Steven L. Garman
2011, Ecosphere (2)
Ecosystems can shift between alternative states characterized by persistent differences in structure, function, and capacity to provide ecosystem services valued by society. We examined empirical evidence for alternative states in a semiarid grassland ecosystem where topographic complexity and contrasting management regimes have led to spatial variations in levels of livestock...
Stress conditions inferable from modern magnitudes: development of a model of fault maturity
George L. Choy
P. Bormann, S. Wendt, editor(s)
2011, Book chapter, New Manual of Seismological Observatory Practice 2
Offshore sand-shoal development and evolution of Petit Bois Pass, Mississippi-Alabama Barrier Islands, Mississippi, USA
James G. Flocks, Kyle W. Kelso, Gregory C. Twichell, Noreen A. Buster, John N. Baehr
Julie D. Rosati, Ping Wang, Tiffany M. Roberts, editor(s)
2011, Book, The Proceedings of the Coastal Sediments 2011
Assessment of recently collected geophysical and sediment-core data identifies an extensive shoal field located off Dauphin and Petit Bois Islands. The shoals are the product of Pleistocene fluvial deposition and Holocene marine-transgressive processes, and their position and orientation oblique to the modern shoreline has been stable over the past century....
A new strategy for developing Vs30 maps
David J. Wald, Leslie McWhirter, Eric Thompson, Amanda S. Hering
2011, Book
Despite obvious limitations as a proxy for site amplification, the use of time-averaged shear-wave velocity over the top 30m (Vs30) is useful and widely practiced, most notably through its use as an explanatory variable in ground motion prediction equations (and thus hazard maps and ShakeMaps, among other applications). Local, regional,...
The fate and transport of nitrate in shallow groundwater in northwestern Mississippi, USA
Heather L. Welch, Christopher T. Green, Richard H. Coupe
2011, Hydrogeology Journal (19) 1239-1252
Agricultural contamination of groundwater in northwestern Mississippi, USA, has not been studied extensively, and subsurface fluxes of agricultural chemicals have been presumed minimal. To determine the factors controlling transport of nitrate-N into the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer, a study was conducted from 2006 to 2008 to estimate fluxes of...
Carbon gas fluxes in re-established wetlands on organic soils differ relative to plant community and hydrology
Robin L. Miller
2011, Wetlands (31) 1055-1066
We measured CO2 and CH4 fluxes for 6 years following permanent flooding of an agriculturally managed organic soil at two water depths (~25 and ~55 cm standing water) in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, California, as part of research studying C dynamics in re-established wetlands. Flooding rapidly reduced gaseous C losses,...
Book review: World atlas of mangroves
Ken W. Krauss, Daniel A. Friess
2011, Wetlands (31) 1003-1005
Nearly 14 years have passed since the first atlas, World Mangrove Atlas (Spalding et al. 1997), was published. While scientists throughout the world have shared their insights about these ecosystems from a handful of “classic” mangrove ecology treatises, no book since has provided the same platform for...
Nesting success and resource selection of greater sage grouse in South Dakota: Chapter 8
Nicholas W. Kaczor, Kent C. Jensen, Robert W. Klaver, Mark A. Rumble, Katie M. Herman-Brunson, Christopher C. Swanson
Brett K. Sandercock, Kathy Martin, Gernot Segelbacher, editor(s)
2011, Studies in Avian Biology; Ecology, Conservation, and Management of Grouse (39) 107-118
Declines of Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in South Dakota are a concern because further population declines may lead to isolation from populations in Wyoming and Montana. Furthermore, little information exists about reproductive ecology and resource selection of sage grouse on the eastern edge of their distribution. We investigated Greater Sage-Grouse...
Predicting breeding habitat for amphibians: a spatiotemporal analysis across Yellowstone National Park
Paul E. Bartelt, Alisa L. Gallant, Robert W. Klaver, Christopher K. Wright, Debra A. Patla, Charles R. Peterson
2011, Ecological Applications (21) 2530-2547
The ability to predict amphibian breeding across landscapes is important for informing land management decisions and helping biologists better understand and remediate factors contributing to declines in amphibian populations. We built geospatial models of likely breeding habitats for each of four amphibian species that breed in Yellowstone National Park (YNP)....
Quantifying the influence of sea ice on ocean microseism using observations from the Bering Sea, Alaska
Victor C. Tsai, Daniel E. McNamara
2011, Geophysical Research Letters (38)
Microseism is potentially affected by all processes that alter ocean wave heights. Because strong sea ice prevents large ocean waves from forming, sea ice can therefore significantly affect microseism amplitudes. Here we show that this link between sea ice and microseism is not only a robust one but can be...
Estimating riparian understory vegetation cover with beta regression and copula models
Bianca Eskelson, Lisa Madsen, Joan C. Hagar, Hailemariam Temesgen
2011, Forest Science (57) 212-221
Understory vegetation communities are critical components of forest ecosystems. As a result, the importance of modeling understory vegetation characteristics in forested landscapes has become more apparent. Abundance measures such as shrub cover are bounded between 0 and 1, exhibit heteroscedastic error variance, and are often subject to spatial dependence. These...
Large-scale flow experiments for managing river systems
Christopher P. Konrad, Julian D. Olden, David A. Lytle, Theodore S. Melis, John C. Schmidt, Erin N. Bray, Mary Freeman, Keith B. Gido, Nina P. Hemphill, Mark J. Kennard, Laura E. McMullen, Meryl C. Mims, Mark Pyron, Christopher T. Robinson, John G. Williams
2011, BioScience (61) 948-959
Experimental manipulations of streamflow have been used globally in recent decades to mitigate the impacts of dam operations on river systems. Rivers are challenging subjects for experimentation, because they are open systems that cannot be isolated from their social context. We identify principles to address the challenges of conducting effective...
Long-period earthquake simulations in the Wasatch Front, UT: misfit characterization and ground motion estimates
Morgan P. Moschetti, Leonardo Ramírez-Guzmán
2011, Book, 4th IASPEI/IAEE International Symposium; Effects of Surface Geology on Seismic Motion
In this research we characterize the goodness-of-fit between observed and synthetic seismograms from three small magnitude (M3.6-4.5) earthquakes in the region using the Wasatch Front community velocity model (WCVM) in order to determine the ability of the WCVM to predict earthquake ground motions for scenario earthquake modeling efforts. We employ...
Response in the trophic state of stratified lakes to changes in hydrology and water level: potential effects of climate change
Dale M. Robertson, William J. Rose
2011, Journal of Water and Climate Change (2) 1-18
To determine how climate-induced changes in hydrology and water level may affect the trophic state (productivity) of stratified lakes, two relatively pristine dimictic temperate lakes in Wisconsin, USA, were examined. Both are closed-basin lakes that experience changes in water level and degradation in water quality during periods of high water....
Chronology, sedimentology, and microfauna of groundwater discharge deposits in the central Mojave Desert, Valley Wells, California
Jeffrey S. Pigati, David M. Miller, Jordon E. Bright, Shannon Mahan, Jeffrey C. Nekola, James B. Paces
2011, Geological Society of America Bulletin (123) 2224-2239
During the late Pleistocene, emergent groundwater supported persistent and long-lived desert wetlands in many broad valleys and basins in the American Southwest. When active, these systems provided important food and water sources for local fauna, supported hydrophilic and phreatophytic vegetation, and acted as catchments for eolian and alluvial sediments. Desert...
SICS: the Southern Inland and Coastal System interdisciplinary project of the USGS South Florida Ecosystem Program
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2011, Report
State and Federal agencies are working jointly on structural modifications and improved water-delivery strategies to reestablish more natural surface-water flows through the Everglades wetlands and into Florida Bay. Changes in the magnitude, duration, timing, and distribution of inflows from the headwaters of the Taylor Slough and canal C-111 drainage basins...
Hurricane impacts on coastal wetlands: A half-century record of storm-generated features from southern Louisiana
Robert A. Morton, John A. Barras
2011, Journal of Coastal Research (27) 27-43
Temporally and spatially repeated patterns of wetland erosion, deformation, and deposition are observed on remotely sensed images and in the field after hurricanes cross the coast of Louisiana. The diagnostic morphological wetland features are products of the coupling of high-velocity wind and storm-surge water and their interaction with the underlying,...
Characterization of the intragranular water regime within subsurface sediments: pore volume, surface area, and mass transfer limitations
Michael B. Hay, Deborah L. Stoliker, James A. Davis, John M. Zachara
2011, Water Resources Research (47)
Although "intragranular" pore space within grain aggregates, grain fractures, and mineral surface coatings may contain a relatively small fraction of the total porosity within a porous medium, it often contains a significant fraction of the reactive surface area, and can thus strongly affect the transport of sorbing solutes. In this...
Bats of Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado: Composition, reproduction, and roosting habits
Thomas J. O'Shea, Paul M. Cryan, E. Apple Snider, Ernest W. Valdez, Laura E. Ellison, Daniel J. Neubaum
2011, Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist (5) 1-19
We determined the bat fauna at Mesa Verde National Park (Mesa Verde) in 2006 and 2007, characterized bat elevational distribution and reproduction, and investigated roosting habits of selected species. We captured 1996 bats of 15 species in mist nets set over water during 120 nights of sampling and recorded echolocation...
Rapid Source Characterization of the 2011 Mw 9.0 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake
Gavin P. Hayes
2011, Earth, Planets and Space (63) 529-534
On March 11th, 2011, a moment magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the coast of northeast Honshu, Japan, generating what may well turn out to be the most costly natural disaster ever. In the hours following the event, the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center led a rapid response to...
Using the 2011 Mw9.0 Tohoku earthquake to test the Coulomb stress triggering hypothesis and to calculate faults brought closer to failure
Shinji Toda, Jian Lin, Ross S. Stein
2011, Earth, Planets and Space (63) 725-730
The 11 March 2011 Tohoku Earthquake provides an unprecedented test of the extent to which Coulomb stress transfer governs the triggering of aftershocks. During 11-31 March, there were 177 aftershocks with focal mechanisms, and so the Coulomb stress change imparted by the rupture can be resolved on the aftershock nodal...
Nearshore biological communities prior to the removal of the Elwha River dams: Chapter 6 in Coastal habitats of the Elwha River, Washington--biological and physical patterns and processes prior to dam removal
Stephen P. Rubin, Ian M. Miller, Nancy Elder, Reginald R. Reisenbichler, Jeffrey J. Duda
Jeffrey J. Duda, Jonathan A. Warrick, Christopher S. Magirl, editor(s)
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5120-6
Increases in sediment delivery to coastal waters are expected following removal of dams on the Elwha River, Washington, potentially increasing sediment deposition on the seafloor and suspended sediment in the water column. Biological communities inhabiting shallow, subtidal depths (3–18 m) near the mouth of the Elwha River, between the west end...
Pelagic Piscivory Under Shifting Environmental Gradients: Application of A Visual Foraging Model To Diel and Seasonal Sonic Telemetry of Cutthroat Trout In Strawberry Reservoir
David A. Beauchamp, Adam G. Hansen, Casey M. Baldwin
2011, Conference Paper, Abstracts from the 2011 Joint Annual Meeting of the Society for Northwestern Vertebrate Biology and Washington Chapter of the Wildlife Society, Held at the Wesley Inn, Gig Harbor, Washington, March 23�25, 2011, Northwestern Naturalist, v.92, no.2, p. 136�166
Selectivity evaluation for two experimental gill-net configurations used to sample Lake Erie walleyes
Christopher S. Vandergoot, Patrick M. Kocovsky, Travis O. Brenden, Weihai Liu
2011, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (31) 832-842
We used length frequencies of captured walleyes Sander vitreus to indirectly estimate and compare selectivity between two experimental gill-net configurations used to sample fish in Lake Erie: (1) a multifilament configuration currently used by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) with stretched-measure mesh sizes ranging from 51 to 127...
Quantifying home range habitat requirements for bobcats (Lynx rufus) in Vermont, USA
Therese Donovan, Mark Freeman, Hanem Abouelezz, Kim Royar, Alan D. Howard, R. Mickey
2011, Biological Conservation (144) 2799-2809
We demonstrate how home range and habitat use analysis can inform landscape-scale conservation planning for the bobcat, Lynx rufus, in Vermont USA. From 2005 to 2008, we outfitted fourteen bobcats with GPS collars that collected spatially explicit locations from individuals every 4 h for 3–4 months. Kernel home range techniques were used to...
