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This paper details a method to create regional models of perennial vegetation cover using pre-existing field data and satellite imagery. Total cover of perennial vegetation is an important ecological attribute of desert ecosystems, including the Mojave Desert, USA, an area of 125,000 km2. Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Enhanced Vegetation Index (MODIS-EVI)...

Background. A large multigene family of NOD-like receptor (NLR) molecules have been described in mammals and implicated in immunity and apoptosis. Little information, however, exists concerning this gene family in non-mammalian taxa. This current study, therefore, provides an in-depth investigation of this gene family in lower vertebrates including extensive phylogenetic...

Pacific capelin (Mallotus villosus) populations declined dramatically in the Northeastern Pacific following ocean warming after the regime shift of 1977, but little is known about the cause of the decline or the functional relationships between capelin and their environment. We assessed the distribution and abundance of spawning, non-spawning adult and...

An evaluation of the poorly understood Cenozoic hydrologic history of the American Southwest using combined geological and biological data yields new insights with implications for tectonic evolution. The Mesozoic Cordilleran orogen next to the continental margin of southwestern North America probably formed the continental divide. Mountain building migrated eastward to...

Data from volcano-monitoring studies constitute the only scientifically valid basis for short-term forecasts of a future eruption, or of possible changes during an ongoing eruption. Thus, in any effective hazards-mitigation program, a basic strategy in reducing volcano risk is the initiation or augmentation of volcano monitoring at historically active volcanoes...

The relationship between ecosystem processes and species richness is an active area of research and speculation. Both theoretical and experimental studies have been conducted in numerous ecosystems. One finding of these studies is that the shape of the relationship between productivity and species richness varies considerably among ecosystems and at...

We examined the sensitivity of the wood duck (Aix sponsa) embryo to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) by injecting the toxicant into their eggs. Six groups of wood duck eggs (n = 35 to 211 per trial) were injected with 0 to 4600 pg TCDD/g egg between 2003 and 2005. Injections were made...

In 1960, Kīlauea volcano in Hawaii erupted, destroying most of the village of Kapoho and forcing evacuation of its approximately 300 residents. A large and unprecedented social science survey was undertaken during the eruption to develop an understanding of human behavior, beliefs, and coping strategies among the adult evacuees...

In the present study, a spectral analysis was applied to field data and a numerical model of southeastern Everglades and northeastern Florida Bay that involved computing and comparing the power spectrum of simulated and measured flows at the primary coastal outflow creek. Four dominant power frequencies, corresponding to the S1,...

The GPS-derived crustal velocity field of the western United States is used to construct dislocation models in a viscoelastic medium of interseismic crustal deformation. The interseismic velocity field is constrained by 1052 GPS velocity vectors spanning the ???2500-km-long plate boundary zone adjacent to the San Andreas fault and Cascadia subduction...

Setback levees, in which levees are reconstructed at a greater distance from a river channel, are a promising restoration technique particularly for alluvial rivers with broad floodplains where river-floodplain connectivity is essential to ecological processes. Documenting the ecological outcomes of restoration activities is essential for assessing the comparative benefits of...

The west watershed of Mirror Lake in the White Mountains of New Hampshire contains several terraces that are at different altitudes and have different geologic compositions. The lowest terrace (FSE) has 5 m of sand overlying 9 m of till. The two next successively higher terraces (FS2 and FS1) consist...

Sea level has been estimated for the last 108 million years through backstripping of corehole data from the New Jersey and Delaware Coastal Plains. Inherent errors due to this method of calculating sea level are discussed, including uncertainties in ages, depth of deposition and the model used for tectonic subsidence....

Recently burned basins frequently produce debris flows in response to moderate-to-severe rainfall. Post-fire hazard assessments of debris flows are most useful when they predict the volume of material that may flow out of a burned basin. This study develops a set of empirically-based models that predict potential volumes of wildfire-related...

The human dimensions literature challenges the notion that settings are simply features and attributes that can be manipulated to satisfy public demand; instead, people view specific recreation settings as unique kinds of places. Land managers provide recreation experience opportunities, but most conventional management frameworks do not allow managers to address...

Accurately detecting and quantifying gas hydrate or free gas in sediments from seismic data require downhole well-log data to calibrate the physical properties of the gas hydrate-/free gas-bearing sediments. As part of the Gulf of Mexico Joint Industry Program, a series of wells were either cored or drilled in the...

During glacial (pluvial) climatic periods, Death Valley is hypothesized to have episodically been the terminus for the Amargosa, Owens, and Mojave Rivers. Geological and biological studies have tended to support this hypothesis and a hydrological link that included the Colorado River, allowing dispersal of pupfish throughout southeastern California and western...

Landslides in partially saturated colluvium on Seattle, WA, hillslopes have resulted in property damage and human casualties. We developed statistical models of colluvium and shallow-groundwater distributions to aid landslide hazard assessments. The models were developed using a geographic information system, digital geologic maps, digital topography, subsurface exploration results, the groundwater...

We used 13 years (1995-2007) of capture-mark-recapture data to assess population dynamics of endangered Lost River suckers Deltistes luxatus and shortnose suckers Chasmistes brevirostris in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon. The Cormack-Jolly-Seber method was used to estimate survival, and information theoretic modeling was used to assess variation due to time, gender,...

As a country whose economy is heavily dependent on low-productivity rainfed agriculture, rainfall trends are often cited as one of the more important factors in explaining various socio-economic problems such as food insecurity. Therefore, in order to help policymakers and developers make more informed decisions, this study investigated the temporal...

The Central Indian Suture (CIS) is a mega-shear zone extending for hundreds of kilometers across central India. Reprocessing of deep seismic reflection data acquired across the CIS was carried out using workstation-based commercial software. The data distinctly indicate different reflectivity characteristics northwest and southeast of the CIS. Reflections northwest of...

Stream discharge and geochemical data were collected at two sites along lower Ashley Creek, Utah, from 1999 to 2003, to assess the success of a site specific salinity and Se remediation project. The remediation project involved the replacement of a leaking sewage lagoon system that was interacting with Mancos Shale...

Over the past 350 years, the eastern half of the United States experienced extensive land cover changes. These began with land clearing in the 1600s, continued with widespread deforestation, wetland drainage, and intensive land use by 1920, and then evolved to the present-day landscape of forest regrowth, intensive agriculture, urban...

New SHRIMP-RG (sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe-reverse geometry) data confirm the existence of Archean components within zircon grains of a sample from the orthogneiss of Angel Lake, Nevada, United States, previously interpreted as a nappe of Archean crust. However, the combined evidence strongly suggests that this orthogneiss is a highly deformed,...

Luminescence ages from a variety of coastal features on the North Carolina Coastal Plain provide age control for shoreline formation and relative sea-level position during the late Pleistocene. A series of paleoshoreline ridges, dating to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5a and MIS 3 have been defined. The Kitty Hawk beach...