Lithological influences on contemporary and long-term regolith weathering at the Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory
Heather L. Buss, Maria Chapela Lara, Oliver Moore, Andrew C. Kurtz, Marjorie S. Schulz, Arthur F. White
2017, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (196) 224-251
Lithologic differences give rise to the differential weatherability of the Earth’s surface and globally variable silicate weathering fluxes, which provide an important negative feedback on climate over geologic timescales. To isolate the influence of lithology on weathering rates and mechanisms, we compare two nearby catchments in the Luquillo Critical...
Source modeling of the 2015 Mw 7.8 Nepal (Gorkha) earthquake sequence: Implications for geodynamics and earthquake hazards
Daniel E. McNamara, William L. Yeck, William D. Barnhart, V. Schulte-Pelkum, E. Bergman, L. B. Adhikari, Amod Dixit, S. E. Hough, Harley M. Benz, Paul S. Earle
2017, Tectonophysics (714-715) 21-30
The Gorkha earthquake on April 25th, 2015 was a long anticipated, low-angle thrust-faulting event on the shallow décollement between the India and Eurasia plates. We present a detailed multiple-event hypocenter relocation analysis of the Mw 7.8 Gorkha Nepal earthquake sequence, constrained by local seismic stations, and a geodetic rupture...
Lithospheric density structure beneath the Tarim basin and surroundings, northwestern China, from the joint inversion of gravity and topography
Yangfan Deng, William Brower Levandowski, Tim Kusky
2017, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (460) 244-254
Intraplate strain generally focuses in discrete zones, but despite the profound impact of this partitioning on global tectonics, geodynamics, and seismic hazard, the processes by which deformation becomes localized are not well understood. Such heterogeneous intraplate strain is exemplified in central Asia, where the Indo-Eurasian collision has caused widespread deformation...
Fire and the distribution and uncertainty of carbon sequestered as above-ground tree biomass in Yosemite and Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks
James A. Lutz, John R. Matchett, Leland W. Tarnay, Douglas F. Smith, Kendall M.L. Becker, Tucker J. Furniss, Matthew L. Brooks
2017, Land (6)
Fire is one of the principal agents changing forest carbon stocks and landscape level distributions of carbon, but few studies have addressed how accurate carbon accounting of fire-killed trees is or can be. We used a large number of forested plots (1646), detailed selection of species-specific and location-specific allometric equations,...
Water quality data for national-scale aquatic research: The Water Quality Portal
Emily K. Read, Lindsay Carr, Laura A. DeCicco, Hilary Dugan, Paul C. Hanson, Julia A. Hart, James Kreft, Jordan S. Read, Luke Winslow
2017, Water Resources Research (53) 1735-1745
Aquatic systems are critical to food, security, and society. But, water data are collected by hundreds of research groups and organizations, many of which use nonstandard or inconsistent data descriptions and dissemination, and disparities across different types of water observation systems represent a major challenge for freshwater research. To address...
Enhanced coal-dependent methanogenesis coupled with algal biofuels: Potential water recycle and carbon capture
Elliott P. Barnhart, Katherine J. Davis, Matthew S. Varonka, William H. Orem, Alfred B. Cunningham, Bradley D. Ramsay, Matthew W. Fields
2017, International Journal of Coal Geology (171) 69-75
Many coal beds contain microbial communities that can convert coal to natural gas (coalbed methane). Native microorganisms were obtained from Powder River Basin (PRB) coal seams with a diffusive microbial sampler placed downhole and used as an inoculum for enrichments with different nutrients to investigate microbially-enhanced coalbed methane production (MECoM)....
Aridity increases below-ground niche breadth in grass communities
Bradley J. Butterfield, John B. Bradford, Seth M. Munson, Jennifer R. Gremer
2017, Plant Ecology (218) 385-394
Aridity is an important environmental filter in the assembly of plant communities worldwide. The extent to which root traits mediate responses to aridity, and how they are coordinated with leaf traits, remains unclear. Here, we measured variation in root tissue density (RTD), specific root length (SRL), specific leaf area (SLA),...
Asynchrony in the inter-annual recruitment of lake whitefish Coregonus clupeaformis in the Great Lakes region
Mitchell T. Zischke, David B. Bunnell, Cary D. Troy, Eric K. Berglund, David C. Caroffino, Mark P. Ebener, Ji X. He, Shawn P. Sitar, Tomas O. Hook
2017, Journal of Great Lakes Research (43) 359-369
Spatially separated fish populations may display synchrony in annual recruitment if the factors that drive recruitment success, particularly abiotic factors such as temperature, are synchronised across broad spatial scales. We examined inter-annual variation in recruitment among lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) populations in lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior using fishery-dependent and...
Book review: Extreme ocean waves
Eric L. Geist
2017, Pure and Applied Geophysics (174) 1519-1519
“Extreme Ocean Waves”, edited by E. Pelinovsky and C. Kharif, second edition, Springer International Publishing, 2016; ISBN: 978-3-319-21574-7, ISBN (eBook): 978-3-319-21575-4The second edition of “Extreme Ocean Waves” published by Springer is an update of a collection of 12 papers edited by Efim Pelinovsky and Christian Kharif...
Book review: Physics of tsunamis
Eric L. Geist
2017, Pure and Applied Geophysics (174) 1521-1521
“Physics of Tsunamis”, second edition, provides a comprehensive analytical treatment of the hydrodynamics associated with the tsunami generation process. The book consists of seven chapters covering 388 pages. Because the subject matter within each chapter is distinct, an abstract appears at the beginning and references appear at the...
Book review: A chorus of cranes: The cranes of North America and the world
Aaron T. Pearse
2017, The Condor (119) 167-169
Cranes (Gruidae) are widely distributed throughout the world, have lived on Earth for several million years, and currently reside on five continents. Archaeological evidence and historical references suggest that humans have interacted with and been captivated by cranes for many thousands of years (e.g., Leslie 1988, <a class="ref" onclick="popRef2('i0010-5422-119-1-167-Muellner1','','','' );...
Climate change reduces extent of temperate drylands and intensifies drought in deep soils
Daniel R. Schlaepfer, John B. Bradford, William K. Lauenroth, Seth M. Munson, Britta Tietjen, Sonia A. Hall, Scott D. Wilson, Michael C. Duniway, Gensuo Jia, David A. Pyke, Ariuntsetseg Lkhagva, Khishigbayar Jamiyansharav
2017, Nature Communications
Drylands cover 40% of the global terrestrial surface and provide important ecosystem services. While drylands as a whole are expected to increase in extent and aridity in coming decades, temperature and precipitation forecasts vary by latitude and geographic region suggesting different trajectories for tropical, subtropical, and temperate drylands. Uncertainty in...
Reconciling catch differences from multiple fishery independent gill net surveys
Richard T. Kraus, Christopher Vandergoot, Patrick M. Kocovsky, Mark W. Rogers, H. Andrew Cook, Travis O. Brenden
2017, Fisheries Research (188) 17-22
Fishery independent gill net surveys provide valuable demographic information for population assessment and resource management, but relative to net construction, the effects of ancillary species, and environmental variables on focal species catch rates are poorly understood. In response, we conducted comparative deployments with three unique, inter-agency, survey gill nets used...
Restoration handbook for sagebrush steppe ecosystems with emphasis on greater sage-grouse habitat—Part 3. Site level restoration decisions
David A. Pyke, Jeanne C. Chambers, Mike Pellant, Richard F. Miller, Jeffrey L. Beck, Paul S. Doescher, Bruce A. Roundy, Eugene W. Schupp, Steven T. Knick, Mark Brunson, James D. McIver
2017, Circular 1426
Sagebrush steppe ecosystems in the United States currently (2016) occur on only about one-half of their historical land area because of changes in land use, urban growth, and degradation of land, including invasions of non-native plants. The existence of many animal species depends on the existence of sagebrush steppe...
Ecosystem implications of conserving endemic versus eradicating introduced large herbivores in the Galapagos Archipelago
Guillaume Bastille-Rousseau, James P. Gibbs, Karl Campbell, Charles B. Yackulic, Stephen Blake
2017, Biological Conservation (209) 1-10
Restoration of damaged ecosystems through invasive species removal and native species conservation is an increasingly common practice in biodiversity conservation. Estimating the degree of ecosystem response attributable specifically to eradication of exotic herbivores versus restoration of native herbivores is often difficult and is complicated by concurrent temporal changes in other...
Bathymetry and capacity of Shawnee Reservoir, Oklahoma, 2016
Chad E. Ashworth, S. Jerrod Smith, Kevin A. Smith
2017, Scientific Investigations Map 3374
Shawnee Reservoir (locally known as Shawnee Twin Lakes) is a man-made reservoir on South Deer Creek with a drainage area of 32.7 square miles in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma. The reservoir consists of two lakes connected by an equilibrium channel. The southern lake (Shawnee City Lake Number 1) was impounded in...
Improved accuracy in quantitative laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy using sub-models
Ryan B. Anderson, Samuel M. Clegg, Jens Frydenvang, Roger C. Wiens, Scott M. McLennan, Richard V. Morris, Bethany L. Ehlmann, M. Darby Dyar
2017, Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy (129) 49-57
Accurate quantitative analysis of diverse geologic materials is one of the primary challenges faced by the Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS)-based ChemCam instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover. The SuperCam instrument on the Mars 2020 rover, as well as other LIBS instruments developed for geochemical analysis on Earth or...
Chemistry of diagenetic features analyzed by ChemCam at Pahrump Hills, Gale crater, Mars
Marion Nachon, Nicolas Mangold, Olivier Forni, Linda C. Kah, Agnes Cousin, Roger C. Wiens, Ryan B. Anderson, Diana L. Blaney, Jen G. Blank, Fred J. Calef, Samuel M. Clegg, Cecile Fabre, Martin R. Fisk, Olivier Gasnault, John P. Grotzinger, Rachel Kronyak, Nina L. Lanza, Jeremie Lasue, Laetitia Le Deit, Stephane Le Mouelic, Sylvestre Maurice, Pierre-Yves Meslin, D. Z. Oehler, Valerie Payre, William Rapin, Susanne Schroder, Katherine M. Stack, Dawn Sumner
2017, Icarus (281) 121-136
The Curiosity rover's campaign at Pahrump Hills provides the first analyses of lower Mount Sharp strata. Here we report ChemCam elemental composition of a diverse assemblage of post-depositional features embedded in, or cross-cutting, the host rock. ChemCam results demonstrate their compositional diversity, especially compared to the surrounding host rock: (i)...
Climate change and the eco-hydrology of fire: Will area burned increase in a warming western USA?
Donald McKenzie, Jeremy S. Littell
2017, Ecological Applications (27) 26-36
Wildfire area is predicted to increase with global warming. Empirical statistical models and process-based simulations agree almost universally. The key relationship for this unanimity, observed at multiple spatial and temporal scales, is between drought and fire. Predictive models often focus on ecosystems in which this relationship appears to be particularly...
Using management to address vegetation stress related to land-use and climate change
Beth A. Middleton, Jere Boudell, Nicholas Fisichelli
2017, Restoration Ecology (25) 326-329
While disturbances such as fire, cutting, and grazing can be an important part of the conservation of natural lands, some adjustments to management designed to mimic natural disturbance may be necessary with ongoing and projected climate change. Stressed vegetation that is incapable of regeneration will be difficult to maintain if...
Hydrogeology and simulation of groundwater flow and analysis of projected water use for the Canadian River alluvial aquifer, western and central Oklahoma
John H. Ellis, Shana L. Mashburn, Grant M. Graves, Steven M. Peterson, S. Jerrod Smith, Leland T. Fuhrig, Derrick L. Wagner, Jon E. Sanford
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2016-5180
This report describes a study of the hydrogeology and simulation of groundwater flow for the Canadian River alluvial aquifer in western and central Oklahoma conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board. The report (1) quantifies the groundwater resources of the Canadian River alluvial...
Book review: Feeding wild birds In America – Culture, commerce, and conservation
Matthew Perry
2017, Wilson Journal of Ornithology (128) 953-955
No abstract available....
Complete genome sequence of the acetylene-fermenting Pelobacter sp. strain SFB93
John M. Sutton, Shaun Baesman, Janna L. Fierst, Amisha T. Poret-Peterson, Ronald S. Oremland, Darren S. Dunlap, Denise M. Akob
2017, Genome Announcements (5)
Acetylene fermentation is a rare metabolism that was previously reported as being unique to Pelobacter acetylenicus. Here, we report the genome sequence of Pelobacter sp. strain SFB93, an acetylene-fermenting bacterium isolated from sediments collected in San Francisco Bay, CA....
Complete genome sequences of two acetylene-fermenting Pelobacter acetylenicus strains
John M. Sutton, Shaun Baesman, Janna L. Fierst, Amisha T. Poret-Peterson, Ronald S. Oremland, Darren S. Dunlap, Denise M. Akob
2017, Genome Announcements (5)
Acetylene fermentation is a rare metabolism that was serendipitously discovered during C2H2-block assays of N2O reductase. Here, we report the genome sequences of two type strains of acetylene-fermenting Pelobacter acetylenicus, the freshwater bacterium DSM 3246 and the estuarine bacterium DSM 3247....
Sexually dimorphic aggression indicates male gray wolves specialize in pack defense against conspecific groups
Kira A. Cassidy, L. David Mech, Daniel R. MacNulty, Daniel R. Stahler, Douglas W. Smith
2017, Behavioural Processes (136) 64-72
Aggression directed at conspecific groups is common among gregarious, territorial species, and for some species such as gray wolves (Canis lupus) intraspecific strife is the leading cause of natural mortality. Each individual in a group likely has different measures of the costs and benefits associated with a group task, such...
