Desert Ecology Commons^™

3d Library From Body Size From Unconventional Specimens: A 3d Geometric Morphometrics Approach To Fishes From Ancestral Pueblo Contexts, Jonathan Dombrosky, Thomas F. Turner, Alexandra Harris, Emily Lena Jones

Anthropology Faculty & Staff Publications

Animal body size estimation from zooarchaeological specimens often relies on specific, one-dimensional (i.e., conventional) measures from skeletal elements. Here, we introduce an animal body size estimation technique for archaeological fishes that relies on 3D reference scans and the calculation of centroid size, a standard 3D geometric morphometric proxy measure for organism size. Centroid size-based estimations on whole caudal vertebrae are strongly correlated with a widely accepted measure (i.e., centrum width), but the scalability and flexibility of the centroid size-based approach allows for use on a wide variety of fragmented remains. We use zooarchaeological fish remains (subfamily Ictiobinae) from late pre-Hispanic …

Sampling The Local Fare: Fishes At The Sam Israel House Pit (45gr76), Soap Lake, Washington, Adam Fruge

All Master's Theses

The Sam Israel site is a precontact archaeological complex with numerous fish bones at the north end of Soap Lake, Washington. Excavated in 1976, the fish remains recovered from there were never fully analyzed prior to this research. Since this inland Columbia Plateau site had thousands of fish bones, it contained untapped potential for our understanding of ancient local fish procurement. As such, I conducted a detailed analysis of 2,862 fish bone specimens from the Sam Israel House Pit locus to: study a larger sample of fish bones in greater detail than was done before; compare the distribution of fishes …

Body Shape Diversification Of Pecos Pupfish (Cyprinodon Pecosensis) On Varying Habitats As Evaluated By Geometric Morphometrics, Qianna Xu

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

During the 19th and 20th centuries, alterations to the Pecos River in New Mexico and Texas, USA due to anthropogenic activities, including damning and river channelization, vast water extraction for irrigation, as well as pollution of associated habitats, have greatly impacted the fish fauna within the drainage. One of the endemic fish species, the Pecos pupfish (Cyprinodon pecosensis), might be the most affected. Historically abundant and widespread large populations have been disrupted and became a series of small isolated subpopulations that persist at a few highly fragmented habitats restricted to a small area in southern New Mexico. The connectivity among …

The Abundance And Distribution Pattern Of Quagga Mussels In The Las Vegas Bay Of Lake Mead, Nevada And Potential Correlation With Environmental Parameters, Scott Rainville

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The non-native quagga mussel [Dreissena bugensis (Andrusov, 1897)] was initially discovered in Boulder Basin of Lake Mead, Nevada-Arizona on January 6, 2007. This occurrence marked the first biological invasion of dreissenid mussels in the Western U.S., following a significant North American range expansion of invasive quagga mussels from populations that invaded and colonized the Great Lakes Region in the Northeastern U.S. during 1991. This nonindigenous mollusk species quickly spread from Boulder Basin and became established throughout the entire reservoir by the end of 2007, with the exception of the inner Las Vegas Bay. There was an apparent absence of settled …

Observed Omnivory In The Herbivorous Blue Tilapia (Oreochromis Aureus), Stephen M. Oliveira Jr.

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Gila seminuda, a native endangered species, and Oreochromis aureus, a nonnative invasive species, share the same habitat in the form of the Reid Gardner Power Plant intake ponds. The purpose of this study is to characterize the feeding habits of Oreochromis aureus within the Reid Gardner Power Plant intake ponds and address the potential predation habits of Oreochromis aureus. Stomach contents of O. aureus were identified and analyzed using chi-square and log-likelihood ratio techniques, with respect to mass, length, girth, gender, or spatial distribution of samples. Results showed omnivorous behavior with a 7.00% predatory/prey relationship, and no difference of feeding …

Southern Nevada Effluent Wetlands: A Proposed Cooperative Venture Between The Bureau Of Reclamation & City Of Las Vegas, Bureau Of Reclamation

Publications (WR)

Throughout North America there is a growing interest in constructed wetlands, both as relatively inexpensive, low-maintenance systems for removing nutrients from wastewater, and as a means of using municipal wastewater to enhance wildlife habitat and create public use opportunities. Because wetlands appear to have good potential as a component in the overall management of scarce water resources, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) has undertaken several cooperative research and demonstration projects to evaluate their effectiveness in a variety of local environments.

While a number of projects have demonstrated that wetlands can be beneficially employed to improve water quality, few such projects …

Introduction And Enhancement Of Vegetative Cover At Lake Mead, Jennifer S. Haley, Lisa K. Croft, Suzanne E. Leavitt, Larry J. Paulson

Publications (WR)

Studies done by the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) and the Arizona Fish and Game between 1978 and 1981 indicate that inadequate cover may be limiting the production and survival of largemouth bass at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LMNRA). As a result of these studies, NDOW initiated a contract in 1986 with the Lake Mead Research Center (LMRC) to investigate means of improving habitat for game fish by introducing natural and/or artificial cover.

During Phase I (1986-1987) of this contract, the shoreline of Lake Mead was surveyed for aquatic and terrestrial plant growth. Also during this time, submerged …

Temporal And Spatial Variation In Pelagic Fish Abundance In Lake Mead Determined From Echograms, Gene R. Wilde, Larry J. Paulson

Publications (WR)

Echograms have been used extensively to locate and estimate the relative abundance of marine fish stocks (Cushing 1973). In freshwater, echograms have been used to describe vertical (Netsch et al. 1971; Eggers 1978; O'Brien et al. 1984; Matthews et al. 1985), spatial (O'Brien et al. 1984; Wanjala et al. 1986) and temporal (Baker and Paulson 1983) patterns in fish abundance. Although most uses of echograms have been qualitative, Mullan and Applegate (1969) and Matthews et al. (1985) obtained relative estimates of fish abundance by counting targets (fish) on echograms. However, neither Mullan and Applegate (1969) nor Matthews et al. (1985) …

Thermal Tolerances And Preferences Of Fishes Of The Virgin River System (Utah, Arizona, Nevada), James E. Deacon, Paul B. Schumann, Edward L. Stuenkel

Publications (WR)

Critical thermal maxima (CTM) and thermal preferenda of the common fishes of the Virgin River were examined. Differences in final temperature preferenda and CTM for species with low thermal lability (speckled dace, spinedace, roundtail chub) correspond well with differences in their distribution and abundance in the river. These species shifted their acute thermal preferences relatively little as acclimation temperature increased. For thermally labile species (woundfin, red shiner, desert sucker, and fiannehnouth sucker), the final preferendum is a less precise indicator of probable distribution. The woundfin, an endangered fish, has a high CTM (39.5 C at 25 C acclimation) and a …

A Proposal To Fertilize The Overton Arm And Gregg Basin Areas Of Lake Mead, Larry J. Paulson

Publications (WR)

Several limnological studies have been conducted in Lake Mead during the past decade. The recent studies clearly show that most of Lake Mead is deficient in nutrients, especially phosphorus, and very low in productivity. The reservoir-wide average total phosphorus concentration for 1981 - 1982 was only 9 mg/m³. This is below levels found In most oligotrophic lakes and reservoirs. Algal biomass, as measured by chlorophyll-a, averaged only 1.5 mg/m³. That also places Lake Mead in the oligotrophic range. Transparency, as measured by a Secchi disc, averaged 9-5 m in Lake Mead during 1981-1982. That far exceeds …

Biological Inventory In Conjunction With The Las Vegas Wash Unit, Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act Title Ii (P.L. 93-320), W. Glen Bradley, J. Scott Miller

Publications (WR)

The present report is a biological inventory in conjunction with the Las Vegas Wash Unit, Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act, Title II. The boundaries of the project encompass sections of North Las Vegas, Las Vegas, East Las Vegas and areas along Las Vegas Wash extending to its drainage point in Las Vegas Bay in Lake Mead. Therefore, it encompasses a wide array of ecological situations and landscapes ranging from essentially natural to various stages of urban development.

This biological inventory presents basic ecological classifications, descriptions of vegetation, lists of vascular plants and vertebrates known to occur in the area. …