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Reconstructing Sea-Level Change From The Internal Architecture Of Stromatolite Reefs: An Example From The Mesoproterozoic Sulky Formation, Dismal Lakes Group, Arctic Canada, L C. Kah, Julie K. Bartley, Tracy D. Frank, Timothy W. Lyons

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The Mesoproterozoic Dismal Lakes Group, arctic Canada, contains a relatively thin, yet regionally extensive stromatolitic reef complex that developed subtidally during a major transgression, shoaled to sea level, and was overlain by intertidal to supratidal carbonate and evaporite strata. The September Lake reef complex exhibits a complex internal architecture that records the interaction between stromatolite growth and changes in accommodation space derived from both higher order (4th- or 5th-order, parasequence-scale) changes in sea level and the variable bathymetry of the sea floor. Reef growth, which was initiated during three sea-level cycles, records progressive marine transgression over depositional lows that were …

Status Of Feral Pigs In Kansas And Nebraska, Philip S. Gipson, Charles D. Lee, Sam Wilson, James R. Thiele, Deke Hobbick

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Wild pigs have expanded their range markedly during the last 30 years. In Kansas feral pigs from domestic stock were first reported in 1994 on Fort Riley Army Base. During 2005, 2006, and 2007 the occurrence of reproducing wild pigs was confirmed on 18 sites throughout Kansas and 4 sites in Nebraska. One Nebraska population is in a county neighboring Kansas. Estimated numbers of pigs ranged from 8-10 individuals at each of 2 sites in Kansas to more than 30 on each of 3 other sites. The wild pig population in Kansas appears to be changing from 1 predominantly of …

Multi-Species Patterns Of Avian Cholera Mortality In Nebraska’S Rainwater Basin, Julie A. Blanchong, Michael D. Samuel, Gene Mack

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Nebraska’s Rainwater Basin (RWB) is a key spring migration area for millions of waterfowl and other avian species. Avian cholera has been endemic in the RWB since the 1970s and in some years tens of thousands of waterfowl have died from the disease. We evaluated patterns of avian cholera mortality in waterfowl species using the RWB during the last quarter of the 20th century. Mortality patterns changed between the years before (1976–1988) and coincident with (1989–1999) the dramatic increases in lesser snow goose abundance and mortality. Lesser snow geese (Chen caerulescens caerulescens) have commonly been associated with mortality …

A Continuous 250,000 Yr Record Of Oxygen And Carbon Isotopes In Ostracode And Bulk-Sediment Carbonate From Bear Lake, Utah-Idaho, Walter E. Dean, Jordon Bright, Darrell S. Kaufman, Richard M. Forester

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Oxygen and carbon isotopes from a continuous, 120-m-long, carbonate-rich core from Bear Lake, Utah-Idaho, document dramatic fluctuations in the hydrologic budget of the lake over the last 250,000 yr. Isotopic analyses of bulk sediment samples capture millennialscale variability. Ostracode calcite was analyzed from 78 levels, mainly from the upper half of the core where valves are better preserved, to compare the isotopic value of purely endogenic carbonate with the bulk sediment, which comprises both endogenic and detrital components. The long core exhibits three relatively brief intervals with abundant endogenic aragonite (50±10%) and enriched δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C. …

Use Of Mammal Manure By Nesting Burrowing Owls: A Test Of Four Functional Hypotheses, Matthew D. Smith, Courtney J. Conway

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Animals have evolved an impressive array of behavioural traits to avoid depredation. Olfactory camouflage of conspicuous odours is a strategy to avoid depredation that has been implicated only in a few species of birds. Burrowing owls, Athene cunicularia, routinely collect dried manure from mammals and scatter it in their nest chamber, in the tunnel leading to their nest and at the entrance to their nesting burrow. This unusual behaviour was thought to reduce nest depredation by concealing the scent of adults and juveniles, but a recent study suggests that manure functions to attract arthropod prey. However, burrowing owls routinely …

Renewing The Conservation Commitment, Frank W. Davis, Dale D. Goble, J. Michael Scott

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

As we write this in early 2005 there are several ESA-related pieces of legislation pending before Congress. Most of the proposed legislation is championed by Republican leaders from western states, who promise to strengthen the use of science or ensure fairer treatment of private landowners. Ir has become a perennial drama on the American political stage: "conservatives" rally to rein in a law that they believe has reached too far and "conservationists" mobilize ro defend the law that they believe offers the best ho pe for protecting biodiversity from relentless economic exploitation. There is much posturing, finger pointing, and, ultimately, …

Introduction To "The Endangered Species Act At Thirty, Volume 2", Frank W. Davis, J. Michael Scott, Dale D. Goble

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

More than thirty years after its passage, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 continues to be a corners tone of U.S. biodiversity policy and among our most powerful environmentallaws. The ESA set the nation's biodiversity conservation policy on a path that emphasized species-based conservation and triggered action only when a species faced imminent extinction. However, promoting recovery has proven more challenging than the original designers of the law anticipated. The number of listed species has mushroomed from 78 in 1973 to 1,267 in 2005, while in that time only 13 species have recovered sufficiently to be removed from the …

Introduction To "The Endangered Species Act At Thirty, Volume 1", J. Michael Scott, Dale D. Goble, Frank W. Davis

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

This book examines one legislative effoft to resolve the dilemma, the Endangered Speeies Aet of 1973 (ESA 1973). The ESA was an idealistic and perhaps naive attempt to preserve humanity by preserving other species in the ecological support system that makes life possible. In the words of the House report accompanying the bill:

A certain humility, and a sense of urgency seem indicated .... One might analogize the case to one in which one copy of all the books ever printed were gathered together in one huge building. The position in which we find ourselves today is that of custodians …

By The Numbers, J. Michael Scott, Dale D. Goble, Leona K. Svancara, Anna Pidgorna

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The current endangered species list has its administrative beginnings in 1964 when the Department of the Interior's Committee on Rare and Endangered Wildlife Species published a preliminary list of 62 species at risk of extinction (Goble, forthcoming). Following the enactment of the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 (ESPA), the secretary of the interior in 1967 published the first official list of 78 "native fish and wildlife threatened with extinction" (ESPA sec. l(c); U.S. Department of the Interior 1967; Wilcove and McMillan, this volume). By the time the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was adopted in 1973, there were 392 species …

Breeding Biology And Success Of A Reintroduced Population Of The Critically Endangered Puaiohi (Myadestes Palmeri), Erik J. Tweed, Jeffrey T. Foster, Bethany L. Woodworth, William B. Monahan, Jherime L. Kellerman, Alan Lieberman

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The ultimate success of reintroduction programs for endangered species depends on the ability of reintroduced animals to breed in the wild. We studied the nesting success and breeding biology of a reintroduced population of Puaiohi (Myadestes palmeri) on the island of Kaua‛i, Hawaii. Thirty-four captive-bred Puaiohi were released into the Alaka‛i Swamp in 1999–2001 and monitored using radiotelemetry. Ten females and two males paired with wild and other released birds, including one polygynous trio. From March to September, 31 nests were built. Mean clutch size was 2.0 eggs, daily nest survival was 0.97 ± 0.01 (mean ± SE) …

Ce-Qual-W2: A Two-Dimensional, Laterally Averaged, Hydrodynamic And Water Quality Model, Version 3.5, Thomas M. Cole, Scott A. Wells

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This manual documents the two-dimensional, laterally averaged, hydrodynamic and water quality model CE-QUAL-W2. This manual was prepared in the Environmental Laboratory (EL), us Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station (WES), Vicksburg, MS. Bonita Niel and Dr. William Roper, CERD-C provided funding for Version 3.1 of the manual under the Numerical Model Maintenance Program. The principal investigator for Version 3.2 of CE-QUAL-W2 and the User Manual was Mr. Thomas M. Cole of the Water Quality and Contaminant Modeling Branch (WQCMB), Environmental Processes and Effects Division (EPED), EL. This report supersedes the Version 3.2 manual. Revisions made in this V3.5 manual were made …

Canopy-Tree Influences Along A Soil Parent Material Gradient In Pinus-Ponderosa-Quercus Gambelii Forests, Northern Arizona, Scott R. Abella, Judith D. Springer

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

ABELLA, S. R. (Public Lands Institute and School of Life Sciences, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV 89154-2040) AND J. D. SPRINGER (Ecological Restoration Institute, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5017). Canopy-tree influences along a soil parent material gradient in Pinus ponderosa- Quercus gambelii forests, northern Arizona. J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 135: 26–36. 2008.—The distribution of canopy trees can impose within-site patterns of soil properties and understory plant composition. At ten sites spanning a soil parent material gradient in northern Arizona Pinus ponderosa-Quercus gambelii forests, we compared soils and plant composition among five canopy types: openings, Pinus ponderosa …

Dry Creek Long Term Watershed Study: Buffer Zone Performance As Viable Amphibian Habitat, Brooke L. Talley, Thomas Crisman

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

As bioindicators, amphibians typically require both terrestrial and aquatic habitats to complete their life cycles. Pre- timber-harvest monitoring (December 2002 through September 2003) of salamander and frog (Hylidae) populations was conducted in four watersheds of Decatur County, GA. Post- timber-harvest monitoring (December 2003 through September 2004) continued in the same watersheds (two reference and two treatment watersheds). Coverboards were used to monitor adult salamanders, larval salamanders were surveyed with dipnet sweeps, and frogs were monitored with vertical PVC pipes. Six salamander species (Desmognathus apalachicolae, Eurycea cirrigera, E. guttolineata, Notophthalmus viridescens, Plethodon grobmani, and Pseudotriton ruber) and five frog species (Hyla …

Dry Creek Long Term Watershed Study: Assessment Of Immediate Response Of Aquatic Macroinvertebrates To Watershed Level Harvesting And Thinning Of Streamside Management Zones, M. W. Griswold, R. T. Winn, Thomas Crisman, W. R. White

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Streamside Management Zones (SMZs) are meant to protect riparian habitat and the stream ecosystem. Benthic macroinvertebrates are recognized bioindicators of water quality in streams, typically occupying multiple trophic levels in these systems and providing food for vertebrates. Thus, it is important to understand the effects of harvest within and adjacent to the SMZ on macroinvertebrate assemblages. Benthic macroinvertebrates were sampled pre- and post-harvest from four firstorder streams draining the Dry Creek watershed in southwestern Georgia. A multi-habitat sampling procedure was used. Macroinvertebrates were identified and compared using biotic indices. Comparisons were made between streams within the pre-harvest period and between …

Study Of Metals In Leached Soils Of A Municipal Dumpsite In Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico: Preliminary Results, P. F. Rodríguez-Espinosa, D. Chazaro Mendoza, J. A. Montes De Oca, G. Sánchez Torres E., Alejandro Fierro-Cabo

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The Zapote dumpsite measures 420000 m 2 and is 28 years old; an estimated 2.5 millions tons of waste have accumulated on the site (household waste, clinical waste, commercial waste). The thickness of the waste is 3 to 9 meters. Since operations began, no control regulations have existed on the residues received. The Zapote dumpsite is located within a salt-marsh between a system of channels and river lagoons of brackish water, located in a tropical sedimentary environment in the urban zone of Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Recently, the Zapote has been closed and work is presently underway in its rehabilitation since …

The Distribution Of Diatom Flora In Ice Caves Of The Northern Yukon Territory, Canada: Relationship To Air Circulation And Freezing, Bernard Lauriol, Clément Prévost, Denis Lacelle

International Journal of Speleology

In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, various media in karst environments in the Northern Yukon Territory were examined for their diatom content. Cryogenic cave calcite powders, grus and various ice formations (ice plugs, ice stalagmites and floor ice) were collected from three freezing caves and one slope cave to make an inventory of the diatom content, and to explain the spatial distribution of the diatoms within the caves. The results show that approximately 20% of diatoms in the caves originate from external biotopes and habitats (e.g., river, lake, stream), with the remaining 80% of local origin (i.e., from subaerial …

Loss Of Nutrients From Croplands As A Result Of Soil Erosion, Munns Creek Watershed, Grundy County, Iowa, Jihyo Chong

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The temporal distribution of chloride, nitrate, and sulfate in the hydrologic environment were studied in Grundy County, Iowa from June to September 2004. The goal of the project was to investigate the rate of soil erosion and the subsequent loss of nutrients from the agricultural fields of the study area. Water samples were collected weekly from 6 different sites along Munns Creek in the study area near Grundy Center, Iowa. Each sample was analyzed for chloride, nitrate, and sulfate by ion chromatography. Soil core samples were collected from 22 locations in the surrounding agricultural fields. At each location, soil was …

Detecting Submarine Groundwater Discharge With Synoptic Surveys Of Sediment Resistivity, Radium, And Salinity, John A. Breier, Crystaline F. Breier, Henrietta Edmonds

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

A synoptic geophysical and geochemical survey was used to investigate the occurrence and spatial distribution of submarine discharges of water to upper Nueces Bay, Texas. The 17 km survey incorporated continuous resistivity profiling; measurements of surface water salinity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen; and point measurements of dissolved Ra isotopes. The survey revealed areas of interleaving, vertical fingers of high and low conductivity extending up through 7 m of bay bottom sediments into the surface water, located within 100 m of surface salinity and dissolved Ra maxima along with peaks in water temperature and lows in dissolved oxygen. These results indicate …

Estimation Of Iron Solubility From Observations And A Global Aerosol Model, Chao Luo, N. M. Mahowald, N. Meskhidze, Y. Chen, R. L. Siefert, A. R. Baker, Anne M. Johansen

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Mineral aerosol deposition is the dominant source of iron to the open ocean. Soil iron is typically insoluble and understanding the atmospheric processes that convert insoluble iron to the more soluble forms observed over the oceans is crucial. In this paper, we model several proposed processes for the conversion of Fe(III) to Fe(II), and compare with cruise observations. The comparisons show that the model results in similar averaged magnitudes of iron solubility as measured during 8 cruises in 2001–2003. Comparisons show that results of cases including cloud, SO₂ and hematite processing are better than the other approaches used using …

Foraminiferal Faunas Of The Southern California Bight: A Temporal And Spatial Comparison Of Assemblages In The >150, 63-150, And >63 Μm Fractions, Amanda S. Shepard

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Analyses ofliving (Rose Bengal stained) deep-sea benthic foraminifera collected on the Southern California margin reveal temporal and spatial changes in foraminiferal assemblages related to changes in sea-surface productivity. Samples were collected from two sites in May, August, and October 1996. Results show that foraminiferal microhabitats are not static at these sites, and some species ( e.g., Bolivina spissa and Uvigerina peregrina) responded to the change in seasons with a change in their vertical distribution profiles, which is indicative of microhabitat preferences. Species such as Buliminella tenuata changed sediment depth in different stages of their life cycles, which has implications for …

Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction Of The Late Cretaceous Eastern Gulf Coastal Plain In Georgia And Alabama, Tracy L. Hall

Theses and Dissertations

The present study reconstructs the regional paleoenvironment (particularly paleoclimate) of the Late Cretaceous Eastern Gulf Coastal Plain of Georgia and Alabama using paleobotanical, paleoecological and geochemical methods in order to evaluate the Late Cretaceous climate of the Southeastern United States, and to add to the body of paleoclimate data for that time. Paleobotanical analysis indicates a terrestrial mean annual temperature (MAT) of about 27°C during the Late Cretaceous, which is considerably warmer than modern terrestrial MAT. Stable oxygen isotope data from molluscan carbonate indicate mean sea surface temperature (SST) of 26.8 °C for the Santonian, 23.5°C for the early Campanian, …

Carbon Isotope Of Bulk Organic Matter: A Proxy For Precipitation In The Arid And Semiarid Central East Asia, Xinqing Lee, Zhaodong Feng, Lanlan Guo, Lixia Wang, Liya Jin, Yongsong Huang, Mark Chopping, Daikuan Huang, Wei Jiang, Qian Jiang, Hongguang Cheng

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Carbon isotope composition (δ13C) of bulk organic matter in soil and lake sediment sequences has been widely used to infer past climate changes. The specific climatic representation of the isotopic signature, however, lacks for examination. With excellent gradients of temperature and precipitation, as well as the gradients of vegetation zone, central East Asia provides an ideal background for developing the relationship between the δ13C and the climatic parameters. Analysis of surface soil organic matter from a transect that crosses the various climatic and vegetation zones reveals a significant linear correlation between δ13C and the mean precipitation from May to September …

Analysis Of Qa/Qc Protocols And Value Of Data To The Development Of Reference Criteria In The Georgia Ecoregions Project, Tracy Jo Ferring

Theses and Dissertations

The concept of Measurements Quality Objectives (MQOs), in bioassessment programs is a useful tool in evaluating the consistency of data and limiting variability and potential sources of measurement error. Typical evaluations of data repeatability and/or data quality center on the use of a series of calculations that quantify variability between measures. These calculations provided some indication of not only the quality of the data collected, but also acted as a measure of how representative the biological data were to each ecoregion. The evaluation of the Quality Control data for this project provides a framework for data users and water resource …

Chlorsulfuron, Ecological Risk Assessment, Final Report, Ensr International

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), United States Department of the Interior (USDI), proposing a program to treat vegetation on up to six million acres of public lands annually in 17 western states in the continental United States (US) and Alaska. As part of this program, the BLM is proposing the use of ten herbicide active ingredients (a.i.) to control invasive plants and noxious weeds on approximately one million of the 6 million acres proposed for treatment. The BLM and its contractor, ENSR, are preparing a Vegetation Treatments Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate this and other proposed vegetation …

Vegetation Treatments On Bureau Of Land Management Lands In 17 Western States, Bureau Of Land Management

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

No abstract provided.

Modeling And Measuring The Nocturnal Drainage Flow In A High-Elevation, Subalpine Forest With Complex Terrain, Chuixiang Yi, Russell K. Monson, Zhiqiang Zhai, Dean E. Anderson, Brian Lamb, Gene Allwine, Andrew A. Turnipseed, Sean P. Burns

Publications and Research

The nocturnal drainage flow of air causes significant uncertainty in ecosystem CO₂, H₂O, and energy budgets determined with the eddy covariance measurement approach. In this study, we examined the magnitude, nature, and dynamics of the nocturnal drainage flow in a subalpine forest ecosystem with complex terrain. We used an experimental approach involving four towers, each with vertical profiling of wind speed to measure the magnitude of drainage flows and dynamics in their occurrence. We developed an analytical drainage flow model, constrained with measurements of canopy structure and SF₆ diffusion, to help us interpret the tower …

Systematic Revision Of The Genus Eupleura H. And A. Adams, 1853 (Gastropoda: Muricidae) In The Neogene To Recent Of Tropical America, Gregory S. Herbert

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

The systematics of the Neogene to Recent genus Eupleura of tropical America are revised, with descriptions of four new species: Eupleura engerrabunda, from the Late Miocene of Mexico (Atlantic); Eupleura gravidentata, from the Plio-Pleistocene of Colombia (Atlantic); Eupleura paroudia, from the Early or middle Pliocene of Mexico (Atlantic); and Eupleura vokesorum, from the Pliocene of Costa Rica (Pacific) and Ecuador and the Recent tropical eastern Pacific. Two recent taxa, Eupleura plicata and Eupleura limata, are also resurrected, increasing the standing diversity of Eupleura in the eastern Pacific to seven species. Eupleura limata, however, may …

Development Of Biological Reference Conditions Of Wadeable Streams In The Major Ecoregions And Subecoregions Of Georgia, Duncan L. Hughes

Theses and Dissertations

One bioassessment tool available to resource managers to indicate NPS impairment of wadeable streams and rivers are multi-metric invertebrate indices. Such indices are assembled from metrics in broad categories that represent different aspects of community structure and function (e.g. richness, composition, tolerance/intolerance, feeding group, and habit). Indices must incorporate suites of metrics that are ecologically relevant, quantifiable, non-redundant, and that best individually discriminate between reference sites and impaired sites. More than 240 wadeable streams in Georgia were sampled during the September thru February index period using RBP protocols during three successive sample seasons (1999-2003). Ecoregional reference (minimally impaired) sites, as …

Environmental Risks For Gemstone Miners With Reference To Merelani Tanzanite Mining Area, Northeastern Tanzania, Ep Malisa, Cp Kinabo

Tanzania Journal of Science

Artisanal and small-scale gemstone miners are the workers with the highest health risk exposure in Tanzania. Gemstone mining at Merelani tanzanite mines which has gone to depths of 100 m or more in narrow straight and inclined shafts, underground artisanal miners work under a very harsh environment. Tanzanite deposits are located within sheared zones, lying along a deep-seated Lelatema fault zones. Rocks along these zones which are mainly graphitic and or/gypsum-bearing gneisses surrounded by limestone are soft, fractured and strongly weathered. Poor mining techniques, lack of geological background, chronic shortage of capital, and the lack of awareness on environmental pollution …

Influence Of Simultaneous Infestations Of Prostephanus Truncatus And Sitophilus Zeamaison The Reproductive Performance And Maize Damage, C P Rugumamu

Tanzania Journal of Science

This study examined the combined effect of Prostephanus truncatus and  Sitophilus zeamais infestations on their reproductive performance and on the damage they cause to maize variety ZM 621 with 12.5% moisture content. The specific objective was to determine the number of the insect pests at F1 and F2 and the grain weight losses caused by the simultaneous pests\' infestations of shelled maize in the search for a control strategy. The results showed a change in adult insect numbers from F1 to F2. During single infestation the change in P. truncatus was 47.54% while in simultaneous infestations it was 41.66%. The …