Digital Commons Network^™

Humpback Whale Abundance In The North Pacific Estimated By Photographic Capture-Recapture With Bias Correction From Simulation Studies, Jay Barlow, John Calambokidis, Erin A. Falcone, C. Scott Baker, Alexander M. Burdin, Phillip J. Clapham, John K. B. Ford, Christine M. Gabriele, Richard Leduc, David K. Mattila, Terrance J. Quinn Ii, Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho, Janice M. Straley, Barbara L. Taylor, Jorge Urbán R., Paul Wade, David Weller, Briana H. Witteveen, Manami Yamaguchi

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

We estimated the abundance of humpback whales in the North Pacific by capture recapture methods using over 18,000 fluke identification photographs collected in 2004–2006. Our best estimate of abundance was 21,808 (CV=0.04). We estimated the biases in this value using a simulation model. Births and deaths, which violate the assumption of a closed population, resulted in a bias of +5.2%, exclusion of calves in samples resulted in a bias of−10.5%, failure to achieve random geographic sampling resulted in a bias of −0.4%, and missed matches resulted in a bias of +9.3%. Known sex-biased sampling favoring males in breeding areas did …

The Minimization Of The Screen Bias From Ancient Western Mediterranean Air Temperature Records: An Exploratory Statistical Analysis, Manola Brunet, Jesús Asin, Javier Sigró, Manuel Bañón, Francisco García, Enric Aguilar, Juan Esteban Palenzuela, Thomas C. Peterson, Phil Jones

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Here we present an exploratory statistical analysis aimed at the minimization of the ‘screen bias’ from affected ancient air temperature time series over the Western Mediterranean. Our approach lies in the statistical analysis of about 6 years of daily paired temperature observations taken using the ancient Montsouri shelter and the modern Stevenson screen for daily maximum (T_x) and minimum (T_n) temperature data recorded at two experimental sites: the meteorological gardens of La Coruña and Murcia, Spain (locations under the influence of the Oceanic/Atlantic/Galician and Mediterranean arid and semi-arid climate types, respectively), where ongoing field trials have …

Global Mismatch Between Research Effort And Conservation Needs Of Tropical Coral Reefs, Rebecca Fisher, Ben T. Radford, Nancy Knowlton, Russell E. Brainard, Frances B. Michaelis, M. Julian Caley

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Tropical coral reefs are highly diverse and globally threatened. Management to ensure their persistence requires sound biological knowledge in regions where coral reef biodiversity and/or the threats to it are greatest. This paper uses a novel text analysis approach and Google Maps™ to examine the spatial coverage of scientific papers on coral reefs listed in Web of Science^® . Results show that research is highly clumped spatially, positively related to per capita gross domestic product, negatively related to coral species richness, and unrelated to threats to coral reefs globally; indicating a serious mismatch between conservation needs and the knowledge …

High Species Density Patterns In Macrofaunal Invertebrate Communities In The Marine Benthos, John Oliver, Kamille Hammerstrom, Erika Mcphee-Shaw, Peter Slattery, James Oakden, Stacy Kim, S. Ian Hartwell

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Species density of macrofaunal invertebrates living in marine soft sediments was highest at the shelf-slope break (100–150 m) in Monterey Bay (449 m^-2). There were 337 species m^-2 in the mid-shelf mud zone (80 m). There were fewer species along the slope: 205 m^-2 from the lower slope (950-2000 m) and 335 m^-2 on the upper slope (250-750 m). Species density was highest inside the bay (328-446 m^-2) compared to outside (336-339 m^-2), when examining samples at selected water depths (60-1000 m). There was little difference in local species density from …

Defining Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus) Stocks Based On Environmental, Physical, And Behavioral Characteristics, Jacalyn L. Toth, Aleta A. Hohn, Kenneth W. Able, Antoinette M. Gorgone

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

The population structure of bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, along the U.S. Atlantic coast has recently been redefined from one homogenous population into five coastal stocks. Local studies indicate even finer structure, primarily based on isolation of dolphins inhabiting estuaries.We identified population structuring of non-estuarine coastal bottlenose dolphins during a study in New Jersey, the northern range along the Atlantic Coast. Using photo-identification and distribution survey results, an analysis identified two major clusters of individuals significantly separated by five variables (distance from shoreline, group size, occurrence of the barnacle Xenobalanus globicipitis, avoidance behavior, and individual coloration). Sightings assigned to …

Climate, Fire And Carbon: Tipping Points And Landscape Vulnerability In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Erica A.H. Smithwick, Anthony L. Westerling, Monica G. Turner, William H. Romme, Michael G. Ryan

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

More frequent fires under climate warming are likely to alter terrestrial carbon (C) stocks by reducing the amount of C stored in biomass and soil. However, the thresholds of fire frequency that could shift landscapes from C sinks to C sources under future climates and whether these are likely to be exceeded during the coming century are not known. We used the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) as a case study to explore the conditions under which future climate and fire regimes would result in tipping points of C source/sink dynamics. We asked: (1) How great a change in climate and …

Laboratory Of Tree-Ring Research And School Of Natural Resources And The Environment, Thomas W. Swetnam, Donald Falk, Elaine K. Sutherland, Peter M. Brown, Timothy J. Brown

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Understanding the role of climate variation in governing fire regimes remains one of the central needs in contemporary fire science and management. Ideally, this understanding should encompass both historical and current fire-climatology, and inform both basic science and ecosystem management. In this project, Fire and Climate Synthesis (FACS) we undertook a detailed synthesis of both paleofire and modern fire based on compilations of existing data sets. We also analyzed three major thematic pathways by which climate has impacted fire policy, including direct and indirect climate effects on fire policy. Paleofire. We assembled the largest and most comprehensive data set of …

Mixed-Source Reintroductions Lead To Outbreeding Depression In Second-Generation Descendents Of A Native North American Fish, David D. Huff, Loren M. Miller, Christopher J. Chizinski, Bruce Vondracek

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Reintroductions are commonly employed to preserve intraspecific biodiversity in fragmented landscapes. However, reintroduced populations are frequently smaller and more geographically isolated than native populations. Mixing genetically, divergent sources are often proposed to attenuate potentially low genetic diversity in reintroduced populations that may result from small effective population sizes. However, a possible negative tradeoff for mixing sources is outbreeding depression in hybrid offspring. We examined the consequences of mixed-source reintroductions on several fitness surrogates at nine slimy sculpin (Cottus cognatus) reintroduction sites in south-east Minnesota. We inferred the relative fitness of each crosstype in the reintroduced populations by comparing …

Mojave Applied Ecology Notes Winter 2011, Scott R. Abella, Alice C. Newton, Kenneth Chittick, Pam Sinanian

Mojave Applied Ecology Notes

Lake Mead’s collaborative applied science research program; “annoying the elephant” - ruminations on active management by Alice Newton, Lake Mead NRA vegetation manager; 2012 NWRA Lake Mead symposium sneak peak; assessing forest change using dendrochronology in the Spring Mountains.

Climate Change: The Fork At The End Of Now, Micha Tomkiewicz

Publications and Research

There are many books on global warming written entirely from a layman's perspective, and there is a great deal of scientific literature on this subject. But few if any books attempt to bridge the science to those who lack a rigorous background in mathematics, physics and chemistry-but who may be working on careers in environmental science and policy. The new text is designed to introduce the field of global climate change from a scientific perspective-but written in a way that is accessible to students with some or little science background. It reviews the basic principles of climatic thermodynamics and atmospheric …

Influence Of Karst Landscape On Planetary Boundary Layer Atmosphere: A Weather Research And Forecasting (Wrf) Model–Based Investigation, Ronnie Leeper, Rezaul Mamood, Arturo I. Quintanar

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Karst hydrology provides a unique set of surface and subsurface hydrological components that affect soil moisture variability. Over karst topography, surface moisture moves rapidly below ground via sink holes, vertical shafts, and sinking streams, reducing surface runoff and moisture infiltration into the soil. In addition, subsurface cave blockage or rapid snowmelt over karst can lead to surface flooding. Moreover, regions dominated by karst may exhibit either drier or wetter soils when compared to nonkarst landscape. However, because of the lack of both observational soil moisture datasets to initialize simulations and regional land surface models (LSMs) that include explicit karst hydrological …

Homestead National Monument, Vegetation Classification [Map], United States National Park Service

United States National Park Service: Publications

Color graphic vegetation map of Homestead National Monument of America in Beatrice, Nebraska, USA. Created as part of the Homestead NM of America Vegetation Mapping Project in April and May 2011. Includes a color-coded vegetation classification.

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Vegetation Mapping Project [Poster], Kelly Kindscher, Hayley Kilroy, Jennifer Delisle, Quinn Long, Hillary Loring, Kevin Dobbs, Jim Drake

United States National Park Service: Publications

The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve encompasses 10,894 acres in eastern Kansas, just north of Strong City. This park unit was created on November 12, 1996, and is the first to protect a nationally significant example of the once vast tall grass prairie ecosystem. Of the 400,000 square miles of tall grass prairie that once covered the North American continent, less than four percent remains, prin1arily in the Flint Hills. The park unit is primarily rocky upland prairies and deep-soiled prairies in the lowlands. It also contains some wet prairie ravines, riparian forests and some former cropland and restored prairie. These …

Making Ecodistricts: City-Scale Climate Action One Neighborhood At A Time, Ethan Seltzer, Ellen M. Bassett, Joseph Cortright, Vivek Shandas, Timothy W. Smith

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

As part of its approach to meeting Climate Action Plan goals, the City of Portland has joined with the Portland Sustainability Institute to create "EcoDistricts" in Portland neighborhoods to seek neighborhood engagement on behalf of city climate action goals. EcoDistricts, like neighborhoods, offer a scale at which individuals can be affective and empowered to make climate-positive choices, but in a manner that can scale up to make citywide climate action real.

Boldly Sustainable: Hope And Opportunity For Higher Education In The Age Of Climate Change (Book Review), Mary Finley-Brook, Breana Coleman, Kaitlan Lawrence

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

Peter Bardaglio and Andrea Putman’s groundbreaking book, Boldly Sustainable, provides a powerful strategy for colleges and universities to achieve renewal and relevance in the 21st century through innovation, academic rigor, and pragmatism. The book combines a refreshingly optimistic message of hope and opportunity with an honest critique of higher education, highlighting the need for transformative change. Case study examples throughout the book show how sustainability initiatives can stimulate excellence in teaching and learning while also encouraging improvements in physical operations. With a broad range of cases from public and private institutions of various sizes and rankings, the authors convincingly …

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Vegetation Classification [Map], United States National Park Service

United States National Park Service: Publications

Colo vegetation map of the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Strong City, Kansas, USA, from the Tallgrass Prairie NP Vegetation Mapping Project, created between April and June 2011. Includes a color-coded vegetation classification.

Homestead National Monument, Vegetation Mapping Project [Poster], Kelly Kindscher, Hayley Kilroy, Jennifer Delisle, Quinn Long, Hillary Loring, Kevin Dobbs, Jim Drake

United States National Park Service: Publications

Homestead National Monument was created in 1936 to celebrate the significance of the Homestead Act of 1862, which granted 160 acres of free land to claimants. This was one of the most significant and enduring events in the westward expansion of the United States. The site is the first tract homesteaded under the act by Daniel Freemen, and encompasses 184 acres in Gage County, west of Beatrice, Nebraska.

This unique site also hosts the oldest prairie restoration in the National Park system and the second-oldest tallgrass prairie restoration known. This park unit also has a small remnant of native tallgrass …

A Synergetic Use Of Satellite Imagery From Sar And Optical Sensors To Improve Coastal Flood Mapping In The Gulf Of Mexico, Naira Chaouch, Marouane Temimi, Scott Hagen, John Weishampel, Stephen Medeiros, Reza Khanbilvardi

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

This work proposes a method for detecting inundation between semi-diurnal low and high water conditions in the northern Gulf of Mexico using high-resolution satellite imagery. Radarsat 1, Landsat imagery and aerial photography from the Apalachicola region in Florida were used to demonstrate and validate the algorithm. A change detection approach was implemented through the analysis of red, green and blue (RGB) false colour composites image to emphasise differences in high and low tide inundation patterns. To alleviate the effect of inherent speckle in the SAR images, we also applied ancillary optical data. The flood-prone area for the site was delineated …

The Evolutionary Origins Of Syngnathidae: Pipefishes And Seahorses, A. B. Wilson, J. W. Orr

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Despite their importance as evolutionary and ecological model systems, the phylogenetic relationships among gasterosteiforms remain poorly understood, complicating efforts to understand the evolutionary origins of the exceptional morphological and behavioural diversity of this group. The present review summarizes current knowledge on the origin and evolution of syngnathids, a gasterosteiform family with a highly developed form of male parental care, combining inferences based on morphological and molecular data with paleontological evidence documenting the evolutionary history of the group. Molecular methods have provided new tools for the study of syngnathid relationships and have played an important role in recent conservation efforts. Despite …

Water Current, Volume 43, No. 1, Winter 2011

Water Current Newsletter

UNL Water Center Becomes Groundwater Guardian

Water Tour Will Visit North Central Nebraska July 12-14

From the Interim Director: Back from the Czech Republic for a Second

Meet the Faculty: Diego Riveros-Iregui, Ph.D., Stephen L. Young, Ph.D.

Free Water and Natural Resources Lectures Continue

North American Invasive Plant Ecology and Management Short Course

Geothermal: Nebraska's Abundant, Renewable, and Clean Energy

WRAP Gets January Updates

Jess Gets 2010 Kremer Groundwater Award

POWER......One Word, Many Definitions

Past Environmental Programs, Water Center Director Passes

EPA Monitoring Hexavalent Chromium

Central Platte NRD, Farmers Work Six Mile Canal Deal

EPA Approves Nebraska's 2010 List of …

Soil Moisture: A Central And Unifying Theme In Physical Geography, Rezaul Mahmood

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Encyclopedia Of Snow, Ice And Glaciers, Vijay P. Singh, Pratap Singh, Umesh K. Haritashya

Department of Earth, Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

The objective of this encyclopedia is to present the current state of scientific understanding of various aspects of earth’s cryosphere – snow, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, ice shelves, sea ice, river and lake ice, and permafrost – and their related interdisciplinary connections under one umbrella. Therefore, every effort has been made to provide a comprehensive coverage of cryosphere by including a broad array of topics, such as the atmospheric processes responsible for snow formation; snowfall observations; snow cover and snow surveys; transformation of snow to ice and changes in their properties; classification of ice and glaciers and their worldwide …

Energy Storage: Technology For A More Efficient Grid, Noah Proser

CMC Senior Theses

Energy storage technologies have the potential to revolutionize the electric grid by allowing for the integration of renewable generation while increasing the utilization and efficiency of current grid assets. These technologies include pumped hydroelectric storage, compressed air energy storage (CAES), flywheels, batteries, thermal energy storage (TES), super capacitors, and superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES). While energy storage has been implemented in some areas, its benefits are greatly undervalued by current regulatory frameworks leading to suboptimal outcomes for grid operators, utilities, and ratepayers. Large-scale adoption of storage technologies will require regulatory frameworks that recognize the benefits of grid-scale storage across generation, …

Feasibility Study Of Consolidating Public Safety Dispatch For The City Of Wooster, City Of Ashland, And Wayne County, Ohio, Daila Shimek, Eugene Kramer, Patrick Johnson, Scott Winograd, Kimberly Renee Vining, Thomas Cozzens, Kevin E. O'Brien

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

No abstract provided.

Upscaling Carbon Fluxes Over The Great Plains Grasslands: Sinks And Sources, Li Zhang, Bruce K. Wylie, Lei Ji, Tagir G. Gilmanov, Larry L. Tieszen, Daniel M. Howard

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Previous studies suggested that the grasslands may be carbon sinks or near equilibrium, and they often shift between carbon sources in drought years and carbon sinks in other years. It is important to understand the responses of net ecosystem production (NEP) to various climatic conditions across the U.S. Great Plains grasslands. Based on 15 grassland flux towers, we developed a piecewise regression model and mapped the grassland NEP at 250 m spatial resolution over the Great Plains from 2000 to 2008. The results showed that the Great Plains was a net sink with an averaged annual NEP of 24 ± …

"We Are The Owners": Autonomy And Natural Resources In Northeastern Nicaragua, Mary Finley-Brook

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

Although focused predominately on Miskitu politics, this chapter identifies various constraints to multi-ethnic self-determination, while noting barriers exist even among aid programs targeting political empowerment and community development. Nevertheless, I also explore examples of progress toward decentralization at regional and local levels regardless of an overall national context of political containment and economic exploitation.

A Review And Synthesis Of Bird And Rodent Damage Estimates To Select California Crops, Karen Gebhardt, Aaron M. Anderson, Katy N. Kirkpatrick, Stephanie A. Shwiff

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

A comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify the magnitude of bird and rodent damage to 19 economically important crops in California. Interviews with agriculture experts provided additional information about damages. Monte Carlo simulations were used to derive summary estimates of damages to each crop. A meta-analysis indicated that summary damage estimates from expert interviews were higher than estimates from field studies and surveys. It was also found that there has been a downward trend over time in damages to almonds and grapes. The results of our study indicate that damages from bird and rodents remain high for many crops …

Social Vulnerability In Louisiana's Upper Industrial Corridor: Spatial Distribution And Linkages With Cumulative Pollution - A Zip Code Level Analysis, María Belén Toscano

LSU Master's Theses

Louisiana’s industrial corridor, the stretch of the lower Mississippi River from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, is one of the areas with the highest concentration of petrochemical facilities and chemical plants in the United States, as well as one of the most heavily polluted. In particular, the present study examined the associations of social vulnerability and potential exposure to environmental pollution in the upper section of the industrial corridor, the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The study was based on the methodology developed by Cutter et al. (2003) to construct an empirically derived index to measure social vulnerability to …

Are Local Chemical Releases Causing An Increase In Cancer Rates In East Baton Rouge Parish?, India T. Anderson

LSU Master's Theses

Environmental pollution has become a steadily growing problem in today’s society. East Baton Rouge alone has 13 chemical plants in the parish. The goal of this research is to find out if the chemical releases in the parish are having an effect on the cancer rates in East Baton Rouge Parish. I gathered data from all 64 parishes in Louisiana. The four chemicals I chose to study specifically, Benzene, Dioxin, Formaldehyde, and Xylene. Chemical release data was taken from the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) website and software from the years1988 to 2009, which was the last reporting year. The cancers …

Quantifying Uncertainty In Urban Flooding Analysis Considering Hydro-Climatic Projection And Urban Development Effects, Il-Won Jung, Heejun Chang, Hamid Moradkhani

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

How will the combined impacts of land use change, climate change, and hydrologic modeling influence changes in urban flood frequency and what is the main uncertainty source of the results? Will such changes differ by catchment with different degrees of current and future urban development? We attempt to answer these questions in two catchments with different degrees of urbanization, the Fanno catchment with 84% urban land use and the Johnson catchment with 36% urban land use, both located in the Pacific Northwest of the US. Five uncertainty sources – general circulation model (GCM) structures, future greenhouse gas (GHG) emission scenarios, …