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Physical Property And Chemical Characteristics Of Surface Sediment Grab Samples From Narragansett Bay And The Providence And Seekonk Rivers, D. W. Murray, W L. Prell, C E. Rincon, E Saarman

Narragansett Bay Collection

This document contains data tables, maps, plots, and documentation on Brown

University’s Narragansett Bay Sediment Project compiled by David W. Murray, Brown

University, for the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission with

support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The data were compiled and

analyzed as part of a New England pilot project exploring the development of a

biological condition gradient applicable to estuarine systems.

Nitrogen Loading From Wastewater Treatment Plants To Upper Narragansett Bay, Donald Pryor, Emily Saarman, David Murray, Warren Prell

Narragansett Bay Collection

Increasing awareness of low-oxygen conditions in Narragansett Bay, as well as other

symptoms of eutrophication such as macroalgae accumulation, eelgrass failure, and fish

kills, has led to management actions to reduce nitrogen loads to the upper Bay

Nitrogen Loading From Wastewater Treatment Plants To Upper Narragansett Bay, Donald Pryor, Emily Saarman, David Murray, Warren Prell

Narragansett Bay Collection

Increasing awareness of low-oxygen conditions in Narragansett Bay, as well as other

symptoms of eutrophication such as macroalgae accumulation, eelgrass failure, and fish

kills, has led to management actions to reduce nitrogen loads to the upper Bay

Aspen Indicator Species In Lichen Communities In The Bear River Range Of Idaho And Utah, Paul C. Rogers, Roger Rosentreter, Ronald J. Ryel

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

Aspen are thought to be declining in this region due to a combination of fire suppression, grazing and wildlife management practices, and potentially cool/wet climates of the past century which favor advancing conifer succession. Many scientists are concerned that aspen’s related species may also be losing habitat, thereby threatening the long-term local and regional viability of this important community. To date, few studies have specifically examined the role of aspen’s epiphytic lichen community. This paper presents basic community research describing the application of Indicator Species Analysis for lichens growing on aspen stems in the central Rocky Mountains of North American. …

Loess Deposits, Origins And Properties, Daniel R. Muhs

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Loess is an eolian (windblown) sediment that is an important archive of Quaternary climate changes. It may provide one of the most complete terrestrial records of interglacial–glacial cycles. Loess is unusual as a record of Quaternary climate change because it is one of the few sediments that is deposited directly from the atmosphere. Thus, it is a geologic deposit that contains a record of atmospheric circulation and can be used to reconstruct synoptic-scale paleoclimatology. Loess is also unusual in that it can be dated directly using ‘trapped electron’ or luminescence methods that require only the sediment itself. Commonly, loess deposits …

Impact Of More Intensive Grazing On Nitrogen And Phosphorus In Shallow Aquifers Of The Southern Perth Basin, D L. Bennett, Patrick Donnelly, Peter J. Tille

Resource management technical reports

This study reports on the nutrient content, pH and salinity of groundwater samples collected from the watertable and within the Superficial and the upper Leederville Aquifers from the Southern Perth Basin, south of Pinjarra, Western Australia. Sampling was undertaken to determine the impact of intensification of broadscale grazing on groundwater nutrients in the area.

Saving The Vaquita: Immediate Action, Not More Data, Armando Jaramillo-Legorreta, Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho, Robert L. Brownell Jr., Andrew J. Read, Randall R. Reeves, Katherine Ralls, Barbara L. Taylor

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

The recent likely extinction of the baiji (Chinese river dolphin [Lipotes vexillifer]) (Turvey et al. 2007) makes the vaquita (Gulf of California porpoise [Phocoena sinus]) the most endangered cetacean. The vaquita has the smallest range of any porpoise, dolphin, or whale and, like the baiji, has long been threatened primarily by accidental deaths in fishing gear (bycatch) (Rojas-Bracho et al. 2006). Despite repeated recommendations from scientific bodies and conservation organizations, no effective actions have been taken to remove nets from the vaquita’s environment. Here, we address three questions that are important to vaquita conservation: (1) How …

Use Of Chemical Tracers In Assessing The Diet And Foraging Regions Of Eastern North Pacific Killer Whales, Margaret M. Krahn, David P. Herman, Craig O. Matkin, John W. Durban, Lance Barrett-Lennard, Douglas G. Burrows, Marilyn E. Dahlheim, Nancy Black, Richard G. Leduc, Paul R. Wade

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Top predators in the marine environment integrate chemical signals acquired from their prey that reflect both the species consumed and the regions from which the prey were taken. These chemical tracers—stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen; persistent organic pollutant (POP) concentrations, patterns and ratios; and fatty acid profiles—were measured in blubber biopsy samples from North Pacific killer whales (Orcinus orca) (n = 84) and were used to provide further insight into their diet, particularly for the offshore group, about which little dietary information is available. The offshore killer whales were shown to consume prey species that were …

Factors Influencing Epiphytic Lichen Communities In Aspen-Associated Forests Of The Bear River Range, Idaho And Utah, Paul C. Rogers

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

In western North America, quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) is the most common hardwood in montane landscapes. Fire suppression, grazing, wildlife management practices, and climate patterns of the past century are some of the threats to aspen coverage in this region. Researchers are concerned that aspen-dependent species may be losing habitat, thereby threatening their long-term local and regional viability. Though lichens have a rich history as air pollution indicators, I believe that they may also be useful as a metric of community diversity associated with habitat change. To date, few studies have specifically examined the status of aspen’s epiphytic lichen …

Aphis’ Plant Inspection Stations: Protecting American Agriculture From Foreign Pests And Diseases, United States Department Fo Agriculture, Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service

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

In today’s global marketplace, the volume of international trade brings increased potential for the introduction of foreign pests, diseases, and noxious weeds that could threaten the safety of American agriculture. The results of such introductions can have a devastating effect on the U.S. food supply, damage our natural resources, and cost hundreds of millions of dollars in eradication and control measures that ultimately result in higher priced agricultural products for the consumer.

Agroecología: Promoviendo Una Transición Hacia La Sostenibilidad, Stephen R. Gliessman, Francisco J. Rosado-May, Carlos Guadarrama-Zugasti, Julie Jedlicka, Anais Cohn, Victor Ernesto Méndez, Roseann Cohen, Laura Trujillo, Christopher M. Bacon, Roberta Jaffe

Environmental Studies and Sciences

En este artículo se define agroecología como la aplicación de los conceptos y prinicipios ecológicos al diseño y manejo de los sistemas alimentarios sostenibles. Se presentan los argumentos principales que sostienen la validez, importancia y pertinencia del enfoque agroecológico, no solo para entender los procesos involucrados en la producción de alimentos, sino para proponer alternativas que conduzcan a esos procesos para operar en sistemas sostenibles. El concepto clave, que guía el razonamiento metodológico y epistemológico en este an álisis, es el de sostenibilidad. Para alcanzar sostenibilidad la metodología agroecológica no solo se ancla en la Ecología, lo cual se describe …

Home Range Characteristics Of Mexican Spotted Owls In The Canyonlands Of Utah, D. W. Willey, C. Van Riper

Canyonlands Research Bibliography

We studied home-range characteristics of adult Mexican Spotted Owls (Slyix occidentalis lucida) in southern Utah. Twenty-eight adult owls were radio-tracked using a ground-based telemetry system during 1991-95. Five males arid eight females molted tail feathers and dropped transmitters within 4 wk. We estimated cumulative home ranges for 15 Spotted Owls (12 males, 3 females). The mean estimate of cumulative home-range size was not statistically different between the minimum convex polygon and adaptive kernel (AK) 95% isopleth. Both estimators yielded relatively high SD, and male and fernale range sizes varied widely. For 12 owls tracked during both the breeding and nonbreeding …

Wind Damage And Salinity Effects Of Hurricanes Katrina And Rita On Coastal Baldcypress Forests Of Louisiana, William Conner, Thomas W. Doyle, Richard H. Day, Ken W. Krauss, Christopher M. Swarzenski

Publications

The frequency of hurricane landfall in a given coastal stretch may play a more important role in the ecology of coastal forests than previously thought because of direct and indirect impacts of fallen trees and the introduction of salt water that lingers long after the storm passes. Findings show that surge events can inundate interior freshwater forests many miles from the coast and elevate soil salinities twofold to threefold. These elevated salinities may contribute to delayed mortality of certain tree species and set the stage for eventual forest decline and dieback.

Science And The Storms: The Usgs Response To The Hurricanes Of 2005 - Chapter Six: Ecological Impacts, William Conner, Stephen Faulkner, Wylie Barrow, Brady Couvillion, Lori Randall, Michael Baldwin

Publications

Ecological impacts from the hurricanes of 2005 affected both vegetation and the animals that depend on coastal habits on land and in water. Discussed in this section are migratory birds, coastal marsh vegetation, chenier forests, coastal floodplain forests, mangrove forests, estuaries, and the endangered manatee.

A Meta-Baci Approach Forevaluating Management Intervention On Chronic Wasting Disease In Mule Deer, Mary M. Conner, Michael W. Miller, Michael Ryan Ebinger, Kenneth P. Burnham

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Advances in acquiring and analyzing the spatial attributes of data have greatlyenhanced the potential utility of wildlife disease surveillance data for addressing problems ofecological or economic importance. We present an approach for using wildlife diseasesurveillance data to identify areas for (or of ) intervention, to spatially delineate pairedtreatment and control areas, and then to analyze these nonrandomly selected sites in a meta-analysis framework via before–after–control–impact (BACI) estimates of effect size. We applythese methods to evaluate the effectiveness of attempts to reduce chronic wasting disease(CWD) prevalence through intensive localized culling of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus)innorth-central Colorado, USA. Areas where surveillance data …

Huntington North Dam Outlet Works Modification And Carriage Of Non-Project Water Through Emery County Project Facilities Final Environmental Assessment And Finding Of No Significant Impact, Peter Crookston

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

This document is an Environmental Assessment (EA) for the conveyance of 14,074 acre-feet per year of non-project water through Huntington North Reservoir and the related outlet works modification and spillway construction. Huntington Cleveland Irrigation Company (HCIC) has requested Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) authorization for HCIC to convey non-project water through Emery County Project facilities.

Forest Preservation, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Conservation/Energy Alternatives

Bibliography and photographs of a display of government documents from Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Wmi Outdoor News Bulletin * January 2007, Volume 61, No. 1

Wildlife Management Institute Outdoor News Bulletin

Contents:

• Aquatic Nuisance Species and Predator-Prey workshops at North American Conference

• Ruffed grouse have a plan

• Cellulose may soon take the starch out of ethanol

• Proposal for year-round drilling on critical big game range gains momentum and contention

• Reports of National Bison Range agreement demise prove to be greatly exaggerated

• 76th (2011) North American Conference slated

• Moguls may preempt habitat for threatened lynx

• WMI launches new Website

• Worth reading: The Golden Spruce

Gray Wolf (Canis Lupus)

Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery: Annual Reports

Second only to humans in adapting to climate extremes, gray wolves once ranged from coast to coast and from Alaska to Mexico in North America. They were absent from the East and the Southeast, which were occupied by red wolves (Canis rufus), and from the large deserts in the southwestern States. By the early 20th century, government-sponsored predator control programs and declines in prey brought gray wolves to near extinction in the lower 48 States.

Wolf groups, or packs, typically include a breeding pair (the alpha pair), their offspring, and other non-breeding adults. Wolves are capable of mating …

Past And Present Distribution, Densities And Movements Of Blue Whales Balaenoptera Musculus In The Southern Hemisphere And Northern Indian Ocean, T. A. Branch, K. M. Stafford, D. M. Palacios, C. Allison, J. L. Bannister, C. L. K. Burton, E. Cabrera, C. A. Carlson, B. Galletti Vernazzani, P. C. Gill, R. Hucke-Gaete, K. C. S. Jenner, M.-N. M. Jenner, K. Matsuoka, Y. A. Mikhalev, T. Miyashita, M. G. Morrice, S. Nishiwaki, V. J. Sturrock, D. Tormosov, R. C. Anderson, A. N. Baker, P. B. Best, P. Borsa, R. L. Brownell Jr., S. Childerhouse, K. P. Findlay, T. Gerrodette, A. D. Ilangakoon, M. Joergensen, B. Kahn, D. K. Ljungblad, B. Maughan, R. D. Mccauley, S. Mckay, T. F. Norris, Oman Whale, Dolphin Research Group, R. M. Warneke, S. Rankin, F. Samaran, D. Thiele, K. Van Waerebeek

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

1. Blue whale locations in the Southern Hemisphere and northern Indian Ocean were obtained from catches (303 239), sightings (4383 records of ≥ 8058 whales), strandings (103), Discovery marks (2191) and recoveries (95), and acoustic recordings.

2. Sighting surveys included 7 480 450 km of effort plus 14 676 days with unmeasured effort. Groups usually consisted of solitary whales (65.2%) or pairs (24.6%); larger feeding aggregations of unassociated individuals were only rarely observed. Sighting rates (groups per 1000 km from many platform types) varied by four orders of magnitude and were lowest in the waters of Brazil, South Africa, the …

Estimating Abundance Of Killer Whales In The Nearshore Waters Of The Gulf Of Alaska And Aleutian Islands Using Line-Transect Sampling, Alexandre N. Zerbini, Janice M. Waite, John W. Durban, Rick Leduc, Marilyn E. Dahlheim, Paul R. Wade

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Killer whale (Orcinus orca Linnaeus, 1758) abundance in the North Pacific is known only for a few populations for which extensive longitudinal data are available, with little quantitative data from more remote regions. Line-transect ship surveys were conducted in July and August of 2001–2003 in coastal waters of the western Gulf of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. Conventional and Multiple Covariate Distance Sampling methods were used to estimate the abundance of different killer whale ecotypes, which were distinguished based upon morphological and genetic data. Abundance was calculated separately for two data sets that differed in the method by which …

Killer Whales And Marine Mammal Trends In The North Pacific—A Re-Examination Of Evidence For Sequential Megafauna Collapse And The Prey-Switching Hypothesis, Paul R. Wade, Vladimir N. Burkanov, Marilyn E. Dahlheim, Nancy A. Friday, Lowell W. Fritz, Thomas R. Loughlin, Sally A. Mizroch, Marcia M. Muto, Dale W. Rice, Lance G. Barrett-Leonard, Nancy Black, Alexander Burdin, John Calambokidis, Sal Cerchio, John K. B. Ford, Jeff Jacobsen, Craig Matkin, Dena Matkin, Amee Mehta, Robert Small, Janice Straley, Shannon Mccluskey, Glenn Vanblaricomm, P J. Clapham

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Springer et al. (2003) contend that sequential declines occurred in North Pacific populations of harbor and fur seals, Steller sea lions, and sea otters. They hypothesize that these were due to increased predation by killer whales, when industrial whaling’s removal of large whales as a supposed primary food source precipitated a prey switch. Using a regional approach, we reexamined whale catch data, killer whale predation observations, and the current biomass and trends of potential prey, and found little support for the prey-switching hypothesis. Large whale biomass in the Bering Sea did not decline as much as suggested by Springer et …

Use Of Chemical Tracers In Assessing The Diet And Foraging Regions Of Eastern North Pacific Killer Whales, Margaret M. Krahn, David P. Herman, Craig O. Matkin, John W. Durban, Lance Barrett-Lennard, Douglas G. Burrows, Marilyn E. Dahlheim, Nancy Black, Richard G. Leduc, Paul R. Wade

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Top predators in the marine environment integrate chemical signals acquired from their prey that reflect both the species consumed and the regions from which the prey were taken. These chemical tracers—stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen; persistent organic pollutant (POP) concentrations, patterns and ratios; and fatty acid profiles—were measured in blubber biopsy samples from North Pacific killer whales (Orcinus orca) (n = 84) and were used to provide further insight into their diet, particularly for the offshore group, about which little dietary information is available. The offshore killer whales were shown to consume prey species that were …

Antler Size Of Alaskan Moose Alces Alces Gigas: Effects Of Population Density, Hunter Harvest And Use Of Guides, Jennifer I. Schmidt, Jay M. Ver Hoef, R. Terry Bowyer

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Moose Alces alces gigas in Alaska, USA, exhibit extreme sexual dimorphism, with adult males possessing large, elaborate antlers. Antler size and conformation are influenced by age, nutrition and genetics, and these bony structures serve to establish social rank and affect mating success. Population density, combined with anthropogenic effects such as harvest, is thought to influence antler size. Antler size increased as densities of moose decreased, ostensibly a density-dependent response related to enhanced nutrition at low densities. The vegetation type where moose were harvested also affected antler size, with the largest-antlered males occupying more open habitats. Hunts with guides occurred in …

Blue Whale Visual And Acoustic Encounter Rates In The Southern California Bight, Erin M. Oleson, John Calambokidis, Jay Barlow, John A. Hildebrand

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

The relationship between blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) visual and acoustic encounter rates was quantitatively evaluated using hourly counts of detected whales during shipboard surveys off southern California. Encounter rates were estimated using temporal, geographic, and weather variables within a generalized additive model framework. Visual encounters (2.06 animals/h, CV = 0.10) varied with subregion, Julian day, time of day, and year. Acoustic encounters of whales producing pulsed A and tonal B call sequences (song; 0.65 animals/h, CV = 0.06) varied by Julian day, survey mode (transit or stationary), and subregion, and encounters of whales producing downswept (D) calls (0.41 …

Newsletter Of The Wildli Fe Society Wildlife Damage Management Working Group, Interactions: Volume 13 Issue 2 Spring 2007

TWS Wildlife Damage Management Working Group Newsletter

From The Field Trapping Under Fire…..Again; Letters From Art: A Chair’s Message; Call for Papers: 23rd Vertebrate Pest Conference March 17-20, 2008 San Diego, California 22nd Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings Available; Calls from the Field (Or A House, Or A Farm, Or A…); Focus On the FIELD The Northeast Wildlife Damage Management Cooperative First Issue of Human-Wildlife Conflicts Now Available; Human-Wildlife Conflict in The News; The Wildlife Professional A New Public Action from Tws; Recent Wildlife Damage Management Research; The Wildlife Society Wildlife Damage Management Working Group Upcoming Meetings, Conferences and Events

Adaptive Data-Driven Models For Estimating Carbon Fluxes In The Northern Great Plains, Bruce K. Wylie, Eugene A. Fosnight, Tagir G. Gilmanov, Albert B. Frank, Jack A. Morgan, Marshall R. Haferkamp, Tilden P. Meyers

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Rangeland carbon fluxes are highly variable in both space and time. Given the expansive areas of rangelands, how rangelands respond to climatic variation, management, and soil potential is important to understanding carbon dynamics. Rangeland carbon fluxes associated with Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) were measured from multiple year data sets at five flux tower locations in the Northern Great Plains. These flux tower measurements were combined with 1-km² spatial data sets of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), temperature, precipitation, seasonal NDVI metrics, and soil characteristics. Flux tower measurements were used to train and select variables for …

Accelerating Adoption Of Fire Science And Related Research, Jamie Barbour

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Since its inception in 1998, the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) has funded over 350 projects. The Joint Fire Science Program has long recognized that the investments made in wildland fire science need to be accompanied by an emphasis on science interpretation and delivery. Program success is ultimately measured by how well information from research efforts is being conveyed to resource managers and end users, and whether this information is improving management decisions. This project introduced a conceptual model for an adaptive process to improve the delivery of scientific information. We developed this process through these steps: 1. Creating a …

An Automated System For Evaluating Bluesky Predictions Of Smoke Impacts On Community Health And Ecosystems, Robert Solomon

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Predictions of smoke impacts on communities and ecosystems are currently being made by the BlueSky smoke forecast system; providing real-time predictions of surface smoke concentrations from prescribed fire, wildfire, and agricultural burn activities. Currently operational in the Pacific Northwest, BlueSky has already a demonstrated success regarding what inter-agency collaboration can accomplish. A critical component of BlueSky that needed to be addressed was the development of an automated verification system to evaluate predicted impacts from smoke on communities and ecosystems. A verification system is necessary because land managers need to evaluate their burn decisions against potential National Ambient Air Quality Standard …

Atmospheric Fire Risk (Haines Index) In A Changed Climate, Julie Winkler, Brian Potter

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Previous studies of wildland fire potential under a perturbed climate have focused on potential changes in near-surface atmospheric parameters (e.g., temperature, humidity, and precipitation) and vegetation changes. However, above-ground atmospheric conditions, such as atmospheric stability, also play a critical role in fire behavior, especially for larger fires. This study employed the widely-used Haines Index as a measure of above-ground conditions relevant to wildland fire and investigated the potential changes in the Haines Index over the next 100 years. The analysis is based on simulations from the most recent version of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Community Climate System …