Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Post-Breeding Habitat Use By Adult Boreal Toads (Bufo Boreas) After Wildfire In Glacier National Park, Usa, C. Gregory Guscio, Blake R. Hossack, Lisa A. Eby, Paul Stephen Corn

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Effects of wildfire on amphibians are complex, and some species may benefit from the severe disturbance of stand-replacing fire. Boreal Toads (Bufo boreas boreas) in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA increased in occurrence after fires in 2001 and 2003. We used radio telemetry to track adult B. boreas in a mosaic of terrestrial habitats with different burn severities to better understand factors related to the post-fire pulse in breeding activity. Toads used severely burned habitats more than expected and partially burned habitats less than expected. No toads were relocated in unburned habitat, but little of the study area …

Wildfire Effects On Water Temperature And Selection Of Breeding Sites By The Boreal Toad (Bufo Boreas) In Seasonal Wetlands, Blake R. Hossack, Paul Stephen Corn

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Disturbances can significantly affect the thermal regime and community structure of wetlands. We investigated the effect of a wildfire on water temperature of seasonal, montane wetlands after documenting the colonization of recently burned wetlands by the Boreal Toad (Bufo boreas boreas). We compared the daily mean temperature, daily maximum temperature, and accumulated growing degree·days measured on the north shore of three classes of wetlands: unburned wetlands, burned wetlands that were colonized by breeding toads, and burned wetlands that were not colonized. We hypothesized that toads colonized burned wetlands because they were warmer than unburned wetlands and selected specific …

Inconsistencies Between Pangean Reconstructions And Basic Climate Controls, Clinton Rowe, David B. Loope, Robert J. Oglesby, Rob Van Der Voo, Charles E. Broadwater

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The supercontinent Pangea dominated our planet from the Permian into the Jurassic. Paleomagnetic reconstructions have been used to estimate the latitudinal position of Pangea during this 100-million-year period. Atmospheric circulation, recorded by eolian sandstones in the southwestern United States, shows a broad sweep of northeasterly winds over their northernmost extent, curving to become northwesterly in the south. This evidence is consistent with paleomagnetic reconstructions of the region straddling the equator in the Early Permian but is at odds with its northward movement to about 20°N by the Early Jurassic. At least one of the following scenarios must be true: the …

Persistent Near-Bottom Aggregations Of Mesopelagic Animals Along The North Carolina And Virginia Continental Slopes, John V. Gartner Jr., Kenneth J. Sulak, Steve W. Ross, Ann Marie Necaise

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Submersible observations during four missions over the North Carolina and Virginia continental slopes (184–900 m) documented the occurrence of large aggregations of mesopelagic Wshes and macronektonic invertebrates near or on the bottom. Aggregated mesopelagics formed a layer up to tens of meters deep positioned from a few centimeters to 20 m, usually <10 >m, above the substrate. Aggregations were numerically dominated by microvores, notably the myctophid Wsh Ceratoscopelus maderensis and the penaeid shrimp Sergestes arcticus. Consistently present but in relatively lower numbers, were mesopelagic predators, including the paralepidids Notolepis rissoi and Lestidium atlanticum, the eel Nemichthys scolopaceus, the …

Retreating To Advance Women Geoscience Faculty, Suzanne O'Connell, Mary Anne Holmes

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Seventeen women geoscientists from New England, New York, and New Jersey assembled for a writing retreat at Boston College's Connors Family Retreat and Conference Center, set on 80 pastoral acres on the outskirts of Boston. Funded through the National Science Foundation ADVANCE program, the retreat had two objectives: to facilitate writing and to develop a supportive community. It succeeded on both accounts. Although new to science, retreats of this sort have long been a highly sought after experience for writers in other disciplines. The potential benefits for scientists, in particular, women scientists, are great. Writing is a cornerstone of our …

Saprolegniaceae Identified On Amphibian Eggs Throughout The Pacific Northwest, Usa, By Internal Transcribed Spacer Sequences And Phylogenetic Analysis, Jill E. Petrisko, Christopher A. Pearl, David S. Pilliod, Peter P. Sheridan, Charles F. Williams, Charles R. Peterson, R. Bruce Bury

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We assessed the diversity and phylogeny of Saprolegniaceae on amphibian eggs from the Pacific Northwest, with particular focus on Saprolegnia ferax, a species implicated in high egg mortality. We identified isolates from eggs of six amphibians with the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and 5.8S gene regions and BLAST of the GenBank database. We identified 68 sequences as Saprolegniaceae and 43 sequences as true fungi from at least nine genera. Our phylogenetic analysis of the Saprolegniaceae included isolates within the genera Saprolegnia, Achlya and Leptolegnia. Our phylogeny grouped S. semihypogyna with Achlya rather than with the Saprolegnia reference …

Sedimentology And Stratigraphic Architecture Of The Late Permian Betts Creek Beds, Queensland, Australia, Jonathan P. Allen, Christopher R. Fielding

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The Late Permian Betts Creek Beds form a succession of coal-bearing alluvial-coastal plain sediments in a basin marginal setting within the northeastern Galilee Basin, Queensland, Australia. The unit is ~ 50–60 m in thick­ness at Porcupine Creek National Park where outcrop is laterally continuous for several kilometers. Eight fa­cies have been identified within the formation and can be grouped into 2 facies associations: (A) channel depos­its and (B) floodbasin deposits. The channel association consists of conglomerate (A1) and trough cross-bedded multistorey sandstone facies (A2), both interpreted as deposits of low-sinuosity river systems, tidally influenced fluvial channels (A3), interbedded sandstone and …

Quaternary Glaciation And Hydrologic Variation In The South American Tropics As Reconstructed From The Lake Titicaca Drilling Project, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Paul A. Baker, Geoffrey O. Seltzer, Ashley Ballantyne, Pedro Tapia, Hai Cheng, R. Lawrence Edwards

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

A 136-m-long drill core of sediments was recovered from tropical high-altitude Lake Titicaca, Bolivia-Peru, enabling a reconstruction of past climate that spans four cycles of regional glacial advance and retreat and that is estimated to extend continuously over the last 370,000 yr. Within the errors of the age model, the periods of regional glacial advance and retreat are concordant respectively with global glacial and interglacial stages. Periods of ice advance in the southern tropical Andes generally were periods of positive water balance, as evidenced by deeper and fresher conditions in Lake Titicaca. Conversely, reduced glaciation occurred during periods of negative …

Combined Remote Sensing And Field Investigations Of Hydrocarbon Trap Analogue Structures: Examples From The Zagros Simply Folded Belt, Iran And The Sawtooth Range, Montana [Abstract], Caroline M. Burberry, David Cannon, John W. Cosgrove, Terry Engelder

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

First paragraph of abstract: Structures that outcrop at the surface in fold-thrust belts are frequently good analogues for hydrocarbon traps in compressional environments. Along-strike changes in structure and geometry have important implications for connectivity and fluid flow throughout the petroleum system, e.g. in the Zagros Simply Folded Belt, Iran, and in a surface reservoir analogue in the Sawtooth Range, Montana.

Sedimentology Of The Whiteclay Gravel Beds (Ogallala Group) In Northwestern Nebraska, Usa: Structurally Controlled Drainage Promoted By Early Miocene Uplift Of The Black Hills Dome, Christopher R. Fielding, Hannan E. Lagarry, Leigh Anne Lagarry, Bruce E. Bailey, James B. Swinehart

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The newly recognized Whiteclay Gravel Beds (WGB) of the Miocene Ogallala Group crop out as a narrow, discontin­uous ribbon of sands and gravels in Dawes and Sheridan Counties, northwestern Nebraska, USA. The WGB are ex­posed in a series of municipal gravel quarries and natural exposures that define a linear trench in underlying strata at least 20 m deep and up to 300 m wide, with short, southeast-trending reaches separating generally longer east-trend­ing sections. This gravel-filled trench can be recognized from the Nebraska–South Dakota border near Whiteclay, Ne­braska southeastward to east of Gordon, Nebraska, a distance of ~ 30 km. The …

Demersal Fishes Associated With Lophelia Pertusa Coral And Hard-Substrate Biotopes On The Continental Slope, Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Kenneth J. Sulak, R. Allen Brooks, Kirsten E. Luke, April D. Norem, Michael Randall, Andrew J. Quaid, George E. Yeargin, Jana M. Miller, William M. Harden, John H. Caruso, Steve W. Ross

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The demersal fish fauna of Lophelia pertusa (Linnaeus, 1758) coral reefs and associated hard-bottom biotopes was investigated at two depth horizons in the northern Gulf of Mexico using a manned submersible and remote sampling. The Viosca Knoll fauna consisted of at least 53 demersal fish species, 37 of which were documented by submersible video. On the 325 m horizon, dominant taxa determined from frame-by-frame video analysis included Stromateidae, Serranidae, Trachichthyidae, Congridae, Scorpaenidae, and Gadiformes. On the 500 m horizon, large mobile visual macrocarnivores of families Stromateidae and Serranidae dropped out, while a zeiform microcarnivore assumed importance on reef “Thicket” biotope, …

Drought Scape- Fall 2007, The National Drought Mitigation Center

Droughtscape, Quarterly Newsletter of NDMC, 2007-

Fall 2007 Outlook

Diverse Impacts Reported in Summer of 2007

Decadal Climate Cycles Hold Predictive Potential

Drought Experts Take Roadmap to Congress

NDMC Research Updates

Drainage Diversion Patterns And Landform Morphology As An Indicator Of Deformation Style: Examples From The Zagros Simply Folded Belt, Islamic Republic Of Iran (Abstract), Caroline M. Burberry, John W. Cosgrove, J.-G. Liu

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

First paragraph of abstract: In the NW-SE trending Zagros Simply Folded Belt, landform organisation is shown to be a straightforward response to tectonic forcing processes using remote sensing. Two end-member fold types (detachment folds and fault-bend folds) interact with streams flowing into the Persian Gulf. Using drainage network analysis and geomorphologic methods, the organisation of emergent landform morphologies is mapped and the distribution of different fold types is inferred.

A Diatom Record Of Late Holocene Climate Variation In The Northern Range Of Yellowstone National Park, Usa, Brandi B. Bracht, Jeffery R. Stone, Sherilyn C. Fritz

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The changes in diatom species composition in a sediment core from Crevice Lake, Yellowstone National Park, spanning the past 2550 yr, were used to reconstruct long-term limnological and ecological conditions that may be related to late Holocene climate variability. Planktic forms dominate the fossil diatom assemblages throughout this record, but changes in species dominance indicate varying nutrient levels over time, particularly phosphorus. The changes in the nutrient concentrations in the lake were probably driven by changes in temperature and wind strength that affected the duration of watercolumn mixing and thus the extent of nutrient recycling from deep waters. Prior to …

Estimating Business And Residential Water Supply Interruption Losses From Catastrophic Events, Nicholas Brozovic, David L. Sunding, David Zilberman

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Following man-made or natural catastrophes, widespread and long-lasting disruption of lifelines can lead to economic impacts for both business and residential lifeline users. As a result, the total economic losses caused by infrastructure damage may be much higher than the value of damage to infrastructure itself. In this paper, we consider the estimation of economic impacts on businesses and residential consumers resulting from water supply disruption. The methodology we present for estimating business interruption losses assumes that marginal losses are increasing in the severity of disruption and that there may be a critical water availability cutoff below which business activity …

Assessment Of Undiscovered Oil And Gas Resources In Tertiary Strata Of The Gulf Coast, 2007

United States Geological Survey: Publications

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 113.7 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas, a mean of 690 million barrels of undiscovered oil, and a mean of 3.7 billion barrels of undiscovered natural gas liquids in onshore lands and State waters of the Gulf Coast.

Incorporating Results Of Avian Toxicity Tests Into A Model Of Annual Reproductive Success, Richard S. Bennett*, Matthew A. Etterson

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

Modeling the effects of pesticide exposure on avian populations requires knowledge of how the pesticide changes survival and fecundity rates for the population. Although avian reproduction tests are the primary source of information on reproductive effects in the pesticide risk assessment process, current tests cannot provide a direct estimate of the effects of a pesticide on fecundity rates. We present a mathematical model that integrates information on specific types of effects from reproduction tests with information on avian life history parameters, the timing of pesticide applications, and the temporal pattern of pesticide exposure levels to estimate pesticide effects on annual …

Evaluation Of An Experimental Lidar For Surveying A Shallow, Braided, Sand-Bedded River, Paul J. Kinzel, C. Wayne Wright, Jonathan M. Nelson, Aaron R. Burman

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Reaches of a shallow (<1.0 m), braided, sand-bedded river were surveyed in 2002 and 2005 with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Experimental Advanced Airborne Research LiDAR (EAARL) and concurrently with conventional survey-grade, real-time kinematic, global positioning system technology. The laser pulses transmitted by the EAARL instrument and the return backscatter waveforms from exposed sand and submerged sand targets in the river were completely digitized and stored for postflight processing. The vertical mapping accuracy of the EAARL was evaluated by comparing the ellipsoidal heights computed from ranging measurements made using an EAARL terrestrial algorithm to nearby (<0.5 m apart) ground-truth ellipsoidal heights. After correcting for apparent systematic bias in the surveys, the root mean square error of these heights with the terrestrial algorithm in the 2002 survey was 0.11 m for the 26 measurements taken on exposed sand and 0.18 m for the 59 measurements taken on submerged sand. In the 2005 survey, the root mean square error was 0.18 m for 92 measurements taken on exposed sand and 0.24 m for 434 measurements on submerged sand. In submerged areas the waveforms were complicated by reflections from the surface, water column entrained turbidity, and potentially the riverbed. When applied to these waveforms, especially in depths greater than 0.4 m, the terrestrial algorithm calculated the range above the riverbed. A bathymetric algorithm has been developed to approximate the position of the riverbed in these convolved waveforms and preliminary results are encouraging.

Droughtscape- Summer 2007, The National Drought Mitigation Center

Droughtscape, Quarterly Newsletter of NDMC, 2007-

Summer 07 Outlook

Hayes Named Director of NDMC

NDMC & UN Plan for Drought

Book Review: The Worst Hard Time

Drought Tools Workshops Underway

U.S. Drought Monitor Forum October 10-11, 2007 Portland, Oregon

A 2650-Year-Long Record Of Environmental Change From Northern Yellowstone National Park Based On A Comparison Of Multiple Proxy Data, Cathy Whitlock, Walter Dean, Joseph Rosenbaum, Lora Stevens, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Brandi Bracht, Mitchell Power

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Geochemical, stable-isotope, pollen, charcoal, and diatom records were analyzed at high-resolution in cores obtained from Crevice Lake, a varved-sediment lake in northern Yellowstone National Park. The objective was to reconstruct the ecohydrologic, vegetation, and fire history of the watershed for the last 2650 years to better understand past climate variations at the forest-steppe transition. The data suggest a period of limited bottom-water anoxia, relatively wet winters, and cool springs and summers from 2650 to 2100 cal yrBP (700–150 BC). Dry warm conditions occurred between 2100 and 850–800 cal yrBP (150 BC and AD 1100–1150), when the lake was anoxic, winter …

Evaluating Discontinuities In Complex Systems: Toward Quantitative Measures Of Resilience, Craig Stow, Craig R. Allen, Ahjond S. Garmestani

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The textural discontinuity hypothesis (TDH) is based on the observation that animal body mass distributions exhibit discontinuities that may reflect the texture of the landscape available for exploitation. This idea has been extended to other complex systems, hinting that the identification and quantification of discontinuities in the distributions of appropriate variables may provide clues to emergent system properties such as resilience. We propose a discontinuity index, based on the vector norm of the full assemblage of observed discontinuities, as a means to quantify and compare this characteristic among systems. We also evaluate four methods to identify the number and location …

The Influence Of Grazing Systems On Grassland Bird Density, Productivity, And Species Richness On Private Rangeland In The Nebraska Sandhills, Silka Lori Finkbeiner Kempema

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

No abstract provided.

Conservation And Beneficial Functions Of Grassland Birds In Agroecosystems, Andrea Victoria Hanson

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

No abstract provided.

Observer Bias In Anuran Call Surveys, Aaron Lotz, Craig R. Allen

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Amphibian monitoring programs rarely question the quality of data obtained by observers and often ignore observer bias. In order to test for bias in amphibian call surveys, we sampled 29 clusters of wetlands from the Rainwater Basin, Nebraska, USA, totaling 228 functionally connected wetlands. Sampling consisted of 3-minute stops where volunteers recorded species heard and made digital recordings. Based on 627 samples, we examined 3 types of observer bias: omission, false inclusion (commission), and incorrect identification. Misidentification rates ranged from 4.2% to 18.3%. Relatively high and unquantified error rates can negatively affect the ability of monitoring programs to accurately detect …

Droughtscape- Spring 2007, The National Drought Mitigation Center

Droughtscape, Quarterly Newsletter of NDMC, 2007-

2007 Spring Drought Outlook & Winter Summary

VegDRI Expands to 15 States, Refines Views

DroughtScape

State Spotlight: Utah

International Panel Foresees Drought as Part of Climate Change

NIDIS Portal Advancing

Sequence Stratigraphic Controls On Synsedimentary Cementation And Preservation Of Dinosaur Tracks: Example From The Lower Cretaceous, (Upper Albian) Dakota Formation, Southeastern Nebraska, U.S.A., Preston Lee Phillips Jr., Greg A. Ludvigson, R. Matthew Joeckel, Luis A. González, Robert L. Brenner, Brian J. Witzke

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

A thin cemented sandstone bed in the Upper Albian Dakota Formation of southeastern Nebraska contains the first dinosaur tracks to be described from the state. Of equal importance to the tracks are stable-isotope (C, O) analyses of cements in the track bed, especially in the context of data derived from generally correlative strata (sandstones and sphaerosiderite-bearing paleosols) in the region. These data provide the framework for interpretations of paleoenvironmental conditions, as well as a novel approach to understanding mechanisms of terrestrial vertebrate track preservation.

High minus-cement-porosity (> 47%) and low grain-to-grain contacts (~2.5) in the track bed indicate early (pre-compaction) …

Frequency Of Sublethal Injury In A Deepwater Ophiuroid, Ophiacantha Bidentata, An Important Component Of Western Atlantic Lophelia Reef Communities, R. Allen Brooks, Martha S. Nizinski, Steve W. Ross, Kenneth J. Sulak

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The occurrence and relative abundance of tissue (arm) regeneration in the ophiuroid, Ophiacantha bidentata (Retzius), was examined in individuals collected primarily among colonies of the deep-water coral Lophelia pertusa off the southeastern United States. Seven deep-water coral sites (384–756 m), located between Cape Lookout, NC, and Cape Canaveral, FL, were sampled in June 2004 using a manned submersible. The presence of regenerative tissue was evaluated by visual inspection of each individual ophiuroid, and the proportion of regenerating arms per individual was examined relative to size of individual, geographic location, and depth of collection. Ophiacantha bidentata, the dominant brittle star collected, …

Leaks In The Pipeline: Why Do Women Remain Curiously Absent From The Ranks Of Academia?, Mary Anne Holmes

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Family issues can cause women to abandon academia at every rung of the career ladder. Policy-makers have addressed some ways to get more women on to the lower rungs of the ladder. But solutions at the higher steps—tenure and beyond—are proving a little more difficult.

Lacustrine Evidence For Moisture Changes In The Nebraska Sand Hills During Marine Isotope Stage 3, Kimberly C. Jacobs, Sherilyn C. Fritz, James B. Swinehart

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

In the central Great Plains of North America, loess stratigraphy suggests that climate during the late Pleistocene was cold and dry. However, this record is discontinuous, and there are few other records of late-Pleistocene conditions. Cobb Basin, located on the northern edge of the Nebraska Sand Hills, contains lacustrine sediments deposited during Marine Isotope Stage 3, beginning approximately 45,000 cal yr BP and continuing for at least 10,000 yr. The lake was formed by a dune dam blockage on the ancient Niobrara River, and its deposits contain a diatom record that indicates changes through time in lake depth driven by …

The Art And Science Of Weed Mapping, David T. Barnett, Thomas J. Stohlgren, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Geneva W. Chong, Jenny A. Ericson, Tracy R. Davern, Sara E. Simonson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Land managers need cost-effective and informative tools for non-native plant species management. Many local, state, and federal agencies adopted mapping systems designed to collect comparable data for the early detection and monitoring of non-native species. We compared mapping information to statistically rigorous, plot-based methods to better understand the benefits and compatibility of the two techniques. Mapping non-native species locations provided a species list, associated species distributions, and infested area for subjectively selected survey sites. The value of this information may be compromised by crude estimates of cover and incomplete or biased estimations of species distributions. Incorporating plot-based assessments guided by …