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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

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 Dec 2007

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 Dec 2007

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 …


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 Nov 2007

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 …


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 Nov 2007

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 …


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 Nov 2007

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, …


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 Jul 2007

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.


Evaluating Discontinuities In Complex Systems: Toward Quantitative Measures Of Resilience, Craig Stow, Craig R. Allen, Ahjond S. Garmestani Jun 2007

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 …


Observer Bias In Anuran Call Surveys, Aaron Lotz, Craig R. Allen Apr 2007

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 …


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 Mar 2007

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, …


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 Feb 2007

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 …


Peptidomic Analysis Of Skin Secretions Supports Separate Species Status For The Tailed Frogs, Ascaphus Truei And Ascaphus Montanus, J. Michael Conlon, Catherine R. Bevier, Laurent Coquet, Jérôme Leprince, Thierry Jouenne, Hubert Vaudry, Blake R. Hossack Jan 2007

Peptidomic Analysis Of Skin Secretions Supports Separate Species Status For The Tailed Frogs, Ascaphus Truei And Ascaphus Montanus, J. Michael Conlon, Catherine R. Bevier, Laurent Coquet, Jérôme Leprince, Thierry Jouenne, Hubert Vaudry, Blake R. Hossack

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The tailed frog Ascaphus truei Stejneger, 1899 is the most primitive extant anuran and the sister taxon to the clade of all other living frogs. The species occupies two disjunct ranges in the Northwest region of North America: the Cascade Mountains and coastal area from British Columbia to Northern California, and an inland range in the northern Rocky Mountains and the Blue andWallowa mountains. A previous study led to the isolation of eight peptides with antimicrobial activity (termed the ascaphins) from skin secretions of A. truei from the coastal range. The present study has used peptidomic analysis to identify the …


Return To The Wild: Translocation As A Tool In Conservation Of The Desert Tortoise (Gopherus Agassizii), Kimberleigh J. Field, C. Richard Tracy, Philip A. Medica, Ronald W. Marlow, Paul Stephen Corn Jan 2007

Return To The Wild: Translocation As A Tool In Conservation Of The Desert Tortoise (Gopherus Agassizii), Kimberleigh J. Field, C. Richard Tracy, Philip A. Medica, Ronald W. Marlow, Paul Stephen Corn

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Translocation could be used as a tool in conservation of the threatened Mojave Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) by moving individuals from harm’s way and into areas where they could contribute to conservation of the species. Numerous factors may affect the success of translocations, including the conditions experienced by tortoises in holding facilities while awaiting translocation. The tortoises available for our translocation study had been provided supplemental water during their years spent in a captive holding facility, potentially inducing carelessness in water conservation. In addition to generally investigating the efficacy of translocation, we compared the effects of continuing with …


Airborne Dust Transport To The Eastern Pacific Ocean Off Southern California: Evidence From San Clemente Island, Daniel R. Muhs, James Budahn, Marith Reheis, Jossh Beann, Gary Skipp, Eric Fisher Jan 2007

Airborne Dust Transport To The Eastern Pacific Ocean Off Southern California: Evidence From San Clemente Island, Daniel R. Muhs, James Budahn, Marith Reheis, Jossh Beann, Gary Skipp, Eric Fisher

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Islands are natural dust traps, and San Clemente Island, California, is a good example. Soils on marine terraces cut into Miocene andesite on this island are clay-rich Vertisols or Alfisols with vertic properties. These soils are overlain by silt-rich mantles, 5–20 cm thick, that contrast sharply with the underlying clay-rich subsoils. The silt mantles have a mineralogy that is distinct from the island bedrock. Silt mantles are rich in quartz, which is rare in the island andesite. The clay fraction of the silt mantles is dominated by mica, also absent from local andesite, and contrasts with the subsoils, dominated by …


New Insights Into Marine Migration And Winter Habitat Of Gulf Sturgeon, Randy E. Edwards, Frank M. Parauka, Kenneth J. Sulak Jan 2007

New Insights Into Marine Migration And Winter Habitat Of Gulf Sturgeon, Randy E. Edwards, Frank M. Parauka, Kenneth J. Sulak

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Migrations and movements of Gulf sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi were determined using satellite pop-up archival transmitting (PAT) tags and acoustic telemetry. Adult Gulf sturgeon from four rivers in northwestern Florida were caught with gill nets and were tagged with PAT and acoustic tags in the fall of 2001 and 2002. PAT tags were programmed to release in early February 2002 and 2003 to provide information about location of late-winter marine habitats. However, only 5 of 25 provided meaningful location information. Three of the PAT-tagged fish were relocated acoustically near the PAT tag pop-up locations, one of which was in Choctawhatchee …


Hydrologic Connectivity And The Contribution Of Stream Headwaters To Ecological Integrity At Regional Scales, Mary C. Freeman, Catherine M. Pringle, C. Rhett Jackson Jan 2007

Hydrologic Connectivity And The Contribution Of Stream Headwaters To Ecological Integrity At Regional Scales, Mary C. Freeman, Catherine M. Pringle, C. Rhett Jackson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Cumulatively, headwater streams contribute to maintaining hydrologic connectivity and ecosystem integrity at regional scales. Hydrologic connectivity is the water-mediated transport of matter, energy and organisms within or between elements of the hydrologic cycle. Headwater streams compose over two-thirds of total stream length in a typical river drainage and directly connect the upland and riparian landscape to the rest of the stream ecosystem. Altering headwater streams, e.g., by channelization, diversion through pipes, impoundment and burial, modifies fluxes between uplands and downstream river segments and eliminates distinctive habitats. The large-scale ecological effects of altering headwaters are amplified by land uses that alter …


Late Cenozoic Climate Changes In China’S Western Interior: A Review Of Research On Lake Qinghai And Comparison With Other Records, Steven M. Colman, Shi-Yong Yua, Zhisheng Anc, Ji Shend, A.C.G. Henderson Jan 2007

Late Cenozoic Climate Changes In China’S Western Interior: A Review Of Research On Lake Qinghai And Comparison With Other Records, Steven M. Colman, Shi-Yong Yua, Zhisheng Anc, Ji Shend, A.C.G. Henderson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We review Late Cenozoic climate and environment changes in the western interior of China with an emphasis on lacustrine records from Lake Qinghai. Widespread deposition of red clay in the marginal basins of the Tibetan Plateau indicates that the Asian monsoon system was initially established by ~8 Ma, when the plateau reached a threshold altitude. Subsequent strengthening of the winter monsoon, along with the establishment of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets, reflects a long-term trend of global cooling. The few cores from the Tibetan Plateau that reach back a million years suggest that they record the mid-Pleistocene transition from glacial …


Sediment Geochemical Records Of Productivity And Oxygen Depletion Along The Margin Of Western North America During The Past 60,000 Years: Teleconnections With Greenland Ice And The Cariaco Basin, Walter E. Dean Jan 2007

Sediment Geochemical Records Of Productivity And Oxygen Depletion Along The Margin Of Western North America During The Past 60,000 Years: Teleconnections With Greenland Ice And The Cariaco Basin, Walter E. Dean

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Many sediment records from the margins of the Californias (Alta and Baja) collected in water depths between 60 and 1200m contain anoxic intervals (laminated sediments) that can be correlated with interstadial intervals as defined by the oxygen-isotope composition of Greenland ice (Dansgaard–Oeschger, D–O, cycles). These intervals include all or parts of Oxygen Isotope Stage 3 (OIS3; 60–24 cal ka), the Bolling/Allerod warm interval (B/A; 15–13 cal ka), and the Holocene. This study uses organic carbon (Corg) and trace-element proxies for anoxia and productivity, namely elevated concentrations and accumulation rates of molybdenum and cadmium, in these laminated sediments to suggest that …


The Russell Gold Deposit, Carolina Slate Belt, North Carolina, Terry Klein, Charles Cunningham, M.A.V. Logan, Robert R. Seal Ii Jan 2007

The Russell Gold Deposit, Carolina Slate Belt, North Carolina, Terry Klein, Charles Cunningham, M.A.V. Logan, Robert R. Seal Ii

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Gold deposits have been mined in the Carolina slate belt from the early 1800s to recent times, with most of the production from large mines in South Carolina. The Russell mine, one of the larger producers in North Carolina, is located in the central Uwharrie Mountains, and produced over 470 kg of gold. Ore grades averaged about 3.4 grams per tonne (g/t), with higher-grade zones reported. The Russell deposit is interpreted to be a sediment-hosted, gold-rich, base-metal poor, volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit in which gold was remobilized, in part, during Ordovician metamorphism. The ore was deposited syngenetically with laminated siltstones …


San Andreas Fault Zone Mineralogy, Geochemistry, And Physical Properties From Safod Cuttings And Core, John G. Solum, Stephen Hickman, David A. Lockner, Sheryl Tembe, Jim P. Evans, Sarah D. Draper, D. C. Barton, David L. Kirschner, Judith S. Chester, Frederick M. Chester, Ben A. Van Der Pluijm, Anja M. Schleicher, Diane E. Moore, Carolyn Morrow, Kelly Bradbury, Wendy M. Calvin, Teng-Fong Wong Jan 2007

San Andreas Fault Zone Mineralogy, Geochemistry, And Physical Properties From Safod Cuttings And Core, John G. Solum, Stephen Hickman, David A. Lockner, Sheryl Tembe, Jim P. Evans, Sarah D. Draper, D. C. Barton, David L. Kirschner, Judith S. Chester, Frederick M. Chester, Ben A. Van Der Pluijm, Anja M. Schleicher, Diane E. Moore, Carolyn Morrow, Kelly Bradbury, Wendy M. Calvin, Teng-Fong Wong

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD), drilled near the town of Parkfield, California (Fig. 1) (Hickmen et al., 2004) as part of the U.S. National Science Foundation's EarthScope Project (see http://www.earthscope.org), provieds a continuous set of samples through the active San Andreas Fault (SAF) zone. These samples can help address decades-old questions such as apparent weakness of the SAF (Zoback, 2000) providing the unparalleled opportunity to contrain the parameters that control the behavior of plate counding faults like the San Andreas.

Samples collected form SAFOD also complement studies of exhumed fault zones. While studies of exhumed fault zones …


Seismology Inside The Fault Zone: Applications To Fault-Zone Properties And Rupture Dynamics, William L. Ellsworth, Peter E. Malin, Kazutoshi Imanishi, Steven W. Roecker, Robert Nadeau, Volder Oye, Clifford H. Thurber, Felix Waldhauser, Namoi L. Boness, Stephen H. Hickman, Mark D. Zoback Jan 2007

Seismology Inside The Fault Zone: Applications To Fault-Zone Properties And Rupture Dynamics, William L. Ellsworth, Peter E. Malin, Kazutoshi Imanishi, Steven W. Roecker, Robert Nadeau, Volder Oye, Clifford H. Thurber, Felix Waldhauser, Namoi L. Boness, Stephen H. Hickman, Mark D. Zoback

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

A central goal of seismology is to understand the physics of earthquakes and other sources of seismic waves in the Earth. We would like to understand how dynamic instabilities are nucleated, how they evolve in space and time, and how they come to rest. To achieve this goal, we need observations that are truly broadband with respect to source process time scales. Because the high-frequency limit of a seismogram directly controls the spatial scale at which we can resolve these processes, the requirement for “broadband” means bandwidth that is sufficient to record the shortest pulse produced by the physical system …


Microbial Sulfate Reduction And Metal Attenuation In Ph 4 Acid Mine Water, Clinton D. Church, Richard T. Wilkin, Charles N. Alpers, Robert O. Rye, R. Blaine Mccleskey Jan 2007

Microbial Sulfate Reduction And Metal Attenuation In Ph 4 Acid Mine Water, Clinton D. Church, Richard T. Wilkin, Charles N. Alpers, Robert O. Rye, R. Blaine Mccleskey

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Sediments recovered from the flooded mine workings of the Penn Mine, a Cu-Zn mine abandoned since the early 1960s, were cultured for anaerobic bacteria over a range of pH (4.0 to 7.5). The molecular biology of sediments and cultures was studied to determine whether sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) were active in moderately acidic conditions present in the underground mine workings. Here we document multiple, independent analyses and show evidence that sulfate reduction and associated metal attenuation are occurring in the pH-4 mine environment. Waterchemistry analyses of the mine water reveal: (1) preferential complexation and precipitation by H2S of Cu …


Butterfly Responses To Prairie Restoration Through Fire And Grazing, Jennifer A. Vogel, Diane M. Debinski, Rolf R. Koford, James R. Miller Jan 2007

Butterfly Responses To Prairie Restoration Through Fire And Grazing, Jennifer A. Vogel, Diane M. Debinski, Rolf R. Koford, James R. Miller

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The development of land for modern agriculture has resulted in losses of native prairie habitat. The small, isolated patches of prairie habitat that remain are threatened by fire suppression, overgrazing, and invasion by non-native species. We evaluated the effects of three restoration practices (grazing only, burning only, and burning and grazing) on the vegetation characteristics and butterfly communities of remnant prairies. Total butterfly abundance was highest on prairies that were managed with burning and grazing and lowest on those that were only burned. Butterfly species richness did not differ among any of the restoration practices. Butterfly species diversity was highest …


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 Jan 2007

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 …


Arsenic Incorporation Into Authigenic Pyrite, Bengal Basin Sediment, Bangladesh, Heather A. Lowers, George N. Breit, Andrea L. Foster, John Whitney, James Yount, Md. Nehal Uddin, Ad. Atual Muneem Jan 2007

Arsenic Incorporation Into Authigenic Pyrite, Bengal Basin Sediment, Bangladesh, Heather A. Lowers, George N. Breit, Andrea L. Foster, John Whitney, James Yount, Md. Nehal Uddin, Ad. Atual Muneem

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Sediment from two deep boreholes (~400 m) approximately 90 km apart in southern Bangladesh was analyzed by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), total chemical analyses, chemical extractions, and electron probe microanalysis to establish the importance of authigenic pyrite as a sink for arsenic in the Bengal Basin. Authigenic framboidal and massive pyrite (median values 1500 and 3200 ppm As, respectively), is the principal arsenic residence in sediment from both boreholes. Although pyrite is dominant, ferric oxyhydroxides and secondary iron phases contain a large fraction of the sediment-bound arsenic between approximately 20 and 100 m, which is the depth range of wells …


Geochemical Evidence For African Dust Inputs To Soils Of Western Atlantic Islands: Barbados, The Bahamas, And Florida, Daniel R, Muhs, James R. Budahn, Joseph M. Prospero, Steven N. Carey Jan 2007

Geochemical Evidence For African Dust Inputs To Soils Of Western Atlantic Islands: Barbados, The Bahamas, And Florida, Daniel R, Muhs, James R. Budahn, Joseph M. Prospero, Steven N. Carey

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We studied soils on high-purity limestones of Quaternary age on the western Atlantic Ocean islands of Barbados, the Florida Keys, and the Bahamas. Potential soil parent materials in this region, external to the carbonate substrate, include volcanic ash from the island of St. Vincent (near Barbados), volcanic ash from the islands of Dominica and St. Lucia (somewhat farther from Barbados), the fine-grained component of distal loess from the lower Mississippi River Valley, and wind-transported dust from Africa. These four parent materials can be differentiated using trace elements (Sc, Cr, Th, and Zr) and rare earth elements that have minimal mobility …


Effects Of Sorbate Speciation On Sorption Of Selected Sulfonamides In Three Loamy Soils, Sudarshan Kurwadkar, Craig Adams, Michael Meyer, Dana Kolpin Jan 2007

Effects Of Sorbate Speciation On Sorption Of Selected Sulfonamides In Three Loamy Soils, Sudarshan Kurwadkar, Craig Adams, Michael Meyer, Dana Kolpin

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Sorption of sulfamethazine (SMN) and sulfathiazole (STZ) was investigated in three soils, a North Carolina loamy sand, an Iowa sandy loam, and a Missouri loam, under various pH conditions. A significant increase in the sorption coefficient (KD) was observed in all three soils, as the sulfonamides converted from an anionic form at higher pH to a neutral/cationic form at lower pH. Above pH 7.5, sulfonamides exist primarily in anionic form and have higher aqueous solubility and no cationic character, thereby consequently leading to lower sorption to soils. The effect of speciation on sorption is not the same …


Development Of The California Current During The Past 12,000 Yr Based On Diatoms And Silicoflagellates, John A. Barron, David Bukry Jan 2007

Development Of The California Current During The Past 12,000 Yr Based On Diatoms And Silicoflagellates, John A. Barron, David Bukry

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Detailed diatom and silicoflagellates records in three cores from the offshore region of southern Oregon to central California reveal the evolution of the northern part of the California Current during the past 12,000 yr. The early Holocene, prior to ∼9 ka, was characterized by relatively warm sea surface temperatures (SST), owing to enhanced northerly flow of the subtropical waters comparable to the modern Davidson Current. Progressive strengthening of the North Pacific High lead to intensification of the southward flow of the California Current at ∼8 ka, resulting in increased coastal upwelling and relatively cooler SST which persisted until ∼5 ka. …


Solar Forcing Of Gulf Of California Climate During The Past 2000 Yr Suggested By Diatoms And Silicoflagellates, John A. Barron, David Bukry Jan 2007

Solar Forcing Of Gulf Of California Climate During The Past 2000 Yr Suggested By Diatoms And Silicoflagellates, John A. Barron, David Bukry

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

High-resolution records of the past 2000 yr are compared in a north–south transect (28° N to 24° N) of three cores from the eastern slopes of the Guaymas, Carmen, and Pescadero Basins of the Gulf of California (hereafter referred to as the “Gulf”). Evenly-spaced samples from the varved sediments in each core allow sample resolution ranging from ∼ 16 to ∼ 37 yr.

Diatoms and silicoflagellates capture the seasonal variation between a late fall to early spring period of high biosiliceous productivity, that is driven by northwest winds, and a summer period of warmer, more stratified waters during which these …


Integrating Laboratory Creep Compaction Data With Numerical Fault Models: A Bayesian Framework, Delphine D. Fitzenz, André Jalobeanu, Stephen H. Hickman Jan 2007

Integrating Laboratory Creep Compaction Data With Numerical Fault Models: A Bayesian Framework, Delphine D. Fitzenz, André Jalobeanu, Stephen H. Hickman

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We developed a robust Bayesian inversion scheme to plan and analyze laboratory creep compaction experiments. We chose a simple creep law that features the main parameters of interest when trying to identify rate-controlling mechanisms from experimental data. By integrating the chosen creep law or an approximation thereof, one can use all the data, either simultaneously or in overlapping subsets, thus making more complete use of the experiment data and propagating statistical variations in the data through to the final rate constants. Despite the nonlinearity of the problem, with this technique one can retrieve accurate estimates of both the stress exponent …


Stress Orientations Of Taiwan Chelungpu-Fault Drilling Project (Tcdp) Hole-A As Observed From Geophysical Logs, Hung-Yu Wu, Kuo-Fong Ma, Mark Zoback, Naomi Boness, Hisao Ito, Jih-Hao Hung, U.S. Geological Survey Jan 2007

Stress Orientations Of Taiwan Chelungpu-Fault Drilling Project (Tcdp) Hole-A As Observed From Geophysical Logs, Hung-Yu Wu, Kuo-Fong Ma, Mark Zoback, Naomi Boness, Hisao Ito, Jih-Hao Hung, U.S. Geological Survey

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The Taiwan Chelungpu-fault Drilling Project (TCDP) drilled a 2-km-deep research borehole to investigate the structure and mechanics of the Chelungpu Fault that ruptured in the 1999 Mw 7.6 Chi-Chi earthquake. Geophysical logs of the TCDP were carried out over depths of 500–1900 m, including Dipole Sonic Imager (DSI) logs and Formation Micro Imager (FMI) logs in order to identify bedding planes, fractures and shear zones. From the continuous core obtained from the borehole, a shear zone at a depth of 1110 meters is interpreted to be the Chelungpu fault, located within the Chinshui Shale, which extends from 1013 to …