Asynchronous Carbon Sink Saturation In African And Amazonian Tropical Forests, 2020 University of Leeds & Royal Museum for Central Africa & Ghent University
Asynchronous Carbon Sink Saturation In African And Amazonian Tropical Forests, Wannes Hubau, Simon L. Lewis, Et. Al. Authors
United States National Park Service: Publications
Structurally intact tropical forests sequestered about half of the global terrestrial carbon uptake over the 1990s and early 2000s, removing about 15 percent of 1–3 anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. Climate-driven vegetation models 4,5 typically predict that this tropical forest ‘carbon sink’ will continue for decades . Here we assess trends in the carbon sink using 244 structurally intact African tropical forests spanning 11 countries, compare them with 321 published plots from Amazonia and investigate the underlying drivers of the trends. The carbon sink in live aboveground biomass in intact African tropical forests has been stable for the three decades to …
Integrating Aviation Technology, Emergency Services, And Human Resilience: Considerations From Social Scientists, 2020 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Integrating Aviation Technology, Emergency Services, And Human Resilience: Considerations From Social Scientists, Chelsea A. Lenoble Ph.D., Joel M. Billings Ph.D., Allison A. Kwesell Ph.D., Ray H. Chang Ph.D.
National Training Aircraft Symposium (NTAS)
Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have a range of applications within the field of disaster response. This presentation offers a novel framework of psychosocial considerations designed to advance UAS and disaster management integration. Social scientists highlight important challenges to the effective integration of three primary entities: UAS, the team of teams that responds to disasters, and populations affected by disasters.
The presentation adopts an emerging theoretical perspective on the intersection between UAS capabilities and disaster phases and extends it by bringing necessary attention to social science issues. Specifically, the framework outlines psychosocial considerations and areas of improvement for preparation (training), response …
Problematic Plant Monitoring In Homestead National Monument Of America, 2006–2017, 2020 United States National Park Service, Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network
Problematic Plant Monitoring In Homestead National Monument Of America, 2006–2017, Craig C. Young
United States National Park Service: Publications
Abstract
Managers are challenged with the impact of problematic plants, including exotic, invasive, and pest plant species. Information on the abundance, distribution, and location of these plants is essential for developing risk-based approaches to managing these species. Based on surveys conducted in 2006, 2009, 2013, and 2017, Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network staff and contractors identified a cumulative total of 20 potentially problematic plant species in Homestead National Monument of America (NMA). Of the 13 species found in 2017, we characterized 4 as very low frequency, 4 as low frequency, 2 as medium frequency, and 3 as high frequency. Only …
Problematic Plant Monitoring In Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, 2006–2018, 2020 United States National Park Service, Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network
Problematic Plant Monitoring In Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, 2006–2018, Craig C. Young
United States National Park Service: Publications
Abstract
Managers are challenged with the impact of problematic plants, including exotic, invasive, and pest plant species. Information on the abundance, distribution, and location of these plants is essential for developing risk-based approaches to managing these species. Based on surveys conducted in 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018, Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network staff and contractors identified a cumulative total of 33 problematic plant species in Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. Of the 27 species found in 2018, we characterized 14 as very low frequency, 9 as low frequency, 4 as medium frequency, and 0 as high frequency. Only 4 (14.8%) of …
Estimation Of Available Epinephrine Dose In Expired And Discolored Autoinjectors Via Quantitative Smartphone Imaging, 2020 University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Estimation Of Available Epinephrine Dose In Expired And Discolored Autoinjectors Via Quantitative Smartphone Imaging, Amirus Saleheen, Bill M. Campbell, Rebecca A. Prosser, Christopher A. Baker
United States National Park Service: Publications
Epinephrine autoinjectors (EAIs) are important first aid medications for treating anaphylaxis. A 10-fold price increase over the past 12 years and evidence that expired EAIs may still contain significant doses of available epinephrine have motivated interest in the efficacy of expired EAIs as treatments of last resort. Degradation of expired EAIs, which can be caused by improper storage conditions, results in various degrees of discoloration of the epinephrine solution. Previous studies have determined that significant epinephrine remains available in expired EAIs, but these have only considered EAIs that show no discoloration. Here, we investigate the potential for colorimetric estimation of …
Nurse Rock Microclimates Significantly Buffer Exposure To Freezing T Temperature And Moderate Summer Temperature, 2020 Saguaro National Park & University of Cincinnati
Nurse Rock Microclimates Significantly Buffer Exposure To Freezing T Temperature And Moderate Summer Temperature, Joshua L. Conver, Elliott Yarwood, Lucas D. Hetherington, Don E. Swann
United States National Park Service: Publications
Nurse tree canopies mitigate exposure to freezing temperatures that could result in injury or mortality to the saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea). Abiotic objects have been hypothesized to provide similar beneficial microclimates. We used data loggers at 11 nurse rock sites to record daily daytime summer maximum and winter nighttime minimum temperatures at Saguaro National Park, Arizona, to examine the effectiveness of rocks to moderate seasonal temperature extremes in the microclimate. Temperatures at rock sites averaged 2 °C warmer than exposed open control sites in winter. We found that the efficiency of rocks to act as insulators significantly increased as temperature …
Effects Of Culling White-Tailed Deer On Tree Regeneration And Microstegium Vimineum, An Invasive Grass, 2020 National Park Service, NCR Office of Natural Resources and Science
Effects Of Culling White-Tailed Deer On Tree Regeneration And Microstegium Vimineum, An Invasive Grass, John Paul Schmit, Elizabeth R. Matthews, Andrejs Brolis
United States National Park Service: Publications
Reduction of forest regeneration due to overbrowsing by white-tailed deer is a growing concern for land managers. Abundant deer can impede forest regeneration through direct predation on tree seedlings. Additionally high deer density can facilitate the establishment of a dense understory of browse tolerant plant species that shades seedlings and persists even in the absence of deer. In response to these challenges, land managers have sought to reduce deer herds to restore tree regeneration, but few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of this management. Our study took place in Catoctin Mountain Park, a US National Park Service unit with a …
Implications Of Organic Mass To Carbon Ratios Increasing Over Time In The Rural United States, 2020 Colorado State University, Fort Collins
Implications Of Organic Mass To Carbon Ratios Increasing Over Time In The Rural United States, W.C. Malm, B.A. Schichtel, J.L. Hand, A.J. Prenni
United States National Park Service: Publications
The thermal evolution procedure used by most monitoring programs in the United States to determine carbonaceous aerosol concentrations is referred to as the thermal‐optical reflectance method, where an aerosol sample that has been collected on a quartz filter is heated and evolved carbon is characterized as either organic (OC) or light absorbing carbon (LAC). Evolved carbon assigned to OC is multiplied by a factor, Roc, to achieve an estimate of organic mass. Over the last 10–15 years, Roc, estimated through multiple linear regression analysis of data collected in the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) program, has increased at …
Beryllium-7 Elucidate Sediment Dynamics Of The Branford River Estuary, Connecticut, Usa, 2020 Yale Environment School
Beryllium-7 Elucidate Sediment Dynamics Of The Branford River Estuary, Connecticut, Usa, Gaboury Benoit, Matthew Hirschbeck, Beth Bisson
United States National Park Service: Publications
Berrylium-7 elucidates sediment dynamics (i.e., sources, sinks, deposition, and resuspension) in a Connecticut estuary. Average 7 −2−1 annual atmospheric deposition of Be is 290 mBq cm year. Sediment samples from 43 locations within the estuary show that 7Be deposition is spatially complex, but were statistically indistinguishable a year apart. Weekly time series of sediments indicate 7 that levels are nearly constant on this shorter time scale on ceradio active decay is taken into account. Be levels in sediments area balance between steady losses through radioactive decay and periodic pulse inputs following rainstorms. The water column was measured intensively during three …
Berry Important? Wolf Provisions Pups With Berries In Northern Minnesota, 2020 Voyageurs National Park
Berry Important? Wolf Provisions Pups With Berries In Northern Minnesota, Austin T. Homkes, Thomas D. Gable, Steve K. Windles, Joseph K. Bump
United States National Park Service: Publications
Wolves (Canis lupus) primarily provision pups by catching mammalian prey and bringing remains of the carcass to the pups at a den or rendezvous site via their mouths or stomach. In August 2017, we observed an adult wolf regurgitating wild blueberries (Vaccinium spp.) to pups at a rendezvous site in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem, Minnesota, USA, which is the only known observation of wolves provisioning pups with wild berries. This observation, in combination with other evidence from the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem, suggests wild berries might be a more valuable food source for wolves in southern boreal ecosystems than previously appreciated.
Modelling Pinniped Abundance And Distribution By Combining Counts At T Terrestrial Sites And In-Water Sightings, 2020 Oregon State University
Modelling Pinniped Abundance And Distribution By Combining Counts At T Terrestrial Sites And In-Water Sightings, Steven L. Whitlock, Jamie N. Womble, James T. Peterson
United States National Park Service: Publications
Pinnipeds are commonly monitored using aerial photographic surveys at land- or ice-based sites, where animals come ashore for resting, pupping, molting, and to avoid predators. Although these counts form the basis for monitoring population change over time, they do not provide information regarding where animals occur in the water, which is often of management and conservation interest. In this study, we developed a hierarchical model that links counts of pinnipeds at terrestrial sites to sightings-at-sea and estimates abundance, spatial distribution, and the proportion of time spent on land (attendance probability). The structure of the model also allows for the inclusion …
Dental Microwear As A Behavioral Proxy For Distinguishing Between Canids At The Upper Paleolithic (Gravettian) Site Of Predmostí, Czech Republic, 2020 National Park Service
Dental Microwear As A Behavioral Proxy For Distinguishing Between Canids At The Upper Paleolithic (Gravettian) Site Of Predmostí, Czech Republic, Kari A. Prassack, Josephine Dubois, Martina Laznickova-Galetova, Mietje Germonpre, Peter S. Ungar
United States National Park Service: Publications
Morphological and genetic evidence put dog domestication during the Paleolithic, sometime between 40,000 and 15,000 years ago, with identification of the earliest dogs debated. We predict that these earliest dogs (referred to herein as protodogs), while potentially difficult to distinguish morphologically from wolves, experienced behavioral shifts, including changes in diet. Specifically, protodogs may have consumed more bone and other less desirable scraps within human settlement areas. Here we apply Dental Microwear Texture Analysis (DMTA) to canids from the Gravettian site of P�redmostí (approx. 28,500 BP), which were previously assigned to the Paleolithic dog or Pleistocene wolf morphotypes. We test whether …
Homestead National Monument Of America, Acoustic Monitoring Report, 2017, 2020 United States National Park Service, Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division
Homestead National Monument Of America, Acoustic Monitoring Report, 2017, Emma Brown
United States National Park Service: Publications
Executive Summary
This report presents acoustical data gathered by Student Conservation Association interns and the Natural Resource Specialist at Homestead National Monument of America in 2017. Data were collected at one site to provide park managers with information about the acoustical environment, sources of noise, and the existing ambient sound levels within the monument. This deployment also captured acoustic conditions during the total solar eclipse on 8/21/2017. (Results of the eclipse monitoring effort are provided in Appendix B.)
In this deployment, sound pressure level (SPL) was measured continuously every second by a calibrated sound level meter. Other equipment included an …
Natural Resources Condition Assessment, Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (February 2020 Revision), 2020 University of Wyoming
Natural Resources Condition Assessment, Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (February 2020 Revision), Reilly R. Dibner, Nicole Korfanta, Gary Beauvais
United States National Park Service: Publications
Executive Summary
In collaboration with the National Park Service, the University of Wyoming Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources and the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database completed the Natural Resource Condition Assessment (NRCA) for Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (NM). The purpose of the NRCA is to provide park leaders and resource managers with information on resource conditions to support near-term planning and management, long-term strategic planning, and effective science communication to decision-makers and the public.
Agate Fossil Beds NM was authorized in 1965 and established in 1997. The purposes of the park include protecting the paleontological resources on the …
Homestead National Monument Of America, Acoustic Monitoring, 2011-2012, 2020 University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Homestead National Monument Of America, Acoustic Monitoring, 2011-2012
United States National Park Service: Publications
Executive Summary
This report presents acoustical data gathered by Student Conservation Association interns and the Natural Resource Specialist at Homestead National Monument of America in 2011 and 2012. Data were collected at four sites to provide park managers with information on the acoustical environment, sources of noise, and the existing ambient sound levels within the monument. The data will also inform the park managers with information regarding the potential impact of traffic on Highway 4.
Monitoring occurred at each site during two different seasons (except HOME002) in order to document seasonal variations. In each deployment, sound pressure level (SPL) was …
Bird Community Monitoring At Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Kansas, Status Report 2001–2018, 2020 United States National Park Service, Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network
Bird Community Monitoring At Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Kansas, Status Report 2001–2018, David G. Peitz, Kathleen A. Kull
United States National Park Service: Publications
Executive Summary
In 2001, the Heartland I&M Network initiated breeding bird surveys on Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Kansas, to assess the ecological integrity of the preserve’s habitat. Birds are an important component of ecosystems and can serve as good indicators of habitat change in an ecosystem. In the 17 years of bird surveys at the preserve (2001 to 2018, excluding 2003), there were 2,089 plot visits and 119 different bird species recorded, 96 of which have the potential to breed within the preserve. These 96 species represent approximately 81% of the total species one would reasonably expect to have breeding …
Measuring Spatial And Temporal Shifts In Forest Structure And Composition In T High Elevation Beech Forests In Response To Beech Bark Disease In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 2020 Middle Tennessee State University & University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture
Measuring Spatial And Temporal Shifts In Forest Structure And Composition In T High Elevation Beech Forests In Response To Beech Bark Disease In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Lee Rubmle, Glenn Taylor, Joshua B. Grinath, Ashley B. Morris
United States National Park Service: Publications
Exotic forest pests and pathogens are among the most serious environmental threats to millions of hectares of forested land worldwide. Beech Bark Disease (BBD) is a non-native, pathogenic complex consisting of associations between scale insects and fungi. First confirmed in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) in 1986, this complex has since threatened local high elevation beech forests, which are G-1 ranked (critically imperiled) forest communities where American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) is a foundational tree species. In 1994, GRSM initiated the BBD Monitoring Protocol at 10 high elevation beech forest plots in the Park. The plots were sampled biennially …
Prey Of Reintroduced Fishers And Their Habitat Relationships In The Cascades T Range, Washington, 2020 University of Washington
Prey Of Reintroduced Fishers And Their Habitat Relationships In The Cascades T Range, Washington, Mitchell A. Parsons, Jeffrey C. Lewis, Jonathan N. Pauli, Tara Chestnut, Jason I. Ransom, David O. Werntz, Laura R. Prugh
United States National Park Service: Publications
Conservation and recovery of forest carnivores requires an understanding of their habitat requirements, as well as requirements of their prey. In much of the western United States, trapping and habitat loss led to extirpations of fishers (Pekania pennanti) by the mid-20th century, and reintroductions are ongoing to restore fishers to portions of their former range. Fisher recovery in Washington State has been limited by isolation from other populations, but other potentially important factors, such as diet of fishers in this region and prey availability, have not been thoroughly investigated. We collected hair samples from potential prey and fishers for stable …
Plains Zebra (Equus Quagga) Behaviour In A Restored Population Reveals Seasonal Resource Limitations, 2020 Stellenbosch University
Plains Zebra (Equus Quagga) Behaviour In A Restored Population Reveals Seasonal Resource Limitations, Charli De Vos, Alison J. Leslie, Jason I. Ransom
United States National Park Service: Publications
A once abundant species, plains zebra (Equus quagga), is declining across much of sub-Saharan Africa. Reintroduction efforts at Majete Wildlife Reserve, Malawi, have resulted in rapid population increases, but little is known about how such populations resemble natural populations socially or behaviourally, and what those attributes may reveal about restoration success. Incorporating behavioural knowledge into conservation efforts is an important tool for managing the effects of habitat fragmentation and resource competition. The aim of this study was to quantify the daylight time budget of both family and bachelor bands of reintroduced plains zebra to determine if such behaviours …
Predicting Livestock Depredation Risk By African Lions (Panthera Leo) In A Multi-Use Area Of Northern Tanzania, 2020 University of Connecticut, Storrs & Northland College
Predicting Livestock Depredation Risk By African Lions (Panthera Leo) In A Multi-Use Area Of Northern Tanzania, K. Beattie, E.R. Olson, B. Kissui, A. Kirschbaum, C. Kiffner
United States National Park Service: Publications
Human-wildlife conflicts, especially those involving large carnivores, are of global conservation and livelihood concern and require effective and locally-adapted prevention measures. Risk of lion attack on livestock (i.e., depredation) may vary seasonally and may be associated with variation in wild prey abundance or landscape characteristics. To test these competing hypotheses, we used a resource selection approach, and determined whether prey catchability (indicated by geo-spatial variables), or prey availability (indicated by modeled abundance recorded via camera traps) explained spatial and seasonal variation in livestock depredation risk by African lions on Manyara Ranch Conservancy, a multi-use area in northern Tanzania. Seasonal variation …