Publications
Below are publications associated with the Southwest Biological Science Center's research.
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Filter Total Items: 1518
Dynamic occupancy modelling of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) reveals increasing landscape use in Nepal Dynamic occupancy modelling of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) reveals increasing landscape use in Nepal
Large mammals with general habitat needs can persist throughout mixed used landscapes, however, human-wildlife conflict frequently leads to their restriction to protected areas. Conservation efforts, especially for reducing conflicts with humans, can enhance tolerance of humans towards species like Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in human-dominated landscapes. Here, we examine how...
Authors
Ashok Kumar Ram, Babu Ram Lamichhane, Naresh Subedi, Nabin Kumar Yadav, Ajay Karki, Bivash Pandav, Cory Brown, Top B. Khatri, Charles B. Yackulic
Postfire sediment mobilization and its downstream implications across California, 1984 – 2021 Postfire sediment mobilization and its downstream implications across California, 1984 – 2021
Fire facilitates erosion through changes in vegetation and soil, with major postfire erosion commonly occurring even with moderate rainfall. As climate warms, the western United States (U.S.) is experiencing an intensifying fire regime and increasing frequency of extreme rain. We evaluated whether these hydroclimatic changes are evident in patterns of postfire erosion by modeling...
Authors
Helen Willemien Dow, Amy E. East, Joel B. Sankey, Jonathan A. Warrick, Jaime Kostelnik, Donald N. Lindsay, Jason W. Kean
Hyperspectral imaging predicts differences in carbon and nitrogen status among representative biocrust functional groups of the Colorado Plateau Hyperspectral imaging predicts differences in carbon and nitrogen status among representative biocrust functional groups of the Colorado Plateau
Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are widespread soil photosynthetic communities covering about 12% of Earth's land surface and play crucial roles in terrestrial carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles, yet scalable quantifications of biocrusts and their biogeochemical contributions are notably lacking. While remote sensing has enormous potential to assess, scale, and contextualize biocrusts...
Authors
Dong Yan, Sasha C. Reed, William A. Rutherford, Mostafa Javadian, Robin H. Reibold, Miguel L. Villarreal, Benjamin Poulter, Shujun Song, William K. Smith
Community for Data Integration 2020 project report Community for Data Integration 2020 project report
The U.S. Geological Survey Community for Data Integration annually funds small projects focusing on data integration for interdisciplinary research, innovative data management, and demonstration of new technologies. This report provides a summary of the 12 projects funded in fiscal year 2020, outlining their goals, activities, and accomplishments.
Authors
Leslie Hsu, Emily G. Chapin, Theodore B. Barnhart, Amanda E. Cravens, Richard A. Erickson, Jason Ferrante, Aaron Fox, Nathaniel P. Hitt, Margaret Hunter, Katharine Kolb, Jared R. Peacock, Matthew D. Petkewich, Sasha C. Reed, Terry Sohl, Tanja N. Williamson
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Remote sensing large-wood storage downstream of reservoirs during and after dam removal: Elwha River, Washington, USA Remote sensing large-wood storage downstream of reservoirs during and after dam removal: Elwha River, Washington, USA
Large wood is an integral part of many rivers, often defining river-corridor morphology and habitat, but its occurrence, magnitude, and evolution in a river system are much less well understood than the sedimentary and hydraulic components, and due to methodological limitations, have seldom previously been mapped in substantial detail. We present a new method for this, representing a...
Authors
Daniel D. Buscombe, Jonathan A. Warrick, Andrew C. Ritchie, Amy E. East, M. McHenry, Randall McCoy, Amy C. Foxgrover, E. Wohl
Landscape-scale modeling to forecast fluvial-aeolian sediment connectivity in river valleys Landscape-scale modeling to forecast fluvial-aeolian sediment connectivity in river valleys
Sedimentary landforms on Earth and other planetary bodies are built through scour, transport, and deposition of sediment. Sediment connectivity refers to the hypothesis that pathways of sediment transport do not occur in isolation, but rather are mechanistically linked. In dryland river systems, one such example of sediment connectivity is the transport of fluvially deposited sediment by...
Authors
Alan Kasprak, Joel B. Sankey, Joshua Caster
Predicting the effects of solar energy development on plants and wildlife in the Desert Southwest, United States Predicting the effects of solar energy development on plants and wildlife in the Desert Southwest, United States
Utility-scale solar energy (USSE) is rapidly expanding and expected to compose the largest source of renewable-generated electricity in the United States and globally over the coming decades. Lands in the hot Desert Southwest (Chihuahuan, Mojave, Sonoran, and San Joaquin Deserts) are increasingly selected for USSE development because of their high solar irradiance. The Desert Southwest...
Authors
Claire C Karban, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Steven Mark Grodsky, Seth M. Munson
Wildland fire effects on sediment, salinity, and selenium yields in a basin underlain by Cretaceous marine shales near Rangely, Colorado Wildland fire effects on sediment, salinity, and selenium yields in a basin underlain by Cretaceous marine shales near Rangely, Colorado
Understanding and quantifying soil erosion from rangelands is a high priority for land managers, especially in areas underlain by Cretaceous Mancos Shale, which is a natural source of sediment, salinity, and selenium to surface waters in many areas of western Colorado and eastern Utah. The purpose of this report is to present the results of a U.S. Geological Survey study that assessed...
Authors
Natalie K. Day, Todd M. Preston, Patrick C. Longley
eZ flow metrics: Using z-scores to estimate deviations from natural flow in the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam eZ flow metrics: Using z-scores to estimate deviations from natural flow in the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam
River flow patterns are primary drivers of lotic ecosystems, and hundreds of metrics have been developed to quantify flow attributes. Although existing metrics have been a powerful tool in designing environmental flows, they are often developed with specific resources in mind and are rarely directly comparable with each other (i.e., units are often different). Here, we focus on natural...
Authors
Emily C. Palmquist, Bridget R. Deemer, Anya Metcalfe, Theodore Kennedy, Lucas Bair, Helen C. Fairley, Paul E. Grams, Joel B. Sankey, Charles B. Yackulic
A literature review and hypsometric analysis to support decisions on trout management flows on the Colorado River downstream from Glen Canyon Dam A literature review and hypsometric analysis to support decisions on trout management flows on the Colorado River downstream from Glen Canyon Dam
Executive Summary Fish stranding has been studied in select rivers worldwide, often with the purpose of determining how to mitigate adverse effects of dam operations on highly valued salmon and trout populations. However, where a reduction in trout population size is desired by resource managers, as is the case downstream of the Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River, flow manipulations...
Authors
Mariah Giardina, Josh Korman, Michael D. Yard, Scott Wright, Matthew A. Kaplinski, Glenn Bennett
Unforeseen plant phenotypic diversity in a dry and grazed world Unforeseen plant phenotypic diversity in a dry and grazed world
Earth harbours an extraordinary plant phenotypic diversity1 that is at risk from ongoing global changes2,3. However, it remains unknown how increasing aridity and livestock grazing pressure—two major drivers of global change4,5,6—shape the trait covariation that underlies plant phenotypic diversity1,7. Here we assessed how covariation among 20 chemical and morphological traits responds...
Authors
Nicholas Gross, Fernando T. Maestre, Pierre Liancourt, Miguel Berdugo, Raphael Martin, Beatriz Gozalo, Victoria Ochoa, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Vincent Maire, Hugo Saiz, Santiago Soliveres, Enrique Valencia, David J. Eldridge, Emilio Guirado, Franck Jabot, Sergio Asensio, Juan J. Gaitan, Miguel García-Gómez, Paloma Martinez, Jaime Martinez-Valderrama, Betty J. Mendoza, Eduardo Moreno-Jimenez, David S. Pescador, Cesar Plaza, Ivan Santaolaria Pijuan, Mehdi Abedi, Rodrigo J. Ahumada, Fateh Amghar, Antonio I. Arroyo, Khadijeh Bahalkeh, Lydia Bailey, Farah Ben Salem, Niels Blaum, Bazartseren Boldgiv, Matthew A. Bowker, Cristina Branquinho, Liesbeth van den Brink, Chongfeng Bu, Rafaella Canessa, Andrea del P. Castillo-Monroy, Helena Castro, Patricio Castro-Quezada, Roukaya Chibani, Abel Augusto Conceicao, Anthony Darrouzet-Nardi, Yvonne C. Davila, Balazs Deak, David A. Donoso, Jorge Duran, Carlos I. Espinosa, Alex Fajardo, Mohammad Farzam, Daniela Ferrante, Jorgelina Franzese, Lauchlan H. Fraser, Sofia Laura Gonzalez, Elizabeth Gusman-Montalvan, Rosa Mary Hernandez-Hernandez, Norbert Holzel, Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald, Oswaldo Jadan, Florian Jeltsch, Anke Jentsch, Mengchen Ju, Kudzai F. Kaseke, Liana Kindermann, Peter C. le Roux, Anja Linstadter, Michelle A. Louw, Mancha Mabaso, Gillian Maggs-Kolling, Thulani P. Makhalanyane, Oumarou Malam Issa, Antonio J. Manzaneda, Eugene Marais, Pierre Margerie, Frederic Mendes Hughes, Joao Vitor S. Messeder, Juan P. Mora, Gerardo Moreno, Seth M. Munson, Alice Nunes, Gabriel Oliva, Gaston R. Onatibia, Guadalupe Peter, Yolanda Pueyo, R. Emiliano Quiroga, Elizabeth Ramirez-Iglesias, Sasha C. Reed, Pedro J. Rey, Víctor M. Reyes Gómez, Alexandra Rodriguez, Victor Rolo, Juan G. Rubalcaba, Jan C. Ruppert, Osvaldo E. Sala, Ayman Salah, Phokgedi Julius Sebei, Ilan Stavi, Colton R. A. Stephens, Alberto L. Teixido, Andrew D. Thomas, Heather L. Throop, Katja Tielborger, Samantha K. Travers, Sainbileg Undrakhbold, James Val, Orsolya Valko, Frederike Velbert, Wanyoike Wamiti, Lixin Wang, Deli Wang, Glenda M. Wardle, Peter Wolff, Laura Yahdjian, Reza Yari, Eli Zaady, Juan Manuel Zeberio, Yuanling Zhang, Xiaobing Zhou, Yoann Le Bagousse-Pinguet
Disentangling drivers of annual grass invasion: Abiotic susceptibility vs. fire-induced conversion to cheatgrass dominance in the sagebrush biome Disentangling drivers of annual grass invasion: Abiotic susceptibility vs. fire-induced conversion to cheatgrass dominance in the sagebrush biome
Invasive annual grasses are often facilitated by fire, yet they can become ecologically dominant in susceptible locations even in the absence of fire. We used an extensive vegetation plot database to model susceptibility to the invasive annual grass cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) in the sagebrush biome as a function of climate and soil water availability variables. We built random...
Authors
Alexandra K. Urza, David I. Board, John B. Bradford, Jessi L. Brown, Daniel R. Chambers, Daniel Rodolphe Schlaepfer, Karen C. Short