Publications
Below are publications associated with the Southwest Biological Science Center's research.
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Filter Total Items: 1512
Inaccuracies in sediment budgets arising from estimations of tributary sediment inputs: an example from a monitoring network on the southern Colorado plateau Inaccuracies in sediment budgets arising from estimations of tributary sediment inputs: an example from a monitoring network on the southern Colorado plateau
Sediment budgets are an important tool for understanding how riverine ecosystems respond to perturbations. Changes in the quantity and grain-size distribution of sediment within river systems affect the channel morphology and related habitat resources. It is therefore important for resource managers to know if a channel reach is in a state of sediment accumulation, deficit or stasis...
Authors
Ronald E. Griffiths, David J. Topping
Gully annealing by fluvially-sourced Aeolian sand: remote sensing investigations of connectivity along the Fluvial-Aeolian-hillslope continuum on the Colorado River Gully annealing by fluvially-sourced Aeolian sand: remote sensing investigations of connectivity along the Fluvial-Aeolian-hillslope continuum on the Colorado River
Processes contributing to development of ephemeral gully channels are of great importance to landscapes worldwide, and particularly in dryland regions where soil loss and land degradation from gully erosion pose long-term, land-management problems. Whereas gully formation has been relatively well studied, much less is known of the processes that anneal gullies and impede their growth...
Authors
Joel B. Sankey, Amy E. East, Brian D. Collins, Joshua J. Caster
Large river bed sediment characterization with low-cost sidecan sonar: Case studies from two setting in the Colorado (Arizona) and Penobscot (Maine) Rivers Large river bed sediment characterization with low-cost sidecan sonar: Case studies from two setting in the Colorado (Arizona) and Penobscot (Maine) Rivers
Mapping subaqueous riverbed sediment grain size across channels and in nearshore areas typically used by fish and benthic invertebrates is difficult where and when the water flow is too swift or deep to wade yet impractical to access with large boats and instruments. Fluvial characteristics can further constrain sampling options, particularly where flow depth, water column turbidity or...
Authors
Daniel D. Buscombe, Paul E. Grams, Theodore S. Melis, Sean Smith
Geomorphic change in the Limitrophe reach of the Colorado River in response to the 2014 delta pulse flow, United States and Mexico Geomorphic change in the Limitrophe reach of the Colorado River in response to the 2014 delta pulse flow, United States and Mexico
A pulse of water was released from Morelos Dam into the dry streambed of the Colorado River in its former delta on March 23, 2014. Although small in relation to delta floods of a century ago, this was the first flow to reach the sea in nearly two decades. The pulse flow was significant in that it resulted from an international agreement, Minute 319, which allowed Colorado River water to...
Authors
Erich R. Mueller, John C. Schmidt, David J. Topping, Paul E. Grams
Turbines and terrestrial vertebrates: variation in tortoise survivorship between a wind energy facility and an adjacent undisturbed wildland area in the desert southwest (USA) Turbines and terrestrial vertebrates: variation in tortoise survivorship between a wind energy facility and an adjacent undisturbed wildland area in the desert southwest (USA)
With the recent increase in utility-scale wind energy development, researchers have become increasingly concerned how this activity will affect wildlife and their habitat. To understand the potential impacts of wind energy facilities (WEF) post-construction (i.e., operation and maintenance) on wildlife, we compared differences in activity centers and survivorship of Agassiz's desert...
Authors
Mickey Agha, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Joshua R. Ennen, Benjamin J. Augustine, Terence R. Arundel, Mason O. Murphy, Kathie Meyer-Wilkins, Curtis Bjurlin, David F. Delaney, Jessica Briggs, Meaghan Austin, Sheila V. Madrak, Steven J. Price
The effect of research activities and winter precipitation on voiding behaviour of Agassiz’s desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) The effect of research activities and winter precipitation on voiding behaviour of Agassiz’s desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii)
Context: There is little information available on how research activities might cause stress responses in wildlife, especially responses of threatened species such as the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). Aims: The present study aims to detect behavioural effects of researcher handling and winter precipitation on a natural population of desert tortoises in the desert of Southwestern...
Authors
Mickey Agha, Mason O. Murphy, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Joshua R. Ennen, Christian R. Oldham, Kathie Meyer-Wilkins, Curtis Bjurlin, Meaghan Austin, Sheila V. Madrak, Caleb L. Loughran, Laura A. Tennant, Steven J. Price
Do management actions to restore rare habitat benefit native fish conservation? Distribution of juvenile native fish among shoreline habitats of the Colorado River Do management actions to restore rare habitat benefit native fish conservation? Distribution of juvenile native fish among shoreline habitats of the Colorado River
Many management actions in aquatic ecosystems are directed at restoring or improving specific habitats to benefit fish populations. In the Grand Canyon reach of the Colorado River, experimental flow operations as part of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program have been designed to restore sandbars and associated backwater habitats. Backwaters can have warmer water temperatures...
Authors
Michael J. Dodrill, Charles B. Yackulic, Brandon Gerig, William E. Pine, Josh Korman, Colton Finch
Not putting all their eggs in one basket: bet-hedging despite extraordinary annual reproductive output of desert tortoises Not putting all their eggs in one basket: bet-hedging despite extraordinary annual reproductive output of desert tortoises
Bet-hedging theory makes the counter-intuitive prediction that, if juvenile survival is low and unpredictable, organisms should consistently reduce short-term reproductive output to minimize the risk of reproductive failure in the long-term. We investigated the long-term reproductive output of an Agassiz's desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) population and conformance to a bet-hedging...
Authors
Jeffrey E. Lovich, Joshua R. Ennen, Charles B. Yackulic, Kathie Meyer-Wilkins, Mickey Agha, Caleb L. Loughran, Curtis Bjurlin, Meaghan Austin, Sheila V. Madrak
Comment on Spracklandus Hoser, 2009 (Reptilia, Serpentes, ELAPIDAE): request for confirmation of availability of the generic name and for the nomenclatural validation of the journal in which it was published (Case 3601; BZN 70:234–237; 71:30–38; 13 Comment on Spracklandus Hoser, 2009 (Reptilia, Serpentes, ELAPIDAE): request for confirmation of availability of the generic name and for the nomenclatural validation of the journal in which it was published (Case 3601; BZN 70:234–237; 71:30–38; 13
In Case 3601 Raymond Hoser has asked the Commission to validate for the purposes of nomenclature the name Spracklandus Hoser, 2009, and ‘the journal in which it was published,’ issue 7 of the Australasian Journal of Herpetology (AJH). We note that the entire run of AJH has been written, edited, and published solely by Hoser. Although his requests to the Commission were presented as...
Authors
Anders G.J. Rhodin, Hinrich Kaiser, Peter Paul van Dijk, Wolfgang Wuster, Mark O’Shea, Michael Archer, Mark Auliya, Luigi Boitani, Roger Bour, Viola Clausnitzer, Topiltzin Contreras-MacBeath, Brian I. Crother, Juan M. Daza, Carlos A. Driscoll, Oscar Flores-Villela, Jack Frazier, Uwe Fritz, Alfred L. Gardner, Claude Gascon, Arthur Georges, Frank Glaw, Felipe G. Grazziotin, Colin P. Groves, Gerhard Haszprunar, Peter Havas, Jean-Marc Hero, Michael Hoffmann, Marinus S. Hoogmoed, Brian D. Horne, John B. Iverson, Manfred Jach, Christopher L. Jenkins, Richard K.B. Jenkins, A. Ross Kiester, J. Scott Keogh, Thomas E. Lacher, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Luca Luiselli, D. Luke Mahler, David P. Mallon, Roderic Mast, Roy W. McDiarmid, John Measey, Russell A. Mittermeier, Sanjay Molur, Volker Mosbrugger, Robert W. Murphy, Darren Naish, Manfred Niekisch, Hidetoshi Ota, James F. Parham, Michael J. Parr, Nicolas J. Pilcher, Ronald H. Pine, Anthony B. Rylands, James G. Sanderson, Jay M. Savage, Wulf Schleip, Gustavo J. Scrocchi, H. Bradley Shaffer, Eric N. Smith, Robert Sprackland, Simon N. Stuart, Holger Vetter, Laurie J. Vitt, Tomas Waller, Grahame Webb, Edward O. Wilson, Hussam Zaher, Scott Thomson
Wide-area ratios of evapotranspiration to precipitation in monsoon-dependent semiarid vegetation communities Wide-area ratios of evapotranspiration to precipitation in monsoon-dependent semiarid vegetation communities
Evapotranspiration (ET) and the ratio of ET to precipitation (PPT) are important factors in the water budget of semiarid rangelands and are in part determined by the dominant plant communities. Our goal was to see if landscape changes such as tree or shrub encroachment and replacement of native grasses by invasive grasses impacted ET and ET/PPT and therefore watershed hydrology in this...
Authors
Edward P. Glenn, Russell L. Scott, Uyen Nguyen, Pamela L. Nagler
Assessing juvenile native fish demographic responses to a steady flow experiment in a large regulated river Assessing juvenile native fish demographic responses to a steady flow experiment in a large regulated river
The Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam, Arizona, is part of an adaptive management programme which optimizes dam operations to improve various resources in the downstream ecosystem within Grand Canyon. Understanding how populations of federally endangered humpback chub Gila cypha respond to these dam operations is a high priority. Here, we test hypotheses concerning temporal variation...
Authors
Colton G. Finch, William E. Pine, Charles B. Yackulic, Michael J. Dodrill, Michael D. Yard, Brandon S. Gerig, Coggins, Josh Korman
Urgent need for warming experiments in tropical forests Urgent need for warming experiments in tropical forests
Although tropical forests account for only a fraction of the planet's terrestrial surface, they exchange more carbon dioxide with the atmosphere than any other biome on Earth, and thus play a disproportionate role in the global climate. In the next 20 years, the tropics will experience unprecedented warming, yet there is exceedingly high uncertainty about their potential responses to...
Authors
Molly A. Calaveri, Sasha C. Reed, W. Kolby Smith, Tana E. Wood