Publications
Below are publications associated with the Southwest Biological Science Center's research.
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Filter Total Items: 1342
Recreational trails as corridors for alien plants in the Rocky Mountains, USA
Alien plant species often use areas of heavy human activity for habitat and dispersal. Roads and utility corridors have been shown to harbor more alien species than the surrounding vegetation and are therefore believed to contribute to alien plant persistence and spread. Recreational trails represent another corridor that could harbor alien species and aid their spread. Effective management of inv
Authors
Floye H. Wells, William K. Lauenroth, John B. Bradford
Bioenergy potential of the United States constrained by satellite observations of existing productivity
Background/Question/Methods
Currently, the United States (U.S.) supplies roughly half the world’s biofuel (secondary bioenergy), with the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) stipulating an additional three-fold increase in annual production by 2022. Implicit in such energy targets is an associated increase in annual biomass demand (primary bioenergy) from roughly 2.9 to 7.4 exajou
Authors
Sasha C. Reed, William K. Smith, Cory C. Cleveland, Norman L. Miller, Steven W. Running
Salinity of the Little Colorado River in Grand Canyon confers anti-parasitic properties on a native fish
Water in the Little Colorado River within Grand Canyon is naturally high in salt (NaCl), which is known to prohibit development of external fish parasites such as Ich (Ichthyophthirius multifiliis). The naturally high salinity (>0.3%) of the Little Colorado River at baseflow may be one factor allowing survival and persistence of larval and juvenile humpback chub (Gila cypha) and other native fishe
Authors
David L. Ward
Microbial colonization and controls in dryland systems
Drylands constitute the most extensive terrestrial biome, covering more than one-third of the Earth's continental surface. In these environments, stress limits animal and plant life, so life forms that can survive desiccation and then resume growth following subsequent wetting assume the foremost role in ecosystem processes. In this Review, we describe how these organisms assemble in unique soil-
Authors
Stephen B. Pointing, Jayne Belnap
Breeding colonies of least terns (Sternula antillarum) in northern Sonora, Mexico, 2006-2008
We document distribution of breeding least terns (Sternula antillarum) in northern Sonora, Mexico, 2006-2008. We report breeding activity at six sites with active colonies, including three previously undocumented colonies.
Authors
Alyssa Rosemartin, Charles van Riper
Stoichiometric patterns in foliar nutrient resorption across multiple scales
*Nutrient resorption is a fundamental process through which plants withdraw nutrients from leaves before abscission. Nutrient resorption patterns have the potential to reflect gradients in plant nutrient limitation and to affect a suite of terrestrial ecosystem functions.
*Here, we used a stoichiometric approach to assess patterns in foliar resorption at a variety of scales, specifically explorin
Authors
Sasha C. Reed, Alan R. Townsend, Eric A. Davidson, Cory C. Cleveland
Clutch and egg allometry of the turtle Mauremys leprosa (Chelonia: Geoemydidae) from a polluted peri-urban river in west-central Morocco
We examined the relationships of clutch size (CS) and egg size to female body size (straight-line carapace length, CL) in a population of the turtle Mauremys leprosa from a polluted segment of oued (river) Tensift in arid west-central Morocco. Twenty-eight adult females were collected in May–July, 2009 and all were gravid. Each was weighed, measured, humanely euthanized and then dissected. Oviduct
Authors
Mohamed Naimi, Mohammed Znari, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Youssef Feddadi, Moulay Abdeljalil Ait Baamrane
Optimal egg size in a suboptimal environment: reproductive ecology of female Sonora mud turtles (Kinosternon sonoriense) in central Arizona, USA
We studied the reproductive ecology of female Sonora mud turtles (Kinosternon sonoriense) at Montezuma Well, a chemically-challenging natural wetland in central Arizona, USA. Females matured between 115.5 and 125 mm carapace length (CL) and 36-54% produced eggs each year. Eggs were detected in X-radiographs from 23 April-28 September (2007-2008) and the highest proportion (56%) of adult females wi
Authors
Jeffrey E. Lovich, Sheila V. Madrak, Charles A. Drost, Anthony J. Monatesti, Dennis Casper, Mohammed Znari
A history of herpetologists and herpetology in the U.S. Department of the Interior
The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) has a long and distinguished history of employing herpetologists to conduct basic and applied research to better manage amphibian and reptile populations on public lands and even outside the boundaries of the United States. This history extends back over 125 years with roots in the U.S. Biological Survey, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land M
Authors
Jeffrey E. Lovich, Norman J. Scott, R. Bruce Bury, C. Kenneth Dodd, Roy W. McDiarmid
Inferring local competition intensity from patch size distributions: a test using biological soil crusts
Dryland vegetation is inherently patchy. This patchiness goes on to impact ecology, hydrology, and biogeochemistry. Recently, researchers have proposed that dryland vegetation patch sizes follow a power law which is due to local plant facilitation. It is unknown what patch size distribution prevails when competition predominates over facilitation, or if such a pattern could be used to detect compe
Authors
Matthew A. Bowker, Fernando T. Maestre
Plant species richness and ecosystem multifunctionality in global drylands
Experiments suggest that biodiversity enhances the ability of ecosystems to maintain multiple functions, such as carbon storage, productivity, and the buildup of nutrient pools (multifunctionality). However, the relationship between biodiversity and multifunctionality has never been assessed globally in natural ecosystems. We report here on a global empirical study relating plant species richness
Authors
Fernando T. Maestre, Jose L. Quero, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Adrian Escudero, Victoria Ochoa, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Miguel Garcia-Gomez, Matthew A. Bowker, Santiago Soliveres, Cristina Escolar, Pablo Garcia-Palacios, Miguel Berdugo, Enrique Valencia, Beatriz Gozalo, Antonio Gallardo, Lorgio Aguilera, Tulio Arredondo, Julio Blones, Bertrand Boeken, Donaldo Bran, Abel A. Conceicao, Omar Cabrera, Mohamed Chaieb, Mchich Derak, David J. Eldridge, Carlos I. Espinosa, Adriana Florentino, Juan Gaitan, M. Gabriel Gatica, Wahida Ghiloufi, Susana Gomez-Gonzalez, Julio R. Gutie, Rosa M. Hernandez, Xuewen Huang, Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald, Mohammad Jankju, Maria Miriti, Jorge Monerris, Rebecca L. Mau, Ernesto Morici, Kamal Naseri, Abelardo Ospina, Vicente Polo, Anibal Prina, Eduardo Pucheta, David A. Ramirez-Collantes, Roberto Romao, Matthew Tighe, Cristian Torres-Diaz, James Val, Jose P. Veiga, Deli Wang, Eli Zaady
Using integrated research and interdisciplinary science: Potential benefits and challenges to managers of parks and protected areas
Our purpose in this paper is to build a case for utilizing interdisciplinary science to enhance the management of parks and protected areas. We suggest that interdisciplinary science is necessary for dealing with the complex issues of contemporary resource management, and that using the best available integrated scientific information be embraced and supported at all levels of agencies that manage
Authors
Charles van Riper, Robert B. Powell, Gary Machlis, Jan W. van Wagtendonk, Carena J. van Riper, Eick von Ruschkowski, Steven E. Schwarzbach, Russell E. Galipeau