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Publications

Below are publications associated with the Southwest Biological Science Center's research.

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Filter Total Items: 1332

Self-limitation of sand storage in a bedrock-canyon river arising from the interaction of flow and grain size

Bedrock-canyon rivers tend to be supply limited because they are efficient transporters of sediment and not because the upstream supply of sediment is small. A byproduct of this supply limitation is that the finer alluvium stored in these rivers has shorter residence times and smaller volumes than in alluvial rivers. To improve our understanding of disequilibrium sediment transport and its effect
Authors
David Topping, Paul Grams, Ronald E. Griffiths, David Dean, Scott A. Wright, Joel A. Unema

The roles of flood magnitude and duration in controlling channel width and complexity on the Green River in Canyonlands, Utah, USA

Predictions of river channel adjustment to changes in streamflow regime based on relations between mean channel characteristics and mean flood magnitude can be useful to evaluate average channel response. However, because these relations assume equilibrium sediment transport, their applicability to cases where streamflow and sediment transport are decoupled may be limited. These general relations
Authors
Paul Grams, David Dean, Alexander E. Walker, Alan Kasprak, John C. Schmidt

Genetically-informed seed transfer zones for Cleome lutea and Machaeranthera canescens across the Colorado Plateau and adjacent regions

Genetically-based seed transfer zones are described herein for two priority restoration species on and adjacent to the Colorado Plateau (Massatti 2020). Species include Cleome lutea Hook. (Capparaceae; commonly called yellow spiderflower or yellow beeplant; synonym Peritoma lutea (Hook.) Raf.) and Machaeranthera canescens (Pursh) A. Gray (Asteraceae; commonly called hoary tansyaster; synonym Diete
Authors
Robert Massatti

Non-analog increases to air, surface, and belowground temperature extreme events due to climate change

Air temperatures (Ta) are rising in a changing climate, increasing extreme temperature events. Examining how Ta increases are influencing extreme temperatures at the soil surface and belowground in the soil profile can refine our understanding of the ecological consequences of rising temperatures. In this paper, we validate surface and soil temperature (Ts: 0–100-cm depth) simulations in the SOILW
Authors
M.D. Petrie, John B. Bradford, W.K. Lauenroth, D.R. Schlaepfer, Caitlin M. Andrews, D.M. Bell

Quantifying plant-soil-nutrient dynamics in rangelands: Fusion of UAV hyperspectral-LiDAR, UAV multispectral-photogrammetry, and ground-based LiDAR-digital photography in a shrub-encroached desert grassland

Rangelands cover 70% of the world's land surface, and provide critical ecosystem services of primary production, soil carbon storage, and nutrient cycling. These ecosystem services are governed by very fine-scale spatial patterning of soil carbon, nutrients, and plant species at the centimeter-to-meter scales, a phenomenon known as “islands of fertility”. Such fine-scale dynamics are challenging t
Authors
Joel B. Sankey, Temuulen T. Sankey, Junran Li, Sujith Ravi, Guan Wang, Joshua Caster, Alan Kasprak

Warming and microbial uptake influence the fate of added soil carbon across a Hawai'ian weathering gradient

Tropical forest soils contain some of the largest carbon (C) stocks on Earth, yet the effects of warming on the fate of fresh C entering tropical soils are still poorly understood. This research sought to understand how the fate of fresh C entering soils is influenced by warming, soil weathering status, and C chemistry. We hypothesized that compounds that are quickly incorporated into microbial bi
Authors
Avishesh Neupane, Sasha C. Reed, Daniela F. Cusack

Evaluating natural experiments in ecology: Using synthetic controls in assessments of remotely sensed land treatments

Many important ecological phenomena occur on large spatial scales and/or are unplanned and thus do not easily fit within analytical frameworks that rely on randomization, replication, and interspersed a priori controls for statistical comparison. Analyses of such large‐scale, natural experiments are common in the health and econometrics literature, where techniques have been developed to derive in
Authors
Stephen E. Fick, Travis W. Nauman, Colby C. Brungard, Michael C. Duniway

Water temperature controls for regulated canyon-bound rivers

Many canyon‐bound rivers have been dammed and downstream flow and water temperatures modified. Climate change is expected to cause lower storage in reservoirs and warmer release temperatures, which may further alter downstream flow and thermal regimes. To anticipate potential future changes, we first need to understand the dominant heat transfer mechanisms in canyon‐bound river systems. Towards th
Authors
Bryce A. Mihalevich, Bethany Neilson, Caleb A. Buahin, Charles Yackulic, John C. Schmidt

Regional coordination between riparian dependence and atmospheric demand in willows (Salix L.) of western North America

AimPlants vary in their hydrological and climatic niches. How these niche dimensions covary among closely related species can help identify co‐adaptations to hydrological and climatic factors, as well as predict biodiversity responses to environmental change.LocationWestern United States.MethodsRelationships between riparian dependence and climate niches of willows (Salix L.) were assessed, incorp
Authors
Bradley J. Butterfield, Emily C. Palmquist, Kevin R. Hultine

Literature reviewed estimates of riparian consumptive water use in the drylands of Northeast Arizona, USA

This report provides the best estimates of riparian area evapotranspiration (ET) on the rivers and streams of the Navajo Nation by (1) quantifying the natural riparian vegetation water use within the Little Colorado River watershed using a literature search for comparable riparian ET estimates, and (2) in conjunction with the given area of stream-side plant cover on the Navajo Nation, provides the
Authors
Pamela L. Nagler

Thamnophis elegans--Terrestrial gartersnake

No abtract available.
Authors
Charles A. Drost