Publications
Below are publications associated with the Southwest Biological Science Center's research.
If you are unable to access or download a product after you've clicked through the links below, email mhartwell@usgs.gov with your request. Please include the citation in your email and/or a link to the product. Note that each product has several link options once you click on the title.
Filter Total Items: 1338
Land use alters the resistance and resilience of soil food webs to drought
Soils deliver several ecosystem services including carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling, which are of central importance to climate mitigation and sustainable food production. Soil biota play an important role in carbon and nitrogen cycling, and, although the effects of land use on soil food webs are well documented the consequences for their resistance and resilience to climate change are no
Authors
Franciska T. de Vries, Mira E. Liiri, Lisa Bjørnlund, Matthew A. Bowker, Søren Christensen, Heikki Setälä, Richard D. Bardgett
Hierarchical Bayesian spatial models for predicting multiple forest variables using waveform LiDAR, hyperspectral imagery, and large inventory datasets
In this paper we detail a multivariate spatial regression model that couples LiDAR, hyperspectral and forest inventory data to predict forest outcome variables at a high spatial resolution. The proposed model is used to analyze forest inventory data collected on the US Forest Service Penobscot Experimental Forest (PEF), ME, USA. In addition to helping meet the regression model's assumptions, resul
Authors
Andrew O. Finley, Sudipto Banerjee, Bruce D. Cook, John B. Bradford
Female Agassiz’s desert tortoise activity at a wind energy facility in southern California: The influence of an El Niño event
We compared spring-summer activity of adult female Agassiz’s Desert Tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) among three consecutive years (1997, 1998, and 1999) that differed dramatically in winter rainfall and annual plant production at a wind energy facility in the Sonoran Desert of southern California. Winter rainfall was approximately 71%, 190%, and 17% of the long-term average (October-March = 114 mm)
Authors
Josh R. Ennen, Kathie Meyer-Wilkins, Jeffrey Lovich
A comparison of artificial incubation and natural incubation hatching success of gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) eggs in southern Mississippi
Recent studies have found that Gopher Tortoise, Gopherus polyphemus, populations in southern Mississippi exhibit low recruitment, due in part to very low hatching success of their eggs. We sought to determine if the cause(s) of this low hatching success was related to egg quality (intrinsic factors), unsuitability of the nest environment (extrinsic factors), or a combination of the two. In 2003, h
Authors
Krista M. Noel, Carl P. Qualls, Joshua R. Ennen
Consequences of declining snow accumulation for water balance of mid-latitude dry regions
Widespread documentation of positive winter temperature anomalies, declining snowpack and earlier snow melt in the Northern Hemisphere have raised concerns about the consequences for regional water resources as well as wildfire. A topic that has not been addressed with respect to declining snowpack is effects on ecosystem water balance. Changes in water balance dynamics will be particularly pronou
Authors
Daniel R. Schlaepfer, William K. Lauenroth, John B. Bradford
Global change effects on Bromus tectorum L. (Poaceae) at its high-elevation range margin
Global change is likely to affect invasive species distribution, especially at range margins. In the eastern Sierra Nevada, California, USA, the invasive annual grass, Bromus tectorum, is patchily distributed and its impacts have been minimal compared with other areas of the Intermountain West. We used a series of in situ field manipulations to determine how B. tectorum might respond to changing c
Authors
Amy L. Concilio, Michael E. Loik, Jayne Belnap
Carbon stocks across a chronosequence of thinned and unmanaged red pine (Pinus resinosa) stands
Forests function as a major global C sink, and forest management strategies that maximize C stocks offer one possible means of mitigating the impacts of increasing anthropogenic CO2 emissions. We studied the effects of thinning, a common management technique in many forest types, on age-related trends in C stocks using a chronosequence of thinned and unmanaged red pine (Pinus resinosa) stands rang
Authors
Matthew D. Powers, Randall K. Kolka, John B. Bradford, Brian J. Palik, Shawn Fraver, Martin F. Jurgensen
Revolutionary land use change in the 21st century: Is (rangeland) science relevant?
Rapidly increasing demand for food, fiber, and fuel together with new technologies and the mobility of global capital are driving revolutionary changes in land use throughout the world. Efforts to increase land productivity include conversion of millions of hectares of rangelands to crop production, including many marginal lands with low resistance and resilience to degradation. Sustaining the pro
Authors
J. E. Herrick, J.R. Brown, B.T. Bestelmeyer, S.S. Andrews, G. Baldi, J. Davies, M. Duniway, K. M. Havstad, J.W. Karl, D.L. Karlen, Debra P. C. Peters, J.N. Quinton, C. Riginos, P.L. Shaver, D. Steinaker, S. Twomlow
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