Publications
Below are publications associated with the Southwest Biological Science Center's research.
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Filter Total Items: 1328
Taxonomic identity, biodiversity, and antecedent disturbances shape the dimensional stability of stream invertebrates
The “dimensional stability” approach measures different components of ecological stability to investigate how they are related. Yet, most empirical work has used small-scale and short-term experimental manipulations. Here, we apply this framework to a long-term observational dataset of stream macroinvertebrates sampled between the winter flooding and summer monsoon seasons. We test hypotheses that
Authors
Daniel C Allen, Brian A Gill, Anya Metcalfe, Sophia M Bonjour, Scott Starr, Junna Wang, Diana Valentin, Nancy B. Grimm
The detection and attribution of extreme reductions in vegetation growth across the global land surface
Negative extreme anomalies in vegetation growth (NEGs) usually indicate severely impaired ecosystem services. These NEGs can result from diverse natural and anthropogenic causes, especially climate extremes (CEs). However, the relationship between NEGs and many types of CEs remains largely unknown at regional and global scales. Here, with satellite-derived vegetation index data and supporting tree
Authors
Huiping Yang, Seth M. Munson, Chris Huntingford, Nuno Carvalhais, Alan K. Knapp, Xiangyi Li, Josep Peñuelas, Jakob Zscheichler, Anping Chen
Sound-side inundation and seaward erosion of a barrier island during hurricane landfall
Barrier islands are especially vulnerable to hurricanes and other large storms, owing to their mobile composition, low elevations, and detachment from the mainland. Conceptual models of barrier-island evolution emphasize ocean-side processes that drive landward migration through overwash, inlet migration, and aeolian transport. In contrast, we found that the impact of Hurricane Dorian (2019) on No
Authors
Christopher R. Sherwood, Andrew C. Ritchie, Jin-Si R. Over, Christine J. Kranenburg, Jonathan Warrick, Jenna A. Brown, Wayne Wright, Alfredo Aretxabaleta, Sara Zeigler, Phillipe Alan Wernette, Daniel D. Buscombe, Christie Hegermiller
High female desert tortoise mortality in the western Sonoran Desert during California’s epic 2012–2016 drought
We conducted population surveys for desert tortoises Gopherus agassizii at 2 nearby sites in the western Sonoran Desert of California, USA, from 2015-2018, during the driest ongoing 22 yr period (2000-2021) in the southwestern USA in over 1200 yr. We hypothesized that drought-induced mortality would be female-biased due to water and energy losses attributable to egg production during protracted pe
Authors
Jeffrey E. Lovich, Michele (Shellie) R. Puffer, Kristy L. Cummings, Terence R. Arundel, Michael S. Vamstad, Kathleen D. Brundige
Long-term monitoring in transition: Resolving spatial mismatch and integrating multistate occupancy data
The success of long-term wildlife monitoring programs can be influenced by many factors and study designs often represent compromises between spatial scales and costs. Adaptive monitoring programs can iteratively manage this tension by adopting new cost-efficient technologies, which can provide projects the opportunity to reallocate costs to address new hypotheses, adapt to changing ecological con
Authors
Matthew J Weldy, Damon B. Lesmeister, Charles Yackulic, Cara L. Appel, Chris E. McCafferty, David Wiens
Injuries and abnormalities of the southwestern pond turtle (Actinemys pallida) in the Mojave River of California
The southwestern pond turtle (Actinemys pallida) is a semiaquatic turtle that occasionally spends time on land to bask, oviposit, make intermittent overland movements, and overwinter in terrestrial locations. Use of both aquatic and terrestrial environments exposes semiaquatic turtles to increased risk of injury or mortality from floods, predation attempts, and other environmental hazards (e.g., h
Authors
Kristy L. Cummings, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Michele (Shellie) R. Puffer, Sarah Greely, Christopher D Otahal, James Gannon
Riparian plant evapotranspiration and consumptive use for selected areas of the Little Colorado River watershed on the Navajo Nation
Estimates of riparian vegetation water use are important for hydromorphological assessment, partitioning within human and natural environments, and informing environmental policy decisions. The objectives of this study were to calculate the actual evapotranspiration (ETa) (mm/day and mm/year) and derive riparian vegetation annual consumptive use (CU) in acre-feet (AF) for select riparian areas of
Authors
Pamela L. Nagler, Armando Barreto-Muñoz, Ibrahima Sall, Matthew R. Lurtz, Kamel Didan
Restoration research actions to address rapid change in drylands: Insights from the Colorado Plateau
The rapid intensification of ecological extremes in response to climate change and human land use is perhaps nowhere more apparent than in drylands, including the semiarid region of the Colorado Plateau in the southwestern United States. Here, we describe research directions to aid in the restoration of Colorado Plateau ecosystems during the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030) that 1) a
Authors
Kristina E. Young, Brooke Bossert Osborne, Michala Lee Phillips, Daniel E. Winkler
Divergent climate impacts on C3 versus C4 grasses imply widespread 21st century shifts in grassland functional composition
AimGrasslands cover a third of Earth's landmass and provide critical ecosystem services. Anticipating how perennial C3Â (cool-season) and C4Â (warm-season) grasses respond to climate change will be key to predicting future composition and functioning of grasslands. Here, we evaluate environmental drivers of C3Â and C4Â perennial distributions and assess how C3Â and C4Â grass distributions shift in respo
Authors
Caroline A. Havrilla, John B. Bradford, Charles Yackulic, Seth M. Munson
Terrestrial lidar monitoring of the effects of Glen Canyon Dam operations on the geomorphic condition of archaeological sites in Grand Canyon National Park, 2010–2020
The U.S. Geological Survey’s Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center, in coordination with the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program, has monitored the geomorphic condition of select archaeological sites along the Colorado River in Grand Canyon using high-resolution terrestrial light detection and ranging (lidar) topographic surveys. Many of these sites are vulnerable to degradation by n
Authors
Joshua Caster, Joel B. Sankey, Helen Fairley, Alan Kasprak
Empirical evidence for effects of invasive American Bullfrogs on occurrence of native amphibians and emerging pathogens
Invasive species and emerging infectious diseases are two of the greatest threats to biodiversity. American Bullfrogs (Rana [Lithobates] catesbeiana), which have been introduced to many parts of the world, are often linked with declines of native amphibians via predation and spreading emerging pathogens such as amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis [Bd]) and ranaviruses. Althoug
Authors
Blake R. Hossack, Emily B Oja, Audrey K Owens, David L. Hall, Cassidi Cobos, Catherine L. Crawford, Caren S. Goldberg, Shaula Hedwell, Paige E. Howell, Julio A. Lemos-Espinal, Susan K MacVean, Magnus McCaffery, Cody Mosley, Erin L. Muths, Brent H. Sigafus, Micahel J Sredl, James C. Rorabaugh
Provenance, genotype, and flooding influence growth and resource acquisition characteristics in a clonal, riparian shrub
PremiseRiparian plants can exhibit intraspecific phenotypic variability across the landscape related to temperature and flooding gradients. Phenotypes that vary across a climate gradient are often partly genetically determined and may differ in their response to inundation. Changes to inundation patterns across a climate gradient could thus result in site-specific inundation responses. Phenotypic
Authors
Emily C. Palmquist, Kiona Ogle, Thomas G. Whitham, Gerard J. Allan, Patrick B. Shafroth, Bradley J. Butterfield