Publications

The preceding article by C. B. Griffin examines the differences in recommended camping distance from waterbodies from a perspective that there should be consistency between the guidance provided by land management agencies and low impact education and communication programs, such as Leave No Trace and Tread Lightly. We concur that regulatory and messaging consistency is a beneficial mutual goal an

Studies demonstrate that wilderness therapy programs can be beneficial for participants; however, little research has explored the ecological impacts of these programs. A prominent wilderness therapy organization utilizes vast tracts of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) for programming. This study examines the specific ecological impacts stemming from the program in GSENM, co

Intertidal coastal environments are prone to changes induced by sea level rise, increases in storminess, temperature, and anthropogenic disturbances. It is unclear how changes in external drivers may affect the dynamics of low energy coastal environments because their response is non-linear, and characterized by many thresholds and discontinuities. As such, process-based modeling of the ecogeomorp

This map of the Timberville 7.5-minute quadrangle in Rockingham and Shenandoah counties, Virginia shows the distribution of Paleozoic-age sedimentary rocks in map and cross-section. Surficial deposits including alluvium and colluvium are also shown. The characteristics of each map unit are described and a brief report discusses the stratigraphy, structure and mineral resources of the area.

A frequent assumption in ecology is that biotic interactions are more important than abiotic factors in determining lower elevational range limits (i.e., the “warm edge” of a species distribution). However, for species with narrow environmental tolerances, theory suggests the presence of a strong environmental gradient can lead to persistence, even in the presence of competition. The relative impo

Unconventional natural gas drilling and the use of hydraulic fracturing technology have expanded rapidly in North America. This expansion has raised concerns of surface water contamination by way of spills and leaks, which may be sporadic, small, and therefore difficult to detect. Here we explore the use of otolith microchemistry as a tool for monitoring surface water contamination from generated

No abstract available.

American eels are declining throughout their range requiring a better understanding of physiological requirements of all life stages and optimal conditions for laboratory rearing and aquaculture. American glass eels (Anguilla rostrata) were housed for 3 weeks at 14˚C, 18˚C, 22˚C, or 26˚C to determine optimal juvenile rearing temperature in the laboratory. All treatments exhibited weight gain over

Phylogenetic relationships among swifts of the morphologically conservative genus Chaetura were studied using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences. Taxon sampling included all species and 21 of 30 taxa (species and subspecies) within Chaetura. Our results indicate that Chaetura is monophyletic and support the division of the genus into the two subgenera previously identified using plumage chara

Habitat conditions necessary to support freshwater mussels can be difficult to characterize and predict, particularly for rare or endangered species such as the federally endangered dwarf wedgemussel, Alasmidonta heterodon. In this study, we evaluate flow and temperature conditions in three areas of the mainstem Delaware River known to consistently support A. heterodon, and we develop predictive m

PurposeWe developed a tool, FragPatch (FP), to delineate habitat patches for highly fragmented landscapes from a user-defined suitability map and two landscape perception values for a species of interest.MethodsWe wrote a Python script in ArcGIS to delineate habitat patch networks using the user inputs and ArcGIS tools such as Euclidean distance, focal maximum, and reclassify. We validated the too

IntroductionEffective communication in the geosciences requires a consistent nomenclature for stratigraphic units and, especially, for divisions of geologic time. A geologic time scale is composed of standard stratigraphic divisions based on rock sequences and is calibrated in years.Geologists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), State geological surveys, academia, and other organizations requi