Environmental Change in Garibaldi Provincial Park, Southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia

We are reconstructing Holocene environments in Garibaldi Provincial Park, in the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia, by examining a diverse set of paleoenvironmental records, including tree-rings, lake sediments, glacial landforms, and photographs. This integrated study, in combination with previous research in adjacent areas, is providing a more detailed picture of past climate, vegetation, and glacier extent in Garibaldi Park than has heretofore been available. The data suggest recurrent, complex, and successively more extensive glacier advances during the last half of the Holocene, followed by dramatic warming, snow and ice loss, and a rise in treeline in the twentieth century. The multi-proxy approach used in this study is broadly applicable to other mountain areas. It yields more reliable and robust paleoenvironmental reconstructions than approaches based on only one or two types of data. RÉSUMÉ Nous travaillons à reconstituer les conditions environnementales holocènes dans le parc provincial Garibaldi, dans la région sud des montagnes côtières de la Colombie-Britannique, en étudiant divers ensembles de variables représentatives du paléoenvironnement, dont les anneaux de croissance des arbres, les sédiments lacustres, les formes des paysages glaciaires, et des photographies. La présente étude synoptique, combinée aux résultats des recherches sur des régions adjacentes, nous fournit une image plus détaillée du climat, de la végétation et de l'étendue glaciaire d'alors dans le parc Garibaldi. Les données permettent de penser que durant la dernière moitié de l'Holocène, les avancées glaciaires ont été récurrentes, complexes et de plus en plus étendues. Par la suite, il y a eu réchauffement spectaculaire, déperdition de neige et glace, ainsi qu'une élévation de latitude de la limite forestière au cours du XXe siècle. L'approche par combinaisons de variables représentatives utilisées dans la présente recherche peut être employée tel quel pour l'étude d'autres régions montagneuses. Les reconstitutions paléo-environnementales sont plus fiables et plus sûres que celles reposant sur un ou deux types de données

The chiral phase transition in charge ordered 1T-TiSe2

It was recently discovered that the low temperature, charge ordered phase of 1T-TiSe2 has a chiral character. This unexpected chirality in a system described by a scalar order parameter could be explained in a model where the emergence of relative phase shifts between three charge density wave components breaks the inversion symmetry of the lattice. Here, we present experimental evidence for the sequence of phase transitions predicted by that theory, going from disorder to non-chiral and finally to chiral charge order. Employing X-ray diffraction, specific heat, and electrical transport measurements, we find that a novel phase transition occurs ~7 K below the main charge ordering transition in TiSe2, in agreement with the predicted hierarchy of charge ordered phases.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; includes additional experimental and theoretical results; fixed typo

Seasonal variation in denitrification and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonia process rates and corresponding key functional genes along an estuarine nitrate gradient

This research investigated spatial-temporal variation in benthic bacterial community structure, rates of denitrification and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) processes and abundances of corresponding genes and transcripts at three sites—the estuary-head, mid-estuary and the estuary mouth (EM) along the nitrate gradient of the Colne estuary over an annual cycle. Denitrification rates declined down the estuary, while DNRA rates were higher at the estuary head and middle than the EM. In four out of the six 2-monthly time-points, rates of DNRA were greater than denitrification at each site. Abundance of gene markers for nitrate-reduction (nitrate reductase narG and napA), denitrification (nitrite reductase nirS) and DNRA (DNRA nitrite reductase nrfA) declined along the estuary with significant relationships between denitrification and nirS abundance, and DNRA and nrfA abundance. Spatially, rates of denitrification, DNRA and corresponding functional gene abundances decreased along the estuary. However, temporal correlations between rate processes and functional gene and transcript abundances were not observed

Common Representation of Information Flows for Dynamic Coalitions

We propose a formal foundation for reasoning about access control policies within a Dynamic Coalition, defining an abstraction over existing access control models and providing mechanisms for translation of those models into information-flow domain. The abstracted information-flow domain model, called a Common Representation, can then be used for defining a way to control the evolution of Dynamic Coalitions with respect to information flow

Oligocene titanotheres

p. 91-109 : ill. ; 24 cm.Includes bibliographical references (p. 108-109)

Prioritizing Conservation of Ungulate Calving Resources in Multiple-Use Landscapes

BACKGROUND: Conserving animal populations in places where human activity is increasing is an ongoing challenge in many parts of the world. We investigated how human activity interacted with maternal status and individual variation in behavior to affect reliability of spatially-explicit models intended to guide conservation of critical ungulate calving resources. We studied Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus) that occupy a region where 2900 natural gas wells have been drilled. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We present novel applications of generalized additive modeling to predict maternal status based on movement, and of random-effects resource selection models to provide population and individual-based inference on the effects of maternal status and human activity. We used a 2×2 factorial design (treatment vs. control) that included elk that were either parturient or non-parturient and in areas either with or without industrial development. Generalized additive models predicted maternal status (parturiency) correctly 93% of the time based on movement. Human activity played a larger role than maternal status in shaping resource use; elk showed strong spatiotemporal patterns of selection or avoidance and marked individual variation in developed areas, but no such pattern in undeveloped areas. This difference had direct consequences for landscape-level conservation planning. When relative probability of use was calculated across the study area, there was disparity throughout 72-88% of the landscape in terms of where conservation intervention should be prioritized depending on whether models were based on behavior in developed areas or undeveloped areas. Model validation showed that models based on behavior in developed areas had poor predictive accuracy, whereas the model based on behavior in undeveloped areas had high predictive accuracy. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: By directly testing for differences between developed and undeveloped areas, and by modeling resource selection in a random-effects framework that provided individual-based inference, we conclude that: 1) amplified selection or avoidance behavior and individual variation, as responses to increasing human activity, complicate conservation planning in multiple-use landscapes, and 2) resource selection behavior in places where human activity is predictable or less dynamic may provide a more reliable basis from which to prioritize conservation action

Critical statistics for non-Hermitian matrices

We introduce a generalized ensemble of nonhermitian matrices interpolating between the Gaussian Unitary Ensemble, the Ginibre ensemble and the Poisson ensemble. The joint eigenvalue distribution of this model is obtained by means of an extension of the Itzykson-Zuber formula to general complex matrices. Its correlation functions are studied both in the case of weak nonhermiticity and in the case of strong nonhermiticity. In the weak nonhermiticity limit we show that the spectral correlations in the bulk of the spectrum display critical statistics: the asymptotic linear behavior of the number variance is already approached for energy differences of the order of the eigenvalue spacing. To lowest order, its slope does not depend on the degree of nonhermiticity. Close the edge, the spectral correlations are similar to the Hermitian case. In the strong nonhermiticity limit the crossover behavior from the Ginibre ensemble to the Poisson ensemble first appears close to the surface of the spectrum. Our model may be relevant for the description of the spectral correlations of an open disordered system close to an Anderson transition.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure

White-tailed deer (\u3ci\u3eOdocoileus virginianus\u3c/i\u3e) fawn survival and the influence of landscape characteristics on fawn predation risk in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, USA

In the Southern Appalachian region of the United States, harvest data has indicated the occurrence of low deer densities while exposing a trend of declining white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations over the past several decades in northern Georgia. A triumvirate of increasing fawn predator populations reside in the Southern Appalachian Mountains including coyotes (Canis latrans), black bears (Ursus americanus) and bobcats (Lynx rufus). This region is also characterized by a homogenous landscape composed of mature forests and sparse understory vegetation, likely lacking adequate cover to offer fawns refugia from predators. Our objectives were to estimate survival and cause-specific mortality rates of fawns while assessing a possible link between mortality risk, intrinsic fawn characteristics (i.e., birth mass, Julian birth date, sibling status), and landscape features within fawn usage areas. During 2018–2020, we radio-collared 71 fawns within the Chattahoochee National Forest of northern Georgia, USA and monitored survival to 12 weeks of age. We observed low fawn survival (cumulative = 0.157, 95% CI = 0.091–0.273; vaginal implant transmitter = 0.196, 95% CI = 0.096–0.403) with predation as the leading cause of all known mortalities (45 of 55 mortalities; 82%) due primarily to coyotes (n = 22), black bears (n = 12), and bobcats (n= 7). Relationships between landscape features and fawn predation risk were minimal with only one informative covariate. Increasing amounts of early successional land cover within fawn usage areas decreased fawn mortality risk within the first 20 days of life, but elevated mortality risk thereafter. All fawns with any amount of early successional land cover in their usage areas died of predation (n = 13) at various time intervals, suggesting limited areas of potential fawning cover may be targeted by predators. However, fawn predation risk seemed to be high regardless of landscape covariates due to the limited number of surviving fawns. Coyote-caused mortality occurred over a longer period at a consistently higher magnitude than all other forms of mortality, indicating possible delayed prey-switching behavior and coyote predation as an important factor of fawn survival. The low recruitment of fawns influenced by high predation rates and homogenous habitat conditions is likely the cause of deer population declines in the region