Some Relationships Between Morphometry and Thermal Stratification in Some Iowa Lake Basins

Thermal stratification of five man-made lakes in southern Iowa are studied in relation to basin morphometry. The lakes were Red Haw Lake, Lacey-Keosauqua Lake, Green Valley Lake, Lake Keomah and Lake Darling. Form of the water mass was compared by three mathematical indices including basin slope, area development and volume development. Strongly stratified lakes had the greatest maximum and mean depth, basin slope, area development and volume development. Lakes with unstable and temporary stratification had lower values for basin configuration. Unstratified lakes had the lowest morphometric indices. The use of these indices for predicting the tendency for stratification of a basin prior to dam construction was discussed

Home Range And Habitat Selection Of Gray Wolves (canis Lupus) On Red Lake Indian Reservation And Surrounding Areas

Every animal requires space where they can perform activities to survive and reproduce. For land animals, components of space use include area and habitat. Because most land animals are living on a human dominated landscape, understanding home range area and habitat needs is critical to their conservation. This is particularly relevant for threatened or endangered species such as the gray wolf (Canis lupus). The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources estimates home ranges and habitat use of wolves in northwestern Minnesota; however, a subset of this population lives within the bounds of Red Lake Indian Reservation, where The Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians manage wolves independent of the state. The Red Lake Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Program has been monitoring wolf population numbers using GPS collars since 2012, and my objectives were to use the GPS collar data to estimate home range and habitat use of gray wolves found within and around Red Lake Indian Reservation. I used minimum convex polygon as well as autocorrelated kernel density estimation, which reveals if a defined home range does exist and better captures the autocorrelative nature of GPS relocation data, and tested for seasonal changes in the latter estimates. I also used kernel density and Brownian bridge for home range estimator comparisons. I estimated population and individual level habitat use of gray wolves and tested for habitat selection using multinomial models, which included testing for variation in selection related to season and sex. I investigated one aspect of movement behavior by testing if land class, season, or sex predicted movement speed. I found that the average home range of Red Lake wolves was 1716km2 using minimum convex polygon and 291km2 using autocorrelated kernel density estimation. Only 7 of 16 total wolves displayed a restricted home range, and I was unable to detect any impact of season on restricted home range size. For wolves with a restricted home range, kernel density, autocorrelated kernel density, and Brownian bridge provided similar results, whereas minimum convex polygon provided significantly lower results. For wolves without a restricted home range, minimum convex polygon and kernel density estimation provided similar results, whereas Brownian bridge estimation provided significantly lower results. Because home range is typically estimated to inform managers of minimum required area for a species, estimator selection should be considered carefully due to the possible underestimation of home range area. I found that gray wolves on Red Lake used mostly woody wetlands, regardless of season, time of day, or sex. I detected an overall selection of woody wetlands and an avoidance of developed areas. I found that gray wolves tend to travel slower through forested areas, likely due to foraging, and faster through developed areas, which were likely used for travel along roads. Red Lake Indian Reservation consists of primarily woody wetlands, and although there is currently no limitation of available habitat for wolves, monitoring and preservation of wooded areas should continue as wolf populations on Red Lake lands continue to increase

Quaternary geology of Sargent County, North Dakota

Sargent County, in southeastern North Dakota, was glaciated during the Pleistocene Epoch. Objectives of a study of Sargent County were to (1) describe the surface sediment and interpret its origin, (2) correlate, where possible, this sediment with that of adjacent areas, and (3) recon struct the general geologic history of the county for the Quaternary Period. A geologic map of the county was prepared using field data, topo graphic maps, aerial stereopairs, and soil maps. A map showing surface sediment origin was subsequently made using the available field and laboratory information. Most of Sargent County is typical rolling prairie underlain by Quaternary sediment resting unconformably on Mesozoic rocks. The Quaternary sediment is primarily nonindurated sediment belonging to the Coleharbor and Walsh Formations. The Mesozoic rocks are mostly well-indurated sediment belonging to the Pierre, Niobrara, Carlile, Greenhorn, Belle Fourche, Howry, Newcastle, and Skull Creek Formations. The Coleharbor Formation comprises about 95 percent of the county surface area and is primarily glacial sediment. The Formation includes five facies: diamicton (glacial sediment); sand and gravel (fluvial channel sediment); silt (lacustrine sediment); silty clay (lacustrine sediment); and silt, sand, silty sand, and clay (turbidity-current sediment). The Walsh Formation comprises the remaining 5 percent of the county and includes four facies: clay (lacustrine sediment), sandy silt (slope wash sediment), clayey silt (fluvial overbank sediment), and silty sand (eolian sediment). Evidence of previous glacier advances includes: (1) the occurrence of two different drift units exposed in a roadcut on the. Prairie Coteau, (2) the morphology and structure of the Whitestone Hills, and (3) the morphology and stratigraphy of the Lake Oakes Hills. Two glacial diamicton beds are exposed in a Prairie Coteau roadcut; the upper bed, Drift A, is noticeably rich in shale fragments whereas the lower bed, Drift B, is shale-poor. Drift A correlates with the upper member of the Red Lake Falls Formation on the upper Red River Valley and the New Ulm Till of southwestern Minnesota. The shale fragments in Drift A were eroded by a glacier that moved down the valleys on the Red and Minnesota Rivers. The small percentage of shale fragments in Drift B indicates that it was deposited by a glacier that moved southward along the axis of the Red Lakes lowland, where there is little shale bedrock to erode. Drift B correlates with the lower member of the Red Lake Falls Formation of the upper Red River Valley and the Granite Falls Till of southwestern Minnesota. The Whitestone Hills are streamlined and probably represent an over ridden landfonn from a previous glacier advance, as evidenced by oxidized diamicton occurring beneath unoxidized diamicton, separated by fluvial sand and gravel. The Lake Oakes Hills in western Sargent County were found to be primarily composed of turbidity-current sediment that was deposited in an ice-marginal lake called Lake Oakes. Lake Oakes predates the last advance of ice because the hills are veneered with glacial diamicton deposited during overriding of the hills by the last glacier advance. The Lake Oakes sediment overlies another glacial diamicton evidently de posited by an earlier glacial advance. The geologic events of the last glacial advance and ensuring de glaciation can be subdivided into three phases. During Phase 1, ice moved southward along the lowland of the Red and Minnesota Rivers. The Prairie Coteau caused the glacier to split into the James and Des Moines Lobes. Climatic warming caused the glacier to thin and retreat. The presence of stagnant ice in Sargent County CTarks the beginning of Phase 2. Melt water from the James River in Dickey County and other streams in Sargent County and adjacent areas drained southward into South Dakota where it was eventually ponded by an end-moraine complex, result ing in the formation of glacial Lake Dakota. The lake eventually reached to several miles north of Cogswell in Sargent County. Glacier ice was no longer active in Sargent County by the: beginning of Phase 3. Stiperglacial debris covered stagnant ice over most of the county, however, insulating it from rapid melting. Melt water discharged into glacial Lake Agassiz in the Red River Valley during this phase. Lake silt was deposited on stagnant ice above the Herman Beach level in Sargent County during the Milnor subphase. The lake dropped to the Herman level · (1,060 feet) during the Herman subphase and overflow from the Sheyenne River cut across northeastern Sargent County during the subsequent Milnor Channel subphase. All glacier ice in Sargent County was gone by 10,000 B.P. The climate continued to warm resulting in a vegetative succession from forest to prairie. The increased dryness resulted in increased stream and wind erosion. Between 7,000 and 8,000 years B.P. maximum dryness was reached; resulting eolian activity produced dunes in some sandy and silty parts. of the county. From 7,000 until 4,000 years B.P. the climate gradually cooled. Since 4,000 years B.P. the climate of Sargent County has been relatively uniform

Frequency Distributions of Median Nutrient and Chlorophyll Concentrations across the Red River Basin, 1996-2006

Acquisition and compilation of water quality data for a ten year time period (1996 – 2006) from 589 stream and river stations was conducted to support nutrient criteria development for the multi–state Red River Basin shared by Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, USA. Twenty–three water quality parameters were collected from five data sources (USGS, ADEQ, LDEQ, OCC, OWRB, and TCEQ) and an additional 13 parameters were acquired from at least one source. Data for the primary biological parameter of interest, chlorophyll a, was sparse and available from only two sources. Following compilation of data, medians were calculated for the ten year period and median distributions (min, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th percentiles and max) were presented for several different spatial scales including state specific data, HUC8 designated watersheds, and various ecoregions. Across this basin, median values for total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and sestonic chlorophyll–a (chl–a) ranged from \u3c0.02 to 20.2 mg L⁻¹, \u3c0.01 to 6.66 mg L⁻¹, and 0.10 to 26 µg L⁻¹, respectively. Overall, the 25th percentiles of median TN data specific to the Red River Basin were generally similar to the USEPA recommended eco–region nutrient criteria. Whereas, median TP and chl–a data specific to the Red River Basin showed 25th percentiles greater than the USEPA recommended criteria. The unique location of the Red River Basin in the south–central USA places it near the boundaries of several aggregate eco–regions; therefore, the development of eco–region nutrient criteria likely requires using data specific to the Red River Basin, as shown in these analyses. This study provided basin–specific distribution of medians as the first step supporting states in developing nutrient criteria to protect designated uses in the multi–jurisdictional Red River Basin and in potentially reducing nutrient export from the Red River Basin to the Gulf of Mexico

Studies of Birds and Mammals in the Baird and Schwatka Mountains, Alaska

In 1963 a joint University of Alaska-Smithsonian Institution crew worked at five locations in the Baird and Schwatka mountains in northwestern Alaska, conducting an ecological reconnaissance and faunal and floral inventory. Standard methods of observation and collection were used. Camps in the Kobuk drainage were located in the Redstone River valley and at Walker Lake, both on the margin of the taiga. The Noatak valley was represented by one camp each in the lower, middle, and upper reaches of the river, all in tundra. A summary of pre-1963 ornithological work in the region is presented. Significant records of distribution and/or breeding were obtained for the following birds: Podiceps grisegena, Anas platyrhynchos, Aythya valisineria, Histrionicus histrionicus, Melanitta perspicillata, Mergus merganser, Aphrizia virgata, Bartramia longicauda, Actitis macularia, Tringa flavipes, Phalaropus fuficarius, Lobipes lobatus, Larus hyperboreus,Xema sabini, Sayornis saya, Nuttalornis borealis, Eremophilia alpestris, Tachycineta thalassina, Riparia riparia, Petrochelidon pyrrhonota, Phylloscopus borealis, Dendroica petechia, Leucosticte tephrocotis, Zonotrichia atricapilla, Calcarius pictus; and the mammal, Spermophilus undulatus. Good series of Cletihrionomys rutilius (350) and Microtus miurus (147) have been deposited in the University of Alaska Museum. Severe doubt has been raised regarding the validity of the standard three-night trap grid for population estimation under wet conditions in arctic areas

Phelps Lake and Jim Burt: Two Middle Woodland Period Mounds in Northwestern Louisiana

Clarence Webb defined the pre-Caddoan Bellevue focus on the basis of investigations at several isolated mounds located in upland settings in northwestern Louisiana. With the exception of the Bellevue Site (16B04), little detailed information is available about these mounds. Most were excavated many years ago and few notes, photographs, or other records exist This paper describes the results of recent cleaning of an old excavation trench through one of the Bellevue focus sites the Phelps Lake Mound (16B024). The work has provided a relatively detailed look at the mound strata. A radiocarbon assay on a sample of charcoal underlying the mound constitutes one of the few chronometric dates from a Bellevue focus context. Also discussed briefly is the Jim Burt Site (16B023), where a radiocarbon assay was obtained on charcoal recovered near the mound

Are yellow eels from Lake Balaton able to cope with high pressure encountered during migration to the Sargasso sea? The case of energy metabolism

Eels from Lake Balaton are unique because they do not undergo the silvering process and do not migrate. The question is whether these eels, despite such particularities, retain their ability to cope with migration constraints, usually high pressure. To ascertain this, eels were exposed for 3 days to 10.1 MPa of hydrostatic pressure (HP) and the effects of this on aerobic metabolism were evaluated by measuring oxygen consumption (MO2), Cytochrome Oxydase activity (COX) and energetic nucleotide contents in red and white muscles. The results show that Balaton eels survive HP. However, 3 days under pressure induces an alteration in aerobic metabolism. Moreover, when only muscle fibres are exposed to HP, there is a significant decrease in maximal aerobic capacities (-20%). The results are discussed in terms of the ability of these eels to migrate, bearing in mind that this activity represents a high percentage of maximal aerobic capacity when compared with other populations

Carmel Lagoon Water Quality and Steelhead Soundings: Fall 2007

ESSP 660 Advanced Watershed Science and Policy is a graduate class taught in the Master of Science in Coastal and Watershed Science & Policy program at California State University Monterey Bay. In 2007, the class was taught in four 4-week modules, each focusing on making a small contribution to a local watershed issue. This report describes the results of one of those 4-week modules – on Carmel Lagoon Water Quality and Ecology. The module was lead instructed by Fred Watson (CSUMB) and Kevan Urquhart (MPWMD). (Document contains 54 pages

Physical Constraints to Aquatic Plant Growth in New Zealand Lakes

The nature of aquatic plant communities often defines benthic habitat within oligotrophic and mesotrophic lakes and lake management increasingly recognizes the importance of maintaining plant diversity in order to sustain biological diversity and capacity within lakes. We have developed simple statistical relationships between key physical and vegetation variables that define the habitat requirements, or “habitat-templates”, of key vegetation types to facilitate management of plant communities in New Zealand lakes. Statistical relationships were derived from two datasets. The first was a multi-lake dataset to determine the effects of water level fluctuation and water clarity. The second dataset was from a comprehensive shoreline survey of Lake Wanaka, which allowed us to examine within-lake variables such as beach slope and wave action. Sufficient statistical relationships were established to develop a habitat template for each of the major species or assemblages. The relationships suggested that the extent and diversity of shallow-growing species was related to a combination of the extent of water level fluctuation and wave exposure. (PDF contains 9 pages.