Great Salt Lake Watershed

A map outlining the drainage basin of the Great Salt Lake, Utah with shaded topography as the base layer. This was produced by the Remote Sensing and GIS Laboratory, Department of Wildland Resources, Quinney College of Natural Resources

Mojave Desert - Land Ownership and Administration

Produced for the Mojave Desert Ecosystem Program under the United States Department of Defense Legacy Program in cooperation with the Department of the Interior. Cartography and image processing by: Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems Laboratory Department of Geography and Earth Resources College of Natural Resources Utah State University Logan, Utah 84322–5240 Cartographic preparation and printing by U.S. Geological Survey, 1998. Land ownership compiled from 1:100,000-scale Bureau of Land Management Surface Management Status maps. Populated places produced from USGS Geographic Names Information System. Roads and water bodies produced from USGS 1:100,000-scale Digital Line Graph data. Project boundary based on the Mojave Desert Section delineated by Robert G. Bailey, 1995, with a 50 kilometer buffe

Gap analysis: a geographic approach for assessing national biological diversity

The global concern with reduction in biodiversity has generated responses in the United States, such as the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Although the ESA has had some effect, the species-by-species approach presents a problem because it does not consider the broad ecological principles of biodiversity including the need for balance between different species and their combined influence on a given habitat. There is an implicit assumption that national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and other protected areas provide for conservation needs. However, these areas have not necessarily been delineated on the basis of animal habitat zones or ecologically significant units. Gap Analysis is an evaluation method providing a systematic approach for assessing the protection afforded biodiversity in a given area. It uses geographic information systems to identify gaps in biodiversity protection that may be filled by the establishment of new preserves or changes in land-use practices. Gap Analysis has three primary layers: (1) distribution of vegetation types delineated from satellite imagery, (2) land ownership, and (3) distribution of vegetation types delineated from satellite imagery, habitat preference models. Vegetation classification procedures using satellite image or aerial photograph analysis are linked to wildlife/ habitat databases. Gap analysis includes seral as well as climax vegetation, and classes must be compatible with those used in neighboring states. The examples of these procedures for the Utah Gap Analysis are given with some reference to Gap Analysis in other states. The overall approach provides a logical base for evaluating and protecting national biological diversity

Shc depletion stimulates brown fat activity in vivo and in vitro.

Adipose tissue is an important metabolic organ that integrates a wide array of homeostatic processes and is crucial for whole-body insulin sensitivity and energy metabolism. Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a key thermogenic tissue with a well-established role in energy expenditure. BAT dissipates energy and protects against both hypothermia and obesity. Thus, BAT stimulation therapy is a rational strategy for the looming pandemic of obesity, whose consequences and comorbidities have a huge impact on the aged. Shc-deficient mice (ShcKO) were previously shown to be lean, insulin sensitive, and resistant to high-fat diet and obesity. We investigated the contribution of BAT to this phenotype. Insulin-dependent BAT glucose uptake was higher in ShcKO mice. Primary ShcKO BAT cells exhibited increased mitochondrial respiration; increased expression of several mitochondrial and lipid-oxidative enzymes was observed in ShcKO BAT. Levels of brown fat-specific markers of differentiation, UCP1, PRDM16, ELOVL3, and Cox8b, were higher in ShcKO BAT. In vitro, Shc knockdown in BAT cell line increased insulin sensitivity and metabolic activity. In vivo, pharmacological stimulation of ShcKO BAT resulted in higher energy expenditure. Conversely, pharmacological inhibition of BAT abolished the improved metabolic parameters, that is the increased insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance of ShcKO mice. Similarly, in vitro Shc knockdown in BAT cell lines increased their expression of UCP1 and metabolic activity. These data suggest increased BAT activity significantly contributes to the improved metabolic phenotype of ShcKO mice