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Desert tortoises, Gopherus agassizii, generally were active in the spring and fall. They often became active during and after infrequent showers and thunderstorms, and drank from temporary pools of standing water even when air temperatures were suboptimal (9-15 C). In several instances tortoises constructed shallow catchment basins which held water for as long as six h. Thus tortoises can obtain drinking water by modifying their environment. Following small amounts of rainfall (5.6 mm) in July 1976, six tortoises increased an average of 9.2% in body weight; this increase was due to ingestion of water. Drinking may be an important source of water for this species. Published in Herpetologica, volume 36, issue 4, on...
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Analysis of a typical semiarid mountain system recharge (MSR) setting demonstrates that geochemical tracers help resolve the location, rate, and seasonality of recharge as well as ground water flowpaths and residence times. MSR is defined as the recharge at the mountain front that dominates many semiarid basins plus the often-overlooked recharge through the mountain block that may be a significant ground water resource; thus, geochemical measurements that integrate signals from all flowpaths are advantageous. Ground water fluxes determined from carbon-14 ((14)C) age gradients imply MSR rates between 2 x 10(6) and 9 x 10(6) m(3)/year in the Upper San Pedro Basin, Arizona, USA. This estimated range is within an order...
Atmospheric particulate matter (PM) is a heterogeneous material. Though regulated as un-speciated mass, it exerts most effects on vegetation and ecosystems by virtue of the mass loading of its chemical constituents. As this varies temporally and spatially, prediction of regional impacts remains difficult. Deposition of PM to vegetated surfaces depends on the size distribution of the particles and, to a lesser extent, on the chemistry. However, chemical loading of an ecosystem may be determined by the size distribution as different constituents dominate different size fractions. Coating with dust may cause abrasion and radiative heating, and may reduce the photosynthetically active photon flux reaching the photosynthetic...
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Rainfall variability is a key driver of ecosystem structure and function in grasslands worldwide. Changes in rainfall patterns predicted by global climate models for the central United States are expected to cause lower and increasingly variable soil water availability, which may impact net primary production and plant species composition in native Great Plains grasslands. We experimentally altered the timing and quantity of growing season rainfall inputs by lengthening inter-rainfall dry intervals by 50%, reducing rainfall quantities by 30%, or both, compared to the ambient rainfall regime in a native tallgrass prairie ecosystem in northeastern Kansas. Over three growing seasons, increased rainfall variability...
    map background search result map search result map Geochemical quantification of semiarid mountain recharge. Productivity responses to altered rainfall patterns in a C4-dominated grassland. Productivity responses to altered rainfall patterns in a C4-dominated grassland. Geochemical quantification of semiarid mountain recharge.