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Kelly Warm Springs Historical Data Summary: Progress Report
No full textKelly Warm Springs is a unique geological feature located within Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. The Kelly Warm Springs area is used extensively by park wildlife, for recreation by park visitors, and is a place of educational interest. It has also been the site of historic non-native fish releases. The current work was initiated to gather historical information and to begin systematic documentation of temperatures in and around Kelly Warm Springs. Historic information that was not published but considered valid was included. Non-native fish presence was first documented in the 1960s. Concerns about non-native fish and habitat loss for native species were discussed by researchers in the 1980s. The temperature ranges recorded at several sites October â December 2014 approached 0oC at the lower section of the outflow channel, but remained above 20oC in the spring pond. While these range below the preferred temperature range for goldfish, research has documented survival in near zero temperatures. All sites located below Mormon Row where temperature loggers were initially deployed were either dewatered or frozen by mid-November
Simulating Expected Changes in Pollinator Resources as a Function of Climate Change
No full textEcological effects of climate change can include advancement of spring events, shifts in species distribution patterns, and phenological changes. Studying these responses under field conditions can require decades of research. In 2010, we established an experimental field study designed to mimic the effects of predicted climate change using snow removal and passive heating in montane meadows. Here, we use this same experimental set-up to examine nectar production relative to pollinator emergence in two important nectar sources: Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagitatta) and Wild Buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum). Preliminary results indicate that there was lower nectar volume for Balsamorhiza sagitatta in the heating compared to either the control or snow removal. The heating + snow removal was also lower in nectar volume than snow removal only. Preliminary results for Eriogonum umbellatum showed a lower sugar content in the control as compared to the heating + snow removal
Succession Effects on Mammal and Inverterbrate Communities 26 Years After the 1988 huckleberry Mountain Fire
No full textFires are an important and increasingly common driver of habitat structure in the intermountain West. Through an ongoing study of burned and adjacent unburned areas along the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway, we examine the long-term effects of the 1988 fire season on community assembly, succession, and ecological processes. We collected mark/recapture data on rodents, removal data for insectivorous mammals and invertebrates, and habitat measurements on four grids in 2014 and combined these results with previous survey data. In 2014, 4,800 trap nights yielded 13 species of small mammals, comprising 618 individuals. Macroarthropod abundance was higher on burned grids, but diversity was higher on unburned grids. In contrast, springtail (Collembola) diversity was higher on burned grids, but abundance was highest in unburned grids. Since the beginning of this long-term study, the total number of mammal species has increased across all sites, and relative abundance in burned areas has shifted from early successional species (Peromyscus maniculatus) to those more associated with old growth forests (such as Myodes gapperi). Other than in 1991, the burned grids have harbored more diverse small mammal communities than the unburned control grids. Significant, long-term differences in vegetation based upon burn history were observed, including different ground cover, less canopy cover, and more coarse woody debris in burned sites. This work provides a unique long-term picture of the interrelationships of small mammal and invertebrate communities and correlated habitat variables as these ecosystems undergo post-fire succession
The Teton Archaeological Project: Report From the 2014 Inaugural Field Season
No full textIn August and September, 2014, two eight- day archaeological surveys were conducted by the Jackson Hole Historical Society and Museum in Caribou-Targhee National Forest and Grand Teton National Park. This project, the inaugural season of the Teton Archaeological Project, investigated high-altitude passes, basins, and ice patches for prehistoric archaeological sites. In total, during the 2014 season 28 archaeological sites were recorded ranging from Paleoindian (9,000 BP) to Late-Prehistoric (1,000 BP) in age. The results of this field season investigation provide an enlightened understanding of prehistoric life in the high Tetons and will offer a solid foundation for future archaeological surveys and research questions
Assessing the Potential of the River Otter to Promote Aquatic Conservation in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: A Unique Approach for Developing a Long-Term Aquatic Flagship
No full textCharismatic âflagshipâ species are used in many parts of the world to raise public awareness or financial support for conservation, both among local people living in the area and among potential donors living far away. Flagship species can serve as symbols to stimulate conservation awareness and action and have been particularly valuable because of their potential to change citizen behavior, including involvement in conservation and support of fundraising. For a flagship to be successful, however, the target audience and conservation objectives must be established and understood before implementing the concept. Researchers have suggested that a successful flagship should possess traits that endear it to the public, should not be feared or disliked, nor have been used to convey conflicting messages of conservation. Therefore, critical to the flagship approach is understanding attitudes, species preferences, level of wildlife knowledge of people living near and living far away for which support is sought. To determine if the river otter (Lontra canadensis) could be a successful flagship for the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), we conducted social science surveys with visitors to Grand Teton National Park who participated in guided-raft trips on the Snake River (n = 768), visitors of Oxbow Bend (n = 254), a popular turn-out for viewing aquatic wildlife, and visitors to Trout Lake in Yellowstone National Park (n = 298). Preliminary results showed that familiarity with the river otters is area dependent (e.g., Trout Lake visitors were more familiar with the species than those visiting Oxbow Bend or rafting the Snake River), river otters are not controversial, but education is needed to better inform the public about river ottersâ occurrence and ecosystem function in GYE
Real and complex invariant subspaces for matrices which are H-positive real in an indefinite inner product space
No full textIn this paper, the equivalence of the existence of unique real and complex A-invariant semidefinite subspaces for real H-positive real matrices are show
Maxima of the Q-index: degenerate graphs
No full textLet G be a k-degenerate graph of order n. It is well-known that G has no more edges than Sn,k, the join of a complete graph of order k and an independent set of order n−k. In this note, it is shown that Sn,k is extremal for some spectral parameters of G as well. More precisely, letting µ (H) and q (H) denote the largest eigenvalues of the adjacency matrix and the signless Laplacian of a graph H, the inequalities
µ (G) < µ (Sn,k) and q (G) < q (Sn,k)
hold, unless G = Sn,k.
The latter inequality is deduced from the following general bound, which improves some previous bounds on q (G):
If G is a graph of order n, with m edges, with maximum degree ∆ and minimum degree δ, then
q (G) ≤ min { 2∆, 1/2 ( ∆ + 2δ − 1 +√(∆ + 2δ − 1)2 + 16m − 8 (n − 1 + ∆) δ)} .
Equality holds if and only if G is regular or G has a component of order ∆ + 1 in which every vertex is of degree δ or ∆, and all other components are δ-regula
Commuting maps on rank-k matrices
No full textIn this short note we give a new proof and a slight improvement of the Franca Theorem. More precisely we prove: Let n \geq 3 be a natural number, and let Mn(K) be the ring of all n à n matrices over an arbitrary field K with center Z. Fix a natural number 2â¤sâ¤n. If G:Mn(K)âMn(K) is an additive map such that G(x)x=xG(x) for every rank-s matrix x â Mn(K), then there exist an element λ â Z and an additive map μ : Mn(K) â Z such that G(x) = λx + μ(x) for each x â Mn(K)
Positive semidefinite 3 x 3 block matrices
No full textSeveral results related to positive semidefinite 3 by 3 block matrices are presented. In particular, a question of Audenaert is answered affirmatively and some determinantal inequalities are proved