The Ecohydrology of Devils Hole, Death Valley National Park

The Ecohydrology of Devils Hole, Death Valley National Park PDF Author: Mark Blanchard Hausner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Devils Hole, a water-filled fracture in the carbonate aquifer underlying the Mojave Desert, is home to the only extant population of Devils Hole pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis ). In the mid to late 1990s, the population of C. diabolis began an unexplained decline. A number of different hypotheses have been advanced to explain this decline, including the impacts of climate change. This study combines field observations and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling to address the effects of climate on the physical processes in Devils Hole, relating those physical processes to the conservation of Devils Hole pupfish. Fiber-optic distributed temperature sensors (DTS) were deployed in Devils Hole to observe temperatures at high spatial and temporal resolution, and the DTS data were used in conjunction with previously recorded temperatures to calibrate and validate FLUENT-based CFD models of convection in Devils Hole. Seasonal convection cycles in the deep pool of Devils Hole are controlled by surface temperatures and the geothermal gradient in the area, and occur primarily during the food-limited winter. Diurnal convection cells controlled by daily meteorological variation occur on the ecologically critical shallow shelf throughout the year, limiting the temporal window during which C. diabolis can successfully spawn. Simulations of the shallow shelf under past climate conditions and future projections show that climate change has likely already impacted the population of C. diabolis , contributing to their recent decline. Future simulations indicate that the window of annual recruitment is likely to occur earlier and earlier in the year, resulting in a shift of more than two weeks in the timing of annual recruitment cycle. This shift drives a considerable reduction of the food available to larval pupfish, reducing the likelihood of successful recruitment and exacerbating the conditions that led to the recent decline of the C. diabolis population. Finally, potential mitigation strategy of raising the water level in Devils Hole is examined, and future research into this strategy is recommended.

The Ecohydrology of Devils Hole, Death Valley National Park

The Ecohydrology of Devils Hole, Death Valley National Park PDF Author: Mark Blanchard Hausner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Get Book Here

Book Description
Devils Hole, a water-filled fracture in the carbonate aquifer underlying the Mojave Desert, is home to the only extant population of Devils Hole pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis ). In the mid to late 1990s, the population of C. diabolis began an unexplained decline. A number of different hypotheses have been advanced to explain this decline, including the impacts of climate change. This study combines field observations and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling to address the effects of climate on the physical processes in Devils Hole, relating those physical processes to the conservation of Devils Hole pupfish. Fiber-optic distributed temperature sensors (DTS) were deployed in Devils Hole to observe temperatures at high spatial and temporal resolution, and the DTS data were used in conjunction with previously recorded temperatures to calibrate and validate FLUENT-based CFD models of convection in Devils Hole. Seasonal convection cycles in the deep pool of Devils Hole are controlled by surface temperatures and the geothermal gradient in the area, and occur primarily during the food-limited winter. Diurnal convection cells controlled by daily meteorological variation occur on the ecologically critical shallow shelf throughout the year, limiting the temporal window during which C. diabolis can successfully spawn. Simulations of the shallow shelf under past climate conditions and future projections show that climate change has likely already impacted the population of C. diabolis , contributing to their recent decline. Future simulations indicate that the window of annual recruitment is likely to occur earlier and earlier in the year, resulting in a shift of more than two weeks in the timing of annual recruitment cycle. This shift drives a considerable reduction of the food available to larval pupfish, reducing the likelihood of successful recruitment and exacerbating the conditions that led to the recent decline of the C. diabolis population. Finally, potential mitigation strategy of raising the water level in Devils Hole is examined, and future research into this strategy is recommended.

Devils Hole Pupfish

Devils Hole Pupfish PDF Author: Kevin C. Brown
Publisher: University of Nevada Press
ISBN: 1647790115
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
Cyprinodon diabolis, or Devils Hole pupfish: a one-inch-long, iridescent blue fish whose only natural habitat is a ten-by-sixty-foot pool near Death Valley, on the Nevada-California border. The rarest fish in the world. As concern for the future of biodiversity mounts, Devils Hole Pupfish asks how a tiny blue fish—confined to a single, narrow aquifer on the edge of Death Valley National Park in Nevada’s Amargosa Desert—has managed to survive despite numerous grave threats. For decades, the pupfish has been the subject of heated debate between environmentalists intent on protecting it from extinction and ranchers and developers in the region who need the aquifer’s water to support their livelihoods. Drawing on archival detective work, interviews, and a deep familiarity with the landscape of the surrounding Amargosa Desert, author Kevin C. Brown shows how the seemingly isolated Devils Hole pupfish has persisted through its relationships with some of the West’s most important institutions: federal land management policy, western water law, ecological sciences, and the administration of endangered-species legislation. The history of this entanglement between people and the pupfish makes its story unique. The species was singled out for protection by the National Park Service, made one of the first “listed” endangered species, and became one of the first controversial animals of the modern environmental era, with one bumper sticker circulating in Nevada in the early 1970s reading “Save the Pupfish,” while another read “Kill the Pupfish.” But the story of the pupfish should be considered for more than its peculiarity. Moreover, Devils Hole Pupfish explores the pupfish’s journey through modern American history and offers lessons for anyone looking to better understand the politics of water in southern Nevada, the operation of the Endangered Species Act, or the science surrounding desert ecosystems.

Standing between Life and Extinction

Standing between Life and Extinction PDF Author: David L. Propst
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022669450X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 465

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Book Description
North American deserts—lands of little water—have long been home to a surprising diversity of aquatic life, from fish to insects and mollusks. With European settlement, however, water extraction, resource exploitation, and invasive species set many of these native aquatic species on downward spirals. In this book, conservationists dedicated to these creatures document the history of their work, the techniques and philosophies that inform it, and the challenges and opportunities of the future. A precursor to this book, Battle Against Extinction, laid out the scope of the problem and related conservation activities through the late 1980s. Since then, many nascent conservation programs have matured, and researchers have developed new technologies, improved and refined methods, and greatly expanded our knowledge of the myriad influences on the ecology and dynamics of these species. Standing between Life and Extinction brings the story up to date. While the future for some species is more secure than thirty years ago, others are less fortunate. Calling attention not only to iconic species like the razorback sucker, Gila trout, and Devils Hole pupfish, but also to other fishes and obscure and fascinating invertebrates inhabiting intermittent aquatic habitats, this book explores the scientific, social, and political challenges of preserving these aquatic species and their habitats amid an increasingly charged political discourse and in desert regions characterized by a growing human population and rapidly changing climate.

Aridland Springs in North America

Aridland Springs in North America PDF Author: Lawrence E. Stevens
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 9780816526451
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
A collection of articles on the ecology of North American desert springs, by authors from the fields of biology, botany, ichthyology, conservation, geology and law; and covering both the special traits of springs and the ways in which they might be managed in order to survive.

Karst Management

Karst Management PDF Author: Philip E. van Beynen
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400712073
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 490

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Book Description
Focusing specifically on the management of karst environments, this volume draws together the world’s leading karst experts to provide a vital source for the study and management of this unique physical setting. Although karst landscapes cover 12% of the Earth’s terrain and provide 25% of the world’s drinking water, the resource management of karst environments has only previously received indirect attention. Through a comprehensive approach, Karst Management focuses on engineering issues associated with surface karst such as quarries, dams, and agriculture, subsurface topics such as the management of groundwater, show caves, cave biota, and geo-archaeology projects. Chapters that focus on karst as an integrated system look at IUCN World Heritage sites, national parks, policy and regulation, measuring systematic disturbance, information management, and public environmental education. The text incorporates the most up-to-date research from leading karst scientists. This volume provides important perspectives for university students, educators, geoengineers, resource managers, and planners who are interested in or work with this unique physical landscape.

Battle Against Extinction

Battle Against Extinction PDF Author: W. L. Minckley
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 552

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Book Description
In 1962 the Green River was poisoned and its native fishes killed so that the new Flaming Gorge Reservoir could be stocked with non-native game fishes for sportsmen. This incident was representative of water management in the West, where dams and other projects have been built to serve human needs without consideration for the effects of water diversion or depletion on the ecosystem. Indeed, it took a Supreme Court decision in 1976 to save Devils Hole pupfish from habitat destruction at the hands of developers. Nearly a third of the native fish fauna of North America lives in the arid West; this book traces their decline toward extinction as a result of human interference and the threat to their genetic diversity posed by decreases in their populations. What can be done to slow or end this tragedy? As the most comprehensive treatment ever attempted on the subject, Battle Against Extinction shows how conservation efforts have been or can be used to reverse these trends. In covering fishes in arid lands west of the Mississippi Valley, the contributors provide a species-by-species appraisal of their status and potential for recovery, bringing together in one volume nearly all of the scattered literature on western fishes to produce a monumental work in conservation biology. They also ponder ethical considerations related to the issue, ask why conservation efforts have not proceeded at a proper pace, and suggest how native fish protection relates to other aspects of biodiversity planetwide. Their insights will allow scientific and public agencies to evaluate future management of these animal populations and will offer additional guidance for those active in water rights and conservation biology. First published in 1991, Battle Against Extinction is now back in print and available as an open-access e-book thanks to the Desert Fishes Council.

Relicts of a Beautiful Sea

Relicts of a Beautiful Sea PDF Author: Christopher Norment
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469618664
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
Relicts of a Beautiful Sea: Survival, Extinction, and Conservation in a Desert World

A guide to forest–water management

A guide to forest–water management PDF Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
ISBN: 9251348510
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
Many people worldwide lack adequate access to clean water to meet basic needs, and many important economic activities, such as energy production and agriculture, also require water. Climate change is likely to aggravate water stress. As temperatures rise, ecosystems and the human, plant, and animal communities that depend on them will need more water to maintain their health and to thrive. Forests and trees are integral to the global water cycle and therefore vital for water security – they regulate water quantity, quality, and timing and provide protective functions against (for example) soil and coastal erosion, flooding, and avalanches. Forested watersheds provide 75 percent of our freshwater, delivering water to over half the world’s population. The purpose of A Guide to Forest–Water Management is to improve the global information base on the protective functions of forests for soil and water. It reviews emerging techniques and methodologies, provides guidance and recommendations on how to manage forests for their water ecosystem services, and offers insights into the business and economic cases for managing forests for water ecosystem services. Intact native forests and well-managed planted forests can be a relatively cheap approach to water management while generating multiple co-benefits. Water security is a significant global challenge, but this paper argues that water-centered forests can provide nature-based solutions to ensuring global water resilience.

Scientific Investigations Report

Scientific Investigations Report PDF Author: Sharon E. Kroening
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Earth sciences
Languages : en
Pages : 122

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Book Description


Flooded Forest and Desert Creek

Flooded Forest and Desert Creek PDF Author: Matthew Colloff
Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
ISBN: 0643109218
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
The river red gum has the most widespread natural distribution of Eucalyptus in Australia, forming extensive forests and woodlands in south-eastern Australia and providing the structural and functional elements of important floodplain and wetland ecosystems. Along ephemeral creeks in the arid Centre it exists as narrow corridors, providing vital refugia for biodiversity. The tree has played a central role in the tension between economy, society and environment and has been the subject of enquiries over its conservation, use and management. Despite this, we know remarkably little about the ecology and life history of the river red gum: its longevity; how deep its roots go; what proportion of its seedlings survive to adulthood; and the diversity of organisms associated with it. More recently we have begun to move from a culture of exploitation of river red gum forests and woodlands to one of conservation and sustainable use. In Flooded Forest and Desert Creek, the author traces this shift through the rise of a collective environmental consciousness, in part articulated through the depiction of river red gums and inland floodplains in art, literature and the media.