Climate change is predicted to affect ecosystems, including systems already stressed by human impacts. One ecosystem that is already highly impacted by human land use is the cold headwater stream system of the Pacific Northwest. One method of assessing the function of an ecosystem is by using an indicator species....
Despite more than two centuries of exploration, including more than six million deep wellbores with depths exceeding 40,000 feet in some parts of the world, our ability to constrain subsurface processes and properties remains limited. Characteristics of the subsurface vary and can be analyzed on a variety of spatial scales....
The marine environment is under increasing pressure from human activities worldwide, particularly in coastal waters, creating a need to better understand fine-scale distributions of highly mobile species that occur in the area, as they are frequently most threatened. Harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) occur frequently in Oregon’s nearshore habitat, but due...
Climate-induced range overlap can result in novel interactions between similar species and potentially lead to competitive exclusion. The Western Antarctic Peninsula is one of the most rapidly warming regions on Earth and is experiencing a poleward climate migration. This transition from a polar to sub-polar environment has resulted in a...
This pilot study of South Sister Creek (8 km length) examined stream-scale (i.e., longitudinal trends) and sub-reach scale (less than 100 m) water temperature. Hourly summer temperature time-series data were gathered at four to seven locations along South Sister Creek in 2006, 2012, and 2013 and were used to explore...
In 1994, with the approval of the Northwest Forest Plan, the livelihood of individuals in the surrounding communities of the Siuslaw National Forest and Siuslaw Watershed were further impacted by already diminished traditional timber practices. In 2003, the United States Forest Service developed an innovative program, stewardship contracting, aimed at...
In the Oregon Cascade Range, conifer encroachment has reduced the extent of mountain meadows by as much as 50% since the mid-1940s. Although encroachment results in a general decline of meadow species abundance and diversity, species differ in their sensitivities to encroachment: some show rapid declines whereas others persist in...
As a result of a warming climate, subsequent declining snowpack, and a century of fire suppression, forest fires are increasing across the western United States. However, we still do not fully understand how forest fire effects snowpack energy balance, nor the volume and availability of snow melt and associated water...
Illuminated contour lines, where line width and color are varied based on an angle of illumination, date back to the mid-nineteenth century, but their effectiveness compared to conventional contour lines has not been fully examined. Currently, illuminated contour lines are not widely used in computer-based cartography because they are not...
Volcanic hazard maps inform the public on the nature and extent of the hazards that threaten them, but these maps are often challenging for those who are not trained in map use or geology. The maps in this study focus on lahars, a dangerous, fast, and far-reaching volcanic hazard that...