Illuminating the lack of consensus among descriptions of earth history data in the North American deserts: A resource for biologists

2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 419-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph S. Wilson ◽  
James P. Pitts
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
North American ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Mountain Building ◽  
History Data ◽  
Earth History ◽  
The North ◽  
Robust Model ◽  
History Of ◽  
Geomorphological Evolution

Understanding the timing of mountain building and desert formation events in western North America is crucial to understanding the evolutionary history of the diverse arid-adapted biota that is found there. While many different, often conflicting descriptions exist regarding geobiotic change in western North America, little work has been done to synthesize these various viewpoints. In this paper we present several case studies that illustrate the differences in the various explanations, based on geological and paleobiological data, detailing mountain uplift and desertification in western North America. The majority of the descriptions detailing mountain building in this area fall into two major periods of uplift, the Laramide uplift (∼70—50 Ma) and the Neogene uplift (∼15—2 Ma), yet it remains unclear which of these events was responsible for the formation of the modern mountains. Like the descriptions of mountain building, various accounts exist detailing the timing of desert formation. Some authors suggest that the deserts existed as far back as 15 Ma while others propose that desert formation occurred as recently as 10,000 years ago. Based on this review of the literature, we suggest that the data on Cenozoic geomorphological evolution of the North American desert landscape is still too coarse and filled with gaps to allow for the development of a robust model of landscape evolution. Instead, this work demonstrates the need for biologists studying the North American biota to realize just how problematic some of the earth history data and models are so that they can build this uncertainty into biogeographic reconstructions.

scholarly journals Influence of ENSO on North American subseasonal surface air temperature variability

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-412
Author(s):  
Patrick Martineau ◽  
Hisashi Nakamura ◽  
Yu Kosaka
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
North American ◽  
Surface Air Temperature ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
La Niña ◽  
Western North America ◽  
The North ◽  
Subseasonal Variability ◽  
La Nina

Abstract. The wintertime influence of tropical Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) variability on subseasonal variability is revisited by identifying the dominant mode of covariability between 10–60 d band-pass-filtered surface air temperature (SAT) variability over the North American continent and winter-mean SST over the tropical Pacific. We find that the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) explains a dominant fraction of the year-to-year changes in subseasonal SAT variability that are covarying with SST and thus likely more predictable. In agreement with previous studies, we find a tendency for La Niña conditions to enhance the subseasonal SAT variability over western North America. This modulation of subseasonal variability is achieved through interactions between subseasonal eddies and La Niña-related changes in the winter-mean circulation. Specifically, eastward-propagating quasi-stationary eddies over the North Pacific are more efficient in extracting energy from the mean flow through the baroclinic conversion during La Niña. Structural changes of these eddies are crucial to enhance the efficiency of the energy conversion via amplified downgradient heat fluxes that energize subseasonal eddy thermal anomalies. The enhanced likelihood of cold extremes over western North America is associated with both an increased subseasonal SAT variability and the cold winter-mean response to La Niña.

A New Gunnel, Pholis clemensi, from the Coast of Western North America

1964 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 933-939 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard H. Rosenblatt
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
New Species ◽  
North America ◽  
North American ◽  
North American Species ◽  
Western North America ◽  
The North ◽  
The Family ◽  
Juan De Fuca ◽  
A New Species

A new species, Pholis clemensi, referred to the family Pholidae, is named and described from 12 specimens taken in southern British Columbia waters and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Pholis clemensi is compared with other members of the genus, and a key is given to the North American species.

The Impact of Sea Surface Temperature Biases on North American Precipitation in a High-Resolution Climate Model

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 2427-2447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel C. Johnson ◽  
Lakshmi Krishnamurthy ◽  
Andrew T. Wittenberg ◽  
Baoqiang Xiang ◽  
Gabriel A. Vecchi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
North American ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Tropical Atlantic ◽  
Western North America ◽  
The North

AbstractPositive precipitation biases over western North America have remained a pervasive problem in the current generation of coupled global climate models. These biases are substantially reduced, however, in a version of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Forecast-Oriented Low Ocean Resolution (FLOR) coupled climate model with systematic sea surface temperature (SST) biases artificially corrected through flux adjustment. This study examines how the SST biases in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans contribute to the North American precipitation biases. Experiments with the FLOR model in which SST biases are removed in the Atlantic and Pacific are carried out to determine the contribution of SST errors in each basin to precipitation statistics over North America. Tropical and North Pacific SST biases have a strong impact on northern North American precipitation, while tropical Atlantic SST biases have a dominant impact on precipitation biases in southern North America, including the western United States. Most notably, negative SST biases in the tropical Atlantic in boreal winter induce an anomalously strong Aleutian low and a southward bias in the North Pacific storm track. In boreal summer, the negative SST biases induce a strengthened North Atlantic subtropical high and Great Plains low-level jet. Each of these impacts contributes to positive annual mean precipitation biases over western North America. Both North Pacific and North Atlantic SST biases induce SST biases in remote basins through dynamical pathways, so a complete attribution of the effects of SST biases on precipitation must account for both the local and remote impacts.

Corticolous species of Protoparmelia (lichenized Ascomycotina) in North America

2005 ◽  
Vol 83 (9) ◽  
pp. 1075-1081 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irwin M. Brodo ◽  
André Aptroot
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
North American ◽  
Western North America ◽  
The North ◽  
First Time ◽  
Lichen Flora

Protoparmelia hypotremella van Herk, Spier & V. Wirth is reported here as an addition to the North American lichen flora. Fertile material of P. hypotremella was found for the first time, and it is described in detail. The hyaline hair-like appendages on both polar ends of the ascospores, characteristic of the genus, are illustrated for the first time. The species is then compared with Protoparmelia ochrococca , known from western North America, and Protoparmelia oleagina , still known only from Europe. A key to the corticolous species of Protoparmelia is provided.

Shoes, Canoes, and Lives in Unexpected Archives: Searching in Fur Trade Ledgers beyond the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stacy Nation-Knapper
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
North American ◽  
Fur Trade ◽  
Economic Data ◽  
Hudson's Bay Company ◽  
Cultural Information ◽  
The North ◽  
History Of ◽  
Hudson’S Bay Company

This article illuminates the existence and utility of fur trade ledgers and account books held in repositories beyond those held in the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives. While the vast holdings of the HBCA are a phenomenal resource for researchers of the North American fur trade, many smaller repositories across the continent hold fur trade sources that can complement research conducted in other institutions. Such sources can, when examined with an eye to the cultural information they contain, reveal far more about the cultural history of North America than simply the economic data for which they were created.

The bryophytes of Nachvak, northern Labrador, with additional records from Saglek

1986 ◽  
Vol 64 (9) ◽  
pp. 2028-2036 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry A. Hedderson ◽  
Guy R. Brassard
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
North American ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Glacial History ◽  
The North ◽  
High Incidence ◽  
History Of

One hundred and thirty-four species of mosses and 18 species of liverworts are reported from Nachvak Fiord and 22 mosses are reported from Saglek Fiord. Nineteen of the mosses had not previously been reported from Labrador and 49 are new to northern Labrador. Seven of the liverworts are new to Labrador. Brophyte species new to eastern North America are Anastrophyllum assimile, Hygrophypnum cochlearifolium (possibly) and Lophozia cavifolia. The record of Lophozia cavifolia represents an addition to the hepatic flora of North America (excluding Greenland). The North American distributions of Hydrogrimmia mollis, Marsupella revoluta and Trichostomum arcticum are mapped. The high incidence of disjunct species in the bryoflora of the Torngat Mountains is discussed in relation to the proposed glacial history of the area.

A REVISION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN OMALIINAE (COLEOPTERA: STAPHYLINIDAE): 2. THE TRIBE CORYPHIINI

1978 ◽  
Vol 110 (S106) ◽  
pp. 21-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.M. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
North American ◽  
Type Species ◽  
Biological Information ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
New Genera ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Mountainous Areas ◽  
Line Drawings ◽  
The North

AbstractThe tribe Coryphiini Hatch is redefined to include six genera and 18 species from North America. Two new genera are described: Gnathoryphium (type-species G. mandibulare n. sp.) and Holoboreaphilus (type-species Boreaphilus nordenskioeldi Maklin). Seven new species are described: Coryphium nigrum from the northeastern United States and Subhaida californica, S. aptera, S. monticola, S. utahensis, S. sinuata, and Gnathoryphium mandibulare from western North America. The genus Occiephelinus Hatch from western North America and Planeboreaphilus Shibata from Japan are considered junior synonyms of Coryphium Stephens. The western North American species formerly placed in Ephelinus Cockerell are transferred to the genus Coryphium. Pseudohaida ingrata Hatch is transferred to the genus Subhaida Hatch. Boreaphilus americanus Notman is placed in synonymy with B. henningianus C.R. Sahlberg.All genera and species are described. Habitus drawings, and line drawings of the antenna, labrum, maxilla, mandible, mentum, and labium are presented for at least one species of each genus. The aedeagus is illustrated for all the species except two that are known only from females.Of the species treated, three are Holarctic in distribution, four are restricted to eastern North America, and 11 are endemic to the mountainous areas of western North America.All available biological information for each species is included and a key is presented to aid in the identification of all the genera and species of the tribe in North America.

FAUNAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA AND EUROPE AS SHOWN BY INSECTS

1988 ◽  
Vol 120 (S144) ◽  
pp. 39-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald R. Noonan
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
North American ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Western North America ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
Fossil Data ◽  
Suitable Land

AbstractThe supercontinent of Pangaea, which once included most lands, fragmented during the Mesozoic. By the Late Cretaceous there were two northern land masses that were strikingly different from those of present day: Asiamerica consisting of present western North America and Asia; and Euramerica comprising Europe and eastern North America. Mild climates facilitated the spread of terrestrial organisms within each of these land masses, but epicontinental seas hindered movements between Europe and Asia and between eastern and western North America.The insects of Euramerica presumably once formed a fauna extending from eastern North America to Europe that differed from the fauna of Asiamerica. The opening of the North Atlantic separated insects in Europe from those in eastern North America. This produced vicarious patterns, with some insects of eastern North America now being more closely related phylogenetically to those of Europe than to those of western North America. Most groups of insects have not been examined for such trans-Atlantic vicariances, but studies reviewed in this paper suggest such relationships for some groups of Collembola, Hemiptera, Homoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, and Hymenoptera.The last suitable land connections between Europe and eastern North America were severed approximately 20–35 million years ago. The insects separated by this severance evolved at different rates. Some groups split in this way have apparently undergone little evolution and have the same species on both sides of the North Atlantic, but other vicarious groups have differentiated into taxa that are now distinct at specific and supra-specific levels.The opening of the North Atlantic probably split both tropical- and temperate-adapted insects in Euramerica. However, without fossil data it is difficult to identify the biogeographical patterns resulting from such splitting of the tropical-adapted groups. Most presently recognized European and eastern North American vicarious patterns of insects were probably caused by division of Euramerica rather than dispersal across Beringia.

Taxonomy of the Carex flava complex (Cyperaceae) in North America and northern Eurasia. II. Taxonomic treatment

1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 1048-1065 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Crins ◽  
Peter W. Ball
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Chromosome Number ◽  
North American ◽  
Northern Eurasia ◽  
Distribution Maps ◽  
Taxonomic Treatment ◽  
The North ◽  
Infraspecific Taxa ◽  
History Of ◽  
Inflorescence Structure

The taxonomy of the Carex flava complex (section Ceratocystis) in North America and northern Eurasia is revised. Three species are recognized in this complex (C. flava L., C. cryptolepis Mack., and C. viridula Michx.). Carex viridula contains six infraspecific taxa, which are differentiated on the basis of differences in inflorescence structure, degree of perigynium curvature, leaf and bract morphology, chromosome number, and ecological preference. Three nomenclatural changes are required: C. viridula ssp. brachyrrhyncha (Čelak.) B. Schmid var. elatior (Schlecht.) Crins, comb.nov.; C. viridula ssp. brachyrrhyncha var. nevadensis (Boiss. & Reuter) Crins, comb.nov.; C. viridula ssp. brachyrrhyncha var. saxilittoralis (Robertson) Crins, comb, et stat.nov. This classification reflects the results of morphological, ecological, and cytological studies, and is also consistent with the hypothesized phylogenetic history of the section as a whole. A key is provided for all of the North American and northern Eurasian members of section Ceratocystis. Descriptions and distribution maps for members of the C. flava complex are also provided.

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