Late Quaternary Carnivora from the Balck Belt, Mississippi

Rancholabrean and/or Holocene remains record the presence of the following species of Carnivora in the Black Belt; Canis Latrans, Urocyon cinereoargentatus, Ursus amenricanus, Tremarctors floridanus. Arctodus simus, Felis amnicola, and Lynx rufus . A temporal size reduction was noted in the case of Canis latrans and Ursus americans     

INCORPORATING RADIATION INPUTS INTO THE SNOWMELT RUNOFF MODEL

Process-based, distributed-area snowmelt runoff models operating at small scales are essential to understand subtle effects of climate change, but require data not commonly available. Temperature index models operating over large areas provide realistic simulations of basin runoff with operationally available data, but lack rigorous physically based algorithms. A compromise between the two types of models is required to provide realistic evaluations of basin response to environmental changes in cold regions. One adaptation that is uniformly required for snowmelt models is the use of remotely sensed data, either as input or in model validation. At a minimum, snowmelt forecasting models need to incorporate snowcover extent information, which is currently obtained operationally. As more remote sensing capabilities come on line, models should accept upgraded information on snow water equivalent; additional remotely sensed information on landcover, frozen soil, soil moisture, cloudiness and albedo would also be useful. Adaptations to the semi-distributed snowmelt runoff model (SRM) are underway to make it more physically based for use in large area studies. A net radiation index has been added to the model, which formerly used only a temperature (degree–day) index to melt snow from a basin's elevation zones. The addition of radiation to the SRM allows the basin to be subdivided into hydrological response units by general aspect (orientation) as well as elevation. Testing of the new radiation-based SRM with measured radiation from a small research basin is the first step towards large scale simulations. Results from the W-3 research basin in Vermont, USA are promising. In the radiation version, the factor that multiplies the degree–day index is estimated independently of model output and is held constant throughout the season, in contrast with the degree–day version, where the corresponding factor is allowed to increase throughout the season. Without calibrating or optimizing on this important parameter, the goodness-of-fit measure R² is improved in two out of six test years when the radiation version of the SRM is used in place of the degree–day version in melt season simulations. When the accumulation of error is eliminated with periodic updating of streamflow, more significant improvement is noted with radiation included.     

A computational study of the role of particle size standard deviation on the collision frequency in differential settling

The results of a simple computational model for differential settling are presented illustrating the significant role that particle size distribution plays in collision frequency and sedimentation rate of particles in a quiescent environment. The model tracks a large number of particles(order 10~5) with log-normally distributed diameters,as they settle at their Stokes settling velocities.Particle collisions are detected and result in larger particles that fall more rapidly.A number of simplifying assumptions are made in the model in order to avoid empirical correlations for phenomena such as collision efficiency and particle shape.These simplifying assumptions were needed to isolate and quantify the role of the particle size distribution.Simulated concentration profiles indicate that,even in the absence of collisions, the standard deviation(σ_D) of the particle size strongly influences the bulk mass settling rate as,for largerσ_D, more mass is concentrated in larger,faster falling particles.The collision frequency is also a strong function ofσ_D. For a given mass concentration the collision frequency first increases linearly with increasingσ_D as greater variation in particle size leads to greater variation in particle velocity,and shorter times for particles to catch each other.For largerσ_D more mass is concentrated in larger particles,so,for a given mass concentration,there are fewer particles per unit volume,increasing the mean distance between the particles and reducing the collision frequency.The implications of these results for sedimentation measurement using optical attenuation techniques are discussed.