Research Data
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The Research Data collection contains the research data produced by scholars at CSU that has been made available in Mountain Scholar through 2022. This collection has a particular focus on the natural sciences, featuring the Shortgrass Steppe - Long Term Ecological Research (SGS-LTER) collection and a number of datasets from the Natural Resource Ecology Lab (NREL) and the Department of Atmospheric Science. By using these files, users agree to the CSU Libraries' Research Data Terms of Use.
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Item Open Access 20-year vegetation change data in three ecological zones in Mongolia(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Jamiyansharav, Khishigbayar; Fernandez-Gimenez, MariaMongolian rangelands have experienced warming temperatures and increasing livestock densities over the past 20 years. Remote sensing studies report widespread degradation, but there are no long-term field studies of vegetation responses to shifts in climate and stocking densities. In 2013, we resampled plots originally sampled in 1994-1995 in the desert-steppe, steppe and mountain-steppe, and analyzed changes in vegetation in relation to changes in climate, stocking densities and forage use. Summer temperatures significantly increased and stocking densities fluctuated in response to droughts followed by harsh winters. Total herbaceous biomass in 2013 was similar to (desert-steppe and steppe) or greater than (mountain-steppe) in 1995, and total foliar and herbaceous cover were unchanged since 1995 in all zones. In the mountain-steppe, functional type and species cover shifts were consistent with warming temperatures and increasing grazing pressure. All species richness and diversity indicators declined significantly in the mountain-steppe since 1995 as did richness in the steppe. Some Mongolian rangelands may be losing resilience due to interacting climate and grazing pressures, but our data suggest degradation observed at our study sites is reversible. Mountain-steppe systems appear more vulnerable to grazing- and climate-induced vegetation change than steppe and desert-steppe.Item Open Access 2006 riparian vegetation within the Colorado River Basin(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Evangelista, Paul; Woodward, Brian; West, Amanda; Vorster, Tony; Young, Nicholas; Girma, Rebecca; Hatcher, Emma; Carroll, Sarah; Vashisht, Amandeep; Tilakamonkul, Chanin; Campbell, EmilyGeoTiff 30 meter raster of 2006 riparian vegetation within the Colorado River Basin. This map was created from a random forest model developed in Google Earth Engine.Item Open Access 2010 C2H6 global emission inventory(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Zitely, Tzompa-SosaRecent measurements over the Northern Hemisphere indicate that the long-term decline in the atmospheric burden of ethane (C2H6) has ended, and the abundance increased dramatically between 2010 and 2014. The rise in the abundance of C2H6 has been attributed to oil and natural gas extraction in North America. Existing global C2H6 emission inventories are based on outdated activity maps that do not account for current oil and natural gas exploitation regions. We present an updated global C2H6 emission inventory based on 2010 satellite-derived CH4 fluxes with adjusted C2H6 emissions over the U.S. from the National Emission Inventory (NEI 2011). We contrast our global 2010 C2H6 emission inventory with one developed for 2001. The C2H6 difference between global anthropogenic emissions is subtle (7.9 versus 7.2 Tg yr-1), but the spatial distribution of the emissions is distinct. In the 2010 C2H6 inventory, fossil fuel sources in the Northern Hemisphere represent half of global C2H6 emissions and 95% of global fossil fuel emissions. Over the U.S., un-adjusted NEI 2011 C2H6 emissions produce mixing ratios that are 14-50 % of those observed by aircraft observations (2008-2014). When the NEI 2011 C2H6 emission totals are scaled by a factor of 1.4, the model largely reproduces a regional suite of observations, with the exception of the central U.S., where it continues to under-predict observed mixing ratios in the lower troposphere. We estimate monthly mean contributions of fossil fuel C2H6 emissions to ozone and peroxyacetyl nitrate surface mixing ratios over North America of ~1% and ~8%, respectively.Item Open Access 2016 riparian vegetation within the Colorado River Basin(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Evangelista, Paul; Woodward, Brian; West, Amanda; Vorster, Tony; Young, Nicholas; Girma, Rebecca; Hatcher, Emma; Carroll, Sarah; Vashisht, Amandeep; Tilakamonkul, Chanin; Campbell, EmilyGeoTiff raster of 2016 riparian vegetation within the Colorado River Basin. This map was created from a random forest model developed in Google Earth Engine.Item Open Access Adult female mule deer global positioning system radio collar data from the Piceance Basin, CO, USA, 2008 – 2010(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Northrup, Joe; Anderson, ChuckThese data represent GPS radio collar data from adult female mule deer (> 1 year old) on their winter range in the Piceance Basin in NW Colorado. The data are from 54 unique individuals fit with collars set to attempt a relocation once every 5 hours. As data represent the precise locations of a hunted species, the locations are relative locations: a constant value has been subtracted from each location. The original projection of the data is NAD 1983 UTM Zone 12N.Item Open Access Allostery in the dengue virus NS3 helicase: Insights into the NTPase cycle from molecular simulations(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018-03-01) McCullagh, Martin; Davidson, Russell; Hendrix, Josie; Geiss, BrianThe C-terminus domain of non-structural 3 (NS3) protein of the Flaviviridae viruses (e.g. HCV, dengue, West Nile, Zika) is a nucleotide triphosphatase (NTPase) -dependent superfamily 2 (SF2) helicase that unwinds double-stranded RNA while translocating along the nucleic polymer. Due to these functions, NS3 is an important target for antiviral development yet the biophysics of this enzyme are poorly understood. Microsecond-long molecular dynamic simulations of the dengue NS3 helicase domain are reported from which allosteric effects of RNA and NTPase substrates are observed. The presence of a bound single-stranded RNA catalytically enhances the phosphate hydrolysis reaction by affecting the dynamics and positioning of waters within the hydrolysis active site. Coupled with results from the simulations, electronic structure calculations of the reaction are used to quantify this enhancement to be a 150-fold increase, in qualitative agreement with the experimental enhancement factor of 10-100. Additionally, protein-RNA interactions exhibit NTPase substrate-induced allostery, where the presence of a nucleotide (e.g. ATP or ADP) structurally perturbs residues in direct contact with the phosphodiester backbone of the RNA. Residue-residue network analyses highlight pathways of short ranged interactions that connect the two active sites. These analyses identify motif V as a highly connected region of protein structure through which energy released from either active site is hypothesized to move, thereby inducing the observed allosteric effects. These results lay the foundation for the design of novel allosteric inhibitors of NS3.Item Open Access An event-related potential study on the effects of Cannabis on emotion processing-data(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Troup, Lucy J.; Bastidas, S.; Nguyen, M. T.; Andrzejewski, J.; Bowers, M.; Nomi, J. S.Item Open Access Anomalous integrated water vapor transport-based atmospheric river detection algorithm(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Mundhenk, Bryan D.; Barnes, Elizabeth A.; Maloney, Eric D.Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are often characterized as transient, plume-like structures of focused tropospheric water vapor and intense low-level winds that contribute substantially to the atmospheric branch of the hydrologic cycle. Here, we provide an abridged version of an AR detection algorithm, written in the Python 2.7 programming language, that was developed to facilitate climatological and dynamical analyses of ARs. This algorithm employs a unique approach of detecting AR-like features from within gridded fields of anomalous integrated water vapor transport. The use of anomalies was found to be efficient and to benefit automated feature detection in large spatial (i.e., North Pacific) and temporal (i.e., sub-daily across all seasons) domains.Item Open Access Associations between Escherichia coli isolate antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial usage(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007-09-2010-01) Benedict, Katharine M.; Gow, Sheryl P.; McAllister, Tim A.; Booker, Calvin W.; Hannon, Sherry J.; Checkley, Sylvia L.; Noyes, Noelle R.; Morley, Paul S.Escherichia coli was isolated from the feces of beef cattle from four commercial feedlots in Alberta, Canada. A total of 2,725 isolates were collected from 923 individuals. Antibiotic susceptibility of these isolates to 19 different antimicrobial drugs was determined by broth microdilution and/or disk diffusion assay. Antimicrobial use data was recorded for each feedlot, and associations between antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial use were determined (see Table 5 in associated publication). Antimicrobial resistance and usage data used to determine associations are reported in this database.Item Open Access Atmospheric implications of large light alkane emissions from the U.S. oil and gas industry(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Tzompa-Sosa, Zitely A.Emissions of non-methane light alkanes from the U.S. oil and gas sector have changed rapidly over the last decade. We use a nested GEOS-Chem simulation driven by updated atmospheric abundances of light alkanes over the U.S., and 2) estimate the contribution of emissions from the U.S. oil and gas industry to these patterns. The oil and gas sector in the updated NEI 2011 contributes >80% of the total U.S. emissions of ethane (C2H6) and propane (C3H8), and emissions of these species are largest in the central U.S. Observed mixing ratios of C2-C5 alkanes show enhancements over the central U.S. below 2 km. A nested GEOS-Chem simulation underpredicts observed C3H8 mixing ratios in the boundary layer over several U.S. regions and the relative underprediction is not consistent, suggesting C3H8 emissions should receive more attention moving forward. Our decision to consider only C4-C5 alkane emissions as a single lumped species produces a geographic distribution similar to observations. Due to the increasing importance of oil and gas emissions in the U.S., we recommend continued support of existing long-term measurements of C2-C5 alkanes. We suggest additional monitoring of C2-C5 alkanes downwind of northeastern Colorado, Wyoming and western North Dakota to capture changes in these regions. The atmospheric chemistry modeling community should also evaluate whether chemical mechanisms that lump larger alkanes are sufficient to understand air quality issues in regions with large emissions of these species.Item Open Access Bale Mountains forest tree demography data(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013-2014) Young, Nicholas E.; Romme, William H.; Evangelista, Paul; Mengistu, Tefera; Worede, AseratPrism sampling data across the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia. These data are collected from four different forests: Adelle, Rira, Odo-Bulu and Demaro.Item Open Access Bale Mountains vegetation classification(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Evangelista, PaulVegetation cover for the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia. Field data and spatial environmental data were used with a classification and regression tree model to develop the map. The map is at 30 meter resolution and includes 12 different vegetation classes.Item Open Access Biochemical responses of US Great Plains grasslands to regional and interannual variability in precipitation (1999-2001)(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1999-2001) Burke, Ingrid C.This data package was produced by researchers working on the Shortgrass Steppe Long Term Ecological Research (SGS-LTER) Project, administered at Colorado State University. Long-term datasets and background information (proposals, reports, photographs, etc.) on the SGS-LTER project are contained in a comprehensive project collection within the Repository (http://hdl.handle.net/10217/100254). The data table and associated metadata document, which is generated in Ecological Metadata Language, may be available through other repositories serving the ecological research community and represent components of the larger SGS-LTER project collection. Carbon (C) sequestration potential in grasslands is thought to be high due to the large soil organic carbon pools characteristic of these ecosystems. Inputs of C (aboveground net primary productivity) are highly correlated to precipitation across the Great Plains region; however, changes in C pool size at a specific site are governed by the relative input and output rates across time. Our objective was to quantify the ecosystem C response of three grassland community types (shortgrass steppe, mixed grass and tallgrass prairie) to interannual variation in precipitation. At five sites across a precipitation gradient in the Great Plains, we measured net primary production (NPP), soil respiration (SRESP), and litter decomposition rates for three consecutive years. NPP, SRESP, and litter decomposition increased from shortgrass steppe (175, 454, and 47 g C m-2 yr-1) to tallgrass prairie (408, 1221, and 348 g C m-2 yr-1 for NPP, SRESP, and litter decomposition respectively). Increased growing season precipitation between study years resulted in increased NPP, SRESP, and litter decomposition at almost all sites. However, the regional patterns of the interannual NPP, SRESP, and litter decomposition responses differ from each other. This data suggests NPP and SRESP are more sensitive to interannual changes in precipitation than litter decomposition, and that shortgrass steppe sites are more responsive to interannual variability in precipitation than mixed grass and tallgrass prairie.Item Open Access C and N dynamics between grass litter, soil and the atmosphere determined using isotope tracing(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Cotrufo, Francesca; Soong, JenniferItem Open Access Calwater2 scanning flow CCN measurements at Bodega Bay Marine Laboratory(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Kreidenweis, Sonia M.; Atwood, Samuel A.; DeMott, Paul J.Scanning flow CCN measurements were conducted at the Bodega Bay Marine Laboratory (BML) as part of the Calwater2 campaign.Item Open Access Cameron Pass, CO Spring 2019: Ground-penetrating radar surveys, snow depths, and snowpits(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Bonnell, Randall; McGrath, DanielThis dataset contains snow depths, measurements from snowpits, ground-penetrating radar raw files, and derived liquid water content values collected at Cameron Pass, CO during Spring 2019. Snow depths were measured using a manual probe. Snowpit data includes density and temperature measurements, stratigraphy notes, and weather notes. Ground-penetrating radar was collected using a 1 GHz Sensors & Software ProEx unit coupled to the snow surface. Liquid water content was calculated using the picked two-way travel time from processed ground-penetrating radar, snow densities, and snow depths.Item Open Access Canine lymphoma case control database(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1989-2011) Ruple, Audrey A.; Morley, Paul, S.These data were collected by the Veterinary Medical Database and include demographic information about 67,712 dogs seen at veterinary teaching hospitals in North America between 1989 and 2011. 18,826 of these dogs were diagnosed with lymphoma (cases) and the control series were matched to case dogs by institution of admission, age, and year of admission in up to a 3:1 ratio.Item Open Access Carlsbad Caverns National Park Air Quality Study 2019(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Sullivan, Amy P.; Naimie, Lillian E.; Benedict, K. B.; Prenni, Anthony J.; Sive, B. C.; Fischer, Emily V.; Pollack, Ilana; Collett, Jeffrey; Schichtel, Bret A.Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southeastern New Mexico is adjacent to the Permian Basin, one of the most productive oil and gas regions in the country. The 2019 Carlsbad Caverns Air Quality Study (CarCavAQS) was designed to examine the influence of regional sources, including urban emissions, oil and gas development, wildfires, and soil dust on air quality in the park. Field measurements of aerosols, trace gases, and deposition were conducted from 25 July through 5 September 2019.Item Open Access Channel delineation datasets associated with "River channel response to invasive plant treatment across the American Southwest"(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Wieting, Celeste; Friedman, Jonathan; Rathburn, Sara L.Invasive riparian plants were introduced to the American Southwest in the early 19th century and contributed to regional trends of decreasing river channel width and migration rate in the 20th century. More recently efforts to remove invasive riparian vegetation (IRV) have been widespread, especially since 1990. To what extent has IRV treatment reversed the earlier trend of channel narrowing and reduced dynamism? In this study, paired treated and untreated reaches at 15 sites along 13 rivers were compared before and after IRV treatment using repeat aerial imagery to assess long-term (~10 year) channel change due to treatment on a regional scale across the Southwest U.S. We found that IRV treatment significantly increased channel width and floodplain destruction. Treated reaches had higher floodplain destruction than untreated reaches at 14 of 15 sites, and IRV treatment increased the rate of floodplain destruction by a median factor of 1.9. The effect of treatment increased with the stream power of the largest flow over the study period. Resolving observations of channel change into separate measures of floodplain destruction and formation provided more information on underlying processes than simple measurements of channel width and centerline migration rate. Restoration practitioners who perform IRV treatment projects often focus on wildlife or vegetation response; however, geomorphic processes should be considered in restoration planning because they drive aquatic habitat and vegetation dynamics, and because of the potential for damage to downstream infrastructure. Depending on the restoration goal, management practices can be used to enhance or minimize the increase in channel dynamism caused by IRV removal.Item Open Access Characterizing emissions from natural gas drilling and well completion operations in Garfield County, CO(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Collett, Jeffrey; Hecobian, Arsineh; Ham, Jay; Pierce, Jeff; Clements, Andrea; Shonkwiler, Kira; Zhou, Yong; Desyaterik, Yuri; MacDonald, Landan; Wells, Bradley; Hilliard, NoelThis study was designed to characterize and quantify emission rates and dispersion of air toxics, ozone precursors, and greenhouse gases from unconventional natural gas well development activities in Garfield County, CO, located on top of a geological formation known as the Piceance Basin. Particular focus was placed on quantifying emissions of individual volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and methane during well drilling, hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"), and flowback. While some prior studies have measured VOC or methane concentrations near well development operations, ambient concentrations are strongly dependent not only on emission rates but also on sampling location and meteorological conditions, which greatly affect downwind dispersion and dilution. By characterizing emission rates directly, results from this study can be used to predict downwind concentration fields for any location of interest under a wide range of weather conditions. Emission rates were determined using a tracer ratio method (TRM). In this method, the rate of emission of a compound of interest (e.g., g s-1 of benzene) is determined as the product of a known tracer emission rate multiplied by the ratio of the background-corrected concentrations of the compound of interest and the tracer. Acetylene was selected as a tracer gas and its controlled release co-located with the main source of emissions on studied well pads. Real-time methane and acetylene concentrations and three minute integrated whole air sample canisters for VOC analysis were collected downwind of the release location. Meteorological data were collected at two heights (3 m and 10 m) near the well pad. Upwind acetylene, methane, and VOC concentrations were determined for background correction. The canisters were analyzed for a large suite of VOCs using gas chromatography with flame ionization detection. The study results provide novel information concerning emissions from natural gas drilling and completion activities in Garfield County, CO and are some of the first measurements of this type in any U.S. basin. Overall, 21 emission experiments were conducted from 2013-2015. Several sets of 2 to 5 canisters were collected at different times during each experiment, in addition to an upwind background sample per experiment. Using the TRM, each canister in the plume provides an independent measure of VOC emission rates. 28-48 VOCs are reported for each canister, along with real-time methane and acetylene data collected during each experiment. Using the TRM the emission rates of methane and individual VOCs are calculated and reported.The emission rates and field observations were used to conduct air dispersion (using the EPA's AERMOD model) simulations to: (1) evaluate AERMOD's accuracy in predicting observed, near-field dispersion of VOCs in Garfield County, CO and (2) predict concentration fields, as a function of emission rate, for dispersion of a hypothetical compound under a range of local meteorological conditions at a site with terrain similar to that observed in Garfield County. While not perfectly designed for prediction of the short-term concentration fields measured in the study, AERMOD did a reasonable job predicting the observed extent of dispersion across several field experiments. Moreover, emission rate ranges determined by activity type in this study can be used in a wide range of future simulations with AERMOD or other models to simulate downwind concentration fields relevant to understanding potential local health and air quality impacts associated with well development activities in Garfield County.