Museum Of Northern Arizona

The term “Western Message Petroglyphs” (WMPs) refers to a number of petroglyph sites found scattered among eight western states that are recognized by their shared image content and layout. The imagery is drawn largely from a mash-up of late historic Native American sign-gesture language and picture-writing traditions inter-mixed with pan-cultural imagery from around the world. An increasing number of sites that fit this mold have been reported over the past 85 years or so, currently numbering 39 in all. There is no question that these sites date to post-European contact based on images in some panels that depict Euro-American cultural content (e.g., western-style house, rifle, whiskey keg, horse, etc.). The post-contact era is also apparent in the method used in rendering the engraved images evidenced by the smooth angular lines and chisel strikes produced by metal tools. This paper focuses on narrowing the time frame for these sites based on two additional streams of evidence. First, patterned associations with historic landscape settings tied to the era of western expansion bind the sites together into a coherent whole and set a floor for their oldest probable dates. An example of four sites located in Utah and Arizona illustrates their connection to the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the opening years of the twentieth. Secondly, a study of their imagery supports the proposed dates by revealing a “smoking gun” for the source of many of the individual icons. An example of the methodology used to translate a Western Message Petroglyph panel is described, and a profile of the central author who appears to have acted with a small group of others is suggested in order to aid in the search for this person(s) in the historic record of the American West.

Abstract Over the past century, the white-nosed coati (WNC; Nasua narica) has expanded its northernmost range from the United States-Mexico border into northern Arizona. WNC are medium-sized, opportunistic omnivores that often occur in large groups (“bands”) and forage on insects, fruits, and small vertebrates. We compiled data from iNaturalist, published literature, Arizona Game and Fish records, museum collections, personal communications, and our own camera trap photography to chronicle this range expansion. Historical records documented WNC populations in mountainous areas along the US-Mexican border but rarely north of Tucson, AZ. The popularity of using wildlife cameras in both research and recreation, paired with the advancement of citizen science projects like iNaturalist have generated a vast amount of new data on species distributions. With this new body of information we report the range of WNC now occurs over 400 km farther north, extending north of Flagstaff, Arizona. Recent records include occurrence in ponderosa pine forest that sustain sometimes heavy winter snow – an environment vastly different from the species’ normal range. The northward expansion of this meso-carnivore invites many questions about drivers of range expansion, including climate change, mesopredator release, or simple opportunism. More research into the behavior and ecology of WNC in the northern extent of their range is needed to guide understanding and potential future management of this species, its impacts, and prediction of other such range expansions.

Springs ecosystems are globally abundant, geomorphologically diverse, and bio-culturally productive, but are highly imperiled by anthropogenic activities. More than a century of scientific discussion about the wide array of ecohydrological factors influencing springs has been informative, but has yielded little agreement on their classification. This lack of agreement has contributed to the global neglect and degradation of springs ecosystems by the public, scientific, and management communities. Here we review the historical literature on springs classification variables, concluding that site-specific source geomorphology remains the most diagnostic approach. We present a conceptual springs ecosystem model that clarifies the central role of geomorphology in springs ecosystem development, function, and typology. We present an illustrated dichotomous key to terrestrial (non-marine) springs ecosystem types and subtypes, and describe those types. We identify representative reference sites, although data limitations presently preclude selection of continentally or globally representative reference springs of each type. We tested the classification key using data from 244 randomly selected springs of 13 types that were inventoried in western North America. The dichotomous key correctly identified springs type in 87.5% of the cases, with discrepancies primarily due to differentiation of primary vs. secondary typology, and insufficient inventory team training. Using that information, we identified sources of confusion and clarified the key. Among the types that required more detailed explanation were hypocrenes, springs in which groundwater is expressed through phreatophytic vegetation. Overall, springs biodiversity and ecosystem complexity are due, in part, to the co-occurrence of multiple intra-springs microhabitats. We describe microhabitats that are commonly associated with different springs types, reporting at least 13 microhabitats, each of which can support discrete biotic assemblages. Interdisciplinary agreement on basic classification is needed to enhance scientific understanding and stewardship of springs ecosystems, the loss and degradation of which constitute a global conservation crisis.

Xenarthrans constitute a relict clade of endemic South American placental mammals with a long evolutionary history starting, at least, in the early Eocene. Within Xenarthra, Glyptodontidae (late Eocene–earliest Holocene) was a conspicuous group of large-sized armoured herbivores. During the Pleistocene (ca. 2.6–0.001 Ma) several genera (e.g. Panochthus and Glyptodon) achieved a remarkable latitudinal distribution in South America, as members of one of the xenarthran groups that participated in the Great American Biotic Interchange. Knowledge of the evolutionary history of this clade in some areas remains poorly known, especially in the high elevation Andean and sub-Andean regions of South America. Here we describe a new species, Glyptodon jatunkhirkhi sp. nov., from several localities of the Eastern Cordillera in Bolivia (ca. 2500–4100 m above sea level). From a phylogenetic viewpoint this new taxon appears as the sister group of the two lowland species recorded in southern South America (Glyptodon munizi + G. reticulatus), and this is congruent with the morphological differences observed between both clades, mainly with respect to the general morphology of the dorsal carapace and the skull. This new species expands the complex biogeographical scenario for Pleistocene glyptodonts and highlights the importance of Andean areas as key in understanding the evolutionary history of this clade. According to this revision, the diversity of Glyptodon is limited to G. munizi and G. reticulatus (two chronologically successive lowland species) plus this new species. The genera Panochthus (P. hipsilis) and Glyptodon seem to be the only Pleistocene glyptodonts to have been adapted to high elevation environments.http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:7B5EFC11-626A-4BB5-8A00-DF657741698C

BackgroundSalas y Gómez is a small, volcanic island largely untouched by humans due to its diminutive size and remoteness. Since the waters surrounding Salas y Gómez were established as Motu Motiro Hiva Marine Park in 2010, marine investigations have been the primary research focus. Secondarily, nesting seabird communities have been censused since 2011.Methods and findingsIn 2016, terrestrial arthropods were sampled on the island. Two observers sampled two locations for 30 min per site. Fifteen morphospecies were identified including at least one likely undescribed species.ConclusionsOur work represents the most comprehensive terrestrial arthropod inventory of Salas y Gómez island to date. We are hopeful the recommendations provided will spur additional research to both characterize the island’s arthropod community, as well as identify species of management concern.

Natural springs in water‐limited landscapes are biodiversity hotspots and keystone ecosystems that have a disproportionate influence on surrounding landscapes despite their usually small size. Some springs served as evolutionary refugia during previous climate drying, supporting relict species in isolated habitats. Understanding whether springs will provide hydrologic refugia from future climate change is important to biodiversity conservation but is complicated by hydrologic variability among springs, data limitations, and multiple non‐climate threats to groundwater‐dependent ecosystems. We present a conceptual framework for categorizing springs as potentially stable, relative, or transient hydrologic refugia in a drying climate. Clues about the refugial capacity of springs can be assembled from various approaches, including citizen‐science‐powered ecohydrologic monitoring, remote sensing, landowner interviews, and environmental tracer analysis. Managers can integrate multiple lines of evidence to predict which springs may become future refugia for species of concern, strengthening the long‐term effectiveness of their conservation and restoration, and informing climate adaptation for terrestrial and freshwater species.