Seasonal Trends in Burrowing of Pocket Gophers (Thomomys)

Miller, Milton A.

doi:10.2307/1375279

Cited by 59 publications

(38 citation statements)

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“…Burrowing is minimal during the winter, increases in the spring, tapers off in the summer, and briefly increases again after autumn rains. As mentioned, some research suggests that this seasonal variability is due to favorable digging conditions [Miller, 1948;1957], while other research suggests that the seasonality of burrowing activity is more closely related to seasonal patterns of primary productivity in the plant community [Bandoli, 1981]. Thus, the correlation of burrowing activity with soil moisture and temperature is likely due to the presence and/or absence of favorable conditions for plant growth.…”

Section: Mammal Burrowingmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Compliance Assessment Document for the Transuranic Wastes in the Greater Confinement Disposal Boreholes at the Nevada Test Site, Volume 2: Performance Assessment

Cochran¹,

Beyeler²,

Brosseau³

et al. 2001

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Intermediate depth disposal operations were conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) at the DOE's Nevada Test Site (NTS) from 1984 through 1989. These operations emplaced highspecific activity low-level wastes (LLW) and limited quantities of classified, "special case" transuranic (TRU) wastes in 37 m (120-ft) deep, 3 m (10 ft) diameter Greater Confinement Disposal (GCD) boreholes.Four boreholes contain about 60,000 kg (132,000 lb.) of classified TRU waste packages, containing less than 330 curies of Plutonium-239. All of the TRU wastes emplaced in the GCD boreholes are classified for national security reasons and cannot be disposed of in the DOE's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) 40 CFR 191 defines the requirements for protection of human health from disposed TRU wastes. This EPA standard sets a number of requirements, including probabilistic limits on the cumulative releases of radionuclides to the accessible environment for 10,000 years. This report presents the performance assessment (PA) that has been conducted to determine if disposal of TRU waste in the GCD boreholes complies with the EPA's 40 CFR 191 requirements.Sandia National Laboratories completed this PA using all available information and an Iterative PA Methodology, which focused work on uncertainty reduction in a cost-effective fashion that does not overestimate system performance and assured defensibility. The simplicity of the conceptual models of the GCD disposal system allowed them to be implemented in Microsoft ® Visual Basic™ macros in an Access™ database. This PA model is built from a mathematical expression for mass conservation that includes the operation of a number of transport processes, including dissolution, precipitation, reversible chemical sorption onto soil, advection, diffusion, dispersion, radioactive decay and ingrowth, plant uptake, and bioturbation. The mathematical model and implementing code was used to calculate a complementary cumulative distribution function of integrated normalized release to the accessible environment for 10,000 years and probability distributions of dose based on two exposure conditions for the 1,000 year individual protection requirements.The primary conclusions of this PA are that the disposal of TRU wastes in the GCD boreholes will, at most, result in minuscule doses to individuals, and that the GCD disposal system easily meets the EPA's 1985, 40 CFR 191 requirements for disposal of TRU waste. Further, there is a strong, reasonable expectation that actual system performance will be better than what is simulated in this PA.vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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Section: Mammal Burrowingmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Soil moisture conditions are sometimes cited as a constraint to burrowing for both mammals [Miller, 1948 and1957] and invertebrates [Haverty and Nutting, 1976;Smith and Rust, 1994;Crist, 1998]. It is unclear if low soil moisture will inhibit burrowing at the NTS.…”

Section: Ft)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Compliance Assessment Document for the Transuranic Wastes in the Greater Confinement Disposal Boreholes at the Nevada Test Site, Volume 2: Performance Assessment

Cochran¹,

Beyeler²,

Brosseau³

et al. 2001

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“…If a smaller time increment is necessary, data are available to increment the simulation at intervals of at least 1 day. However, daily and seasonal variations in the amount of burrowing by pocket gophers (Bandoli, 1981;Miller, 1948) make the annual increment optimal.…”

Section: Simulation Of Pocket Gopher Disturbancgmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of pocket gopher burrowing on archaeological deposits: A simulation approach

Pierce

1992

Geoarchaeology

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The construction of burrows and movement of sediment by pocket gophers alter archaeological deposits by causing vertical size-sorting of artifacts, destruction of fragile artifacts, disruption of sedimentary structures, and organic enrichment of the subsurface. To evaluate the long-term effects of exposure to burrowing, a simulation was developed based on quantitative information on pocket gopher burrows and rates of sediment movement. Simulation results indicate the development of a distinct stone zone composed predominantly of particles greater than 6 cm after 4000-5000 years, and a logarithmic pattern to the rate of strata disruption. The patterns produced by the simulation compare well with patterns exhibited by actual archaeological deposits belonging to California's Milling Stone Horizon. These results suggest that current notions concerning the Milling Stone Horizon and other aspects of California prehistory may require revision, and that more emphasis must be placed on formation process research in such settings.

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“…Several studies have been conducted on the seasonal burrowing activity of geomyids (Miller, 1948;Miller & Bond, 1960;Hickman & Brown, 1973; and others) but despite some popular misconceptions, "surface mound formation" is not synonymous with "activity", and even burrowing activity may not be visible from the surface when excavated soil is distributed into abandoned tunnelways.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of temperature and light on the locomotory activity of captive pocket gophers

Lodewijckx¹

1984

Acta Theriol.

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C., 1984: Effects of temperature and light on the locomotory activity of captive pocket gophers. Acta theriol., 29, Geomyids are polyphasic with movement in simulated burrows recorded for all hours of a 24 hr cycle; particular troughs or peaks in times of locomotor activity were not evident. Total percentages of locomotory activity per day oscillated at separate levels for the three genera tested (one to ten percent for Geomys; 10 to 20 percent for Thomomys; and 30-40 percent for Pappogeomys). Temperature did not greatly effect the amount of locomotory activity or the length of extended locomotory activity periods. Light did not greatly effect total mean percent of locomotory activity; species or individuals within species were not consistently more active in either dark or lighted conditions, although certain days were skewed up to 50 percent in favour of either light, or dark conditions. The multiplicity of factors involved in determining the duration and patterning of locomotory activity may center around metabolic demands, which in turn are influenced by soil porosity, precipitation, availability of preferred foods, inter-and intra-specific interaction (including breeding), and the diameter and length of burrow systems.

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Seasonal Trends in Burrowing of Pocket Gophers (Thomomys)

Cited by 59 publications

References 0 publications

Compliance Assessment Document for the Transuranic Wastes in the Greater Confinement Disposal Boreholes at the Nevada Test Site, Volume 2: Performance Assessment

Compliance Assessment Document for the Transuranic Wastes in the Greater Confinement Disposal Boreholes at the Nevada Test Site, Volume 2: Performance Assessment

Effects of pocket gopher burrowing on archaeological deposits: A simulation approach

Effects of temperature and light on the locomotory activity of captive pocket gophers

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