Groundwater quality in the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer system, midwestern United States
Paul E. Stackelberg
2017, Fact Sheet 2017-3056
Groundwater provides nearly 50 percent of the Nation’s drinking water. To help protect this vital resource, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project assesses groundwater quality in aquifers that are important sources of drinking water (Burow and Belitz, 2014). The Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer system constitutes one of the...
Ecosystem features determine seagrass community response to sea otter foraging
Margot Hessing-Lewis, Erin U. Rechsteiner, Brent B. Hughes, M. Tim Tinker, Zachary L. Monteith, Angeleen M. Olson, Matthew Morgan Henderson, Jane C. Watson
2017, Marine Pollution Bulletin (134) 134-144
Comparing sea otter recovery in California (CA) and British Columbia (BC) reveals key ecosystem properties that shape top-down effects in seagrass communities. We review potential ecosystem drivers of sea otter foraging in CA and BC seagrass beds, including the role of coastline complexity and environmental...
Groundwater quality in the Piedmont and Blue Ridge crystalline-rock aquifers, eastern United States
Bruce D. Lindsey
2017, Fact Sheet 2017-3040
Groundwater provides nearly 50 percent of the Nation’s drinking water. To help protect this vital resource, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project assesses groundwater quality in aquifers that are important sources of drinking water (Burow and Belitz, 2014). The Piedmont and Blue Ridge crystalline-rock aquifers constitute...
Considerations in comparing the U.S. Geological Survey one‐year induced‐seismicity hazard models with “Did You Feel It?” and instrumental data
Isabel White, Taojun Liu, Nico Luco, Abbie Liel
2017, Seismological Research Letters (89) 127-137
The recent steep increase in seismicity rates in Oklahoma, southern Kansas, and other parts of the central United States led the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to develop, for the first time, a probabilistic seismic hazard forecast for one year (2016) that incorporates induced seismicity. In this study, we explore a...
Assessing diet compositions of Lake Ontario predators using fatty acid profiles of prey fishes
Austin Happell, Robert Pattridge, Jacques Rinchard, Maureen Walsh
2017, Journal of Great Lakes Research (43) 838-845
Fatty acid profiles are used in food web studies to assess trophic interactions between predator and prey. The present study provides the first comprehensive fatty acid dataset for important prey and predator species in Lake Ontario. Three major prey fish (alewife, rainbow smelt, and round goby) were collected at three...
Contaminant gradients in trees: Directional tree coring reveals boundaries of soil and soil-gas contamination with potential applications in vapor intrusion assessment
Jordan L. Wilson, V.A. Samaranayake, Matthew A. Limmer, John G. Schumacher, Joel G. Burken
2017, Environmental Science & Technology (51) 14055-14064
Contaminated sites pose ecological and human-health risks through exposure to contaminated soil and groundwater. Whereas we can readily locate, monitor, and track contaminants in groundwater, it is harder to perform these tasks in the vadose zone. In this study, tree-core samples were collected at a Superfund site to determine if...
Stratigraphic intervals for oil and tar sands deposits in the Uinta Basin, Utah
Ronald C. Johnson, Justin E. Birdwell, Paul G. Lillis
2017, Mountain Geologist (54) 227-265
No abstract available....
Experimental stocking of sport fish in the regulated Tallapoosa River to determine critical periods for recruitment
M. Clint Lloyd, Quan Lai, Steve Sammons, Elise R. Irwin
2017, Cooperator Science Series 128-2017
The stocking of fish in riverine systems to re-establish stocks for conservation and management appears limited to a few species and often occurs in reaches impacted by impoundments. Stocking of sport fish species such as centrarchids and ictalurids is often restricted to lentic environments, although stocking in lotic environments is...
Feeding ecology and niche overlap of Lake Ontario offshore forage fish assessed with stable isotopes
James Mumby, Timothy Johson, Thomas Stewart, Edward Halfyard, Maureen Walsh, Brian Weidel, Jana Lantry, Aarron Fisk
2017, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (75) 759-771
The forage fish communities of the Laurentian Great Lakes continue to experience changes that have altered ecosystem structure, yet little is known about how they partition resources. Seasonal, spatial and body size variation in δ13C and δ15N was used to assess isotopic niche overlap and resource and habitat partitioning among...
Cooperative science to inform Lake Ontario management: Research from the 2013 Lake Ontario CSMI program
James M. Watkins, Brian Weidel, Aaron T. Fisk, Lars G. Rudstam
2017, Journal of Great Lakes Research (43) 779-781
Since the mid-1970s, successful Lake Ontario management actions including nutrient load and pollution reductions, habitat restoration, and fish stocking have improved Lake Ontario. However, several new obstacles to maintenance and restoration have emerged. This special issue presents management-relevant research from multiple agency surveys in 2011 and 2012 and the 2013...
Chemical elements in the environment: multi-element geochemical datasets from continental to national scale surveys on four continents
Patrice de Caritat, Clemens Reimann, David B. Smith, Xueqiu Wang
2017, Applied Geochemistry (89) 150-159
During the last 10-20 years, Geological Surveys around the world have undertaken a major effort towards delivering fully harmonized and tightly quality-controlled low-density multi-element soil geochemical maps and datasets of vast regions including up to whole continents. Concentrations of between 45 and 60 elements commonly have been determined in a...
Reply to the discussion of Pinter et al. on ‘Fluvial system response to late Pleistocene-Holocene sea-level change on Santa Rosa Island, Channel Islands National Park, California’ by Schumann et al. (2016)
R. Randall Schumann, Jeffrey S. Pigati
2017, Geomorphology (301) 144-146
We appreciate the thoughtful discussion offered by Pinter et al. (2017) because it gives us an opportunity to elucidate some of the main points of our study, address some apparent misinterpretations, and recapitulate one of our conclusions. Pinter et al.’s discussion emphasizes and reinforces some of the important concepts we...
Detection of microcystin and other cyanotoxins in lakes at Isle Royale National Park, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, northern Michigan, 2012–13
Lori M. Fuller, Angela K. Brennan, Lisa R. Fogarty, Keith A. Loftin, Heather E. Johnson, David D. VanderMeulen, Brenda Moraska Lafrancois
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5122
Although cyanotoxins released during algal blooms have become an increasing concern in surface waters across the United States, the presence of cyanotoxins in northern Michigan lakes had not been evaluated in detail. The U.S. Geological Survey and National Park Service (NPS) led a 2-year study (2012 and 2013) to determine...
Observations and first reports of saprolegniosis in Aanaakłiq, broad whitefish (Coregonus nasus), from the Colville River near Nuiqsut, Alaska
Todd L. Sformo, Billy Adams, John C. Seigle, Jayde A. Ferguson, Maureen K. Purcell, Raphaela Stimmelmayr, Joseph H. Welch, Leah M. Ellis, Jason C. Leppi, John C. George
2017, Polar Science (14) 78-82
We report the first confirmed cases (2013–2016) of saprolegniosis caused by water mold from the genus Saprolegnia in Aanaakłiq, broad whitefish (Coregonus nasus), from the Colville River near Nuiqsut, Alaska. While this mold is known to be worldwide, these instances represent the first cases in Nuiqsut and only the second instance on...
Evidence for the interior evolution of Ceres from geologic analysis of fractures
Jennifer E. C. Scully, Debra Buczkowski, Nico Schmedemann, Carol A. Raymond, Julie C. Castillo-Rogez, Scott King, Michael T. Bland, Anton Ermakov, D.P. O’Brien, S. Marchi, A. Longobardo, C.T. Russell, R.R. Fu, M. Neveu
2017, Geophysical Research Letters (44) 9564-9572
Ceres is the largest asteroid belt object, and the Dawn spacecraft observed Ceres since 2015. Dawn observed two morphologically distinct linear features on Ceres's surface: secondary crater chains and pit chains. Pit chains provide unique insights into Ceres's interior evolution. We interpret pit chains called the Samhain Catenae as the...
Modeling fine-scale coral larval dispersal and interisland connectivity to help designate mutually-supporting coral reef marine protected areas: Insights from Maui Nui, Hawaii
Curt D. Storlazzi, Maarten van Ormondt, Yi-Leng Chen, Edwin P. L. Elias
2017, Frontiers in Marine Science (4)
Connectivity among individual marine protected areas (MPAs) is one of the most important considerations in the design of integrated MPA networks. To provide such information for managers in Hawaii, USA, a numerical circulation model was developed to determine the role of ocean currents in transporting coral larvae from natal reefs...
Colloid mobilization and seasonal variability in a semiarid headwater stream
Taylor J. Mills, Suzanne P. Ancerson, Carleton R. Bern, Arnulfo Aguirre, Louis A. Derry
2017, Journal of Environmental Quality (46) 88-95
Colloids can be important vectors for the transport of contaminants in the environment, but little is known about colloid mobilization at the watershed scale. We present colloid concentration, composition, and flux data over a large range of hydrologic conditions from a small watershed (Gordon Gulch) in the foothills of the...
Assessing the global distribution of river fisheries harvest: A systematic map protocol
Chelsie Romulo, Zeenatul Basher, Abigail Lynch, Yu-Chun Kao, William W. Taylor
2017, Environmental Evidence (6)
BackgroundAlthough surface freshwater comprises < 0.01% of the total water volume of earth, freshwater inland capture fisheries and aquaculture represent 40% of the global reported finfish harvest. While the social, economic, and ecological importance of inland fish and fisheries is difficult to overstate, they are often undervalued and underappreciated....
Paleoceanographic perspectives on Arctic Ocean change
Emily Osborne, Thomas M. Cronin, Jesse Farmer
2017, Report
The Arctic Ocean is presently experiencing changes in ocean temperature and sea ice extent that are unprecedented in the observational time period (satellite observations: 1979-Present). To provide context for the current changes, scientists turn to paleo records of past climate to document and study natural variability in the Arctic system....
New method to integrate remotely sensed hydrothermal alteration mapping into quantitative mineral resource assessments
John C. Mars, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Gilpin R. Robinson Jr., Stephen Ludington, Lukas Zurcher, Helen W. Folger, Mark E. Gettings, Federico Solano, Thomas Kress
2017, Conference Paper
Hydrothermal alteration data mapped using the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) were compiled into hydrothermal alteration polygons for use in an assessment of porphyry copper mineral resource potential in the southwestern United States. Hydrothermal alteration polygons along with geochemistry, gravity and magnetic, lithologic,...
Ecology of the Sand Roller (Percopsis transmontana) in a lower Snake River Reservoir, Washington
Kenneth F. Tiffan, John M. Erhardt, Tobyn N. Rhodes, Rulon J. Hemingway
2017, Northwestern Naturalist (98) 203-214
The Sand Roller (Percopsis transmontana), has not been abundant in the Snake River since it was first found in the system in the 1950s, but its population has apparently increased in recent years. As a result, we initiated a study to better understand its ecology in habitats of Lower Granite...
A pesticide paradox: Fungicides indirectly increase fungal infections
Jason R. Rohr, Jenise Brown, William A. Battaglin, Teagan A. McMahon, Rick A. Reylea
2017, Ecological Applications (27) 2290-2302
There are many examples where the use of chemicals have had profound unintended consequences, such as fertilizers reducing crop yields (paradox of enrichment) and insecticides increasing insect pests (by reducing natural biocontrol). Recently, the application of agrochemicals, such as agricultural disinfectants and fungicides, has been explored as an approach to...
Evaluating methods to assess the body condition of female polar bears
Anthony M. Pagano, Karyn D. Rode, Stephen N. Atkinson
2017, Ursus (28) 171-181
An animal's body condition provides insight into its health, foraging success, and overall fitness. Measures of body composition including proportional fat content are useful indicators of condition. Isotopic dilution is a reliable non-destructive method for estimating the body composition of live mammals, but can require prolonged handling times. Alternatively, bioelectrical...
Simulated juvenile salmon growth and phenology respond to altered thermal regimes and stream network shape
Aimee H. Fullerton, Brian J. Burke, Joshua J. Lawler, Christian E. Torgersen, Joseph L. Ebersole, Scott G. Leibowitz
2017, Ecosphere (8)
It is generally accepted that climate change will stress coldwater species such as Pacific salmon. However, it is unclear what aspect of altered thermal regimes (e.g., warmer winters, springs, summers, or increased variability) will have the greatest effect, and what role the spatial properties of river networks play. Thermally diverse...
The efficacy of combined educational and site management actions in reducing off-trail hiking in an urban-proximate protected area
Karen S. Hockett, Jeffrey L. Marion, Yu-Fai Leung
2017, Journal of Environmental Management (203) 17-28
Park and protected area managers are tasked with protecting natural environments, a particularly daunting challenge in heavily visited urban-proximate areas where flora and fauna are already stressed by external threats. In this study, an adaptive management approach was taken to reduce extensive off-trail hiking along a popular trail through an...
