Effects of changing climate on aquatic habitat and connectivity for remnant populations of a wide-ranging frog species in an arid landscape
David S. Pilliod, Robert S. Arkle, Jeanne M. Robertson, Melanie Murphy, W. Chris Funk
2015, Ecology and Evolution (5) 3979-3994
Amphibian species persisting in isolated streams and wetlands in desert environments can be susceptible to low connectivity, genetic isolation, and climate changes. We evaluated the past (1900–1930), recent (1981–2010), and future (2071–2100) climate suitability of the arid Great Basin (USA) for the Columbia spotted frog (Rana luteiventris) and assessed whether...
Flood-inundation maps for the St. Marys River at Decatur, Indiana
Kellan R. Strauch
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5099
Digital flood-inundation maps for an 8.9-mile reach of the St. Marys River at Decatur, Indiana, were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site...
Evaluation of statistical and rainfall-runoff models for predicting historical daily streamflow time series in the Des Moines and Iowa River watersheds
William H. Farmer, Rodney R. Knight, David A. Eash, Kasey J. Hutchinson, S. Mike Linhart, Daniel E. Christiansen, Stacey A. Archfield, Thomas M. Over, Julie E. Kiang
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5089
Daily records of streamflow are essential to understanding hydrologic systems and managing the interactions between human and natural systems. Many watersheds and locations lack streamgages to provide accurate and reliable records of daily streamflow. In such ungaged watersheds, statistical tools and rainfall-runoff models are used to estimate daily streamflow. Previous...
Sea-level rise modeling handbook: Resource guide for coastal land managers, engineers, and scientists
Thomas W. Doyle, Bogdan Chivoiu, Nicholas M. Enwright
2015, Professional Paper 1815
Global sea level is rising and may accelerate with continued fossil fuel consumption from industrial and population growth. In 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted more than 30 training and feedback sessions with Federal, State, and nongovernmental organization (NGO) coastal managers and planners across the northern Gulf of Mexico coast...
Flood-inundation maps for White River at Petersburg, Indiana
Kathleen K. Fowler
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5107
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 7.7-mile reach of the White River at Petersburg, Indiana, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at...
Flood-inundation maps for Big Creek from the McGinnis Ferry Road bridge to the confluence of Hog Wallow Creek, Alpharetta and Roswell, Georgia
Jonathan W. Musser
2015, Scientific Investigations Map 3338
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 12.4-mile reach of Big Creek that extends from 260 feet above the McGinnis Ferry Road bridge to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgage at Big Creek below Hog Wallow Creek at Roswell, Georgia (02335757), were developed by the USGS in cooperation with the cities of...
First national-scale reconnaissance of neonicotinoid insecticides in streams across the USA
Michelle Hladik, Dana W. Kolpin
2015, Environmental Chemistry (13) 12-20
To better understand the fate and transport of neonicotinoid insecticides, water samples were collected from streams across the United States. In a nationwide study, at least one neonicotinoid was detected in 53 % of the samples collected, with imidacloprid detected most frequently (37 %), followed by clothianidin (24 %), thiamethoxam (21 %), dinotefuran (13 %),...
Dry years decrease abundance of American alligators in the Florida Everglades
J. Hardin Waddle, Laura A. Brandt, Brian M. Jeffery, Frank J. Mazzotti
2015, Wetlands (35) 865-875
The Everglades has been greatly reduced and is threatened by land use change and altered hydrology. The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan calls for monitoring and assessment of key ecosystem attributes, one of which is abundance of American alligators. We examined 10 years of alligator night spotlight counts from Arthur R. Marshall...
Water-budgets and recharge-area simulations for the Spring Creek and Nittany Creek Basins and parts of the Spruce Creek Basin, Centre and Huntingdon Counties, Pennsylvania, Water Years 2000–06
John W. Fulton, Dennis W. Risser, R. Steve Regan, John F. Walker, Randall J. Hunt, Richard G. Niswonger, Scott A. Hoffman, Steven L. Markstrom
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5073
This report describes the results of a study by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with ClearWater Conservancy and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to develop a hydrologic model to simulate a water budget and identify areas of greater than average recharge for the Spring Creek Basin in central...
Peclet number as affected by molecular diffusion controls transient anomalous transport in alluvial aquifer-aquitard complexes
Yong Zhang, Christopher T. Green, Geoffrey R. Tick
2015, Journal of Contaminant Hydrology (177-178) 220-238
This study evaluates the role of the Peclet number as affected by molecular diffusion in transient anomalous transport, which is one of the major knowledge gaps in anomalous transport, by combining Monte Carlo simulations and stochastic model analysis. Two alluvial settings containing either short- or long-connected hydrofacies are generated and...
Hydrologic budget and conditions of Permian, Pennsylvanian, and Mississippian aquifers in the Appalachian Plateaus physiographic province
Kurt J. McCoy, Richard M. Yager, David L. Nelms, David E. Ladd, Jack Monti, Jr., Mark D. Kozar
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5106
In response to challenges to groundwater availability posed by historic land-use practices, expanding development of hydrocarbon resources, and drought, the U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater Resources Program began a regional assessment of the Appalachian Plateaus aquifers in 2013 that incorporated a hydrologic landscape approach to estimate all components of the hydrologic...
Streamflow gains and losses in the Colorado River in northwestern Burnet and southeastern San Saba Counties, Texas
Christopher L. Braun, Scott D. Grzyb
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5098
In October 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Central Texas Groundwater Conservation District, began an assessment to better understand if and where groundwater from the Ellenburger-San Saba aquifer is discharging to the Colorado River, and if and where Colorado River streamflow is recharging the Ellenburger-San Saba...
Organic and inorganic composition and microbiology of produced waters from Pennsylvania shale gas wells
Denise M. Akob, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Darren S. Dunlap, Elisabeth L. Rowan, Michelle M. Lorah
2015, Applied Geochemistry (60) 116-125
Hydraulically fractured shales are becoming an increasingly important source of natural gas production in the United States. This process has been known to create up to 420 gallons of produced water (PW) per day, but the volume varies depending on the formation, and the characteristics of individual hydraulic fracture. PW...
Understory vegetation as an indicator for floodplain forest restoration in the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley, U.S.A.
Diane De Steven, Stephen Faulkner, Bobby D. Keeland, M.J. Baldwin, John W. McCoy, Steven C. Hughes
2015, Restoration Ecology (23) 402-412
In the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley (MAV), complete alteration of river-floodplain hydrology allowed for widespreadconversion of forested bottomlands to intensive agriculture, resulting in nearly 80% forest loss. Governmental programs haveattempted to restore forest habitat and functions within this altered landscape by the methods of tree planting (afforestation)and...
The role of precipitation type, intensity, and spatial distribution in source water quality after wildfire
Sheila F. Murphy, Jeffrey H. Writer, R. Blaine McCleskey, Deborah A. Martin
2015, Environmental Research Letters (10)
Storms following wildfires are known to impair drinking water supplies in the southwestern United States, yet our understanding of the role of precipitation in post-wildfire water quality is far from complete. We quantitatively assessed water-quality impacts of different hydrologic events in the Colorado Front Range and found that for a...
Regional regression equations to estimate peak-flow frequency at sites in North Dakota using data through 2009
Tara Williams-Sether
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5096
Annual peak-flow frequency data from 231 U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging stations in North Dakota and parts of Montana, South Dakota, and Minnesota, with 10 or more years of unregulated peak-flow record, were used to develop regional regression equations for exceedance probabilities of 0.5, 0.20, 0.10, 0.04, 0.02, 0.01, and 0.002...
On the use of rhodamine WT for the characterization of stream hydrodynamics and transient storage
Robert L. Runkel
2015, Water Resources Research (51) 6125-6142
Recent advances in fluorometry have led to increased use of rhodamine WT as a tracer in streams and rivers. In light of this increased use, a review of the dye's behavior in freshwater systems is presented. Studies in the groundwater literature indicate that rhodamine WT is transported nonconservatively, with sorption...
Optimizing fish sampling for fish - mercury bioaccumulation factors
Barbara C. Scudder Eikenberry, Karen Riva-Murray, Christopher D. Knightes, Celeste A. Journey, Lia C. Chasar, Mark E. Brigham, Paul M. Bradley
2015, Chemosphere (135) 467-473
Fish Bioaccumulation Factors (BAFs; ratios of mercury (Hg) in fish (Hgfish) and water (Hgwater)) are used to develop Total Maximum Daily Load and water quality criteria for Hg-impaired waters. Both applications require representative Hgfish estimates and, thus, are sensitive to sampling and data-treatment methods. Data collected by fixed protocol from...
Ground-truthing electrical resistivity methods in support of submarine groundwater discharge studies: Examples from Hawaii, Washington, and California
Cordell Johnson, Peter W. Swarzenski, Christina M. Richardson, Christopher G. Smith, Kevin D. Kroeger, Priya M. Ganguli
2015, Journal of Environmental & Engineering Geophysics (20) 81-87
Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is an important conduit that links terrestrial and marine environments. SGD conveys both water and water-borne constituents into coastal waters, where these inflows may impact near-shore ecosystem health and sustainability. Multichannel electrical resistivity techniques have proven to be a powerful tool to examine scales and...
Potential for real‐time understanding of coupled hydrologic and biogeochemical processes in stream ecosystems: Future integration of telemetered data with process models for glacial meltwater streams
Diane M. McKnight, Karen D. Cozzetto, James D. S. Cullis, Michael N. Gooseff, Christopher Jaros, Joshua C. Koch, W. Berry Lyons, Roseanna M. Neupauer, Adam N. Wlostowski
2015, Water Resources Research (51) 6725-6738
While continuous monitoring of streamflow and temperature has been common for some time, there is great potential to expand continuous monitoring to include water quality parameters such as nutrients, turbidity, oxygen, and dissolved organic material. In many systems, distinguishing between watershed and stream ecosystem controls can be challenging. The usefulness...
Evaluating the importance of characterizing soil structure and horizons in parameterizing a hydrologic process model
Benjamin B. Mirus
2015, Hydrological Processes (29) 4611-4623
Incorporating the influence of soil structure and horizons into parameterizations of distributed surface water/groundwater models remains a challenge. Often, only a single soil unit is employed, and soil-hydraulic properties are assigned based on textural classification, without evaluating the potential impact of these simplifications. This study uses a distributed physics-based model...
Evaluation of habitat suitability index models by global sensitivity and uncertainty analyses: a case study for submerged aquatic vegetation
Zuzanna Zajac, Bradley Stith, Andrea C. Bowling, Catherine A. Langtimm, Eric D. Swain
2015, Ecology and Evolution (5) 2503-2517
Habitat suitability index (HSI) models are commonly used to predict habitat quality and species distributions and are used to develop biological surveys, assess reserve and management priorities, and anticipate possible change under different management or climate change scenarios. Important management decisions may be based on model results, often without a...
Influence of a chlor-alkali superfund site on mercury bioaccumulation in periphyton and low-trophic level fauna
Kate L. Buckman, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, Vivien F. Taylor, Ann T. Chalmers, Hannah J. Broadley, Jennifer L. Agee, Brian P. Jackson, Celia Y. Chen
2015, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (34) 1649-1658
In Berlin, New Hampshire, USA, the Androscoggin River flows adjacent to a former chlor-alkali facility that is a US Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site and source of mercury (Hg) to the river. The present study was conducted to determine the fate and bioaccumulation of methylmercury (MeHg) to lower trophic-level taxa...
Responses to water depth and clipping of twenty−three plant species in an Indian monsoonal wetland
Beth A. Middleton, Arnold van der Valk, Craig B. Davis
2015, Aquatic Botany (126) 38-47
Responses of species to disturbances give insights into how species might respond to future wetland changes. In this study, species of monsoonal wetlands belonging to various functional types (graminoid and non−graminoid emergents, submersed aquatic, floating−leaved aquatic) varied in their growth responses to water depth and harvesting. We tested the effects...
Influence of hydrologic modifications on Fraxinus pennsylvanica in the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley, USA
Hugo K.W. Gee, Sammy L. King, Richard F. Keim
2015, Canadian Journal of Forest Research (45) 1397-1406
We used tree-ring analysis to examine radial growth response of a common, moderately flood-tolerant species (<i>Fraxinus pennsylvanica</i> Marshall) to hydrologic and climatic variability for > 40 years before and after hydrologic modifications affecting two forest stands in the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley (USA): a stand without levees below dams and...
