Evaluation of the potential for hysteresis in index-velocity ratings for the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal near Lemont, Illinois
P. Ryan Jackson, Sumit Sinha, Som Dutta, Kevin K. Johnson, James J. Duncker, Marcelo H. Garcia
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5095
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is responsible for monitoring flows in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal (CSSC) near Lemont, Illinois, as a part of the Lake Michigan Diversion Accounting overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Chicago District. Lake Michigan Diversion Accounting is mandated by a U.S. Supreme...
Estimating irrigation water use in the humid eastern United States
Sara B. Levin, Phillip J. Zarriello
2013, Scientific Investigations Report 2013-5066
Accurate accounting of irrigation water use is an important part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Use Information Program and the WaterSMART initiative to help maintain sustainable water resources in the Nation. Irrigation water use in the humid eastern United States is not well characterized because of inadequate reporting and...
Determination of low-level mercury in coralline aragonite by calcination-isotope dilution-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry and its application to Diploria specimens from Castle Harbour, Bermuda
Carl H. Lamborg, Gretchen J. Swarr, Konrad A. Hughen, Ross J. Jones, Scott Birdwhistell, Kathryn Furby, Sujata A. Murty, Nancy G. Prouty, Chun-Mao Tseng
2013, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (109) 27-37
We have developed a technique that combines a high temperature quartz furnace with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry for the determination of Hg stored in the annual CaCO3 bands found in coral skeletons. Substantial matrix effects, presumably due to the discontinuous introduction of CO2 to the gas stream, were corrected for by...
Using diets to reveal overlap and egg predation among benthivorous fishes in Lake Michigan
Justin G. Mychek-Londer, David B. Bunnell, Wendylee Stott, James S. Diana, John R. P. French III, Margret Chriscinske
2013, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (142) 492-504
Ecological stability in the Laurentian Great Lakes has been altered by nonindigenous species, such as the Round Goby Neogobius melanostomus and dreissenid mussels, and by declines in native amphipods Diporeia spp. We evaluated whether these changes could influence diet overlap between three benthivorous fishes (Slimy Sculpin Cottus cognatus, Deepwater Sculpin...
Total dissolved gas and water temperature in the lower Columbia River, Oregon and Washington, water year 2012: Quality-assurance data and comparison to water-quality standards
Dwight Q. Tanner, Heather M. Bragg, Matthew W. Johnston
2013, Open-File Report 2012-1256
Significant Findings Air is entrained in water as it is flows through the spillways of dams, which causes an increase in the concentration of total dissolved gas in the water downstream from the dams. The elevated concentrations of total dissolved gas can adversely affect fish and other freshwater aquatic life. An...
Aquatic insect assemblages associated with subalpine stream segment types in relict glaciated headwaters
Joshua S. Kubo, Christian E. Torgersen, Susan M. Bolton, Anne A. Weekes, Robert I. Gara
2013, Insect Conservation and Diversity (6) 422-434
1. Aquatic habitats and biotic assemblages in subalpine headwaters are sensitive to climate and human impacts. Understanding biotic responses to such perturbations and the contribution of high-elevation headwaters to riverine biodiversity requires the assessment of assemblage composition among habitat types. We compared aquatic insect assemblages among headwater stream segment types...
Washington's volcanoes: Know your sleeping giants
Carolyn L. Driedger
2013, Washington Trails
Northwest hikers frequently hand down rich traditions of favorite trails to younger generations. While these multi-generational traditions provide the illusion of landscape permanence, observant hikers often witness geologic change in progress—rockfall, water erosion, and glacier change. You might recognize that your views of mountain landscapes are a little bit different...
Evaporative losses from soils covered by physical and different types of biological soil crusts
S. Chamizo, Y. Canton, F. Domingo, J. Belnap
2013, Hydrological Processes (27) 324-332
Evaporation of soil moisture is one of the most important processes affecting water availability in semiarid ecosystems. Biological soil crusts, which are widely distributed ground cover in these ecosystems, play a recognized role on water processes. Where they roughen surfaces, water residence time and thus infiltration can be greatly enhanced,...
Estimating irrigation water demand using an improved method and optimizing reservoir operation for water supply and hydropower generation: a case study of the Xinfengjiang reservoir in southern China
Yiping Wu, Ji Chen
2013, Agricultural Water Management (116) 110-121
The ever-increasing demand for water due to growth of population and socioeconomic development in the past several decades has posed a worldwide threat to water supply security and to the environmental health of rivers. This study aims to derive reservoir operating rules through establishing a multi-objective optimization model for the...
Regional patterns and proximal causes of the recent snowpack decline in the Rocky Mountains, U.S.
Gregory T. Pederson, Julio L. Betancourt, Gregory J. McCabe
2013, Geophysical Research Letters (40) 1811-1816
We used a first-order, monthly snow model and observations to disentangle seasonal influences on 20th century,regional snowpack anomalies in the Rocky Mountains of western North America, where interannual variations in cool-season (November–March) temperatures are broadly synchronous, but precipitation is typically antiphased north to south and uncorrelated with temperature. Over the...
Fall diel diet composition of American eel (Anguilla rostrata) in a tributary of the Hudson River, New York, USA
Emily M. Waldt, Ross Abbett, James H. Johnson, Dawn E. Dittman, James E. McKenna
2013, Journal of Freshwater Ecology (28) 91-98
American eel (Anguilla rostrata), a once common species, is now in decline throughout much of its native range in North America. There is little information on the role of American eel in river food webs. A better understanding of the diet and ecological role of American eel will help in...
Return period adjustment for runoff coefficients based on analysis in undeveloped Texas watersheds
Nirajan Dhakal, Xing Fang, William H. Asquith, Theodore G. Cleveland, David B. Thompson
2013, Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering (139) 476-482
The rational method for peak discharge (Qp) estimation was introduced in the 1880s. The runoff coefficient (C) is a key parameter for the rational method that has an implicit meaning of rate proportionality, and the C has been declared a function of the annual return period by various researchers. Rate-based...
Capture of white sturgeon larvae downstream of The Dalles Dam, Columbia River, Oregon and Washington, 2012
Michael J. Parsley, Eric Kofoot
2013, Open-File Report 2013-1110
Wild-spawned white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) larvae captured and reared in aquaculture facilities and subsequently released, are increasingly being used in sturgeon restoration programs in the Columbia River Basin. A reconnaissance study was conducted to determine where to deploy nets to capture white sturgeon larvae downstream of a known white sturgeon...
Fat or lean: adjustment of endogenous energy stores to predictable and unpredictable changes in allostatic load
Jannik Schultner, Alexander S. Kitaysky, Jorg Welcker, Scott Hatch
2013, Functional Ecology (27) 45-55
1. The ability to store energy endogenously is an important ecological mechanism that allows animals to buffer predictable and unpredictable variation in allostatic load. The secretion of glucocorticoids, which reflects changes in allostatic load, is suggested to play a major role in the adjustment of endogenous stores to these varying...
Optimizing stream water mercury sampling for calculation of fish bioaccumulation factors
Karen Riva-Murray, Paul M. Bradley, Celeste A. Journey, Mark E. Brigham, Barbara C. Scudder Eikenberry, Christopher Knightes, Daniel T. Button
2013, Environmental Science & Technology (47) 5904-5912
Mercury (Hg) bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) for game fishes are widely employed for monitoring, assessment, and regulatory purposes. Mercury BAFs are calculated as the fish Hg concentration (Hgfish) divided by the water Hg concentration (Hgwater) and, consequently, are sensitive to sampling and analysis artifacts for fish and water. We evaluated the...
Evapotranspiration and water balance of an anthropogenic coastal desert wetland: responses to fire, inflows and salinities
Edward P. Glenn, Lourdes Mexicano, Jaqueline Garcia-Hernandez, Pamela L. Nagler, Martha M. Gomez-Sapiens, Dawei Tang, Marcelo A. Lomeli, Jorge Ramírez-Hernández, Francisco Zamora-Arroyo
2013, Ecological Engineering (59) 176-184
Evapotranspiration (ET) and other water balance components were estimated for Cienega de Santa Clara, an anthropogenic brackish wetland in the delta of the Colorado River in Mexico. The marsh is in the Biosphere Reserve of the Upper Gulf of California and Delta of the Colorado River, and supports a high...
Estimating instream constituent loads using replicate synoptic sampling, Peru Creek, Colorado
Robert L. Runkel, Katherine Walton-Day, Briant A. Kimball, Philip L. Verplanck, David A. Nimick
2013, Journal of Hydrology (489) 26-41
The synoptic mass balance approach is often used to evaluate constituent mass loading in streams affected by mine drainage. Spatial profiles of constituent mass load are used to identify sources of contamination and prioritize sites for remedial action. This paper presents a field scale study in which replicate synoptic...
Field measurement of basal forces generated by erosive debris flows
S.W. McCoy, G.E. Tucker, J. W. Kean, J. A. Coe
2013, Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface (118) 589-602
It has been proposed that debris flows cut bedrock valleys in steeplands worldwide, but field measurements needed to constrain mechanistic models of this process remain sparse due to the difficulty of instrumenting natural flows. Here we present and analyze measurements made using an automated sensor network, erosion bolts, and a...
Expert assessment of vulnerability of permafrost carbon to climate change
E.A.G. Schuur, B.W. Abbott, W.B. Bowden, V. Brovkin, P. Camill, J.G. Canadell, J. P. Chanton, F. S. Chapin III, T.R. Christensen, P. Ciais, B.T. Crosby, C.I. Czimczik, G. Grosse, J. Harden, D.J. Hayes, G. Hugelius, J.D. Jastrow, Jack B. Jones, Thomas Kleinen, C.D. Koven, G. Krinner, P. Kuhry, D.M. Lawrence, A. D. McGuire, Susan M. Natali, J. A. O'Donnell, C.-L. Ping, W.J. Riley, A. Rinke, V.E. Romanovsky, A. B. K. Sannel, C. Schädel, K. Schaefer, J. Sky, Z.M. Subin, C. Tarnocai, M.R. Turetsky, M. P. Waldrop, K.M. Walter Anthony, K.P. Wickland, C. J. Wilson, S.A. Zimov
2013, Climatic Change (119) 359-374
Approximately 1700 Pg of soil carbon (C) are stored in the northern circumpolar permafrost zone, more than twice as much C than in the atmosphere. The overall amount, rate, and form of C released to the atmosphere in a warmer world will influence the strength of the permafrost C feedback...
Evaluation of a new model of aeolian transport in the presence of vegetation
Junran Li, Gregory S. Okin, Jeffrey E. Herrick, Jayne Belnap, Mark E. Miller, Kimberly Vest, Amy E. Draut
2013, Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface (118) 288-306
Aeolian transport is an important characteristic of many arid and semiarid regions worldwide that affects dust emission and ecosystem processes. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a recent model of aeolian transport in the presence of vegetation. This approach differs from previous models by accounting for how vegetation...
Factors influencing storm-generated suspended-sediment concentrations and loads in four basins of contrasting land use, humid-tropical Puerto Rico
Allen C. Gellis
2013, Catena (104) 39-57
The significant characteristics controlling the variability in storm-generated suspended-sediment loads and concentrations were analyzed for four basins of differing land use (forest, pasture, cropland, and urbanizing) in humid-tropical Puerto Rico. Statistical analysis involved stepwise regression on factor scores. The explanatory variables were attributes of flow, hydrograph peaks, and rainfall, categorized...
Integrated synoptic surveys using an autonomous underwater vehicle and manned boats
P. Ryan Jackson
2013, Fact Sheet 2013-3018
Traditional surface-water surveys are being combined with autonomous technology to produce integrated surveys of bathymetry, water quality, and velocity in inland lakes and reservoirs. This new technology provides valuable, high-resolution, integrated data that allow a systems-based approach to understanding common environmental problems. This fact sheet presents several example applications of...
Newly documented host fishes for the eastern elliptio mussel (Elliptio complanata)
William A. Lellis, Barbara St. John White, Jeffrey C. Cole, Connie S. Johnson, Julie L. Devers, Ellen van Snik-Gray, Heather S. Galbraith
2013, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (4) 75-85
The eastern elliptio Elliptio complanata is a common, abundant, and ecologically important freshwater mussel that occurs throughout the Atlantic Slope drainage in the United States and Canada. Previous research has shown E. complanata glochidia to be host fish generalists, parasitizing yellow perch Perca flavescens, banded killifish Fundulus diaphanus, banded sculpin Cottus carolinae, and seven centrarchid species. Past...
Estimating economic losses from earthquakes using an empirical approach
Kishor Jaiswal, David J. Wald
2013, Earthquake Spectra (29) 309-324
We extended the U.S. Geological Survey's Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) empirical fatality estimation methodology proposed by Jaiswal et al. (2009) to rapidly estimate economic losses after significant earthquakes worldwide. The requisite model inputs are shaking intensity estimates made by the ShakeMap system, the spatial distribution of...
Simulating mechanisms for dispersal, production and stranding of small forage fish in temporary wetland habitats
Simeon Yurek, Donald L. DeAngelis, Joel C. Trexler, Fred Jopp, Douglas D. Donalson
2013, Ecological Modelling (250) 391-401
Movement strategies of small forage fish (<8 cm total length) between temporary and permanent wetland habitats affect their overall population growth and biomass concentrations, i.e., availability to predators. These fish are often the key energy link between primary producers and top predators, such as wading birds, which require high concentrations...
