Connecting flood-related fluvial erosion and deposition with vulnerable downstream road-stream crossings
Faith A. Fitzpatrick, Kyle H. Magyera, Jason Laumann, Clement Larson, Stephanie Rockwood, Eric D. Dantoin, Tom Hollenhorst, Brandon Krumwiede, Brandon Ray Nelson, Julia G. Prokopec, Keegan Eland Johnson
2023, Conference Paper, Federal Interagency Sedimentation and Hydrologic Modeling Conference (SedHyd) 2023 Conference Proceedings
Fluvial erosion is increasingly responsible for infrastructure and building damages associated with floods as the intensity of extreme rainfalls hit rural and urban rivers in a variety of climate settings across the United States. Extreme floods in 2016 and 2018 caused widespread culvert blockages and road failures, including extensive damage along steep tributaries...
Preparing for future changes: Louisiana's Coast
Timothy Carruthers, Camille Stagg, Melissa Millman Baustian
2023, Report
Cooperator publication summarizing USGS publications in collaboration with Water Institute that are being used to inform Louisiana coastal policy....
Bedform distributions and dynamics in a large, channelized river: Implications for benthic ecological processes
Caroline M. Elliott, R. B. Jacobson, Bruce Call, Maura O Roberts
2023, Conference Paper
Sand bedforms are fundamental habitat elements for benthic fish in large, sand-bedded rivers and are hypothesized to provide flow refugia, food transport, and ecological disturbance. We explored bedform distributions and dynamics in the Lower Missouri River, Missouri, with the objective of understanding the implications of these features for benthic fish...
Sea-ice conditions predict polar bear land use around military installations in Alaska
Eric V. Regehr, Kristin L. Laidre, Todd C. Atwood, Harry Stern, Benjamin R. Cohen
2023, Human-Wildlife Interactions (17)
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are threatened by sea-ice loss due to climate change, which is concurrently opening the Arctic to natural resource extraction and a broader scope of national security responsibilities. Mitigating the risk of human–bear conflicts is an emerging challenge as many polar bears spend longer ice-free...
Climate impacts to inland fishes: Shifting research topics over time
Abigail Lynch, Andrew DiSanto, Julian D. Olden, Cindy Chu, Craig Paukert, Daria Gundermann, Mitchel Lang, Ray Zhang, Trevor J. Krabbenhoft
2023, PLOS Climate (2)
Climate change remains a primary threat to inland fishes and fisheries. Using topic modeling to examine trends and relationships across 36 years of scientific literature on documented and projected climate impacts to inland fish, we identify ten representative topics within this body of literature: assemblages, climate...
Dive characteristics of Common Loons wintering in the Gulf of Mexico and off the southern U.S. Atlantic coast
Kevin P. Kenow, Luke J. Fara, Steven C. Houdek, Brian R. Gray, Darryl J. Heard, Michael W. Meyer, Timothy J. Fox, Robert J. Kratt, Carrol L. Henderson
2023, Journal of Field Ornithology (94)
Common Loons (Gavia immer) winter primarily in marine coastal areas and utilize a forage base that is poorly defined, especially for offshore areas. Information on dive activity is needed for describing foraging strategies and for inferring prey distribution. Archival geolocator tags were used to determine the wintering locations and dive...
Gap analysis: A proposed methodology to describe and map historical and contemporary populations and habitats
Cory Brant, Karen M Alofs, Chris Castiglione, Susan E. Doka, Alexander T. Duncan, Dave Fielder, Matthew Herbert, Arunas Liskauskus, Edward S. Rutherford, Jason Smith, Ralph W. Tingley III, Ted Treska, Ted Turschak, Cindy Chu, Peter C. Esselman
2023, Report
This is a methodology paper that describes an approach for modeling and mapping historical and contemporary spawning areas for coregonine fishes in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Coregonines are a family of native whitefishes and ciscoes that are now greatly reduced or extirpated, but once served important roles for both the...
Mid-contract management alters conservation reserve program vegetation in the central and western United States
Kenneth Elgersma, Mark W. Vandever, Ai Wen
2023, Ecological Restoration (41) 169-179
Disturbances such as grazing, fire, and burrowing are historically important in North American grasslands, and plans for restoring disturbance regimes are often required for successful restoration. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has become the dominant grassland restoration mechanism in many areas, and...
Highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) virus clade 2.3.4.4b infections in wild terrestrial mammals, United States, 2022
E. J. Elsmo, A. Wunschmann, Kimberlee B. Beckmen, L. B. Broughton-Neiswanger, E. L. Buckles, J. Hugh Ellis, S. D. Fitzgerald, Robert Gerlach, S. Hawkins, Hon S. Ip, Julia S. Lankton, E. M. Lemley, J. B. Lenoch, M. L. Killian, K. Lantz, L. Long, R. Maes, M. Mainenti, J. Melotti, M. E. Moriarty, S. Nakagun, R. M. Ruden, Valerie I. Shearn-Bochsler, D.A. Thompson, M. K. Torchetti, A. J. Van Wettere, A. G. Wise, A. L. Lim
2023, Emerging Infectious Diseases (29) 2451-2460
We describe the pathology of natural infection with highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) virus of Eurasian lineage Goose/Guangdong clade 2.3.4.4b in 67 wild terrestrial mammals throughout the United States during April 1‒July 21, 2022. Affected mammals include 50 red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), 6 striped skunks (Mephitis...
Lactation performance in polar bears is associated with fasting time and energetic state
Louise C. Archer, Stephen N. Atkinson, Anthony M. Pagano, Stephanie R. Penk, Peter K. Molnar
2023, Marine Ecology Progress Series (720) 175-189
Females must continually make resource allocation decisions because of fitness trade-offs between self-maintenance and investment in current offspring, yet factors underpinning these decisions are unresolved. Polar bears Ursus maritimus face considerable allocation challenges when seasonal sea-ice melt precludes access to prey for several months, and females rely solely on energy stores...
Visitor use and activities detected using trail cameras at forest restoration sites
Janice L. Albers, Mark L. Wildhaber, Nicholas S. Green, Matthew Struckhoff, Michael J. Hooper
2023, Ecological Restoration (41) 199-212
We used trail cameras to monitor human visits and activities at two sites in northeast Indiana being restored to bottomland hardwood forests. These sites, managed as nature preserves, are close to cities, where trails and parking lots have been added for ease of access. In this...
Prediction of the probability of elevated nitrate concentrations at groundwater depths used for drinking-water supply in the Puget Sound basin, Washington, 2004–19
Robert W. Black, Elise E. Wright, Valerie A.L. Bright, Alex O. Headman
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5117
The Puget Sound basin encompasses the 13,700-square-mile area that drains to the Puget Sound and the adjacent marine waters of Washington State. Well more than 4 million people live within the basin, with numbers continuing to increase, who rely on the basin’s natural resources including groundwater. The Puget Sound Partnership...
Changes in phosphorus and suspended solids loading in the Fox River, northeastern Wisconsin, 1989–2021
Dale M. Robertson, Matthew W. Diebel, Sarah L. Bartlett, Kevin J. Fermanich
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5112
The entire Lower Fox River and inner bay of Green Bay, in northeastern Wisconsin, have been listed as impaired by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) for low dissolved oxygen and degraded habitat, with total phosphorus (TP) and total suspended solids (TSS) concentrations listed as the likely causes of...
Cold-water corals of the world: Gulf of Mexico
Sandra Brooke, Amanda Demopoulos, Harry Roberts, Jay J. Lunden, Tracey Sutton, Andrew Davies
2023, Book chapter, Cold-water coral reefs of the world
The Gulf of Mexico is a semi-enclosed sea that borders the USA and Mexico and covers approximately 1.5 million square kilometers. The northern Gulf is topographically complex and is a rich source of oil and gas deposits, which has led to a great deal of research on benthic ecosystems from...
Utilizing high-resolution genetic markers to track population-level exposure of migratory birds to renewable energy development
Ryan J. Harrigan, Jasmine Rajbhandary, Christen Bossu, Peter M. Sanzenbacher, Thomas Dietsch, Cristian Gruppi, Todd E. Katzner, Thomas J. Smith III, Kristen Ruegg
2023, PLOS Sustainability and Transformation (2)
With new motivation to increase the proportion of energy demands met by zero-carbon sources, there is a greater focus on efforts to assess and mitigate the impacts of renewable energy development on sensitive ecosystems and wildlife, of which birds are of particular interest. One challenge for...
Water, water everywhere, but every drop unique: Emerging challenges in the science to understand the role of contaminants in management of drinking water supplies
S.T. Glassmeyer, E.E. Burns, Michael J. Focazio, Edward Furlong, Matthew O. Gribble, M.A. Jahne, S.P. Keely, A.R. Kenicutt, Dana W. Kolpin, E.K. Medlock Kakaley, S.L. Pfaller
2023, GeoHealth (7)
The protection and management of water resources continues to be challenged by multiple and ongoing factors such as shifts in demographic, social, economic, and public health requirements. Physical limitations placed on access to potable supplies include natural and human-caused factors such as aquifer depletion, aging infrastructure, saltwater...
Creating an updated vegetation map for Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge: Final report
Erin E. Hoy
2023, Report
Although Big Oaks NWR encompasses much diversity in wildlife species, an up-to-date, detailed, and comprehensive map showing vegetation types was lacking. The creation of an updated vegetation map for Big Oaks NWR was approved in early 2019. Digital aerial imagery was collected on November 1, 2019 at a resolution of...
Ectoparasitism and energy infrastructure limit survival of preadult Golden Eagles in the Southern Great Plains
Robert K. Murphy, Brian A. Millsap, Dale W. Stahlecker, Clint W. Boal, Brian W. Smith, Shea D. Mullican, Corrie C. Borgman
2023, Journal of Raptor Research (57) 505-521
Much of the US Southern Great Plains (SGP) continues to undergo intensive energy development that could affect the region's Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), yet the species' population status there is unknown. During 2011–2020, we used satellite telemetry to assess annual survival rates and causes of mortality among 40 preadult (<3...
Declining American Goshawk (Accipiter atricapillus) nest site habitat suitability in a timber production landscape: Effects of abiotic, biotic, and forest management factors
Jason E. Bruggeman, Patricia L. Kennedy, David E. Andersen, Shelly Deisch, Eileen Dowd Stukel
2023, Journal of Raptor Research (57) 595-616
Conservation of the American Goshawk (Accipiter atricapillus; hereafter goshawk) has been contentious in relation to forest management. Higher quality goshawk nesting habitat is generally considered to consist of contiguous tracts of mature forest, due to goshawks' large home ranges, territoriality, and food requirements. The large trees of mature forest have...
Movement beyond the mean: decoupling sources of individual variation in brook trout movement across seasons
Shannon L. White, Jason Keagy, Sarah Batchelor, Julia Langlois, Natalie Thomas, Tyler Wagner
2023, Environmental Biology of Fishes (106) 2205-2218
Movement is an important eco-evolutionary process that can shape population and ecosystem structure and function. Accordingly, a firm understanding of species movement ecology is often foundational to effective management and conservation. However, despite movement being an inherently individual-level behavior, there remains a tendency to describe dispersal and migration patterns using...
Winter distribution of golden eagles in the Eastern USA
Tricia Miller, Michael Lanzone, Melissa Braham, Adam Duerr, Jeff Cooper, Scott G. Somershoe, David Hanni, Eric C. Soehren, Carrie Threadgill, Mercedes Maddox, Jonathan Stober, Christine A. Kelly, Tom Salo, Andrew Berry, Mark S. Martell, Scott Mehus, Brian Dirks, Robert Sargent, Todd E. Katzner
2023, Journal of Raptor Research (57) 522-532
Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) have a Holarctic distribution, but some details of that overall distribution are poorly understood, including parts of the range in eastern North America. Recent studies in the region suggest that Golden Eagles may be more widely distributed than previously recognized. For species specific conservation...
Automated construction of Streamflow-Routing networks for MODFLOW—Application in the Mississippi Embayment region
Andrew T. Leaf
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5051
In humid regions with dense stream networks, surface water exerts a fundamental control on the water levels and flow directions of shallow groundwater. Understanding interactions between groundwater and surface water is critical for managing groundwater resources and groundwater-dependent ecosystems. Representing streams in groundwater models has historically been arduous and error...
Simulating groundwater flow in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain with a focus on the Mississippi Delta
Andrew T. Leaf, Leslie L. Duncan, Connor J. Haugh, Randall J. Hunt, James R. Rigby
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5100
The Mississippi Alluvial Plain has become one of the most important agricultural regions in the United States but relies heavily on groundwater for irrigation. On average, more than 12 billion gallons are withdrawn daily from the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer. Declining groundwater levels, especially in the Delta region of...
Updated estimates of water budget components for the Mississippi Embayment Region using a soil-water-balance model, 2000–2020
Martha G. Nielsen, Stephen, M. Westenbroek
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5080
A Soil-Water-Balance (SWB) model for the Mississippi embayment region in Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana was constructed and calibrated to gain insight into potential recharge patterns for the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer, which has had substantial drawdown under intense pumping stress over the last several decades. An analysis of...
Trace metal and phosphorus loading from groundwater seepage into South Fork Coeur d’Alene River after remediation at the Bunker Hill Superfund Site, northern Idaho, 2022
Erin M. Murray, Lauren M. Zinsser
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5125
Widely dispersed waste products from historical mining in northern Idaho’s Coeur d’Alene mining district have long been a concern in the Coeur d’Alene River Basin in northern Idaho. The Central Impoundment Area (CIA), an unlined mining waste repository that is part of the Bunker Hill Superfund Site designated in 1983,...
