Evaluating corticosterone as a biomarker for amphibians exposed to increased salinity and ambient corticosterone
Brian J. Tornabene, Blake R. Hossack, Erica J Crespi, Creagh W Breuner
2021, Conservation Physiology (9)
Physiological biomarkers are commonly used to assess the health of taxa exposed to natural and anthropogenic stressors. Glucocorticoid (GC) hormones are often used as indicators of physiological stress in wildlife because they affect growth, reproduction and survival. Increased salinity from human activities negatively influences amphibians and their corticosterone (CORT; the...
Earthquake source mechanisms and stress field variations associated with wastewater-induced seismicity in southern Kansas, USA
Amandine Amemotou, Patricia Martinez-Garzon, Grzegorz Kwiatek, Justin Rubinstein, Marco Bohnhoff
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research (126)
The strong increase of seismicity rates in the contiguous USA over the last 10 years is linked to the injection of huge amounts of wastewater from oil and gas production in unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs. We calculated 549 moment tensors of induced earthquakes (MW ≤ 4.9) in southern Kansas to study...
Insights on geochemical, isotopic, and volumetric compositions of produced water from hydraulically fractured Williston Basin oil wells
Tanya J. Gallegos, Colin A. Doolan, Rodney R. Caldwell, Mark A Engle, Matthew S. Varonka, Justin E. Birdwell, Glenn D. Jolly, Tyler B. Coplen, Thomas A. Oliver
2021, Environmental Science and Technology (55) 10025-10034
Tracing produced water origins from wells hydraulically fractured with freshwater-based fluids is sometimes predicated on assumptions that (1) each geological formation contains compositionally unique brine and (2) produced water from recently hydraulically fractured wells resembles fresher meteoric water more so than produced water from older wells. These assumptions are not...
Predicting water temperature dynamics of unmonitored lakes with meta-transfer learning
Jared Willard, Jordan Read, Alison P. Appling, Samantha K. Oliver, Xiaowei Jia, Vipin Kumar
2021, Water Resources Research (57)
Most environmental data come from a minority of well-monitored sites. An ongoing challenge in the environmental sciences is transferring knowledge from monitored sites to unmonitored sites. Here, we demonstrate a novel transfer-learning framework that accurately predicts depth-specific temperature in unmonitored lakes (targets) by borrowing models from well-monitored lakes (sources). This...
National Park Service Vegetation Mapping Inventory Program: Great Smoky Mountains National Park vegetation mapping project
Kevin D. Hop, Andrew C. Strassman, Stephanie Sattler, Rickie White, Milo Pyne, Tom Govus, Jennifer Dieck
2021, Natural Resource Report 2021/2285
The National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Mapping Inventory (VMI) Program is an effort to classify, describe, and map existing vegetation communities in national park units throughout the United States. The NPS VMI Program is managed by the NPS Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Inventory and Monitoring Program and provides baseline...
2020 Status of the Lake Ontario lower trophic levels
Kristen T. Holeck, Lars G. Rudstam, Christopher Hotaling, Dave Lemon, Web Pearsall, Jana Lantry, Mike Connerton, Chris Legard, Zy Biesinger, Brian F. Lantry, Brian Weidel, Brian O’Malley
2021, Book chapter, NYSDEC Lake Ontario annual report 2020
Significant Findings for Year 2020: Note that due to covid-19 restrictions, offshore sampling was limited in 2020.1) May – Oct total phosphorus (TP) in 2020 was 10.6 µg/L (offshore) and 7.7 µg/L (nearshore), higher than the long-term (1995-2019) average in the offshore (6.2 µg/L) and close to average in the...
Fragmentation and streamflow metrics drive prairie chub (Macrhybopsis australis) occurrence in the upper Red River basin
R. Mollenhauer, Shannon K. Brewer, J.S. Perkin, D. Swedberg, M. Wedgeworth, Z.D. Steffensmeier
2021, Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems (31) 3215-3227
Dam construction threatens global aquatic biodiversity by fragmenting stream networks and altering flow regimes. The negative effects of dams are exacerbated by increased drought periods and associated water withdrawals, especially in semi-arid regions. Stream fishes are particularly threatened owing to their mobile nature and requirement for multiple habitats to...
Literature review for candidate chemical control agents for nonnative crayfish
Justin R. Schueller, Justin R. Smerud, Kim T. Fredricks, Joel G. Putnam
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1048
Nonnative crayfish are an immediate and pervasive threat to aquatic environments and their biodiversity. Crayfish control can be achieved by physical methods, water chemistry modification, biological methods, biocidal application, and application of crayfish physiology modifiers. The purpose of this report is to identify suitable candidates for potential control of nonnative...
Preserving soil organic carbon in prairie wetlands of central North America
Sheel Bansal, Brian Tangen
2021, Book chapter, Recarbonizing global soils– A technical manual of recommended management practices
Wetlands of the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) in the Great Plains of central North America are numerous, densely distributed, and have highly productive plant and animal communities (Photo 49). When in a natural, unaltered condition, these wetlands store relatively large amounts of organic carbon in their soils (Photo 50). Human...
Toward improved decision-support tools for Delta Smelt management actions
Denise Reed, Shawn Acuna, Eli Ateljevich, Larry R. Brown, Ben Geske, Edward Gross, Jim Hobbs, Wim J. Kimmerer, Lisa Lucas, Matthew Nobriga, Kenneth A Rose
2021, Report
The Collaborative Science and Adaptive Management Program (CSAMP) has endorsed a goal of reversing the recent downward trajectory of the Delta Smelt population within 5-10 generations, with the long-term aim of establishing a self-sustaining population. An ambitious agenda of management actions is planned, and more management actions are being considered....
Appendix E. Water quality and hydrology of Green Lake, Wisconsin, and the response in its near-surface water-quality and metalimnetic dissolved oxygen minima to changes in phosphorus loading
Dale M. Robertson, Benjamin J. Siebers, Robert Ladwig, David P. Hamilton, Paul Reneau, Cory P. McDonald, Stephanie Prellwitz, Richard C Lathrop
2021, Report, Diagnostic and feasibility study findings: Water quality improvements for Green Lake, Wisconsin
Green Lake is the deepest natural inland lake in Wisconsin, USA, with a maximum depth of about 72 meters (m). In the early 1900’s, the lake was believed to have very good water quality (low nutrient concentrations and good water clarity), with low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations only in the...
The drying regimes of non-perennial rivers and streams
Adam N. Price, C. Nathan Jones, John C. Hammond, Margaret Zimmer, Samuel Zipper
2021, Geophysical Research Letters (48)
The flow regime paradigm is central to the aquatic sciences, where flow drives critical functions in lotic systems. Non-perennial streams comprise the majority of global river length, thus we extended this paradigm to stream drying. Using 894 USGS gages, we isolated 25,207 drying events from 1979 to 2018, represented by...
Estimated water withdrawals and use in Puerto Rico, 2015
Wanda L. Molina-Rivera, Michelle M. Irizarry-Ortiz
2021, Open-File Report 2021-1060
Water withdrawals and use in Puerto Rico for 2015 were estimated at 2,372 million gallons per day (Mgal/d), which was 21 percent less than withdrawals and use for 2010. The 2015 total water withdrawal and use estimates were the lowest since 1990 and coincided with a substantial decline of 25...
Divergent climate change effects on widespread dryland plant communities driven by climatic and ecohydrological gradients
Kyle A. Palmquist, Daniel Rodolphe Schlaepfer, Rachel R. Renne, Steve Torbit, Kevin Doherty, Thomas E. Remington, Greg Watson, John B. Bradford, William K. Lauenroth
2021, Global Change Biology (27) 5169-5185
Plant community response to climate change will be influenced by individual plant responses that emerge from competition for limiting resources that fluctuate through time and vary across space. Projecting these responses requires an approach that integrates environmental conditions and species interactions that result from future climatic...
Machine learning to identify geologic factors associated with production in geothermal fields: A case-study using 3D geologic data, Brady geothermal field, Nevada
Drew L. Siler, Jeff D. Pepin, Velimir V. Vesselinov, Maruti K. Mudunuru, Bulbul Ahmmed
2021, Geothermal Energy – Science, Society and Technology (9)
In this paper, we present an analysis using unsupervised machine learning (ML) to identify the key geologic factors that contribute to the geothermal production in Brady geothermal field. Brady is a hydrothermal system in northwestern Nevada that supports both electricity production and direct use of hydrothermal...
Increasing hydroperiod in a karst-depression wetland based on 165 years of simulated daily water levels
Jennifer M. Cartwright, William J. Wolfe
2021, Wetlands (41)
The hydrology of seasonally inundated depression wetlands can be highly sensitive to climatic fluctuations. Hydroperiod—the number of days per year that a wetland is inundated—is often of primary ecological importance in these systems and can vary interannually depending on climate conditions. In this study we re-examined...
Estimating flow-duration statistics and low-flow frequencies for selected streams and the implementation of a StreamStats web-based tool in Puerto Rico
Tara Williams-Sether
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5054
Daily mean streamflow data from 28 U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging stations in Puerto Rico with 10 or more years of unregulated or minimally affected flow record through water year 2018 were used to develop regression equations for flow duration and annual n-day low-flow statistics. Ordinary least-squares and generalized least-squares regression...
Approaches for assessing long-term annual yields of highway and urban runoff in selected areas of California with the Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM)
Gregory E. Granato, Paul J. Friesz
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5043
The California Department of Transportation, commonly known as CalTrans, and other municipal separate storm sewer system permittees in California as well as other State departments of transportation nationwide need information about potential loads and yields (loads per unit area) of constituents of concern in stormwater runoff and discharges from stormwater...
Distribution of chlorinated volatile organic compounds and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in monitoring wells at the former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, New Jersey, 2014–17
Thomas E. Imbrigiotta, Alex R. Fiore
2021, Open-File Report 2020-1105
A study was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S. Navy (the Navy) to determine the status of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in groundwater at the former Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) in West Trenton, New Jersey. Wells contaminated with...
Delineating the Pierre Shale from geophysical surveys within and near Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, 2019
Colton J. Medler, Todd M. Anderson
2021, Scientific Investigations Map 3474
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force Civil Engineering Center, investigated the use of surface geophysical methods to delineate the top of the Cretaceous Pierre Shale along survey transects in selected areas within and near Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota. Two complementary geophysical methods—electrical resistivity...
Evaluating establishment of conservation practices in the Conservation Reserve Program across the central and western United States
Mark W. Vandever, Sarah K. Carter, Timothy J. Assal, Kenneth Elgersma, Ai Wen, Justin L. Welty, Robert S. Arkle, Rich Iovanna
2021, Environmental Research Letters (16)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is one of the largest private lands conservation programs in the United States, establishing perennial vegetation on environmentally sensitive lands formerly in agricultural production. Over its 35 year existence, the CRP has evolved to include diverse conservation practices (CPs) while concomitantly...
Review: “Jacob’s Zoo”— How using Jacob’s method for aquifer testing leads to more intuitive understanding of aquifer characteristics
Hans-Olaf Pfannkuch, Howard D. Mooers, Donald I. Siegel, John J. Quinn, Donald O. Rosenberry, Scott C. Alexander
2021, Hydrogeology Journal (29) 2001-2015
The interpretation of aquifer responses to pumping tests is an important tool for assessing aquifer geometry and properties, which are critical in the assessment of water resources or in environmental remediation. However, the responses of aquifers, measured by time-drawdown relationships in monitoring wells, are nonunique solutions that are affected by...
HydroMet: A new code for automated objective optimization of hydrometeorological thresholds for landslide initiation
Jacob L. Conrad, Michael D. Morphew, Rex L. Baum, Benjamin B. Mirus
2021, Water (13)
Landslide detection and warning systems are important tools for mitigation of potential hazards in landslide prone areas. Traditionally, warning systems for shallow landslides have been informed by rainfall intensity-duration thresholds. More recent advances have introduced the concept of hydrometeorological thresholds that are informed not only by rainfall, but also by...
Two-dimensional hydraulic analyses of Joachim Creek, De Soto, Missouri
Kyle D. Hix, Paul H. Rydlund Jr., David C. Heimann
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5058
A two-dimensional hydraulic model; water-surface profiles; and digital maps of water-surface elevation, velocities, and water depths were developed for a 6.7-mile reach of Joachim Creek within and near the city of De Soto, Missouri. Water-surface profiles were generated for the 10-, 4-, 2-, 1-, and 0.2-percent annual exceedance probability (10-,...
Hydrogeologic framework and groundwater characterization in selected alluvial basins in the upper Rio Grande basin, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, United States, and Chihuahua, Mexico, 1980 to 2015
Natalie A. Houston, Jonathan V. Thomas, Linzy K. Foster, Diana E. Pedraza, Toby L. Welborn
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5035
Increasing demand for the limited water resources of the United States continues to put pressure on resource management agencies to balance the competing needs of ecosystem health with municipal, agricultural, and other uses. To meet these needs, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a multiyear study to evaluate water resources in...
