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Large-domain hydrological models are increasingly needed to support water-resource assessment and management in large river basins. Here, we describe results for the first Brazilian application of the SPAtially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) model using a new open-source modeling and interactive decision support system tool (RSPARROW) to quantify the...

In 2015, about 84,600 million gallons per day (Mgal/d) of groundwater were withdrawn in the United States for various uses including public supply, self-supplied domestic, industrial, mining, thermoelectric power, aquaculture, livestock, and irrigation. Of this total, about 94 percent (79,200 Mgal/d) was withdrawn from principal aquifers, which are defined as...

On October 18, 2015, a large flood caused considerable damage in Grapevine Canyon near Death Valley Scotty Historic District, in Death Valley National Park, California. Significant channel changes had limited the applicability of previously created flood-inundation maps to current conditions. Predicted flood-inundation maps for Scotty’s Castle were updated using one-dimensional...

Stream and river ecosystems provide subsidies of emergent adult aquatic insects and other resources to terrestrial food webs, and this lotic–land subsidy has garnered much attention in recent research. Here, we critically examine a list of biotic and abiotic variables—including productivity, dominant taxa, geomorphology, and weather—that should be...

Animals with complex life histories such as aquatic insects and amphibians link freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems when they transition from water to land during development. This transition requires metamorphosis from juvenile to adult life stages. Metamorphosis is a stressful and ecologically sensitive life history event. Exposure to contaminants...

Ecologists have long recognized that ecological subsidies (the flow of organic matter, nutrients, and organisms between ecosystems) can strongly affect ecosystem processes and community structure in the recipient ecosystem. Animal movements, organic matter flows, and food web dynamics between linked aquatic and terrestrial systems can also influence contaminant fate, exposure,...

In this chapter, we synthesize the state of the science regarding ecological subsidies and contaminants at the land-water interface and suggest research and management approaches for linked freshwater-terrestrial ecosystems. Specifically, we focus on movements of animals with complex life histories and the detrital inputs associated with animal and...

At low concentrations, trace metals are critical for sustaining life on Earth. However, at high concentrations, they become a global contaminant with particularly strong effects on freshwater communities. These effects can propagate to terrestrial ecosystems in part by altering production and community structure of adult aquatic insect emergence...

As part of a cooperative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to evaluate the sustainability of Long Island’s sole-source aquifer system, the transmissivities of four aquifers were estimated from specific-capacity tests at 447 production wells in Nassau, Queens, and Kings Counties...

Despite low species diversity and primary production, trophic structure (e.g., top predator species, predator size) is surprisingly variable among Arctic lakes. We investigated trophic structure in lakes of arctic Alaska containing arctic char Salvelinus alpinus using stomach contents and stable isotope ratios in two geographically-close but hydrologically-distinct lake clusters to investigate how...

Semi‐arid riparian woodlands face threats from increasing extractive water demand and climate change in dryland landscapes worldwide. Improved landscape‐scale understanding of riparian woodland water use (evapotranspiration, ET) and its sensitivity to climate variables is needed to strategically manage water resources, as well as to create successful ecosystem conservation and restoration...

Opportunities for growth and survival of aquatic organisms are spatially and temporally variable as habitat conditions across watersheds respond to interacting climatic, geomorphic, and hydrologic conditions. As conservation efforts often focus on identifying and protecting critical habitats, it is important to understand how this spatial and...

The Utica and Marcellus Shale Plays in the Appalachian Basin are the fourth and first largest natural gas producing plays in the United States, respectively. Hydrocarbon production generates large volumes of brine (“produced water”) that must be disposed of, treated, or...

The U.S. Geological Survey is actively investigating remote sensing of surface velocity and river discharge (discharge) from satellite-, high altitude-, small, unmanned aircraft systems- (sUAS or drone), and permanent (fixed) deployments. This initiative is important in ungaged basins and river reaches that lack the infrastructure to deploy...

Soil respiration is a primary component of the terrestrial carbon cycle. However, predicting the response of soil respiration to climate change remains a challenge due to the complex interactions between environmental drivers, especially plant phenology, temperature, and soil moisture. In this study, we use a 1‐D diffusion‐reaction model to calculate...

Tributaries provide spawning habitat for three of four major sub-stocks of Lake Erie walleye (Sander vitreus). Despite anthropogenic degradation and the extirpation of other potamodromous species, the Maumee River, Ohio, USA continues to support one of the largest fish migrations in the Laurentian Great Lakes. To determine if spawning habitat...

A foundational goal of trait‐based ecology, including trait‐based restoration, is to link specific traits to community assembly, biodiversity, and ecosystem function. Despite a growing awareness of the importance of belowground traits for ecological processes, a synthesis of how to root traits can inform restoration of terrestrial plant communities is lacking....

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA), carried out bathymetric and topographic surveys to characterize the volume of Deadmans Lake, Golf Course Reservoir 9, Ice Lake, Kettle Lakes 1–3, and Non-Potable Reservoirs 1–4 at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado. Bathymetric maps of each...

Methods were developed for measuring immune function in Micropterus dolomieu (smallmouth bass). The ultimate objective is to monitor and evaluate changes over time in immune status and disease resistance in conjunction with other characteristics of fish health and environmental stressors. To test these methods for utility in ecotoxicological studies, 192...

To characterize eruption activity of the iconic Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park over past centuries, we obtained 41 new radiocarbon dates of mineralized wood preserved in the mound of silica that precipitated from erupted waters. Trees do not grow on active geyser mounds, implying that...

The endangered Silver Chub (Macrhybopsis storeriana, Kirtland 1844) is native to North America and primarily riverine, with the only known large‐lake population in Lake Erie. Once a major component of the Lake Erie fish community, it declined and became nearly extirpated in the mid‐1900s. Recent collections in...

Evapotranspiration (ET) is needed in a range of applications in hydrology, climatology, ecology, and agriculture. Remote sensing-based estimation is the only viable and economical method for ET estimation over large areas. The current Landsat satellites provide images every 16 days limiting the ability to capture biophysical changes affecting...

The ability of wetlands to accrete organic matter in response to rising sea level is a key to landscape resilience, especially in light of reduced sediment availability consequent to dam construction and channelization. This study examined the degradation of cattail (Typha spp.) and tule (Schoenoplectus acutus) litters in...

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Connecticut Department of Transportation, updated flood-frequency estimates with 50-, 20-, 10-, 4-, 2-, 1-, 0.5-, and 0.2-percent annual exceedance probabilities (2-, 5-, 10-, 25-, 50-, 100-, 200-, and 500-year recurrence intervals, respectively) for 141 streamgages in Connecticut and 11 streamgages in adjacent...

Procedures for undertaking and analyzing recovery from aquifer tests of 13 to 132 seconds (described in reports cited herein) were applied to 51 domestic drilled wells that penetrated bedrock outside major valleys in the part of the Appalachian Plateau of New York drained by the Susquehanna River. Transmissivities calculated from...