Seismic stratigraphic framework of the continental shelf offshore Delmarva, U.S.A.: Implications for Mid-Atlantic Bight evolution since the Pliocene
Laura L. Brothers, David S. Foster, Elizabeth A. Pendleton, Wayne E. Baldwin
2020, Marine Geology (428)
Understanding how past coastal systems have evolved is critical to predicting future coastal change. Using over 12,000 trackline kilometers of recently collected, co-located multi-channel boomer, sparker and chirp seismic reflection profile data integrated with previously collected borehole and vibracore data, we...
Acidification in the U.S. Southeast: Causes, potential consequences and the role of the Southeast Ocean and Coastal Acidification Network
Emily R. Hall, Leslie Wickes, Louis Burnett, Geoffrey I. Scott, Debra Hernandez, Kimberly K. Yates, Leticia Barbero, Janet J. Reimer, Mohammed Baalousha, Jennifer Mintz, Wei-Jun Cai, J. Kevin Craig, M. Richard DeVoe, William S. Fisher, Terri K. Hathaway, Elizabeth B. Jewett, Zackary Johnson, Paula Keener, Rua S. Mordecai, Scott Noakes, Charlie Phillips, Paul Sandifer, Astrid Schnetzer, Jay Styron
2020, Frontiers in Marine Science (7)
Coastal acidification in southeastern U.S. estuaries and coastal waters is influenced by biological activity, run-off from the land, and increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Acidification can negatively impact coastal resources such as shellfish, finfish, and coral reefs, and the communities that rely on them. Organismal responses for species located...
Linkages between temperature, macroinvertebrates, and young-of-year Coho Salmon growth in surface-water and groundwater streams
E. Y. Campbell, Jason B. Dunham, G H Reeves
2020, Freshwater Science (39) 447-460
Ecological resources for fishes in stream food webs shift over space and time, providing a complex template of available resources that can be used for growth. We tracked water temperature in conjunction with young-of-year Coho Salmon size, growth, and diet in 2 streams with contrasting thermal regimes: a groundwater stream...
Land-cover and climatic controls on water temperature, flow permanence, and fragmentation of Great Basin stream networks
Andrew S. Gendaszek, Jason B. Dunham, Christian E. Torgersen, David P Hockman-Wert, Michael Heck, Justin Martin Thorson, Jeffrey Michael Mintz, Todd Allai
2020, Water (12)
The seasonal and inter-annual variability of flow presence and water temperature within headwater streams of the Great Basin of the western United States limit the occurrence and distribution of coldwater fish and other aquatic species. To evaluate changes in flow presence and water temperature during seasonal dry periods, we developed...
Using NASA Earth observations and Google Earth Engine to map winter cover crop conservation performance in the Chesapeake Bay watershed
Alison Thieme, Sunita Yadav, Perry C. Oddo, John M. Fitz, Sean McCartney, LeeAnn King, Jason Keppler, Gregory W. McCarty, W. Dean Hively
2020, Remote Sensing of Environment (248)
Winter cover crops such as barley, rye, and wheat help to improve soil structure by increasing porosity, aggregate stability, and organic matter, while reducing the loss of agricultural nutrients and sediments into waterways. The environmental performance of cover crops is affected by choice of species, planting date, planting...
Sediment lithology and borehole erosion testing, American and Sacramento Rivers, California
Paul A. Work, Daniel N. Livsey
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5063
Executive SummaryA field investigation intended to measure the potential for erosion of sediments beside the American and Sacramento Rivers near Sacramento, California, is described. The study featured two primary components: (1) drilling and soil sampling to reveal lithology, down to depths matching the local river thalweg, where possible, and (2)...
Shallow lake management enhanced habitat and attracted waterbirds during fall migration
Danelle M. Larson, Steven D. Cordts, Nicole Hansel-Welch
2020, Hydrobiologia (847) 3365-3379
Lake water levels are often managed in shallow lakes in order to improve water quality and promote aquatic vegetation that presumably benefits water birds. We aimed to understand whether waterbird abundance and species richness during fall migrations were positively influenced by managed lake water levels at 32 shallow lakes over...
Parameter estimation for multiple post-wildfire hydrologic models
Brian A. Ebel, John A. Moody
2020, Hydrological Processes (34) 4049-4066
Predictions of post‐wildfire flooding and debris flows are needed, typically with short lead times. Measurements of soil‐hydraulic properties necessary for model parameterization are, however, seldom available. This study quantified soil‐hydraulic properties, soil‐water retention, and selected soil physical properties within the perimeter of the 2017 Thomas Fire...
Use of environmental DNA to detect the invasive aquatic plants Myriophyllum spicatum and Egeria densa in lakes
Lauren M Kuehne, Carl O. Ostberg, Dorothy M. Chase, Jeffrey J. Duda, Julian D. Olden
2020, Freshwater Science (39) 521-533
Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis offers a promising tool for rapid and early detection of aquatic plant invasive species, but currently suffers from substantial unknowns that limit its widespread use in monitoring programs. We conducted the first study to test the factors related to eDNA-based detectability of 2 invasive aquatic plants, Egeria...
Effects of stormwater runoff from selected bridge decks on conditions of water, sediment, and biological quality in receiving waters in South Carolina, 2013 to 2018
Celeste A. Journey, Matthew D. Petkewich, Kevin J. Conlon, Andral W. Caldwell, Jimmy M. Clark, Jeffrey W. Riley, Paul M. Bradley
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5046
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the South Carolina Department of Transportation, investigated the effects of stormwater runoff from bridge decks on stream water quality conditions in South Carolina. The investigation assessed 5 bridges in 3 physiographic provinces in South Carolina (Piedmont, Upper Coastal Plain, and Lower Coast Plain)...
Extreme drought and adaptive resource selection by a desert mammal
Jay V. Gedir, James W. Cain III, Tyson Swetnam, Paul R. Krausman, John R. Morgart
2020, Ecosphere (11)
When animals select areas to occupy, decisions involve trade-offs between the fitness benefits of obtaining critical resources and minimizing costs of biotic and abiotic factors that constrain their use. These processes can be more dynamic and complex for species inhabiting desert environments, where highly variable spatial and temporal distribution of...
Nutrients and warming interact to force mountain lakes into unprecedented ecological state
Isabella A. Oleksy, Jill S. Baron, Peter Leavitt, Sarah A. Spaulding
2020, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (287)
While deposition of reactive nitrogen (N) in the 20th century has been strongly linked to changes in diatom assemblages in high-elevation lakes, pronounced and contemporaneous changes in other algal groups suggest additional drivers. We explored the origin and magnitude of changes in two mountain lakes from the end of the...
The grass is not always greener on the other side: Seasonal reversal of vegetation greenness in aspect-driven semiarid ecosystems
Nikul Kumari, Patricia M. Saco, Jose F. Rodriguez, Samuel Johnstone, Ankur Srivastava, Kwok P. Chun, Omer Yetemen
2020, Geophysical Research Letters (47)
Our current understanding of semiarid ecosystems is that they tend to display higher vegetation greenness on polar-facing slopes (PFS) than on equatorial-facing slopes (EFS). However, recent studies have argued that higher vegetation greenness can occur on EFS during part of the year. To assess whether this seasonal reversal of aspect-driven...
Estimating soil organic carbon redistribution in three major river basins of China based on erosion processes
Yan Yang, Qiuan Zhu, Jinxun Liu, Mingxu Li, Minshu Yuan, Huai Chen, Changhui Peng, Zhenan Yang
2020, Soil Research (58) 540-550
Soil erosion by water affects soil organic carbon (SOC) migration and distribution, which are important processes for defining ecosystem carbon sources and sinks. Little has been done to quantify soil carbon erosion in the three major basins in China, the Yangtze River, Yellow River and Pearl River Basins, which contain...
Calibrated simulation of the long-term average surficial groundwater system and derived spatial distributions of its characteristics for the contiguous United States
Wesley O. Zell, Ward E. Sanford
2020, Water Resources Research (56)
While the physical processes governing groundwater flow are well understood, and the computational resources now exist for solving the governing equations in three dimensions over continental-scale domains, there remains substantial uncertainty about the subsurface distribution of the properties that control groundwater flow and transport for much of the contiguous United...
Modeling the surface water and groundwater budgets of the US using MODFLOW-OWHM
Mustafa H Alattar, Tara J Troy, Tess A Russo, Scott E. Boyce
2020, Advances in Water Resources (143)
Assessments of groundwater and surface water budgets at a large scale, such as the contiguous United States, often separately analyze the complex dynamics linking the surface and subsurface categories of water resources. These dynamics include recharge and groundwater contributions to streamflow. The...
Wildfire-initiated talik development exceeds current thaw projections: Observations and models from Alaska's continuous permafrost zone
David M. Rey, Michelle A. Walvoord, Burke J. Minsley, Brian A. Ebel, Clifford I. Voss, Kamini Singha
2020, Geophysical Research Letters (47)
As the Arctic warms and wildfire occurrence increases, talik formation in permafrost regions is projected to expand and affect the cycling of water and carbon. Yet, few unified field and modeling studies have examined this process in detail, particularly in areas of continuous permafrost. We address this gap by presenting...
A national-scale assessment of mercury bioaccumulation in United States National Parks using dragonfly larvae as biosentinels through a citizen-science framework
Collin A. Eagles-Smith, James Willacker, Sarah J. Nelson, Collen M Flanagan Pritz, David P. Krabbenhoft, Celia Y. Chen, Joshua T. Ackerman, Evan H. Campbell Grant, David S. Pilliod
2020, Environmental Science and Technology (54) 8779-8790
We conducted a national-scale assessment of mercury (Hg) bioaccumulation in aquatic ecosystems using dragonfly larvae as biosentinels, by developing a citizen science network to facilitate biological sampling. Implementing a carefully designed sampling methodology for citizen scientists, we developed an effective framework for landscape-level inquiry that might otherwise be resource limited....
Beloniformes: Belonidae (Needlefishes) and Hemiramphidae (Halfbeaks)
Bruce B. Collette, Stephen Walsh
2020, Book chapter, Freshwater fishes of North America, volume 2: Characidae to poeciliidae
The order Beloniformes (or Synentognathi) contains two suborders, six families, 37 genera, and about 235 species of atherinomorph fishes (Rosen & Parenti 1981; Collette et al. 1984; Collette 2004). Features common to these fishes include dorsal and anal fins on the rear half of the body, abdominal pelvic fins with...
Continuous stream discharge, salinity, and associated data collected in the Lower St. Johns River and its tributaries, Florida, 2018
Patrick J. Ryan
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1061
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, plans to deepen the St. Johns River channel in Jacksonville, Florida, from 40 to 47 feet along 13 miles of the river channel, beginning at the mouth of the river at the Atlantic Ocean, in order to accommodate larger, fully loaded cargo...
Hydrologic export is a major component of coastal wetland carbon budgets
Matthew Bogard, Brian A. Bergamaschi, David Butman, Frank Anderson, Sara Knox, Lisamarie Windham-Myers
2020, Global Biogeochemical Cycles (34)
Coastal wetlands are among the most productive habitats on Earth and sequester globally significant amounts of atmospheric carbon (C). Extreme rates of soil C accumulation are widely assumed to reflect efficient C storage. Yet the fraction of wetland C lost via hydrologic export has not been...
Insights into mercury source identification and bioaccumulation using stable isotope approaches in the Hannibal Pool of the Ohio River
Sarah E. Janssen, Kathleen A. Patnode, Bruce R Pluta, David P. Krabbenhoft
2020, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (17) 233-242
Mercury contamination in river systems due to historic and current Hg releases is a persistent concern for both wildlife and human health. In larger rivers, like the Ohio River, USA, it is difficult to directly link Hg discharges to bioaccumulation due to the existence of multiple industrial Hg sources as...
Improved fish counting method accurately quantifies high‐density fish movement in dual‐frequency identification sonar data files from a coastal wetland environment
Michael R. Eggleston, Scott W. Milne, Maxwell Ramsay, Kurt P. Kowalski
2020, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (40) 883-892
There are many ways to quantify fish movement through shallow‐water habitats, but most noninvasive methods (e.g., visual counts) are not effective in turbid coastal wetland waters of the Great Lakes. Dual‐frequency identification sonar (DIDSON) technology (Sound Metrics) offers a noninvasive, hydroacoustic‐based approach to characterize fish movement in wetlands and other...
The role of warm, dry summers and variation in snowpack on phytoplankton dynamics in high-elevation lakes
Isabella A. Oleksy, Whitney Beck, R. Lammers, Cara Steger, Cody Wilson, Kyle Christensen, Kim Vincent, Pieter Johnson, Jill Baron
2020, Ecology (101)
Abstract Climate change is altering biogeochemical, metabolic, and ecological functions in lakes across the globe. Historically, mountain lakes in temperate regions have been unproductive due to brief ice-free seasons, a snowmelt-driven hydrograph, cold temperatures, and steep topography with low vegetation and soil cover. We tested the relative importance of winter and...
Hydrologic modeling to examine the influence of the forestry reclamation approach and climate change on mineland hydrology
Tanja N. Williamson, Chris D. Barton
2020, Science of the Total Environment (743)
Forests in the Appalachian region of the U.S. are threatened by a variety of short- and long-term pressures, including climate change, invasive species, and resource extraction. Surface mining for coal is one of the most important drivers of land-use...
