Is now the time? Review of genetic rescue as a conservation tool for brook trout
Shannon L. White, Jacob M Rash, David C. Kazyak
2023, Ecology and Evolution (13)
Brook trout populations have been declining throughout their native range in the east coast of the United States. Many populations are now distributed in small, isolated habitat patches where low genetic diversity and high rates of inbreeding reduce contemporary viability and long-term adaptive potential. Although...
Assessing individual movement, habitat use, and behavior of non-breeding marine birds in relation to prey availability in the US Atlantic
Julia Gulka, Alicia Berlin, Kevin Friedland, Andrew Gilbert, Chandra Goetsch, William Montevecchi, Matthew Perry, Iain Stenhouse, Kate A. Williams, Evan A. Adams
2023, Marine Ecology Progress Series (711) 77-99
Resource availability is a key factor driving marine bird movements and distributions, but direct information on prey availability is difficult to obtain at relevant scales. We present novel methods for describing multi-scale trophic associations, combining movement analyses of marine birds with estimates of forage fish surface aggregations from digital aerial...
Estimating northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) pair detection probabilities based on call-back surveys associated with long-term mark-recapture studies, 1993–2018
Katie M. Dugger, Alan B. Franklin, Damon B. Lesmeister, Raymond J. Davis, J. David Wiens, Gary C. White, James D. Nichols, James E. Hines, Charles B. Yackulic, Carl J. Schwarz, Steven H. Ackers, L. Steven Andrews, Larissa L. Bailey, Robin Bown, Jesse Burgher, Kenneth P. Burnham, Peter C. Carlson, Tara Chestnut, Mary M Conner, Krista E. Dilione, Eric D. Forsman, Scott A. Gremel, Keith A. Hamm, Dale R. Herter, J. Mark Higley, Rob B. Horn, Julianna M Jenkins, William L. Kendall, David W Lamphear, Christopher McCafferty, Trent L. McDonald, Janice A Reid, Jeremy T. Rockweit, David C. Simon, Stan G Sovern, James K. Swingle, Heather Wise
2023, Open-File Report 2023-1012
The northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina; hereinafter NSO) was listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act in 1990 and population declines have continued since that listing. Given the species’ protected status, any proposed activities on Federal lands that might impact NSO require consultation with U.S. Fish and Wildlife...
Spatiotemporal patterns and environmental drivers of eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) abundance along the Missouri River, USA
Nadeesha D. Illeperuma, Mark D. Dixon, Caroline M. Elliott, Kimberly I. Magnuson, Miyuraj H H. Withanage, James E. Vogelmann
2023, Landscape Ecology (38) 1677-1695
Context: Changes in disturbance regimes, including reductions in flooding and geomorphic dynamism from dam construction and flow regulation, have facilitated invasion by eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana L.), an upland tree species, in the understory of floodplain forests along the Missouri National Recreational River (MNRR).<p class="c-article__sub-heading"...
Flood-inundation maps for the Muddy River, near Moapa, Nevada
Christopher M. Morris, Hampton K. Childres
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5033
The Muddy River provides habitat for several wildlife and endemic aquatic species protected under the Endangered Species Act. Near Moapa, Nevada, in the Bureau of Land Management’s Muddy River Floodplain Restoration Project Area, a previously constructed levee on the east side of the river alters the natural hydrology and decreases...
Landslides triggered by the 2016–2017 storm season, eastern San Francisco Bay region, California
Skye C. Corbett, Brian D. Collins
2023, Scientific Investigations Map 3503
DiscussionThe winter rainy season of 2016–2017 brought abundant rainfall to the State of California and to the San Francisco Bay region. In January and February of 2017, intense rainfall from strong winter storms saturated soils in the region and triggered thousands of shallow landslides. The highest concentration of these landslides...
High resolution lidar data shed light on inter-island translocation of endangered bird species in the Hawaiian Islands
Erica M. Gallerani, Jeffrey Burgett, Nicolas R. Vaughn, Lucas Fortini, Geoffrey A. Fricker, Hanna L. Mounce, Thomas W. Gillespie, Lisa H. Crampton, David Knapp, Justin M. Hite, Roy Gilb
2023, Ecological Applications (33)
Translocation, often a management solution reserved for at-risk species, is a highly time-sensitive intervention in the face of a rapidly changing climate. The definition of abiotic and biotic habitat requirements is essential to the selection of appropriate release sites in novel environments. However, field-based...
Potential effects of climate change on Emydoidea blandingii (Blanding’s turtle)
Marta P. Lyons, Catherine A. Nikiel, Olivia E. LeDee, Ryan P. Boyles
2023, Open-File Report 2021-1104-D
Emydoidea blandingii (Holbrook, 1838; Blanding’s turtles) are a species of medium-sized, long-lived, semiaquatic, freshwater turtles with a wide distribution across the northern and eastern United States and southern Canada. They have an annual activity cycle consisting of late autumn and winter overwintering and spring emergence, spring movement and foraging, spring...
Use of environmental DNA to assess American Eel distribution, abundance, and barriers in a river-canal system
Scott D. George, Barry P. Baldigo, Christopher B. Rees, Meredith L. Bartron, John J. Wiley Jr., Daniel S. Stich, Scott M. Wells, Dylan R. Winterhalter
2023, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (152) 310-326
Objective: The American Eel Anguilla rostrata historically was one of the most common fish species in Atlantic coast watersheds, but extensive dam construction and other factors caused a widespread population decline. One of the watersheds where American Eels have declined considerably is the Mohawk River in eastern and central...
Survival, healing, and swim performance of juvenile migratory sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) implanted with a new acoustic microtransmitter designed for small eel-like fishes
Taylor F. Haas, Theodore R. Castro-Santos, Scott M. Miehls, Zhiqun D. Deng, Tyler Michael Bruning, C. Michael Wagner
2023, Animal Biotelemetry (11)
BackgroundLittle is known about the transformer stage of the parasitic lampreys, a brief but critical period that encompasses juvenile out-migration from rivers to lakes or oceans to begin parasitic feeding. Information about this life stage could have significant conservation implications for both imperiled and invasive lampreys. We investigated...
Logs and data from the Starthistle trench across a scarp within the Wallula Fault Zone, southeastern Washington
Stephen J. Angster, Brian L. Sherrod, John Lasher
2023, Scientific Investigations Map 3495
IntroductionThe Wallula Fault Zone is composed of a series of northwest-trending faults and folds that coincide with a prominent magnetic anomaly that extends uninterrupted for approximately 120 kilometers within the Cascadia back arc of southeastern Washington and northeastern Oregon. It is part of the geologic structures associated with the topographic...
A numerical investigation of the mechanisms controlling salt intrusion in the Delaware Bay Estuary
Salme Ellen Cook, John C. Warner, Kendra L. Russell
2023, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science (283)
Salinity intrusion in coastal systems is mainly controlled by freshwater inflows. However, extreme events like drought, low-pressure storms, and longer-term sea level rise can exacerbate the landward salt migration and threaten economic infrastructure and ecological health. Along the eastern seaboard of the United States, approximately 13 million people rely on the water...
Archaeological sites in Grand Canyon National Park along the Colorado River are eroding owing to six decades of Glen Canyon Dam operations
Joel B. Sankey, Amy E. East, Helen C. Fairley, Joshua Caster, Jennifer Dierker, Ellen Brennan, Lonnie Pilkington, Nathaniel Bransky, Alan Kasprak
2023, Journal of Environmental Management (342)
The archaeological record documenting human history in deserts is commonly concentrated along rivers in terraces or other landforms built by river sediment deposits. Today that record is at risk in many river valleys owing to human resource and infrastructure development activities, including the construction and operation of dams. We assessed...
Evaluation of management efforts to reduce nutrient and sediment contributions to the Chesapeake Bay estuary
Z. Easton, K. Stephenson, B. Benham, J.K. Bohlke, A. Buda, A. Collick, L. Fowler, E. Gilinsky, C. Hershner, Andrew Miller, Gregory E. Noe, L. Palm-Forster, T. Thompson
2023, Report
No abstract available....
Achieving water quality goals in the Chesapeake Bay: A comprehensive evaluation of system response
Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee
Kurt Stephenson, Denice Wardrop, editor(s)
2023, Report
A Comprehensive Evaluation of System ResponseAchieving Water Quality Goals in the Chesapeake Bay: A Comprehensive Evaluation of System Response (CESR) includes an evaluation of why progress toward meeting the TMDL and water quality standards has been slower than expected and offers options for...
Assembling the right pieces: Developing an interdisciplinary team to study disease, decline, and recovery of a world-class Smallmouth Bass fishery
Megan K. Schall, Geoffrey Smith, Vicki S. Blazer, Heather L. Walsh, Timothy Wertz, Dustin R. Shull, Tyler Wagner
2023, Fisheries Magazine (48) 287-294
Managing and understanding fisheries dynamics are becoming more complex as new and seemingly more complicated environmental factors are identified. Often management requires resources beyond that of any one entity and calls for collaboration among partners with differing priorities and backgrounds to account for the complexity of factors influencing fisheries. We...
Bottom trawl assessment of Lake Ontario's benthic preyfish community, 2022
Brian O’Malley, Scott P. Minihkeim, James McKenna, Jessica A. Goretzke, Jeremy P. Holden
2023, Report
Since 1978, surveys of Lake Ontario preyfish communities have provided information on the status and trends of the benthic preyfish community related to Fish Community Objectives that includes understanding preyfish population dynamics and community diversity. Beginning in 2015, the benthic preyfish survey expanded from US-only to incorporate Canadian sites, increasing...
The 3D Elevation Program—Supporting Washington's economy
Tom Carlson
2023, Fact Sheet 2022-3075
Washington State has a geographically diverse and spectacular landscape that is divided to the east and west by the largely volcanic mountains of the Cascade Range. Approximately 88 percent of the population lives in western Washington, mostly in urban areas. The climate is varied, with high precipitation and seasonal flooding...
A multi-level assessment of biological effects associated with mercury concentrations in smallmouth bass, Micropterus dolomieu
Vicki S. Blazer, Heather L. Walsh, Adam Sperry, Brenna Raines, James Willacker, Collin A. Eagles-Smith
2023, Environmental Pollution (392)
Total mercury (THg) was measured in muscle (fillet) and liver tissue of adult smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu collected at multiple sites in the Potomac and Susquehanna River drainages within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Smallmouth bass in these drainages have experienced episodic mortality events, a high prevalence of skin...
Public-supply water use in 2010 and projections of use in 2020 and 2030, Tennessee
John A. Robinson, W. Scott Gain
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5041
Future water use was projected for public-water systems in Tennessee. Water-use information was compiled for Tennessee for 2010, and projections were made to 2020 and 2030. The water-use models were based on two primary datasets: baseline water-use information for 2010 for Tennessee and projected population in Tennessee.Population and water withdrawals...
Summary and conclusions
John A. Izbicki, Krishangi D. Groover, Whitney A. Seymour, David M. Miller, John G. Warden, Laurence G. Miller
2023, Professional Paper 1885-J
Executive SummaryChromium concentrations in rock and aquifer material in Hinkley and Water Valleys in the Mojave Desert, 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles, California, are generally low compared to the average chromium concentration of 185 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) in the average bulk continental crust. Chromium concentrations in felsic, coarse-textured...
Evaluation of natural and anthropogenic (human-made) hexavalent chromium
John A. Izbicki, John G. Warden, Krishangi D. Groover, Whitney A. Seymour
2023, Professional Paper 1885-G
Hexavalent chromium, Cr(VI), was released between 1952 and 1964 from the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) Hinkley compressor station, in the Mojave Desert about 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles, California. Geologic, geochemical, and hydrologic data from more than 100 wells collected between March 2015 and November 2017 were...
Environmental tracers of groundwater source, age, and geochemical evolution
John G. Warden, John A. Izbicki, Jurgen Sultenfuss, Kathleen Scheiderich, John Fitzpatrick
2023, Professional Paper 1885-F
Hexavalent chromium, Cr(VI), was discharged in cooling wastewater to unlined surface ponds from 1952 to 1964 and reached the underlying unconsolidated aquifer at the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) Hinkley compressor station in the Mojave Desert, 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles, California. A suite of environmental tracers was...
Groundwater chemistry and hexavalent chromium
John A. Izbicki, R. Blaine McCleskey, Carmen A. Burton, Dennis A. Clark, Gregory A. Smith
2023, Professional Paper 1885-E
Water samples collected by the U.S. Geological Survey from more than 100 wells between March 2015 and November 2017 in Hinkley and Water Valleys, in the Mojave Desert 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles, California, were analyzed for field parameters, major ions, nutrients, and selected trace elements, including hexavalent chromium,...
Analyses of regulatory water-quality data
John A. Izbicki, Whitney A. Seymour
2023, Professional Paper 1885-D
Between 1952 and 1964, hexavalent chromium, Cr(VI), was released into groundwater from the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) Hinkley compressor station in the Mojave Desert 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles, California. The Pacific Gas and Electric Company has monitored groundwater near Hinkley, California, for Cr(VI) and other constituents...
