Controls on water quality below a reclaimed surface coal mine, southeastern Montana
Skye Keeshin, Stephanie A. Ewing, Elizabeth B Meredith, Robert A. Payne, W. Payton Gardner, Andrew G. Hunt
2025, Hydrogeology Journal (33) 715-737
Coal mining and reclamation can have a profound influence on hydrogeologic systems, with clear consequences for groundwater quality, yet their long-term influence on downgradient water quality over time following reclamation is less well documented. Geochemical trends were evaluated in water quality downgradient of a fully reclaimed landscape at the former...
Flexible phenology of a C4 grass linked to resiliency to seasonal and multiyear drought events in the American southwest
Rebecca A Finger-Higgens, David L. Hoover, Anna C. Knight, Daniel Rodolphe Schlaepfer, Michael C. Duniway
2025, Ecology and Evolution (15)
Rising temperatures are predicted to further limit dryland water availability as droughts become more intense and frequent and seasonal precipitation patterns shift. Vegetation drought stress may increase mortality and cause declines and delays in phenological events, thereby impacting species' capacity to persist and recover from extreme drought conditions. We compare...
Environmental persistence and toxicity of weathered wildland fire retardants to rainbow trout
Christina M. Mackey, Michael G. Iacchetta, Holly J. Puglis
2025, Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (88) 397-406
Long-term fire retardants are employed to combat and control wildfires by altering the way fuels burn, and they continue to decrease fire intensity after water in the retardant solution has evaporated. After application, fire retardants may persist on dry stream beds or in riparian habitats before precipitation events flush the...
Fine-resolution satellite remote sensing improves spatially distributed snow modeling to near real time
Graham A. Sexstone, Garrett Alexander Akie, David J. Selkowitz, Theodore B. Barnhart, David M. Rey, Claudia León-Salazar, Emily Carbone, Lindsay A. Bearup
2025, Remote Sensing (17)
Given the highly variable distribution of seasonal snowpacks in complex mountainous environments, the accurate snow modeling of basin-wide snow water equivalent (SWE) requires a spatially distributed approach at a sufficiently fine grid resolution (<500 m) to account for the important processes in the seasonal evolution of a snowpack (e.g., wind...
Shifting baselines of coral-reef species composition from the Late Pleistocene to the present in the Florida Keys
Lauren T. Toth, Anastasios Stathakopoulos, Scarlette Shan-Hwei Hsia, David A. Weinstein
2025, The Depositional Record (11) 893-916
The ongoing global-scale reassembly of modern coral reefs is unprecedented compared with the observed stability of most late Quaternary reef assemblages. One notable exception is the marine isotope stage (MIS) 5e (ca 130–116 thousand years ago [ka]) reefs in the Florida Keys, where the ubiquitous shallow-water coral, Acropora palmata, was near absent....
Linking permafrost to the abundance, biomass, and energy density of fish in Arctic headwater streams
Michael P. Carey, Joshua C. Koch, Jonathan A. O’Donnell, Brett Poulin, Christian E. Zimmerman
2025, Ecosphere (16)
Permafrost thaw alters groundwater flow, river hydrology, stream-catchment interactions, and the availability of carbon and nutrients in headwater streams. The impact of permafrost on watershed hydrology and biogeochemistry of headwater streams has been demonstrated, but there is little understanding of how permafrost influences fish in these ecosystems. We examined relations...
Using the D-Claw software package to model lahars in the Middle Fork Nooksack River drainage and beyond, Mount Baker, Washington
Cynthia A. Gardner, Mary Catherine Benage, Charles M. Cannon, David L. George
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5133
Lahars, or volcanic mudflows, are the most hazardous eruption-related phenomena that will affect communities living along rivers that originate on Mount Baker. In the past 15,000 years, the largest lahars from Mount Baker have affected the Middle Fork Nooksack River drainage and beyond. Here we use the physics-based D-Claw software...
A framework for guiding management decisions for amphibians in an uncertain future
Amanda Marie Kissel, Erin L. Muths, Mae Lacey, Viorel D. Popescu, Marissa Dyck, Caitlin Littlefield
2025, Report
Managing species in a rapidly changing climate requires knowledge of how species will respond to climate change and other threats while simultaneously developing management actions to reduce threats. Amphibians are one of the most threatened taxa on earth and often serve as the ‘canary in the coalmine’ for the health...
Evidence of mineral alteration in a salt marsh subterranean estuary: Implications for carbon and trace element cycling
J.J. Tamborski, Meagan J. Eagle, M.T. Thorpe, M.A. Charette, B. Kurylyk, S. Rahman, Kevin D. Kroeger, Jennifer A. O’Keefe Suttles, Adrian G. Mann, Thomas W. Brooks, Z.A. Wang
2025, JGR Biogeosciences (130)
Subterranean estuaries (STE) in salt marshes are biogeochemically active zones where interactions between terrestrial groundwater and seawater drive complex cycling of carbon and trace elements, influenced by mineral dissolution. These systems, characterized by fine-grained organic-rich peat overlying permeable coastal aquifers, play a crucial role as a blue carbon sink, yet...
A geospatial analysis of water-quality threats from orphan wells in principal and secondary aquifers of the United States
Joshua Woda, Karl B. Haase, Nicholas J. Gianoutsos, Kalle Jahn, Kristina Gutchess
2025, Science of the Total Environment (976)
Throughout the history of oil and gas production in the United States, millions of wells have been drilled for exploration and energy production. Hundreds of thousands of unplugged wells are no longer actively producing and are currently under orphan status, with no responsible party obligated for plugging. Orphan wells can...
Antigone canadensis (Sandhill Crane) foraging patterns influenced by crop type, roost distance, and tillage intensity during spring and autumn migration at a primary stopover area
Rachel A. Vanausdall, William L. Kendall, Daniel P. Collins
2025, Ornithological Applications (127)
The San Luis Valley in Colorado, USA, an agriculturally dominated stopover area, is used by the Rocky Mountain population of Antigone canadensis tabida (Greater Sandhill Crane) and some midcontinental individuals of A. c. canadensis (Lesser Sandhill Crane) during migration. While the numbers of both subspecies are stable, the effects of continued water scarcity and...
Properties of new flows indicate that Martian gullies form via CO2 frost-fluidization processes
Colin M. Dundas, Susan J. Conway, Kelly Pasquon, Axel Noblet, Lonneke Roelofs
2025, Geophysical Research Letters (52)
Martian gully landforms are widely seen as evidence of liquid water, often attributed to snowmelt during high-obliquity periods within the last few million years. However, widespread present-day flows within existing gullies are caused by CO2 frost, presenting an alternative formation mechanism. Entrained frost vapourizes to fluidize flows, allowing them to behave...
Status of water-level altitudes and long-term and short-term water-level changes in the Chicot and Evangeline (undifferentiated) and Jasper aquifers, greater Houston area, Texas, 2024
Jason K. Ramage, Alexandra C. Adams
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5028
Since the early 1900s, groundwater withdrawn from the primary aquifers that compose the Gulf Coast aquifer system—the Chicot, Evangeline, and Jasper aquifers—has been an important source of water in the greater Houston area, Texas. This report, prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District, City...
Global methane budget 2000-2020
Marielle Saunois, Adrien Martinez, Benjamin Poulter, Zhen Zhang, Peter A. Raymond, Pierre Regnier, Josep G. Canadell, Robert B. Jackson, Prabir K. Patra, Philippe Bousquet, Philippe Ciais, Edward J. Dlugokencky, Xin Lan, George H. Allen, David Bastviken, David J. Beerling, Dmitry Belikov, Donald R. Blake, Simona Castaldi, Monica Crippa, Bridget R. Deemer, Fraser Dennison, Giuseppe Etiope, Nicola Gedney, Lena Höglund-Isaksson, Meredith A. Holgerson, Peter O. Hopcroft, Gustaf Hugelius, Akihiko Ito, Atul K. Jain, Rajesh Janardanan, Matthew S. Johnson, Thomas Kleinen, Paul B. Krummel, Ronny Lauerwald, Tingting Li, Xiangyu Liu, Kyle C. McDonald, Joe R. Melton, Jens Mühle, Jurek Müller, Fabiola Murguia-Flores, Yosuke Niwa, Sergio Noce, Shufen Pan, Robert J. Parker, Changhui Peng, Michel Ramonet, William J. Riley, Gerard Rocher-Ros, Judith A. Rosentreter, Motoki Sasakawa, Arjo Segers, Steven J. Smith, Emily H. Stanley, Joël Thanwerdas, Hanqin Tian, Aki Tsuruta, Francesco N. Tubiello, Thomas S. Weber, Guido R. van der Werf, Douglas E. Worthy, Yi Xi, Yukio Yoshida, Wenxin Zhang, Bo Zheng, Qing Zhu, Qiuan Zhu, Qianlai Zhuang
2025, Earth System Science Data (17) 1873-1958
Understanding and quantifying the global methane (CH4) budget is important for assessing realistic pathways to mitigate climate change. CH4 is the second most important human-influenced greenhouse gas in terms of climate forcing after carbon dioxide (CO2), and both emissions and atmospheric concentrations of CH4 have continued to...
Small waterbodies of large conservation concern: Towards an integrated approach to more accurately measuring surface water dynamics
Owen P. McKenna, Audrey Claire Lothspeich, Sara Vacek, Dawn MacDonald, Josh D. Eash, Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Elyssa C. McCulloch, Caryn D. Ross, Sadia Sabrina, Joseph F. Knight
2025, Ecological Indicators (175)
Millions of small waterbodies are dispersed throughout the middle of the North American continent, and billions of dollars have been invested to conserve, restore, and manage these waterbodies in the 20th and 21st centuries. Small waterbody conservation has been supported by different stakeholders aiming at improving water quality, enhancing floodwater...
A partner-driven decision support model to inform the reintroduction of bull trout
Joseph R. Benjamin, Judith Neibauer, Hugh Anthony, Jose Vazquez, Ashley Rawhouser, Jason Dunham
2025, PLoS ONE (20)
Assessments of species reintroductions involve a series of complex decisions that include human perspectives and ecological contexts. Here, we present a reintroduction assessment involving bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) using a structured decision-making process. We approached this assessment by engaging partners representing public utilities, government agencies, and Tribes with shared interests...
Variability in hydrologic response to wildfire between snow zones in forested headwaters
Quinn Miller, David M Barnard, Megan Sears, John C. Hammond, Stephanie Kampf
2025, Hydrological Processes (39)
Rising temperatures and shifting fire regimes in the western United States are pushing fires upslope into areas of deep winter snowpack, where we have little knowledge of the likely hydrologic impacts of wildfire. We quantified differences in the timing and magnitude of stormflow responses to summer rainstorms among six catchments...
Interpreting a sudden population decline in a long-lived species (Malaclemys terrapin rhizophorarum)
Jacquelyn C. Guzy, Brian J. Smith, Mathew Denton, Michael Cherkiss, David Roche, Andrew G. Crowder, Kristen Hart
2025, Ecology and Evolution (15)
Long-term ecological studies are critical for providing insight into population dynamics and detecting population declines, particularly for species of conservation concern. However, spatiotemporal variation and logistical challenges make the identification of sudden population declines difficult. We conducted an in-water capture-mark-recapture study of mangrove diamond-backed terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin rhizophorarum) within Big...
Long-term patterns in growth of White Sturgeon in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River basin, California.
Michael C. Quist, Shannon Blackburn, Marta Ulaski, Zachary Jackson
2025, Frontiers in Freshwater Science (3)
Introduction: The Sacramento-San Joaquin River system (SSJ) of California includes both riverine, delta, and estuarine habitats and is among the most modified aquatic ecosystems in the United States. Water development projects in the system are associated with declines of many native species, including White Sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus.Methods: We used White Sturgeon...
Factors influencing landslide occurrence in low-relief formerly glaciated landscapes: Landslide inventory and susceptibility analysis in Minnesota, USA
Laura Triplett, Morena N Hammer, Stephen B. DeLong, Karen B. Gran, Carrie E. Jennings, Zachary T. Engle, Julie K. Bartley, Dylan J. Blumentritt, Andy Breckenridge, Stephanie Day, Melissa A. Kohout, Philip H. Larson, Jeni A. McDermott, Emilie Richard
2025, Natural Hazards (121) 11799-11827
In landscapes recently impacted by continental glaciation, landslides may occur where topographic relief has been generated by the drainage of glacial lakes and ensuing post-glacial fluvial network development into unconsolidated glacially derived sediments and exhumed bedrock. To investigate linkages among environmental variables, post-glacial landscape development, and landslides, we created a...
Modeling lamprey distribution using flow, geomorphology, and elevation in a terminal lake system
Jacob C. Dickey, Benjamin J. Clemens, Michael Dumelle, Melanie J. Davis
2025, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (154) 322-338
ObjectiveLampreys are an ecologically important group of fishes. Several species are imperiled and lack key distribution and habitat data. The terminal Goose Lake Basin, U.S.A. is home to two such species, the Goose Lake Lamprey, Entosphenus sp. (formally undescribed), and the Pit-Klamath Brook Lamprey, E. lethophagus. Species distribution models (SDMs)...
Inferring snowpack contributions and the mean elevation of source water to streamflow in the Willamette River, Oregon using water stable isotopes
J. Renee Brooks, Henry M. Johnson, Keira R. Johnson, Steven P. Cline, Randy Comeleo, WIlliam Rugh, Lisandra Trine
2025, Hydrological Processes (39)
Snowpacks are an important water source for mountainous rivers, worldwide. The timing and volume of streamflow in systems reliant on snowmelt can be affected by changes in snow accumulation and melt time. In the Cascade Range (western USA), seasonal snowpacks are predicted to decrease by over 50% within the next...
Groundwater dominates snowmelt runoff and controls streamflow efficiency in the western United States
Paul D. Brooks, D. Kip Solomon, Stephanie Kampf, Sara Warix, Carleton R. Bern, David Barnard, Holly R. Barnard, Gregory T. Carling, Rosemary Carroll, Jon Chorover, Adrian Harpold, Kathleen Lohse, Fabiola Meza, Jennifer McIntosh, Bethany Neilson, Megan Sears, Margaret Wolf
2025, Communications Earth & Environment (6)
Climate change in seasonally snow-covered mountain catchments is reducing water supply and decreasing streamflow predictability. Here, we use tritium age dating to show that contrary to the common assumption that snowmelt quickly contributes to runoff, streamflow during snowmelt in western US catchments is dominated by older groundwater. The average age of...
One-hundred fundamental, open questions to integrate methodological approaches in lake ice research
Joshua Culpepper, Sapna Sharma, Grant Gunn, Madeline Magee, Michael Frederick Meyer, Eric Anderson, Christoper D. Arp, Sarah Cooley, Wayana Dolan, Hilary Dugan, Claude R. Duguay, Benjamin C. Jones, Georgiy Kirillin, Robert Ladwig, Matti Lepparanta, Di Long, John J. Magnuson, Tamlin Pavelsky, Sebastiano Piccolroaz, Dale M. Robertson, Bethel Steele, Manu Tom, Gesa A. Weyhenmeyer, R. Iesytn Woolway, Marguerite A. Xenopoulos, Xiao Yang
2025, Water Resources Research (616)
The rate of technological innovation within aquatic sciences outpaces the collective ability of individual scientists within the field to make appropriate use of those technologies. The process of in situ lake sampling remains the primary choice to comprehensively understand an aquatic ecosystem at local scales; however, the impact of climate change on lakes necessitates...
Occurrence of pesticides in Oregon coastal waters
Bria Bleil, Elise F. Granek, Michelle L. Hladik
2025, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (44) 2098-2107
Pesticides are used globally for a wide range of applications including agricultural, forestry, roadsides, freshwater systems, and personal use. While pesticides have ensured efficient crop production, they are frequently transported away from application sites and are found in almost all terrestrial and aquatic environments. Pesticides are frequently detected in watersheds...
