Hydrologic controls of methane dynamics in karst subterranean estuaries
David Brankovits, John W. Pohlman, Neil K. Ganju, T.M. Iliffe, N. Lowell, E. Roth, S.P. Sylva, J.A. Emmert, L. L. Lapham
2018, Global Biogeochemical Cycles (32) 1759-1775
Karst subterranean estuaries (KSEs) extend into carbonate platforms along 12% of all coastlines. A recent study has shown that microbial methane (CH4) consumption is an important component of the carbon cycle and food web dynamics within flooded caves that permeate KSEs. In this study, we obtained high‐resolution (~2.5‐day) temporal records...
Book review: Analytical groundwater mechanics
Randall J. Hunt
2018, Groundwater (57) 85-85
Encapsulating almost 50 years of experience applying mathematics to groundwater flow problems, this latest textbook from Otto Strack (2017) is a tour de force for analytical groundwater approaches. It is comprised of 10 chapters, spanning topics from the basics of groundwater mechanics, to steady state, three‐dimensional,...
Intensive oyster aquaculture can reduce disease impacts on sympatric wild oysters
Tal Ben-Horin, Colleen A. Burge, David Bushek, Maya L. Groner, Dina A. Proestou, Lauren I. Huey, Gorka Bidegain, Ryan B. Carnegie
2018, Aquaculture Environment Interactions (10) 557-567
Risks associated with disease spread from fish and shellfish farming have plagued the growth and public perception of aquaculture worldwide. However, by processing nutrients and organic material from the water column, the culture of many suspension-feeding bivalves has been proposed as a novel solution toward mitigating problems facing coastal water...
Best practices for elevation-based assessments of sea-level rise and coastal flooding exposure
Dean B. Gesch
2018, Frontiers in Earth Science (6) 1-19
Elevation data are critical for assessments of sea-level rise (SLR) and coastal flooding exposure. Previous research has demonstrated that the quality of data used in elevation-based assessments must be well understood and applied to properly model potential impacts. The cumulative vertical uncertainty of the input elevation data substantially controls the...
The metabolic regimes of 356 rivers in the United States
Alison P. Appling, Jordan S. Read, Luke A. Winslow, Maite Arroita, Emily S. Bernhardt, Natalie A. Griffiths, Robert O. Hall Jr., Judson W. Harvey, James B. Heffernan, Emily H. Stanley, Edward G. Stets, Charles B. Yackulic
2018, Scientific Data (5)
A national-scale quantification of metabolic energy flow in streams and rivers can improve understanding of the temporal dynamics of in-stream activity, links between energy cycling and ecosystem services, and the effects of human activities on aquatic metabolism. The two dominant terms in aquatic metabolism, gross primary production (GPP) and aerobic...
Crop water productivity estimation with hyperspectral remote sensing
Michael Marshall, Itiya P. Aneece, Daniel Foley, Cai Xueliang, Trent Biggs
2018, Book chapter, Hyperspectral remote sensing of vegetation: Advanced applications in remote Sensing of agricultural crops and natural vegetation
Crop water productivity (CWP) is the ratio of accumulated crop biomass or yield (Y) to the water utilized to produce it, which is typically estimated using transpiration (ETC). CWP is an important metric to test and monitor water-saving strategies in agroecosystems across the globe. Red and near-infrared broadbands have been...
Agricultural conservation practice implementation in the Chesapeake Bay watershed supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
W. Dean Hively, Olivia H. Devereux, Jennifer L. D. Keisman
2018, Data Series 1102
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides cost-share funding and technical assistance to support the implementation of agricultural conservation practices on farms throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Conservation implementation has been substantial in the time period for which digital records are available (from 2007 through 2017). Farmer participation in USDA...
Will increased storm surge frequency impact food availability for Semipalmated Sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) at the beginning of fall migration?
R.T. Churchwell, S. Kendall, S.C. Brown, Abby Powell
2018, Wader Study (125) 195-204
Hatch-year Semipalmated Sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) use river deltas along the Beaufort Sea as their first stops during fall migration. However, these sites are subject to extreme changes in water levels that affect available foraging habitat. We examined relationships between timing of fall migration and storm surges, with respect to forage...
Evaluation of whole-water churn splitters for suspended-sediment sample collection and analysis
Miya N. Barr
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5126
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collects a wide range of whole-water samples to test for the many physical and chemical constituents that represent stream conditions at the time of sampling to assess the quality of the Nation’s waters. During sampling efforts, in which a suspended-sediment concentration is one result among...
Effects of transmitter type, tagging method, body size, and temperature on behavior, physiology, and swimming performance of juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)
Russell W. Perry, Theresa L. Liedtke, editor(s)
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1186
The objective of this study was to assess the impact of different tagging methods and transmitter types on juvenile salmonid behavior, mortality, physiology, and swimming performance over a range of water temperatures and fish sizes.In Chapter 1, two laboratory experiments were conducted to assess maximum burst-swimming speeds, the probability of...
Geometric versus anemometric surface roughness for a shallow accumulating snowpack
Jessica E. Sanow, Steven R. Fassnacht, David J. Kamin, Graham A. Sexstone, William L. Bauerle, Iuliana Oprea
2018, Geosciences (8) 1-10
When applied to a snow-covered surface, aerodynamic roughness length, z0, is typically considered as a static parameter within energy balance equations. However, field observations show that z0 changes spatially and temporally, and thus z0 incorporated as a dynamic parameter may greatly improve models. To evaluate methods for characterizing snow surface roughness, we...
What environmental conditions reduce predation vulnerability for juvenile Colorado River native fishes?
David L. Ward, Benjamin Vaage
2018, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (10) 196-205
The incompatibility of native Colorado River fishes and nonnative warm-water sport fishes is well documented with predation by nonnative species causing rapid declines and even extirpation of native species in most locations. In a few rare instances native fishes are able to survive and recruit despite the presence of nonnative...
An experimental comparison of composite and grab sampling of stream water for metagenetic analysis of environmental DNA
Robert S. Cornman, James E. McKenna Jr., Jennifer A. Fike, Sara J. Oyler-McCance, Robin Johnson
2018, PeerJ (6) 1-28
Use of environmental DNA (eDNA) to assess distributions of aquatic and semi-aquatic macroorganisms is promising, but sampling schemes may need to be tailored to specific objectives. Given the potentially high variance in aquatic eDNA among replicate grab samples, compositing smaller water volumes collected over a period of time may be...
Vibration monitoring results near a bat hibernaculum at Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, March 2016
Ryan F. Adams, William S. Morrow, Carolyn M. Koebel
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5129
Vibrations originating from construction of a new walkway in a passage of Mammoth Cave, from walking personnel simulating a bat survey, and from ambient sources were measured near a bat hibernaculum beneath Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, to determine if the vibrations were disturbing the hibernating bats. Data presented indicate...
Interactive tool to estimate groundwater elevations in central and eastern North Dakota
Rochelle A. Nustad, William C. Damschen, Aldo V. Vecchia
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1185
This report describes an interactive tool (NDakGWtool) in which a statistical model is developed using locally weighted regression to estimate monthly mean groundwater elevations for a specified latitude and longitude, referred to as the “user-specified location.” For each user-specified location, seven models are developed for each month from April through...
Waterfowl spring migratory behavior and avian influenza transmission risk in the changing landscape of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway
Jeffery D. Sullivan, John Y. Takekawa, Kyle A. Spragens, Scott H. Newman, Xiangming Xiao, Paul J. Leader, Bena Smith, Diann J. Prosser
2018, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (6) 1-14
Avian influenza has advanced from a regional concern to a global health issue with significant economic, trade, and public health implications. Wild birds, particularly waterfowl (Anseriformes), are known reservoirs for low-pathogenic avian influenza viruses (AIV) and recent studies have shown their potential in the spread of highly pathogenic forms of...
North Atlantic midlatitude surface-circulation changes through the Plio-Pleistocene intensification of northern hemisphere glaciation
Clara T. Bolton, Ian Bailey, Oliver Friedrich, Kazuyo Tachikawa, Thibault de Garidel-Thoron, Laurence Vidal, Corinne Sonzogni, Gianluca Marino, Eelco J. Rohling, Marci M. Robinson, Magali Ermini, Mirjam Koch, Matthew J. Cooper, Paul A. Wilson
2018, Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology (33) 1186-1205
The North Atlantic Current (NAC) transports warm salty water to high northern latitudes, with important repercussions for ocean circulation and global climate. A southward displacement of the NAC and Subarctic Front, which separate subpolar and subtropical water masses, is widely suggested for the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and may have...
Prioritization framework for ranking riverine ecosystem stressors using example sites from the Tualatin River Basin, Oregon
Steven Sobieszczyk, Krista L. Jones, Stewart A. Rounds, Elena B. Nilsen, Jennifer L. Morace
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5153
As human populations increase, so does their influence over the environment. Altered terrain, degraded water quality, and threatened or endangered species are all-too-common consequences of a growing anthropogenic influence on the landscape. To help manage these effects, researchers have developed new ways to characterize current environmental conditions and help...
Status and Trends in the Lake Superior Fish Community, 2017
Mark R. Vinson, Lori M. Evrard, Owen T. Gorman, Daniel Yule
2018, Book chapter, Complied reports to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission of the annual bottom trawl and acoustics surveys, 2017
In 2017, the Lake Superior fish community was sampled with daytime bottom trawls at 76 nearshore and 36 offshore stations. Spring nearshore and summer offshore water temperatures in 2017 were similar to slightly cooler than the 1991-2017 average. In the nearshore zone, a total of 28,902 individual fish from 27...
Flood-inundation maps for the Salamonie River at Portland, Indiana
Kellan R. Strauch
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5132
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 6.5-mile reach of the Salamonie River at Portland, Indiana, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Indiana Department of Transportation. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science website at https://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict...
A diverse suite of pharmaceuticals contaminates stream and riparian food webs
Erinn K. Richmond, Emma J. Rosi, David M. Walters, Jerker Fikk, Stephen K. Hamilton, Tomas Brodin, Anna Sundelin, Michael R. Grace
2018, Nature Communications (9) 1-9
A multitude of biologically active pharmaceuticals contaminate surface waters globally, yet their presence in aquatic food webs remain largely unknown. Here, we show that over 60 pharmaceutical compounds can be detected in aquatic invertebrates and riparian spiders in six streams near Melbourne, Australia. Similar concentrations in aquatic invertebrate larvae and...
How or when samples are collected affects measured arsenic concentration in new drinking water wells
Melinda L. Erickson, Helen F. Malenda, Emily C. Berquist
2018, Groundwater (56) 921-933
Naturally occurring arsenic can adversely affect water quality in geologically diverse aquifers throughout the world. Chronic exposure to arsenic via drinking water is a human health concern due to risks for certain cancers, skin abnormalities, peripheral neuropathy, and other negative health effects. Statewide in Minnesota, USA, 11% of samples from...
Event-response ellipses: A method to quantify and compare the role of dynamic storage at the catchment scale in snowmelt-dominated systems
Jessica M. Driscoll, Thomas Meixner, Noah P. Molotch, Ty P. A. Ferre, Mark W. Williams, James O. Sickman
2018, Water (10) 1-17
A method for quantifying the role of dynamic storage as a physical buffer between snowmelt and streamflow at the catchment scale is introduced in this paper. The method describes a quantitative relation between hydrologic events (e.g., snowmelt) and responses (e.g., streamflow) by generating event-response ellipses that can be used to...
Hourly analyses of the large storms and atmospheric rivers that provide most of California's precipitation in only 10 to 100 hours per year
Maryam A. Lamjiri, Michael D. Dettinger, F. Martin Ralph, Nina S. Oakley, Jonathan J. Rutz
2018, San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science (16) 1-17
California is regularly impacted by floods and droughts, primarily as a result of too many or too few atmospheric rivers (ARs). This study analyzes a two-decade-long hourly precipitation dataset from 176 California weather stations and a 3-hourly AR chronology to report variations in rainfall events across California and their association...
The natural capital accounting opportunity: Let's really do the numbers
James W. Boyd, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Jane Carter Ingram, Carl D. Shapiro, Jeffery Adkins, C. Frank Casey, Clifford S. Duke, Pierre D. Glynn, Erica Goldman, Monica Grasso, Julie L. Hass, Justin A. Johnson, Glenn-Marie Lange, John Matuszak, Ann Miller, Kirsten L. L. Oleson, Stephen M. Posner, Charles Rhodes, Francois Soulard, Michael Vardon, Ferdinando Villa, Brian Voigt, Scott Wentland
2018, BioScience (68) 940-943
The nation’s economic accounts provide objective, regular, and standardized information routinely relied upon by public and private decision makers. But they are incomplete. The U.S. and many other nations currently do not account for the natural capital — such as the wildlife, forests, grasslands, soils, and water bodies—upon which all...
