Risk factors associated with mortality of age-0 Smallmouth Bass in the Susquehanna River basin, Pennsylvania
Heather L. Walsh, Vicki S. Blazer, Geoffrey Smith, Michael Lookenbill, David A. Alvarez, Kelly L. Smalling
2018, Journal of Aquatic Animal Health (30) 65-80
Evidence of disease and mortalities of young of the year (age‐0) Smallmouth Bass Micropterus dolomieu has occurred during the late spring and summer in many parts of the Susquehanna River watershed since 2005. To better understand contributing factors, fish collected from multiple areas throughout the watershed as well as out‐of‐basin reference populations...
Hierarchical modeling assessment of the influence of watershed stressors on fish and invertebrate species in Gulf of Mexico estuaries
Jonathan Miller, Peter C. Esselman, Ibrahim Alameddine, Kristan Blackhart, Daniel R. Obenour
2018, Ecological Indicators (90) 142-153
The northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM) spans five U.S. states and encompasses estuaries that vary greatly in size, shape, upstream river input, eutrophication status, and biotic communities. Given the variability among these estuaries, assessing their biological condition relative to anthropogenic stressors is challenging, but...
Brook trout distributional response to unconventional oil and gas development: Landscape context matters
Eric R. Merriam, J. Todd Petty, Kelly O. Maloney, John A. Young, Stephen Faulkner, E. Terrence Slonecker, Lesley E. Milheim, Atesmachew Hailegiorgis, Jonathan M. Niles
2018, Science of the Total Environment (628-629) 338-349
We conducted a large-scale assessment of unconventional oil and gas (UOG) development effects on brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) distribution. We compiled 2231 brook trout collection records from the Upper Susquehanna River Watershed, USA. We used boosted regression tree (BRT) analysis to predict occurrence probability at the 1:24,000 stream-segment scale as...
Influence of governance structure on green stormwater infrastructure investment
Kristina G. Hopkins, Nancy B. Grimm, Abigail M. York
2018, Environmental Science and Policy (84) 124-133
Communities are faced with the challenge of meeting regulatory requirements mandating reductions in water pollution from stormwater and combined sewer overflows (CSO). Green stormwater infrastructure and gray stormwater infrastructure are two types of water management strategies communities can use to address water pollution. In this study, we used long-term control...
Flood-inundation and flood-mitigation modeling of the West Branch Wapsinonoc Creek Watershed in West Branch, Iowa
Charles V. Cigrand
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5002
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the city of West Branch and the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site of the National Park Service assessed flood-mitigation scenarios within the West Branch Wapsinonoc Creek watershed. The scenarios are intended to demonstrate several means of decreasing peak streamflows and improving the...
Hot water in the Long Valley Caldera—The benefits and hazards of this large natural resource
William C. Evans, Shaul Hurwitz, Deborah Bergfeld, James F. Howle
2018, Fact Sheet 2018-3009
The volcanic processes that have shaped the Long Valley Caldera in eastern California have also created an abundant supply of natural hot water. This natural resource provides benefits to many users, including power generation at the Casa Diablo Geothermal Plant, warm water for a state fish hatchery, and beautiful scenic...
Identifying optimal remotely-sensed variables for ecosystem monitoring in Colorado Plateau drylands
Travis B. Poitras, Miguel L. Villarreal, Eric K. Waller, Travis W. Nauman, Mark E. Miller, Michael C. Duniway
2018, Journal of Arid Environments (153) 76-87
Water-limited ecosystems often recover slowly following anthropogenic or natural disturbance. Multitemporal remote sensing can be used to monitor ecosystem recovery after disturbance; however, dryland vegetation cover can be challenging to accurately measure due to sparse cover and spectral confusion between soils and non-photosynthetic vegetation. With the goal of optimizing...
Drivers of solar radiation variability in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica
Maciej K. Obryk, Andrew G. Fountain, Peter Doran, Berry Lyons, Ryan Eastman
2018, Scientific Reports (8)
Annually averaged solar radiation in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica has varied by over 20 W m−2 during the past three decades; however, the drivers of this variability are unknown. Because small differences in radiation are important to water availability and ecosystem functioning in polar deserts, determining the causes are important to predictions...
Investigation of a largescale common murre (Uria aalge) mortality event in California in 2015
Corinne Gibble, Rebecca Duerr, Barbara L. Bodenstein, Kirsten Lindquist, Jackie Lindsey, Jessie Beck, Laird A. Henkel, Jan Roletto, Jim Harvey, Raphael Kudela
2018, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (54) 569-574
From August through December 2015, beachcast bird survey programs reported increased deposition of common murres (Uria aalge) on central and northern California beaches, but not on southern California beaches. Coastal wildlife rehabilitation centers received more than 1,000 live, stranded, and debilitated murres from Sonoma County to San Luis Obispo County...
Combining multiphase groundwater flow and slope stability models to assess stratovolcano flank collapse in the Cascade Range
Jessica L. Ball, Joshua M. Taron, Mark E. Reid, Shaul Hurwitz, Carol A. Finn, Paul A. Bedrosian
2018, Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth (123) 2787-2805
Hydrothermal alteration can create low‐permeability zones, potentially resulting in elevated pore‐fluid pressures, within a volcanic edifice. Strength reduction by rock alteration and high pore‐fluid pressures have been suggested as a mechanism for edifice flank instability. Here we combine numerical models of multiphase heat transport and groundwater...
Groundwater quality in the Mokelumne, Cosumnes, and American River Watersheds, Sierra Nevada, California
Miranda S. Fram, Jennifer L. Shelton
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1047
Groundwater provides more than 40 percent of California’s drinking water. To protect this vital resource, the State of California created the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The GAMA Program’s Priority Basin Project assesses the quality of groundwater resources used for drinking water supply and increases public access to...
Functional group, biomass, and climate change effects on ecological drought in semiarid grasslands
Scott D. Wilson, Daniel R. Schlaepfer, John B. Bradford, William K. Lauenroth, Michael C. Duniway, Sonia A. Hall, Khishigbayar Jamiyansharav, Gensuo Jia, Ariuntsetseg Lkhagva, Seth M. Munson, David A. Pyke, Britta Tietjen
2018, Journal of Geophysical Research G: Biogeosciences (123) 1072-1085
Water relations in plant communities are influenced both by contrasting functional groups (grasses, shrubs) and by climate change via complex effects on interception, uptake and transpiration. We modelled the effects of functional group replacement and biomass increase, both of which can be outcomes of invasion and vegetation management, and climate...
The role of frozen soil in groundwater discharge predictions for warming alpine watersheds
Sarah G. Evans, Shemin Ge, Clifford I. Voss, Noah P. Molotch
2018, Water Resources Research (54) 1599-1615
Climate warming may alter the quantity and timing of groundwater discharge to streams in high alpine watersheds due to changes in the timing of the duration of seasonal freezing in the subsurface and snowmelt recharge. It is imperative to understand the effects of seasonal freezing and recharge on groundwater discharge...
Model methodology for estimating pesticide concentration extremes based on sparse monitoring data
Aldo V. Vecchia
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5159
This report describes a new methodology for using sparse (weekly or less frequent observations) and potentially highly censored pesticide monitoring data to simulate daily pesticide concentrations and associated quantities used for acute and chronic exposure assessments, such as the annual maximum daily concentration. The new methodology is based on a...
Natural and man-made hexavalent chromium, Cr(VI), in groundwater near a mapped plume, Hinkley, California—study progress as of May 2017, and a summative-scale approach to estimate background Cr(VI) concentrations
John A. Izbicki, Krishangi D. Groover
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1045
This report describes (1) work done between January 2015 and May 2017 as part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) hexavalent chromium, Cr(VI), background study and (2) the summative-scale approach to be used to estimate the extent of anthropogenic (man-made) Cr(VI) and background Cr(VI) concentrations near the Pacific Gas and...
Importance of growth rate on mercury and polychlorinated biphenyl bioaccumulation in fish
Jiajia Li, G. Douglas Haffner, Gordon Patterson, David M. Walters, Michael D. Burtnyk, Ken G. Drouillard
2018, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (37) 1655-1667
To evaluate the effect of fish growth on mercury (Hg) and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) bioaccumulation, a non–steady‐state toxicokinetic model, combined with a Wisconsin bioenergetics model, was developed to simulate Hg and PCB bioaccumulation in bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus). The model was validated by comparing observed with predicted Hg and PCB 180...
Delineation of the hydrogeologic framework of the Big Sioux aquifer near Sioux Falls, South Dakota, using airborne electromagnetic data
Kristen J. Valseth, Gregory C. Delzer, Curtis V. Price
2018, Scientific Investigations Map 3393
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, began developing a groundwater-flow model of the Big Sioux aquifer in 2014 that will enable the City to make more informed water management decisions, such as delineation of areas of the greatest specific yield, which is...
Tributyltin: Advancing the science on assessing endocrine disruption with an unconventional endocrine-disrupting compound
Laurent Lagadic, Ioanna Katsiadaki, Ronald C. Biever, Patrick Guiney, Natalie Karouna-Renier, Tamar Schwarz, James P. Meador
2018, Book chapter, Reviews of environmental contamination and toxicology Volume 245
Tributyltin (TBT) has been recognized as an endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) for several decades. However, only in the last decade, was its primary endocrine mechanism of action (MeOA) elucidated—interactions with the nuclear retinoid-X receptor (RXR), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ), and their heterodimers. This molecular initiating event (MIE) alters a...
Nitrogen concentrations and loads for the Connecticut River at Middle Haddam, Connecticut, computed with the use of autosampling and continuous measurements of water quality for water years 2009 to 2014
John R. Mullaney, Joseph W. Martin, Jonathan Morrison
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5006
The daily and annual loads of nitrate plus nitrite and total nitrogen for the Connecticut River at Middle Haddam, Connecticut, were determined for water years 2009 to 2014. The analysis was done with a combination of methods, which included a predefined rating curve method for nitrate plus nitrite and total...
Synthesis of tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) data for Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI) assessment at Wisconsin Areas of Concern
Christine M. Custer, Thomas W. Custer, Paul M. Dummer
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1032
Assessment of the “Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproductive Problems” Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI) can be accomplished by (1) comparing tissue concentrations to established background and Lowest Observable Effect Level (LOEL) for reproductive effects, or (2) directly measuring reproductive success at Areas of Concern (AOCs) and statistically comparing those rates...
Vegetation influences on infiltration in Hawaiian soils
Kimberlie Perkins, Jonathan D. Stock, John R. Nimmo
2018, Ecohydrology (11)
Changes in vegetation communities caused by removing trees, introducing grazing ungulates, and replacing native plants with invasive species have substantially altered soil infiltration processes and rates in Hawaii. These changes directly impact run-off, erosion, plant-available water, and aquifer recharge. We hypothesize that broad vegetation communities can be characterized by distributions...
Challenges in complementing data from ground-based sensors with satellite-derived products to measure ecological changes in relation to climate – lessons from temperate wetland-upland landscapes
Alisa L. Gallant, Walter J. Sadinski, Jesslyn F. Brown, Gabriel B. Senay, Mark F. Roth
2018, Sensors (18) 1-38
Assessing climate-related ecological changes across spatiotemporal scales meaningful to resource managers is challenging because no one method reliably produces essential data at both fine and broad scales. We recently confronted such challenges while integrating data from ground- and satellite-based sensors for an assessment of four wetland-rich study areas in the...
Spatial and temporal variation in sources of atmospheric nitrogen deposition in the Rocky Mountains using nitrogen isotopes
Leora Nanus, Donald H. Campbell, Christopher M.B. Lehmann, M. Alisa Mast
2018, Atmospheric Environment (176) 110-119
Variation in source areas and source types of atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition to high-elevation ecosystems in the Rocky Mountains were evaluated using spatially and temporally distributed N isotope data from atmospheric deposition networks for 1995-2016. This unique dataset links N in wet deposition and snowpack to mobile and stationary emissions...
Hydrologic assessment of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge
Christine M. Wieben, Mary M. Chepiga
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5088
The Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (hereafter Forsythe refuge or the refuge) is situated along the central New Jersey coast and provides a mixture of freshwater and saltwater habitats for numerous bird, wildlife, and plant species. Little data and information were previously available regarding the freshwater dynamics that support...
Hydrogeology of, simulation of groundwater flow in, and potential effects of sea-level rise on the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer system in the vicinity of Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey
Alex R. Fiore, Lois M. Voronin, Christine M. Wieben
2018, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5135
The Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge encompasses more than 47,000 acres of New Jersey coastal habitats, including salt marshes, freshwater wetlands, tidal wetlands, barrier beaches, woodlands, and swamps. The refuge is along the Atlantic Flyway and provides breeding habitat for fish, migratory birds, and other wildlife species. The refuge...
