At the forefront: evidence of the applicability of using environmental DNA to quantify the abundance of fish populations in natural lentic waters with additional sampling considerations
Stephen L. Klobucar, Torrey W. Rodgers, Phaedra E. Budy
2017, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (74) 2030-2034
Environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling has proven to be a valuable tool for detecting species in aquatic ecosystems. Within this rapidly evolving field, a promising application is the ability to obtain quantitative estimates of relative species abundance based on eDNA concentration rather than traditionally labor-intensive methods. We investigated the relationship between...
Health and condition of endangered young-of-the-year Lost River and Shortnose suckers relative to water quality in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2014–2015
Summer M. Burdick, Carla M. Conway, Diane G. Elliott, Marshal S. Hoy, Amari Dolan-Caret, Carl O. Ostberg
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1134
Most mortality of endangered Lost River (Deltistes luxatus) and shortnose (Chasmistes brevirostris) suckers in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, occurs within the first year of life. Juvenile suckers in Clear Lake Reservoir, California, survive longer and may even recruit to the spawning populations. In a previous (2013–2014) study, the health and...
Design and methods of the Midwest Stream Quality Assessment (MSQA), 2013
Jessica D. Garrett, Jeffrey W. Frey, Peter C. Van Metre, Celeste A. Journey, Naomi Nakagaki, Daniel T. Button, Lisa H. Nowell
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1073
During 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment Project (NAWQA), in collaboration with the USGS Columbia Environmental Research Center, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Rivers and Streams Assessment (NRSA), and the EPA Office of Pesticide Programs assessed stream quality across the Midwestern United States. This Midwest...
HIF evaluation of In-Situ Aqua TROLL 400
Evan F. Tillman
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1086
The In-Situ Aqua TROLL 400 (Aqua TROLL 400) was tested at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility (HIF) against known standards over the Aqua TROLL 400’s operating temperature to verify the manufacturer’s stated accuracy specifications and the USGS recommendations for pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), and specific conductance (SC)....
Multistressor predictive models of invertebrate condition in the Corn Belt, USA
Ian R. Waite, Peter C. Van Metre
2017, Freshwater Science (36) 901-914
Understanding the complex relations between multiple environmental stressors and ecological conditions in streams can help guide resource-management decisions. During 14 weeks in spring/summer 2013, personnel from the US Geological Survey and the US Environmental Protection Agency sampled 98 wadeable streams across the Midwest Corn Belt region of the USA for...
Shelf evolution along a transpressive transform margin, Santa Barbara Channel, California
Samuel Y. Johnson, Stephen Hartwell, Christopher C. Sorlien, Peter Dartnell, Andrew C. Ritchie
2017, Geosphere (13) 2041-2077
High-resolution bathymetric and seismic reflection data provide new insights for understanding the post–Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ca. 21 ka) evolution of the ∼120-km-long Santa Barbara shelf, located within a transpressive segment of the transform continental margin of western North America. The goal is to determine how rising sea level, sediment supply,...
Linking functional response and bioenergetics to estimate juvenile salmon growth in a reservoir food web
Craig A. Haskell, David A. Beauchamp, Stephen M. Bollens
2017, PLoS ONE (10) 1-21
Juvenile salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) use of reservoir food webs is understudied. We examined the feeding behavior of subyearling Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha) and its relation to growth by estimating the functional response of juvenile salmon to changes in the density of Daphnia, an important component of reservoir food webs. We then estimated salmon...
Ephemeral seafloor sedimentation during dam removal: Elwha River, Washington
Melissa M. Foley, Jonathan A. Warrick
2017, Continental Shelf Research (150) 36-47
The removal of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams from the Elwha River in Washington, USA, resulted in the erosion and transport of over 10 million m3 of sediment from the former reservoirs and into the river during the first two years of the dam removal process. Approximately 90% of this...
The importance of parameterization when simulating the hydrologic response of vegetative land-cover change
Jeremy T. White, Victoria G. Stengel, Samuel H. Rendon, John Banta
2017, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (21) 3975-3989
Computer models of hydrologic systems are frequently used to investigate the hydrologic response of land-cover change. If the modeling results are used to inform resource-management decisions, then providing robust estimates of uncertainty in the simulated response is an important consideration. Here we examine the importance of parameterization, a necessarily subjective...
Millennial-scale variability in the local radiocarbon reservoir age of south Florida during the Holocene
Lauren T. Toth, Hai Cheng, R. Lawrence Edwards, Erica Ashe, Julie N. Richey
2017, Quaternary Geochronology (42) 130-143
A growing body of research suggests that the marine environments of south Florida provide a critical link between the tropical and high-latitude Atlantic. Changes in the characteristics of water masses off south Florida may therefore have important implications for our understanding of climatic and oceanographic variability over a broad spatial...
Forecast first: An argument for groundwater modeling in reverse
Jeremy T. White
2017, Groundwater (55) 660-664
Numerical groundwater models are important compo-nents of groundwater analyses that are used for makingcritical decisions related to the management of ground-water resources. In this support role, models are oftenconstructed to serve a specific purpose that is to provideinsights, through simulation, related to a specific func-tion of a complex aquifer system...
The NorWeST summer stream temperature model and scenarios for the western U.S.: A crowd-sourced database and new geospatial tools foster a user-community and predict broad climate warming of rivers and streams
Daniel J. Isaak, Seth J. Wenger, Erin E. Peterson, Jay M Ver Hoef, David E Nagel, Charlie H. Luce, Steven W. Hostetler, Jason B. Dunham, Brett B. Roper, Sherry P Wollrab, Gwynne L Chandler, Dona L Horan, Sharon Parkes-Payne
2017, Water Resources Research (53) 9181-9205
Thermal regimes are fundamental determinants of aquatic ecosystems, which makes description and prediction of temperatures critical during a period of rapid global change. The advent of inexpensive temperature sensors dramatically increased monitoring in recent decades, and although most monitoring is done by individuals for agency‐specific purposes, collectively these efforts constitute...
Increasing floodplain connectivity through urban stream restoration increases nutrient and sediment retention
Sara K. McMillan, Gregory E. Noe
2017, Ecological Engineering (108) 284-295
Stream restoration practices frequently aim to increase connectivity between the stream channel and its floodplain to improve channel stability and enhance water quality through sediment trapping and nutrient retention. To measure the effectiveness of restoration and to understand the drivers of these functional responses, we monitored five restored urban streams...
Evaluating upstream passage and timing of approach by adult bigheaded carps at a gated dam on the Illinois River
Matthew Lubejko, Greg Whitledge, Alison A. Coulter, Marybeth K. Brey, Devon Oliver, James E. Garvey
2017, River Research and Applications (33) 1268-1278
Dams are a conservation threat because they function as barriers to native fish movement; however, they may prevent the spread of invasive species. Invasive bigheaded carps (Hypophthalmichthys spp.) threaten the Great Lakes ecosystem and are advancing towards Lake Michigan via the Illinois River. Navigation dams on the Illinois River may deter...
Meta-analysis of field-saturated hydraulic conductivity recovery following wildland fire: Applications for hydrologic model parameterization and resilience assessment
Brian A. Ebel, Deborah A. Martin
2017, Hydrological Processes (31) 3682-3696
Hydrologic recovery after wildfire is critical for restoring the ecosystem services of protecting of human lives and infrastructure from hazards and delivering water supply of sufficient quality and quantity. Recovery of soil-hydraulic properties, such as field-saturated hydraulic conductivity (Kfs), is a key factor for assessing the duration of watershed-scale flash...
Hydraulic and biological analysis of the passability of select fish species at the U.S. Geological Survey streamgaging weir at Blackwells Mills, New Jersey
Alexander J. Haro, Kevin B. Mulligan, Thomas P. Suro, John Noreika, Amy R. McHugh
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5103
Recent efforts to advance river connectivity for the Millstone River watershed in New Jersey have led to the evaluation of a low-flow gauging weir that spans the full width of the river. The methods and results of a desktop modelling exercise were used to evaluate the potential ability of three...
Simulated effects of Lower Floridan aquifer pumping on the Upper Floridan aquifer at Barbour Pointe, Chatham County, Georgia
Gregory S. Cherry, John S. Clarke
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5085
Steady-state simulations using a revised regional groundwater-flow model based on MODFLOW were run to assess the potential long-term effects on the Upper Floridan aquifer (UFA) of pumping the Lower Floridan aquifer (LFA) at well 36Q398, located at Barbour Pointe in coastal Georgia near Savannah. Simulated pumping of well 36Q398 at...
Revision of the jawfish genus Lonchopisthus with description of a new Atlantic species (Teleostei: Opistognathidae)
William F. Smith-Vaniz, Stephen J. Walsh
2017, Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation (28) 52-89
Synonymies, diagnoses, descriptions, illustrations, an identification key, and meristic frequency tables are provided for all species of Lonchopisthus. Most of the skeletal anatomy of L. higmani is also illustrated. A new jawfish, Lonchopisthus ancistrus n. sp., is described from the Gulf of Mexico and off Honduras based on 21 specimens...
Climatic history of the northeastern United States during the past 3000 years
Jennifer R. Marlon, Neil Pederson, Connor Nolan, Simon Goring, Bryan Shuman, Ann Robertson, Robert K. Booth, Patrick J. Bartlein, Melissa A. Berke, Michael Clifford, Edward Cook, Ann Dieffenbacher-Krall, Michael C. Dietze, Amy Hessl, J. Bradford Hubeny, Stephen T. Jackson, Jeremiah Marsicek, Jason S. McLachlan, Cary J. Mock, David J. P. Moore, Jonathan M. Nichols, Dorothy M. Peteet, Kevin Schaefer, Valerie Trouet, Charles Umbanhowar, John W. Williams, Zicheng Yu
2017, Climate of the Past (13) 1355-1379
Many ecosystem processes that influence Earth system feedbacks, including vegetation growth, water and nutrient cycling, and disturbance regimes, are strongly influenced by multi-decadal to millennial-scale variations in climate that cannot be captured by instrumental climate observations. Paleoclimate information is therefore essential for understanding contemporary ecosystems and their potential trajectories under...
Estimation of the groundwater resources of the bedrock aquifers at the Kettle Moraine Springs State Fish Hatchery, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin
Charles Dunning, Daniel T. Feinstein, Cheryl A. Buchwald, Randall J. Hunt, Megan J. Haserodt
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5074
Groundwater resources information was needed to understand regional aquifer systems and water available to wells and springs for rearing important Lake Michigan fish species at the Kettle Moraine Springs State Fish Hatchery in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. As a basis for estimating the groundwater resources available, an existing groundwater-flow model was...
Watershed Data Management (WDM) database for West Branch DuPage River streamflow simulation, DuPage County, Illinois, January 1, 2007, through September 30, 2013
Maitreyee Bera
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1099
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the DuPage County Stormwater Management Department, maintains a database of hourly meteorological and hydrologic data for use in a near real-time streamflow simulation system. This system is used in the management and operation of reservoirs and other flood-control structures in the West...
Building capacity in biodiversity monitoring at the global scale
Dirk S. Schmeller, Monika Böhm, Christos Arvanitidis, Shannon Barber-Meyer, Neil Brummitt, Mark Chandler, Eva Chatzinikolaou, Mark John Costello, Hui Ding, Jaime Garcia-Moreno, Michael J. Gill, Peter Haase, Miranda Jones, Romain Juillard, William E. Magnusson, Corinne S. Martin, Melodie A. McGeoch, Jean-Baptiste Mihoub, Nathalie Pettorelli, Vânia Proença, Cui Peng, Eugenie Regan, Ute Schmiedel, John P. Simsika, Lauren Weatherdon, Carly Waterman, Haigen Xu, Jayne Belnap
2017, Biodiversity and Conservation (26) 2765-2790
Human-driven global change is causing ongoing declines in biodiversity worldwide. In order to address these declines, decision-makers need accurate assessments of the status of and pressures on biodiversity. However, these are heavily constrained by incomplete and uneven spatial, temporal and taxonomic coverage. For instance, data from regions such as Europe...
Description of chronostratigraphic units preserved as channel deposits and geomorphic processes following a basin-scale disturbance by a wildfire in Colorado
John A. Moody, Deborah A. Martin
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1090
The consequence of a 1996 wildfire disturbance and a subsequent high-intensity summer convective rain storm (about 110 millimeters per hour) was the deposition of a sediment superslug in the Spring Creek basin (26.8 square kilometers) of the Front Range Mountains in Colorado. Spring Creek is a tributary to the South...
Compilation of streamflow statistics calculated from daily mean streamflow data collected during water years 1901–2015 for selected U.S. Geological Survey streamgages
Gregory E. Granato, Kernell G. Ries III, Peter A. Steeves
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1108
Streamflow statistics are needed by decision makers for many planning, management, and design activities. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) StreamStats Web application provides convenient access to streamflow statistics for many streamgages by accessing the underlying StreamStatsDB database. In 2016, non-interpretive streamflow statistics were compiled for streamgages located throughout the Nation...
Modeling summer month hydrological drought probabilities in the United States using antecedent flow conditions
Samuel H. Austin, David L. Nelms
2017, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (53) 1133-1146
Climate change raises concern that risks of hydrological drought may be increasing. We estimate hydrological drought probabilities for rivers and streams in the United States (U.S.) using maximum likelihood logistic regression (MLLR). Streamflow data from winter months are used to estimate the chance of hydrological drought during summer months. Daily...
