Montana StreamStats—A method for retrieving basin and streamflow characteristics in Montana: Chapter A in Montana StreamStats
Peter McCarthy, DeAnn M. Dutton, Steven K. Sando, Roy Sando
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5019-A
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides streamflow characteristics and other related information needed by water-resource managers to protect people and property from floods, plan and manage water-resource activities, and protect water quality. Streamflow characteristics provided by the USGS, such as peak-flow and low-flow frequencies for streamflow-gaging stations, are frequently used...
Adjusted peak-flow frequency estimates for selected streamflow-gaging stations in or near Montana based on data through water year 2011: Chapter D in Montana StreamStats
Steven K. Sando, Roy Sando, Peter McCarthy, DeAnn M. Dutton
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5019-D
The climatic conditions of the specific time period during which peak-flow data were collected at a given streamflow-gaging station (hereinafter referred to as gaging station) can substantially affect how well the peak-flow frequency (hereinafter referred to as frequency) results represent long-term hydrologic conditions. Differences in the timing of the periods...
Hydrogeology and groundwater quality at monitoring wells installed for the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan System and nearby water-supply wells, Cook County, Illinois, 1995–2013
Robert T. Kay
2016, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5186
Groundwater-quality data collected from 1995 through 2013 from 106 monitoring wells open to the base of the Silurian aquifer surrounding the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP) System in Cook County, Illinois, were analyzed by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, to...
Enriched groundwater seeps in two Vermont headwater catchments are hotspots of nitrate turnover
Amninder J. Kaur, Donald S. Ross, James B. Shanley, Anna R. Yatzor
2016, Wetlands (36) 237-249
Groundwater seeps in upland catchments are often enriched relative to stream waters, higher in pH, Ca2+ and sometimes NO3¯. These seeps could be a NO3¯ sink because of increased denitrification potential but may also be ‘hotspots’ for nitrification because of the relative enrichment. We compared seep soils with nearby well-drained...
Evaluating potential artefacts of photo-reversal on behavioral studies with nocturnal invasive sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus)
Matthew Barnett, Istvan Imre, C. Michael Wagner, Richard T. Di Rocco, Nicholas S. Johnson, Grant E. Brown
2016, Canadian Journal of Zoology (94) 405-410
Sea lampreys (Petromyzon marinus L., 1758) are nocturnal, so experiments evaluating their behaviour to chemosensory cues have typically been conducted at night. However, given the brief timeframe each year that adult P. marinus are available for experimentation, we investigated whether P. marinus exposed to a 12 h shifted diurnal cycle (reversed photoperiod) could be tested...
Managing nutrients, water, and energy for producing more food with low pollution (MoFoLoPo); What would success look like?
Jill Baron
2016, Environmental Development (18) 52-53
Synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizer has enabled modern agriculture to greatly improve human nutrition during the 20th century, but it has also created unintended human health and environmental pollution challenges for the 21st century. Averaged globally, about half of the fertilizer N applied to farms is removed with the crops, while...
Multi-laboratory survey of qPCR enterococci analysis method performance in U.S. coastal and inland surface waters
Richard A. Haugland, Shawn Siefring, Manju Varma, Kevin H. Oshima, Mano Sivaganesan, Yiping Cao, Meredith Raith, John Griffith, Stephen B. Weisberg, Rachel T. Noble, A. Denene Blackwood, Julie Kinzelman, Tamara Anan’eva, Rebecca N. Bushon, Erin A. Stelzer, Valarie J. Harwood, Katrina V. Gordon, Christopher Sinigalliano
2016, Journal of Microbiological Methods (123) 114-125
Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) has become a frequently used technique for quantifying enterococci in recreational surface waters, but there are several methodological options. Here we evaluated how three method permutations, type of mastermix, sample extract dilution and use of controls in results calculation, affect method reliability among multiple laboratories...
Informing Lake Erie agriculture nutrient management via scenario evaluation
Donald Scavia, Margaret Kalcic, Rebecca Logsdon Muenich, Noel Aloysius, Jeffrey Arnold, Chelsie Boles, Remegio Confesor, Joseph DePinto, Marie Gildow, Jay Martin, Jennifer Read, Todd Redder, Dale M. Robertson, Scott P. Sowa, Yu-Chen Wang, Michael White, Haw Yen
2016, Report
Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have been increasing in extent and intensity in the western basin of Lake Erie. The cyanobacteria Microcystis produces toxins that pose serious threats to animal and human health, resulting in beach closures and impaired water supplies, and have even forced a “do not drink” advisory for...
Fines classification based on sensitivity to pore-fluid chemistry
Junbong Jang, J. Carlos Santamarina
2016, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering (142) 1-8
The 75-μm particle size is used to discriminate between fine and coarse grains. Further analysis of fine grains is typically based on the plasticity chart. Whereas pore-fluid-chemistry-dependent soil response is a salient and distinguishing characteristic of fine grains, pore-fluid chemistry is not addressed in current classification systems....
Airborne pathogens from dairy manure aerial irrigation and the human health risk
Mark A. Borchardt, Tucker R Burch
2016, Report, Considerations for the use of manure irrigation practices
Dairy manure, like the fecal excrement from any domesticated or wild animal, can contain pathogens capable of infecting humans and causing illness or even death. Pathogens in dairy manure can be broadly divided into categories of taxonomy or infectiousness. Dividing by taxonomy there are three pathogen groups in dairy manure:...
Aeshnid dragonfly larvae as bioindicators of methylmercury contamination in aquatic systems impacted by elevated sulfate loading
Jeffrey D. Jeremiason, T. K. Reiser, R. A. Weitz, M.E. Berndt, George R. Aiken
2016, Ecotoxicology (25) 456-468
Methylmercury (MeHg) levels in dragonfly larvae and water were measured over two years in aquatic systems impacted to varying degrees by sulfate releases related to iron mining activity. This study examined the impact of elevated sulfate loads on MeHg concentrations and tested the use of MeHg in dragonfly larvae as...
Municipal solid waste landfills harbor distinct microbiomes
Blake W. Stamps, Christopher N. Lyles, Joseph M. Suflita, Jason R. Masoner, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Dana W. Kolpin, Bradley S. Stevenson
2016, Frontiers in Microbiology (7) 1-11
Landfills are the final repository for most of the discarded material from human society and its “built environments.” Microorganisms subsequently degrade this discarded material in the landfill, releasing gases (largely CH4 and CO2) and a complex mixture of soluble chemical compounds in leachate. Characterization of “landfill microbiomes” and their comparison...
Temporal, geographic, and host distribution of avian paramyxovirus 1 (Newcastle disease virus)
Kiril M. Dimitrov, Andrew M. Ramey, Xueting Qiu, Justin Bahl, Claudio L. Afonso
2016, Infection, Genetics and Evolution (39) 22-34
Newcastle disease is caused by virulent forms of avian paramyxovirus of serotype 1 (APMV-1) and has global economic importance. The disease reached panzootic proportions within two decades after first being identified in 1926 in the United Kingdom and Indonesia and still remains endemic in many countries across the world. Here...
Slow climate velocities of mountain streams portend their role as refugia for cold-water biodiversity
Daniel J. Isaak, Michael K. Young, Charles H. Luce, Steven W. Hostetler, Seth J. Wenger, Erin E. Peterson, Jay Ver Hoef, Matthew C. Groce, Dona L. Horan, David E. Nagel
2016, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (113) 4374-4379
The imminent demise of montane species is a recurrent theme in the climate change literature, particularly for aquatic species that are constrained to networks and elevational rather than latitudinal retreat as temperatures increase. Predictions of widespread species losses, however, have yet to be fulfilled despite decades of climate change, suggesting...
Seasonal habitat use of brook trout and juvenile steelhead in a Lake Ontario tributary
James H. Johnson, Ross Abbett, Marc A. Chalupnicki, Francis Verdoliva
2016, Journal of Freshwater Ecology (31) 239-249
Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) are generally restricted to headwaters in New York tributaries of Lake Ontario. In only a few streams are brook trout abundant in lower stream reaches that are accessible to adult Pacific salmonids migrating from the lake. Consequently, because of the rarity of native brook trout populations...
NHDPlus as a geospatial framework for SPARROW modeling
John W. Brakebill, Gregory E. Schwarz
2016, Impact Assessment Bulletin (18)
Successful water-resource management requires thorough knowledge and understanding of the relations among water-quality contaminate sources and the factors that affect the transport throughout a hydrologic system. Surface-water modeling is a valuable tool that can be applied to help advance and achieve the understanding of these dynamic relations. Spatially Referenced Regressions...
The power of remote sensing: Global monitoring of weather, water, and crops with satellites and data integration
Gabriel B. Senay
2016, Resource: Engineering and Technology for a Sustainable World (23) 6-9
Imagine a family of six whose livelihood is based on subsistence farming on a small, maybe one hectare, parcel of land somewhere in Africa. The seasonal rainfall varies greatly, from 500 to 800 mm per year, and the land is degraded. Thus, the parcel’s total productivity is not more than...
Low soil moisture during hot periods drives apparent negative temperature sensitivity of soil respiration in a dryland ecosystem: A multi-model comparison
Colin Tucker, Sasha C. Reed
2016, Biogeochemistry (128) 155-169
Arid and semiarid ecosystems (drylands) may dominate the trajectory of biosphere-to-atmosphere carbon (C) exchange, and understanding dryland CO2 efflux is important for C cycling at the global-scale. However, unknowns remain regarding how temperature and moisture interact to regulate dryland soil respiration (R s ), while ‘islands of fertility’ in drylands create spatially heterogeneous R s ....
Increasing influence of air temperature on upper Colorado River streamflow
Connie A. Woodhouse, Gregory T. Pederson, Kiyomi Morino, Stephanie A. McAfee, Gregory J. McCabe
2016, Geophysical Research Letters (43) 2174-2181
This empirical study examines the influence of precipitation, temperature, and antecedent soil moisture on upper Colorado River basin (UCRB) water year streamflow over the past century. While cool season precipitation explains most of the variability in annual flows, temperature appears to be highly influential under certain conditions, with the role...
Increased temperatures combined with lowered salinities differentially impact oyster size class growth and mortality
Megan K. LaPeyre, Molly Rybovich, Steven G. Hall, Jerome F. La Peyre
2016, Journal of Shellfish Research (35) 101-113
Changes in the timing and interaction of seasonal high temperatures and low salinities as predicted by climate change models could dramatically alter oyster population dynamics. Little is known explicitly about how low salinity and high temperature combinations affect spat (<25mm), seed (25–75mm), andmarket (>75mm) oyster growth and mortality. Using field...
Basin scale controls on CO2 and CH4 emissions from the Upper Mississippi River
John T. Crawford, Luke C. Loken, Emily H. Stanley, Edward G. Stets, Mark M. Dornblaser, Robert G. Striegl
2016, Geophysical Research Letters (43) 1973-1979
The Upper Mississippi River, engineered for river navigation in the 1930s, includes a series of low-head dams and navigation pools receiving elevated sediment and nutrient loads from the mostly agricultural basin. Using high-resolution, spatially resolved water quality sensor measurements along 1385 river kilometers, we show that primary productivity and organic...
Effect of phytoremediation on concentrations of benzene, toluene, naphthalene, and dissolved oxygen in groundwater at a former manufactured gas plant site, Charleston, South Carolina, USA, 1998–2014
James Landmeyer, Thomas N. Effinger
2016, Environmental Earth Sciences (75)
Concentrations of benzene, toluene, naphthalene, and dissolved oxygen in groundwater at a former manufactured gas plant site near Charleston, South Carolina, USA, have been monitored since the installation of a phytoremediation system of hybrid poplar trees in 1998. Between 2000 and 2014, the concentrations of benzene, toluene, and naphthalene (BT&N)...
Construction, calibration, and validation of the RBM10 water temperature model for the Trinity River, northern California
Edward C. Jones, Russell W. Perry, John C. Risley, Nicholas A. Som, Nicholas J. Hetrick
2016, Open-File Report 2016-1056
We constructed a one-dimensional daily averaged water-temperature model to simulate Trinity River temperatures for 1980–2013. The purpose of this model is to assess effects of water-management actions on water temperature and to provide water temperature inputs for a salmon population dynamics model. Simulated meteorological data, observed streamflow data, and...
Surveillance for highly pathogenic avian influenza virus in wild birds during outbreaks in domestic poultry, Minnesota, 2015
Christopher S. Jennelle, Michelle Carstensen, Erik C. Hildebrand, Louis Cornicelli, Paul C. Wolf, Daniel A. Grear, S. Ip, Kaci K. VanDalen, Larissa A. Minicucci
2016, Emerging Infectious Diseases (22) 1278-1282
In 2015, a major outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) infection devastated poultry facilities in Minnesota, USA. To clarify the role of wild birds, we tested 3,139 waterfowl fecal samples and 104 sick and dead birds during March 9–June 4, 2015. HPAIV was isolated from a Cooper’s hawk...
Temporal and spatial patterns of wetland extent influence variability of surface water connectivity in the Prairie Pothole Region, United States
Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Laurie C. Alexander, Jason Todd
2016, Landscape Ecology (31) 805-824
Context. Quantifying variability in landscape-scale surface water connectivity can help improve our understanding of the multiple effects of wetlands on downstream waterways. Objectives. We examined how wetland merging and the coalescence of wetlands with streams varied both spatially (among ecoregions) and interannually (from drought to deluge) across parts of the...
