Effects of groundwater pumping on agricultural drains in the Tule Lake subbasin, Oregon and California
Esther M. Pischel, Marshall W. Gannett
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5087
Since 2001, irrigators in the upper Klamath Basin have increasingly turned to groundwater to compensate for reductions in surface-water allocation caused by shifts from irrigation use to instream flows for Endangered Species Act listed fishes. The largest increase in groundwater pumping has been in and around the Bureau of...
Interactions of water quality and integrated groundwater management: Examples from the United States and Europe
Kelly L. Warner, Fabienne Barataud, Randall J. Hunt, Marc Benoit, Juliette Anglade, Mark A. Borchardt
2015, Book chapter, Integrated groundwater management: Concepts, approaches and challenges
Groundwater is available in many parts of the world, but the quality of the water may limit its use. Contaminants can limit the use of groundwater through concerns associated with human health, aquatic health, economic costs, or even societal perception. Given this broad range of concerns, this chapter focuses on...
Final project memorandum: sea-level rise modeling handbook: resource guide for resource managers, engineers, and scientists
Thomas W. Doyle
2015, Conference Paper
Coastal wetlands of the Southeastern United States are undergoing retreat and migration from increasing tidal inundation and saltwater intrusion attributed to climate variability and sea-level rise. Much of the literature describing potential sea-level rise projections and modeling predictions are found in peer-reviewed academic journals or government technical reports largely suited...
Using hierarchical Bayesian multi-species mixture models to estimate tandem hoop-net based habitat associations and detection probabilities of fishes in reservoirs
David R. Stewart, James M. Long
2015, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (145) 450-461
Species distribution models are useful tools to evaluate habitat relationships of fishes. We used hierarchical Bayesian multispecies mixture models to evaluate the relationships of both detection and abundance with habitat of reservoir fishes caught using tandem hoop nets. A total of 7,212 fish from 12 species were captured, and the...
Hydroxide stabilization as a new tool for ballast disinfection: Efficacy of treatment on zooplankton
Christine M. Moffitt, Barnaby J. Watten, Amber Barenburg, Jeffrey W. Henquinet
2015, Management of Biological Invasions (6) 263-275
Effective and economical tools are needed for treating ship ballast to meet new regulatory requirements designed to reduce the introduction of invasive aquatic species from ship traffic. We tested the efficacy of hydroxide stabilization as a ballast disinfection tool in replicated, sequential field trials on board the M/V Ranger III...
The relationship between vessel traffic and noise levels received by killer whales (Orcinus orca)
Juliana Houghton, Marla M. Holt, Deborah A. Giles, M. Bradley Hanson, Candice K. Emmons, Jeffrey T. Hogan, Trevor A. Branch, Glenn R. VanBlaricom
2015, PLoS ONE (10) 1-20
Whale watching has become increasingly popular as an ecotourism activity around the globe and is beneficial for environmental education and local economies. Southern Resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) comprise an endangered population that is frequently observed by a large whale watching fleet in the inland waters of Washington state and...
Effectiveness of backpack electrofishing for removal of non-native fishes from a small warm-water stream
David L. Ward, Matthew W. O’neill, Cassie Ka’apu-Lyons
2015, Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science (46) 37-41
Electrofishing is commonly used when renovating small streams to remove nuisance fishes but the likelihood of complete eradication of unwanted species, particularly warm-water fishes, is unknown. In October of 2008, we electrofished Bonita Creek, a small stream with base flows (<0.56 m3/s) in southern Arizona, and then treated the stream...
Predictive modelling of habitat use by marine predators with respect to the abundance and depth distribution of pelagic prey
Charlotte Boyd, Ramiro Castillo, George L. Hunt Jr., Andre E. Punt, Glenn R. VanBlaricom, Henri Weimerskirch, Sophie Bertrand
2015, Journal of Animal Ecology (85) 1575-1588
Understanding the ecological processes that underpin species distribution patterns is a fundamental goal in spatial ecology. However, developing predictive models of habitat use is challenging for species that forage in marine environments, as both predators and prey are often highly mobile and difficult to monitor. Consequently, few...
Flood-inundation maps for the Schoharie Creek at Prattsville, New York, 2014
Elizabeth A. Nystrom
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5190
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 2.6-mile reach of the Schoharie Creek at Prattsville, New York, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site...
Seasonal cues of Arctic grayling movement in a small Arctic stream: the importance of surface water connectivity
Kurt C. Heim, Mark S. Wipfli, Matthew S. Whitman, Christopher D. Arp, Jeff Adams, Jeffrey A. Falke
2015, Environmental Biology of Fishes (99) 49-65
In Arctic ecosystems, freshwater fish migrate seasonally between productive shallow water habitats that freeze in winter and deep overwinter refuge in rivers and lakes. How these movements relate to seasonal hydrology is not well understood. We used passive integrated transponder tags and stream wide antennae to track 1035 Arctic grayling...
Distribution, abundance, and habitat associations of a large bivalve (Panopea generosa) in a eutrophic, fjord estuary
P. Sean Mcdonald, Timothy E. Essington, Jonathan P. Davis, Aaron W.E. Galloway, Bethany C. Stevick, Gregory C. Jensen, Glenn R. VanBlaricom, David A. Armstrong
2015, Journal of Shellfish Research (34) 137-145
Marine bivalves are important ecosystem constituents and frequently support valuable fisheries. In many nearshore areas, human disturbance—including declining habitat and water quality—can affect the distribution and abundance of bivalve populations, and complicate ecosystem and fishery management assessments. Infaunal bivalves, in particular, are frequently cryptic and difficult to detect; thus, assessing...
Past and future warming of a deep European lake (Lake Lugano): What are the climatic drivers?
Fabio Lepori, James J. Roberts
2015, Journal of Great Lakes Research (41) 973-981
We used four decades (1972–2013) of temperature data from Lake Lugano, Switzerland and Italy, to address the hypotheses that: [i] the lake has been warming; [ii] part of the warming reflects global trends and is independent from climatic oscillations and [iii] the lake will continue to warm until the end...
Influence of habitat and intrinsic characteristics on survival of neonatal pronghorn
Christopher N. Jacques, Jonathan A. Jenks, Troy W. Grovenburg, Robert W. Klaver
2015, PLoS ONE (10)
Increased understanding of the influence of habitat (e.g., composition, patch size) and intrinsic (e.g., age, birth mass) factors on survival of neonatal pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) is a prerequisite to successful management programs, particularly as they relate to population dynamics and the role of population models in adaptive species management. Nevertheless,...
Transport and deposition of asbestos-rich sediment in the Sumas River, Whatcom County, Washington
Christopher A. Curran, Scott W. Anderson, Jack E. Barbash, Christopher S. Magirl, Stephen E. Cox, Katherine K. Norton, Andrew S. Gendaszek, Andrew R. Spanjer, James R. Foreman
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5177
Heavy sediment loads in the Sumas River of Whatcom County, Washington, increase seasonal turbidity and cause locally acute sedimentation. Most sediment in the Sumas River is derived from a deep-seated landslide of serpentinite that is located on Sumas Mountain and drained by Swift Creek, a tributary to the Sumas River....
Crocodylus acutus (American Crocodile). Long distance juvenile movement
Rafael Crespo, Jeffrey S. Beauchamp, Frank Mazzotti, Michael S. Cherkiss
2015, Herpetological Review (46) 623-624
Crocodylus acutus (American Crocodile) is the most widely distributed New World crocodilian species with its range extending from Peru in the south to the southern tip of peninsular Florida in the north. Crocodylus acutus occupies primarily coastal brackish water habitat, however it also occurs in freshwater to hypersaline habitats (Thorbjarnarson...
Population ecology of the gulf ribbed mussel across a salinity gradient: recruitment, growth and density
Aaron Honig, John Supan, Megan K. LaPeyre
2015, Ecosphere (6) 1-13
Benthic intertidal bivalves play an essential role in estuarine ecosystems by contributing to habitat provision, water filtration, and promoting productivity. As such, changes that impact population distributions and persistence of local bivalve populations may have large ecosystem level consequences. Recruitment, growth, mortality, population size structure and density of the gulf...
First satellite tracks of the Endangered black-capped petrel
Patrick G.R. Jodice, Robert A. Ronconi, Ernst Rupp, George E. Wallace, Yvan Satgé
2015, Endangered Species Research (29) 23-33
The black-capped petrel Pterodroma hasitata is an endangered seabird with fewer than 2000 breeding pairs restricted to a few breeding sites in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. To date, use areas at sea have been determined entirely from vessel-based surveys and opportunistic sightings and, as such, spatial and temporal gaps in our...
Validation of streamflow measurements made with M9 and RiverRay acoustic Doppler current profilers
Justin A. Boldt, Kevin A. Oberg
2015, Journal of Hydraulic Engineering (142) 1-16
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Office of Surface Water (OSW) previously validated the use of Teledyne RD Instruments (TRDI) Rio Grande (in 2007), StreamPro (in 2006), and Broadband (in 1996) acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) for streamflow (discharge) measurements made by the USGS. Two new ADCPs, the SonTek M9 and...
Invasion of American bullfrogs along the Yellowstone River
Adam J. Sepulveda, Megan J. Layhee, Dave Stagliano, Jake Chaffin, Allison Begley, Bryce A. Maxell
2015, Aquatic Invasions (10) 69-77
The American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) is a globally distributed invasive species that was introduced to the Yellowstone River floodplain of Montana. Knowledge about floodplain habitat features that allow for bullfrog persistence and spread will help identify effective control strategies. We used field surveys in 2010, 2012 and 2013 to describe...
Invaded invaders: Infection of invasive Brown Treesnakes on Guam by an exotic larval cestode with a life cycle comprised of non-native hosts
Elden T Holldorf, Shane R. Siers, Jonathan Q. Richmond, Page E. Klug, Robert Reed
2015, PLoS ONE (10)
Background Multiple host introductions to the same non-native environment have the potential to complete life cycles of parasites incidentally transported with them. Our goal was to identify a recently detected parasitic flatworm in the invasive Brown Treesnake (Boiga irregularis) on the remote Pacific island of Guam. We considered possible factors influencing...
Long-term changes in nitrate conditions over the 20th century in two Midwestern Corn Belt streams
Valerie J. Kelly, Edward G. Stets, Charles G. Crawford
2015, Journal of Hydrology (525) 559-571
Long-term changes in nitrate concentration and flux between the middle of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century were estimated for the Des Moines River and the Middle Illinois River, two Midwestern Corn Belt streams, using a novel weighted regression approach that is able to detect...
Efficient wetland surface water detection and monitoring via Landsat: Comparison with in situ data from the Everglades Depth Estimation Network
John W. Jones
2015, Remote Sensing (9) 12503-12538
The U.S. Geological Survey is developing new Landsat science products. One, named Dynamic Surface Water Extent (DSWE), is focused on the representation of ground surface inundation as detected in cloud-/shadow-/snow-free pixels for scenes collected over the U.S. and its territories. Characterization of DSWE uncertainty to facilitate its appropriate use in...
Streamflow characteristics and trends at selected streamgages in southwest and south-central Kansas
Kyle E. Juracek
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5167
Historical data for nine selected streamgages in southwest and south-central Kansas were used in an assessment of streamflow characteristics and trends. This information is required by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism to assist with the effective management of Etheostoma cragini...
Decision analysis to support development of the Glen Canyon Dam long-term experimental and management plan
Michael C. Runge, Kirk E. LaGory, Kendra Russell, Janet R. Balsom, R. Alan Butler, Coggins Jr., Katrina A. Grantz, John Hayse, Ihor Hlohowskyj, Josh Korman, James E. May, Daniel J. O’Rourke, Leslie A. Poch, James R. Prairie, Jack C. VanKuiken, Robert A. Van Lonkhuyzen, David R. Varyu, Bruce T. Verhaaren, Thomas D. Veselka, Nicholas T. Williams, Kelsey K. Wuthrich, Charles B. Yackulic, Robert P. Billerbeck, Glen W. Knowles
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5176
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service, and Argonne National Laboratory, completed a decision analysis to use in the evaluation of alternatives in the Environmental Impact Statement concerning the long-term management of water releases from Glen Canyon Dam and associated management activities. Two...
Water quality trends in the Blackwater River watershed, West Virginia
Jessica Smith, Stuart A. Welsh, James T. Anderson, Ronald H. Fortney
2015, Southeastern Naturalist (14) 103-111
An understanding of historic and current water quality is needed to manage and improve aquatic communities within the Blackwater River watershed, WV. The Blackwater River, which historically offered an excellent Salvelinus fontinalis (Brook Trout) fishery, has been affected by logging, coal mining, use of off-road vehicles, and land development. Using information-theoretic methods,...
