Temporal concentrations of Quaternary ammonium compounds in wastewater treatment effluents during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020–2021
Michelle L. Hladik, Michael S. Gross, Gabrielle Pecora Black, Dana W. Kolpin, Jason R. Masoner, Patrick J. Phillips, Paul M. Bradley, Kelly Smalling
2024, Chemosphere (368)
Quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC) are high production chemicals used in many commercial and household disinfection products. During the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic, QACs were included on lists of COVID-19 disinfectants. Increased QAC use could lead to higher levels of QACs in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents, which could subsequently be released...
Fine-scale surficial soil moisture mapping using UAS-based L-band remote sensing in a mixed oak-grassland landscape
Michelle A. Stern, Ryan Ferrell, Lorraine E. Flint, Melina Kozanitas, David Ackerly, Jack Elston, Maciej Stachura, Eryan Dai, James H. Thorne
2024, Frontiers in Remote Sensing (5)
Soil moisture maps provide quantitative information that, along with climate and energy balance, is critical to integrate with hydrologic processes for characterizing landscape conditions. However, soil moisture maps are difficult to produce for natural landscapes because of vegetation cover and complex topography. Satellite-based L-band microwave sensors are...
High-Flow Experimental Outcomes to Inform Everglades Restoration, 2010–22
Judson W. Harvey, Jay Choi, Laurel Larsen, Katherine Skalak, Morgan Maglio, Katherine Quion, Tzu-Yao Lin, Allison Swartz, Jesus Gomez-Velez, Noah Schmadel
2024, Open-File Report 2024-1063
The Decompartmentalization Physical Model (DPM) was an experimental facility in the central Everglades operated between 2010 and 2022 to release high flows through a levee-enclosed area of degraded ridge and slough wetland that had been isolated from flow for sixty years. The purpose of DPM experimental program was to make...
Increasing phosphorus loss despite widespread concentration decline in US rivers
Wei Zhi, Hubert Baniecki, Jiangtao Liu, Elizabeth W. Boyer, Chaopeng Shen, Gary W. Shenk, Xiaofeng Liu, Li Li
2024, PNAS (121)
The loss of phosphorous (P) from the land to aquatic systems has polluted waters and threatened food production worldwide. Systematic trend analysis of P, a nonrenewable resource, has been challenging, primarily due to sparse and inconsistent historical data. Here, we leveraged intensive hydrometeorological data and the recent renaissance of deep...
Genome sequences of toxigenic cyanobacteria from a bloom in Lake Mattamuskeet, North Carolina (United States)
Jéssica A. Moretto, David E. Berthold, Forrest W. Lefler, Viviana Mazzei, Keith A. Loftin, Dail H. Laughinghouse IV
2024, Journal of Phycology (60) 1349-1355
Lake Mattamuskeet, the largest lake in North Carolina, USA, has undergone decades-long eutrophication causing reduced water quality and promoting cyanobacterial blooms that may produce toxins. It is therefore necessary to evaluate the cyanobacterial diversity of the lake and their toxigenic potential. We present draft genomes of Microcystis, Pelatocladus, Raphidiopsis, and Umezakia strains isolated from Lake...
Hydroacoustic observations reveal drivers of mixing and salinization of a karst subterranean estuary during intense precipitation
Neil K. Ganju, John Pohlman, Steven E. Suttles, David Brankovits
2024, Geophysical Research Letters (51)
Karst subterranean estuaries within globally ubiquitous carbonate aquifers are coastal groundwater ecosystems that provide an essential water resource for human populations. To understand the drivers of salinization within a coastal aquifer in the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico), we employed hydroacoustics in flooded caves to observe how oceanic and atmospheric events facilitate...
Toxicity of crude oil-derived polar unresolved complex mixtures to Pacific herring embryos: Insights beyond polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
Maxwell L. Harsha, Yanila Salas-Ortiz, Alysha D. Cypher, Ed Osborn, Eduardo Turcios Valle, Jacob L. Gregg, Paul Hershberger, Yuri Kurerov, Sarah King, Aleksandar I. Goranov, Patrick G. Hatcher, Anastasia Konefal, T. Erin Cox, Justin Blaine Greer, James P. Meador, Matthew A. Tarr, Patrick L. Tomco, David C. Podgorski
2024, Science of the Total Environment (957)
Crude oil toxicity to early life stage fish is commonly attributed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). However, it remains unclear how the polar unresolved complex mixture (UCM), which constitutes the bulk of the water-soluble fraction of crude oil, contributes to crude oil toxicity. Additionally, the role of photomodification-induced toxicity in...
The U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Network—Surface Water—2023
Melissa L. Riskin
2024, General Information Product 245
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Quality Network for surface water (NWQN-SW) was established in 2013 to develop long-term, comparable assessments of surface-water quality in support of national, regional, state, and local needs related to water-quality management and policy. Waterquality samples are collected at each site and measured for...
U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater Climate Response Network—2023
Jason Fine, Rodney R. Caldwell
2024, General Information Product 243
As of October 2023, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) operated more than 660 sites across the United States and its territories as part of the Groundwater Climate Response Network (CRN). The CRN is comprised of wells and springs selected to monitor the effects of climate variability, such as droughts, on...
Advancing sustainable groundwater management with a hydro-economic system model: Investigations in the Harney Basin, Oregon
William K. Jaeger, John M. Antle, Stephen B. Gingerich, Daniel Bigelow
2024, Water Resources Research (60)
Groundwater resources frequently trend toward unsustainable levels because, absent effective institutions, individual water users generally act independently without considering the impacts on other users. Hydro-economic models (HEMs) of human-natural systems can play a positive role toward successful groundwater management by yielding valuable knowledge and insight. The current study explores how...
Field trials of an autonomous eDNA sampler in lotic waters
Scott D. George, Adam Sepulveda, Patrick Ross Hutchins, David S. Pilliod, Katy E. Klymus, Austen Thomas, Ben Augustine, Chany C Huddleston Adrianza, Devin Nicole Jones-Slobodian, Jacob R. Williams, Eric Leinonen
2024, Environmental Science & Technology (58) 20942-20953
Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis has become a transformative technology, but sample collection methods lack standardization and sampling at effective frequencies requires considerable field effort. Autonomous eDNA samplers that can sample water at high frequencies offer potential solutions to these problems. We present results from four case studies using a prototype...
Assessing predictions from optimal egg theory for an ectotherm relative to habitat duration
Jon M. Davenport, Andrew Feltmann, LeeAnn Fishback, Blake R. Hossack
2024, Wildlife Letters (2) 124-130
Optimal egg size theory predicts females must balance investment per offspring to maximize fitness based on environmental quality. In wetlands, environmental quality can be duration of water and predator presence. Ectotherms using habitats that dry or contain predators are likely under selection to optimize offspring production. We measured reproductive output...
The EnMAP spaceborne imaging spectroscopy mission: Initial scientific results two years after launch
Sabine Chabrillat, Saskia Foerster, Karl Segl, Alison Beamish, Maximilian Brell, Saeid Asadzadeh, Robert Milewski, Kathrin J. Ward, Arlena Brosinsky, Katrin Koch, Daniel Scheffler, Stephane Guillaso, Alexander Kokhanovsky, Sigrid Roessner, Luis Guanter, Hermann Kauffman, Nicole Pinnel, Emiliano Carmona, Tobias Storch, Tobias Hank, Katja Berger, Mathias Wocher, Patrick Hostert, Sebastian van der Linden, Akpona Okujeni, Andreas Janz, Benjamin Jakimow, Astrid Bracher, Mariana Soppa, L.M.A. Alvarado, H. Buddenbaum, Birgit Heim, Uta Heiden, Jose M. Moreno, Cindy Ong, Niklas Bohn, Robert O. Green, Martin Bachmann, Raymond F. Kokaly, Martin Schodlok, Thomas H. Painter, Ferran Gascon, Fabrizia Buongiorno, Matti Mottus, Vittorio Ernesto Brando, Hannes Feilhauer, Matthias Betz, Simon Baur, Rupert Feckl, Anke Schickling, Vera Krieger, Michael Bock, Laura La Porta, Sebastian Fischer
2024, Remote Sensing of Environment (315)
Imaging spectroscopy has been a recognized and established remote sensing technology since the 1980s, mainly using airborne and field-based platforms to identify and quantify key bio- and geo-chemical surface and atmospheric compounds, based on characteristic spectral reflectance features in the visible-near infrared (VNIR) and short-wave infrared (SWIR). Spaceborne missions, a...
Water-quality comparisons in the Greater Mooses Tooth unit of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, 2010 and 2023
Brent M. Hall
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5098
The United States has long held oil reserves in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR–A), but oil production did not begin until 2015. The waters of the NPR–A are generally considered “pristine,” but water quality has not been characterized temporally or spatially in a rigorous manner. In 2010 and...
Before the fire: Predicting burn severity and potential post-fire debris-flow hazards to Colorado River Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii pleuriticus) conservation populations
Adam Gerhard Wells, Charles B. Yackulic, Jaime Kostelnik, Andrew R. Bock, Robert E. Zuellig, Daren M. Carlisle, James Roberts, Kevin B. Rogers, Seth M. Munson
2024, International Journal of Wildland Fire (33)
BackgroundColorado River Cutthroat Trout (CRCT; Oncorhynchus clarkii pleuriticus) conservation populations may be at risk from wildfire and post-fire debris flows hazards.AimTo predict burn severity and potential post-fire debris flow hazard classifications to CRCT conservation populations before wildfires occur.MethodsWe used remote sensing, spatial analyses, and machine learning to model 28 wildfire incidents...
Post Carr Fire bioassessment data report, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, Shasta County, California
Marissa L. Wulff, Larry R. Brown, Veronica L. Violette
2024, Data Report 1201
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Park Service, analyzed water and sediment chemistry, benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages, fish and amphibian assemblages, fish and invertebrate tissues, instream habitat characteristics, and sediment heterogeneity at 10 stream sites within Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, Shasta County, California, during August 2020, 2 years...
Detection probabilities of Flathead Catfish in small Kansas impoundments
Brett T. Miller, Ben C. Neely, Connor J. Chance-Ossowski, Micah J. Waters, Vanessa Salazar, Lucas K. Kowalewski, Nicholas W. Kramer, Seth A. Lundgren, Jonathan J. Spurgeon
2024, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (15) 530-536
A primary challenge of Flathead Catfish Pylodictis olivaris management is uncertainty associated with sampling strategies and resulting ambiguity in population-level information. Assessment of impoundment and environmental conditions that affect detection probability may aid in reducing sample variance and benefit inferences regarding changes to Flathead Catfish populations. We sampled eight small impoundments in...
Length in assessing status of freshwater fish populations: A review
Leandro E. Miranda, H.G. Funk, M. Palmieri, J.D. Stafford, M.E. Nichols
2024, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (44) 1092-1110
ObjectiveEffective policy formulation regarding the conservation of freshwater fish necessitates an understanding of water‐specific prevailing conditions and trends. Assessing fish populations in inland waters is difficult and expensive because there are many independent systems that need to be evaluated. Therefore, numerous freshwater systems are beset by insufficient data...
Inset groundwater-flow models for the Cache and Grand Prairie Critical Groundwater Areas, northeastern Arkansas
Jonathan P. Traylor, Leslie L. Duncan, Andrew T. Leaf, Alec R. Weisser, Benjamin J. Dietsch, Moussa Guira
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5088
The water resources in the Mississippi alluvial plain, located in parts of Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas, supports a multibillion-dollar agricultural industry that relies heavily on pumping of groundwater for irrigation of crops and aquaculture. The primary source of groundwater for agricultural-related pumping is the Mississippi River Valley...
Connectivity patterns between floodplain lakes and neighboring streams in the historical floodplain of the Lower Mississippi River
Hafez Ahmad, Leandro E. Miranda, Corey Garland Dunn, Melanie R. Boudreau, Michael E. Colvin
2024, Ecological Indicators (169)
Hydrologic connectivity, the network of water pathways linking aquatic habitats, is vital for the exchange of organisms and abiotic materials between rivers and adjacent waterbodies. This study quantified hydrologic connectivity for 1,283 lakes in the Lower Mississippi River floodplain using satellite imagery, streamgauge data, and geospatial information. We aimed to...
Peak streamflow trends in South Dakota and their relation to changes in climate, water years 1921–2020
Nancy A. Barth, Steven K. Sando
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5064-I
Peak-flow (flood) frequency analysis is essential to water-resources management applications, including the design of critical infrastructure such as bridges and culverts, and floodplain mapping. Federal guidelines for performing peak-flow flood frequency analyses are presented in a U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and Methods Report known as Bulletin 17C. A basic assumption...
Biological feasibility of introducing bighorn sheep to the Jicarilla Apache Nation
Cara J. Thompson, James W. Cain III
2024, Cooperator Science Series CSS-159-2024
The biological feasibility of introducing Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis canadensis) to the Dulce area of the Jicarilla Apache Nation (JAN) depends on availability and condition of potential habitat and the potential for disease risk, as pneumonia is the largest current threat to wild sheep populations. We modeled quality...
Riparian methylmercury production increases riverine mercury flux and food web concentrations
Virginia Krause, Austin K. Baldwin, Benjamin D. Peterson, David P. Krabbenhoft, Sarah E. Janssen, James Willacker, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Brett A. Poulin
2024, Environmental Science & Technology (58) 20490-20501
The production and uptake of toxic methylmercury (MeHg) impacts aquatic ecosystems globally. Rivers can be dynamic and difficult systems to study for MeHg production and bioaccumulation, hence identifying sources of MeHg to these systems is both challenging and important for resource management within rivers and main-stem reservoirs. Riparian zones, which...
Upper Mississippi River System hydrogeomorphic change conceptual model and hierarchical classification
Faith A. Fitzpatrick, James T. Rogala, Jon S. Hendrickson, Lucie Sawyer, Jayme Stone, Susannah Erwin, Edward J. Brauer, Angus Vaughan
2024, Open-File Report 2024-1051
Understanding the geomorphic processes and causes for long-term hydrogeomorphic changes along the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) is necessary for scientific studies ranging from habitat needs assessments, sediment transport, and nutrient processing, and making sound management decisions and prioritizing ecological restoration activities. From 2018 through 2020 the U.S. Geological Survey...
Real-time pier scour monitoring and observations at three scour-critical sites in Idaho, water years 2020–22
Ryan L. Fosness, Paul V. Schauer
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5095
To observe real-time pier scour at three scour-critical sites in Idaho, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Idaho Transportation Department, installed and operated fixed real-time (15-minute interval) bed elevation scour sonar sensors at three bridge locations associated with U.S. Geological Survey streamflow gaging stations for water years 2020 through...
