Seasonal variation in habitat use of juvenile Steelhead in a tributary of Lake Ontario
Emily W. Studdert, James H. Johnson
2015, Northeastern Naturalist (22) 717-729
We examined seasonal-habitat use by subyearling and yearling Oncorhynchus mykiss (Rainbow Trout or Steelhead) in Trout Brook, a tributary of the Salmon River, NY. We determined daytime fish-habitat use and available habitat during August and October of the same year and observed differences in habitat selection among year classes. Water...
Western water and climate change
Michael D. Dettinger, Bradley Udall, Aris P. Georgakakos
2015, Ecological Applications (25) 2069-2093
The western United States is a region long defined by water challenges. Climate change adds to those historical challenges, but does not, for the most part, introduce entirely new challenges; rather climate change is likely to stress water supplies and resources already in many cases stretched to, or beyond, natural...
Assessment of environmental DNA for detecting presence of imperiled aquatic amphibian species in isolated wetlands
Anna M. McKee, Daniel L. Calhoun, William J. Barichivich, Stephen F. Spear, Caren S. Goldberg, Travis C Glenn
2015, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (6) 498-510
Environmental DNA (eDNA) is an emerging tool that allows low-impact sampling for aquatic species by isolating DNA from water samples and screening for DNA sequences specific to species of interest. However, researchers have not tested this method in naturally acidic wetlands that provide breeding habitat for a number of imperiled...
Changes in depth occupied by Great Lakes lake whitefish populations and the influence of survey design
Michael D. Rennie, Brian Weidel, Randall M. Claramunt, Erin S. Dunlob
2015, Journal of Great Lakes Research (41) 1150-1161
Understanding fish habitat use is important in determining conditions that ultimately affect fish energetics, growth and reproduction. Great Lakes lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) have demonstrated dramatic changes in growth and life history traits since the appearance of dreissenid mussels in the Great Lakes, but the role of habitat occupancy in...
Predicting spatial distribution of postfire debris flows and potential consequences for native trout in headwater streams
Edwin R Sedell, Robert E. Gresswell, Thomas E. McMahon
2015, Freshwater Science (34) 1558-1570
Habitat fragmentation and degradation and invasion of nonnative species have restricted the distribution of native trout. Many trout populations are limited to headwater streams where negative effects of predicted climate change, including reduced stream flow and increased risk of catastrophic fires, may further jeopardize their persistence. Headwater streams in steep...
Long-term anoxia and release of ancient, labile carbon upon thaw of Pleistocene permafrost
Stephanie A. Ewing, Jonathan A. O’Donnell, George R. Aiken, Kenna D. Butler, David Butman, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Mikhail Kanevskiy
2015, Geophysical Research Letters (42) 10730-10738
The fate of permafrost carbon upon thaw will drive feedbacks to climate warming. Here we consider the character and context of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in yedoma permafrost cores from up to 20 m depth in central Alaska. We observed high DOC concentrations (4 to 129 mM) and consistent low molecular weight...
Estimating the risks for adverse effects of total phosphorus in receiving streams with the Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM)
Gregory E. Granato, Susan C. Jones
2015, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the 2015 International Conference on Ecology and Transportation (ICOET 2015)
Studies from North Carolina (NC) indicate that increasing concentrations of total phosphorus (TP) and other constituents are correlated to adverse effects on stream ecosystems as evidenced by differences in benthic macroinvertebrate populations in streams across the state. As a result, stringent in-stream criteria based on the Water Quality Assessed by...
Geologic cross sections and preliminary geologic map of the Questa Area, Taos County, New Mexico
Paul W. Bauer, V. J. S. Grauch, Peggy S. Johnson, Ren A. Thompson, Benjamin J. Drenth, Keith I. Kelson
2015, Open-File Report 578
In 2011, the senior authors were contacted by Ron Gardiner of Questa, and Village of Questa Mayor Esther Garcia, to discuss the existing and future groundwater supply for the Village of Questa. This meeting led to the development of a plan in 2013 to perform an integrated geologic, geophysical, and...
Removal of terrestrial DOC in aquatic ecosystems of a temperate river network
W. M. Wollheim, R. J. Stewart, George R. Aiken, Kenna D. Butler, Nathaniel B. Morse, J. Salisbury
2015, Geophysical Research Letters (42) 6671-6679
Surface waters play a potentially important role in the global carbon balance. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) fluxes are a major transfer of terrestrial carbon to river systems, and the fate of DOC in aquatic systems is poorly constrained. We used a unique combination of spatially distributed sampling of...
Water quality and fish dynamics in forested wetlands associated with an oxbow lake
Caroline S. Andrews, Leandro E. Miranda, Robert Kroger
2015, Southeastern Naturalist (14) 623-634
Forested wetlands represent some of the most distinct environments in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Depending on season, water in forested wetlands can be warm, stagnant, and oxygen-depleted, yet may support high fish diversity. Fish assemblages in forested wetlands are not well studied because of difficulties in sampling heavily structured...
The importance of considering shifts in seasonal changes in discharges when predicting future phosphorus loads in streams
Meredith B. LaBeau, Alex S. Mayer, Veronica Griffis, David Jr. Watkins, Dale M. Robertson, Rabi Gyawali
2015, Biogeochemistry (126) 153-172
In this work, we hypothesize that phosphorus (P) concentrations in streams vary seasonally and with streamflow and that it is important to incorporate this variation when predicting changes in P loading associated with climate change. Our study area includes 14 watersheds with a range of land uses throughout the U.S....
Fire effects on aquatic ecosystems: An assessment of the current state of the science
Rebecca J. Bixby, Scott D. Cooper, Robert E. Gresswell, Lee E. Brown, Clifford N. Dahm, Kathleen A. Dwire
2015, Freshwater Science (34) 1340-1350
Fire is a prevalent feature of many landscapes and has numerous and complex effects on geological, hydrological, ecological, and economic systems. In some regions, the frequency and intensity of wildfire have increased in recent years and are projected to escalate with predicted climatic and landuse changes. In addition, prescribed burns...
Why are freshwater fish so threatened?
Gerard P. Closs, Paul L. Angermeier, William R.T. Darwall, Stephen R. Balcombe
2015, Book chapter, Conservation of Freshwater Fishes
The huge diversity of freshwater fishes is concentrated into an area of habitat that covers only about 1% of the Earth's surface, and much of this limited area has already been extensively impacted and intensively managed to meet human needs (Dudgeon et al., 2006). As outlined in Chapter 1, the number...
Quantifying the residence time and flushing characteristics of a shallow, back-barrier estuary: Application of hydrodynamic and particle tracking models
Zafer Defne, Neil K. Ganju
2015, Estuaries and Coasts (38) 1719-1734
Estuarine residence time is a major driver of eutrophication and water quality. Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor (BB-LEH), New Jersey, is a lagoonal back-barrier estuary that is subject to anthropogenic pressures including nutrient loading, eutrophication, and subsequent declines in water quality. A combination of hydrodynamic and particle tracking modeling was used...
Management and the conservation of freshwater ecosystems
Mark S. Wipfli, John S. Richardson
2015, Book chapter
Riparian areas are the terrestrial environment adjacent to water that both influences and is influenced by the aquatic feature (Gregory et al., 1991; Naiman et al., 2010). Riparian areas along streams provide shade, sources of wood and organic matter, contribute to bank stability, filter sediments, take up excess nutrients from groundwater inputs,...
Categorisation of northern California rainfall for periods with and without a radar brightband using stable isotopes and a novel automated precipitation collector
Tyler B. Coplen, Paul J. Neiman, Allen B. White, F. Martin Ralph
2015, Tellus, Series A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography (67) 1-48
During landfall of extratropical cyclones between 2005 and 2011, nearly 1400 precipitation samples were collected at intervals of 30-min time resolution with novel automated collectors at four NOAA sites in northern California [Alta (ATA), Bodega Bay (BBY), Cazadero (CZD) and Shasta Dam (STD)] during 43 events. Substantial decreases were commonly...
Hydrologic implications of GRACE satellite data in the Colorado River Basin
Bridget R. Scanlon, Zizhan Zhang, Robert C. Reedy, Donald R. Pool, Himanshu Save, Di Long, Jianli Chen, David M. Wolock, Brian D. Conway, Daniel Winester
2015, Water Resources Research (51) 9891-9903
Use of GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellites for assessing global water resources is rapidly expanding. Here we advance application of GRACE satellites by reconstructing long-term total water storage (TWS) changes from ground-based monitoring and modeling data. We applied the approach to the Colorado River Basin which has experienced...
Critical loads of atmospheric deposition to Adirondack lake watersheds: A guide for policymakers
Douglas A. Burns, Timothy J. Sullivan
2015, Report
Acid deposition is sometimes referred to as “acid rain,” although part of the acid load reaches the surface by means other than rainfall. In the eastern U.S., acid deposition consists of several forms of sulfur and nitrogen that largely originate as emissions to the atmosphere from sources such as electricity-generating...
Substantial contribution of biomethylation to aquifer arsenic cycling
Scott C. Maguffin, Matthew F. Kirk, Ashley R. Daigle, Stephen R. Hinkle, Qusheng Jin
2015, Nature Geoscience (8) 290-293
Microbes play a prominent role in transforming arsenic to and from immobile forms in aquifers1. Much of this cycling involves inorganic forms of arsenic2, but microbes can also generate organic forms through methylation3, although this process is often considered insignificant in aquifers4, 5, 6, 7. Here we identify the presence...
High-resolution remote sensing of water quality in the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary
Cedric G. Fichot, Bryan D. Downing, Brian A. Bergamaschi, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Mark C. Marvin-DiPasquale, David R. Thompson, Michelle M. Gierach
2015, Environmental Science & Technology (50) 573-583
The San Francisco Bay–Delta Estuary watershed is a major source of freshwater for California and a profoundly human-impacted environment. The water quality monitoring that is critical to the management of this important water resource and ecosystem relies primarily on a system of fixed water-quality monitoring stations, but the limited spatial...
Sources and transport of phosphorus to rivers in California and adjacent states, U.S., as determined by SPARROW modeling
Joseph L. Domagalski, Dina Saleh
2015, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (51) 1463-1486
The SPARROW (SPAtially Referenced Regression on Watershed attributes) model was used to simulate annual phosphorus loads and concentrations in unmonitored stream reaches in California, U.S., and portions of Nevada and Oregon. The model was calibrated using de-trended streamflow and phosphorus concentration data at 80 locations. The model explained 91% of...
Evaluation of the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) air temperature data products
Lei Ji, Gabriel B. Senay, James P. Verdin
2015, Journal of Hydrometeorology (16) 2463-2480
There is a high demand for agrohydrologic models to use gridded near-surface air temperature data as the model input for estimating regional and global water budgets and cycles. The Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) developed by combining simulation models with observations provides a long-term gridded meteorological dataset at the...
SPARROW modeling of nitrogen sources and transport in rivers and streams of California and adjacent states, U.S.
Dina Saleh, Joseph L. Domagalski
2015, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (51) 1487-1507
The SPARROW (SPAtially Referenced Regressions On Watershed attributes) model was used to evaluate the spatial distribution of total nitrogen (TN) sources, loads, watershed yields, and factors affecting transport and decay in the stream network of California and portions of adjacent states for the year 2002. The two major TN sources...
A comparison of thermal infrared to fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing for evaluation of groundwater discharge to surface water
Danielle K Hare, Martin A. Briggs, Donald O. Rosenberry, Dave Boutt, John W. Lane Jr.
2015, Journal of Hydrology (530) 153-166
Groundwater has a predictable thermal signature that can be used to locate discrete zones of discharge to surface water. As climate warms, surface water with strong groundwater influence will provide habitat stability and refuge for thermally stressed aquatic species, and is therefore critical to locate and protect. Alternatively, these discrete...
What is the Anthropocene?
Lucy E. Edwards
2015, Eos, Earth and Space Science News (97) 6-7
Since Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer introduced the word “Anthropocene” in 2000, scientists and nonscientists alike have used the word to highlight the concept that we are now living in a time when the global environment, at some level, is shaped by humankind rather than vice versa. Humans have significantly...
