Evaluation and review of best management practices for the reduction of polychlorinated biphenyls to the Chesapeake Bay
Trevor P. Needham, Emily H. Majcher, Ellie P. Foss, Olivia Devereux
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5074
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) continue to impact the environment due to historic and ongoing anthropogenic sources (for example, industrial and agricultural), despite their ban. Contaminated stormwater has been identified as a vector for PCB transport to many estuaries impaired by PCBs. Management of these regulated discharges is typically achieved by best...
Determinants of spring migration departure dates in a New World sparrow: Weather variables reign supreme
Allison J. Byrd, Katherine M. Talbott, Tara M. Smiley, Taylor B. Verrett, Michael S. Gross, Michelle L. Hladik, Ellen D. Ketterson, Daniel J. Becker
2024, Ecology and Evolution (14)
Numerous factors influence the timing of spring migration in birds, yet the relative importance of intrinsic and extrinsic variables on migration initiation remains unclear. To test for interactions among weather, migration distance, parasitism, and physiology in determining spring departure date, we used the Dark-eyed...
Local environments, not invasive hybridization, influence cardiac performance of native trout under acute thermal stress
Jeffrey Strait, Jared Grummer, Nicholas Hoffman, Clint C. Muhlfeld, Shawn R. Narum, Gordon Luikart
2024, Evolutionary Applications (17)
Climate-induced expansion of invasive hybridization (breeding between invasive and native species) poses a significant threat to the persistence of many native species worldwide. In the northern U.S. Rocky Mountains, hybridization between native cutthroat trout and non-native rainbow trout has increased in recent decades due,...
Strong variation in Brook Trout trends across geology, elevation, and stream size in Shenandoah National Park
Evan S. Childress, David E Demarest, John E.B. Wofford, Nathaniel P. Hitt, Benjamin Letcher
2024, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (153) 250-263
ObjectiveLandscape context structures fish abundance and dynamics, and understanding trends in fish abundance across the landscape is often prerequisite for effective conservation. In this study, we evaluated the status and trends of Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis in Shenandoah National Park to understand how these are structured across bedrock geology,...
A biodynamic model predicting copper and cadmium bioaccumulation in caddisflies: Linkages between field studies and laboratory exposures
Michelle I. Hornberger
2024, PLoSOne (19)
Hydropsyche and Arctopsyche are filter-feeding caddisflies (Order: Trichoptera; Family: Hydropsychidae) that are commonly used to monitor metal exposures in rivers. While tissue residue concentrations provide important bioaccumulation data regarding metal bioavailability, they do not provide information regarding the mechanisms of uptake and loss, or exposure history. This study examined...
Smaller body size under warming is not due to gill-oxygen limitation in a coldwater salmonid
Joshua K. Lonthair, Nicholas C. Wegner, Brian S. Cheng, Nann A. Fangue, Matthew J. O'Donnell, Amy M. Regish, John D. Swenson, Estefany Argueta, Stephen D. McCormick, Benjamin Letcher, Lisa M Komoroske
2024, Journal of Experimental Biology (227)
Declining body size in fishes and other aquatic ectotherms associated with anthropogenic climate warming has significant implications for future fisheries yields, stock assessments and aquatic ecosystem stability. One proposed mechanism seeking to explain such body-size reductions, known as the gill oxygen limitation (GOL) hypothesis, has recently been used to model...
Improving ecosystem health in highly altered river basins: A generalized framework and its application to the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin
Eileen L. McLellan, Kelly M. Suttles, Kristen L. Bouska, Jamelle Ellis, Joseph E. Flotemersch, Madison Goff, Heather E. Golden, Ryan A. Hill, Tara R. Hohman, Shamitha Keerthi, Richard F. Keim, Barbara A. Kleiss, Tyler J. Lark, Bryan P. Piazza, Alisha A. Renfro, Dale M. Robertson, Keith E. Schilling, Travis S. Schmidt, Ian R. Waite
2024, Frontiers in Environmental Science (12)
Continued large-scale public investment in declining ecosystems depends on demonstrations of “success”. While the public conception of “success” often focuses on restoration to a pre-disturbance condition, the scientific community is more likely to measure success in terms of improved ecosystem health. Using a combination of literature review, workshops and expert...
Wildfire burn severity and stream chemistry influence aquatic invertebrate and riparian avian mercury exposure in forested ecosystems
Garth Herring, Lora B. Tennant, James Willacker, Matthew Johnson, Rodney B. Siegel, Julie S. Polasik, Collin A. Eagles-Smith
2024, Ecotoxicology (33) 131-141
Terrestrial soils in forested landscapes represent some of the largest mercury (Hg) reserves globally. Wildfire can alter the storage and distribution of terrestrial-bound Hg via reemission to the atmosphere or mobilization in watersheds where it may become available for methylation and uptake into food webs. Using...
The 3D Elevation Program—Supporting Florida's economy
Xan Fredericks, Chris Cretini
2024, Fact Sheet 2023-3037
IntroductionFlorida has the longest coastline of any State in the contiguous United States, and its coastal resources are one of the main drivers of its economic growth. High-quality elevation data are beneficial for use in emergency management, especially for hurricane response, recovery, and mitigation, as well as for coastal zone...
Climate and landform interact to control the source and transport of nitrate in Pacific Northwest rivers
Elizabeth J. Elmstrom, Gordon W. Holtgrieve, Mark David Scheuerell, Andrew J. Schauer, Karrin Leazer
2024, Communications Earth and Environment (5)
The hydrological effects of climate change are documented in many regions; however, climate-driven impacts to the source and transport of river nutrients remain poorly understood. Understanding the factors controlling nutrient dynamics across river systems is critical to preserve ecosystem function yet challenging given the complexity of landscape and climate interactions....
PFAS river export analysis highlights the urgent need for catchment-scale mass loading data
Patrick Byrne, William M. Mayes, Alun L. James, Sean Comber, Emma Biles, Alex Riley, Robert L. Runkel
2024, Environmental Science & Technology Letters (11) 266-272
Source apportionment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) requires an understanding of the mass loading of these compounds in river basins. However, there is a lack of temporally variable and catchment-scale mass loading data, meaning identification and prioritization of sources of PFAS to rivers for management...
How quickly do oil and gas wells “Water Out”? Quantifying and contrasting water production trends
Seth S. Haines, Brian A. Varela, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Nicholas J. Gianoutsos
2024, Natural Resources Research (33) 591-608
Water production from petroleum (oil and natural gas) wells is a topic of increasing environmental and economic importance, yet quantification efforts have been limited to date, and patterns between and within petroleum plays are largely unscrutinized. Additionally, classification of reservoirs as “unconventional” (also known as “continuous”)...
Precipitation uncertainty estimation and rainfall-runoff model calibration using iterative ensemble smoothers
Davide Zoccatelli, Daniel B. Wright, Jeremy T. White, Michael N. Fienen, Guo Yu
2024, Advances in Water Resources (186)
The introduction of iterative ensemble smoothers (IES) for parameter calibration opens avenues for expanding parameter space in surface water hydrologic modeling. Here, we have introduced independent parameters into a model calibration experiment to estimate errors in rainfall forcing data. This...
Comparison of longitudinal stream temperature profiles and significant thermal features from airborne thermal infrared and float surveys of the Skykomish, Snoqualmie, and Middle Fork Snoqualmie Rivers, King and Snohomish Counties, Washington, summer 2020 and 2021
Daniel E. Restivo, Mousa Diabat, Chris Miwa, Valerie A.L. Bright
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5146
Summer water temperatures in the Skykomish, Snoqualmie, and Middle Fork Snoqualmie Rivers in western Washington have in recent decades exceeded the water temperature criteria for aquatic life uses set by the Washington Department of Ecology. This temperature increase is of particular concern because these rivers provide critical habitat for several...
Nitrate exposure from drinking water and dietary sources among Iowa farmers using private wells
T. Skalaban, D.A. Thompson, J. Madrigal, B. Blount, M.M. Espinosa, Dana W. Kolpin, N.C. Deziel, R.R. Jones, L.B. Freeman, J.N. Hofmann, M.H. Ward
2024, Science of the Total Envionrment (919)
Nitrate levels are increasing in water resources across the United States and nitrate ingestion from drinking water has been associated with adverse health risks in epidemiologic studies at levels below the maximum contaminant level (MCL). In contrast, dietary nitrate ingestion has generally been associated with beneficial health effects. Few studies...
The chytrid insurance hypothesis: Integrating parasitic chytrids into a biodiversity–ecosystem functioning framework for phytoplankton–zooplankton population dynamics
Andras Abonyi, Johanna Fornberg, Serena Rasconi, Robert Ptacnik, Martin J. Kainz, Kevin D. Lafferty
2024, Oecologia (204) 279-288
In temperate lakes, eutrophication and warm temperatures can promote cyanobacteria blooms that reduce water quality and impair food-chain support. Although parasitic chytrids of phytoplankton might compete with zooplankton, they also indirectly support zooplankton populations through the “mycoloop”, which helps move energy and essential dietary molecules from...
Fish conservation in streams of the agrarian Mississippi Alluvial Valley: Conceptual model, management actions, and field verification
K.J. Killgore, J.J. Hoover, Leandro E. Miranda, W.T. Slack, David R. Johnson, Neil H. Douglas
2024, Frontiers in Freshwater Science (2)
The effects of agriculture and flood control practices accrued over more than a century have impaired aquatic habitats and their fish communities in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, the historic floodplain of the Lower Mississippi River prior to leveeing. As a first step to conservation planning and adaptive management, we...
Metabolism regimes in regulated rivers of the Illinois River basin, USA
Judson Harvey, Jay Choi, Katherine Quion
2024, Scientific Data (11)
Metabolism estimates organic carbon accumulation by primary productivity and removal by respiration. In rivers it is relevant to assessing trophic status and threats to river health such as hypoxia as well as greenhouse gas fluxes. We estimated metabolism in 17 rivers of the Illinois River basin...
Monitoring of wave, current, and sediment dynamics along the Fog Point Living Shoreline, Glenn Martin National Wildlife Refuge, Maryland
H. Wang, Q. Chen, W.D. Capurso, N. Wang, L.M. Niemoczynski, M. Whitbeck, L. Zhu, Gregg A. Snedden, C.A. Wilson, M.S. Brownley
2024, Open-File Report 2024-1004
Living shorelines with salt marsh species, rock breakwaters, and sand nourishment were built along the coastal areas in the Glenn Martin National Wildlife Refuge, Maryland, in 2016 in response to Hurricane Sandy (2012). The Fog Point living shoreline at Glenn Martin National Wildlife Refuge was designed with the “headland -...
Travertine records climate-induced transformations of the Yellowstone hydrothermal system from the late Pleistocene to the present
Lauren N. Harrison, Shaul Hurwitz, James B. Paces, Cathy Whitlock, Sara Peek, Joseph Licciardi
2024, GSA Bulletin (136) 3605-3618
Chemical changes in hot springs, as recorded by thermal waters and their deposits, provide a window into the evolution of the postglacial hydrothermal system of the Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field. Today, most hydrothermal travertine forms to the north and south of the ca. 631 ka Yellowstone caldera where groundwater flow...
Water-level and recoverable water in storage changes, High Plains Aquifer, predevelopment to 2019 and 2017 to 2019
Virginia L. McGuire, Kellan R. Strauch
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5143
The High Plains aquifer underlies 111.8 million acres (about 175,000 square miles) in parts of eight States: Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. Water-level declines began in parts of the High Plains aquifer soon after the beginning of substantial groundwater irrigation (about 1950). This report...
Establishing fluvial silicon regimes and their stability across the Northern Hemisphere
Keira Johnson, Kathi Jo Jankowski, Joanna C. Carey, Nicholas Lyon, William H. McDowell, Arial J. Shogren, Adam S. Wymore, Lienne R. Sethna, Wilfred M. Wollheim, Amanda Poste, Pirkko Kortelainen, Ruth C. Heindel, Hjalmar Laudon, Antti Raike, Jeremy B. Jones, Diane M. McKnight, Paul Julian, Sidney A. Bush, Pamela L. Sullivan
2024, Limnology and Oceanography Letters (9) 237-246
Fluvial silicon (Si) plays a critical role in controlling primary production, water quality, and carbon sequestration through supporting freshwater and marine diatom communities. Geological, biogeochemical, and hydrological processes, as well as climate and land use, dictate the amount of Si exported by streams. Understanding Si...
Vegetation responses to large dam removal on the Elwha River, Washington, USA
Patrick B. Shafroth, Laura G. Perry, James M. Helfield, Joshua Chenoweth, Rebecca L. Brown
2024, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (12)
Large dam removal can trigger changes to physical and biological processes that influence vegetation dynamics in former reservoirs, along river corridors downstream of former dams, and at a river’s terminus in deltas and estuaries. We present the first comprehensive review of vegetation response to major fluvial disturbance caused by...
A brief note on substantial sub-daily arsenic variability in pumping drinking-water wells in New Hampshire
Paul M. Bradley, Emily C. Hicks, Joseph P. Levitt, David C. Lloyd, Mhairi M. McDonald, Kristin M. Romanok, Kelly Smalling, Joseph D. Ayotte
2024, Science of the Total Environment (919)
Large variations in redox-related water parameters, like pH and dissolved oxygen (DO), have been documented in New Hampshire (United States) drinking-water wells over the course of a few hours under pumping conditions. These findings suggest that comparable sub-daily variability in dissolved concentrations of redox-reactive...
Krumholzibacteriota and Deltaproteobacteria contain rare genetic potential to liberate carbon from monoaromatic compounds in subsurface coal seams
Bronwyn C. Campbell, Paul Greenfield, Elliott P. Barnhart, Gong, David J. Midgley, Ian T. Paulsen, Simon C. George
2024, mBio (15)
Biogenic methane in subsurface coal seam environments is produced by diverse consortia of microbes. Although this methane is useful for global energy security, it remains unclear which microbes can liberate carbon from the coal. Most of this carbon is relatively resistant to biodegradation, as it is contained within aromatic rings....
