Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES): using GIS to include social values information in ecosystem services assessments
B.C. Sherrouse, D.J. Semmens
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3118
Ecosystem services can be defined in various ways; simply put, they are the benefits provided by nature, which contribute to human well-being. These benefits can range from tangible products such as food and fresh water to cultural services such as recreation and esthetics. As the use of these benefits continues...
Potentiometric surface of the Upper Patapsco aquifer in southern Maryland, September 2009
Stephen E. Curtin, David C. Andreasen, Andrew W. Staley
2010, Open-File Report 2010-1205
This report presents a map showing the potentiometric surface of the upper Patapsco aquifer in the Patapsco Formation of Early Cretaceous age in Southern Maryland during September 2009. The map is based on water-level measurements in 65 wells. The highest measured water level was 118 feet above sea level near...
Occurrence and Distribution of Organic Wastewater Compounds in Rock Creek Park, Washington, D.C., 2007-08
Daniel J. Phelan, Cherie V. Miller
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5162
The U.S. Geological Survey, and the National Park Service Police Aviation Group, conducted a high-resolution, low-altitude aerial thermal infrared survey of the Washington, D.C. section of Rock Creek Basin within the Park boundaries to identify specific locations where warm water was discharging from seeps or pipes to the creek. Twenty-three...
Estimation of selected streamflow statistics for a network of low-flow partial-record stations in areas affected by Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) in Maryland
Kernell G. Ries III, Ken Eng
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5170
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Maryland Department of the Environment, operated a network of 20 low-flow partial-record stations during 2008 in a region that extends from southwest of Baltimore to the northeastern corner of Maryland to obtain estimates of selected streamflow statistics at the station locations. The...
Occurrence of Escherichia coli in the Cuyahoga River in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio
Amie M. G. Brady, Meg B. Plona
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3068
There are several measures of the 'cleanliness' of a natural body of water, including concentrations of indicator bacteria, anthropogenic chemicals (chemicals derived from human activities), and nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorous. Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a bacterium that lives in the intestinal tract of warm-blooded animals, such as...
Quantifying effects of climate change on the snowmelt-dominated groundwater resources of northern New England
Robert W. Dudley, Glenn A. Hodgkins, James B. Shanley, Thomas J. Mack
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3104
Recent U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) climate studies in New England have shown substantial evidence of hydrologic changes during the last 100 years, including trends toward earlier snowmelt runoff, decreasing occurrence of river ice, and decreasing winter snowpack. These studies are being expanded to include investigation of trends in groundwater levels...
Southeast Ecological Science Center
Rachel J. Pawlitz
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3111
Aquatic ecosystems, from deep sea reefs and coastal marshes to freshwater springs and wetlands, are home to diverse assemblages of life. These commercially and ecologically important systems are part of our national heritage, and are often treasured places or refuges that protect rare or threatened species. In the water-rich Southeastern...
Water quality (2000-08) and historical phosphorus concentrations from paleolimnological studies of Swamp and Speckled Trout Lakes, Grand Portage Reservation, northeastern Minnesota
Victoria G. Christensen, Perry M. Jones, Mark B. Edlund, Joy M. Ramstack
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5192
A paleolimnological approach was taken to aid the Grand Portage Reservation, in northeastern Minnesota, in determining reference conditions for lakes on the reservation. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Grand Portage Band of Chippewa Indians and the Science Museum of Minnesota, conducted a study to describe water quality...
Drought Monitoring with VegDRI
Jesslyn F. Brown
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3114
Drought strikes somewhere in the United States every year, turning green landscapes brown as precipitation falls below normal levels and water supplies dwindle. Drought is typically a temporary climatic aberration, but it is also an insidious natural hazard. It might last for weeks, months, or years and may have many...
Groundwater-flow assessment of the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer of northeastern Arkansas
John B. Czarnecki
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5210
The Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer is a water-bearing assemblage of gravels and sands that underlies about 32,000 square miles of Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee. Pumping of groundwater from the alluvial aquifer for agriculture started in the early 1900s in the Grand Prairie area for the irrigation...
Geochemical evolution processes and water-quality observations based on results of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program in the San Antonio segment of the Edwards aquifer, Texas, 1996-2006
MaryLynn Musgrove, Lynne Fahlquist, Natalie A. Houston, Richard J. Lindgren, Patricia B. Ging
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5129
As part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program, the U.S. Geological Survey collected and analyzed groundwater samples during 1996-2006 from the San Antonio segment of the Edwards aquifer of central Texas, a productive karst aquifer developed in Cretaceous-age carbonate rocks. These National Water-Quality Assessment Program studies provide an extensive dataset...
Possible effects of groundwater pumping on surface water in the Verde Valley, Arizona
Stanley A. Leake, Jeanmarie Haney
2010, Fact Sheet 2010-3108
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with The Nature Conservancy, has applied a groundwater model to simulate effects of groundwater pumping and artificial recharge on surface water in the Verde Valley sub-basin of Arizona. Results are in two sets of maps that show effects of locations of pumping or...
Channel-conveyance capacity, channel change, and sediment transport in the lower Puyallup, White, and Carbon Rivers, western Washington
Jonathan A. Czuba, Christiana R. Czuba, Chistopher S. Magirl, Frank D. Voss
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5240
Draining the volcanic, glaciated terrain of Mount Rainier, Washington, the Puyallup, White, and Carbon Rivers convey copious volumes of water and sediment down to Commencement Bay in Puget Sound. Recent flooding in the lowland river system has renewed interest in understanding sediment transport and its effects on flow conveyance throughout...
Thunderstorms and flooding of August 17, 2007, with a context provided by a history of other large storm and flood events in the Black Hills area of South Dakota
Daniel G. Driscoll, Matthew J. Bunkers, Janet M. Carter, John F. Stamm, Joyce E. Williamson
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5187
The Black Hills area of western South Dakota has a history of damaging flash floods that have resulted primarily from exceptionally strong rain-producing thunderstorms. The best known example is the catastrophic storm system of June 9-10, 1972, which caused severe flooding in several major drainages near Rapid City and resulted...
Summer microhabitat use by adult and young-of-year snail darters (Percina tanasi) in two rivers
M. J. Ashton, James B. Layzer
2010, Ecology of Freshwater Fish (19) 609-617
We characterised microhabitat availability and use by adult and young‐of‐year (YOY) snail darters (Percina tanasi Etnier 1976) while snorkelling in the French Broad and Hiwassee rivers, TN, USA. Both age groups of snail darters disproportionately used most microhabitat variables compared to their availability. Snail...
Seasonal ice and hydrologic controls on dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen concentrations in a boreal-rich fen
Evan S. Kane, Merritt R. Turetsky, Jennifer W. Harden, A. David McGuire, James Michael Waddington
2010, Journal of Geophysical Research G: Biogeosciences (115)
[1] Boreal wetland carbon cycling is vulnerable to climate change in part because hydrology and the extent of frozen ground have strong influences on plant and microbial functions. We examined the response of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) across an experimental manipulation of water table position...
A river system to watch: documenting the effects of saltcedar (Tamarix spp.) biocontrol in the Virgin River valley
Heather L. Bateman, Tom L. Dudley, Dan W. Bean, Steven M. Ostoja, Kevin R. Hultine, Michael J. Kuehn
2010, Ecological Restoration (28) 405-410
Throughout riparian areas of the southwestern United States, non-native saltcedar (also known as tamarisk; Tamarix spp.) can form dense, monotypic stands and is often reported to have detrimental effects on native plants and habitat quality (Everitt 1980; Shafroth et al. 2005). Natural resource managers of these riparian areas spend considerable...
Parental attendance and brood success in American Oystercatchers in South Carolina
Janet M. Thibault, Felicia J. Sanders, Patrick G.R. Jodice
2010, Waterbirds (33) 511-517
Research on breeding American Oystercatchers has focused on identifying factors that affect reproductive success but little attention has been paid to parent behavior during chick-rearing. Parental attendance of American Oystercatchers was measured in Bulls Bay and along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (Waterway) within the Cape Romain Region, South Carolina, USA,...
Water-quality data from storm runoff after the 2007 fires, San Diego County, California
Gregory O. Mendez
2010, Open-File Report 2010-1234
The U.S. Geological Survey collected water-quality samples during the first two storms after the Witch and Harris Fires (October 2007) in southern California. The sampling locations represent an urban area (two residential sites in Rancho Bernardo that were affected by the Witch Fire; a drainage ditch and a storm drain)...
Quality of stormwater runoff discharged from Massachusetts highways, 2005-07
Kirk P. Smith, Gregory E. Granato
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2009-5269
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, conducted a field study from September 2005 through September 2007 to characterize the quality of highway runoff for a wide range of constituents. The highways studied had annual average...
Distribution of the non-native gastropod Melanoides tuberculatus in Biscayne National Park, Florida
James B. Murray, G. Lynn Wingard, Emily C. Phillips
2010, Open-File Report 2010-1126
Introduction Melanoides tuberculatus (fig. 1), a gastropod that is not native to South Florida, was identified in Biscayne National Park (BNP) while researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey were conducting other studies around the Black Point canals in the summer of 2003. A study to determine the distribution, genetics, and...
A generalized watershed disturbance-invertebrate relation applicable in a range of environmental settings across the continental United States
Jeffrey J. Steuer
2010, Urban Ecosystems (13) 415-424
It is widely recognized that urbanization can affect ecological conditions in aquatic systems; numerous studies have identified impervious surface cover as an indicator of urban intensity and as an index of development at the watershed, regional, and national scale. Watershed percent imperviousness, a commonly understood urban metric was used as...
Colonial nesting Yellow-crowned Night Herons on the San Antonio River Walk
Clint W. Boal
2010, Bulletin of the Texas Ornithological Society (43) 45-48
Yellow-crowned Night Herons (Nyctinassa violacea) typically nest as single pairs or in small colonies of about four pairs with high internest distances. They are also reported as susceptible to disturbance and to avoid habitat with high human use. However, some Yellowcrowned Night Herons habituate to human-dominated landscapes and nest in...
A method for assessing carbon stocks, carbon sequestration, and greenhouse-gas fluxes in ecosystems of the United States under present conditions and future scenarios
Brian A. Bergamaschi, Richard Bernknopf, David Clow, Dennis Dye, Stephen Faulkner, William Forney, Robert Gleason, Todd Hawbaker, Jinxun Liu, Shu-Guang Liu, Stephen Prisley, Bradley Reed, Matthew Reeves, Matthew Rollins, Benjamin Sleeter, Terry Sohl, Sarah Stackpoole, Stephen Stehman, Robert G. Striegl, Anne Wein, Zhi-Liang Zhu
Zhi-Liang Zhu, editor(s)
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5233
he Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), Section 712, mandates the U.S. Department of the Interior to develop a methodology and conduct an assessment of the Nation’s ecosystems, focusing on carbon stocks, carbon sequestration, and emissions of three greenhouse gases (GHGs): carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The...
Simulation of streamflow in the McTier Creek watershed, South Carolina
Toby D. Feaster, Heather E. Golden, Kenneth R. Odom, Mark A. Lowery, Paul Conrads, Paul M. Bradley
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5202
The McTier Creek watershed is located in the Sand Hills ecoregion of South Carolina and is a small catchment within the Edisto River Basin. Two watershed hydrology models were applied to the McTier Creek watershed as part of a larger scientific investigation to expand the understanding of relations among hydrologic,...
