Other Earth Sciences Commons^™

Climate Change Alters Aging Patterns Of Reservoir Aquatic Habitats, Leandro E. Miranda, Nicky M. Faucheux

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Two slow-moving developments are threatening reservoir aquatic habitats globally: aging and climate change. These events are projected to transform reservoir aquatic habitats in various and often unpredictable ways. Aging affects in-lake habitats directly, whereas climate change affects both in-lake and off-lake conditions. Climate change is expected to accelerate and, in some instances, possibly decelerate aging. Aging can be indexed as functional age, an index that signals the position of a reservoir along its lifespan relying on inlake descriptors of aquatic habitat. Using existing habitat datasets and climate projections, we developed semi-quantitative predictions about the effect of climate change on reservoir …

Sediment Source Fingerprinting As An Aid To Large-Scale Landscape Conservation And Restoration: A Review For The Mississippi River Basin, Zhen Xu, Patrick Belmont, Janice Brahney, Allen C. Gellis

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Reliable quantitative information on sediment sources to rivers is critical to mitigate contamination and target conservation and restoration actions. However, for large-scale river basins, determination of the relative importance of sediment sources is complicated by spatiotemporal variability in erosional processes and sediment sources, heterogeneity in sediment transport and deposition, and a paucity of sediment monitoring data. Sediment source fingerprinting is an increasingly adopted field-based technique that identifies the nature and relative source contribution of sediment transported in waterways. Notably, sediment source fingerprinting provides information that is independent of other field, modeling, or remotely sensed techniques. However, the diversity in sampling, …

How Green Lakes State Park Got Its Name: The Optics And Appearance Of Fayetteville Green Lakes, Eric A. Schiff

Physics - All Scholarship

The extraordinary and variable appearance of the Fayetteville Green Lakes in the spring, summer, and fall has been the subject of journalistic and scientific attention for more than 150 years. This article addresses the subject in two sections for differing readerships. The first section is a description of the essential science for a general readership. The second section is an abstract of the science for technically knowledgeable readers. The layout of the article is designed for a folded paper flier suitable for distribution to visitors to the lakes.

The article describes the three key properties of the lakes’ waters that …

Characteristics Of Wet Downburst Wind Events Using Mrms Radar Products, Eliana Globus

Summer Community of Scholars Posters (RCEU and HCR Combined Programs)

No abstract provided.

The Interaction Of Different Primary Producers And Physical And Chemical Dynamics Of An Urban Shallow Lake, Majid Sahin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

An artificial urban shallow lake, Prospect Park Lake (PPL), is situated on a terminal moraine in Brooklyn New York, and supplied with municipal water treated with ortho-phosphates. The constant input of the phosphate nutrient is the primary source of eutrophication in the lake. The numerous pools along the water course houses various aquatic phototrophs, which influence the water quality and the state of the system, driving conditions into favoring the survival of their species. In the first half of the dissertation, the focus of the project is on analyzing how the different primary producers in different regions of PPL affect …

Seasonality Of Precipitation In The Southwestern United States During The Late Pleistocene Inferred From Stable Isotopes In Herbivore Tooth Enamel, Matthew J. Kohn, Kathleen B. Springer, Jeffrey S. Pigati, Linda M. Reynard, Amanda E. Drewicz, Justin Crevier, Eric Scott

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The late Pleistocene was a climatically dynamic period, with abrupt shifts between cool-wet and warmdry conditions. Increased effective precipitation supported large pluvial lakes and long-lived spring ecosystems in valleys and basins throughout the western and southwestern U.S., but the source and seasonality of the increased precipitation are debated. Increases in the proportions of C₄/(C₄+ C₃) grasses in the diets of large grazers have been ascribed both to increases in summer precipitation and lower atmospheric CO₂ levels. Here we present stable carbon and oxygen isotope data from tooth enamel of late Pleistocene herbivores recovered …

Collateral Damage: Anticoagulant Rodenticides Pose Threats To California Condors, Garth Herring, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Rachel Wolstenholme, Alacia Welch, Chris West, Barnett A. Rattner

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) are widespread environmental contaminants that pose risks to scavenging birds because they routinely occur within their prey and can cause secondary poisoning. However, little is known about AR exposure in one of the rarest avian scavengers in the world, the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus). We assessed AR exposure in California condors and surrogate turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) to gauge potential hazard to a proposed future condor flock by determining how application rate and environmental factors influence exposure. Additionally, we examined whether ARs might be correlated with prolonged blood clotting time and potential mortality …

Limited Rigor In Studies Of Raptor Mortality And Mitigation At Wind Power Facilities, Tara J. Conkling, Christopher J.W. Mcclure, Sandra Cuadros, Scott R. Loss, Todd E. Katzner

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Wind power is an expanding source of renewable energy. However, there are ecological challenges related to wind energy generation, including collisions of wildlife with turbines. Lack of rigor, and variation in study design, together limit efforts to understand the broad-scale effects of wind power infrastructure on wildlife populations. It is not clear, however, whether these types of limitations apply to groups of birds such as raptors that are particularly vulnerable to negative effects of wind energy. We reviewed 672 peer-reviewed publications, unpublished reports, and citations from 321 wind facilities in 12 countries to evaluate methods used to monitor and mitigate …

Spatial Stream Modeling Of Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia Motacilla) Foraging Substrate And Aquatic Prey In A Watershed Undergoing Shale Gas Development, Mack W. Frantz, Petra B. Wood, Steven C. Latta

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We demonstrate the use of spatial stream network models (SSNMs) to explore relationships between a semiaquatic bioindicator songbird, Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia motacilla), and stream monitoring and benthic macroinvertebrate data in an area undergoing shale gas development. SSNMs allowed us to account for spatial autocorrelation inherent to these environmental data types and stream properties that traditional modeling approaches cannot capture to elucidate factors that affect waterthrush foraging locations. We monitored waterthrush along 58.1 km of 1st- and 2nd-order headwater stream tributaries (n = 14) in northwestern West Virginia over a two year period (2013–2014), sampled benthic macroinvertebrates in waterthrush …

Science Of The Total Environment, Benjamin Linhoff

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Recently, the subsoils of ephemeral stream(arroyos) floodplains in the northern Chihuahuan Desert were discovered to contain large naturally occurring NO₃⁻ reservoirs (floodplain:~38,000 kg NO₃-N/ha; background:~60 kg NO₃-N/ha). These reservoirs may be mobilized through land use change or natural stream channel migration which makes differentiating between anthropogenic and natural groundwaterNO₃⁻sources challenging. In this study, the fate and sources of NO₃⁻ were investigated in an area with multiple NO₃⁻ sources such as accidental sewer line releases and sewage lagoons aswell as natural reservoirs of subsoil NO₃⁻. …

Droughtscape, Summer 2022, National Drought Mitigation Center

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

DroughtScape, Summer 2022

Population Genetics Reveals Bidirectional Fish Movement Across The Continental Divide Via An Interbasin Water Transfer, Audrey C. Harris, Sara J. Oyler-Mccance, Jennifer A. Fike, Matthew P. Fairchild, Christopher M. Kennedy, Harry J. Crockett, Dana L. Winkelman, Yoichiro Kanno

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Interbasin water transfers are becoming an increasingly common tool to satisfy municipal and agricultural water demand, but their impacts on movement and gene flow of aquatic organisms are poorly understood. The Grand Ditch is an interbasin water transfer that diverts water from tributaries of the upper Colorado River on the west side of the Continental Divide to the upper Cache la Poudre River on the east side of the Continental Divide. We used single nucleotide polymorphisms to characterize population genetic structure in cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii) and determine if fish utilize the Grand Ditch as a movement corridor. …

Foraging Habitat Selection Of Shrubland Bird Community In Tropical Dry Forest, Anant Deshwal, Steven L. Stephenson, Pooja Panwar, Brett A. Degregorio, Ragupathy Kannan, John D. Willson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Habitat loss due to increasing anthropogenic disturbance is the major driver for bird population declines across the globe. Within the Eastern Ghats of India, shrubland bird communities are threatened by shrinking of suitable habitats due to increased anthropogenic disturbance and climate change. The development of an effective habitat management strategy is hampered by the absence of data for this bird community. To address this knowledge gap, we examined foraging sites for 14 shrubland bird species, including three declining species, in three study areas representing the shrubland type of forest community in the Eastern Ghats. We recorded microhabitat features within an …

Speciation With Gene Flow In A Narrow Endemic West Virginia Cave Salamander (Gyrinophilus Subterraneus), Evan H. Campbell Grant, Kevin P. Mulder, Adrianne B. Brand, Douglas B. Chambers, Addison H. Wynn, Grace Capshaw, Matthew L. Niemiller, John G. Phillips, Jeremy F. Jacobs, Shawn R. Kuchta, Rayna C. Bell

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Due to their limited geographic distributions and specialized ecologies, cave species are often highly endemic and can be especially vulnerable to habitat degradation within and surrounding the cave systems they inhabit. We investigated the evolutionary history of the West Virginia Spring Salamander (Gyrinophilus subterraneus), estimated the population trend from historic and current survey data, and assessed the current potential for water quality threats to the cave habitat. Our genomic data (mtDNA sequence and ddRADseq-derived SNPs) reveal two, distinct evolutionary lineages within General Davis Cave corresponding to G. subterraneus and its widely distributed sister species, Gyrinophilus porphyriticus, that …

Toxicological Responses To Sublethal Anticoagulant Rodenticide Exposure In Free‑Flying Hawks, Nimish B. Vyas, Barnett A. Rattner, J. Michael Lockhart, Craig S. Hulse, Clifford P. Rice, Frank Kuncir, Kevin Kritz

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

An important component of assessing the hazards of anticoagulant rodenticides to non-target wildlife is observations in exposed free-ranging individuals. The objective of this study was to determine whether environmentally realistic, sublethal first-generation anticoagulant rodenticide (FGAR) exposures via prey can result in direct or indirect adverse effects to free-flying raptors. We offered black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) that had fed on Rozol® Prairie Dog Bait (Rozol, 0.005% active ingredient chlorophacinone, CPN) to six wild-caught red-tailed hawks (RTHA, Buteo jamaicensis), and also offered black-tailed prairie dogs that were not exposed to Rozol to another two wild-caught RTHAs for 7 …

Within‑Marsh And Landscape Features Structure Ribbed Mussel Distribution In Georgia, Usa, Marshes, William K. Annis, Elizabeth A. Hunter, John M. Carroll

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Ribbed mussels, Geukensia demissa, are marsh fauna that are used in coastal management and restoration due to the ecosystem services they provide. Ribbed mussel restoration efforts may be improved with a greater understanding of the environmental drivers of ribbed mussel distribution at multiple spatial scales to predict areas where restoration could be successful. This study sought to estimate the effects of within-marsh (4 m) and landscape (500 m) factors on ribbed mussel distribution. Ribbed mussel densities were surveyed at 11 sites along the coast of Georgia, USA, and overlaid with spatial data for within-marsh factors (elevation, distance to marsh …

Influences Of Seasonality And Habitat Quality On Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Fish Community Composition And Diets, Sara N. Diller, Anna M. Harrison, Kurt P. Kowalski, Valerie J. Brady, Jan J. H. Ciborowski, Matthew J. Cooper, Joshua D. Dumke, Joseph P. Gathman, Carl R. Ruetz Iii, Donald G. Uzarski, Douglas A. Wilcox, Jeffrey S. Schaeffer

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Great Lakes coastal wetlands (GLCW) have been severely degraded by anthropogenic activity over the last several decades despite their critical role in fish production. Many Great Lakes fish species use coastal wetland habitats for spawning, feeding, shelter, and nurseries throughout the year. The goal of our study was to compare GLCW fish community composition in the spring, summer, and fall months and investigate how water quality relates to fish diversity, the presence of functional groups, and juvenile fish diets. We summarized fish data collected from GLCW across the basin and used the coastal wetland monitoring program’s water quality-land use indicator …

A Critical Review Of Bioaccumulation And Biotransformation Of Organic Chemicals In Birds, Dave T. F. Kuo, Barnett A. Rattner, Sarah C. Marteinson, Robert Letcher, Kim J. Fernie, Gabriele Treu, Markus Deutsch, Mark S. Johnson, Sandrine Deglin, Michelle Embry

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

A literature review of bioaccumulation and biotransformation of organic chemicals in birds was undertaken, aiming to support scoping and prioritization of future research. The objectives were to characterize available bioaccumulation/ biotransformation data, identify knowledge gaps, determine how extant data can be used, and explore the strategy and steps forward. An intermediate approach balanced between expediency and rigor was taken given the vastness of the literature. Following a critical review of >500 peer-reviewed studies, >25,000 data entries and 2 million information bytes were compiled on >700 organic compounds for ~ 320 wild species and 60 domestic breeds of birds. These data …

Nutrient Restoration Of A Large, Impounded, Ultra-Oligotrophic Western River To Recover Declining Native Fishes, Ryan S. Hardy, Tyler J. Ross, Kevin N. Mcdonnell, Michael C. Quist, Charlie Holderman, Bryan S. Stevens

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Declines in many fish populations in large, western rivers have been primarily attributed to the anthropogenic reduction of nutrient inputs and subsequent impacts to the food web. The largest known river fertilization program was implemented starting in 2005 on the Kootenai River in northern Idaho to restore resident fisheries. Annual electrofishing surveys were conducted at multiple sites in Idaho and Montana before and during nutrient addition to evaluate assemblage and population-level responses. Although few responses in fish assemblage structure were observed, the addition of liquid ammonium polyphosphate fertilizer (3 μg/L) to the Kootenai River increased fish abundance and biomass over …

Fate And Transport Of Toxoplasma Gondii Oocysts In Saturated Porous Media: Effects Of Electrolytes And Natural Organic Matter, Christian Pullano

All Theses

Toxoplasma gondii is a pathogenic microorganism that is currently a threat to public health. Understanding the fate and transport of T. gondii through the soil and groundwater is vital in determining the risk it poses to water resources and human health. The physico-chemical interactions between the groundwater and the bio colloid within an aquifer will dictate its mobility and its ability to infect humans. This research examines how various naturally occurring groundwater chemistries containing organic compounds and monovalent and divalent salt solutions will alter the fate and transport of T. gondii. Solutions containing various concentrations of humic acid, fulvic …

The Impact Of Shoreline Stabilization On Sediment Supply And Ecogeomorphology: Assessing Marsh Response To Altered Wave Energies, Lake Borgne, Louisiana, Jessica J. Villers

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Shoreline protection structures are a common response to lateral erosion in marshes, but limited studies exist on how they influence sediment supply and the resulting ecogeomorphology. This study investigates the impacts of marine mattresses, geotextile cages filled with riprap, in Lake Borgne, LA. A field study was conducted during cold front passages at a site with marine mattresses and a proximal control site without, collecting measurements of water depth, wave energy, lateral erosion, sediment accumulation, vegetation, and sediment characteristics. Wetlands with marine mattresses attenuated waves more than their natural marsh edge counterparts, which have limited conditions favorable for sedimentation. However, …

The Impact Of Sea-Level Rise In Numerically Modeled Landfalling Hurricanes: Katrina And The Gulf Coast., Serenity Nadirah Mercuri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With climate change, landfalling hurricanes become an increasing threat to coastal regions. However, the interactions between the coastal landscape and landfalling hurricanes are often overlooked when addressing sea-level rise outside of inundation and independent of sea surface temperature. This study analyzed the potential impacts regarding structure and intensity as a result of sea-level rise in the Gulf of Mexico using the WRF-ARW numerical model coupled with a 1D ocean model. Analysis showed that 10 m windspeed from landfall forward was higher in modified coastlines, and minimum sea-level pressure post-landfall was consistently lower for modified runs where storms maintain a higher …

Air, Land, And Water Variables Associated With The First Appearance And Current Spatial Distribution Of Toxic Prymnesium Parvum Blooms In Reservoirs Of The Southern Great Plains, Usa, Shisbeth Tábora-Sarmiento, Reynaldo Patiño, Carlos Portillo-Quintero, Cade Coldren

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

This study examined the association of air, land, and water variables with the first historical occurrence and current distribution of toxic Prymnesium parvum blooms in reservoirs of the Brazos River and Colorado River, Texas (USA). One impacted and one reference reservoir were selected per basin. Land cover and use variables were estimated for the whole watershed (WW) and a 0.5-km zone on either side of streams (near field, NF). Variables were expressed in annual values. Principal component and trend analyses were used to determine (1) differences in environmental conditions before and after the 2001 onset of toxic blooms in impacted …

Evaluating Alternative Ebullition Models For Predicting Peatland Methane Emission And Its Pathways Via Data–Model Fusion, Shuang Ma, Lifen Jiang, Rachel M. Wilson, Jeff P. Chanton, Scott Bridgham, Shuli Niu, Colleen M. Iversen, Avni Malhotra, Jiang Jiang, Xingjie Lu, Yuanyuan Huang, Jason Keller, Xiaofeng Xu, Daniel M. Ricciuto, Paul J. Hanson, Yiqi Luo

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Understanding the dynamics of peatland methane (CH4) emissions and quantifying sources of uncertainty in estimating peatland CH4 emissions are critical for mitigating climate change. The relative contributions of CH4 emission pathways through ebullition, plant-mediated transport, and diffusion, together with their different transport rates and vulnerability to oxidation, determine the quantity of CH4 to be oxidized before leaving the soil. Notwithstanding their importance, the relative contributions of the emission pathways are highly uncertain. In particular, the ebullition process is more uncertain and can lead to large uncertainties in modeled CH4 emissions. To improve model simulations of CH4 emission and its pathways, …

Spatial And Temporal Distribution And Habitat Selection Of Native Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout And Nonnative Utah Chub, Darcy K. Mccarrick, Jeffrey C. Dillon, Brett High, Michael C. Quist

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Henrys Lake, Idaho, is a renowned trophy trout fishery that faces an uncertain future following the establishment of Utah Chub (UTC) Gila atraria. Utah Chub were first documented in the lake in 1993 and have become abundant over the past two decades. Little is known about the ecology of UTC, but they typically have negative effects on salmonids in systems where they have been introduced. We sought to fill knowledge gaps in UTC ecology and provide insight on potential interactions with Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout (YCT) Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri. Ninety-four YCT and 95 UTC were radio-tagged in spring 2019 …

Ignoring Species Availability Biases Occupancy Estimates In Single-Scale Occupancy Models, Graziella V. Direnzo, David A. W. Miller, Evan H. C. Grant

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

1. Most applications of single-scale occupancy models do not differentiate between availability and detectability, even though species availability is rarely equal to one. Species availability can be estimated using multi-scale occupancy models; however, for the practical application of multi-scale occupancy models, it can be unclear what a robust sampling design looks like and what the statistical properties of the multi-scale and single-scale occupancy models are when availability is less than one.
2. Using simulations, we explore the following common questions asked by ecologists during the design phase of a field study: (Q1) what is a robust sampling design for the multi-scale occupancy …

Droughtscape, Spring 2022, National Drought Mitigation Center

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

DroughtScape, Spring 2022

Safe Water For All: A Multi-Modal Approach To North Alabama's Water Resources, Elijah Walker

Theses

Environmental degradation is a destructive force produced by the human disturbance of pollution. It is a phenomenon that gradually evolves landscapes over time resulting in irreversible outcomes. Environmental degradation physically affects spaces’ resources, objects, and inhabiting humans. This study observes the impacts of pollution beyond physical boundaries and how it affects human identity/sense of place through the utilization of geographic information systems. Specifically, it examines cultural identity developed through human experiences and connections to landscapes containing water resources. Following, pollution contaminates water resources disrupting experiences and connections thus causing the cultural identity to disappear. The case study applied to this …

Informing Management Of Henrys Lake, Idaho, Using An Integrated Catch-At-Age Model, Joshua L. Mccormick, Jennifer Vincent, Brett High, Darcy K. Mccarrick, Michael C. Quist

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Henrys Lake, Idaho, supports a popular fishery for Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri and Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout × Rainbow Trout O. mykiss hybrids. A majority of the adult population of fish in Henrys Lake are of hatchery origin that were stocked as fingerlings. The fishery is closed to angling during the late winter and spring months, but fisheries managers are considering opening the fishery year-round with catch-and-release- only regulations or with a two-fish bag limit during the extended season. However, there is concern that the proposed management actions may negatively affect the current fishery. Therefore, we developed an integrated …

Landslide Detection In The Himalayas Using Machine Learning Algorithms And U-Net, Sansar Raj Meena, Lucas Pedrosa Soares, Carlos H. Grohmann, Cees Van Westen, Kushanav Bhuyan, Ramesh P. Singh, Mario Floris, Filippo Catani

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Event-based landslide inventories are essential sources to broaden our understanding of the causal relationship between triggering events and the occurring landslides. Moreover, detailed inventories are crucial for the succeeding phases of landslide risk studies like susceptibility and hazard assessment. The openly available inventories differ in the quality and completeness levels. Event-based landslide inventories are created based on manual interpretation, and there can be significant differences in the mapping preferences among interpreters. To address this issue, we used two different datasets to analyze the potential of U-Net and machine learning approaches for automated landslide detection in the Himalayas. Dataset-1 is composed …