Fish, Streams, and Water Quality
Fish, Streams, and Water Quality
Enhanced Understanding of Factors Affecting Stream Condition Can Improve Restoration Outcomes
The Chesapeake Bay watershed supports important recreational and commercial fisheries, but many are declining due to poor water quality, loss of quality habitat and increased invasive species. The USGS science activities are improving the understanding of how restoration and conservation efforts, along with land-use and climate change, are affecting conditions for fish, wildlife, and people.
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Synthesis of U.S. Geological Survey Science for the Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem and Implications for Environmental Management
Chapter 4: Transport of Nitrogen in Ground Water The hydrologic pathways for nutrients have important implications for the lag time between implementing management actions and detecting water-quality changes in surface water. Previous USGS studies documented that on average, just over 50 percent of the total volume of water in streams is from ground water, with a range of 16 to 92 percent for...
USGS science contributes to "Water quality improves, pollution falls in the Chesapeake Bay"
Data show significant drop in nutrient and sediment loads
High-frequency nitrate-concentration data
High-frequency nitrate-concentration data can be used to inform the development of best management practices to reduce nitrogen loading to Chesapeake Bay. Although nitrogen loads entering Chesapeake Bay have decreased in recent decades, they exceed levels that are compatible with a healthy ecosystem as a result of urbanization, agriculture, and other human activities in the bay watershed, and...
Brook Trout
Land and climate changes are expected to adversely affect aquatic ecosystems and conditions for brook trout and other freshwater species.
USGS results used to help develop climate indicators
The USGS stream-water-temperature trends in the Chesapeake Bay region are used for the National Climate Change indicator report released by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) entitled Climate Change Indicators in the United States, 2016.
West Coast Fish Pathogen Now Found in the East
Research by the USGS identified a fish pathogen similar to one previously found in the United States only in Pacific salmonids -- salmon and trout species -- in the eastern United States and in a non-salmon species.
USGS Fish Health Scientist Shares Thoughts on Chesapeake Restoration
USGS fish biologist describes what the Chesapeake Bay means to her.
Chesapeake Bay Water-Quality Loads and Trends
Access the most recent data gathered from the Chesapeake Bay Nontidal Monitoring Network , learn about the techniques used to collect this data, and read about the history of the Chesapeake Bay Nontidal Monitoring Program. Nontidal Network (NTN) data refers to data from the 123 monitoring stations where nutrients and sediment are collected monthly and during storms. River Input Monitoring (RIM)...
USGS Enhances Statistical Techniques to Assess Water-Quality Trends
The USGS has completed more enhancements to our innovative technique to assess water-quality trends. The WRTDS (Weighted Regressions on Time Discharge and Season) method was first published in 2010 as an exploratory data analysis technique for understanding trends in surface water. Subsequently, we published the EGRET (Exploration and Graphics for RivEr Trends) software which implements the WRTDS...
Excess manure and fertilizer are worsening water-quality conditions on Eastern Shore of Chesapeake
Excess fertilizer and manure applied to the Chesapeake Bay’s Eastern Shore are causing poor water-quality in streams that flow into the Bay, according to a new publication by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Stream temperature rising throughout the Chesapeake Bay region
U.S. Geological Survey research, published in the journal Climatic Change
Sources, Fate, and Transport of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed—Interpretations and Applications of Spatially Referenced Regression on Watershed Attributes (SPARROW) Nutrient Model Results
As the largest and most productive estuary in North America, Chesapeake Bay is a vital ecological and economic resource. The bay and its tributaries have been degraded in recent decades, however, by excessive inputs of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and sediment from contributing watersheds. In 2000, the bay was listed as “impaired” under the Clean Water Act, and in 2010, a Total Maximum...