River Ecosystem Science

Aquatic invertebrates are critical food for fish and other species that inhabit large rivers. In the Colorado River Basin, invertebrates that get transported down the river (“in the drift”) are particularly important to rainbow trout and other species of interest to recreational users. This research seeks to compare rivers downstream of large dams throughout the Colorado River Basin in order to...

The Rio Grande/Rio Bravo (hereafter referred to as the Rio Grande) in the Big Bend region of Texas, USA, and Chihuahua, and Coahuila, MX has substantially narrowed since the early 1900s. This narrowing has been caused by the construction and operation of dams and irrigation diversions in upstream reaches of the Rio Grande in the U.S. and the Rio Conchos in Mexico that has reduced mean and peak...

The Rio Grande/Rio Bravo (hereafter referred to as the Rio Grande) in the Big Bend region of Texas, USA, and Chihuahua, and Coahuila, MX has substantially narrowed since the early 1900s. This narrowing has been exacerbated by the widespread establishment of non-native giant cane (Arundo donax) and tamarisk (Tamarix spp.), both of which help trap sediment and protect banks from natural erosional...

Aquatic insects live in the water as larvae most of their lives, then emerge onto land for a brief period as winged adults. Sampling these emerged adults on land is therefore a useful tool for understanding the condition of the aquatic insect population that is in the water, particularly in large rivers where sampling the larvae on the river bed is impractical. Our group uses a variety of methods...

SBSC monthly updates highlight new published papers and reports, new research projects, media attention on SBSC science, outreach activities, data, and more. Click on the images to download PDFs of the updates. If you would like the montly updates e-mailed to you each month, please contact Meredith Hartwell (mhartwell@usgs.gov)