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Publications

Browse more than 150,000 publications authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS.  Publications available are: USGS-authored journal articles, series reports, book chapters, other government publications, and more.

Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center Publications

Filter Total Items: 3226

USGS Illinois River Monitoring and Evaluation

No abstract available.
Authors
Travis J. Harrison, Kevin D. Hop, Enrika Hlavacek, Brent C. Knights

USGS Telemetry Project

Telemetry of acoustically tagged bigheaded carp (i.e., bighead carp Hypophthalmichthys nobilis and silver carp H. molitrix) and surrogate fish species has become an invaluable tool in management for these species in the upper Illinois Waterway Systems (i.e., upper Illinois River, lower Des Plaines River, and Chicago Area Waterway System). For example, movement probabilities between adjacent naviga
Authors
Brent C. Knights, Marybeth K. Brey, Jessica C. Stanton, Travis J. Harrison, Douglas Appel, Enrika Hlavacek, James J. Duncker

Forest canopy gap dynamics: Quantifying forest gaps and understanding gap – level forest regeneration in Upper Mississippi River floodplain forests

In most forest systems, the dynamics of forest canopy gap development play an important role in the transition from relatively short-lived early successional tree species to longer-lived, late successional tree species. In resilient forest systems, tree seedlings establish within newly created canopy gaps and grow to close the gap within one or two decades of disturbance. However, evidence in port
Authors
Lyle J. Guyon, Andrew C. Strassman, Alexandra Oines, Andrew R. Meier, Meredith Thomsen, Stepahnie R Sattler, Nathan R. De Jager, Erin E. Hoy, Benjamin J. Vandermyde, Robert J. Cosgriff

Lock operations influence upstream passages of invasive and native fishes at a Mississippi River high-head dam

Asian carps continue to expand their range in North America, necessitating efforts to limit the spread and establishment of reproducing populations. Mississippi River Lock and Dam 19 is a high-head dam that represents a population ‘pinch-point’ as passage through the lock chamber is the only means by which fishes can complete upstream movement. As such, this location could be a pivotal control poi
Authors
Andrea K. Fritts, Brent C. Knights, Jessica C. Stanton, Amanda S. Milde, Jonathan M. Vallazza, Marybeth K. Brey, Sara J. Tripp, Thomas E. Devine, Wesley Sleeper, James T. Lamer, Kyle J. Mosel

Telemetry evaluation of carbon dioxide as a behavioral deterrent for invasive carps

Carbon dioxide (CO2) mixed into water is being explored as a possible management strategy to deter the upstream movements of invasive carps through navigation locks and other migratory pinch-points. This study used two-dimensional acoustic telemetry to assess the effectiveness of dissolved CO2 as a chemosensory deterrent to two carp species in a large U-shaped pond. Free-swimming movements of tele
Authors
Aaron R. Cupp, Ashley K Lopez, Justin Smerud, John A. Tix, Jose Rivera, Nicholas M. Swyers, Marybeth K. Brey, Christa M. Woodley, David L. Smith, Mark P. Gaikowski

Upper Mississippi River system weighted wind fetch analysis (1989, 2000, 2010/2011)

Wind fetch is defined as the unobstructed distance that wind can travel over water in a constant direction. Fetches are limited by landforms surrounding the body of water. Fetch is an important characteristic of open water because longer fetches can result in larger wind-generated waves. The larger waves, in turn, can increase shoreline erosion and sediment resuspension (Rohweder and others 2012).
Authors
Jason J. Rohweder, James T. Rogala

Mussel community assessment tool for the Upper Mississippi River system

Upper Mississippi River (UMR) resource managers need a quantitative means of evaluating the health of mussel assemblages to measure effects of management and regulatory actions, assess restoration techniques, and inform regulatory tasks. Our objective was to create a mussel community assessment tool (MCAT), consisting of a suite of metrics and scoring criteria, to consistently compare the relative
Authors
Heidi L. Dunn, Steven J. Zigler, Teresa Newton

Using environmental DNA (eDNA) to detect the endangered Spectaclecase Mussel (Margaritifera monodonta)

Margaritifera monodonta, or the Spectaclecase Mussel, is a federally endangered freshwater mussel species that has experienced a 55% reduction in range and is currently concentrated in 3 rivers in the Midwest region of the United States (Gasconade and Meramec rivers, Missouri, and St Croix River, Wisconsin). The detection of new populations by traditional survey methods has been limited because th
Authors
Yer Lor, Theresa M. Schreier, Diane L. Waller, Christopher M. Merkes

Using Markov chains to quantitatively assess movement patterns of invasive fishes impacted by a carbon dioxide barrier in outdoor ponds

Natural resource managers use barriers to deter the movement of aquatic invasive species. Research and development of new invasive species barriers is often evaluated in pond and field scales using high‐resolution telemetry data. Telemetry data sets can be a rich source of data about fish movement and behavior but can be difficult to analyze due to the size of these data sets as well as their irre
Authors
Lauren K Borland, Collin J Mulcahy, Barb Bennie, Douglas D Baumann, Roger J. Haro, Molly Van Appledorn, Kathi Jo Jankowski, Aaron R. Cupp, Richard A. Erickson

Editorial: North American monarch butterfly ecology and conservation

Spanning Canada, the United States, and Mexico, North America contains two populations of the migratory monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). The smaller “western” population overwinters in groves along the California coast and breeds west of the Rocky Mountains, while the much larger “eastern” population breeds east of the Rocky Mountains and overwinters in Oyamel fir forests in central Mexico. B
Authors
James E. Diffendorfer, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Ryan G. Drum, Cheryl Schultz

Climate change Is likely to alter future wolf - moose - forest interactions at Isle Royale National Park, United States

We evaluated how climate change and variable rates of moose browsing intensity, as they relate to wolf predation, might affect the forests of Isle Royale National Park, Michigan, United States by conducting a modeling experiment. The experiment consisted of contrasting three different scenarios of wolf management and with a static (current conditions) and changing climate (high emissions). Our res
Authors
Nathan R. De Jager, Jason J. Rohweder, Matthew J. Duveneck

Mass mortality in freshwater mussels (Actinonaias pectorosa) in the Clinch River, USA, linked to a novel densovirus

Freshwater mussels (order Unionida) are among the world’s most biodiverse but imperiled taxa. Recent unionid mass mortality events around the world threaten ecosystem services such as water filtration, nutrient cycling, habitat stabilization, and food web enhancement, but causes have remained elusive. To examine potential infectious causes of these declines, we studied mussels in Clinch River, Vir
Authors
Jordon Richard, Eric Leis, Christopher D. Dunn, Rose Agbalog, Diane L. Waller, Susan Knowles, Joel G. Putnam, Tony Goldberg