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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

Effects of urban stormwater and iron‐enhanced sand filtration on Daphnia magna and Pimephales promelas

Urban stormwater is an important but incompletely characterized contributor to surface‐water toxicity. The present study used 5 bioassays of 2 model organisms (Daphnia magnaand fathead minnow, Pimephales promelas) to investigate stormwater toxicity and mitigation by full‐scale iron‐enhanced sand filters (IESFs). Stormwater samples were collected from major stormwater conveyances and full‐scale IES
Authors
Benjamin M. Westerhoff, David J. Fairbairn, Mark L. Ferrey, Adriana Matilla, Jordan Kunkel, Sarah M. Elliott, Richard L. Kiesling, Dustin Woodruff, Heiko L. Schoenfuss

Wastewater indicators, hormones, sterols, antibiotics, and pharmaceuticals in soil at an agricultural field irrigated with domestic septage, central Minnesota, September 2014

Treated domestic septage can be used to irrigate agricultural fields as a disposal method or as a means to reuse water. Because traditional on-site treatment systems are not designed to remove wastewater indicators, hormones, sterols, antibiotics, and pharmaceuticals, land application of septage potentially results in soil contamination. Soils were collected and analyzed from four sites in a centr
Authors
Sarah M. Elliott, Melinda L. Erickson, Aliesha L. Krall, Byron A. Adams

Aquatic vegetation responses to island construction (habitat restoration) in a large floodplain river

The Upper Mississippi River is maintained in its current navigable state through impoundments, dredging, and other engineering projects. These stressors, along with anthropogenic impacts and natural system processes, led to declines in aquatic vegetation and the loss of fish and wildlife habitat, with a major downturn the late 1980s and early 1990s. Large‐scale restoration projects, such as the on
Authors
Deanne C. Drake, Brian R. Gray, Nora Forbes

A direct-push freezing core barrel for sampling unconsolidated subsurface sediments and adjacent pore fluids

Contaminants passing through the unsaturated zone can undergo changes in narrow reaction zones upon reaching saturated sediments. Understanding these reactions requires sampling of sediment together with adjacent water and microbes in a manner that preserves in situ redox conditions. Use of a basket-type core catcher for saturated, noncohesive sediments results in redistribution or loss of fluids
Authors
Jared J. Trost, Thomas M. Christy, Barbara A. Bekins

Multi-year data from satellite- and ground-based sensors show details and scale matter in assessing climate’s effects on wetland surface water, amphibians, and landscape conditions

Long-term, interdisciplinary studies of relations between climate and ecological conditions on wetland-upland landscapes have been lacking, especially studies integrated across scales meaningful for adaptive resource management. We collected data in situ at individual wetlands, and via satellite for surrounding 4-km2 landscape blocks, to assess relations between annual weather dynamics, snow durat
Authors
Walter Sadinski, Alisa L. Gallant, Mark Roth, Jesslyn F. Brown, Gabriel Senay, Wayne L. Brininger, Perry M. Jones, Jason M. Stoker

Effects of formaldehyde on nitrification in biofilters of small‐scale recirculating systems

Florfenicol (Aquaflor®) is the only U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drug for treating diseased fish reared in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). Treating diseased fish in RAS is challenging because of the potential to damage nitrifying bacteria in the biofilters. Impaired nitrification can lead to concentrations of ammonia and nitrite that compromise fish welfare. The object
Authors
Kim T. Fredricks, Aaron R. Cupp, Susan M. Schleis, Richard A. Erickson, Mark P. Gaikowski

Evaluating potential effects of bigheaded carps on fatty acid profiles of multiple trophic levels in large rivers of the Midwest, USA

Recent work indicates that the establishment of bigheaded carps (Hypophthalmichthys spp.) in the United States has led to a reduction in condition of native planktivores and may detrimentally affect other trophic levels by altering the base of aquatic food webs. We used fatty acids to evaluate potential effects of bigheaded carps on taxa from multiple trophic levels in the Upper Mississippi, Illin
Authors
Andrea K. Fritts, Brent C. Knights, Toben LaFrancois, Jonathan M. Vallazza, Lynn A. Bartsch, Michelle R. Bartsch, William B. Richardson, Sean Bailey, Rebecca Kreiling, Byron Karns

Stable isotope comparison between mantle and foot tissues of two freshwater unionids: Implications for food web studies

Unionid mussels are a key taxon for stable isotope studies of aquatic food webs, often serving as the primary integrator of the pelagic baseline. Past isotope studies with mussels have commonly used either foot tissue or mantle tissue, but no study has yet to quantify the relation of both carbon and nitrogen isotopes between these two tissue sources. This makes it difficult to justify cross-study
Authors
Toben LaFrancois, Andrea K. Fritts, Brent C. Knights, Byron Karns

Contaminants of emerging concern in urban stormwater: Spatiotemporal patterns and removal by iron-enhanced sand filters (IESFs)

Numerous contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) typically occur in urban rivers. Wastewater effluents are a major source of many CECs. Urban runoff (stormwater) is a major urban water budget component and may constitute another major CEC pathway. Yet, stormwater-based CEC field studies are rare. This research investigated 384 CECs in 36 stormwater samples in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.
Authors
David J. Fairbairn, Sarah M. Elliott, Richard L. Kiesling, Heiko L. Schoenfuss, Mark L. Ferrey, Benjamin J. Westerhoff

A bioassay assessment of a zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) eradication treatment

Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha, Pallas, 1771) are an aquatic invasive species in theUnited States, and new infestations of zebra mussels can rapidly expand into dense colonies. Zebramussels were first reported in Marion Lake, Dakota County, Minnesota, in September 2017, andsurveys indicated the infestation was likely isolated near a public boat access. A 2.4-hectare areacontaining the known z
Authors
Matthew Barbour, Jeremy K. Wise, James A. Luoma

Water-quality response to changes in phosphorus loading of the Winnebago Pool Lakes, Wisconsin, with special emphasis on the effects of internal loading in a chain of shallow lakes

The Winnebago Pool is a chain of four shallow lakes (Lake Poygan, Lake Winneconne, Lake Butte des Morts, and Lake Winnebago) that are fed primarily by the Fox and Wolf Rivers, two large agriculturally dominated rivers in Wisconsin, United States. Because the lakes have received extensive phosphorus inputs from their watershed, they have become highly eutrophic with much phosphorus in the water col
Authors
Dale M. Robertson, Benjamin J. Siebers, Matthew W. Diebel, Andrew J. Somor

Field evaluation of carbon dioxide as a fish deterrent at a water management structure along the Illinois River

Construction of a water management structure (WMS) in the levee surrounding The Nature Conservancy’s Emiquon Preserve (Havana, Illinois, USA) created a new hydrological connection and potential aquatic invasive species pathway between the Illinois River and a large conservation wetland complex. Site managers need a control tool that deters the upstream passage of non-native fishes into the wetland
Authors
Aaron R. Cupp, Justin Smerud, John Tix, Susan M. Schleis, Kim T. Fredricks, Richard A. Erickson, Jon Amberg, William S. Morrow, Carolyn M. Koebel, Elizabeth A. Murphy, Chad Vishy, K. Douglas Blodgett