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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

Assessing the sensitivity of avian species abundance to land cover and climate

Climate projections for the Midwestern United States predict southerly climates to shift northward. These shifts in climate could alter distributions of species across North America through changes in climate (i.e., temperature and precipitation), or through climate-induced changes on land cover. Our objective was to determine the relative impacts of land cover and climate on the abundance of five
Authors
Jaymi J. LeBrun, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Frank R. Thompson, William D. Dijak, Joshua J. Millspaugh

Long-term decreases in phosphorus and suspended solids, but not nitrogen, in six upper Mississippi River tributaries, 1991–2014

Long-term trends in tributaries provide valuable information about temporal changes in inputs of nutrients and sediments to large rivers. Data collected from 1991 to 2014 were used to investigate trends in total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), nitrate (NO3–N), soluble-reactive P (SRP), and total suspended solids (TSS) in the following six tributaries of the upper Mississippi River: Cannon (C
Authors
Rebecca Kreiling, Jeffrey N. Houser

Spatial variation in biofouling of a unionid mussel (Lampsilis siliquoidea) across the western basin of Lake Erie

Invasion of North American waters by nonnative Dreissena polymorpha and D. rostriformis bugensishas resulted in declines of the Unionidae family of native North American mussels. Dreissenid mussels biofoul unionid mussels in large numbers and interfere with unionid movement, their acquisition of food, and the native mussels' ability to open and close their shells. Initial expectations for the Grea
Authors
James H. Larson, Mary Anne Evans, William B. Richardson, Jeff Schaeffer, John C. Nelson

Contrasts between channels and backwaters in a large, floodplain river: Testing our understanding of nutrient cycling, phytoplankton abundance, and suspended solids dynamics

In floodplain rivers, variability in hydraulic connectivity interacts with biogeochemistry to determine the distribution of suspended and dissolved substances. Nutrient, chlorophyll a, and suspended solids data spanning longitudinal (5 study reaches across 1300 river km), lateral (main channel and backwaters), and temporal (1994–2011) gradients in the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) were used to exa
Authors
Jeffrey N. Houser

National Park Service Vegetation Mapping Inventory Program: Natchez Trace Parkway vegetation mapping project report

The National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Mapping Inventory (VMI) Program is an effort to classify, describe, and map existing vegetation of national park units for the NPS Natural Resource Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program. The NPS VMI Program is managed by the NPS I&M Division and provides baseline vegetation information to the NPS Natural Resource I&M Program. The U.S. Geological Survey U
Authors
Kevin D. Hop, Andrew C. Strassman, Carl Nordman, Milo Pyne, Rickie White, Joseph Jakusz, Erin E. Hoy, Jennifer Dieck

Understanding the hydrologic impacts of wastewater treatment plant discharge to shallow groundwater: Before and after plant shutdown

Effluent-impacted surface water has the potential to transport not only water, but wastewater-derived contaminants to shallow groundwater systems. To better understand the effects of effluent discharge on in-stream and near-stream hydrologic conditions in wastewater-impacted systems, water-level changes were monitored in hyporheic-zone and shallow-groundwater piezometers in a reach of Fourmile Cre
Authors
Laura E. Hubbard, Steffanie H. Keefe, Dana W. Kolpin, Larry B. Barber, Joseph W. Duris, Kasey J. Hutchinson, Paul M. Bradley

Three-dimensional visualization maps of suspended-sediment concentrations during placement of dredged material in 21st Avenue West Channel Embayment, Duluth-Superior Harbor, Duluth, Minnesota, 2015

Excess sediment in rivers and estuaries poses serious environmental and economic challenges. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) routinely dredges sediment in Federal navigation channels to maintain commercial shipping operations. The USACE initiated a 3-year pilot project in 2013 to use navigation channel dredged material to aid in restoration of shoreline habitat in the 21st Avenue West Cha
Authors
Joel T. Groten, Christopher A. Ellison, Mollie H. Mahoney

Digestive physiology comparisons of aquatic invertebrates in the Upper Mississippi River Basin

Limited information is available on the composition of digestive enzymes present in unionid mussels and the zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha. Available information is nearly exclusive to species used for culture purposes. A commercially available enzyme assay kit was used to examine the effect of habitat within an ecosystem, season, and species on the activities of several digestive enzymes. We
Authors
Blake W. Sauey, Jon Amberg, Scott T. Cooper, Sandra K. Grunwald, Roger J. Haro, Mark P. Gaikowski

Seasonal Variability in Vadose zone biodegradation at a crude oil pipeline rupture site

Understanding seasonal changes in natural attenuation processes is critical for evaluating source-zone longevity and informing management decisions. The seasonal variations of natural attenuation were investigated through measurements of surficial CO2 effluxes, shallow soil CO2 radiocarbon contents, subsurface gas concentrations, soil temperature, and volumetric water contents during a 2-yr period
Authors
Natasha J. Sihota, Jared J. Trost, Barbara Bekins, Andrew M. Berg, Geoffrey N. Delin, Brent E. Mason, Ean Warren, K. Ulrich Mayer

Nutrient delivery to Lake Winnipeg from the Red-Assiniboine River Basin – A binational application of the SPARROW model

Excessive phosphorus (TP) and nitrogen (TN) inputs from the Red–Assiniboine River Basin (RARB) have been linked to eutrophication of Lake Winnipeg; therefore, it is important for the management of water resources to understand where and from what sources these nutrients originate. The RARB straddles the Canada–United States border and includes portions of two provinces and three states. This study
Authors
Glenn A. Benoy, R. Wayne Jenkinson, Dale M. Robertson, David A. Saad

Simulated impacts of climate change on phosphorus loading to Lake Michigan

Phosphorus (P) loading to the Great Lakes has caused various types of eutrophication problems. Future climatic changes may modify this loading because climatic models project changes in future meteorological conditions, especially for the key hydrologic driver — precipitation. Therefore, the goal of this study is to project how P loading may change from the range of projected climatic changes. To
Authors
Dale M. Robertson, David A. Saad, Daniel E. Christiansen, David J Lorenz

Detection of hepatitis E virus and other livestock-related pathogens in Iowa streams

Manure application is a source of pathogens to the environment. Through overland runoff and tile drainage, zoonotic pathogens can contaminate surface water and streambed sediment and could affect both wildlife and human health. This study examined the environmental occurrence of gene markers for livestock-related bacterial, protozoan, and viral pathogens and antibiotic resistance in surface waters
Authors
Carrie E. Givens, Dana W. Kolpin, Mark A. Borchardt, Joseph W. Duris, Thomas B. Moorman, Susan K. Spencer