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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

Predicted effects of future climate warming on thermal habitat suitability for Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens, Rafinesque, 1817) in rivers in Wisconsin, USA

The Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens, Rafinesque, 1817) may be threatened by future climate warming. The purpose of this study was to identify river reaches in Wisconsin, USA, where they might be vulnerable to warming water temperatures. In Wisconsin, A. fulvescens is known from 2291 km of large-river habitat that has been fragmented into 48 discrete river-lake networks isolated by impassable d
Authors
John D. Lyons, Jana S. Stewart

Human and bovine viruses in the Milwaukee River Watershed: hydrologically relevant representation and relations with environmental variables

To examine the occurrence, hydrologic variability, and seasonal variability of human and bovine viruses in surface water, three stream locations were monitored in the Milwaukee River watershed in Wisconsin, USA, from February 2007 through June 2008. Monitoring sites included an urban subwatershed, a rural subwatershed, and the Milwaukee River at the mouth. To collect samples that characterize vari
Authors
Steven R. Corsi, M. A. Borchardt, S. K. Spencer, Peter E. Hughes, Austin K. Baldwin

Contaminant exposure of birds nesting in Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA

In earlier studies, elevated concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and p,p'-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) were reported in double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) eggs and tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) eggs and nestlings collected from lower Green Bay (WI, USA) in 1994 and 1995 and black-crowned night-heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) eggs collected in 1991. Comparabl
Authors
Thomas W. Custer, Paul M. Dummer, Christine M. Custer, J. Christian Franson, Michael Jones

Large-scale climate variation modifies the winter grouping behavior of endangered Indiana bats

Power laws describe the functional relationship between 2 quantities, such as the frequency of a group as the multiplicative power of group size. We examined whether the annual size of well-surveyed wintering populations of endangered Indiana bats (Myotis sodalis) followed a power law, and then leveraged this relationship to predict whether the aggregation of Indiana bats in winter was influenced
Authors
Wayne E. Thogmartin, Patrick C. McKann

Prioritizing bird conservation actions in the Prairie Hardwood transition of the Midwestern United States

Large-scale planning for the conservation of species is often hindered by a poor understanding of factors limiting populations. In regions with declining wildlife populations, it is critical that objective metrics of conservation success are developed to ensure that conservation actions achieve desired results. Using spatially explicit estimates of bird abundance, we evaluated several management a
Authors
Wayne E. Thogmartin, Shawn M. Crimmins, Jennie Pearce

Replacement cost valuation of Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) subsistence harvest in Arctic and sub-Arctic North America

Migratory species provide economically beneficial ecosystem services to people throughout their range, yet often, information is lacking about the magnitude and spatial distribution of these benefits at regional scales. We conducted a case study for Northern Pintails (hereafter pintail) in which we quantified regional and sub-regional economic values of subsistence harvest to indigenous communitie
Authors
Joshua H. Goldstein, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Kenneth J. Bagstad, James A. Dubovsky, Brady J. Mattsson, Darius J. Semmens, Laura López-Hoffman, James E. Diffendorfer

Monitoring rationale, strategy, issues, and methods: UMRR-EMP LTRMP fish component

The Long Term Resource Monitoring Program (LTRMP), an element of the multiagency partnership Upper Mississippi River Restoration-Environmental Management Program, has been monitoring fishes in the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) for over two decades, using scientific and highly standardized methods. Today, the LTRMP’s data assets represent one of the world’s largest and most extensive datase
Authors
Brian S. Ickes, Jennifer S. Sauer, James T. Rogala

Long Term Resource Monitoring Program procedures: fish monitoring

This manual constitutes the second revision of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Upper Mississippi River Restoration-Environmental Management Program (UMRR-EMP) Long Term Resource Monitoring Program (LTRMP) element Fish Procedures Manual. The original (1988) manual merged and expanded on ideas and recommendations related to Upper Mississippi River fish sampling presented in several early documents
Authors
Eric N. Ratcliff, Eric J. Glittinger, T. Matt O'Hara, Brian S. Ickes

Changes in polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposure in tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) nesting along the Sheboygan River, WI, USA

Exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) eggs on the Sheboygan River, Wisconsin in the 1990s was higher at sites downstream (geometric means = 3.33–8.69 μg/g wet wt.) of the putative PCB source in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin than it was above the source (1.24 μg/g) with the exposure declining as the distance downstream of the source increased. A similar pat
Authors
Christine M. Custer, Thomas W. Custer, Sean M. Strom, Kathleen A. Patnode, J. Christian Franson

Contaminants of emerging concern in ambient groundwater in urbanized areas of Minnesota, 2009-12

A study of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in ambient groundwater in urbanized areas of Minnesota was completed by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. For this study, water samples were collected from November 2009 through June 2012 from 118 wells located in different land-use settings. The sampled wells primarily were screened in vulnerab
Authors
Melinda L. Erickson, Susan K. Langer, Jason L. Roth, Sharon E. Kroening

Spatially explicit habitat models for 28 fishes from the Upper Mississippi River System (AHAG 2.0)

Environmental management actions in the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) typically require pre-project assessments of predicted benefits under a range of project scenarios. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) now requires certified and peer-reviewed models to conduct these assessments. Previously, habitat benefits were estimated for fish communities in the UMRS using the Aquatic Habitat
Authors
Brian S. Ickes, J.S. Sauer, N. Richards, M. Bowler, B. Schlifer

Water quality and algal community dynamics of three deepwater lakes in Minnesota utilizing CE-QUAL-W2 models

Water quality, habitat, and fish in Minnesota lakes will potentially be facing substantial levels of stress in the coming decades primarily because of two stressors: (1) land-use change (urban and agricultural) and (2) climate change. Several regional and statewide lake modeling studies have identified the potential linkages between land-use and climate change on reductions in the volume of suitab
Authors
Erik A. Smith, Richard L. Kiesling, Joel M. Galloway, Jeffrey R. Ziegeweid