Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

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

White-nose syndrome is likely to extirpate the endangered Indiana bat over large parts of its range

White-nose syndrome, a novel fungal pathogen spreading quickly through cave-hibernating bat species in east and central North America, is responsible for killing millions of bats. We developed a stochastic, stage-based population model to forecast the population dynamics of the endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) subject to white-nose syndrome. Our population model explicitly incorporated envi
Authors
Wayne E. Thogmartin, Carol A. Sanders-Reed, Jennifer A. Szymanski, Patrick C. McKann, Lori Pruitt, R. Andrew King, Michael C. Runge, Robin E. Russell

Phenotypic plasticity in the spawning traits of bigheaded carp (Hypophthalmichthys spp.) in novel ecosystems

1. Bigheaded carp, including both silver (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) and bighead (H. nobilis) carp, are successful invasive fishes that threaten global freshwater biodiversity. High phenotypic plasticity probably contributes to their success in novel ecosystems, although evidence of plasticity in several spawning traits has hitherto been largely anecdotal or speculative. 2. We collected driftin
Authors
Alison A. Coulter, Doug Keller, Jon J. Amberg, Elizabeth J. Bailey, Reuben R. Goforth

Wetland management reduces sediment and nutrient loading to the upper Mississippi River

Restored riparian wetlands in the Upper Mississippi River basin have potential to remove sediment and nutrients from tributaries before they flow into the Mississippi River. For 3 yr we calculated retention efficiencies of a marsh complex, which consisted of a restored marsh and an adjacent natural marsh that were connected to Halfway Creek, a small tributary of the Mississippi. We measured sedime
Authors
Rebecca M. Kreiling, Joseph P. Schubauer-Berigan, William B. Richardson, Lynn Bartsch, Peter E. Hughes, Eric A. Strauss

Simulation of the shallow groundwater-flow system in the Forest County Potawatomi Community, Forest County, Wisconsin

The shallow groundwater system in the Forest County Potawatomi Comminity, Forest County, Wisconsin, was simulated by expanding and recalibrating a previously calibrated regional model. The existing model was updated using newly collected water-level measurements, inclusion of surface-water features beyond the previous near-field boundary, and refinements to surface-water features. The updated mode
Authors
Michael N. Fienen, David A. Saad, Paul F. Juckem

Determination of Antimycin-A in water by liquid chromatographic/mass spectrometry: single-laboratory validation

An LC/MS method was developed and validated for the quantitative determination and confirmation of antimycin-A (ANT-A) in water from lakes or streams. Three different water sample volumes (25, 50, and 250 mL) were evaluated. ANT-A was stabilized in the field by immediately extracting it from water into anhydrous acetone using SPE. The stabilized concentrated samples were then transported to a labo
Authors
Jeffry A. Bernardy, Terrance D. Hubert, Jacob M. Ogorek, Larry J. Schmidt

Partial least squares for efficient models of fecal indicator bacteria on Great Lakes beaches

At public beaches, it is now common to mitigate the impact of water-borne pathogens by posting a swimmer's advisory when the concentration of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) exceeds an action threshold. Since culturing the bacteria delays public notification when dangerous conditions exist, regression models are sometimes used to predict the FIB concentration based on readily-available environmenta
Authors
Wesley R. Brooks, Michael N. Fienen, Steven R. Corsi

Crowdsourcing to Acquire Hydrologic Data and Engage Citizen Scientists: CrowdHydrology

Spatially and temporally distributed measurements of processes, such as baseflow at the watershed scale, come at substantial equipment and personnel cost. Research presented here focuses on building a crowdsourced database of inexpensive distributed stream stage measurements. Signs on staff gauges encourage citizen scientists to voluntarily send hydrologic measurements (e.g., stream stage) via tex
Authors
Michael N. Fienen, Chris Lowry

Electron donor concentrations in sediments and sediment properties at the agricultural chemicals team research site near New Providence, Iowa, 2006-07

The concentrations of electron donors in aquifer sediments are important to the understanding of the fate and transport of redox-sensitive constituents in groundwater, such as nitrate. For a study by the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program, 50 sediment samples were collected from below the water table from 11 boreholes at the U.S. Geological Survey Agricultural Chemica
Authors
Bijesh Maharjan, Scott F. Korom, Erik A. Smith

Historic distribution of Common Loons in Wisconsin in relation to changes in lake characteristics and surrounding land use

A study was conducted to evaluate changes in water quality and land-use change associated with lakes that are south of the current breeding range of Common Loons in Wisconsin but that historically supported breeding loons. Museum collection records and published accounts were examined to identify lakes in southern Wisconsin with a former history of loon nesting activity. Historical and recent
Authors
Kevin P. Kenow, Paul J. Garrison, Timothy J. Fox, Michael W. Meyer

Approaches in highly parameterized inversion: bgaPEST, a Bayesian geostatistical approach implementation with PEST: documentation and instructions

The application bgaPEST is a highly parameterized inversion software package implementing the Bayesian Geostatistical Approach in a framework compatible with the parameter estimation suite PEST. Highly parameterized inversion refers to cases in which parameters are distributed in space or time and are correlated with one another. The Bayesian aspect of bgaPEST is related to Bayesian probability th
Authors
Michael N. Fienen, Marco D'Oria, John E. Doherty, Randall J. Hunt

Effects of best-management practices in Bower Creek in the East River priority watershed, Wisconsin, 1991-2009

Hydrologic and water-quality data were collected at Bower Creek during the periods before best-management practices (BMPs), and after BMPs were installed for evaluation of water-quality improvements. The monitoring was done between 1990 and 2009 with the pre-BMP period ending in July 1994 and the post-BMP period beginning in October 2006. BMPs installed in this basin included streambank protection
Authors
Steven R. Corsi, Judy A. Horwatich, Troy D. Rutter, Roger T. Bannerman

Potential effects of climate change on inland glacial lakes and implications for lake-dependent biota in Wisconsin: final report April 2013

The economic vitality and quality of life of many northern Wisconsin communities is closely associated with the ecological condition of the abundant water resources in the region. Climate change models predict warmer temperatures, changes to precipitation patterns, and increased evapotranspiration in the Great Lakes region. Recently (1950-2006), many regions of Wisconsin have experienced warmin
Authors
Michael W. Meyer, John F. Walker, Kevin P. Kenow, Paul W. Rasmussen, Paul J. Garrison, Paul C. Hanson, Randall J. Hunt