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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

Social.Water - A crowdsourcing tool for environmental data acquisition

Remote telemetry has a long history of use for collection of environmental measurements. With the rise of mobile phones and SMS text-messaging capacity, many members of the general pubic carry communications equipment in their pockets at all times. Enabling the general public to provide environmental data through text messages has the potential both to provide additional data to scientific project
Authors
Michael N. Fienen, Christopher Lowry

Assessing consumption of bioactive micro-particles by filter-feeding Asian carp

Silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix (SVC) and bighead carp H. nobilis (BHC) have impacted waters in the US since their escape. Current chemical controls for aquatic nuisance species are non-selective. Development of a bioactive micro-particle that exploits filter-feeding habits of SVC or BHC could result in a new control tool. It is not fully understood if SVC or BHC will consume bioactive mic
Authors
Nathan R. Jensen, Jon J. Amberg, James A. Luoma, Liza R. Walleser, Mark P. Gaikowski

Oxygen demand of aircraft and airfield pavement deicers and alternative freezing point depressants

Aircraft and pavement deicing formulations and other potential freezing point depressants were tested for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD). Propylene glycol-based aircraft deicers exhibited greater BOD5 than ethylene glycol-based aircraft deicers, and ethylene glycol-based products had lower degradation rates than propylene glycol-based products. Sodium formate pave
Authors
Steven R. Corsi, Dean Mericas, George Bowman

Glass wool filters for concentrating waterborne viruses and agricultural zoonotic pathogens

The key first step in evaluating pathogen levels in suspected contaminated water is concentration. Concentration methods tend to be specific for a particular pathogen group, for example US Environmental Protection Agency Method 1623 for Giardia and Cryptosporidium1, which means multiple methods are required if the sampling program is targeting more than one pathogen group. Another drawback of curr
Authors
Hana T. Millen, Jordan C. Gonnering, Ryan K. Berg, Susan K. Spencer, William E. Jokela, John M. Pearce, Jackson S. Borchardt, Mark A. Borchardt

Luna B. Leopold--pioneer setting the stage for modern hydrology

In 1986, during the first year of graduate school, the lead author was sampling the water from a pitcher pump in front of “The Shack,” the setting of the opening essays in Aldo Leopold's renowned book A Sand County Almanac. The sampling was part of my Master's work that included quarterly monitoring of water quality on the Leopold Memorial Reserve (LMR) near Baraboo, Wisconsin. The Shack was alrea
Authors
Randall J. Hunt, Curt Meine

Temporal changes in spatial patterns of submersed macrophytes in two impounded reaches of the Upper Mississippi River, USA, 1998-2009

We examined temporal changes in spatial patterns of submersed aquatic macrophytes during a recent three-fold increase in macrophyte abundance and in response to the cumulative effects of management actions (island construction and water level management) and changes in regional environmental conditions (turbidity) in two navigation pools of the Upper Mississippi River, Pool 8 (managed) and Pool 13
Authors
Nathan R. De Jager, Yao Yin

Survival and growth of newly transformed Lampsilis cardium and Lampsilis siliquoidea in a flow-through, continuous feeding test system

A test system was evaluated for assessing chronic toxicity of waterborne chemicals with early life stage mussels. To determine if the test system could result in ≥80% survival in a control (unexposed) group, fat mucket mussels (Lampsilis siliquoidea Barnes, 1823) and plain pocketbook mussels (L. cardium Rafinesque, 1820) 1 day post transformation were stocked into test chambers (250 mL beakers, wa
Authors
Jeffery R. Meinertz, Theresa M. Schreier, Karina R. Hess, Michelle Bartsch

Spatial scaling of core and dominant forest cover in the Upper Mississippi and Illinois River floodplains, USA

Different organisms respond to spatial structure in different terms and across different spatial scales. As a consequence, efforts to reverse habitat loss and fragmentation through strategic habitat restoration ought to account for the different habitat density and scale requirements of various taxonomic groups. Here, we estimated the local density of floodplain forest surrounding each of ~20 mill
Authors
Nathan R. De Jager, Jason J. Rohweder

Spatial patterns of aquatic habitat richness in the Upper Mississippi River floodplain, USA

Interactions among hydrology and geomorphology create shifting mosaics of aquatic habitat patches in large river floodplains (e.g., main and side channels, floodplain lakes, and shallow backwater areas) and the connectivity among these habitat patches underpins high levels of biotic diversity and productivity. However, the diversity and connectivity among the habitats of most floodplain rivers hav
Authors
Nathan R. De Jager, Jason J. Rohweder

Highway-runoff quality, and treatment efficiencies of a hydrodynamic-settling device and a stormwater-filtration device in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The treatment efficiencies of two prefabricated stormwater-treatment devices were tested at a freeway site in a high-density urban part of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. One treatment device is categorized as a hydrodynamic-settling device (HSD), which removes pollutants by sedimentation and flotation. The other treatment device is categorized as a stormwater-filtration device (SFD), which removes pollutan
Authors
Judy A. Horwatich, Roger T. Bannerman, Robert Pearson

Bridging the conservation design and delivery gap for wetland bird habitat maintenance and restoration in the Midwestern United States

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's adoption of Strategic Habitat Conservation is intended to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of conservation delivery by targeting effort in areas where biological benefits are greatest. Conservation funding has not often been allocated in accordance with explicit biological endpoints, and the gap between conservation design (the identification of conser
Authors
W.E. Thogmartin, B. Potter, G. Soulliere