Publications
These publications showcase the significant science conducted in our Science Centers.
Filter Total Items: 16783
Review of ESA SYMP 7: A dynamic perspective on ecosystem restoration–establishing temporal connectivity at the intersection between paleoecology and restoration ecology
Landscape connectivity is vital not only spatially, but also temporally; as ecosystems change, it is important to be aware of past, present, and future variables that may impact ecosystem function and biodiversity. As climate and environments continue to change, choosing appropriate restoration targets is becoming more challenging. By considering the paleoecological and paleoenvironmental record f
Authors
Rachel Reid, Jenny McGuire, Jens-Christiane Svenning, G. Lynn Wingard, David Moreno-Mateos
Factors Affecting Groundwater Quality Used for Domestic Supply in Marcellus Shale Region of North-Central and North-East Pennsylvania, USA
Factors affecting groundwater quality used for domestic supply within the Marcellus Shale footprint in north-central and north-east Pennsylvania are identified using a combination of spatial, statistical, and geochemical modeling. Untreated groundwater, sampled during 2011–2017 from 472 domestic wells within the study area, exhibited wide ranges in pH (4.5–9.3), total dissolved solids (TDS, 22–196
Authors
Charles A. Cravotta, Lisa A. Senior, Matthew D. Conlon
Tissue and salinity specific Na+/Cl− cotransporter (NCC) orthologues involved in the adaptive osmoregulation of sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus)
Two orthologues of the gene encoding the Na+-Cl− cotransporter (NCC), termed ncca and nccb, were found in the sea lamprey genome. No gene encoding the Na+-K+-2Cl− cotransporter 2 (nkcc2) was identified. In a phylogenetic comparison among other vertebrate NCC and NKCC sequences, the sea lamprey NCCs occupied basal positions within the NCC clades. In freshwater, ncca mRNA was found only in the gill
Authors
Andre Barany-Ruiz, Ciaran S Shaughnessy, Ryan M. Pelis, Juan Fuentes, Juan M Mancera, Stephen D. McCormick
Numerical modeling of groundwater flow in the crystalline-rock aquifer in the vicinity of the Savage Municipal Water-Supply Well Superfund site, Milford, New Hampshire
In 2010, tetrachloroethylene (PCE), a chlorinated volatile organic compound, was detected in groundwater from deep (more than 300 feet below land surface) fractures in monitoring wells tapping a crystalline-rock aquifer. The aquifer underlies the Milford-Souhegan glacial-drift aquifer, a high water-producing aquifer, and the Savage Municipal Water-Supply Well Superfund site in Milford, New Hampshi
Authors
Philip T. Harte
Depth of groundwater used for drinking-water supplies in the United States
Groundwater supplies 35 percent of drinking water in the United States. Mapping the quantity and quality of groundwater at the depths used for potable supplies requires an understanding of locational variation in the characteristics of drinking-water wells (depth and open interval). Typical depths of domestic- and public-drinking-water supply wells vary by and within aquifer across the United Stat
Authors
James R. Degnan, Leon J. Kauffman, Melinda L. Erickson, Kenneth Belitz, Paul E. Stackelberg
Relation between road-salt application and increasing radium concentrations in a low-pH aquifer, southern New Jersey
The Kirkwood–Cohansey aquifer in southern New Jersey is an important source of drinking-water supplies, but the availability of the resource is limited in some areas by high concentrations of radium, a potential carcinogen at elevated concentrations. Radium (226Ra plus 228Ra) concentrations from a network of 25 drinking-water wells showed a statistically significant increase over a decadal time sc
Authors
Bruce D. Lindsey, Charles A. Cravotta, Zoltan Szabo, Kenneth Belitz, Paul Stackelberg
Documentation and mapping of flooding from the January and March 2018 nor’easters in coastal New England
In January and March 2018, coastal Massachusetts experienced flooding from two separate nor’easters. To put the January and March floods into historical context, the USGS computed statistical stillwater elevations. Stillwater elevations recorded in January 2018 in Boston (9.66 feet relative to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988) have an annual exceedance probability of between 2 and 1 perce
Authors
Pamela J. Lombard, Scott A. Olson, Luke P. Sturtevant, Rena D. Kalmon
Factors affecting uncertainty of public supply, self-supplied domestic, irrigation, and thermoelectric water-use data, 1985–2015—Evaluation of information sources, estimation methods, and data variability
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water-Use Program is responsible for compiling and disseminating the Nation's water-use data. Working in cooperation with local, State, and Federal agencies, the USGS has collected and published national water-use estimates every 5 years, beginning in 1950. These water-use data may vary because of actual changes in water use, because of changes in estimation metho
Authors
Carol L. Luukkonen, Kenneth Belitz, Samantha L. Sullivan, Pierre Sargent
A practical solution: The Anthropocene is a geological event, not a formal epoch
The Anthropocene has yet to be defined in a way that is functional both to the international geological community and to the broader fields of environmental and social sciences. Formally defining the Anthropocene as a chronostratigraphical series and geochronological epoch with a precise global start date would drastically reduce the Anthropocene’s utility across disciplines. Instead, we propose t
Authors
Philip Gibbard, Andrew M Bauer, Matthew Edgeworth, William F Ruddiman, Jacquelyn L. Gill, Merritts. Dorothy J, Stanley C. Finney, Lucy E. Edwards, Michael J.C. Walker, Mark Maslin, Erle C Ellis
Recent nitrogen storage and accumulation rates in mangrove soils exceed historic rates in the urbanized San Juan Bay Estuary (Puerto Rico, United States)
Tropical mangrove forests have been described as “coastal kidneys,” promoting sediment deposition and filtering contaminants, including excess nutrients. Coastal areas throughout the world are experiencing increased human activities, resulting in altered geomorphology, hydrology, and nutrient inputs. To effectively manage and sustain coastal mangroves, it is important to understand nitrogen (N) st
Authors
Cathleen Wigand, Autumn Oczkowski, Benjamin Branoff, Meagan J. Eagle, Alana Hanson, Rose M. Martin, Stephen Balogh, Kenneth Miller, Evelyn Huertas, Joseph Loffredo, Elizabeth Watson
Nitrogen in the Chesapeake Bay watershed—A century of change, 1950–2050
ForewordSustaining the quality of the Nation’s water resources and the health of our diverse ecosystems depends on the availability of sound water-resources data and information to develop effective, science-based policies. Effective management of water resources also brings more certainty and efficiency to important economic sectors. Taken together, these actions lead to immediate and long-term e
Authors
John W. Clune, Paul D. Capel, Matthew P. Miller, Douglas A. Burns, Andrew J. Sekellick, Peter R. Claggett, Richard H. Coupe, Rosemary M. Fanelli, Ana Maria Garcia, Jeff P. Raffensperger, Silvia Terziotti, Gopal Bhatt, Joel D. Blomquist, Kristina G. Hopkins, Jennifer L. Keisman, Lewis C. Linker, Gary W. Shenk, Richard A. Smith, Alex M. Soroka, James S. Webber, David M. Wolock, Qian Zhang
Strong evidence for two disjunct populations of Black Scoters Melanitta americana in North America
Black Scoters Melanitta americana were marked with satellite transmitters on Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America to examine continental-scale population delineation. Scoters marked on the different coasts did not overlap at any stage of the annual cycle, suggesting that birds in the two regions could be monitored and managed as separate populations: 1) an Atlantic population, which winter
Authors
Timothy D. Bowman, Scott G. Gilliland, Jason L Schamber, Paul L. Flint, Daniel Esler, W. Sean Boyd, Daniel H. Rosenberg, Jean-Pierre L. Savard, Matthew Perry, Jason E. Osenkowski