Publications
Publications from USGS science centers throughout the Southeast Region.
Filter Total Items: 9967
Food web controls on mercury fluxes and fate in the Colorado River, Grand Canyon
Mercury (Hg) biomagnification in aquatic food webs is a global concern; yet, the ways species traits and interactions mediate these fluxes remain poorly understood. Few pathways dominated Hg flux in the Colorado River despite large spatial differences in food web complexity, and fluxes were mediated by one functional trait, predation resistance. New Zealand mudsnails are predator resistant and a t
Authors
David Walters, Wyatt F. Cross, Theodore Kennedy, Colden V. Baxter, R. O. Hall, Emma J. Rosi
Using multiple environmental proxies and hydrodynamic modeling to investigate Late Holocene climate and coastal change within a large Gulf of Mexico estuarine system (Mobile Bay, Alabama, USA)
A high degree of uncertainty exists for understanding and predicting coastal estuarine response to changing climate, land-use, and sea-level conditions, leaving geologic records as a best-proxy for constraining potential outcomes. With the majority of the world's population focused in coastal regions, understanding how local systems respond to global, regional, and even local pressures is key in d
Authors
Christopher G. Smith, Miriam C. Jones, Lisa Osterman, Davina Passeri
Fluoride occurrence in United States groundwater
Data from 38,105 wells were used to characterize fluoride (F) occurrence in untreated United States (U.S.) groundwater. For domestic wells (n = 11,032), water from which is generally not purposely fluoridated or monitored for quality, 10.9% of the samples have F concentrations >0.7 mg/L (U.S. Public Health Service recommended optimal F concentration in drinking water for preventing tooth decay) (8
Authors
Peter B. McMahon, Craig J. Brown, Tyler D. Johnson, Kenneth Belitz, Bruce D. Lindsey
Species richness responses to water withdrawal scenarios and minimum flow levels: Evaluating presumptive standards in the Tennessee and Cumberland River basins
Water resource managers are challenged to balance growing water demand with protecting aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity. Management decisions can benefit from improved understanding of water withdrawal impacts on hydrologic regimes and ecological assemblages. This study used Ecological Limit Functions for fish groups within the Tennessee and Cumberland river basins to predict species richness r
Authors
Lucas Driver, Jennifer M. Cartwright, Rodney Knight, William J. Wolfe
Factors affecting sampling strategies for design of an effects‐directed analysis for endocrine‐active chemicals
Effects‐directed analysis (EDA) is an important tool for identifying unknown bioactive components in a complex mixture. Such an analysis of endocrine‐active chemicals (EACs) from water sources has promising regulatory implications but also unique logistical challenges. We propose a conceptual EDA (framework) based on a critical review of EDA literature and concentrations of common EACs in waste an
Authors
Jennifer Brennan, Robert W. Gale, David Alvarez, Jason P. Berninger, Jessica Kristin Leet, Yan Li, Tyler Wagner, Donald E. Tillitt
Decision analysis of restoration actions for faunal conservation and other stakeholder values: Dauphin Island, Alabama
Dauphin Island is a barrier island located in the northern Gulf of Mexico and serves as
the only barrier island providing protection to much of the State of Alabama’s coastal natural
resources. The ecosystem spans over 3,500 acres of barrier island habitat including, beach, dune, overwash fans, intertidal wetlands, maritime forest and freshwater ponds. In addition, Dauphin Island provides protecti
Authors
Elise R. Irwin, K. Ouellette Coffman, E. S. Godsey, Nicholas Enwright, M. Clint Lloyd, K. Joyner, Q. T. Lai
Microbiology and oxidation-reduction geochemistry of the water-table and Memphis aquifers in the Allen well field, Shelby County, Tennessee
The shallow and Memphis aquifers in Shelby County, Tennessee, are valuable natural resources that are used for domestic, public-supply, and agricultural water use. The Memphis aquifer is the primary source for public supply in West Tennessee and provides 170 to 175 million gallons of water per day for more than 900,000 people (Robinson, 2018). The shallow aquifer includes the unconfined water tabl
Authors
Thomas D. Byl, Mike Bradley
Forecasting water demand across a rapidly urbanizing region
Urban growth and climate change together complicate planning efforts meant to adapt to increasingly scarce water supplies. Several studies have independently examined the impacts of urban planning and climate change on water demand, but little attention has been given to their combined impact. Here we forecast urban water demand using a Geographically Weighted Regression model informed by socio-ec
Authors
Georgina M. Sanchez, Adam J. Terando, Jordan W. Smith, Ana María García, Chad R. Wagner, Ross K. Meentemeyer
7700-year persistence of an isolated, free-living coral assemblage in the Galápagos Islands: A model for coral refugia?
In an eastern-Pacific coral assemblage at Devil’s Crown, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador, two coral species, Psammocora stellata and Cycloseris (Diaseris) distorta, form dense populations of unattached colonies on sand and rubble substrata. In the Galápagos, living C. (D.) distorta is found only at this single site, whereas populations of P. stellata are found throughout the archipelago. Six cores dati
Authors
Joshua Feingold, Bernhard Reigl, Katie Hendrickson, Lauren Toth, Hai Cheng, R. Lawrence Edwards, Richard B. Aronson
Green turtle mitochondrial microsatellites indicate finer-scale natal homing to isolated islands than to continental nesting sites
In highly mobile philopatric species, defining the scale of natal homing is fundamental to characterizing population dynamics and effectively managing distinct populations. Genetic tools have provided evidence of regional natal philopatry in marine turtles, but extensive sharing of maternally inherited mitochondrial control region (CR) haplotypes within regions (<500 km) often impedes identificat
Authors
Brian M. Shamblin, Kristen Hart, Kelly J. Martin, Simona A. Ceriani, Dean A. Bagley, Katherine L. Mansfield, Llewellyn M. Ehrhart, Campbell J. Nairn
Use of strong habitat–abundance relationships in assessing population status of cryptic fishes: An example using the Harlequin Darter
Understanding trends in abundance is important to fisheries conservation, but techniques for estimating streamwide abundance of cryptic fishes with strong habitat–abundance relationships are not well established and need further development. We developed techniques for addressing this need using the Harlequin Darter Etheostoma histrio, a small, cryptic freshwater fish associated with submerged woo
Authors
Kathryn M Holcomb, Paul Schueller, Howard L. Jelks, John R Knight, Micheal S Allen
Stormwater control impacts on runoff volume and peak flow: A meta-analysis of watershed modelling studies
Decades of research has concluded that the percent of impervious surface cover in a watershed is strongly linked to negative impacts on urban stream health. Recently, there has been a push by municipalities to offset these effects by installing structural stormwater control measures (SCMs), which are landscape features designed to retain and reduce runoff to mitigate the effects of urbanisation on
Authors
Colin D. Bell, Jordyn M. Wolfand, Chelsea L. Panos, Aditi S. Bhaskar, Ryan L. Gilliom, Terri S. Hogue, Kristina G. Hopkins, Anne J. Jefferson