Publications
Publications from USGS science centers throughout the Southeast Region.
Filter Total Items: 9967
Submarine canyons influence macrofaunal diversity and density patterns in the deep-sea benthos
Submarine canyons are often morphologically complex features in the deep sea contributing to habitat heterogeneity. In addition, they act as major conduits of organic matter from the shallow productive shelf to the food deprived deep-sea, promoting gradients in food resources and areas of sediment resuspension and deposition. This study focuses on the Baltimore and Norfolk canyons, in the western
Authors
Craig M. Robertson, Amanda Demopoulos, Jill Bourque, Furu Mienis, Gerard Duineveld, Mark Lavaleye, R. Koivisto, S. Brooke, S. Ross, M. Rhode, A. Davies
GoMAMN Strategic Bird Monitoring Guidelines: Landbirds
Landbirds in the Gulf of Mexico region include an ecologically diverse group of taxa that depend on a wide range of terrestrial habitats and the airspace above them. For the GoMAMN region of the Gulf of Mexico, the Landbird Working Group identified 19 species from 12 families as priorities for monitoring (Table 3.1). In addition, all species that stopover within the GoMAMN region during migration
Authors
Theodore J. Zenzal, William G. Vermillion, Jacqueline R. Ferrato, Lori A. Randall, Robert Christopher Dobbs, Heather Baldwin
Carbon stock trends of baldcypress knees along climate gradients of the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley using allometric methods
Carbon stock trends of the knees of Taxodium distichum likely vary across climate gradients of the southeastern United States and contribute an unknown quantity of “teal” carbon to inland freshwater wetlands. Knee metrics (e.g., density, height, biomass) were measured in mixed T. distichum swamps across the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley (MRAV) from Illinois to Louisiana. Based on their geometr
Authors
Beth A. Middleton
Mixed organic and inorganic tapwater exposures and potential effects in greater Chicago area, USA
Safe drinking water at the point of use (tapwater, TW) is a public-health priority. TW exposures and potential human-health concerns of 540 organics and 35 inorganics were assessed in 45 Chicago area United States (US) homes in 2017. No US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforceable Maximum Contaminant Level(s) (MCL) were exceeded in any residential or water treatment plant (WTP) pre-distrib
Authors
Paul Bradley, Maria Argos, Dana W. Kolpin, Shannon M. Meppelink, Kristin M. Romanok, Kelly L. Smalling, Michael J. Focazio, Joshua M. Allen, Julie E. Dietze, Michael J. Devito, Ariel Donovan, Nicola Evans, Carrie E. Givens, James L. Gray, Christopher P. Higgins, Michelle Hladik, Luke Iwanowicz, Celeste A. Journey, Rachael F. Lane, Zachary Laughrey, Keith A. Loftin, R. Blaine McCleskey, Carrie A. McDonough, Elizabeth K Medlock Kakaley, Michael T. Meyer, Andrea Holthouse-Putz, Susan D Richardson, Alan Stark, Christopher P. Weis, Vickie S. Wilson, Abderrahman Zehraoui
Sensitivity of warm water fishes and rainbow trout to selected contaminants
Guidelines for developing water quality standards allow U.S. states to exclude toxicity data for the family Salmonidae (trout and salmon) when deriving guidelines for warm-water habitats. This practice reflects the belief that standards based on salmonid data may be overprotective of toxic effects on other fish taxa. In acute tests with six chemicals and eight fish species, the salmonid, Rainbow T
Authors
John M. Besser, Rebecca A. Dorman, Chris D. Ivey, Danielle M. Cleveland, Jeffery Steevens
"Modified Unified Method" of carp capture
Populations of Hypophthalmichthys molitrix (silver carp) and Hypophthalmichthys nobilis (bighead carp), (together referred to herein as “bigheaded carp”) have increased exponentially in the greater Mississippi River Basin. Detrimental effects on native fish and economically important fisheries have occurred where these invasive, filter-feeding fish are abundant. The Unified Method, a harvest techn
Authors
Duane Chapman
Category count models for adaptive management of metapopulations: Case study of an imperiled salamander
Managing spatially structured populations of imperiled species presents many challenges. Spatial structure can make it difficult to predict population responses to potential recovery activities, and learning through experimentation may not be advised if it could harm threatened populations. Adaptive management provides an appealing framework when experimentation is considered too risky or time con
Authors
Katy O'Donnell, Paul L. Fackler, Fred A. Johnson, Mathieu Bonneau, Julien Martin, Susan C. Walls
Increasing rates of carbon burial in southwest Florida coastal wetlands
Rates of organic carbon (OC) burial in some coastal wetlands appear to be greater in recent years than they were in the past. Possible explanations include ongoing mineralization of older OC or the influence of an unaccounted‐for artefact of the methods used to measure burial rates. Alternatively, the trend may represent real acceleration in OC burial. We quantified OC burial rates of mangrove and
Authors
Joshua L. Breithaupt, Joseph M. Smoak, Thomas S. Bianchi, Derrick Vaughn, Christian Sanders, Kara Radabaugh, Michael J. Osland, Laura C. Feher, James C. Lynch, Donald R. Cahoon, Gordon H. Anderson, Kevin R. T. Whelan, Brad E. Rosenheim, Ryan P. Moyer, Lisa Chambers
Simulation of water-management scenarios for the Mississippi Delta
To compare the effectiveness of proposed alternative water-supply scenarios on future water availability in the Mississippi Delta, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality are collaborating on the update and enhancement of an existing regional groundwater-flow model of the area. Through this collaboration, the model has been updated to include boundary con
Authors
Connor J. Haugh, Courtney D. Killian, Jeannie R. B. Barlow
Modeling soil porewater salinity response to drought in tidal freshwater forested wetlands
There is a growing concern about the adverse effects of saltwater intrusion via tidal rivers, streams and creeks into tidal freshwater forested wetlands (TFFW) due to sea‐level rise (SLR) and intense and extended drought events. However, the magnitude and duration of porewater salinity in exceedance of plant salinity stress threshold (2 practical salinity units, psu) and the controlling factors re
Authors
Hongqing Wang, Ken W. Krauss, Gregory Noe, Camille L. Stagg, Christopher M. Swarzenski, Jamie A. Duberstein, William H. Conner, Donald L. DeAngelis
Characterization of pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) spawning habitat in the Lower Missouri River
Acipenseriformes (sturgeons and paddlefish) globally have declined throughout their range due to river fragmentation, habitat loss, overfishing, and degradation of water quality. In North America, pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) populations have experienced poor to no recruitment, or substantial levels of hybridization with the closely related shovelnose sturgeon (S. platorynchus). The Lowe
Authors
Caroline M. Elliott, Aaron J. Delonay, Kimberly Chojnacki, Robert B. Jacobson
Final project memorandum: Identifying conservation objectives for the Gulf Coast habitats of the black skimmer and gull-billed tern
Many shorebirds and nearshore waterbirds are of conservation concern across the Gulf of Mexico due to stressors such as human disturbance, predation, and habitat loss and degradation. Conservation and protection of these birds is important for the functioning of healthy ecosystems and for maintaining biodiversity in North America. Consequently, resource managers along the Gulf need decision-aiding
Authors
James P. Cronin