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Publications

Publications from USGS science centers throughout the Southeast Region.

Filter Total Items: 9969

Factors affecting the occurrence of lead and manganese in untreated drinking water from Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain aquifers, eastern United States—Dissolved oxygen and pH framework for evaluating risk of elevated concentrations

Groundwater samples collected during 2012 and 2013 from public-supply wells screened in the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain aquifers of the eastern and southeastern U.S. rarely contained lead or manganese concentrations that exceeded drinking-water limits, despite having corrosive characteristics. Data indicate that the occurrence of dissolved lead and manganese in sampled groundwater, prior to it
Authors
Craig J. Brown, Jeannie R. B. Barlow, Charles A. Cravotta, Bruce D. Lindsey

Research priorities for freshwater mussel conservation assessment

Freshwater mussels are declining globally, and effective conservation requires prioritizing research and actions to identify and mitigate threats impacting mussel species. Conservation priorities vary widely, ranging from preventing imminent extinction to maintaining abundant populations. Here, we develop a portfolio of priority research topics for freshwater mussel conservation assessment. To add
Authors
Noé Ferreira-Rodríguez, Yoshihiro B. Akiyama, Olga V. Aksenova, M. Christopher Barnhart, Yulia V. Bespalaya, Arthur E. Bogan, Ivan N Bolotov, Prem B. Budha, Cristhian Clavijo, Susan J. Clearwater, Gustavo Darrigran, Van Tu Do, Karel Douda, Elsa Froufe, Clemens Gumpinger, Lennart Henrikson, Chris L. Humphrey, Nathan A. Johnson, Olga Klishko, Michael W. Klunzinger, Satit Kovitvadhi, Uthaiwan Kovitvadhi, Jasna Lajtner, Manuel Lopes-Lima, Evelyn A. Moorkens, Shigeya Nagayama, Karl-Otto Nagel, Mitsunori Nakano, Junjiro N. Negishi, Paz Ondina, Panu Oulasvirta, Vincent Prié, Nicoletta Riccardi, Mudīte Rudzīte, Fran Sheldon, Ronaldo Sousa, David L. Strayer, Motoi Takeuchi, Jouni Taskinen, Amilcar Teixeira, Jeremy S. Tiemann, Maria Urbańska, Simone Varandas, Maxim V. Vinarski, Barry J. Wicklow, Tadeusz Zając, Caryn C. Vaughn

Considerations for Globigerinoides ruber (white and pink) paleoceanography: Comprehensive insights from a long‐running sediment trap

We present a detailed analysis of the seasonal distribution, size, morphological variability and geochemistry of co‐occurring pink and white chromotypes of Globigerinoides ruberfrom a high‐resolution (1–2 weeks) and long‐running sediment trap time series in the northern Gulf of Mexico. We find no difference in the seasonal flux of the two chromotypes. Although flux of G. ruber is consistently lowe
Authors
Julie N. Richey, Kaustubh Thirumalai, Deborah Khider, Caitlin E. Reynolds, Judson W. Partin, Terrence M. Quinn

Assessment of bird exposure to lead at Tyndall and Beale Air Force Bases, 2016–17

Soil contamination by lead (Pb) from past small munitions training on Beale Air Force Base, California, and Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, may result in adverse effects for passerine birds that utilize the locations. A study was conducted during 2016-17 by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Air Force, at both Air Force Bases (AFBs) to asse
Authors
Timothy A. Bargar

Diatom assemblage changes in agricultural alluvial plain streams and application for nutrient management

In large, alluvial floodplains dominated by agriculture, small streams have the potential to experience nutrient enrichment affecting algal assemblage structure and metabolism. Nutrient enrichment is largely driven by application of nutrients and altered hydrologic regimes. To inform stressor–response-based nutrient reduction goals for agricultural alluvial plain streams, diatom assemblages were s
Authors
Matthew B. Hicks, Jason M. Taylor

Enhancement of primary production during drought in a temperate watershed is greater in larger rivers than headwater streams

Drought is common in rivers, yet how this disturbance regulates metabolic activity across network scales is largely unknown. Drought often lowers gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (ER) in small headwaters but by contrast can enhance GPP and cause algal blooms in downstream estuaries. We estimated ecosystem metabolism across a nested network of 13 reaches from headwaters to t
Authors
Jacob D. Hosen, Kelly S. Aho, Alison P. Appling, E.C. Creech, Jennifer H Fair, Robert O Jr. Hall, Ethan Kyzivat, Rachel Lowenthal, Serena Matt, Jonathan Morrison, James E. Saiers, James B. Shanley, Lisa Weber, Bryan Yoon, Peter A. Raymond

Climate change, coral loss, and the curious case of the parrotfish paradigm: Why don't marine protected areas improve reef resilience?

Scientists have advocated for local interventions, such as creating marine protected areas and implementing fishery restrictions, as ways to mitigate local stressors to limit the effects of climate change on reef-building corals. However, in a literature review, we find little empirical support for the notion of managed resilience. We outline some reasons for why marine protected areas and the pro
Authors
John F. Bruno, Isabelle M. Cote, Lauren Toth

Identifying natural and anthropogenic variability of uranium at the well scale, Homestake Superfund site, near Milan, New Mexico, USA

The San Mateo Creek Basin in New Mexico, USA is located within the Grants Mineral Belt-an area with numerous uranium (U) ore deposits, mines, and milling operations. Six monitoring wells set in an alluvial aquifer near the Homestake Mining Co. Superfund site in the lower San Mateo Creek Basin were logged with a suite of borehole geophysical tools including spectral gamma-ray (SGR), vertically prof
Authors
Philip T. Harte, Johanna M. Blake, Jonathan V. Thomas, Kent Becher

Preferential groundwater seepage in karst terrane inferred from geoelectric measurements

The Ellenburger–San Saba aquifer discharges spring flows into the overlying Hamilton Creek bed in Burnet County, central Texas. The aquifer is susceptible to contamination from surface‐water reservoirs because of the presence of dissolution cavities that are hydraulically connected to the reservoirs in some locations. There is concern that preferential groundwater seepage from reservoirs into the
Authors
Scott Ikard, Emily Pease

Tracking changes in nutrient delivery to western Lake Erie: Approaches to compensate for variability and trends in streamflow

Tracking changes in stream nutrient inputs to Lake Erie over multidecadal time scales depends on the use of statistical methods that can remove the influence of year-to-year variability of streamflow but also explicitly consider the influence of long-term trends in streamflow. The methods introduced in this paper include an extended version of Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season (W
Authors
Anne F. Choquette, Robert M. Hirsch, Jennifer C. Murphy, L.T. Johnson, R. B. Confesor

Defensible standardized ploidy assessments for Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella, Cyprinidae) intercepted from the commercial supply chain

Although methods are in place through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife (USFWS) program for ploidy testing of feral caught Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) and black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus), no guidelines exist for carp hauled across state lines. Using 1200 Grass Carp purchased by undercover Ohio law enforcement during 2015–2016, we developed a standardized protocol for discriminating ploidy by
Authors
Jill A. Jenkins, Megan D. Chauvin, Darren Johnson, Bonnie L. Brown, Jennifer Bailey, Anita M. Kelly, Bryan T. Kinter

Decision-making in agent-based modeling: A current review and future prospectus

All basic processes of ecological populations involve decisions; when and where to move, when and what to eat, and whether to fight or flee. Yet decisions and the underlying principles of decision-making have been difficult to integrate into the classical population-level models of ecology. Certainly, there is a long history of modeling individuals' searching behavior, diet selection, or conflict
Authors
Donald L. DeAngelis, Stephanie G. Diaz