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Publications

Publications from USGS science centers throughout the Southeast Region.

Filter Total Items: 9969

Calibration of a field-scale Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model with field placement of best management practices in Alger Creek, Michigan

Subwatersheds within the Great Lakes “Priority Watersheds” were targeted by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) to determine the effectiveness of the various best management practices (BMPs) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service National Conservation Planning (NCP) Database. A Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model is created for Alger Creek,
Authors
Katherine R. Merriman, Amy M. Russell, Cynthia M. Rachol, Prasad Daggupati, Raghavan Srinivasan, Brett A. Hayhurst, Todd D. Stuntebeck

Preliminary stage and streamflow data at selected U.S. Geological Survey streamgages in Maine and New Hampshire for the flood of October 30–31, 2017

Rainfall from a storm on October 24–27, 2017, and Tropical Storm Philippe on October 29–30, created conditions that led to flooding across portions of New Hampshire and western Maine. On the basis of streamflow data collected at 30 selected U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgages in the Androscoggin River, Connecticut River, Merrimack River, and Saco River Basins, the storms caused minor to mode
Authors
Richard G. Kiah, Nicholas W. Stasulis

Context-dependent interactions and the regulation of species richness in freshwater fish

Species richness is regulated by a complex network of scale-dependent processes. This complexity can obscure the influence of limiting species interactions, making it difficult to determine if abiotic or biotic drivers are more predominant regulators of richness. Using integrative modeling of freshwater fish richness from 721 lakes along an 11olatitudinal gradient, we find negative interactions to
Authors
Andrew S. MacDougall, Eric Harvey, Jenny L. McCune, Karin A. Nilsson, Joseph Bennett, Jennifer Firn, Timothy Bartley, James B. Grace, Jocelyn Kelly, Tyler D. Tunney, Bailey C. McMeans, Shin-Ichiro S. Matsuzaki, Taku Kadoya, Ellen Esch, Kevin Cazelles, Nigel Lester, Kevin S. McCann

Estimates of nitrate loads and yields from groundwater to streams in the Chesapeake Bay watershed based on land use and geology

The water quality of the Chesapeake Bay may be adversely affected by dissolved nitrate carried in groundwater discharge to streams. To estimate the concentrations, loads, and yields of nitrate from groundwater to streams for the Chesapeake Bay watershed, a regression model was developed based on measured nitrate concentrations from 156 small streams with watersheds less than 500 square miles (mi2
Authors
Silvia Terziotti, Paul D. Capel, Anthony J. Tesoriero, Jessica A. Hopple, Scott C. Kronholm

Effects of sediment application on Nyssa aquatica and Taxodium distichum saplings

The decline of Taxodium distichum forests along the Gulf Coast of North America is partly due to elevation loss and subsequent flooding. In many coastal wetlands, a common approach for coastal restoration is to rebuild elevation through the application of dredge material, but this technique has not been used widely in coastal forests due to concerns of negatively impacting trees. This experiment e
Authors
Isabel Grandy, Linda Messina, Evelyn R. Anemaet, Beth A. Middleton

DEEP SEARCH: Deep sea exploration to advance research on coral/canyon/cold seep habitats

Launched in August 2017, Deep Sea Exploration to Advance Research on Coral/Canyon/Cold seep Habitats (DEEP SEARCH) is a multiyear, multi-agency study to characterize the deep-sea ecosystems of the US Mid- and South Atlantic (Figure 1). The study is funded through an interagency partnership between NOAA, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), and the US Geological Survey, and it is sponsored
Authors
Erik E. Cordes, Amanda W. J. Demopoulos, Gregory Boland, Caitlin Adams

Discovering the deep: Exploring remote Pacific marine protected areas

The 2017 Discovering the Deep expedition provided the first glimpse of the deep-sea geology and ecology of the deepwater regions of Swains Island, the Howland and Baker Islands Unit of PRIMNM, Phoenix Islands Protected Areas (PIPA), and the Tokelau Region (Figure 1). Prior to this expedition, virtually no visual reconnaissance had been conducted in any of these areas below scuba diving depths. ROV
Authors
Amanda W.J. Demopoulos, Steven Auscavitch, Derek Sowers, Nikolai Pawlenko, Brian R. C. Kennedy

Drivers of variability in public‐supply water use across the contiguous United States

This study explores the relationship between municipal water use and an array of climate, economic, behavioral, and policy variables across the contiguous U.S. The relationship is explored using Bayesian‐hierarchical regression models for over 2,500 counties, 18 covariates, and three higher‐level grouping variables. Additionally, a second analysis is included for 83 cities where water price and wa
Authors
Scott C. Worland, Scott Steinschneider, George M. Hornberger

Improving predictions of hydrological low-flow indices in ungaged basins using machine learning

We compare the ability of eight machine-learning models (elastic net, gradient boosting, kernel-k-nearest neighbors, two variants of support vector machines, M5-cubist, random forest, and a meta-learning ensemble M5-cubist model) and four baseline models (ordinary kriging, a unit area discharge model, and two variants of censored regression) to generate estimates of the annual minimum 7-day mean s
Authors
Scott C. Worland, William H. Farmer, Julie E. Kiang

Fire and climate suitability for woody vegetation communities in the south central United States

Climate and fire are primary drivers of plant species distributions. Long-term management of south central United States woody vegetation communities can benefit from information on potential changes in climate and fire frequencies, and how these changes might affect plant communities. We used historical (1900 to 1929) and future (2040 to 2069 and 2070 to 2099) projected climate data for the conte
Authors
Esther Stroh, Matthew Struckhoff, Michael C. Stambaugh, Richard P. Guyette

Osteopilus septentrionalis (Cuban treefrog)

USA: LOUISIANA: east baton Rouge paRish: private property in a garden center on a bromeliad in the 1700 block of Millerville Road in Baton Rouge (ca. 30.443°N, 91.023°W; WGS 84). 29 November 2016. Joseph Roy. Verified by Hardin Waddle. Florida Museum of Natural History (UF 181952; photo voucher). New parish record. This sub-adult was discovered after the bromeliad was bought and placed outdoors un
Authors
Brad M. Glorioso, Philip Vanbergen, Joseph Roy, Matthew Walter, Lauren Leonpacher, Mark Freistak

Future southcentral US wildfire probability due to climate change

Globally, changing fire regimes due to climate is one of the greatest threats to ecosystems and society. In this paper, we present projections of future fire probability for the southcentral USA using downscaled climate projections and the Physical Chemistry Fire Frequency Model (PC2FM). Future fire probability is projected to both increase and decrease across the study region of Oklahoma, New Mex
Authors
Michael C. Stambaugh, Richard P. Guyette, Esther D. Stroh, Matthew A. Struckhoff, Joanna B. Whittier