Publications
Publications from USGS science centers throughout the Southeast Region.
Filter Total Items: 9969
Moving forward in circles: Challenges and opportunities in modeling population cycles
Population cycling is a widespread phenomenon, observed across a multitude of taxa in both laboratory and natural conditions. Historically, the theory associated with population cycles was tightly linked to pairwise consumer–resource interactions and studied via deterministic models, but current empirical and theoretical research reveals a much richer basis for ecological cycles. Stochasticity and
Authors
Frederic Barraquand, Stilianos Louca, Karen C Abbott, Christina A Cobbold, Flora Cordoleani, Donald L. DeAngelis, Bret D Elderd, Jeremy W Fox, Priscilla Greenwood, Frank M Hilker, Dennis Murray, Christopher R Stieha, Rachel A Taylor, Kelsey Vitense, Gail Wolkowicz, Rebecca C Tyson
Life histories and conservation of long-lived reptiles, an illustration with the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus)
Successful species conservation is dependent on adequate estimates of population dynamics, but age-specific demographics are generally lacking for many long-lived iteroparous species such as large reptiles. Accurate demographic information allows estimation of population growth rate, as well as projection of future population sizes and quantitative analyses of fitness trade-offs involved in the ev
Authors
Venetia Briggs-Gonzalez, Christophe Bonefant, Mathieu Basille, Michael S. Cherkiss, Jeff Beauchamp, Frank J. Mazzotti
Lionfish (Pterois spp.) invade the upper-bathyal zone in the western Atlantic
Non-native lionfish have been recorded throughout the western Atlantic on both shallow and mesophotic reefs, where they have been linked to declines in reef health. In this study we report the first lionfish observations from the deep sea (>200 m) in Bermuda and Roatan, Honduras, with lionfish observed to a maximum depth of 304 m off the Bermuda platform, and 250 m off West End, Roatan. Placed in
Authors
Erika Gress, Dominic A Andradi-Brown, Lucy Woodall, Pamela J. Schofield, Karl Stanley, Alex D. Rogers
Water-level altitudes 2017 and water-level changes in the Chicot, Evangeline, and Jasper Aquifers and compaction 1973–2016 in the Chicot and Evangeline Aquifers, Houston-Galveston region, Texas
Most of the land-surface subsidence in the Houston-Galveston region, Texas, has occurred as a direct result of groundwater withdrawals for municipal supply, commercial and industrial use, and irrigation that depressured and dewatered the Chicot and Evangeline aquifers, thereby causing compaction of the aquifer sediments, mostly in the fine-grained silt and clay layers. This report, prepared by the
Authors
Mark C. Kasmarek, Jason K. Ramage
Agricultural irrigated land-use inventory for Polk County, Florida, 2016
An accurate inventory of irrigated crop acreage is not available at the level of resolution needed to better estimate agricultural water use or to project future water demands in many Florida counties. A detailed digital map and summary of irrigated acreage was developed for Polk County, Florida, during the 2016 growing season. This cooperative project between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Of
Authors
Richard L. Marella, Darbi Berry, Joann F. Dixon
Plasticity in skeletal characteristics of nursery-raised staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis
Staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis, is a threatened species and the primary focus of western Atlantic reef restoration efforts to date. We compared linear extension, calcification rate, and skeletal density of nursery-raised A. cervicornis branches reared for 6 months either on blocks attached to substratum or hanging from PVC trees in the water column. We demonstrate that branches grown on the
Authors
Ilsa B. Kuffner, Erich Bartels, Anastasios Stathakopoulos, Ian C. Enochs, Graham Kolodziej, Lauren Toth, Derek P. Manzello
Nutrient and pesticide contamination bias estimated from field blanks collected at surface-water sites in U.S. Geological Survey Water-Quality Networks, 2002–12
Potential contamination bias was estimated for 8 nutrient analytes and 40 pesticides in stream water collected by the U.S. Geological Survey at 147 stream sites from across the United States, and representing a variety of hydrologic conditions and site types, for water years 2002–12. This study updates previous U.S. Geological Survey evaluations of potential contamination bias for nutrients and pe
Authors
Laura Medalie, Jeffrey D. Martin
Archive of bathymetry data collected in South Florida from 1995 to 2015
DescriptionLand development and alterations of the ecosystem in south Florida over the past 100 years have decreased freshwater and increased nutrient flows into many of Florida's estuaries, bays, and coastal regions. As a result, there has been a decrease in the water quality in many of these critical habitats, often prompting seagrass die-offs and reduced fish and aquatic life populations. Resto
Authors
Mark Erik Hansen, Nancy T. DeWitt, Billy J. Reynolds
A unique coral community in the mangroves of Hurricane Hole, St. John, US Virgin Islands
Corals do not typically thrive in mangrove environments. However, corals are growing on and near the prop roots of red mangrove trees in Hurricane Hole, an area within the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument under the protection of the US National Park Service in St. John, US Virgin Islands. This review summarizes current knowledge of the remarkable biodiversity of this area. Over 30 scler
Authors
Caroline S. Rogers
Estimating risks for water-quality exceedances of total-copper from highway and urban runoff under predevelopment and current conditions with the Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM)
The stochastic empirical loading and dilution model (SELDM) was used to demonstrate methods for estimating risks for water-quality exceedances of event-mean concentrations (EMCs) of total-copper. Monte Carlo methods were used to simulate stormflow, total-hardness, suspended-sediment, and total-copper EMCs as stochastic variables. These simulations were done for the Charles River Basin upstream of
Authors
Gregory E. Granato, Susan C. Jones
Barrier island habitat map and vegetation survey—Dauphin Island, Alabama, 2015
Barrier islands are dynamic environments due to their position at the land-sea interface. Storms, waves, tides, currents, and relative sea-level rise are powerful forces that shape barrier island geomorphology and habitats (for example, beach, dune, marsh, and forest). Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Deep Water Horizon oil spill in 2010 are two major events that have affected habitats and natura
Authors
Nicholas M. Enwright, Sinéad M. Borchert, Richard H. Day, Laura C. Feher, Michael J. Osland, Lei Wang, Hongqing Wang
Systems approaches for coastal hazard assessment and resilience
The framework presented herein supports a changing paradigm in the approaches used by coastal researchers, engineers, and social scientists to model the impacts of climate change and sea level rise (SLR) in particular along low-gradient coastal landscapes. Use of a System of Systems (SoS) approach to the coastal dynamics of SLR is encouraged to capture the nonlinear feedbacks and dynamic responses
Authors
Scott C. Hagen, Davina Passeri, Matthew V. Bilskie, Denise E. DeLorme, David Yoskowitz