Publications
Publications from USGS science centers throughout the Southeast Region.
Filter Total Items: 9967
Water-quality monitoring of the Merrimack River watershed in Massachusetts
The U.S. Geological Survey has been working in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection on a project to collect water-quality data from the Merrimack River watershed since April 2020. Twelve locations in the Merrimack River watershed are being sampled for nutrients (such as nitrogen), metals (such as aluminum), Escherichia coli bacteria, and other measures.
Authors
Kaitlin Laabs, Natalie L. Roth, Laura K. Yates
Diet composition and overlap of larval pallid sturgeon and shovelnose sturgeon from the upper Missouri River, USA
Early life stages of pallid sturgeon Scaphirhynchus albus are rarely collected, and thus information on their biology and ecology is extremely limited. We sampled 75 larval pallid sturgeon (25-110 mm) and 148 larval shovelnose sturgeon S. platorynchus (15-95 mm) by trawl from the upper Missouri River (USA) in 2019. Stomach contents were identified to compare food use and diet overlap between the 2
Authors
Colt Taylor Holley, Patrick Braaten, Barry Poulton, Edward J. Heist, Levi Umland, Tyler M. Haddix
Predictions and drivers of sub-reach-scale annual streamflow permanence for the upper Missouri River basin: 1989-2018
The presence of year-round surface water in streams (i.e., streamflow permanence) is an important factor for identifying aquatic habitat availability, determining the regulatory status of streams, managing land use change, allocating water resources, and designing scientific studies. However, accurate, high resolution, and dynamic prediction of streamflow permanence that accounts for year-to-year
Authors
Roy Sando, Kristin Jaeger, William H. Farmer, Theodore B. Barnhart, Ryan R. McShane, Toby L. Welborn, Kendra E. Kaiser, Konrad Hafen, Kyle W. Blasch, Benjamin C. York, Alden Shallcross
The first assessment of the genetic diversity and structure of the endangered West Indian manatee in Cuba
The coastal waters of Cuba are home to a small, endangered population of West Indian manatee, which would benefit from a comprehensive characterization of the population’s genetic variation. We conducted the first genetic assessment of Cuban manatees to determine the extent of the population's genetic structure and characterize the neutral genetic diversity among regions within the archipelago. We
Authors
Anmari Alvarez-Aleman, Margaret Hunter, Thomas K. Frazer, James A. Powell, Eddy G. Alfonso, James D. Austin
Integrating principles and tools of decision science into value-driven watershed planning for compensatory mitigation
Several environmental policies strive to restore impaired ecosystems and could benefit from a consistent and transparent process — co-developed with key stakeholders — to prioritize impaired ecosystems for restoration activities. The Clean Water Act, for example, establishes reallocation mechanisms to transfer ecosystem services from sites of disturbance to compensation sites to offset aquatic res
Authors
Georgina Maria Sanchez Salas, Mitchell Eaton, Ana María García, Jennifer L. Keisman, Kirsten Ullman, James Blackwell, Ross K. Meentemeyer
Optical properties of dissolved organic matter in throughfall and stemflow vary across tree species and season in a temperate headwater forest
Tree-derived dissolved organic matter (DOM) comprises a significant carbon flux within forested watersheds. Few studies have assessed the optical properties of tree-derived DOM. To increase understanding of the factors controlling tree-derived DOM quality, we measured DOM optical properties, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and calcium concentrations in throughfall and stemflow for 17 individual rai
Authors
Kevin A Ryan, Thomas Adler, Ann T. Chalmers, Julia Perdrial, Stephen Sebestyen, James B. Shanley, Aron Stubbins
Development of projected depth-duration frequency curves (2050–89) for south Florida
Planning stormwater projects requires estimates of current and future extreme precipitation depths for events with specified return periods and durations. In this study, precipitation data from four downscaled climate datasets are used to determine changes in precipitation depth-duration-frequency curves from the period 1966–2005 to the period 2050–89 primarily on the basis of Representative Conce
Authors
Michelle M. Irizarry-Ortiz, John F. Stamm, Carolina Maran, Jayantha Obeysekera
Migration and energetics model predicts delayed migration and likely starvation in oiled waterbirds
Oil spills can inflict mortality and injury on bird populations; many of these deaths involve starvation resulting from thermoregulatory costs incurred by oiling of birds’ feathers. However, the fates and responses of sublethally oiled birds are poorly known. Due to this knowledge gap and the potential for birds to die far from the spill site, resource risk and injury assessors need tools to make
Authors
Benjamin M West, Mark L. Wildhaber, Kevin J. Aagaard, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Adrian Parr Moore, Michael J. Hooper
Ontogenetic development of pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) and shovelnose sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus platorynchus) from hatch through yolk absorption
Sturgeons have a complex free-embryo period extending from hatch to the initiation of exogenous feeding. Although available for some sturgeon species of the genus Acipenser, descriptions of the developmental stages of free embryos of the genus Scaphirhynchus are lacking. We characterised the ontogenetic development of pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) and shovelnose sturgeon (S. platorynchus)
Authors
Kimberly Chojnacki, Marlene J Dodson, Amy E. George, James Candrl, Aaron J. Delonay
Probiotics beyond the farm: Benefits, costs, and considerations of using antibiotic alternatives in livestock
The increasing global expansion of antimicrobial resistant infections warrants the development of effective antibiotic alternative therapies, particularly for use in livestock production, an agricultural sector that is perceived to disproportionately contribute to the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis by consuming nearly two-thirds of the global antibiotic supply. Probiotics and probiotic deri
Authors
Kyle R. Leistikow, Rachelle Elaine Beattie, Krassimira R. Hristova
Wave-driven hydrodynamic processes over fringing reefs with varying slopes, depths, and roughness: Implications for coastal protection
Wave breaking on the steep fore-reef slopes of shallow fringing reefs is effective at dissipating incident sea-swell waves prior to reaching reef shorelines. However, wave setup and free infragravity waves generated during the sea-swell breaking process are often the largest contributors to wave-driven water levels at the shoreline. Laboratory flume experiments and a multi-layer phase-resolving no
Authors
Mark L. Buckley, Ryan L. Lowe, Jeff E. Hansen, Ap R. Dongeren, Andrew Pomeroy, Curt Storlazzi, Dirk P. Rijnsdorp, Renan F. Silva, Stephanie Contardo, Rebecca H. Green
Are existing modeling tools useful to evaluate outcomes in mangrove restoration and rehabilitation projects? A minireview
Ecosystem modeling is a critical process for understanding complex systems at spatiotemporal scales needed to conserve, manage, and restore ecosystem services (ESs). Although mangrove wetlands are sources of ESs worth billions of dollars, there is a lack of modeling tools. This is reflected in our lack of understanding of mangroves’ functional and structural attributes. Here, we discuss the “state
Authors
Victor H. Rivera-Monroy, Xiaochen Zhao, Hongqing Wang, Zuo G. Xue