Publications
Publications from USGS science centers throughout the Southeast Region.
Filter Total Items: 9967
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in New Hampshire soils and biosolids
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, is undertaking a study on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in soils and biosolids. The study will characterize PFAS concentrations in shallow soil and selected biosolids throughout the State of New Hampshire, conduct laboratory experiments to improve understanding of how mobile PFAS ar
Authors
Andrea K. Tokranov, Kate Emma A. Schlosser, Jeffrey M. Marts, Anthony F. Drouin, Leah M. Santangelo, Sydney M. Welch
Enumerating white-tailed deer using unmanned aerial vehicles
The white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is an ecologically important species in forests of North America. Effective management of forests requires accurate, precise estimates of deer population abundance to plan and justify management actions. Spotlight surveys in combination with distance sampling are a common method of estimating deer population abundance; however, spotlight surveys are k
Authors
Todd M. Preston, Mark L. Wildhaber, Nicholas S. Green, Janice L. Albers, Geoffrey P. Debenedetto
Machine learning models of arsenic in private wells throughout the conterminous United States as a tool for exposure assessment in human health studies
Arsenic from geologic sources is widespread in groundwater within the United States (U.S.). In several areas, groundwater arsenic concentrations exceed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency maximum contaminant level of 10 μg per liter (μg/L). However, this standard applies only to public-supply drinking water and not to private-supply, which is not federally regulated and is rarely monitored. A
Authors
Melissa Lombard, Molly Scannell Bryan, Daniel Jones, Catherine Bulka, Paul M. Bradley, Lorraine C. Backer, Michael J. Focazio, Debra T. Silverman, Patricia Toccalino, Maria Argos, Matthew O. Gribble, Joseph D. Ayotte
Quantifying thresholds of barrier geomorphic change in a cross-shore sediment-partitioning model
Barrier coasts, including barrier islands, beach-ridge plains, and associated landforms, can assume a broad spectrum of morphologies over multi-decadal scales that reflect conditions of sediment availability, accommodation, and relative sea-level rise. However, the quantitative thresholds of these controls on barrier-system behavior remain largely unexplored, even as modern sea-level rise and anth
Authors
Daniel J. Ciarletta, Jennifer L. Miselis, Justin L. Shawler, Christopher J. Hein
The evolving perceptual model of streamflow generation at the Panola Mountain Research Watershed
The Panola Mountain Research Watershed (PMRW) is a 41‐hectare forested catchment within the Piedmont Province of the Southeastern United States. Observations, experimentation, and numerical modelling have been conducted at Panola over the past 35 years. But to date, these studies have not been fully incorporated into a more comprehensive synthesis. Here we describe the evolving perceptual understa
Authors
Brent T. Aulenbach, Richard P Hooper, H. J. van Meerveld, Douglas A. Burns, James E. Freer, James B. Shanley, Thomas G. Huntington, Jeffery J. McDonnell, Norman E. Peters
Gulf Coast vicariance shapes phylogeographic history of a North American freshwater mussel species complex
AimFreshwater mussels share habitat and are parasites of freshwater fishes during the larval life stage. Therefore, models of fish biogeography may also explain the historical biogeography of freshwater mussels. We tested this assumption using predictions of three biogeographic models constructed for northern Gulf of Mexico drainages on a freshwater mussel species complex. Specifically, we tested
Authors
Sean M. Keogh, Nathan Johnson, James D. Williams, Charles R. Randklev, Andrew Simons
Piping plovers demonstrate regional differences in nesting habitat selection patterns along the U.S. Atlantic coast
Habitat studies that encompass a large portion of a species’ geographic distribution can explain characteristics that are either consistent or variable, further informing inference from more localized studies and improving management successes throughout the range. We identified landscape characteristics at Piping Plover nests at 21 sites distributed from Massachusetts to North Carolina and compar
Authors
Sara Lynn Zeigler, Benjamin T. Gutierrez, Anne Hecht, Nathaniel Plant, Emily J. Sturdivant
Population density and stream-habitat relations of the Yellowcheek Darter (Nothonotus moorei) among the headwaters of the Little Red River in Arkansas
Nothonotus moorei (Yellowcheek Darter [YCD]) is an endangered species endemic to the headwaters of the Little Red River in north-central Arkansas. Population decline, habitat loss and fragmentation, and threats from land use and seasonal drought necessitate monitoring of population density and distribution to determine ecological and habitat associations. We evaluated YCD density and associated st
Authors
Lucas Driver, Billy Justus
Inclusion of pesticide transformation products is key to estimating pesticide exposures and effects in small U.S. streams
Improved analytical methods can quantify hundreds of pesticide transformation products (TPs), but understanding of TP occurrence and potential toxicity in aquatic ecosystems remains limited. We quantified 108 parent pesticides and 116 TPs in more than 3 700 samples from 442 small streams in mostly urban basins across five major regions of the United States. TPs were detected nearly as frequently a
Authors
Barbara Mahler, Lisa H. Nowell, Mark W. Sandstrom, Paul M. Bradley, Kristin M. Romanok, Christopher Konrad, Peter Van Metre
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, California Water Science Center, New Jersey Water Science Center, Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC), Washington Water Science Center, National Water Quality Laboratory
Development and validation of a spatially-explicit agent-based model for space utilization by African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) based on determinants of movement
African elephants (Loxodonta africana) are well-studied and inhabit diverse landscapes that are being transformed by both humans and natural forces. Most tools currently in use are limited in their ability to predict how elephants will respond to novel changes in the environment. Individual-, or agent-based modeling (ABM), may extend current methods in addressing and predicting spatial responses t
Authors
Stephanie G. Diaz, Donald L. DeAngelis, Michael S. Gaines, Andrew Purdon, Michael A. Mole, Rudi J. van Aarde
Assessment of peak flow scaling and Its effect on flood quantile estimation in the United Kingdom
Regional flood frequency analysis (RFFA) methods are essential tools to assess flood hazard and plan interventions for its mitigation. They are used to estimate flood quantiles when the at‐site record of streamflow data is not available or limited. One commonly used RFFA method is the index flood method (IFM), which assumes that peak floods satisfy the simple scaling hypothesis.In this work we pre
Authors
Giuseppe Formetta, Thomas M. Over, Elizabeth Stewart
Simulation of dissolved organic carbon flux in the Penobscot Watershed, Maine
Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is an important component of the carbon cycle as a measure of the hydrological transport of carbon between terrestrial carbon pools into soil pools and eventually into streams. As a result, changes in DOC in rivers and streams may indicate alterations in the storage of terrestrial carbon. Exploring the complex interactions between biogeochemical cycling and hydrologi
Authors
Shabnam Rouhani, Crystal B. Schaaf, Thomas G. Huntington, Janet Choate