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Lucas J Driver

Lucas J Driver is a Ecologist in the Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center, Duty Station: Little Rock, Arkansas.

Education and Certifications

  • USGS Aquatic Ecologist - EOD April 2016

     

     

     

  • PhD - Environmental Science, Univ. North Texas, 2015

  • MS - Biology, Univ. Central Arkansas, 2009

  • BS - Environmental Science, Univ. Central Arkansas, 2005

Science and Products

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Figure 1. The Buffalo National River in Arkansas

Detecting Differences in Bacterial Metabolism in the Buffalo National River

Each year, the Buffalo National River (BUFF) attracts 1.6 million visitors, many of whom enjoy recreational water activities. Since 2013, a confined animal feeding operation (CAFO) for swine has been operating on Big Creek, a BUFF tributary.
By
Contaminant Biology, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
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Detecting Differences in Bacterial Metabolism in the Buffalo National River

Each year, the Buffalo National River (BUFF) attracts 1.6 million visitors, many of whom enjoy recreational water activities. Since 2013, a confined animal feeding operation (CAFO) for swine has been operating on Big Creek, a BUFF tributary.
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Model inputs and estimated total nitrogen and total phosphorus loads used in the development of Mississippi SPARROW models, 2018 base year

Degradation of water quality from nutrient pollution continues to be a challenge for water resource managers. The development of effective management strategies begins with tools that facilitate an understanding of nutrient sources and transport. SPARROW (SPAtially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes) is a spatially explicit model platform that correlates water-quality...
By
Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Habitat and biological assemblage data of streams within Tribal lands of the Pearl River Community of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, 2017-18

This data release contains habitat survey data (quantitative and qualitative) and biological assemblage data (periphyton, macroinvertebrate, and fish) collected among 8 stream sites within the Tribal lands of the Pearl River Community of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (MBCI). The MBCI is a Federally recognized Native American Tribe and the Pearl River Community, located near...
By
Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Stream habitat relations of the Yellowcheek Darter (Etheostoma moorei) among four forks of the Little Red River in Arkansas

The Yellowcheek darter (YCD), Nothonotus moorei (Robison and Buchanan 2020), is endemic to the headwater tributaries (a.k.a. ‘forks’) of Little Red River system (South Fork, SF; Middle Fork, MF; Archey Fork, AF; and Beech Fork, BF) in north central Arkansas. Large portions of critical stream habitat in each stream fork were inundated in 1964 with the construction of Greers Ferry Dam, and...
By
Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Ecological flow analyses of surface water withdrawal scenarios in the Cumberland and Tennessee River basins

This data release contains input data files (R scripts and supporting data files) and results tables associated with analyses that describe the predicted effects of surface-water withdrawal scenarios on specific stream flow characteristics (SFC), changes in fish species richness, and maximum allowable withdrawal (MAW) thresholds from stream sites within the Tennessee and Cumberland River...
By
Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Flow cytometric assessments of metabolic activity in bacterial assemblages provide insight into ecosystem condition along the Buffalo National River, Arkansas

The Buffalo National River (BNR), on karst terrain in Arkansas, is considered an extraordinary water resource. Water collected in Spring 2017 along BNR was metagenomically analyzed using 16S rDNA, and for 17 months (5/2017–11/2018), bacterial responses were measured in relation to nutrients sampled along a stretch of BNR near a concentrated animal feed operation (CAFO) on Big Creek...
Authors
Jill A. Jenkins, Rassa O. Dale, Nina M. Hoffpauir, Brooke A Baudoin, Caroline Matkin, Lucas Driver, Shawn W Hodges, Bonnie L. Brown
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Characterization of water quality, biology, and habitat of the Pearl River and selected tributaries contiguous to and within Tribal lands of the Pearl River Community of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, 2017–18

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (MBCI), conducted a baseline assessment of the physical, chemical, and biological quality of selected streams and rivers within and contiguous to the Pearl River Community (PRC) in 2017 and 2018. The MBCI is a federally recognized tribe with territories in Mississippi and Tennessee. MBCI Tribal...
Authors
Lucas J. Driver, Matthew B. Hicks, Amy C. Gill
By
Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center, Office of Tribal Relations

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...
Authors
Lucas Driver, Billy Justus
By
Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Seasonal periphyton response to low-level nutrient exposure in a least disturbed mountain stream, the Buffalo River, Arkansas

Like most streams located in the Ozark Plateaus, the Buffalo River in Arkansas generally has excellent water quality. Water-quality conditions in Big Creek, however, a major tributary of the middle Buffalo River, have been less favorable than that of other Buffalo River tributaries. Concerns regarding the influence of water quality in Big Creek on the Buffalo River magnified in 2013 when...
Authors
Billy Justus, Lucas Driver, David R. L. Burge
By
Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Species richness responses to water withdrawal scenarios and minimum flow levels: Evaluating presumptive standards in the Tennessee and Cumberland River basins

Water resource managers are challenged to balance growing water demand with protecting aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity. Management decisions can benefit from improved understanding of water withdrawal impacts on hydrologic regimes and ecological assemblages. This study used Ecological Limit Functions for fish groups within the Tennessee and Cumberland river basins to predict species...
Authors
Lucas Driver, Jennifer M. Cartwright, Rodney Knight, William J. Wolfe
By
Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Relations of dissolved-oxygen variability, selected field constituents, and metabolism estimates to land use and nutrients in high-gradient Boston Mountain streams, Arkansas

Continuous monitoring data can be extremely useful for assessing water quality conditions particularly for variables that exhibit dynamic diel swings such as dissolved oxygen. As a means of evaluating dissolved oxygen criteria used by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) for assessing this stream class, we compared continuous dissolved oxygen (DO) data collected at...
Authors
Billy Justus, Lucas Driver, J.J. Green, Nathan Wentz
By
Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Non-USGS Publications**

Driver L. J. and B. G. Justus. 2016. Water-quality effects on phytoplankton species and density and trophic state indices at Big Base and Little Base Lakes, Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, June through August, 2015. Journal of Arkansas Academy of Science.
Driver L. J. and D. J. Hoeinghaus. 2016. Fish Metacommunity responses to experimental drought are determined by habitat heterogeneity and connectivity. Freshwater Biology 61: 533-548.
Driver L. J. and D. J. Hoeinghaus. 2015. Spatiotemporal dynamics of intermittent stream fish metacommunities in response to prolonged drought and reconnectivity. Marine and Freshwater Research.
Driver L. J. and G. L. Adams. 2013. Life history and spawning behavior of the Western Sand Darter (Ammocrypta clara) in Northeast Arkansas. The American Midland Naturalist 170:199-212
Driver L. J., G. L. Adams, and S. R. Adams. 2009. Fish assemblages of a cypress wetland within an urban landscape. Southeastern Naturalist 8:527-536.

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

Oligotrophic waters in New York
Oligotrophic waters of the Buffalo National River
Oligotrophic waters of the Buffalo National River
Oligotrophic waters in New York

Oligotrophic waters of the Buffalo National River

Oligotrophic waters of the Buffalo National River

Oligotrophic waters of the Buffalo National River taken in the fall, Photo Credit: Lucas Driver 

By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center
Oligotrophic waters in New York

Oligotrophic waters of the Buffalo National River

Oligotrophic waters of the Buffalo National River

Oligotrophic waters of the Buffalo National River taken in the fall, Photo Credit: Lucas Driver 

By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

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