Fish, Streams, and Water Quality
Fish, Streams, and Water Quality
Enhanced Understanding of Factors Affecting Stream Condition Can Improve Restoration Outcomes
The Chesapeake Bay watershed supports important recreational and commercial fisheries, but many are declining due to poor water quality, loss of quality habitat and increased invasive species. The USGS science activities are improving the understanding of how restoration and conservation efforts, along with land-use and climate change, are affecting conditions for fish, wildlife, and people.
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Provide science to support the conservation and restoration of freshwater fisheries and aquatic habitats
The streams in the Chesapeake Bay watershed provide critical habitat for freshwater fish such as brook trout and migratory species such as river herring, American shad, and American Eel. These species have declined due to degrading stream conditions and barriers preventing migration. The USGS informs restoration efforts by (1) assessing habitat conditions and change; (2) the relation to habitat...
USGS leads STAC workshop on lag times and water-quality response in the Chesapeake Bay watershed
A STAC-sponsored workshop entitled, ―Lag-times in the Watershed and Their Influence on Chesapeake Bay Restoration‖ was held on October 16-17, 2012 at the Sheraton Hotel in Annapolis, Maryland. The workshop was attended by 48 invited participants, including 9 presenters. The workshop defined ―Lag-times‖ as the time elapsed between installation or adoption of point or nonpoint source (NPS) control...
Oldest Large Body of Ancient Seawater Identified under Chesapeake Bay
USGS scientists have determined that high-salinity groundwater found more than 1,000 meters (0.6 mi.) deep under the Chesapeake Bay is actually remnant water from the Early Cretaceous North Atlantic Sea and is probably 100-145 million years old. This is the oldest sizeable body of seawater to be identified worldwide.
USGS works with academic and CBP partners to summarize science on water-quality
Pollution-reducing practices can improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers and streams, according to new research from the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership.
Sediment Sources and Deposition in the Estuary
During the past 10 years, integrated studies of sediment in Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries have been carried out by a team of USGS scientists, in collaboration with researchers from several universities, the Maryland Geological Survey, the U.S. Naval Research laboratory, the USEPA, and other institutions. The USGS worked with these investigators to prepare a comprehensive review of sediment...
Synthesis of U.S. Geological Survey Science for the Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem and Implications for Environmental Management
Chapter 4: Transport of Nitrogen in Ground Water The hydrologic pathways for nutrients have important implications for the lag time between implementing management actions and detecting water-quality changes in surface water. Previous USGS studies documented that on average, just over 50 percent of the total volume of water in streams is from ground water, with a range of 16 to 92 percent for...
USGS science contributes to "Water quality improves, pollution falls in the Chesapeake Bay"
Data show significant drop in nutrient and sediment loads
High-frequency nitrate-concentration data
High-frequency nitrate-concentration data can be used to inform the development of best management practices to reduce nitrogen loading to Chesapeake Bay. Although nitrogen loads entering Chesapeake Bay have decreased in recent decades, they exceed levels that are compatible with a healthy ecosystem as a result of urbanization, agriculture, and other human activities in the bay watershed, and...
Brook Trout
Land and climate changes are expected to adversely affect aquatic ecosystems and conditions for brook trout and other freshwater species.
USGS results used to help develop climate indicators
The USGS stream-water-temperature trends in the Chesapeake Bay region are used for the National Climate Change indicator report released by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) entitled Climate Change Indicators in the United States, 2016.
West Coast Fish Pathogen Now Found in the East
Research by the USGS identified a fish pathogen similar to one previously found in the United States only in Pacific salmonids -- salmon and trout species -- in the eastern United States and in a non-salmon species.
USGS Fish Health Scientist Shares Thoughts on Chesapeake Restoration
USGS fish biologist describes what the Chesapeake Bay means to her.