Ecology and Biology

Across the nation, Ccyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (HABs) in freshwater coastal lakes and ponds have become a major environmental and public health concern. Under the right conditions, cyanobacteria can produce cyanotoxins that can pose health risks to both animals and humans (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), 2020) and have been shown to have severe impacts on water quality...

The USGS National Water-Quality Assessment Project (NAWQA) is now part of the USGS National Water-Quality Network (NWQN). NWQN provides nationally consistent data and information on the quality of the Nation’s water. Studies provide information on current water-quality conditions, a baseline for trend evaluation, and an understanding of what factors affect water quality. Groundwater studies for...

Issue: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been manufactured and used in a variety of industries in the United States since the 1940s. PFAS are ubiquitous and persistent in the environment and have the potential to have adverse human and ecological health effects. The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) partnerships has concerns about how PFAS will affect the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. The CBP...

As part of the USGS Next Generation Water Observing System the NJWSC is evaluating the use of passive samplers, or Solid Phase Adsorption Toxin Tracking (SPATT) samplers, to examine the temporal variability of dissolved cyanotoxin occurrence. These innovative, low-cost, time-integrated passive samplers offer several advantages over current water-column cyanotoxin monitoring techniques. However...

Harmful algal blooms with cyanotoxin production (CyanoHABs) have been shown to adversely affect water resources worldwide, however only a handful of studies have examined the occurrence and persistence of CyanoHABs in fluvial systems used for municipal water-supply. Of particular concern in New Jersey is the Raritan Basin Water Supply Complex (RBWSC) as it is the water supply for multiple water...

The Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park (PAGR) in the historic city of Paterson, New Jersey was established in 2011 and consists of natural, cultural, and historic resources associated with the Great Falls of the Passaic River. Due to the park’s young age and limited resources, the park does not have the natural resource data needed to guide future park management and planning decisions...

The National Resources Protection Program (NRPP) project on Fire Island, Sandy Hook, and Assateague included a description of the issues and implications; description of the methods; and summary of the tasks, including site selection, well and instrumentation installation, and monitoring groundwater levels, temperature, and specific conductance, needed to understand the impact of global climate...

NJ WSC and Leetown Science Center scientists in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection were tasked with characterizing endocrine disruption in smallmouth bass from New Jersey.

Mercury accumulates in biological tissue through complex reactions (bioaccumulation). Bacteria convert environmental inorganic mercury into methyl mercury (Me-Hg). This Me-Hg form is more toxic and more difficult to remove from bacterial systems than inorganic mercury. As humans consume fish, the Me-Hg in the fish is also consumed. Neurotoxicity is the most important health concern with mercury...

Biological impairment is but an indicator that some type of anthropogenic process has occurred resulting in aquatic assemblage degradation. The purpose of this proposal is to establish an applicable TMDL approach to address aquatic life impairments associated with stormwater runoff and hydrologic alteration for streams in New Jersey with the goal of improving river systems by reducing the impact...

Various questions arise on whether or not realistic stream restoration goals can be established with our current understanding of watershed indicators and major controlling factors of aquatic ecosystem health. State-of-the-art statistical, GIS, and hydrologic modeling approaches at multiple levels of data stratification will be extensively used to evaluate the AMNET assessment methodology...

The Delaware River drainage basin encompasses more than 12,700 mi2 (square miles) and includes parts of Pennsylvania (6,465 mi2), New Jersey (2,969 mi2), New York (2,363 mi2), and Delaware (968 mi2). The study-unit area includes the entire drainage basin, except for 770 mi2 of the Coastal Plain in the State of Delaware and the tidal portions of the Delaware Estuary. About 7.2 million people live...