Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Publications
Browse more than 150,000 publications authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS. Publications available are: USGS-authored journal articles, series reports, book chapters, other government publications, and more.
Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center Publications
Environmental DNA as a tool to help inform zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha, management in inland lakes
Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) are an aquatic invasive species that plague much of North America and are difficult to impossible to eradicate once they become established. Therefore, prevention and monitoring are key elements in the control of these organisms. Traditional microscopy is commonly used in monitoring but requires the presence of...
Amberg, Jon J.; Merkes, Christopher M.; Stott, Wendylee; Rees, Christopher B.; Erickson, Richard A. Pesticides and pollinators: A socioecological synthesis
The relationship between pesticides and pollinators, while attracting no shortage of attention from scientists, regulators, and the public, has proven resistant to scientific synthesis and fractious in matters of policy and public opinion. This is in part because the issue has been approached in a compartmentalized and intradisciplinary way,...
Sponsler, Douglas B.; Grozinger, Christina M.; Hitaj, Claudia; Rundlof, Maj; Botias, Cristina; Code, Aimee; Lonsdorf, Eric V.; Melthapoulos, Andony P.; Smith, David J.; Suryanarayanan, Sainath; Thogmartin, Wayne E.; Williams, Neal M.; Zhang, Minghua; Douglas, Margaret R.
Biogeochemical and physical processes controlling mercury methylation and bioaccumulation in Lake Powell, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah and Arizona, 2014 and 2015
Mercury monitoring results from about 300 Morone saxatilis (striped bass) muscle tissue samples collected by the State of Utah from Lake Powell resulted in a Utah/Arizona fish consumption advisory issued in 2012 for approximately the lower 100 kilometers of the reservoir. Chemical, physical, and biological data were collected during two synoptic...
Naftz, David L.; Marvin-DiPasquale, Mark; Krabbenhoft, David P.; Aiken, George; Boyd, Eric S.; Conaway, Christopher H.; Ogorek, Jacob M.; Anderson, Gregory M.
Spatial distribution of nutrients, chloride, and suspended sediment concentrations and loads determined by using different sampling methods in a cross section of the Trenton Channel of the Detroit River, Michigan, November 2014–November 2015
The Detroit River separates the United States and Canada as it flows from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie. The Trenton Channel is a 13-kilometer-long branch of the Detroit River that flows to the west of Grosse Ile before rejoining the Detroit River near its mouth, just before the Detroit River flows into Lake Erie. The U.S. Environmental Protection...
Totten, Alexander R.; Duris, Joseph W. Patterns of mercury and selenium exposure in Minnesota common loons
Common loons (Gavia immer) are at risk of elevated dietary mercury (Hg) exposure in portions of their breeding range. To assess the level of risk among loons in Minnesota (USA), we investigated loon blood Hg concentrations in breeding lakes across Minnesota. Loon blood Hg concentrations were regressed on predicted Hg concentrations in standardized...
Kenow, Kevin P.; Houdek, Steven C.; Fara, Luke J.; Erickson, Richard A.; Gray, Brian R.; Harrison, Travis J.; Monson, Bruce; Henderson, Carrol L. Adjudicating groundwater: A judge’s guide to understanding groundwater and modeling
Dividing the Waters offers this groundwater science bench book that cannot be matched by any other scientific or judicial publication. Adjudicating Groundwater combines the expertise and experience of academic scientists (UC Davis/Stanford), federal scientists (U.S. Geological Survey), and judicial officers to create a...
Brandt, Alf; Fienen, Michael N.; White, Jeremy; Harter, Thomas; Moran, Tara; Wildman, Eric Applying concepts of general resilience to large river ecosystems: A case study from the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers
Large floodplain-river ecosystems are often highly modified to provide services that society desires, yet these modifications can limit an ecosystem’s ability to adapt to changing conditions. The adaptive capacity of an ecosystem, its general resilience, is a conceptual framework for considering how a system will respond to such changes. We sought...
Bouska, Kristen L.; Houser, Jeffrey N.; De Jager, Nathan R.; Van Appledorn, Molly; Rogala, James T. Estimating uncertainty of North American landbird population sizes
An important metric for many aspects of species conservation planning and risk assessment is an estimate of total population size. For landbirds breeding in North America, Partners in Flight (PIF) generates global, continental, and regional population size estimates. These estimates are an important component of the PIF species assessment process...
Stanton, Jessica C.; Blancher, Peter J.; Rosenberg, Kenneth V.; Panjabi, Arvind O.; Thogmartin, Wayne E. Water column nutrient processing rates in rivermouths of Green Bay (Lake Michigan)
Understanding the quantity and form of nutrient loads to large lakes is necessary to understand controls over primary production, phytoplankton community composition and the production of phytotoxins. Nutrient loading estimates to large lakes are primarily made at stream gages that are deliberately placed outside the direct influence of lake...
Larson, James H.; Evans, Mary Anne; Fitzpatrick, Faith A.; Frost, Paul C.; Bailey, Sean; Kennedy, Robert J.; James, William F.; Richardson, William B.; Reneau, Paul C. River‐valley morphology, basin size, and flow‐event magnitude interact to produce wide variation in flooding dynamics
Inundation dynamics are a key driver of ecosystem form and function in river‐valley bottoms. Inundation itself is an outcome of multi‐scalar interactions and can vary strongly within and among river reaches. As a result, establishing to what degree and how inundation dynamics vary spatially both within and among river reaches can be challenging....
Van Appledorn, Molly; Baker, Matthew E.; Miller, Andrew J. Element concentrations in tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) from the U.S. and Binational Great Lakes’ areas of concern
Selected elements were targeted in state Remedial Action Plans as one group of chemicals affecting the Beneficial Use Impairments of Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOC). Livers of nestling tree swallows, Tachycineta bicolor, were harvested from 76 sites in the Great Lakes which included multiple sites at 27 AOCs and 12 reference sites from 2010...
Custer, Thomas W.; Custer, Christine M.; Dummer, Paul; Goldberg, Diana R.; Franson, J. Christian Effects of flood inundation, invasion by Phalaris arundinacea, and nitrogen enrichment on extracellular enzyme activity in an Upper Mississippi River floodplain forest
The community structures and ecosystem functions of floodplains are primarily driven by variation in flood inundation. However, global changes, such as invasive species and nutrient enrichment, may alter the effects of flooding in these systems. We added nitrogen (N) to correspond with twice the annual atmospheric deposition rate of the south-west...
De Jager, Nathan R.; Swanson, Whitney; Hernandez, Daniel L.; Reich, Julia; Erickson, Richard A.; Strauss, Eric A.