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
A novel picorna-like virus in a Wabash Pigtoe (Fusconaia flava) from the upper Mississippi River, USA
Unionid mussels are threatened by multiple environmental stressors and have experienced mass mortality events over the last several decades, but the role of infectious disease in unionid health and population declines remains poorly understood. Although several microbial agents have been found in unionids, to date only one virus has been...
Goldberg, Tony; Dunn, Christopher N.; Leis, Eric; Waller, Diane L. A comparison of bacteria cultured from unionid mussel hemolymph between stable populations in the upper Mississippi River and a mortality event in the Clinch River
The diagnosis of bacterial disease in freshwater unionid mussels has been hindered by a lack of baseline information regarding the microbial communities associated with these animals. In this study, we cultured and identified bacteria from the hemolymph of stable mussel populations from the upper Mississippi River basin and compared results to...
Leis, Eric; Erickson, Sarah; Waller, Diane L.; Richard, Jordan; Goldberg, Tony Is the timing, pace and success of the monarch migration associated with sun angle?
A basic question concerning the monarch butterfly’s fall migration is which monarchs succeed in reaching overwintering sites in Mexico, which fail—and why. We document the timing and pace of the fall migration, ask whether the sun’s position in the sky is associated with the pace of the migration, and whether timing affects success in completing...
Taylor, Orley R.; Lovett, James P; Gibo, David L; Weiser, Emily L.; Thogmartin, Wayne E.; Semmens, Darius J.; Diffendorfer, James E.; Pleasants, John M.; Pecoraro, Samuel; Grundel, Ralph Estimating the degree to which distance and temperature differences drive changes in fish community composition over time in the upper Mississippi River
Similarity in community composition declines as distance between locations increases, a phenomenon that has been observed in a wide variety of freshwater, marine and terrestrial ecosystems. One driver of the distance-similarity relationship is the presence of environmental gradients that alter the suitability of sites for particular species....
Larson, James H.; Vallazza, Jon; Knights, Brent C. Watershed geomorphology modifies the sensitivity of aquatic ecosystem metabolism to temperature
How carbon cycles are regulated by environmental temperature remains a substantial uncertainty in our understanding of how watersheds will respond to ongoing climate change. Aquatic ecosystems are important components of carbon flux to the atmosphere and ocean, yet we have limited understanding of how temperature modifies ecosystem metabolic...
Jankowski, Kathi Jo; Schindler, Daniel E.
Updates to the Madison Lake (Minnesota) CE–QUAL–W2 water-quality model for assessing algal community dynamics
A previously developed CE–QUAL–W2 model for Madison Lake, Minnesota, simulated the algal community dynamics, water quality, and fish habitat suitability of Madison Lake under recent (2014) meteorological conditions. Additionally, this previously developed model simulated the complex interplay between external nutrient loading, internal nutrient...
Smith, Erik A.; Kiesling, Richard L. Prioritizing chemicals of ecological concern in Great Lakes tributaries using high-throughput screening data and adverse outcome pathways
Chemical monitoring data were collected in surface waters from 57 Great Lakes tributaries from 2010-13 to identify chemicals of potential biological relevance and sites at which these chemicals occur. Traditional water-quality benchmarks for aquatic life based on in vivo toxicity data were available for 34 of 67 evaluated chemicals. To expand...
Corsi, Steven R.; DeCicco, Laura A.; Daniel Villeneuve; Brett Blackwell; Kellie Fay; Gerald Ankley; Baldwin, Austin K. Decline of the North American avifauna
Species extinctions have defined the global biodiversity crisis, but extinction begins with loss in abundance of organisms that can result in extreme compositional and functional changes of ecosystems. Using multiple and independent monitoring networks, we report major population losses across much of the North American avifauna, including in once...
Sauer, John R.; Rosenberg, Kenneth V.; Dokter, Adriaan M.; Blancher, Peter J.; Smith, Adam C.; Smith, Paul A.; Stanton, J.C.; Panjabi, Arvind O.; Helft, Laura; Parr, Michael J.; Marra, Peter P. Stormwater-quality performance of line permeable pavement systems
Three permeable pavements were evaluated for their ability to improve the quality of stormwater runoff over a 22-month period in Madison, Wisconsin. Using a lined system with no internal water storage, permeable interlocking concrete pavers (PICP), pervious concrete (PC), and porous asphalt (PA) were able to significantly remove sediment and...
Selbig, William R.; Buer, Nicolas; Danz, Mari Exploring silica stoichiometry on a large floodplain riverscape
Freshwater ecosystems are critical zones of nutrient and carbon (C) processing along the land-sea continuum. Relative to our understanding of C, nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) cycling within the freshwater systems, the controls on silicon (Si) cycling and export are less understood. Understanding Si biogeochemistry and its coupled biogeochemical...
Carey, Joanna C.; Jankowski, Kathi Jo; Julian, Paul; Sethna, Lienne; Thomas, Patrick; Rohweder, Jason J. Chemical controls for an integrated pest management program
Chemical controls ranging from natural products to synthesized chemicals are widely used in aquatic pest management activities. Chemicals can be used to lure organisms to traps or can cause direct mortality by altering the physiological function of an organism. Much of what is known about controlling pests with chemicals is from research done on...
Fredricks, Kim T.; Hubert, Terrance D.; Amberg, Jon J.; Cupp, Aaron R.; Dawson, Verdel K. Local scale spatial patterns of freshwater mussels in the Upper Mississippi River
Multiple physical and biological factors contribute to the structure of freshwater mussel communities in large rivers. Mussel distributions are frequently described as clumped or patchy. However, few surveys of mussel populations have been designed to quantify these spatial patterns. We used indicators of spatial autocorrelation to quantify...
Ries, Patricia; De Jager, Nathan R.; Newton, Teresa; Zigler, Steven J.