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Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Our Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center's priority is to continue the important work of the Department of the Interior and the USGS, while also maintaining the health and safety of our employees and community. The Center is open with operations adjusted based on guidance from the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force and federal policies and informed by local community transmission level.

News

New study of bat habitats and wind energy can help energy providers minimize collisions

New study of bat habitats and wind energy can help energy providers minimize collisions

USGS Friday's Findings - July 12, 2024

USGS Friday's Findings - July 12, 2024

USGS deploys equipment to measure waves in Upper Mississippi River’s Pool 13

USGS deploys equipment to measure waves in Upper Mississippi River’s Pool 13

Publications

Using a time-of-travel sampling approach to quantify per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) stream loading and source inputs in a mixed-source, urban catchment

Understanding per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) mass distribution in surface and groundwater systems can support source prioritization, load reduction, and water management. Thirteen sites within an urban catchment were sampled utilizing a time-of-travel sampling approach to minimize the influence of subdaily fluctuations in mass from PFAS point sources and to quantify PFAS and ancillary
Authors
Emily Woodward, Lisa A. Senior, Jacob Fleck, Larry B. Barber, Angela Hansen, Joseph W. Duris

A novel tool to selectively deliver a control agent to filter-feeding silver and bighead carp

Invasive carp pose substantial economic and ecological damage when populations are widespread in freshwater systems within the United States. Resource managers in the United States have few chemical control tools to selectively remove nuisance fish. This study examined whether Antimycin–A (antimycin) wax encapsulated microparticles could cause selective lethality in invasive carps. The antimycin m
Authors
Blake W. Sauey, Gavin N. Saari, Joel G. Putnam, Justine E. Nelson, James J. Wamboldt, J. Nolan Steiner, Robin D. Calfee

Flooding and dam operations facilitate rapid upstream migrations of native and invasive fish species on a regulated large river

Dams commonly restrict fish movements in large rivers but can also help curtail the spread of invasive species, such as invasive bigheaded carps (Hypophthalmichthys spp). To determine how dams in the upper Mississippi River (UMR) affect large-scale invasive and native fish migrations, we tracked American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) and bigheaded carp across > 600 river km (rkm) and 16 navigatio
Authors
Mark W. Fritts, Daniel Gibson-Reinemer, Douglas Appel, Katharine Lieder, Cody Henderson, Amanda S. Milde, Marybeth K. Brey, James T. Lamer, Dominque Turney, Zachary Witzel, Emily Szott, Grace Loppnow, Joel Stiras, Kayla Zankle, Devon Oliver, John Hoxmeier, Andrea K. Fritts

Science

Spruce beetles as ecosystem engineers: Effects of spruce mortality on insect biodiversity and fire behavior in Denali National Park and Preserve

Spruce beetles ( Dendroctonus rufipennis ) are ecosystem engineers that can have substantial effects on forest structure. In 2015, a spruce beetle outbreak began in southcentral Alaska and as of 2021 has impacted 1.6 million acres of land (USFS 2021). This outbreak has expanded quickly and has crossed over the boundary of Denali National Park. Spruce beetles can alter the ecosystem by rapidly...
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Spruce beetles as ecosystem engineers: Effects of spruce mortality on insect biodiversity and fire behavior in Denali National Park and Preserve

Spruce beetles ( Dendroctonus rufipennis ) are ecosystem engineers that can have substantial effects on forest structure. In 2015, a spruce beetle outbreak began in southcentral Alaska and as of 2021 has impacted 1.6 million acres of land (USFS 2021). This outbreak has expanded quickly and has crossed over the boundary of Denali National Park. Spruce beetles can alter the ecosystem by rapidly...
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Multi-species modeling of species-rich communities: assessing taxonomic, functional, and morphological diversity and change

Joint species distribution models (JSDMs) allow researchers to model responses of large numbers of species to their environment while investigating the role of species traits and phylogenetic relationships in these responses. JSDMs can also estimate species associations (non-random co-occurrence patterns) in a way that accounts for differences in species niches. In this project we are applying...
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Multi-species modeling of species-rich communities: assessing taxonomic, functional, and morphological diversity and change

Joint species distribution models (JSDMs) allow researchers to model responses of large numbers of species to their environment while investigating the role of species traits and phylogenetic relationships in these responses. JSDMs can also estimate species associations (non-random co-occurrence patterns) in a way that accounts for differences in species niches. In this project we are applying...
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Bird-habitat associations: Accounting for stop-level location uncertainty in the Breeding Bird Survey dataset

Many ecological inferences are based on the locations at which species are detected and on the characteristics (e.g., habitat, climate) of those locations. Yet many species records, particularly in historical datasets, lack precise location information. An example is the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), a 55-year record of bird surveys that has revealed large-scale trends in bird...
link

Bird-habitat associations: Accounting for stop-level location uncertainty in the Breeding Bird Survey dataset

Many ecological inferences are based on the locations at which species are detected and on the characteristics (e.g., habitat, climate) of those locations. Yet many species records, particularly in historical datasets, lack precise location information. An example is the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), a 55-year record of bird surveys that has revealed large-scale trends in bird...
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