Publications

We developed habitat suitability criteria and tested their transferability for nine fishes inhabiting unregulated Piedmont and Coastal Plain streams in Alabama. Criteria for optimal habitat were defined as those ranges of depth, velocity, substrate type, and cover type for which a species' suitability index (proportional abundance divided by proportional habitat availability, scaled from...

Stormwater wetlands are created to contain runoff from human developments and are designed to retain contaminants such as heavy metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, silt, pesticides, and nutrients before the runoff enter natural waterways. Because of this design, stormwater wetlands have a potential of becoming toxic sinks to organisms utilizing the wetlands for habitat. We conducted a 10-day...

Adult female ringneck snakes (Diadophis punctatus) collected from a Maryland population during five successive summers laid a total of 50 clutches in which all eggs hatched successfully under laboratory conditions. Mean hatchling mass was not significantly related to female mass or clutch size when each was evaluated in separate analyses, but was significantly related to these factors...

Changes in vegetation were studied on 15 acres of a 35 acre forested wetland created as a mitigation site in Anne Arundel County, Maryland during 1994-96. Meter-square sampling on four different hydrologic elevations determined that grasses initially dominated the area, but decreased from 59 percent in 1994 to 51 percent in 1995 and 30 percent in 1996. Herbaceous non-grass plants (forbs)

Poor water quality and widespread depletion of wild celery (Vallisneria americana) and other submerged aquatic plants important as waterfowl foods has resulted in the continued dependence of canvasbacks (Aythya valisineria) on Baltic clams (Macoma balthica) as their primary winter food. Despite this dependence, no information exists regarding the distribution and abundance of Baltic...

A standard method for characterizing nest sites and concealment (visibility of orange decoy and percent overhead cover measured by densiometer) was used to obtain characteristics of 36 nest sites of black ducks in Maine, 1978-89. Nest locations were represented by cutover areas (10), islands (6), bogmat (5), emergent meadow (5), emergent wetland (3), stream floodplain (3), hardwood...

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

Pregnall No. 1, a 346-ft-deep corehole in northern Dorchester County, South Carolina, recovered sediments of late Paleocene, middle and late Eocene, and late Oligocene age. The core bottomed in the Chicora Member of the Williamsburg Formation (Black Mingo Group) of late Paleocene age (calcareous nannofossil Zones NP 7/8 (?) and NP 9). The Chicora (346 to 258 ft depth) consists of two...

Surface-water and ground-water quality and aquatic life can be significantly affected by the following principal issues identified in the Allegheny-Monongahela River Basin:Contaminants common to surface and under-ground coal mine discharge such as acidity, iron, aluminum, manganese, and sulfate.Volatile organic compounds (VOC’s), pesti-cides, and nutrients from increased urbanization...

In October 1993, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, began a study of the fill deposits in the Calumet region of northwestern Indiana and northeastern Illinois. Fill in this area is a mixture of steel-industry wastes, other industrial waste, municipal solid waste, dredging spoil, construction debris, ash, cinders, natural materials...

No abstract available.