Publications

While chemical analysis of contaminant mixtures remains an essential component of environmental monitoring, bioactivity-based assessments using in vitro systems increasingly play a role in the detection of biological effects. Historically, in vitro assessments focused on a few biological pathways, e.g., aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) or estrogen receptor (ER) activities. High-throughput...

Variability of sea-surface temperature related to shifts in the mode of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has been implicated as a possible forcing mechanism for the global-scale changes in tropical and subtropical precipitation known as the 4.2 ka event. We review records of coral reef development and paleoceanography from the tropical eastern Pacific (TEP) to evaluate the...

The South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ) is the Southern Hemisphere’s largest precipitation feature supplying freshwater to 11 million people. Despite its significance, little is known about the location and intensity of SPCZ precipitation prior to instrumental records, hindering attempts to predict precipitation changes in a warming world. Here we use sedimentary molecular fossils to...

Stormwater practitioners need quantitative information about the quality and volume of highway runoff to assess and mitigate potential adverse effects of runoff on the Nation’s receiving waters. The U.S. Geological Survey developed the Highway Runoff Database (HRDB) in cooperation with the FHWA to provide practice-ready information to meet these information needs on the local or national...

This study documented surface distributions of live and dead foraminiferal assemblages in the low-gradient tidal marshes of the barrier island and estuarine complex of the eastern Mississippi Sound (Grand Bay, Pascagoula River, Fowl River, Dauphin Island). A total of 71,833 specimens representing 38 species were identified from a gradient of different elevation zones across the study...

Question Are self‐organizing maps (SOMs) useful for patterning coastal wetland vegetation communities? Do SOMs provide robust alternatives to traditional classification methods, particularly when underlying species response functions are unknown or difficult to approximate, or when a need exists to continuously classify new samples obtained under ongoing long‐term ecosystem monitoring...

Air pollution and dust storms are associated with increased cardiovascular hospital admissions. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between short-term exposure to ambient air pollutants and CVD (cardiovascular disease) events in a long-term observational period. The study included the events of cardiovascular diseases (namely coronary artery disease, ischemic heart...

To conserve imperiled marine species, an understanding of high-density use zones is necessary prior to designing and evaluating management strategies that improve their survival. We satellite-tracked turtles captured after nesting at Buck Island ReefNational Monument (BIRNM), St. Croix, US Virgin Islands to determine habitat-use patterns of endangered adult female hawksbills...

Mangroves and saltmarshes coexist in the intertidal wetlands of many temperate and subtropical coastlines. In these settings, mangroves may be close to physiological limits of tolerance in relation to a range of environmental variables, including temperature, salinity, aridity, and inundation frequency. Changes in the distribution of mangrove and saltmarsh might thereby provide insights...

The carbonate sediments of the Western Australian shelf in the Indian Ocean host diverse assemblages of benthic foraminifera. Environments of the shelf are dominated by the southward-flowing Leeuwin Current, which impacts near-surface circulation and influences biogeographic ranges of Indo-Pacific warm-water foraminifera. Analyses of outer ramp to upper slope sediments (127–264 m water...

Consistent elevations at stable benchmarks, referenced to a common datum, are important for measuring and comparing water levels and for computing flows throughout a watershed. Elevations are presented for 38 control points within the St. Croix River watershed, mostly along the main stem of the St. Croix River. Vertical control points are located at 7 dams, 3 Environment Canada (EC) lake

Repeated sampling and grain-size analysis of surficial sediments along the sandy shorelines of Louisiana is necessary to characterize coastal-zone sediment properties and evaluate sediment transport patterns within the nearshore environments. In 2008, and again in 2015 and 2016, sediment grab samples were collected along the shorelines of the western Chenier plain, the Isles Dernieres...