Publications

Indicator species are species which can be monitored as an index to measure the overall health of an ecosystem. Crocodylians have been shown to be good indicators of wetland condition as they respond to changes in hydrology, can be efficiently monitored, and are a key part of ecosystem trophic relationships. Eye shine surveys at night are a standard method used to sample alligators, but...

As science becomes increasingly cross-disciplinary and scientific models become increasingly cross-coupled, standardized practices of model evaluation are more important than ever. For normally distributed data, mean squared error (MSE) is ideal as an objective measure of model performance, but it gives little insight into what aspects of model performance are “good” or “bad.” This...

No abstract available.

In 2010, tetrachloroethylene (PCE), a chlorinated volatile organic compound, was detected in groundwater from deep (more than 300 feet below land surface) fractures in monitoring wells tapping a crystalline-rock aquifer. The aquifer underlies the Milford-Souhegan glacial-drift aquifer, a high water-producing aquifer, and the Savage Municipal Water-Supply Well Superfund site in Milford...

Wave energy converters (WECs) will have to be arranged into arrays of many devices to extract commercially viable amounts of energy. To understand the potential coastal impacts of WEC arrays, most research to date has relied on wave-averaged models given their computational efficiency. However, it is unknown how accurate wave-averaged model predictions are given a lack of validation data...

Groundwater supplies 35 percent of drinking water in the United States. Mapping the quantity and quality of groundwater at the depths used for potable supplies requires an understanding of locational variation in the characteristics of drinking-water wells (depth and open interval). Typical depths of domestic- and public-drinking-water supply wells vary by and within aquifer across the...

In January and March 2018, coastal Massachusetts experienced flooding from two separate nor’easters. To put the January and March floods into historical context, the USGS computed statistical stillwater elevations. Stillwater elevations recorded in January 2018 in Boston (9.66 feet relative to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988) have an annual exceedance probability of between 2...

Foreword Sustaining the quality of the Nation’s water resources and the health of our diverse ecosystems depends on the availability of sound water-resources data and information to develop effective, science-based policies. Effective management of water resources also brings more certainty and efficiency to important economic sectors. Taken together, these actions lead to immediate and...

The State of Illinois is one of the leading contributors of nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended sediment to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. During water years 2016–20, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, operated continuous monitoring stations on eight major rivers in Illinois to better quantify nutrient and sediment...

More than 6,500 nonindigenous species are now established in the United States, posing risks to human and wildlife health, native plants and animals, and our valued ecosystems. The annual environmental, economic, and health-related costs of invasive species are substantial. Invasive species can drive native species onto the endangered species list, resulting in associated regulatory...

During September and October 2019, the U.S. Geological Survey mapped the shoreface and inner continental shelf offshore of the Rockaway Peninsula in New York using high-resolution chirp seismic reflection and single-beam bathymetry geophysical techniques. The results from this study are important for assessing the Quaternary evolution of the Rockaway Peninsula and determining coastal...

Improving the probability of detecting invasive giant snakes is vital for the management of emerging or established populations. Burmese pythons occupy thousands of square kilometers of mostly inaccessible habitats in Florida. Environmental DNA (eDNA) methods have been shown to be time and cost effective in a number of systems and may be preferable to traditional detection methods for...