Publications

This study evaluated the use of lidar data to detect streambank erosion and channel incision throughout Raleigh, North Carolina. The study included five components. (1) Generation of lidar-derived rasters, including a digital elevation model of difference that represented channel erosion and positive openness rasters that represented channel incision. (2) Completion of site-based field...

The freshwater mussel genus Obovaria (Bivalvia: Unionidae) has long been recognized as taxonomically challenging due to plastic shell morphology, historical misidentifications, and incomplete geographic sampling across the southeastern United States. Using an integrated approach combining shell morphology, comparative conchology, geographic distribution, and molecular phylogenetic...

Diadromous fish species occupy freshwater habitats (rearing, spawning, migration) for a substantial part of their lives. The quality and quantity of these habitats is mainly driven by thermal and streamflow regimes; therefore, understanding trends in streamflow allows better management of diadromous species and their habitats. We investigated seasonal flows for many basins in two U.S...

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of over 15,000 xenobiotic compounds that have permeated across the globe and are largely resistant to natural forms of degradation, resulting in their long-term environmental persistence. These compounds can bioaccumulate and cause toxicological effects in organisms living within PFAS contaminated ecosystems. Grasses and feedstocks...

Salt marshes provide critical ecosystem services yet face increasing threats from accelerated relative sea-level rise (SLR). The long-term persistence of these habitats depends on their ability to vertically accrete and laterally migrate into adjacent uplands. Predicting the location and viability of these future marsh corridors is therefore a primary challenge for coastal managers; one...

In the coming decades sea-level rise rates could exceed the upper bounds of coastal wetland vertical movement leading to wetland submergence. Consequently, understanding the spatiotemporal variability of wetland migration and submergence at regional and national scales can inform decision making. In this study, we developed an approach that addresses elevation error in digital elevation...

Microplastics (plastic particles ≤5 mm) are a persistent and widespread pollutant in aquatic ecosystems, where they can accumulate in the larvae of aquatic insects inhabiting benthic habitats. Aquatic insects cross aquatic-terrestrial boundaries through metamorphosis, yet few studies have investigated their role in transporting microplastics to terrestrial ecosystems as emergent adults...

Black Carp Mylopharyngodon piceus are native to most major east Asian drainages and are internationally cultured for use as a food-fish or a biological control for molluscs. We describe the reproductive biology of Black Carp from the growing invasive population in the Mississippi River basin through examination of incidental commercial fisheries and biologist captures. Our objectives...

Studies of N-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-N'-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine-quinone (6PPDQ) toxicity have identified sensitive and resistant species within the subfamily Salmoninae, but thus far fewer than 10 species, all in two genera (Oncorhynchus and Salvelinus), have shown sensitivity in experiments. The Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus, Salmonidae, Thymallinae) was extirpated from its range in...

Sampling aquatic habitats for environmental DNA (eDNA) has emerged as a valuable population monitoring tool, particularly for species that are difficult to survey with conventional methods. However, eDNA approaches are limited in their ability to provide demographic information, resulting in most applications focusing on documenting species presence and distributions. Advancing molecular...

We investigate trends in foraminiferal phenology using a 12-year (2008–2020), well-resolved (7 to 28-day resolution) time series of planktonic foraminiferal fluxes from a U.S. Geological Survey sediment trap in the northern Gulf of America (Gulf of Mexico; 27.5°N, 90.3°W). The total foraminiferal flux declined over this time. We used Horn-Morisita dissimilarity analysis, principal...

As part of a long-term cooperative program to monitor water quality within the Scituate Reservoir drainage area, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Providence Water (formerly the Providence Water Supply Board), collected streamflow and water-quality data in tributaries to the Scituate Reservoir, Rhode Island. Streamflow and concentrations of chloride and sodium estimated...