Publications

Beaver Lake is a large, deep-storage reservoir located in the upper White River Basin in northwestern Arkansas, and was completed in 1963 for the purposes of flood control, hydroelectric power, and water supply. Beaver Lake is affected by point and nonpoint sources of minerals, nutrients, and sediments. The City of Fayetteville discharges about half of its sewage effluent into the White...

The Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) originally consisted of nearly contiguous bottomland hardwood (BLH) forest encompassing approximately 10 million hectares. Currently, only 20–25% of the historical BLH forests remain in small patches fragmented by agricultural lands. The Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) was established to restore and protect the functions and values of wetlands in...

The study area comprising Harris County and parts of Galveston, Fort Bend, Montgomery, and Brazoria Counties in southeastern Texas forms part of one of the largest areas of land-surface-elevation change in the United States. Land-surface-elevation change in the study area primarily is caused by the withdrawal of groundwater. Groundwater withdrawn from the Chicot and Evangeline aquifers...

Invasive plants in restored habitats can alter the system such that restoration goals are not met. Non-native lineages of Phragmites australis (hereafter Phragmites) are invasive in North American wetlands, and their presence can be problematic because of decreased species diversity and altered physicochemical processes. Phragmites is a challenging species for restoration because both...

Recently, the relative exposure of Pacific sanddab (Citharichthys sordidus) to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) at oil-production platforms was reported, indicating negligible exposure to PAHs and no discernible differences between exposures at platforms and nearby natural areas sites. In this report, the potential for chronic PAH exposure in fish is reported, by measurement of...

The source water area for the drinking-water supply of the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, encompasses major transportation corridors, as well as large areas of light industrial, commercial, and residential land use. Because of ongoing development in the drinking-water source area, the Cambridge water supply has the potential to be affected by a wide variety of contaminants. The U.S...

In the southeastern U.S., changes in temperature and precipitation over the last three decades have been the most dramatic in winter and spring seasons. Continuation of these trends could negatively impact pond-breeding amphibians, especially those that rely on winter and spring rains to fill seasonal wetlands, trigger breeding, and ensure reproductive success. From 2009 to 2012, we...

On April 20, 2010, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig drilling at the Macondo Prospect site in the Gulf of Mexico resulted in a marine oil spill that continued to flow through July 15, 2010. One of the affected areas was the Breton National Wildlife Refuge, which consists of a chain of low-lying islands, including Breton Island and the Chandeleur Islands, and their surrounding...

On April 20, 2010, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig drilling at the Macondo Prospect site in the Gulf of Mexico resulted in a marine oil spill that continued to flow through July 15, 2010. One of the affected areas was the Breton National Wildlife Refuge, which consists of a chain of low-lying islands, including Breton Island and the Chandeleur Islands, and their surrounding...

The Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM) is designed to transform complex scientific data into meaningful information about the risk of adverse effects of runoff on receiving waters, the potential need for mitigation measures, and the potential effectiveness of such management measures for reducing these risks. The U.S. Geological Survey developed SELDM in cooperation...

Potential changes in climate could alter interactions between environmental and societal systems and adversely affect the availability of water resources in many coastal communities. Changes in streamflow patterns in conjunction with sea-level rise may change the salinity-intrusion dynamics of coastal rivers. Several municipal water-supply intakes are located along the Georgia and South...

The U.S. Geological Survey's Nonindigenous Aquatic Species (NAS) database program (http://nas.er.usgs.gov) tracks the distribution of introduced aquatic organisms across the United States. Awareness of, and timely response to, novel species introductions by those involved in nonindigenous aquatic species management and research requires a framework for rapid dissemination of occurrence...