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James Orlando

James Orlando is a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and has been with the California Water Science Center since 1999.

James received his BS and MS degrees from California State University Sacramento. His focus at the USGS has been on examining spatial and temporal trends in concentrations of pesticides, mercury, and other contaminants found in surface water, sediment and biota of freshwater and estuarine ecosystems. His additional research interests include using GIS to display, analyze and model environmental and anthropogenic variables in an effort to better understand their impacts on sensitive ecosystems. He is currently a project chief in charge of USGS, Pesticide Fate Research Group studies taking place within California.

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Picture of a agriculture field in California

Neonicotinoid Seed Treatment Study

Neonicotinoids are a new class of insecticides chemically related to nicotine. Like nicotine, they act on receptors in the nerves and are generally much more toxic to insects, than they are to mammals and other higher organisms. Their use has increased rapidly over the last decade, driven in large part by their use for seed coating. Seed coating is when a seed is treated with an insecticide prior...
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California Water Science Center
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Neonicotinoid Seed Treatment Study

Neonicotinoids are a new class of insecticides chemically related to nicotine. Like nicotine, they act on receptors in the nerves and are generally much more toxic to insects, than they are to mammals and other higher organisms. Their use has increased rapidly over the last decade, driven in large part by their use for seed coating. Seed coating is when a seed is treated with an insecticide prior...
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Satellite view showing locations of sites sampled during study.

Occurrence of Current-use Pesticides in Suisun Bay and Potential Effects on Phytoplankton

Suisun Bay is an area identified as critical habitat for the threatened Delta Smelt. Several important changes in the pelagic food web of this area have been documented over the last two decades indicating that food for Delta Smelt and other threatened fishes is in short.
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California Water Science Center
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Occurrence of Current-use Pesticides in Suisun Bay and Potential Effects on Phytoplankton

Suisun Bay is an area identified as critical habitat for the threatened Delta Smelt. Several important changes in the pelagic food web of this area have been documented over the last two decades indicating that food for Delta Smelt and other threatened fishes is in short.
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map showing pesticide study area

Pesticide Studies in the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Bay Estuary

The objectives of this specific study are to characterize the mixtures of current-use pesticides and pesticide degradates entering the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta from its two main river sources over a period of 12 consecutive months.
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California Water Science Center
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Pesticide Studies in the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Bay Estuary

The objectives of this specific study are to characterize the mixtures of current-use pesticides and pesticide degradates entering the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta from its two main river sources over a period of 12 consecutive months.
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Map showing sampling site locations in the Yolo Bypass

Pesticide Occurrence in California – Yolo Bypass Pesticide Analyses

The project is part of an overarching Interagency Ecological Program (IEP)/Department of Water Resources (DWR) study that is focused on understanding the processes by which the Yolo Bypass may provide a fall food web supply for the Cache Slough Complex and downstream regions of the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta. Several studies conducted since 2011 have shown that phytoplankton blooms can be...
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California Water Science Center
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Pesticide Occurrence in California – Yolo Bypass Pesticide Analyses

The project is part of an overarching Interagency Ecological Program (IEP)/Department of Water Resources (DWR) study that is focused on understanding the processes by which the Yolo Bypass may provide a fall food web supply for the Cache Slough Complex and downstream regions of the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta. Several studies conducted since 2011 have shown that phytoplankton blooms can be...
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proposed locations in the Delta region

Delta Regional Monitoring Program: Current-use Pesticides

This study will utilize the unique analytical capabilities of the USGS Pesticide Fate Research Group (PFRG), Organic Chemistry Research Laboratory (OCRL) to assess the occurrence of a large suite of understudied, current-use pesticides and pesticide degradates in surface waters entering the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta.
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California Water Science Center
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Delta Regional Monitoring Program: Current-use Pesticides

This study will utilize the unique analytical capabilities of the USGS Pesticide Fate Research Group (PFRG), Organic Chemistry Research Laboratory (OCRL) to assess the occurrence of a large suite of understudied, current-use pesticides and pesticide degradates in surface waters entering the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta.
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Map showing approximate sampling locations.

Coordinated Pesticide Reconnaissance Study of Surface Waters in California

Pesticides are used throughout the State of California in both urban and agricultural settings and are routinely detected in surface water. Each year, new pesticides are introduced to the market and often become detected in surface water. It can take several years or more for routine monitoring programs to acquire the capability to detect new and understudied pesticides of concern because...
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California Water Science Center
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Coordinated Pesticide Reconnaissance Study of Surface Waters in California

Pesticides are used throughout the State of California in both urban and agricultural settings and are routinely detected in surface water. Each year, new pesticides are introduced to the market and often become detected in surface water. It can take several years or more for routine monitoring programs to acquire the capability to detect new and understudied pesticides of concern because...
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USGS

Pesticides in Suspended Sediment of the Alamo and New Rivers

Previous studies have detected current-use pesticides and DDT metabolites in water and suspended sediments from the Alamo and New Rivers. Additional studies have found water samples from both rivers to be toxic to aquatic organisms in laboratory bioassays, and implicated certain current-use pesticides as the source of this toxicity. Recent requirements under the Clean Water Act for the Regional...
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California Water Science Center
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Pesticides in Suspended Sediment of the Alamo and New Rivers

Previous studies have detected current-use pesticides and DDT metabolites in water and suspended sediments from the Alamo and New Rivers. Additional studies have found water samples from both rivers to be toxic to aquatic organisms in laboratory bioassays, and implicated certain current-use pesticides as the source of this toxicity. Recent requirements under the Clean Water Act for the Regional...
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A yellow crop duster lets fall a cloud of spray on a cotton crop

Pesticide Fate Research Group (PFRG)

Pesticides are applied in agricultural and urban areas to control weeds, insects, fungus, and other pests. Applied pesticides and their degradates can be transported off-site through a variety of mechanisms; these pesticides can then be found in non-target areas. Pesticide transport can occur through the atmosphere, in the aqueous phase (surface and groundwater) and associated with soil/sediment...
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California Water Science Center, Organic Chemistry Research Laboratory
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Pesticide Fate Research Group (PFRG)

Pesticides are applied in agricultural and urban areas to control weeds, insects, fungus, and other pests. Applied pesticides and their degradates can be transported off-site through a variety of mechanisms; these pesticides can then be found in non-target areas. Pesticide transport can occur through the atmosphere, in the aqueous phase (surface and groundwater) and associated with soil/sediment...
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Pesticide Concentrations Measured in Zooplankton Samples Collected from the Sacramento River and Yolo Bypass, California, 2017-2020

Zooplankton samples were collected at a site in the Yolo Bypass in Northern California and at a comparison site on the Sacramento River below the city of Sacramento and analyzed for a large suite of current-use pesticides and degradates. Samples were collected biweekly in the summer/fall 2017 and 2018, and from May 2019-March 2020. Samples were collected by towing a 150-micron conical plankton net
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California Water Science Center

Shallow Sediment Geochemistry in a Mercury-Contaminated Multi-Habitat Floodplain: Cache Creek Settling Basin, Yolo County, California (version 2.0, August 2021)

The Cache Creek Settling Basin (CCSB) is a 13.3 km2 leveed basin located at the terminal drainage of the Cache Creek watershed, immediately NE of the town of Woodland (Yolo County), California and approximately 18 km NW of Sacramento, California. The basin was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (completed in 1937 and modified in 1993) for the purpose of trapping suspended sediment tra

Update of the Mineral Resources Data System for California including Mineral Deposit Types

There are more than 42,000 entries in the USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) for the State of California. Previously, the field for deposit type was sparsely populated, which made it difficult to evaluate mine sites needing environmental remediation. This has been rectified by populating the deposit type field using 100 deposit types cited in previous USGS publications, and 137 provisional
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California Water Science Center

Pesticide detections in streams throughout the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range using passive samplers from 2017 to 2019

This dataset was produced from analyzing Affinisep SDB-RPS, Affinisep HLB, and Restek Resprep C18 disks that were deployed with the use of Chemcatcher� passive sampling devices. Silicone bands were also deployed and used for exploring economical methods of sampling for pesticides in surface water. Sampling assemblies were deployed in streams throughout the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range and
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California Water Science Center

Insecticide and fungicide concentrations in irrigation runoff and soils from a lettuce field in the Salinas Valley, California, 2019 and 2020

Irrigation runoff and soil samples were collected from a lettuce field located at the USDA-ARS Spence Research farm in the Salinas Valley, California to measure neonicotinoid insecticides (clothianidin and imidacloprid) and a fungicide (azoxystrobin) applied via coated seed and drench treatments. The field trial was designed to evaluate four treatments with replication: 1) control, untreated seed,
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California Water Science Center

Pesticide concentrations in surface waters of the Sacramento Valley rice-growing regions, 2010

Surface water samples were collected from four stream/agricultural drain sites in the Sacramento Valley of California to measure pesticides commonly applied to rice. Samples were collected weekly from May through August 2010 to capture the rice pesticide application season. Water samples were filtered (0.7 ?m) and extracted via solid-phase extraction. Additionally, the filter paper was solvent ext
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California Water Science Center

Geochemical, mineralogical, and grain-size data for in-situ solid materials and suspended sediment at Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park, Nevada County, California

This dataset includes data for in-situ solid materials and suspended sediments from surface-water samples, as well as surface-water chemistry from samples collected during storm events at Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park, Nevada County, California. In-situ solid samples were collected during 2015 along six vertical transects along the cliff walls of the mine pit. Surface-water samples were col
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California Water Science Center

Geochemistry of shallow sediment including mercury, methylmercury and other constituents in the Cache Creek Settling Basin, Yolo County, California, 2010-16

The Cache Creek Settling Basin (CCSB) is a 13.3 km2 leveed basin located at the terminal drainage of the Cache Creek watershed, immediately NE of the town of Woodland (Yolo County), California and approximately 18 km NW of Sacramento, California. The basin was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (completed in 1937 and modified in 1993) for the purpose of trapping suspended sediment tra
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Water Resources
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Comparing imidacloprid, clothianidin, and azoxystrobin runoff from lettuce fields using a soil drench or treated seeds in the Salinas Valley, California

Neonicotinoid insecticide use has increased over the last decade, including as agricultural seed treatments (application of chemical in a coating to the seed prior to planting). In California, multiple crops, including lettuce, can be grown using neonicotinoid treated seeds or receive a direct neonicotinoid soil application (drenching) at planting. Using research plots, this study compared pestici
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Water Resources, California Water Science Center

Pesticide concentrations associated with augmented flow pulses in the Yolo Bypass and Cache Slough Complex, California

Surface-water and suspended-sediment samples were collected and analyzed by the U.S. Geological Survey for multiple current-use pesticides and pesticide degradates approximately every 2 weeks at up to five sites in the Yolo Bypass and Cache Slough Complex before, during, and after augmented flow pulses in summer and fall 2016 and 2018 as well as during ambient flow conditions in summer and fall 20
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Water Resources, California Water Science Center

Pesticide mixtures in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, 2016–17: Results from year 2 of the Delta Regional Monitoring Program

The Delta Regional Monitoring Program was developed by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board in response to the decline of pelagic fish species in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta that was observed in the early 2000s. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Delta Regional Monitoring Program, has been responsible for collecting and analyzing surface-water samples for a
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Water Resources, California Water Science Center

Review of and recommendations for monitoring contaminants and their effects in the San Francisco Bay−Delta

Legacy and current-use contaminants enter into and accumulate throughout the San Francisco Bay−Delta (Bay−Delta), and are present at concentrations with known effects on species important to this diverse watershed. There remains major uncertainty and a lack of focused research able to address and provide understanding of effects across multiple biological scales, despite previous and ongoing empha
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Water Resources, California Water Science Center

Spatial variability of phytoplankton in a shallow tidal freshwater system reveals complex controls on abundance and community structure

Estuaries worldwide are undergoing changes to patterns of aquatic productivity because of human activities that alter flow, impact sediment delivery and thus the light field, and contribute nutrients and contaminants like pesticides and metals. These changes can influence phytoplankton communities, which in turn can alter estuarine food webs. We used multiple approaches-including high-resolution w
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Water Resources, California Water Science Center, Oregon Water Science Center

Reconnaissance of mixed organic and inorganic chemicals in private and public supply tapwaters at selected residential and workplace sites in the United States

Safe drinking water at the point-of-use (tapwater, TW) is a United States public health priority. Multiple lines of evidence were used to evaluate potential human health concerns of 482 organics and 19 inorganics in TW from 13 (7 public supply, 6 private well self-supply) home and 12 (public supply) workplace locations in 11 states. Only uranium (61.9 μg L–1, private well) exceeded a National Prim

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Ecosystems, Water Resources, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, California Water Science Center, Central Midwest Water Science Center, Colorado Water Science Center, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Kansas Water Science Center, Michigan-Ohio Water Science Center, New Jersey Water Science Center, Oregon Water Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC), St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center, National Water Quality Laboratory

Dissolved pesticide concentrations in the lower Sacramento River and its source waters, California, 2016

As part of a collaborative study designed to better understand water-quality conditions in the Sacramento River, surface-water samples were collected from the lower Sacramento River and five of its tributaries and then analyzed by the U.S. Geological Survey for a suite of 162 current-use pesticides and pesticide degradates. Samples were collected in May and October 2016 at 16 sites on the Sacramen
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Water Resources, California Water Science Center

Applications of the California pesticide use reporting database in more than 25 years of U.S. Geological Survey hydrological studies

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been collecting data on the occurrence of pesticides in California surface and ground water since the 1970’s. The design of these studies benefited from the availability of the Pesticide Use Reporting (PUR) database of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. Actual locations and dates of applications of active ingredient allow for effective design o
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Water Resources, California Water Science Center

Detections of current-use pesticides at 12 surface water sites in California during a 2-year period beginning in 2015

Surface water samples were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and multiple cooperators during base flow/irrigation runoff and storm runoff conditions from 12 sites throughout California, over 2 consecutive years beginning in April 2015, from both urban and agriculturally dominated watersheds. Water samples were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and liquid chromatrography/tandem
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Water Resources, California Water Science Center

Pesticide inputs to the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, 2015–16: Results from the Delta Regional Monitoring Program

Emergent hypotheses about causes of the pelagic organism decline in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta (Delta) indicate that a more complete understanding of the quality of water entering the Delta is needed. Less than half of all pesticides used in the Delta watershed are measured in samples collected for routine monitoring, and with new pesticides continually being registered for use, the concentr
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Water Resources, California Water Science Center

Estimation and uncertainty of recent carbon accumulation and vertical accretion in drained and undrained forested peatlands of the southeastern USA

The purpose of this study was to determine how drainage impacts carbon densities and recent rates (past 50 years) of vertical accretion and carbon accumulation in southeastern forested peatlands. We compared these parameters in drained maple-gum (MAPL), Atlantic white cedar (CDR), and pocosin (POC) communities in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (GDS) of Virginia/North Carolina and
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Water Resources, California Water Science Center

Factors affecting marsh vegetation at the Liberty Island Conservation Bank in the Cache Slough region of the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, California

The Liberty Island Conservation Bank (LICB) is a tidal freshwater marsh restored for the purpose of mitigating adverse effects on sensitive fish populations elsewhere in the region. The LICB was completed in 2012 and is in the northern Cache Slough region of the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. The wetland vegetation at the LICB is stunted and yellow-green in color (chlorotic) compared to nearby wetl
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Water Resources, California Water Science Center
USGS scientist collecting water samples from an amphibian monitoring site
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Image: USGS Scientist Collect Water Samples
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USGS scientist dissecting a summer flounder
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