Jana S Stewart
Biography
Jana Stewart is a Geographer with the US Geological Survey, Wisconsin Water Science Center. She has an M.S. in Environmental Monitoring and Remote Sensing from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, an M.S. in Agricultural Journalism from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and a B.S. in Horticulture from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Over the years, she has worked on a variety of projects for the National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program including the Western Lake Michigan and Upper Illinois River Basin NAWQAs, Data Synthesis team, and BioData User Group. She has also served as the National NAWQA Archival Coordinator. She has been Principal Investigator for regional modeling and decision support projects that integrate scientific data and empirical models with geographic information systems (GIS) and web-based technologies in the Great Lakes and Northeast US regions including the NorEaST Stream Temperature Web Portal, 2) FishVis Decision Support Mapper, and 3) Great Lakes Aquatic Gap project. Jana is an avid outdooor enthusiast and loves gardening, and kayaking, skiing, and cycling with friends across the country.
EDUCATION
M.S. Environmental Monitoring, Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1994
M.S. Agricultural Journalism, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1985
B.S. Horticulture, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1978
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
Research interests include linking geographic information systems and regional databases to develop predictive models that can be used to evaluate the influences of natural and anthropogenic environmental factors and climate change on stream water quality, physical habitat, and aquatic biota; assess disturbance, and to identify gaps in the conservation of aquatic species and their habitats. Other interests include developing regional databases to integrate data across multiple agencies and developing decision support mapping tools and to deliver results for use by resource managers for conservation planning and decision making.
Science and Products
SPARROW modeling: Great Lakes, Mississippi River, Ohio River, and Red River Basins
SPARROW models for the Great Lakes, Ohio River, Upper Mississippi River, and Red River Basins predict long-term mean annual loads, yields, concentrations, and source contributions of water, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment throughout the Midwest.
SPARROW nutrient modeling: Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin (MARB)
SPARROW models for the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin
(MARB) predict long-term average loads, concentrations, yields, and source contributions of water, nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended sediment to the Gulf of Mexico.
SPARROW nutrient modeling: Binational (US/Canada) models
SPARROW phosphorus and nitrogen models are being developed for the entire Great Lakes Basin and the Upper Midwest part of the U.S., and the Red and Assiniboine River Basin, as part of a Binational project between the USGS and the International Joint Commission (IJC) and National Research Council (NRC) of Canada.
SPARROW modeling: Estimating nutrient, sediment, and dissolved solids transport
SPARROW (SPAtially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes) models estimate the amount of a contaminant transported from inland watersheds to larger water bodies by linking monitoring data with information on watershed characteristics and contaminant sources. Explore relations between human activities, natural processes, and contaminant transport using interactive Mappers.
FishVis Mapper
The FishVis Mapper is the product of an Upper Midwest and Great Lakes LCC project, “A Regional Decision Support Tool for Identifying Vulnerabilities of Riverine Habitat and Fishes to Climate Change” that developed an approach for predicting fish species occurrence under current climate conditions and project how fish species occurrence may change under future climate conditions.
FishVis Mapper
The FishVis Mapper is the product of an Upper Midwest and Great Lakes LCC project, “A Regional Decision Support Tool for Identifying Vulnerabilities of Riverine Habitat and Fishes to Climate Change” that developed an approach for predicting fish species occurrence under current climate conditions and project how fish species occurrence may change under future climate conditions.
Catchment-level estimates of nitrogen and phosphorus agricultural use from commercial fertilizer sales for the conterminous United States, 2012
Nutrient inputs from commercial agricultural fertilizer, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus, are important factors contributing to the degradation of surface-water quality and the alteration of aquatic ecosystems. Despite this importance, information about the application of fertilizer to agricultural land is not available in a consistent manner...
Stewart, Jana S.; Schwarz, Gregory E.; Brakebill, John W.; Preston, Stephen D.
StreamThermal: A software package for calculating thermal metrics from stream temperature data
Improving quality and better availability of continuous stream temperature data allows natural resource managers, particularly in fisheries, to understand associations between different characteristics of stream thermal regimes and stream fishes. However, there is no convenient tool to efficiently characterize multiple metrics reflecting stream...
Tsang, Yin-Phan; Infante, Dana M.; Stewart, Jana S.; Wang, Lizhu; Tingly, Ralph; Thornbrugh, Darren; Cooper, Arthur; Wesley, Daniel
A model for evaluating stream temperature response to climate change in Wisconsin
Expected climatic changes in air temperature and precipitation patterns across the State of Wisconsin may alter future stream temperature and flow regimes. As a consequence of flow and temperature changes, the composition and distribution of fish species assemblages are expected to change. In an effort to gain a better understanding of how...
Stewart, Jana S.; Westenbroek, Stephen M.; Mitro, Matthew G.; Lyons, John D.; Kammel, Leah E.; Buchwald, Cheryl A. Development of a spatially universal framework for classifying stream assemblages with application to conservation planning for Great Lakes lotic fish communities
Classifications are typically specific to particular issues or areas, leading to patchworks of subjectively defined spatial units. Stream conservation is hindered by the lack of a universal habitat classification system and would benefit from an independent hydrology-guided spatial framework of units encompassing all aquatic habitats at multiple...
McKenna, James E.; Schaeffer, Jeffrey S.; Stewart, Jana S.; Slattery, Michael T. Predicted effects of future climate warming on thermal habitat suitability for Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens, Rafinesque, 1817) in rivers in Wisconsin, USA
The Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens, Rafinesque, 1817) may be threatened by future climate warming. The purpose of this study was to identify river reaches in Wisconsin, USA, where they might be vulnerable to warming water temperatures. In Wisconsin, A. fulvescens is known from 2291 km of large-river habitat that has been fragmented into 48...
Lyons, John D.; Stewart, Jana S. Effects of dams in river networks on fish assemblages in non-impoundment sections of rivers in Michigan and Wisconsin, USA
Regional assessment of cumulative impacts of dams on riverine fish assemblages provides resource managers essential information for dam operation, potential dam removal, river health assessment and overall ecosystem management. Such an assessment is challenging because characteristics of fish assemblages are not only affected by dams, but also...
Stewart, Jana S.; Lizhu Wang; Infante, Dana M.; Lyons, John D.; Arthur Cooper Predicted effects of climate warming on the distribution of 50 stream fishes in Wisconsin, U.S.A.
Summer air and stream water temperatures are expected to rise in the state of Wisconsin, U.S.A., over the next 50 years. To assess potential climate warming effects on stream fishes, predictive models were developed for 50 common fish species using classification-tree analysis of 69 environmental variables in a geographic information system. Model...
Stewart, Jana S.; Lyons, John D.; Matt Mitro
Effects of urbanization on stream ecosystems along an agriculture-to-urban land-use gradient, Milwaukee to Green Bay, Wisconsin, 2003-2004
In 2003 and 2004, 30 streams near Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wisconsin, were part of a national study by the U.S. Geological Survey to assess urbanization effects on physical, chemical, and biological characteristics along an agriculture-to-urban land-use gradient. A geographic information system was used to characterize natural landscape features...
Richards, Kevin D.; Scudder, Barbara C.; Fitzpatrick, Faith A.; Steuer, Jeffery J.; Bell, Amanda H.; Peppler, Marie C.; Stewart, Jana S.; Harris, Mitchell A. A model for evaluating stream temperature response to climate change scenarios in Wisconsin
Global climate change is expected to alter temperature and flow regimes for streams in Wisconsin over the coming decades. Stream temperature will be influenced not only by the predicted increases in average air temperature, but also by changes in baseflow due to changes in precipitation patterns and amounts. In order to evaluate future stream...
Westenbroek, Stephen M.; Stewart, Jana S.; Buchwald, Cheryl A.; Mitro, Matthew G.; Lyons, John D.; Greb, Steven Applications of a broad-spectrum tool for conservation and fisheries analysis: aquatic gap analysis
Natural resources support all of our social and economic activities, as well as our biological existence. Humans have little control over most of the physical, biological, and sociological conditions dictating the status and capacity of natural resources in any particular area. However, the most rapid and threatening influences on natural...
McKenna, James E.; Steen, Paul J.; Lyons, John J.; Stewart, Jana S. Defining and characterizing coolwater streams and their fish assemblages in Michigan and Wisconsin, USA
Coolwater streams, which are intermediate in character between coldwater “trout” streams and more diverse warmwater streams, occur widely in temperate regions but are poorly understood. We used modeled water temperature data and fish assemblage samples from 371 stream sites in Michigan and Wisconsin to define, describe, and map coolwater streams...
Lyons, John; Zorn, Troy; Stewart, Jana S.; Seelbach, Paul W.; Wehrly, Kevin; Wang, Lizhu
A Comparison of Natural and Urban Characteristics and the Development of Urban Intensity Indices Across Six Geographic Settings
As part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program, the effects of urbanization on stream ecosystems have been intensively investigated in six metropolitan areas in the United States. Approximately 30 watersheds in each area, ranging in size from 4 to 560 square kilometers (median is 50 square kilometers), and spanning...
Falcone, James A.; Stewart, Jana; Sobieszczyk, Steven; Dupree, Jean; McMahon, Gerard; Buell, Gary