Publications

Groundwater flow model construction is often time‐consuming and costly, with development ideally focused on a specific purpose, such as quantifying well capture from water bodies or providing flow fields for simulating advective transport. As environmental challenges evolve, the incentive to re‐purpose existing groundwater flow models may increase. However, few studies have evaluated...

The U.S. Geological Survey is performing a pre-assessment of the cooling potential for reservoir thermal energy storage (RTES) in five generalized geologic regions (Basin and Range, Coastal Plains, Illinois Basin, Michigan Basin, Pacific Northwest) across the United States. Reservoir models are developed for the metropolitan areas of eight cities (Albuquerque, New Mexico; Charleston...

Tropicalization is a term used to describe the transformation of temperate ecosystems by poleward‐moving tropical organisms in response to warming temperatures. In North America, decreases in the frequency and intensity of extreme winter cold events are expected to allow the poleward range expansion of many cold‐sensitive tropical organisms, sometimes at the expense of temperate...

Order Acipenseriformes (sturgeons and paddlefishes) is an ancient lineage of osteichthyan fishes (>200 million years old) with most extant species at conservation risk. A relatively basal species, the pallid sturgeon, Scaphirhynchus albus, is a federally endangered species native to the Mississippi and Missouri River basins. Hybridization with sympatric shovelnose sturgeon, S...

During migration, birds must locate stopover habitats that provide sufficient resources to rest and refuel while en route to the breeding or non-breeding area. Long-distance migrants invariably encounter inhospitable geographic features, the edges of which are often characterized by habitat limited in food and safety. In response, they often depart in directions inconsistent with...

Concentrations, loads, and yields of nitrate plus nitrite, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus were assessed in the Iowa River upstream from the Coralville Reservoir in east-central Iowa. The results of this study describe baseline nutrient transport during two historical reference periods, 1980–96 and 2006–10, that can be used to evaluate the progress of the implementation of reduction

Topographic and hydrodynamic complexity in submarine canyons promotes steep gradients in food availability and geophysical parameters which affect ecological assemblages and beta diversity. While habitat heterogeneity in submarine canyons is known to support diverse and abundant megafaunal communities, due to difficulty in sampling little is known about infaunal communities adjacent to...

Unpaved roads make up at least 14 million kilometers of the worldwide road network. Although investigations of road runoff often are focused on paved roads, unpaved roads contribute large volumes of runoff to roadside aquatic habitats and introduce unique constituents to runoff, such as chemical dust suppressants. At least 200 products across five chemical categories are commercially...

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) impacts water quality, the carbon cycle, and the ecology of aquatic systems. Understanding what controls DOC is therefore critical for improving large-scale models and best management practices for aquatic ecosystems. The two main processes of DOC transformation and removal, photochemical and microbial DOC degradation, work in tandem to modify and...

Herein we provide direct evidence for the consumption of Pomacea maculata (Giant Applesnail) eggs by ants in the genus Crematogaster. The observations were made during removal of snail egg masses at the Hudson Woods Unit of the Texas Mid-Coast National Wildlife Refuge, TX. We observed acrobat ants (Crematogaster sp.) removing snail eggs from an egg mass and carrying eggs back to their...

During migration, transient birds usually find themselves stopping in unfamiliar habitats in order to rest and refuel before resuming migratory flight. Here we document the first case, to our knowledge, of a Tennessee Warbler (Leiothlypis peregrina) entrapped in a spiderweb. The warbler's tarsus became caught in the mooring thread of a golden silk orb-weaver (Trichonephila clavipes) web...

The data summarized in this report provide a baseline characterization of the physical attributes of the riverine ecosystems in two landscapes managed by the National Park Service—Ozark National Scenic Riverways, Missouri, and Buffalo National River, Arkansas—to inform understanding and management of aquatic habitat. The study utilized a basin-scale approach and consisted of two...