Unified Interior Regions
Region 4: Mississippi Basin
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Using maintenance records from a long-term sensor monitoring network to evaluate the relationship between maintenance schedule and data quality
Sensor-based environmental monitoring networks are beginning to provide the large-scale, long-term data required to address important fundamental and applied questions in ecology. However, the data quality from deployed sensors can be difficult and costly to ensure. In this study, we use maintenance records from the 12-year history of Louisiana’s...
Schoolmaster, Donald; Piazza, SaraiSimulated water-table and pond-level responses to proposed public water-supply withdrawals in the Hyannis Ponds Wildlife Management Area, Barnstable, Massachusetts
The glacial kettle ponds in the Hyannis Ponds Wildlife Management Area in Barnstable, Massachusetts, support a community of rare and endangered plants. The ponds are hydraulically connected to the unconfined aquifer that underlies Cape Cod. The plants are adapted to the rise and fall of water levels in the ponds as the water table fluctuates in...
LeBlanc, Denis R.; McCobb, Timothy D.; Barbaro, Jeffrey R.Influence of turbulence and in-stream structures on the transport and survival of grass carp eggs and larvae at various developmental stages
Understanding the response of grass carp to flow and turbulence regimes during early life stages is fundamental to monitoring and controlling their spread. A comprehensive set of hydrodynamic experiments was conducted with live grass carp eggs and larvae, to better understand their drifting and swimming patterns with 3 different in-stream...
Prada, Andres F.; George, Amy E.; Stahlschmidt, Benjamin H.; Jackson, P. Ryan; Chapman, Duane C.; Tinoco, Rafael O.Phosphorus runoff risk assessment in karstic regions of the U.S.
The Phosphorus (P) Index risk assessment tool has been widely adopted across the U.S. to identify and rank site vulnerability to P runoff as part of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) nutrient management planning (NMP) process. However, limited success has been achieved in addressing the risk of P loss by subsurface flow pathways,...
Sharpley, Andrew N.; Hays, Phillip D.; Daniels, Michael B.; VanDevender, Karl W.Response of tidal marsh vegetation to pulsed increases in flooding and nitrogen
Worldwide, human activities have modified hydrology and nutrient loading regimes in coastal wetlands. Understanding the interplay between these drivers and subsequent response of wetland plant communities is essential to informing wetland management and restoration efforts. Recent restoration strategies in Louisiana proposes to use sediment...
McCoy, Meagan M; Sloey, Taylor M; Howard, Rebecca J.; Hester, Mark W.Improved genetic identification of acipenseriform embryos with application to the endangered pallid sturgeon Scaphirhynchus albus
We produced pallid sturgeon Scaphirhynchus albus embryos at five pre‐hatch developmental stages and isolated and quantified genomic DNA from four of the stages using four commercial DNA isolation kits. Genomic DNA prepared using the kit that produced the largest yields and concentrations were used for microsatellite DNA analyses of 10–20 embryos...
Kashiwagi, Tom; Delonay, Aaron J.; Braaten, Patrick; Chojnacki, Kimberly; Gocker, Rachel M.; Heist, Edward J.A comparison of hydrocarbon-related landscape disturbance patterns along the New York-Pennsylvania border, 2004–2013
Executive SummaryThe New York-Pennsylvania area has a long history of hydrocarbon extraction, and the addition of shale gas extraction methods contributes to landscape disturbance borne by previously developed oil and non-shale gas resources. The main unconventional extraction method used to extract shale gas from the Marcellus Shale located in...
Roig-Silva, Coral M.; Milheim, Lesley E.; Slonecker, E. Terrence; Kalaly, Siddiq; Chestnut, JosephFlood-frequency comparison from 1995 to 2016 and trends in peak streamflow in Arkansas, water years 1930–2016
In 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, began a study in Arkansas to investigate possible increasing trends in annual peak streamflow data and the possible resulting increase in the annual exceedance probability flood (AEPF) predictions. Temporal trends...
Ensminger, Paul A.; Breaker, Brian K.Comparing live-capture methods for nutria: single- versus multiple-capture cage traps
Herbivory and burrowing by nutria (Myocastor coypus) cause substantial ecological and economic damage. Trapping is a common, effective practice for reducing nutria damage; however, trapping approaches must continually be adapted to keep pace with evolving animal welfare and ethical issues and to more effectively target pest species of interest....
Sheffels, Trevor R.; Carter, Jacoby; Sytsma, Mark S.; Taylor, Jimmy D.Asian swamp eels in North America linked to the live-food trade and prayer-release rituals
We provide a history of swamp eel (family Synbranchidae) introductions around the globe and report the first confirmed nonindigenous records of Amphipnous cuchia in the wild. The species, native to Asia, is documented from five sites in the USA: the Passaic River, New Jersey (2007), Lake Needwood, Maryland (2014), a stream in Pennsylvania (2015),...
Nico, Leo; Kilian, Jay V.; Ropicki, Andrew J.; Harper, MatthewCharacteristics for the external identification of Black Carp from Grass Carp
Black Carp Mylopharyngodon piceus and Grass Carp Ctenopharyngodon idella are morphologically similar species native to eastern Asia and imported to North America as biological control organisms. Preferred identification methods are coloration and pharyngeal tooth form. Grass Carp possess serrated teeth and Black Carp molariform...
Kroboth, Patrick; Chapman, Duane C.; Hrabik, Robert A.; Neely, D.A.Evaluating associations between environmental variables and Escherichia coli levels for predictive modeling at Pawtuckaway Beach in Nottingham, New Hampshire, from 2015 to 2017
From 2015 through 2017, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services studied occurrences of high levels of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria at the Pawtuckaway State Park Beach in Nottingham, New Hampshire. Historic data...
Coles, James F.; Kathleen F. BushHurricane Georges extensively damaged the Chandeleur Islands, barrier islands approximately 60 miles east of New Orleans and 30 miles south of Biloxi, Mississippi. These islands are the first line of storm defense for eastern Louisiana, especially New Orleans, and western Mississippi.
A mysterious disease that has killed bald eagles and American coots in southwest Arkansas may now be present in two other states, according to wildlife disease specialists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin.
A minor earthquake with a magnitude of 3.8 occurred near Jonesboro, Ark., early Wednesday afternoon (September 17), according to scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo.
The gasoline additive MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether) was detected in some urban stormwater samples collected in 16 cities and metropolitan areas by the U.S. Geological Survey, but all detections of MTBE were less than the lower limit of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s draft lifetime health advisory for drinking water.
The 350 employees of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Mid-Continent Mapping Center, U.S. Department of the Interior, received Vice President Al Gore’s Hammer Award in Rolla on September 4. The Mid-Continent Mapping Center employees were honored for their team-based approach to streamlining operations and making them more responsive to customers.
A minor earthquake with a preliminary estimated magnitude of 3.5 occurred in Clarke County, Mississippi, at 8:15 local time (9:15 EST) on March 25, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Patterns of sediment deposition near the mouth of the Mississippi River, traveling tar balls and the evolution of ancient marine lobsters into today’s Louisiana crayfish are a sampling of some of the earth-science topics that will be presented by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey during a national science meeting in New Orleans next week.
Dr. Max M. Ethridge has been appointed Chief of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Mid-Continent Mapping Center in Rolla, Missouri.