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At least 595 records · Page 33Linked to original sources
USGS2016

Ecological requirements for pallid sturgeon reproduction and recruitment in the Missouri River—Annual report 2013

The Comprehensive Sturgeon Research Project is a multiyear, multiagency collaborative research framework developed to provide information to support pallid sturgeon recovery and Missouri River management decisions. The project strategy integrates field and laboratory studies of pallid sturgeon reproductive ecology, early life history, habitat requirements, and physiology. The project scope of work is developed annually with collaborating research partners and in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Missouri River Recovery—Integrated Science Program. The research consists of several interdependent and complementary tasks that engage multiple disciplines. The research tasks in the 2013 scope of work emphasized understanding reproductive migrations and spawning of adult pallid sturgeon, and hatch and drift of free embryos and larvae. These tasks were addressed in four study sections located in three hydrologically and geomorphologically distinct parts of the Missouri River Basin: the Upper Missouri River downstream from Fort Peck Dam, including downstream reaches of the Milk River, the Lower Yellowstone River, and the Lower Missouri River downstream from Gavins Point Dam. The research is designed to inform management decisions related to channel re-engineering, flow modification, and pallid sturgeon population augmentation on the Missouri River, and throughout the range of the species. Research and progress made through this project are reported to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers annually. This annual report details the research effort and progress made by the Comprehensive Sturgeon Research Project during 2013.

Missouri River Basin↗
USGS2021

Asynchronous flowering patterns in saguaro cacti (Carnegiea gigantea)

The saguaro cactus ( Carnegiea gigantea [Engelm.] Britton & Rose) is a keystone species endemic to the Sonoran Desert of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. The saguaro produces large white flowers near its stem apex (crown) during April–June, which bloom at night and close the following day. In 1924, Duncan Johnson reported that saguaro floral buds are likely to have an asymmetrical distribution in which buds occur in higher densities on the eastern half of a plant's crown. Using technology not available to Johnson, we tested his observations to determine whether flowers are asymmetrically distributed using repeat photography. We also tested whether there is a seasonal pattern of flowering that may explain Johnson’s observations. We tracked intra-individual flowering phenology of 20 saguaros and measured 2372 flowers across two reproductive seasons in Saguaro National Park, Tucson, Arizona. Flowers first appeared on the east side of all saguaro crowns at the start of the reproductive season, and then spread radially in a counterclockwise direction as the season progressed. In contrast to previous reports, saguaro flowers were consistently more abundant on the northern part of the crown than in the eastern part. To our knowledge, this study is the first to document a seasonal, counterclockwise pattern of asynchronous flowering in saguaro or any angiosperm. We discuss potential drivers of this phenomenon as well as implications for saguaros responding to climate change.

Arizona↗
USGS1998

Water-resources activities of the U.S. Geological Survey in Utah, October 1, 1996, to September 30, 1997

This report contains summaries of the progress of water-resources activities of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Water Resources Division, Utah District, from October 1, 1996, to September 30,1997. The waterresources program in Utah during this period consisted of 25 projects, and a discussion of each project is presented. The following sections outline the origin of the USGS, the mission of the Water Resources Division, the organizational structure of the Utah District, office addresses of the Utah District, the distribution of program funding as source of funds and type of activity funded in Federal Fiscal Year 1997 (FY97) (October 1,1996, to September 30, 1997), and the agencies with which the District cooperates. The last part of the introduction is a list of reports produced by the District from October 1996 to September 1997.

Utah↗
USGS2004

Incorporating uncertainty into mercury-offset decisions with a probabilistic network for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit holders: An interim report

This interim report describes an alternative approach for evaluating the efficacy of using mercury (Hg) offsets to improve water quality. Hg-offset programs may allow dischargers facing higher-pollution control costs to meet their regulatory obligations by making more cost effective pollutant-reduction decisions. Efficient Hg management requires methods to translate that science and economics into a regulatory decision framework. This report documents the work in progress by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Western Geographic Science Center in collaboration with Stanford University toward developing this decision framework to help managers, regulators, and other stakeholders decide whether offsets can cost effectively meet the Hg total maximum daily load (TMDL) requirements in the Sacramento River watershed. Two key approaches being considered are: (1) a probabilistic approach that explicitly incorporates scientific uncertainty, cost information, and value judgments; and (2) a quantitative approach that captures uncertainty in testing the feasibility of Hg offsets. Current fate and transport-process models commonly attempt to predict chemical transformations and transport pathways deterministically. However, the physical, chemical, and biologic processes controlling the fate and transport of Hg in aquatic environments are complex and poorly understood. Deterministic models of Hg environmental behavior contain large uncertainties, reflecting this lack of understanding. The uncertainty in these underlying physical processes may produce similarly large uncertainties in the decisionmaking process. However, decisions about control strategies are still being made despite the large uncertainties in current Hg loadings, the relations between total Hg (HgT) loading and methylmercury (MeHg) formation, and the relations between control efforts and Hg content in fish. The research presented here focuses on an alternative analytical approach to the current use of safety factors and deterministic methods for Hg TMDL decision support, one that is fully compatible with an adaptive management approach. This alternative approach uses empirical data and informed judgment to provide a scientific and technical basis for helping National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit holders make management decisions. An Hg-offset system would be an option if a wastewater-treatment plant could not achieve NPDES permit requirements for HgT reduction. We develop a probabilistic decision-analytical model consisting of three submodels for HgT loading, MeHg, and cost mitigation within a Bayesian network that integrates information of varying rigor and detail into a simple model of a complex system. Hg processes are identified and quantified by using a combination of historical data, statistical models, and expert judgment. Such an integrated approach to uncertainty analysis allows easy updating of prediction and inference when observations of model variables are made. We demonstrate our approach with data from the Cache Creek watershed (a subbasin of the Sacramento River watershed). The empirical models used to generate the needed probability distributions are based on the same empirical models currently being used by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Cache Creek Hg TMDL working group. The significant difference is that input uncertainty and error are explicitly included in the model and propagated throughout its algorithms. This work demonstrates how to integrate uncertainty into the complex and highly uncertain Hg TMDL decisionmaking process. The various sources of uncertainty are propagated as decision risk that allows decisionmakers to simultaneously consider uncertainties in remediation/implementation costs while attempting to meet environmental/ecologic targets. We must note that this research is on going. As more data are collected, the HgT and cost-mitigation submodels are updated and the uncertainties may be reduced. Subsequently, the value of using a probabilistic framework for estimating and explicitly stating these uncertainties within a decisionmaking process can be estimated when new data are collected. Future work includes the design and implementation of a Bayesian network decision support system (BN-DSS) to produce mitigation scenarios for offset-project evaluation in the Cache Creek watershed. The decisionmaker, a wastewater-treatment plant, is expected to evaluate potential Hg-offset programs in terms of changes in HgT load changes, MeHg-production potential, project cost, and other suitability criteria. Subsequently, scenarios can be analyzed by performing sensitivity analyses and ranking environmental and economic uncertainties in terms of the decisionmaker’s preferences and risk choices. Such an analysis allows decisionmakers and stakeholders to explore various scenarios and predict the consequences of different stated preferences over outcomes.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1973

Proceedings of the Black-footed Ferret & Prairie Dog Workshop, September 4-6, 1973

Both State and Federal agencies have been working with the black-footed ferret and prairie dog during the past few years. Much of the work is not extensive enough for publication in scientific journals and is, therefore, not reported. The objective of this Workshop was to bring workers together for discussion of the current status of the two species. Each of the Conservation Departments in the states and provinces within the former range of the prairie dog and the black-footed ferret was invited to participate. Federal agencies were also invited to report on current programs in progress on public lands.

Book↗
USGS2023

Achieving water quality goals in the Chesapeake Bay: A comprehensive evaluation of system response

A Comprehensive Evaluation of System Response Achieving Water Quality Goals in the Chesapeake Bay: A Comprehensive Evaluation of System Response (CESR) includes an evaluation of why progress toward meeting the TMDL and water quality standards has been slower than expected and offers options for how progress can be accelerated. This report is a summation of a three year investigation into the 40 year effort to reduce nutrient loads to Chesapeake Bay. History The effort began as a STAC independent initiative in March 2019, after Kurt Stephenson, Zach Easton, and Brian Benham proposed the idea of a report that would identify gaps and uncertainties in system response—physical, chemical, biological, and socioeconomic—that impact efforts designed to attain water quality standards in Chesapeake Bay. As STAC Chair at the time, Benham facilitated the development of a collaborative process that would engage the entire committee. As a first step in approaching the long causal chain that links management actions to their eventual impact on water quality and living resources, workgroups were formed around the subsystems of this chain: nutrient and sediment reductions (watershed), water quality response to nutrient and sediment reductions (estuary) and living resource response to water quality (living resources). Each of these workgroups generated an independent document with a self-determined scope (i.e., workgroups were afforded flexibility to address issues beyond the original objectives). Because the content of each document was both unique and substantial, STAC chose to publish them as stand-alone documents with authorship attribution. In the second step, a steering committee developed a series of framing questions to guide the preparation of this report that would meet the objective of identifying gaps and uncertainties in achieving the Bay TMDL and water quality standards. Coeditors Stephenson and Wardrop, supported to great extent by a subgroup of the Steering Committee (Leonard Shabman, Zach Easton, Jeremy Testa, William Dennison, Kenny Rose, and Mark Monaco) were tasked with assembling ideas and contributions to write a single draft text, drawing material from the aforementioned resource documents, STAC and Chesapeake Bay Program reports, the scientific literature, and a limited amount of additional analyses performed in collaboration with Bay Program scientists. The resulting report was then submitted for several reviews by both steering committee members and the membership at-large to produce a consensus report.

Maryland, Virginia↗
USGS2010

Ecological requirements for pallid sturgeon reproduction and recruitment in the Lower Missouri River: Annual report 2009

The Comprehensive Sturgeon Research Project is a multiyear, multiagency collaborative research framework developed to provide information to support pallid sturgeon recovery and Missouri River management decisions. The general Comprehensive Sturgeon Research Project strategy is to integrate field and laboratory studies of sturgeon reproductive ecology, habitat requirements, and physiology to produce a predictive understanding of sturgeon population dynamics. The project scope of work is developed annually with cooperating research partners and in collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Missouri River Recovery-Integrated Science Program. The research consists of several interdependent and complementary research tasks engaging multiple disciplines that primarily address spawning as a probable limiting factor in reproduction and survival of the pallid sturgeon. The research is multifaceted and is designed to provide information needed for management decisions impacting habitat restoration, flow modification, and pallid sturgeon population augmentation on the Missouri River, and throughout the range of the species. Research activities and progress towards understanding of the species are reported to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers annually. This annual report details the research effort and progress made by Comprehensive Sturgeon Research Project during 2009.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2016

Shifting currents: Progress, setbacks, and shifts in policy and practice

The Wisconsin Academy’s initial Waters of Wisconsin project (WOW I) facilitated a statewide conversation between 2000 and 2003 around one main question: How can we ensure healthy aquatic ecosystems and clean, abundant water supplies for tomorrow’s Wisconsin? Robust participation in this conversation underscored the important role citizens have in the stewardship of our waters, and we found enthusiastic support for farsighted policies—based on sound science—to manage our water legacy. Overall, we found that Wisconsinites cherish water and see our waters as essential to our way of life in Wisconsin. Nationally, our state ranks 25th in land area but has the fourth-highest area covered by water. Wisconsin is 20th in population but is second only to Florida in the number of fishing licenses sold each year. Clean water supports billions of dollars’ worth of economic activity through tourism, agriculture, and industry. From the Northwoods cabin to the Port of Milwaukee to the Wisconsin Dells, water shapes our state’s identity. Our tradition of safeguarding Wisconsin’s waters is grounded in values such as responsibility to family and future generations, respect for land and wildlife, protecting public health and safety, and caring for water as a common good, as articulated in the state’s Public Trust Doctrine (see page 9). These deeply held values have also shaped a conservation ethic, and its legacy has served many generations who depend upon and enjoy the waters of the state. Through WOW I, we identified the need to overcome the institutional and disciplinary separation of science, policy, and management protocols through a more integrated approach to water management. WOW also affirmed that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and other public agencies play a critical role in sound scientific application, citizen participation, and the practical implementation of policy while balancing public and private interests toward the goal of a clean water future. More than a decade has passed since our first statewide WOW conversation and the report that captured recommendations from its participants: Waters of Wisconsin: The Future of Our Aquatic Ecosystems and Resources. Drawing from a diverse and growing set of stakeholders from across the state, the Wisconsin Academy initiated a new conversation in 2012 (known as WOW II) to assess progress in regard to our 2003 recommendations. We also sought to review the status of waters in Wisconsin today. The result of this renewed conversation is Shifting Currents: Progress, Setbacks, and Shifts in Policy and Practice. The new report assesses progress in brief, and explores in greater depth the continuing and emerging challenges to water quality, supply, and aquatic ecosystems in Wisconsin. In this report, we first review the context and frameworks for public decision-making about water and then examine some of the root causes—or “drivers”—and ecological stressors that underlie many of the symptoms we see in the form of pollution or ecosystem degradation in Wisconsin. This is followed by a summary of current water issues, many of which had been identified in the 2003 report and remain relevant today. We examine progress since 2003 but also setbacks, and discuss issues that we are likely to continue to face in the coming decades, including controlling agricultural runoff, mitigating climate change and grappling with its effects on the state’s waters, protecting groundwater from bacterial contamination and other pollutants, and preventing groundwater depletion. We also attempt to anticipate issues on the horizon. We offer a deeper look at some particular challenges, such as phosphorus pollution and groundwater contamination. We then consider the current decision-making framework and how it is shaping our capacity to respond to water challenges in Wisconsin. Finally, we offer recommendations and identify opportunities to safeguard Wisconsin’s waters in the decades ahead. From its inception, the Wisconsin Academy’s Waters of Wisconsin Initiative has brought together a diverse community of experts from across the state and from varied fields and areas of interest, to address challenges and seize opportunities related to our precious waters. We have done so as a matter of both principle and practical reality: the state of our waters reflects the ways we interact not only with them, but also with one another and our institutions. The WOW Initiative has aimed to provide guidance for Wisconsin citizens in sustaining the health of our aquatic ecosystems and the resilience of our water supplies over the long term.

Report↗
USGS2001

Subsurface correlations and sequence stratigraphic interpretations of lower Silurian strata in the Appalachian Basin of northeast Ohio, southwest New York, and northwest Pennsylvania

Significant quantities of recoverable natural gas resources are estimated to be in the regionally extensive Lower Silurian Medina Group and “Clinton” sandstone of the Appalachian Basin (Gautier and others, 1995; Ryder and others, 1996; Ryder, 1998). In order to assess these accumulations of natural gas more accurately, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has investigated the Silurian stratigraphy along six lines of cross section located in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia (fig. 1). Cross section A–A' extends about 375 mi from northeast to southwest and is oriented approximately parallel to the nearby paleoshoreline of the Silurian epeiric sea. The remaining cross sections extend about 100–200 mi from northwest to southeast and are oriented nearly perpendicular to the paleoshoreline. Stratigraphic investigations along A–A' were reported by Ryder (2000), correlations along D–D' were reported by Keighin (1998), and investigations along E–E' and F–F' were in progress at the time of this publication. This report provides correlations for Silurian strata along cross sections B–B' and C–C', which are located in the northern part of the Appalachian Basin (figs. 1 and 2). Cross section B–B' extends about 140 mi from Chautauqua County, N.Y., to Clinton County, Pa., and C–C' extends about 200 mi from Lake County, Ohio, to Clinton County, Pa. Correlations are made along B–B' and C–C' for the Lower Silurian Medina and Clinton Groups, Lower Silurian Tuscarora and Rose Hill Formations, and Lower and Upper Silurian Lockport Group and Mifflintown Formation (lower part). Emphasis is placed on the Medina Group because it is the principal natural gas reservoir in the Silurian deposit.

Ohio, Pennsylvania↗
USGS2017

2016 Lake Michigan Lake Trout Working Group Report

This report provides a review on the progression of lake trout rehabilitation towards meeting the Salmonine Fish Community Objectives (FCOs) for Lake Michigan (Eshenroder et. al. 1995) and the interim goal and evaluation objectives articulated in A Fisheries Management Implementation Strategy for the Rehabilitation of Lake Trout in Lake Michigan (Dexter et al. 2011); we also include data describing lake trout stocking and mortality to portray the present state of progress towards lake trout rehabilitation.

Report↗
USGS1983

Map showing outcrops of ash-flow tuffs, Basin and Range Province and vicinity, Trans-Pecos Texas

This map report is one of a series of geologic and hydrologic maps covering all or parts of the States within the Basin and Range province of the western United States, resulting from work under the U.S. Geological Survey's program for geologic and hydrologic evaluation of the Basin and Range province to identify potentially suitable regions for future study relative to isolation of high-level nuclear waste (Bedinger, Sargent, and Reed, 1984) . The map report on the ash-flow tuffs of Trans-Pecos Texas was prepared from published maps and reports and from recent work in progress by geologists of the Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, and was compiled utilizing the project guidelines of Sargent and Bedinger (1984). The map shows the outcrops and localities of measured thicknesses of the ash-flow tuffs that resulted from silicic volcanism 38 to 28 million years ago (Henry and McDowell, 1982). Locally, however, some thin, inadequately studied tuffs of limited distribution have been excluded from the map. Such tuffs are reported in the "lower rhyolite" in the Eagle Mountains (Underwood, 1963), in the southern Davis Mountains (Parker, 1977), within parts of the Shely Group and Morita Ranch Formation in the Chinati Mountains (Cepeda and Henry, 1983) , and in the Rawls Formation in the Bofecillos Mountains (McKnight, 1969). The distribution of most ash-flow tuffs in the northern Davis and Wylie Mountains is not well known. The Chambers Tuff, largely tuffaceous sedimentary rocks, is reported to contain several ash-flow tuffs (Walton, 1972), but their distribution is poorly documented. Metamorphosed ash-flow tuffs of Precambrian age in the Thunderbird Group in the Franklin Mountains (Thomann, 1981) and in the Carrizo Mountain Group near Van Horn (Rudnick , 1983) were not included on the map. In some areas studied in reconnaissance, the definitive lithology of some volcanic units described as lava flows or tuffs has not been determined. In the Description of Map Units, the general location, caldera source and volume of tuff, isotopic age, if available, lithologic data, and the reference sources for each geologic unit are described. The nomenclature of the geologic units is from published reports and does not necessarily conform to U.S. Geological Survey usage.

Texas↗
USGS1989

Water-resources activities, South Carolina District, 1987-88

The South Carolina District, of the U.S. Geological Survey 's Water Resources Division, conducts data collection and interpretative investigations of the water resources of South Carolina. These studies address water-resource related problems in South Carolina that are of National, State, and local interest. This report provides information on investigations in progress in the District during fiscal years 1987-88. The bibliography lists the publications that have been written as a result of South Carolina District studies and studies pertaining to South Carolina that were conducted in other offices of the U.S. Geological Survey. (USGS)

South Carolina↗
USGS1969

Hydrology of the San Luis Valley, south-central Colorado

An investigation of the water resources of the Colorado part of the San Luis Valley was begun in 1966 by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Colorado Water Conservation Board. (See index map, fig. 1). The purpose of the investigation is to provide information for planning and implementing improved water-development and management practices. The major water problems in the San Luis Valley include (1) waterlogging, (2) waste of water by nonbeneficial evapotranspiration, (3) deterioration of ground-water chemical quality, and (4) failure of Colorado to deliver water to New Mexico and Texas in accordance with the Rio Grande Compact. This report describes the hydrologic environment, extent of water-resource development, and some of the problems related to that development. Information presented is based on data collected from 1966 to 1968 and on previous studies. Subsequent reports are planned as the investigation progresses. The San Luis Valley extends about 100 miles from Poncha Pass near the northeast corner of Saguache County, Colo., to a point about 16 miles south of the Colorado-New Mexico State line. The total area is 3,125 square miles, of which about 3,000 are in Colorado. The valley is nearly flat except for the San Luis Hills and a few other small areas. The Colorado part of the San Luis Valley, which is described in this report, has an average altitude of about 7,700 feet. Bounding the valley on the west are the San Juan Mountains and on the east the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Most of the valley floor is bordered by alluvial fans deposited by streams originating in the mountains, the most extensive being the Rio Grande fan (see block diagram, fig. 2 in pocket). Most of the streamflow is derived from snowmelt from 4,700 square miles of watershed in the surrounding mountains. The northern half of the San Luis Valley is internally drained and is referred to as the closed basin. The lowest part of this area is known locally as the "sump." The remainder of the valley is drained by the Rio Grande and its tributaries. The climate of the San Luis Valley is arid, and a successful agricultural economy would not be possible without irrigation. It is characterized by cold winters, moderate summers, and much sunshine. The average annual precipitation on the valley floor ranges from 7 to 10 inches. More than half the precipitation occurs from July to September. Moisture deficiency in the valley is shown by the graph comparing pan evaporation and precipitation {fig. 3}. For the years 1961-67 average pan evaporation for the period April through September was 52.25 inches, but average precipitation for the period was only 5.02 inches. Average annual precipitation was 7.8 inches. Owing to the short growing season (90-120 days), crops a.re restricted mainly to barley, oats, potatoes, and other vegetables.

Colorado↗
USGS2020

2019 Lake Michigan Lake Trout Working Group Report

This report provides a review on the progression of lake trout ( Salvelinus namaycush ) rehabilitation towards meeting the Salmonine Fish Community Objectives (FCOs) for Lake Michigan (Eshenroder et. al. 1995) and the interim goal and evaluation objectives articulated in A Fisheries Management Implementation Strategy for the Rehabilitation of Lake Trout in Lake Michigan (hereafter the "Strategy"; Dexter et al. 2011).

Lake Michigan↗
USGS1962

Gravity survey of the Nevada Test Site and vicinity, Nye, Lincoln, and Clark Counties, Nevada--interim report

The gravity survey of the Nevada Test Site and contiguous areas of southern Nevada and southeastern California (fig. 1) has been made by the U.S. Geological Survey on behalf of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. The objective of this study is to delineate and interpret gravity anomalies and regional trends so that the configuration and depth of the buried erosional surface of the Paleozoic rocks may be determined. This buried surface is of utmost importance in understanding the geologic history of the Nevada Test Site region, the thickness and distribution of the overlying volcanic rocks and alluvium, and the movement of ground water. The Paleozoic rocks cause positive gravity anomalies where they outcrop or occur near the surface and negative anomalies where they are buried in valleys or capped by low-density Tertiary volcanic rocks. Gravity trends which extend over the entire area provide a basis for computing the regional gravity gradient. The regional gravity gradient must be removed from the data for geologic interpretation of the paleotopographic surface in any limited area. Knowledge of the thickness of low-density material overlying the paleotopographic surface is useful in several ways. Proposed underground test sites, such as drill holes and tunnels, may be evaluated in terms of rock unit thickness and alluvial cover requirements. Recent work by the Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey has demonstrated ground-water movement through the Paleozoic rocks in the vicinity of the Nevada Test Site. Therefore, knowledge of the position of buried Paleozoic rocks is important in evaluating (a) the rate and direction of flow of the ground water, (b) ground-water supplies for domestic and industrial uses, and (c) the possibility of radioactive contamination of ground water. Finally, regional gravity trends and paleotopography are useful in working out the structural history of the area in connection with geologic studies now in progress. The purpose of this interim report is to present the major part of the gravity data obtained as of December 31, 1961. The data are presented as a complete Bouguer gravity anomaly map. Although the gravity contours are somewhat generalized because the map has a scale of 1:250,000 and a contour interval of 5 milligals, the largest anomalies are adequately delineated. Preliminary results of this gravity survey have been reported by Wilmarth and others, 1960, and by Diment and others, 1959 and 1960.

Nevada↗
USGS1994

Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility of the U.S. Geological Survey, annual report for fiscal year 1993

The Hydrologic lnstrumentation Facility (HIF) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has nationwide responsibility for all aspects of hydrologic field instrumentation in support of Survey data-collection programs. Each year the HIF publishes a report to inform Water Resources Division (WRD) personnel of progress made by the HIF in fulfilling its mission to improve instrumentation services to the Division. The report for fiscal year 1993 (FY93) describes the activities of the HIF, including major accomplish- ments for the year; personnel actions; active projects (reported by section--Technical Services Section, Administrative Services Section, Field Coordination, Applications and Development Section, Test and Evaluation Section, Field Service and Supply Section); and planned activities for the coming year. Also presented in the appendixes are detailed listings of the memberships of the Instrumentation Committee and the Instrumentation Technical Advisory Subcommittee; district, sub- district, and field office visits by HIF personnel; professional and technical meetings attended by HIF personnel; vendor visits; and reports prepared by HIF personnel.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2014

Viability and infectivity of Ichthyophonus sp. in post-mortem Pacific herring, Clupea pallasii

Ichthyophonus -infected Pacific herring, Clupea pallasii , were allowed to decompose in ambient seawater then serially sampled for 29 days to evaluate parasite viability and infectivity for Pacific staghorn sculpin, Leptocottus armatus . Ichthyophonus sp. was viable in decomposing herring tissues for at least 29 days post-mortem and could be transmitted via ingestion to sculpin for up to 5 days. The parasite underwent morphologic changes during the first 48 hr following death of the host that were similar to those previously reported, but as host tissue decomposition progressed, several previously un-described forms of the parasite were observed. The significance of long-term survival and continued morphologic transformation in the post-mortem host is unknown, but it could represent a saprozoic phase of the parasite life cycle that has survival value for Ichthyophonus sp.

Journal of Parasitology↗