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At least 631 records · Page 35Linked to original sources
USGS2009

Lysimetric evaluation of simplified surface energy balance approach in the Texas high plains

Numerous energy balance (EB) algorithms have been developed to make use of remote sensing data to estimate evapotranspiration (ET) regionally. However, most EB models are complex to use and efforts are being made to simplify procedures mainly through the scaling of reference ET. The Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEB) is one such method. This approach has never been evaluated using measured ET data. In this study, the SSEB approach was applied to 14 Landsat TM images covering a major portion of the Southern High Plains that were acquired during 2006 and 2007 cropping seasons. Performance of the SSEB was evaluated by comparing estimated ET with measured daily ET from four large monolithic lysimeters at the USDA-ARS Conservation and Production Research Laboratory, Bushland, Texas. Statistical evaluation of results indicated that the SSEB accounted for 84% of the variability in the measured ET values with a slope and intercept of 0.75 and 1.1 mm d -1 , respectively. Considering the minimal amount of ancillary data required and excellent performance in predicting daily ET, the SSEB approach is a promising tool for mapping ET in the semiarid Texas High Plains and in other parts of the world with similar hydro-climatic conditions.

Applied Engineering in Agriculture↗
USGS2003

Metals, trace elements, and organochlorine compounds in bottom sediment of Tuttle Creek Lake, Kansas, U.S.A.

Bottom-sediment cores were used to investigate the occurrence of 44 metals and trace elements, and 15 organochlorine compounds in Tuttle Creek Lake, a reservoir with an agricultural basin in northeast Kansas, U.S.A. On the basis of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sediment-quality guidelines, concentrations of Ag, As, Cr, Cu, Ni, and Zn frequently or typically exceeded the threshold-effects levels for toxic biological effects. Organochlorine compounds either were not detected or were detected at concentrations generally below the threshold-effects levels. Statistically significant positive depositional trends were determined for several elements. However, because the vertical profiles of element concentrations typically indicated a bimodal distribution and much of the variability could be attributable to analytical variance, the statistical trends may not represent actual trends. DDE concentrations reflected the history of DDT use. Substantial increases in grain corn and soybean production, irrigated land, and hog production in the basin have not had a discernible effect on sediment quality in the reservoir. Future research focused on small impoundments throughout the basin may enhance understanding of the effects of human activity on sediment quality within the Tuttle Creek Lake system and elsewhere.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2011

Seeing the forest and the trees: USGS scientist links local changes to global scale

The recent recipient of two major awards, Craig D. Allen, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Fort Collins Science Center, has loved trees since childhood. He is now considered an expert of world renown on the twin phenomena of forest changes and tree mortality resulting from climate warming and drought, and in 2010 was twice recognized for his scientific contributions. In December 2010, Dr. Allen was named a 2010 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science “for outstanding leadership in the synthesis of global forest responses to climate change, built from worldwide collaboration and a deep understanding of the environmental history of the southwestern United States.” In March 2010, he was honored with the Meritorious Service Award from the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) in recognition of his outstanding vision, initiative, and scientific contributions to the USGS, DOI, and U.S. Department of Agriculture in establishing a model science program to support adaptive land management at the new Valles Caldera National Preserve in north-central New Mexico. Dr. Allen has authored more than 85 publications on landscape ecology and landscape change, from fire history and ecology to ecosystem responses to climate change. He has appeared on NOVA discussing fire ecology and on The Discovery Channel and Discovery Canada explaining the links between drought-induced tree mortality and climate warming, in addition to being interviewed and quoted in innumerable newspaper articles on both topics. But how did this unassuming scientist grow from nurturing maple saplings on 40 acres in Wisconsin to understanding forest system stress worldwide?

Report↗
USGS2022

Ecological and socioeconomic factors associated with the human burden of environmentally mediated pathogens: A global analysis

Background Billions of people living in poverty are at risk of environmentally mediated infectious diseases—that is, pathogens with environmental reservoirs that affect disease persistence and control and where environmental control of pathogens can reduce human risk. The complex ecology of these diseases creates a global health problem not easily solved with medical treatment alone. Methods We quantified the current global disease burden caused by environmentally mediated infectious diseases and used a structural equation model to explore environmental and socioeconomic factors associated with the human burden of environmentally mediated pathogens across all countries. Findings We found that around 80% (455 of 560) of WHO-tracked pathogen species known to infect humans are environmentally mediated, causing about 40% (129 488 of 359 341 disability-adjusted life years) of contemporary infectious disease burden (global loss of 130 million years of healthy life annually). The majority of this environmentally mediated disease burden occurs in tropical countries, and the poorest countries carry the highest burdens across all latitudes. We found weak associations between disease burden and biodiversity or agricultural land use at the global scale. In contrast, the proportion of people with rural poor livelihoods in a country was a strong proximate indicator of environmentally mediated infectious disease burden. Political stability and wealth were associated with improved sanitation, better health care, and lower proportions of rural poverty, indirectly resulting in lower burdens of environmentally mediated infections. Rarely, environmentally mediated pathogens can evolve into global pandemics (eg, HIV, COVID-19) affecting even the wealthiest communities. Interpretation The high and uneven burden of environmentally mediated infections highlights the need for innovative social and ecological interventions to complement biomedical advances in the pursuit of global health and sustainability goals. Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis, Stanford University, and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

The Lancet Planetary Health↗
USGS2009

Lysimetric Evaluation of Simplified Surface Energy Balance Approach in the Texas High Plains

Numerous energy balance (EB) algorithms have been developed to make use of remote sensing data to estimate evapotranspiration (ET) regionally. However, most EB models are complex to use and efforts are being made to simplify procedures mainly through the scaling of reference ET. The Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEB) is one such method. This approach has never been evaluated using measured ET data. In this study, the SSEB approach was applied to fourteen Landsat TM images covering a major portion of the Southern High Plains that were acquired during 2006 and 2007 cropping seasons. Performance of the SSEB was evaluated by comparing estimated ET with measured daily ET from four large monolithic lysimeters at the USDA-ARS Conservation and Production Research Laboratory, Bushland, Texas. Statistical evaluation of results indicated that the SSEB accounted for 84% of the variability in the measured ET values with a slope and intercept of 0.75 and 1.1 mm d-1, respectively. Considering the minimal amount of ancillary data required and excellent performance in predicting daily ET, the SSEB approach is a promising tool for mapping ET in the semiarid Texas High Plains and in other parts of the world with similar hydro-climatic conditions.

Applied Engineering in Agriculture↗
USGS2007

The geochemistry of groundwater resources in the Jordan Valley: The impact of the Rift Valley brines

The chemical composition of groundwater in the Jordan Valley, along the section between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, is investigated in order to evaluate the origin of the groundwater resources and, in particular, to elucidate the role of deep brines on the chemical composition of the regional groundwater resources in the Jordan Valley. Samples were collected from shallow groundwater in research boreholes on two sites in the northern and southern parts of the Jordan Valley, adjacent to the Jordan River. Data is also compiled from previous published studies. Geochemical data (e.g., Br/Cl, Na/Cl and SO 4 /Cl ratios) and B, O, Sr and S isotopic compositions are used to define groundwater groups, to map their distribution in the Jordan valley, and to evaluate their origin. The combined geochemical tools enabled the delineation of three major sources of solutes that differentially affect the quality of groundwater in the Jordan Valley: (1) flow and mixing with hypersaline brines with high Br/Cl (>2 × 10 −3 ) and low Na/Cl (<0.8) ratios; (2) dissolution of highly soluble salts (e.g., halite, gypsum) in the host sediments resulting in typically lower Br/Cl signal (<2 × 10 −3 ); and (3) recharge of anthropogenic effluents, primarily derived from evaporated agricultural return flow that has interacted (e.g., base-exchange reactions) with the overlying soil. It is shown that shallow saline groundwaters influenced by brine mixing exhibit a north–south variation in their Br/Cl and Na/Cl ratios. This chemical trend was observed also in hypersaline brines in the Jordan valley, which suggests a local mixing process between the water bodies.

Applied Geochemistry↗
USGS2023

Decision analysis to advance environmental sustainability

Decision analysis provides a robust framework for complex decisions related to environmental sustainability and conservation, including for energy and water, fisheries and wildlife management, agriculture, and climate change response. The complexities of these problems stem from their large scope and scale, which leads to multiple decision makers, stakeholders, rightsholders, and other entities with potentially competing objectives. These problems often are time limited (e.g., urgent action is required to prevent species’ extinction), involve management interventions over long time scales and delayed responses to management (deep uncertainty), and are impeded by limited resources (funding, capacity, etc.). In this Special Issue on “Decision Analysis to Advance Environmental Sustainability,” we present five case studies of applications of decision analysis to complex problems in environmental sustainability and conservation. These case studies incorporate multiple objectives related to ecological and environmental sustainability, economic and social concerns, and logistics of implementation. They showcase a wide range of tools and applications to these problems. We also provide suggestions for new avenues of research and application of decision analysis to problems of environmental sustainability and conservation, including how to incorporate other decision-making tools into decision analysis processes, how to broaden the reach of decision analysis to other sustainability problems, how to incorporate more stakeholders and rightsholders into the decision process, the potential to incorporate new technology into these processes, identifying more creative alternatives, how to secure more funding, ways to move from decision to action, and how to move beyond status quo to make big transitions necessary to achieve sustainability.

Decision Analysis↗
USGS2013

Fatty acid composition at the base of aquatic food webs is influenced by habitat type and watershed land use

Spatial variation in food resources strongly influences many aspects of aquatic consumer ecology. Although large-scale controls over spatial variation in many aspects of food resources are well known, others have received little study. Here we investigated variation in the fatty acid (FA) composition of seston and primary consumers within (i.e., among habitats) and among tributary systems of Lake Michigan, USA. FA composition of food is important because all metazoans require certain FAs for proper growth and development that cannot be produced de novo, including many polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Here we sampled three habitat types (river, rivermouth and nearshore zone) in 11 tributaries of Lake Michigan to assess the amount of FA in seston and primary consumers of seston. We hypothesize that among-system and among-habitat variation in FAs at the base of food webs would be related to algal production, which in turn is influenced by three land cover characteristics: 1) combined agriculture and urban lands (an indication of anthropogenic nutrient inputs that fuel algal production), 2) the proportion of surface waters (an indication of water residence times that allow algal producers to accumulate) and 3) the extent of riparian forested buffers (an indication of stream shading that reduces algal production). Of these three land cover characteristics, only intense land use appeared to strongly related to seston and consumer FA and this effect was only strong in rivermouth and nearshore lake sites. River seston and consumer FA composition was highly variable, but that variation does not appear to be driven by the watershed land cover characteristics investigated here. Whether the spatial variation in FA content at the base of these food webs significantly influences the production of economically important species higher in the food web should be a focus of future research.

Michigan;Wisconsin↗
USGS2020

Sediment dynamics and implications for management: State of the science from long‐term research in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, USA

This review aims to synthesize the current knowledge of sediment dynamics using insights from long‐term research conducted in the watershed draining to the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the U.S., to inform management actions to restore the estuary and its watershed. The sediment dynamics of the Chesapeake are typical of many impaired watersheds and estuaries around the world, and this synthesis is intended to be relevant and transferable to other sediment‐impaired systems. The watershed's sediment sources, transport, delivery, and impacts are discussed with implications for effectively implementing best management practices (BMPs) to mitigate sediment issues. This synthesis revealed three key issues to consider when planning actions to reduce sediment loading: Scale, time, and land use. Geology and historical land use generated a template that current land use and climate, in addition to management, are acting upon to control sediment delivery. Important sediment sources in the Chesapeake include the Piedmont physiographic region, urban, and agricultural land use, and streambank erosion of headwater streams, whereas floodplain trapping is important along larger streams and rivers. Implementation of BMPs is widespread and is predicted to lead to decreased sediment loading; however, reworking of legacy sediment stored in stream valleys, with potentially long residence times in storage, can delay and complicate detection of the effects of BMPs on sediment loads. In conclusion, the improved understanding of sediment sources, storage areas, and transport lag times reviewed here can help target choices of BMP types and locations to better manage sediment problems—for both local streams and receiving waters.

New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virgin↗
USGS2011

Ecoregional-scale monitoring within conservation areas, in a rapidly changing climate

Long-term monitoring of ecological systems can prove invaluable for resource management and conservation. Such monitoring can: (1) detect instances of long-term trend (either improvement or deterioration) in monitored resources, thus providing an early-warning indication of system change to resource managers; (2) inform management decisions and help assess the effects of management actions, as well as anthropogenic and natural disturbances; and (3) provide the grist for supplemental research on mechanisms of system dynamics and cause-effect relationships (Fancy et al., 2009). Such monitoring additionally provides a snapshot of the status of monitored resources during each sampling cycle, and helps assess whether legal standards and regulations are being met. Until the last 1-2 decades, tracking and understanding changes in condition of natural resources across broad spatial extents have been infrequently attempted. Several factors, however, are facilitating the achievement of such broad-scale investigation and monitoring. These include increasing awareness of the importance of landscape context, greater prevalence of regional and global environmental stressors, and the rise of landscape-scale programs designed to manage and monitor biological systems. Such programs include the US Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program (Moser et al., 2008), Canada's National Forest Inventory, the 3Q Programme for monitoring agricultural landscapes of Norway (Dramstad et al., 2002), and the emerging (US) Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (USDOI Secretarial Order 3289, 2009; Anonymous, 2011). This Special Section explores the underlying design considerations, as well as many pragmatic aspects associated with program implementation and interpretation of results from broad-scale monitoring systems, particularly within the constraints of high-latitude contexts (e.g., low road density, short field season, dramatic fluctuations in temperature). Although Alaska is the focus of most papers in this Special Section, we posit that many of the issues that characterize the remote, relatively undisturbed ecosystems of high northern latitudes are widespread and thus applicable to natural-resource management and conservation across northern portions of the Holarctic ecozone and indeed anywhere broad-scale monitoring is contemplated.

Biological Conservation↗
USGS1960

Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife Pesticide-Wildlife Review: 1959

Research findings of the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, State agencies and independent research workers in Ala., Ark., Fla., Ga., La., Mass., Mich., Mont., N. Dak., Tex., and Wis. are summarized in this report together with recommendations for reducing damage from pest control operations. Major topics discussed are: Scope of Pesticide-Wildlife Problem; Effects on Wildlife-General; Laboratory Studies and Toxicology; Direct and Indirect Effects of Pesticides on Wildlife; Recent Pesticide Legislation; Value of Wildlife; and Recommendations for Safeguarding Wildlife Values during Pest Control. To avoid undue hazards to wildlife, applications must not exceed the toxicity equivalent of the following concentrations of DDT to the respective forms of wildlife: 0.1 pounds of DDT/acre for crustaceans; 0.2 for fish; 1.0 for amphibians; 2.0 for reptiles and birds; and 5.0 for most mammals. Other suggestions are: 1) Chemical treatment should be used only when entomological research has proved it to be necessary; 2) Before pesticides are used, the effects on different kinds of animals and on animals living in different habitats should be known and carefully considered; 3) Only minimum quantities of chemicals necessary to achieve adequate control of pests should be applied; 4) Pesticides should not be applied to areas that are any larger than is necessary and the chemicals that are used should be the ones whose effects are no more long-lasting than necessary; 5) Whenever possible, chemicals should be applied at the seasons of the year when wildlife damage will be least; 6) Conscientious effort should be made to be sure that pesticides are applied at no more than the intended rates and that no areas receive double doses. Alternates to chemical control are suggested. Among these are biological control, modified agricultural practices, destruction of insect wintering quarters, and the manipulation of water levels.

Circular↗
USGS2009

Introduction to special section on impacts of land use change on water resources

Changes in land use have potentially large impacts on water resources, yet quantifying these impacts remains among the more challenging problems in hydrology. Water, food, energy, and climate are linked through complex webs of direct and indirect effects and feedbacks. Land use is undergoing major changes due not only to pressures for more efficient food, feed, and fiber production to support growing populations but also due to policy shifts that are creating markets for biofuel and agricultural carbon sequestration. Hydrologic systems embody flows of water, solutes, sediments, and energy that vary even in the absence of human activity. Understanding land use impacts thus necessitates integrated scientific approaches. Field measurements, remote sensing, and modeling studies are shedding new light on the modes and mechanisms by which land use changes impact water resources. Such studies can help deconflate the interconnected influences of human actions and natural variations on the quantity and quality of soil water, surface water, and groundwater, past, present, and future.

Water Resources Research↗
USGS2021

PS3: The Pheno-Synthesis software suite for integration and analysis of multi-scale, multi-platform phenological data

Phenology is the study of recurring plant and animal life-cycle stages which can be observed across spatial and temporal scales that span orders of magnitude (e.g., organisms to landscapes). The variety of scales at which phenological processes operate is reflected in the range of methods for collecting phenologically relevant data, and the programs focused on these collections. Consideration of the scale at which phenological observations are made, and the platform used for observation, is critical for the interpretation of phenological data and the application of these data to both research questions and land management objectives. However, there is currently little capacity to facilitate access, integration and analysis of cross-scale, multi-platform phenological data. This paper reports on a new suite of software and analysis tools – the “Pheno-Synthesis Software Suite,” or PS3 – to facilitate integration and analysis of phenological and ancillary data, enabling investigation and interpretation of phenological processes at scales ranging from organisms to landscapes and from days to decades. We use PS3 to investigate phenological processes in a semi-aride, mixed shrub-grass ecosystem, and find that the apparent importance of seasonal precipitation to vegetation activity (i.e., “greenness”) is affected by the scale and platform of observation. We end by describing potential applications of PS3 to phenological modeling and forecasting, understanding patterns and drivers of phenological activity in real-world ecosystems, and supporting agricultural and natural resource management and decision-making.

Ecological Informatics↗
USGS2001

Grassland birds associated with agricultural riparian practices in southwestern Wisconsin

Rotational grazing has been proposed as a Best Management Practice (BMP) for minimizing runoff in Wisconsin agricultural riparian areas. The influence of this land management practice on grassland birds has not been evaluated in relation to more traditional agricultural land management systems in Midwestern riparian areas. This study compared the grassland bird community in riparian areas in Wisconsin that were rotationally grazed to 2 common land use practices along streams in Wisconsin: continuously grazed pastures and rowcrop fields with 10-m-wide ungrazed buffer strips located along the stream. We calculated total number of birds, the Berger-Parker Index of Dominance, and number of birds ha-1 for each site. Vegetation variables used were height-density, litter depth, and percent bare ground. Bird species richness, species dominance, and density did not differ among land use types. In contrast, grassland bird species of management concern [Savannah Sparrow ( Passerculus sandwichensis Gmelin), Eastern Meadowlark ( Sturnella magna L.), and Bobolink ( Dolichonyx oryzivorus L.)] were found on continuous and rotational pastures but very rarely or never occurred on buffer strips. Contrary to previous research, however, rotationally grazed pastures did not support more of these species than continuously grazed pastures. Bird density was related to vegetation structure, with higher densities found on sites with deeper litter. Within the pasture land use types, there were no consistent differences between species richness and density near the stream (<10 m) and away (>10 m).

Wisconsin↗
USGS2015

Sediment transport and capacity change in three reservoirs, Lower Susquehanna River Basin, Pennsylvania and Maryland, 1900-2012

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has conducted numerous sediment transport studies in the Susquehanna River and in particular in three reservoirs in the Lower Susquehanna River Basin to determine sediment transport rates over the past century and to document changes in storage capacity. The Susquehanna River is the largest tributary to Chesapeake Bay and transports about one-half of the total freshwater input and substantial amounts of sediment and nutrients to the bay. The transported loads are affected by deposition in reservoirs (Lake Clarke, Lake Aldred, and Conowingo Reservoir) behind three hydropower dams. The geometry and texture of the deposited sediments in each reservoir upstream from the three dams has been a subject of research in recent decades. Particle size deposition and sediment scouring processes are part of the reservoir dynamics. A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment was established for Chesapeake Bay to attain water-quality standards. Six states and the District of Columbia agreed to reduce loads to the bay and to meet load allocation goals for the TMDL. The USGS has been estimating annual sediment loads at the Susquehanna River at Marietta, Pennsylvania (above Lake Clarke), and Susquehanna River at Conowingo, Maryland (below Conowingo Reservoir), since the mid-1980s to predict the mass balance of sediment transport through the reservoir system. Using streamflow and sediment data from the Susquehanna River at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (upstream from the reservoirs), from 1900 to 1981, sediment loads were greatest in the early to mid-1900s when land disturbance activities from coal production and agriculture were at their peak. Sediment loads declined in the 1950s with the introduction of agricultural soil conservation practices. Loads were dominated by climatic factors in the 1960s (drought) and 1970s (very wet) and have been declining since the 1980s through 2012. The USGS developed a regression equation to predict the sediment scour load for daily mean streamflows greater than 300,000 cubic feet per second for the Lower Susquehanna River reservoirs. A compilation of data from various sources produced a range in total sediment transported through the reservoir system and allowed for apportioning to source (watershed or scour) for various streamflows. In 2011, Conowingo Reservoir was estimated to be about 92 percent of sediment storage capacity. Since construction of Conowingo Dam in 1929 through 2012, approximately 470 million tons of sediment was transported down the Susquehanna River into the reservoir system, approximately 290 million tons were trapped, and approximately 180 million tons were transported to Chesapeake Bay. Spatial and estimated total sand deposition in Conowingo Reservoir based on historical sediment cores indicated continued migration of sand downgradient toward the dam and the winnowing of silts and clays near the dam due to scour.

Maryland, Pennsylvania↗
USGS2016

Nutrients in the nexus

Synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizer has enabled modern agriculture to greatly improve human nutrition during the twentieth century, but it has also created unintended human health and environmental pollution challenges for the twenty-first century. Averaged globally, about half of the fertilizer-N applied to farms is removed with the crops, while the other half remains in the soil or is lost from farmers&rsquo; fields, resulting in water and air pollution. As human population continues to grow and food security improves in the developing world, the dual development goals of producing more nutritious food with low pollution will require both technological and socio-economic innovations in agriculture. Two case studies presented here, one in sub-Saharan Africa and the other in Midwestern United States, demonstrate how management of nutrients, water, and energy is inextricably linked in both small-scale and large-scale food production, and that science-based solutions to improve the efficiency of nutrient use can optimize food production while minimizing pollution. To achieve the needed large increases in nutrient use efficiency, however, technological developments must be accompanied by policies that recognize the complex economic and social factors affecting farmer decision-making and national policy priorities. Farmers need access to affordable nutrient supplies and support information, and the costs of improving efficiencies and avoiding pollution may need to be shared by society through innovative policies. Success will require interdisciplinary partnerships across public and private sectors, including farmers, private sector crop advisors, commodity supply chains, government agencies, university research and extension, and consumers.

Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences↗
USGS2016

Eastern Whip-poor-wills (Antrostomus vociferus) are positively associated with low elevation forest In the central Appalachians

Populations of the Eastern Whip-poor-will ( Antrostomus vociferus ) are thought to be declining because of a range of potential factors including habitat loss, pesticide use, and predation. However, this species is nocturnal and, as a consequence, it is poorly studied, and its population status is not well assessed by traditional diurnal bird surveys. We used nocturnal road surveys to study habitat associations and distribution of Eastern Whip-poor-wills to better understand and contextualize their population status and to provide a framework for subsequent research and management. We used occupancy models to associate presence of Eastern Whip-poor-wills with habitat characteristics. Global models with habitat associations at a radius of 1600 m (1.0-ha area) were the best supported by the data, suggesting that this was the scale at which the species responded to the habitat parameters we measured. At this scale, Eastern Whip-poor-wills most frequently occupied areas lower in elevation and characterized by forested, herbaceous, and wetland cover types. In contrast, high elevation conifer forest communities had substantially fewer Eastern Whip-poor-wills. Detection rates were positively correlated with moon visibility and negatively correlated with noise. We used the results of our surveys to generate a regional model to predict distributions of Eastern Whip-poor-wills and that can be used as a framework for future management. Our results suggest that succession of agricultural fields and other clearings into forested habitats with dense understory may be a contributing factor to ongoing declines of Eastern Whip-poor-wills.

West Virginia↗
USGS2020

Reconnaissance of surface water estrogenicity and the prevalence of intersex in smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) inhabiting New Jersey

The observation of testicular oocytes in male fishes has been utilized as a biomarker of estrogenic endocrine disruption. A reconnaissance project led in the Northeastern United States (US) during the period of 2008–2010 identified a high prevalence of intersex smallmouth bass on or near US Fish & Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuges that included the observation of 100% prevalence in smallmouth bass males collected from the Wallkill River, NJ, USA. To better assess the prevalence of intersex smallmouth bass across the state of New Jersey, a tiered reconnaissance approach was initiated during the fall of 2016. Surface water samples were collected from 101 (85 river, 16 lake/reservoir) sites across the state at base-flow conditions for estrogenicity bioassay screening. Detectable estrogenicity was observed at 90% of the sites and 64% were above the US Environmental Protection Agency trigger level of 1 ng/L. Median surface water estrogenicity was 1.8 ng/L and a maximum of 6.9 ng/L E2EqBLYES was observed. Adult smallmouth bass were collected from nine sites, pre-spawn during the spring of 2017. Intersex was identified in fish at all sites, and the composite intersex prevalence was 93.8%. Prevalence across sites ranged from 70.6% to 100%. In addition to intersex, there was detectable plasma vitellogenin in males at all sites. Total estrogenicity in surface water was determined at these fish collection sites, and notable change over time was observed. Correlation analysis indicated significant positive correlations between land use (altered land; urban + agriculture) and surface water estrogenicity. There were no clear associations between land use and organismal metrics of estrogenic endocrine disruption (intersex or vitellogenin). This work establishes a baseline prevalence of intersex in male smallmouth bass in the state of New Jersey at a limited number of locations and identifies a number of waterbodies with estrogenic activity above an effects-based threshold.

New Jersey↗