SEARCH · USGS Science

Results for “Plants”

Search indexed USGS publications on groundwater, aquifers, geologic maps, mineral resources and earthquakes. Explore source records by subject and place.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 865 records · Page 48Linked to original sources

USGS2024

Transcriptomic profiles of brains in juvenile Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) exposed to pharmaceuticals and personal care products from a wastewater treatment plant discharge

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are frequently detected in marine environments, posing a threat to aquatic organisms. Our previous research demonstrated the occurrence of neuroactive compounds in effluent and sediments from a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in a fjord North of Stavanger, the fourth-largest city in Norway. To better understand the influence of PPCP mixtures on fish, Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua ) were caged for one month in 3 locations: site 1 (reference), site 2 (WWTP discharge), and site 3 (6.7 km west of discharge). Transcriptomic profiling was conducted in the brains of exposed fish and detection of PPCPs in WWTP effluent and muscle fillets were determined. Caffeine (47.8 ng/L), benzotriazole (10.9 ng/L), N,N -diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET) (5.6 ng/L), methyl-1 H -benzotriazole (5.5 ng/L), trimethoprim (3.4 ng/L), carbamazepine (2.1 ng/L), and nortriptyline (0.4 ng/L) were detected in the WWTP effluent. Octocrylene concentrations were observed in muscle tissue at all sites and ranged from 53 to 193 ng/g. Nervous system function and endocrine system disorders were the top enriched disease and function pathways predicted in male and female fish at site 2, with the top shared canonical pathways involved with estrogen receptor and Sirtuin signaling. At the discharge site, predicted disease and functional responses in female brains were involved in cellular assembly, organization, and function, tissue development, and nervous system development, whereas male brains were involved in connective tissue development, function, and disorders, nervous system development and function, and neurological disease. The top shared canonical pathways in females and males were involved in fatty acid activation and tight junction signaling. This study suggests that pseudopersistent, chronic exposure of native juvenile Atlantic cod from this ecosystem to PPCPs may alter neuroendocrine and neuron development.

Stavanger↗

USGS2025

Soil-microbial communities respond less than plant communities to synthetic- or bio-herbicides applied to address the exotic grass-fire cycle in rangelands

The exotic grass-fire cycle is degrading semiarid rangelands, such as the vast areas of shrub-steppe in North America now invaded by fire-promoting cheatgrass. Chemical- or bio-herbicides are sprayed onto soils to inhibit the invaders, but information on chemical- or bio-herbicide impacts to soil microbial communities is limited. We asked how the soil-microbiome responded to the bioherbicide Pseudomonas fluorescens strain ACK55 in comparison to the separate and combined effects of a conventional pre-emergent chemical herbicide, imazapic, in two cheatgrass-invaded sagebrush-steppe sites. First-year microbial responses were evaluated using targeted sequencing of the 16S and LSU rRNA genes for bacteria+archaea and fungi, respectively, and were related to plant-community responses. A strong cheatgrass reduction with imazapic at one site was accompanied by a small shift in bacteria+archaea (16S) community composition with no effect on microbial alpha diversity, and this shift was small in comparison to natural microbiome variation between sites. ACK55 was not detected in soil a year after application, and it caused only transient and marginally significant reductions in annual grass cover accompanied by small reductions in soil fungi species richness. Full-length sequencing of the ACK55 16S rRNA gene and phylogenetic analyses revealed that ACK55 is more likely P. salmonii than P. fluorescens . Knowledge gaps remain on the duration and consequences of microbial-community shifts with imazapic and why molecular analyses showed ACK55 did not persist in soils. Confusion regarding microbial biopesticides can result where isolation, effectiveness testing, commercial release, and regulation are not guided by molecular taxonomic analyses.

Idaho↗

USGS2020

Climate dipoles as continental drivers of plant and animal populations

Ecological processes, such as migration and phenology, are strongly influenced by climate variability. Studying these processes often relies on associating observations of animals and plants with climate variability indices, such as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. A characteristic of climate indices is the simultaneous emergence of opposite extremes of temperature and precipitation across continental scales, known as climate dipoles. The role of climate dipoles in shaping ecological and evolutionary processes has been largely overlooked. We review emerging evidence that climate dipoles can entrain species dynamics, and offer a framework for identifying ecological dipoles using broad-scale biological data. Given future changes in climatic and atmospheric processes, climate and ecological dipoles will likely shift in their intensity, distribution, and timing.

Trends in Ecology and Evolution↗

USGS2017

Last interglacial plant macrofossils and climates from Ziegler Reservoir, Snowmass Village, Colorado, USA

Ninety plant macrofossil taxa from the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site near Snowmass Village, Colorado, record environmental changes at high elevation (2705 m asl) in the Rocky Mountains during the Last Interglacial Period. Present-day vegetation is aspen forest ( Populus tremuloides ) intermixed with species of higher ( Picea , Abies ) and lower ( Artemisia , Quercus ) elevations. Stratigraphic units 4–13 contain montane forest taxa found near the site today and several species that today generally live at lower elevations within ( Abies concolor , Lycopus americanus ) and outside Colorado ( Najas flexilis ). These data suggest near-modern climatic conditions, with slightly warmer summer and winter temperatures. This montane forest period was succeeded by a shorter treeless interval (Unit 14) representing colder and/or drier conditions. In units 15–16, conifer trees reoccur but deciduous and herb taxa are lacking, suggesting a return to warmer conditions, although cooler than during the earlier forest period. Comparison of these inferred paleoclimatic changes with the site's geochronologic framework indicates that the lower interval of sustained warmth correlates with late MIS 6–early 5b (~ 138–94 ka), the cold interval with MIS 5b (~ 94–87 ka), and the uppermost cool assemblages with MIS 5a (~ 87–77 ka).

Colorado↗

USGS1999

Sulfur-bearing coatings on fly ash from a coal-fired power plant: Composition, origin, and influence on ash alteration

Fly ash samples collected from two locations in the exhaust stream of a coal-fired power plant differ markedly with respect to the abundance of thin (≈0.1 μm) sulfur-rich surface coatings that are observable by scanning electron microscopy. The coatings, tentatively identified as an aluminum-potassium-sulfate phase, probably form upon reaction between condensed sulfuric acid aerosols and glass surfaces, and are preferentially concentrated on ash exposed to exhaust stream gases for longer. The coatings are highly soluble and if sufficiently abundant, can impart an acidic pH to solutions initially in contact with ash. These observations suggest that proposals for ash use and predictions of ash behavior during disposal should consider the transient, acid-generating potential of some ash fractions and the possible effects on initial ash leachability and alteration.

Fuel↗

USGS2002

Leaf cellulose δD and δ 18 O trends with elevation differ in direction among co-occurring, semiarid plant species

The potential to reconstruct paleoclimate from analyses of stable isotopes in fossil leaf cellulose could be enhanced by adequate calibration. This potential is likely to be particularly great in mid-latitude deserts, where a rich store of fossil leaves is available from rodent middens. Trends in ??D and ??18O of leaf cellulose were examined for three species growing across climatic gradients caused by elevation and slope aspect in southeastern Utah, USA. The species differed in morphology (Pinus edulis vs. Yucca glauca), photosynthetic pathway (C3 Y. glauca vs. CAM Yucca baccata) or both (P. edulis vs. Y. baccata). The ??DLCN (leaf cellulose nitrate) and ??18OLC (leaf cellulose) values of P. edulis decreased with elevation. Stem water ??D values either increased (in spring) or did not change with elevation (in summer). Needle water ??D values usually decreased with elevation and differed greatly with leaf age. These results suggest that ?? cellulose values of P. edulis record the effects of climate on the isotopic composition of leaf water but not climate effects on meteoric water. In contrast to P. edulis, ??DLCN values of Y. glauca increased with elevation. The ??18O LC values ofc Y. glauca also increased with elevation but less significantly and only on south-facing slopes. The ?? cellulose values in both P. edulis and Y. glauca were most significantly related to changes in temperature, although temperature and precipitation were negatively correlated in the study area. Where all three species co-occurred, their ??DLCN values differed but their ??18O LC values were the same. The disparity in ??DLCN between Y. baccata and the other species corresponds to differences in biochemical fractionations associated with photosynthetic pathway. Biochemical fractionations may also contribute to differences between the two C3 species. Knowledge of factors affecting responses of individual plant species to environment may be required to infer climate from ??DLCN and ??18OLC. ?? 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta↗

USGS2003

Analysis of a municipal wastewater treatment plant using a neural network-based pattern analysis

This paper addresses the problem of how to capture the complex relationships that exist between process variables and to diagnose the dynamic behaviour of a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WTP). Due to the complex biological reaction mechanisms, the highly time-varying, and multivariable aspects of the real WTP, the diagnosis of the WTP are still difficult in practice. The application of intelligent techniques, which can analyse the multi-dimensional process data using a sophisticated visualisation technique, can be useful for analysing and diagnosing the activated-sludge WTP. In this paper, the Kohonen Self-Organising Feature Maps (KSOFM) neural network is applied to analyse the multi-dimensional process data, and to diagnose the inter-relationship of the process variables in a real activated-sludge WTP. By using component planes, some detailed local relationships between the process variables, e.g., responses of the process variables under different operating conditions, as well as the global information is discovered. The operating condition and the inter-relationship among the process variables in the WTP have been diagnosed and extracted by the information obtained from the clustering analysis of the maps. It is concluded that the KSOFM technique provides an effective analysing and diagnosing tool to understand the system behaviour and to extract knowledge contained in multi-dimensional data of a large-scale WTP. ?? 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Water Research↗

USGS2016

Comparison of manual and automated pretreatment methods for AMS radiocarbon dating of plant fossils

A new automated pretreatment system for the preparation of materials submitted for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) analysis is less time-consuming and results in a higher sample yield. The new procedure was tested using two groups of plant fossils: one group was pretreated using the traditional method, and the second, using the automated pretreatment apparatus. We compared the time it took to complete the procedure and the amount of sample material remaining. The automated pretreatment apparatus proved to be more than three times faster and, in most cases, produced a higher yield. We also observed a darker discoloration of the KOH solutions, indicating that the automated system is more thorough in removing humates from the specimen compared to the manual method.

Radiocarbon↗

USGS2020

Effects-based monitoring of bioactive chemicals discharged to the Colorado River before and after a municipal wastewater treatment plant replacement

Monitoring of the Colorado River near the Moab, Utah, wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) outflow has detected pharmaceuticals, hormones, and estrogen-receptor (ER)-, glucocorticoid receptor (GR)-, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARγ)-mediated biological activities. The aim of the present multi-year study was to assess effects of a WWTP replacement on bioactive chemical (BC) concentrations. Water samples were collected bimonthly, pre- and post-replacement, at 11 sites along the Colorado River upstream and downstream of the WWTP and analyzed for in vitro bioactivities (e.g., agonism of ER, GR, and PPARγ) and BC concentrations; fathead minnows were cage deployed pre- and post-replacement at sites with varying proximities to the WWTP. Before the WWTP replacement, in vitro ER (24 ng 17β-estradiol equivalents/L)-, GR (60 ng dexamethasone equivalents/L)-, and PPARγ-mediated activities were detected at the WWTP outflow but diminished downstream. In March 2018, the WWTP effluent was acutely toxic to the fish, likely due to elevated ammonia concentrations. Following the WWTP replacement, ER, GR, and PPARγ bioactivities were reduced by approximately 60–79%, no toxicity was observed in caged fish, and there were marked decreases in concentrations of many BCs. Results suggest that replacement of the Moab WWTP achieved a significant reduction in BC concentrations to the Colorado River.

Utah↗

USGS2025

Municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plant effluent contributions to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in the Potomac River: A basin-scale measuring and modeling approach

Managing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water resources requires a basin-scale approach. Predicted environmental concentrations (PEC) and stream-vulnerability scores for PFAS were determined for the Potomac River watershed in the eastern United States. Approximately 15% of stream reaches contained municipal and/or industrial wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) discharges that are presumptive PFAS sources, comprising from <1 to >90% of streamflow. Mean annual PEC, based on the summed concentrations of eight PFAS detected in WWTP effluents (ΣPFAS PEC ), for all stream reaches in the watershed was 3.8 ng L –1 , and stream reaches impacted by WWTP had perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) PEC of 0.39 and 0.14 ng L –1 . For locations where measured-environmental concentrations (MEC) were determined, municipal and industrial WWTP contributed 7.8% (0 to 65%) of the total annual streamflow and MEC were greater than PEC in 99% of the samples, indicating additional potential PFAS sources. The mean ΣPFAS PEC was 9.1 ng L –1 compared to a mean sum of PFAS MEC of 34 ng L –1 . Under mean-August low-flow, 17% and 9.4% of the water-supply intakes had maximum PFOA and PFOS PEC exceeding drinking water maximum contaminant levels.

Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia↗

USGS2011

Overview of prohibited and permitted plant regulatory listing systems

Pest risk analysis is a process that evaluates the risks involved with a proposed species to help determine whether it should be permitted or denied entry into a country, and how the risks could be managed if it is imported. The prohibited listing approach was developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s in response to outbreaks of plant and animals pests such as foot and mouth disease of livestock, Mediterranean fruitfly ( Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann), and Gypsy moth ( Lymantria dispar L.). Under this approach, selected species of concern are evaluated to determine if they should be regulated for entry. Under the permitted listing approach that was first used on a national level in Australia in the 1990s, all species that are proposed for introduction are assessed to determine if they should be regulated.

Book chapter↗

USGS2011

Federal interagency coordination for invasive plant issues -- The Federal Interagency Committee for the Management of Noxious and Exotic Weeds (FICMNEW)

The U.S. Federal Interagency Committee for the Management of Noxious and Exotic Weeds (FICMNEW) is a formal partnership between 16 federal agencies that have invasive plant management and regulatory responsibilities for the United States and its territories. Efforts to develop a national level federal interagency committee to coordinate federal activities were initiated by national weed program managers with the USDA Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management in 1989. FICMNEW was formally established through a Memorandum of Understanding that was signed by agency administrators of member agencies in August, 1994.

Book chapter↗

USGS2002

Notes. Characterization of plutonium in ground water near the idaho chemical processing plant

Plutonium is present in very low concentrations in ground water near the disposal well at the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant but was not detected in waters at greater distances. Because of the absence of strong complexing agents, the plutonium is present as an uncomplexed (perhaps hydrolyzed) tetravalent species, which is readily precipitated or sorbed by basalt or sediments along the ground-water flow path.

Idaho↗

USGS2009

Fate of sulfamethoxazole, 4-nonylphenol, and 17β-estradiol in groundwater contaminated by wastewater treatment plant effluent

Organic wastewater contaminants (OWCs) were measured in samples collected from monitoring wells located along a 4.5-km transect of a plume of groundwater contaminated by 60 years of continuous rapid infiltration disposal of wastewater treatment plant effluent. Fifteen percent of the 212 OWCs analyzed were detected, including the antibiotic sulfamethoxazole (SX), the nonionic surfactant degradation product 4-nonylphenol (NP), the solvent tetrachloroethene (PCE), and the disinfectant 1,4-dichlorobenzene (DCB). Comparison of the 2005 sampling results to data collected from the same wells in 1985 indicates that PCE and DCB are transported more rapidly in the aquifer than NP, consistent with predictions based on compound hydrophobicity. Natural gradient in situ tracer experiments were conducted to evaluate the subsurface behavior of SX, NP, and the female sex hormone 17β-estradiol (E2) in two oxic zones in the aquifer: (1) a downgradient transition zone at the interface between the contamination plume and the overlying uncontaminated groundwater and (2) a contaminated zone located beneath the infiltration beds, which have not been loaded for 10 years. In both zones, breakthrough curves for the conservative tracer bromide (Br − ) and SX were nearly coincident, whereas NP and E2 were retarded relative to Br − and showed mass loss. Retardation was greater in the contaminated zone than in the transition zone. Attenuation of NP and E2 in the aquifer was attributed to biotransformation, and oxic laboratory microcosm experiments using sediments from the transition and contaminated zones show that uniform-ring-labeled 14 C 4-normal-NP was biodegraded more rapidly (30−60% recovered as 14 CO 2 in 13 days) than 4- 14 C E2 (20−90% recovered as 14 CO 2 in 54 days). There was little difference in mineralization potential between sites.

Massachusetts↗

USGS2009

Inputs of fossil carbon from wastewater treatment plants to U.S. Rivers and oceans

Every day more than 500 million cubic meters of treated wastewater are discharged into rivers, estuaries, and oceans, an amount slightly less than the average flow of the Danube River. Typically, wastewaters have high organic carbon (OC) concentrations and represent a large fraction of total river flow and a higher fraction of river OC in densely populated watersheds. Here, we report the first direct measurements of radiocarbon ( 14 C) in municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent. The radiocarbon ages of particulate and dissolved organic carbon (POC and DOC) in effluent are old and relatively uniform across a range of WWTPs in New York and Connecticut. Wastewater DOC has a mean radiocarbon age of 1630 ?? 500 years B.P. and a mean ?? 13 C of -26.0 ?? 1???. Mass balance calculations indicate that 25% of wastewater DOC is fossil carbon, which is likely derived from petroleumbased household products such as detergents and pharmaceuticals. Thesefindings warrant reevaluation of the "apparent age" of riverine DOC, the total flux of petroleum carbon to U.S. oceans, and OC source assignments in waters impacted by sewage. ?? 2009 American Chemical Society.

Environmental Science & Technology↗

USGS2010

Evaluating the behavior of gadolinium and other rare earth elements through large metropolitan sewage treatment plants

A primary pathway for emerging contaminants (pharmaceuticals, personal care products, steroids, and hormones) to enter aquatic ecosystems is effluent from sewage treatment plants (STP), and identifying technologies to minimize the amount of these contaminants released is important. Quantifying the flux of these contaminants through STPs is difficult. This study evaluates the behavior of gadolinium, a rare earth element (REE) utilized as a contrasting agent in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), through four full-scale metropolitan STPs that utilize several biosolids thickening, conditioning, stabilization, and dewatering processing technologies. The organically complexed Gd from MRIs has been shown to be stable in aquatic systems and has the potential to be utilized as a conservative tracer in STP operations to compare to an emerging contaminant of interest. Influent and effluent waters display large enrichments in Gd compared to other REEs. In contrast, most sludge samples from the STPs do not display Gd enrichments, including primary sludges and end-product sludges. The excess Gd appears to remain in the liquid phase throughout the STP operations, but detailed quantification of the input Gd load and residence times of various STP operations is needed to utilize Gd as a conservative tracer.

Environmental Science & Technology↗

USGS2002

Aromatic fluorine compounds. VIII. Plant growth regulators and intermediates

The preparation and properties of 41 fluorophenoxyacetic acids, 4 fluorophenoxypropionic acids, 2 fluorobenzoic acids, several indole derivatives, and a number of miscellaneous compounds are described. Data are given for many intermediates such as new fluorinated phenols, anisoles, anilines and nitrobenzenes. Most of the subject compounds are related to a number of well-known herbicides or plant growth regulators such as 2,4-D, 2,4,5-T and others.

Journal of the American Chemical Society↗

USGS1997

Understory plant species composition in remnant stands along an urban-to-rural land-use gradient

We examined the understory species composition of 24 remnant forest stands along an urban-to-rural gradient in the metropolitan Milwaukee, Wisconsin region to determine the relationships between plant community composition, human disturbance, and contrasting types of land use along a gradient of urbanization. A significant difference was found in shrub species community composition among three contrasting land-use categories but no significant difference was found in herbaceous community composition. Significant differences in human activity existed among rural, urban, and urbanizing land-use categories, but this index of disturbance was not significantly correlated to gradients in species composition. All stands in this study had been subjected to various types of human activity and environmental disturbances in the past. Our data suggest that differences in the relative importance of understory species exist among stands but these differences may not be caused by the impacts of urbanization alone. Changes in the natural disturbance regime of this landscape, along with the impacts associated with urbanization, have led to an individualistic response in the compositional dynamics of forest stands.

Wisconsin↗