USGS Science⌕ Search

SEARCH · USGS Science

Results for “Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment”

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

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

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
USGS2015

Acidic deposition along the Appalachian Trail corridor and its effects on acid-sensitive terrestrial and aquatic resources

The Appalachian National Scenic Trail (AT), a unit of the National Park Service (NPS), spans nearly 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine, encompassing a diverse range of ecosystems. Acidic deposition (acid rain) threatens the AT’s natural resources. Acid rain is a result of sulfur (S) and nitrogen (N) compounds produced from fossil fuel combustion, motor vehicles, and agricultural practices. The AT is particularly vulnerable to S and N because it passes along ridgetops that receive higher levels of acid rain than lower valley terrain, and these ridges are often underlain by bedrock with minimal ability to buffer acidic inputs. Further, there are numerous S and N emission sources across the region. In the environment, acidic deposition can lower the pH of streams and soils which can ultimately affect fish, invertebrates, and vegetation that inhabit these areas. To address this concern, the MegaTransect Deposition Effects Study evaluated the condition and sensitivity of the AT corridor with respect to acidic deposition, and defined air pollution thresholds (critical and target loads) and recovery rates. Findings indicate that additional S emission reductions are needed to restore the AT.

Connecticut, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachuset↗
USGS2017

Land before water: The relative temporal sequence of human alteration of freshwater ecosystems in the conterminous United States

Human alteration of ecosystems prior to Euro-American contact in the area that became the conterminous United States disproportionately affected terrestrial systems compared to freshwater ecosystems, primarily through the use of fire and agriculture in some regions of the United States. After circa 1600 AD, trapping of beaver, along with intensive modification of rivers and wetlands for navigation, mining, flood control, power generation, and agriculture, substantially altered river corridors throughout the country. River corridor here refers to channels of all sizes, from headwater streams to very large rivers, and includes floodplains and wetlands associated with channels. Literature suggests that ecosystem alteration by humans prior to and during Euro-American settlement changed from predominantly terrestrial to both terrestrial and freshwater in a manner that was time-transgressive with Euro- American colonization and U.S. settlement between the 17th and 19th centuries. The extent and intensity of post-Euro-American alteration of freshwater environments in the United States has resulted in widespread river metamorphosis toward more geomorphically and ecologically homogenous systems. Recognition of the rapidity and ubiquity of this alteration, and the consequent instability of many contemporary river corridors, should underpin contemporary river management

Anthropocene↗
USGS2013

U.S. Geological Survey ecosystems science strategy—Advancing discovery and application through collaboration

Executive Summary Ecosystem science is critical to making informed decisions about natural resources that can sustain our Nation’s economic and environmental well-being. Resource managers and policymakers are faced with countless decisions each year at local, regional, and national levels on issues as diverse as renewable and nonrenewable energy development, agriculture, forestry, water supply, and resource allocations at the urban-rural interface. The urgency for sound decisionmaking is increasing dramatically as the world is being transformed at an unprecedented pace and in uncertain directions. Environmental changes are associated with natural hazards, greenhouse gas emissions, and increasing demands for water, land, food, energy, mineral, and living resources. At risk is the Nation’s environmental capital, the goods and services provided by resilient ecosystems that are vital to the health and wellbeing of human societies. Ecosystem science—the study of systems of organisms interacting with their environment and the consequences of natural and human-induced change on these systems—is necessary to inform decisionmakers as they develop policies to adapt to these changes. This Ecosystems Science Strategy is built on a framework that includes basic and applied science. It highlights the critical roles that U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists and partners can play in building scientific understanding and providing timely information to decisionmakers. The strategy underscores the connection between scientific discoveries and the application of new knowledge, and it integrates ecosystem science and decisionmaking, producing new scientific outcomes to assist resource managers and providing public benefits. We envision the USGS as a leader in integrating scientific information into decisionmaking processes that affect the Nation’s natural resources and human well-being. The USGS is uniquely positioned to play a pivotal role in ecosystem science. With its wide range of expertise, the Bureau can bring holistic, cross-scale, interdisciplinary capabilities to the design and conduct of monitoring, research, and modeling and to new technologies for data collection, management, and visualization. Collectively, these capabilities can be used to reveal ecological patterns and processes, explain how and why ecosystems change, and forecast change over different spatial and temporal scales. USGS science can provide managers with options and decision-support tools to use resources sustainably. The USGS has long-standing, collaborative relationships with the Department of the Interior (DOI) and other partners in the natural sciences, in both conducting science and applying the results. The USGS engages these partners in cooperative investigations that otherwise would lack the necessary support or be too expensive for a single bureau to conduct. The heart of this strategy is a framework for USGS ecosystems science that focuses on five long-term goals, which are seen as interconnected components that reinforce our vision of the USGS providing science that is at the forefront of decisionmaking: Improve understanding of ecosystem structure, function, and processes. The focus for this goal is an understanding of how ecosystems work, including the dynamics of species, their populations, interactions, and genetics, and how they change across spatial and temporal scales. Advance understanding of how drivers influence ecosystem change. The challenges here are explaining the drivers of ecosystem change, their spatio-temporal patterns, their uncertainties and interactions, and their influence on ecosystem processes and dynamics. Improve understanding of the services that ecosystems provide to society. Here the emphasis is on the measurement of environmental capital and ecosystem services, and the identification of sources and patterns of change in space and time. Develop tools, technologies, and capacities to inform decisionmaking about ecosystems. This includes developing new technologies and approaches for conducting applications-oriented ecosystem science. A principal challenge will be how to quantify uncertainty and incorporate it in decision analysis. Apply science to enhance strategies for management, conservation, and restoration of ecosystems. These challenges include development of novel approaches to monitoring, assessment, and restoration of ecosystems; new methods to address species of concern and communities at risk; and innovations in decision analysis and support to address imminent ecosystem changes or those that are underway. Closely integrated with the five goals are four strategic approaches that provide the path forward for the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area. These approaches cross-cut all of the goals and are seen as essential to the implementation of this strategy: Assess information needs for ecosystem science through enhanced partnerships. Work with the DOI and other agencies and institutions to identify, design, and implement priority decision-driven ecological research. Promote the use of interdisciplinary ecosystem science. Design and conduct interdisciplinary process-oriented research in ecosystem science. Enhance modeling and forecasting. Build models to forecast ecosystem change, assess future management scenarios, and reduce uncertainties through an adaptive learning process. Support decisionmaking. Use quantitative approaches to assess the vulnerabilities of ecosystems, habitats, and species, and evaluate strategies for adaptation, restoration, and sustainable management. Following the four strategic approaches are a set of proposed actions that represent a sampling of specific USGS activities that align with this strategy and that address the Nation’s most pressing environmental needs. The strategy emphasizes coordination of activities across the USGS mission areas pursuant to these goals. Ecosystem science is inherently interdisciplinary and requires a broad perspective that incorporates the biological and physical sciences, climate science, information technology, and scientific capacity in mission areas across the Bureau. With its emphasis on coordination, this strategy can provide a critical underpinning for integrated science efforts with scientists from multiple mission areas of the USGS working together. Of course, the USGS will continue to conduct discipline-specific and interdisciplinary investigations, and both will continue to be vital parts of the ecosystem science portfolio. Finally, the strategy stresses the importance of coordination with other Federal agencies and organizations in the natural resources community. The USGS collaborates with resource agencies in the DOI and other organizations throughout the world to meet societal needs for species and ecosystem management. Working with these agencies and organizations, the USGS will play a key role in guiding sound decisionmaking during the next decade by advancing the scientific foundation for sustaining the natural resources that diverse, productive, resilient ecosystems provide.

Circular↗
USGS2012

Toxicity, sublethal effects, and potential modes of action of select fungicides on freshwater fish and invertebrates

Despite decades of agricultural and urban use of fungicides and widespread detection of these pesticides in surface waters, relatively few data are available on the effects of fungicides on fish and invertebrates in the aquatic environment. Nine fungicides are reviewed in this report: azoxystrobin, boscalid, chlorothalonil, fludioxonil, myclobutanil, fenarimol, pyraclostrobin, pyrimethanil, and zoxamide. These fungicides were identified as emerging chemicals of concern because of their high or increasing global use rates, detection frequency in surface waters, or likely persistence in the environment. A review of the literature revealed significant sublethal effects of fungicides on fish, aquatic invertebrates, and ecosystems, including zooplankton and fish reproduction, fish immune function, zooplankton community composition, metabolic enzymes, and ecosystem processes, such as leaf decomposition in streams, among other biological effects. Some of these effects can occur at fungicide concentrations well below single-species acute lethality values (48- or 96-hour concentration that effects a response in 50 percent of the organisms, that is, effective concentration killing 50 percent of the organisms in 48 or 96 hours) and chronic sublethal values (for example, 21-day no observed adverse effects concentration), indicating that single-species toxicity values may dramatically underestimate the toxic potency of some fungicides. Fungicide modes of toxic action in fungi can sometimes reflect the biochemical and (or) physiological effects of fungicides observed in vertebrates and invertebrates; however, far more studies are needed to explore the potential to predict effects in nontarget organisms based on specific fungicide modes of toxic action. Fungicides can also have additive and (or) synergistic effects when used with other fungicides and insecticides, highlighting the need to study pesticide mixtures that occur in surface waters. For fungicides that partition to organic matter in sediment and soils, it is particularly important to determine their effects on freshwater mussels and other freshwater benthic invertebrates in contact with sediments, as available toxicity studies with pelagic species, mainly Daphnia magna , may not be representative of these benthic organisms. Finally, there is a critical need for studies of the chronic effects of fungicides on reproduction, immunocompetence, and ecosystem function; sublethal endpoints with population and community-level relevance.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2021

A U.S.-China EcoPartnership study of disturbed wetland vegetation in West Dongting Lake, China

West Dongting Lake in China is important for human livelihoods and habitat of migratory waterfowl and other wildlife. The waterway re-engineering and agriculture intensification have contributed to changes in hydrology, sediment, and vegetation on the floodplain. This paper describes an EcoPartnership program conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, and Beijing Forestry University. It focused on the development of a wetland ecosystem network in West Dongting Lake with technical support from the U.S. partner using a number of related studies to examine wetland vegetation dynamics from upstream to downstream along the tributaries. The results of U.S. studies showed that the regeneration potential of species might be altered by changes in climate and local environment, and seed bank depletion by germination may be a major conservation threat in a future with recurring droughts in swamps of the southeastern United States. In the monsoonal wetlands of West Dongting Lake, the soil seed bank could be used as a seed source for revegetation after hydrologic restoration with the introduction of certain foundational species and the removal of poplar plantations. Also, West Dongting Lake is at high ecological risk of mercury pollution. Wetland ecosystem monitoring may allow managers to use the information to predict effects of climate change, water level and flow changes on sedimentation, and to manage for desired vegetation to support waterfowl and ecosystem services. The cooperation of two countries through the EcoPartnership program is now well established and poised for extensive research projects in the future.

West Dongting Lake↗
USGS2018

Effects of climate change on ecological disturbance in the Northern Rockies Region [Chapter 8]

This chapter describes the ecology of important disturbance regimes in the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USFS) Northern Region and the Greater Yellowstone Area, hereafter called the Northern Rockies region, and potential shifts in these regimes as a consequence of observed and projected climate change. The term disturbance regime describes the general temporal and spatial characteristics of a disturbance agent - insect, disease, fire, weather, even human activity - and the effects of that agent on the landscape (table 8.1). More specifically, a disturbance regime is the cumulative effect of multiple disturbance events over space and time (Keane 2013). Disturbances disrupt an ecosystem, community, or population structure and change elements of the biological environment, physical environment, or both (White and Pickett 1985). The resulting shifting mosaic of diverse ecological patterns and structures in turn affects future patterns of disturbance, in a reciprocal, linked relationship that shapes the fundamental character of landscapes and ecosystems. Disturbance creates and maintains biological diversity in the form of shifting, heterogeneous mosaics of diverse communities and habitats across a landscape (McKinney and Drake 1998), and biodiversity is generally highest when disturbance is neither too rare nor too frequent on the landscape (Grime 1973).

General Technical Report↗
USGS2012

Endocrine disrupting chemicals in Minnesota lakes - Water-quality and hydrological data from 2008 and 2010

Understanding the sources, fate, and effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals in aquatic ecosystems is important for water-resource management. This study was conducted during 2008 and 2010 to establish a framework for assessing endocrine disrupting chemicals, and involved a statewide survey of their occurrence in 14 Minnesota lakes and a targeted study of different microhabitats on a single lake. The lakes ranged in size from about 0.1 to 100 square kilometers, varied in trophic status from oligotrophic to eutrophic, and spanned a range of land-uses from wetlands and forest to agricultural and urban use. Water and sediment samples were collected from the near-shore littoral environment and analyzed for endocrine disrupting chemicals, including trace elements, acidic organic compounds, neutral organic compounds, and steroidal hormones. In addition, polar organic compound integrative samplers were deployed for 21 days and analyzed for the same organic compounds. One lake was selected for a detailed microhabitat study of multiple near-shore environments. This report compiles the results from the field measurements and laboratory chemical analysis of water, sediment, and polar organic compound integrative sampler samples collected during 2008 and 2010. Most of the organic compounds measured were not detected in any of the water samples, although a few compounds were detected in several of the lakes.

Minnesota↗
USGS2012

The U.S. Geological Survey Ecosystem Science Strategy, 2012-2022 - Advancing discovery and application through collaboration

Ecosystem science is critical to making informed decisions about natural resources that can sustain our Nation’s economic and environmental well-being. Resource managers and policy-makers are faced with countless decisions each year at local, state, tribal, territorial, and national levels on issues as diverse as renewable and non-renewable energy development, agriculture, forestry, water supply, and resource allocations at the urban-rural interface. The urgency for sound decision-making is increasing dramatically as the world is being transformed at an unprecedented pace and in uncertain directions. Environmental changes are associated with natural hazards, greenhouse gas emissions, and increasing demands for water, land, food, energy, mineral, and living resources. At risk is the Nation’s environmental capital, the goods and services provided by resilient ecosystems that are vital to the health and well-being of human societies. Ecosystem science—the study of systems of organisms interacting with their environment and the consequences of natural and human-induced change on these systems—is necessary to inform decision-makers as they develop policies to adapt to these changes. This Ecosystems Science Strategy is built on a framework that includes basic and applied science. It highlights the critical roles that USGS scientists and partners can play in building scientific understanding and providing timely information to decision-makers. The strategy underscores the connection between scientific discoveries and the application of new knowledge. The strategy integrates ecosystem science and decision-making, producing new scientific outcomes to assist resource managers and providing public benefits. The USGS is uniquely positioned to play an important role in ecosystem science. With its wide range of expertise, the agency can bring holistic, cross-scale, interdisciplinary capabilities to the design and conduct of monitoring, research, and modeling and to new technologies for data collection, management, and visualization. Collectively, these capabilities can be used to reveal ecological patterns and processes, explain how and why ecosystems change, and forecast change over different spatial and temporal scales. USGS science can provide managers with options and decision-support tools to use resources sustainably. The USGS has long-standing, collaborative relationships with the DOI and other partners in the natural sciences, in both conducting science and its application. The USGS engages these partners in cooperative investigations that otherwise would lack the necessary support or be too expensive for a single bureau to conduct. The heart of this strategy is a framework and vision for USGS ecosystems science that focuses on five long-term goals, which are seen as interconnected and reinforcing components: • Improve understanding of ecosystem structure, function, and processes. The focus for this goal is an understanding of how ecosystems work, including the dynamics of species, their populations, interactions, and genetics, and how they change across spatial and temporal scales. • Advance understanding of how drivers influence ecosystem change. The challenges here are explaining the drivers of ecosystem change, their spatio-temporal patterns, their uncertainties and interactions, and their influence on ecosystem processes and dynamics. • Improve understanding of the services that ecosystems provide to society. Here the emphasis is on the measurement of environmental capital and ecosystem services, and the identification of sources and patterns of change in space and time. • Develop tools, technologies, and capacities to inform decision-making about ecosystems. This includes developing new technologies and approaches for conducting applications-oriented ecosystem science. A principal challenge will be how to quantify uncertainty and incorporate it in decision analysis. • Apply science to enhance strategies for management, conservation, and restoration of ecosystems. These challenges include development of novel approaches to monitoring, assessment, and restoration of ecosystems; new methods to address species of concern and communities at risk; and innovations in decision analysis and support to address imminent ecosystem changes or those that are underway. Closely integrated with the five goals are four strategic approaches that provide the path forward for the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area. These approaches cross-cut all of the goals and are seen as essential to the implementation of this strategy: • Assess information needs for ecosystem science through enhanced partnerships. Work with the DOI and other agencies and institutions to identify, design, and implement priority decision-driven ecological research. • Promote the use of interdisciplinary ecosystem science. Design and conduct interdisciplinary process-oriented research in ecosystem science. • Enhance modeling and forecasting. Build models to forecast ecosystem change, assess future management scenarios, and reduce uncertainties through an adaptive learning process. • Support decision-making. Use quantitative approaches to assess the vulnerabilities of ecosystems, habitats, and species, and evaluate strategies for adaptation, restoration, and sustainable management. Following the strategic approaches are a set of proposed actions that represent a sampling of specific activities that align with this strategy and that address the Nation’s most pressing environmental needs. The strategy emphasizes coordination of activities across the USGS mission areas pursuant to these goals. Ecosystem science is inherently interdisciplinary and requires a broad perspective that incorporates the biological and physical sciences, climate science, information technology, and scientific capacity in mission areas across the Bureau. With its emphasis on coordination, this strategy can provide a critical underpinning for integrated science efforts with scientists from multiple mission areas of the USGS working together. Of course, the USGS will continue to conduct both discipline-specific and interdisciplinary investigations, and both will continue to be vital parts of the ecosystem science portfolio. Finally, the strategy stresses the importance of coordination with other Federal agencies and organizations in the natural resources community. The USGS collaborates with resource agencies in the DOI and other organizations throughout the world to meet societal needs for species and ecosystem management. Working with these agencies and organizations, the USGS will play a key role over the next decade in advancing the scientific foundation for sustaining the natural resources that diverse, productive, resilient ecosystems provide.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2023

Considering pollinators' ecosystem services in the remediation and restoration of contaminated lands: Overview of research and its gaps

The concept of ecosystem services provides a useful framework for understanding how people are affected by changes to the natural environment, such as when a contaminant is introduced (e.g., oil spills, hazardous substance releases) or, conversely, when contaminated lands are remediated and restored. Pollination is one example of an important ecosystem service; pollinators play a critical role in any functioning terrestrial ecosystem. Other studies have suggested that consideration of pollinators' ecosystem services could lead to better remediation and restoration outcomes. However, the associated relationships can be complex, and evaluation requires synthesis from numerous disciplines. In this article, we discuss the possibilities for considering pollinators and their ecosystem services when planning remediation and restoration of contaminated lands. To inform the discussion, we introduce a general conceptual model of how pollinators and the ecosystem services associated with them could be affected by contamination in the environment. We review the literature on the conceptual model components, including contaminant effects on pollinators and the direct and indirect ecosystem services provided by pollinators, and identify information gaps. Though increased public interest in pollinators likely reflects increasing recognition of their role in providing many important ecosystem services, our review indicates that many gaps in understanding—about relevant natural and social systems—currently impede the rigorous quantification and evaluation of pollinators' ecosystem services required for many applications, such as in the context of natural resource damage assessment. Notable gaps include information on non-honeybee pollinators and on ecosystem services beyond those benefitting the agricultural sector. We then discuss potential research priorities and implications for practitioners. Focused research attention on the areas highlighted in this review holds promise for increasing the possibilities for considering pollinators' ecosystem services in the remediation and restoration of contaminated lands.

Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management↗
USGS2013

Is exposure to cyanobacteria an environmental risk factor for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases?

There is a broad scientific consensus that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is caused by gene-environment interactions. Mutations in genes underlying familial ALS (fALS) have been discovered in only 5–10% of the total population of ALS patients. Relatively little attention has been paid to environmental and lifestyle factors that may trigger the cascade of motor neuron death leading to the syndrome of ALS, although exposure to chemicals including lead and pesticides, and to agricultural environments, smoking, certain sports, and trauma have all been identified with an increased risk of ALS. There is a need for research to quantify the relative roles of each of the identified risk factors for ALS. Recent evidence has strengthened the theory that chronic environmental exposure to the neurotoxic amino acid β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) produced by cyanobacteria may be an environmental risk factor for ALS. Here we describe methods that may be used to assess exposure to cyanobacteria, and hence potentially to BMAA, namely an epidemiologic questionnaire and direct and indirect methods for estimating the cyanobacterial load in ecosystems. Rigorous epidemiologic studies could determine the risks associated with exposure to cyanobacteria, and if combined with genetic analysis of ALS cases and controls could reveal etiologically important gene-environment interactions in genetically vulnerable individuals.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal D↗
USGS2009

Monitoring forest changes in the southwestern United States using multitemporal Landsat data

Landsat time series data sets were acquired for the Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico. This area includes the San Pedro Parks Wilderness area, which was designated as an official wilderness in 1964. Eight autumnal Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) scenes acquired from 1988 to 2006 were analyzed to determine whether significant changes have occurred throughout the region during the past 18 years and, if so, to assess whether the changes are long-term and gradual or short-term and abrupt. It was found that, starting in about 1995, many of the conifer stands within the Wilderness area showed consistently gradual and marked increases in the Shortwave Infrared/Near Infrared Index. These trends generally imply decreases in canopy greenness or increases in mortality. Other high-elevation conifer forests located outside of the Wilderness area showed similar spectral trends, indicating that changes are potentially widespread. The spatial patterns of forest damage as inferred from the image analyses were very similar to the general patterns of insect defoliation damage mapped via aerial sketch mapping by the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Forest Health Monitoring Program. A field visit indicated that zones of spectral change are associated with high levels of forest damage and mortality, likely caused by a combination of insects and drought. The study demonstrates the effectiveness of using historical Landsat data for providing objective and consistent long-term assessments of the gradual ecosystem changes that are occurring within the western United States.

Remote Sensing of Environment↗
USGS2012

An exploratory investigation of the landscape-lake interface: Land cover controls over consumer N and C isotopic composition in Lake Michigan rivermouths

Rivermouth ecosystems are areas where tributary waters mix with lentic near-shore waters and provide habitat for many Laurentian Great Lakes fish and wildlife species. Rivermouths are the interface between terrestrial activities that influence rivers and the ecologically important nearshore. Stable isotopes of nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) in consumers were measured from a range of rivermouths systems to address two questions: 1) What is the effect of rivermouth ecosystems and land cover on the isotopic composition of N available to rivermouth consumers? 2) Are rivermouth consumers composed of lake-like or river-like C? For question 1, data suggest that strong relationships between watershed agriculture and consumer N are weakened or eliminated at the rivermouth, in favor of stronger relationships between consumer N and depositional areas that may favor denitrification. For question 2, despite apparently large riverine inputs, consumers only occasionally appear river-like. More often consumers seem to incorporate large amounts of C from either the nearshore or primary production within the rivermouth itself. Rivermouths appear to be active C and N processing environments, thus necessitating their explicit incorporation into models estimating nearshore loading and possibly contributing to their importance to Great Lakes biota.

Lake Michigan↗
USGS2017

The Nitrogen Footprint Tool network: A multi-institution program to reduce nitrogen pollution

Anthropogenic sources of reactive nitrogen have local and global impacts on air and water quality and detrimental effects on human and ecosystem health. This paper uses the nitrogen footprint tool (NFT) to determine the amount of nitrogen (N) released as a result of institutional consumption. The sectors accounted for include food (consumption and upstream production), energy, transportation, fertilizer, research animals, and agricultural research. The NFT is then used for scenario analysis to manage and track reductions, which are driven by the consumption behaviors of both the institution itself and its constituent individuals. In this paper, the first seven completed institution nitrogen footprint results are presented. The institution NFT network aims to develop footprints for many institutions to encourage widespread upper-level management strategies that will create significant reductions in reactive nitrogen released to the environment. Energy use and food purchases are the two largest sectors contributing to institution nitrogen footprints. Ongoing efforts by institutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions also help to reduce the nitrogen footprint, but the impact of food production on nitrogen pollution has not been directly addressed by the higher-ed sustainability community. The NFT Network found that institutions could reduce their nitrogen footprints by optimizing food purchasing to reduce consumption of animal products and minimize food waste, as well as reducing dependence on fossil fuels for energy.

Sustainability↗
USGS1985

Dissolved constituents including selenium in waters in the vicinity of Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge and the west grassland, Fresno and Merced Counties, California

Analyses were made for dissolved constituents including selenium (Se) in waters associated with subsurface agricultural drainage from the western San Joaquin Valley of California. In the vicinity of Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge and the Grassland wetlands area Se was found to be mobilized in water. As a consequence of this mobility and bioaccumulation in the aquatic food chain, Se occurred in waterfowl at levels toxic enough to cause deformities and deaths. Se concentrations in sumps that collect subsurface agricultural drainage water and inflows to drains sampled, ultimately leading into Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge and the Grassland, ranged from 84 to 4200 microgram/L (ug/L) Se. Levels of Se were reduced in the San Luis Drain flowing into Kesterson National Wildlife Refute to approximately 300 ug/L Se and in three of the drains sampled flowing into the Grassland to approximately 50 ug/L Se. Serious effects on water fowl habitat were caused by both these levels. Se contents of algal mats and salt crusts from evaporation ponds of the San Luis Drain contained up to parts per million Se. Total ecosystem assessment of Se may be necessary for the evaluation of the toxicity of Se to the environment. No other trace element reported exceeded the various criteria for water at the level of magnitude of Se. Other dissolved constituents and the isotopic ratios of oxygen and hydrogen were analyzed to elucidate water types, reaction states of the aqueous solution with respect to minerals, and the origin of mixed waters. These data will be used later to evaluate the geologic source of Se. Methods used for collection and analysis are described and documented. Hydrologic effects were found to be complex. Preliminary indications from wells are also given. A historical sequence is adhered to and other data from the study area which serve as a guide to the toxicity of Se are included. (Author 's abstract)

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS2018

Contaminants in tropical island streams and their biota

Environmental contamination is problematic for tropical islands due to their typically dense human populations and competing land and water uses. The Caribbean island of Puerto Rico (USA) has a long history of anthropogenic chemical use, and its human population density is among the highest globally, providing a model environment to study contaminant impacts on tropical island stream ecosystems. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, historic-use chlorinated pesticides, current-use pesticides, Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), and metals (mercury, cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, zinc, and selenium) were quantified in the habitat and biota of Puerto Rico streams and assessed in relation to land-use patterns and toxicological thresholds. Water, sediment, and native fish and shrimp species were sampled in 13 rivers spanning broad watershed land-use characteristics during 2009–2010. Contrary to expectations, freshwater stream ecosystems in Puerto Rico were not severely polluted, likely due to frequent flushing flows and reduced deposition associated with recurring flood events. Notable exceptions of contamination were nickel in sediment within three agricultural watersheds (range 123–336 ppm dry weight) and organic contaminants (PCBs, organochlorine pesticides) and mercury in urban landscapes. At an urban site, PCBs i n several fish species (Mountain Mullet Agonostomus monticola [range 0.019–0.030 ppm wet weight] and American Eel Anguilla rostrata [0.019–0.031 ppm wet weight]) may pose human health hazards, with concentrations exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) consumption limit for 1 meal/month. American Eel at the urban site also contained dieldrin (range < detection-0.024 ppm wet weight) that exceeded the EPA maximum allowable consumption limit. The Bigmouth Sleeper Gobiomorous dormitor , an important piscivorus sport fish, accumulated low levels of organic contaminants in edible muscle tissue (due to its low lipid c ontent) and may be most suitable for human consumption island-wide; only mercury at one site (an urban location) exceeded EPA's consumption limit of 3 meals/month for this species. These results comprise the first comprehensive island-wide contaminant assessment of Puerto Rico streams and biota and provide natural resource and public health agencies here and in similar tropical islands elsewhere with information needed to guide ecosystem and fisheries conservation and management and human health risk assessment.

Environmental Research↗
USGS2021

Distribution, abundance, and genomic diversity of the endangered antioch dunes evening primrose (Oenothera deltoides subsp. howellii) surveyed in 2019

Sand dune ecosystems are highly dynamic landforms found along coastlines and riverine deltas where a supply of sand-sized material is available to be delivered by aquatic and wind environments. These unique ecosystems provide habitat for a variety of endemic and rare plant and animal species. Sand dunes have been affected by human development, sand mining, and shoreline stabilization from invasive weeds. This report provides a summary of a comprehensive literature review, field survey, and genomic analysis for the Antioch Dunes evening primrose ( Oenothera deltoides subsp. howellii , hereafter howellii ), an endemic species to the San Francisco Bay-Delta, California, which was listed as a federally endangered subspecies in 1978. Howellii is found on a historic dune sheet (the Antioch sand sheet) near the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. The Antioch sand sheet has been greatly altered by sand mining and land conversion into agriculture and urban development. In chapter A, we describe results of the literature review and field survey. We found howellii at eight locations with over 90 percent of the adult population and nearly 99 percent of juveniles observed on the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge. We measured a negative relationship between howellii numbers and invasive weed cover, illustrating the importance of mobilized open sand for this species. In chapter B, we describe the genomic study results. We surveyed genomic diversity by using double-digest restriction-site associated sequencing to estimate population genetic structure and levels of diversity across all surveyed occurrences. The genomic analyses included outgroup samples of the closely related Oenothera deltoides subsp. cognata and three occurrences of an unknown taxon with intermediate morphology to cognata and howellii , which also occurs on the Antioch sand sheet, east of the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge. These three morphologically distinctive groups formed genetically distinctive clusters and well-supported monophyletic clades in clustering and phylogenetic analyses, respectively. There was no indication of recent hybridization among any of the groups. Among howellii occurrences, the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge contained the greatest genetic diversity. Our approach, which combined field surveys, habitat assessments, and genetic analyses, can provide useful information for the conservation and management of rare and at-risk plant species and highlights the uniqueness of the Antioch sand sheet floral diversity through the discovery of a putative new taxon within the bird-cage evening primrose species complex.

California↗
USGS2021

Wetlands

During the last decades, soil organic carbon (SOC) attracted the attention of a much wider array of specialists beyond agriculture and soil science, as it was proven to be one of the most crucial components of the earth’s climate system, which has a great potential to be managed by humans. Soils as a carbon pool are one of the key factors in several Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 15, “Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss” with the SOC stock being explicitly cited in Indicator 15.3.1. This technical manual is the first attempt to gather, in a standardized format, the existing data on the impacts of the main soil management practices on SOC content in a wide array of environments, including the advantages, drawbacks, and constraints. This manual presents different sustainable soil management (SSM) practices at different scales and in different contexts, supported by case studies that have been shown with quantitative data to have a positive effect on SOC stocks and successful experiences of SOC sequestration in practical field applications Volume 2 includes a description of hot spots of SOC stocks. This manual defines hot spots of SOC as areas that represent a proportionally little of the global land surface but on which SOC storage is highly effective; bright spots as large land areas with low SOC stocks per km2 that represent a potential for further carbon sequestration.

Report↗
USGS2016

The bee microbiome: Impact on bee health and model for evolution and ecology of host-microbe interactions

As pollinators, bees are cornerstones for terrestrial ecosystem stability and key components in agricultural productivity. All animals, including bees, are associated with a diverse community of microbes, commonly referred to as the microbiome. The bee microbiome is likely to be a crucial factor affecting host health. However, with the exception of a few pathogens, the impacts of most members of the bee microbiome on host health are poorly understood. Further, the evolutionary and ecological forces that shape and change the microbiome are unclear. Here, we discuss recent progress in our understanding of the bee microbiome, and we present challenges associated with its investigation. We conclude that global coordination of research efforts is needed to fully understand the complex and highly dynamic nature of the interplay between the bee microbiome, its host, and the environment. High-throughput sequencing technologies are ideal for exploring complex biological systems, including host-microbe interactions. To maximize their value and to improve assessment of the factors affecting bee health, sequence data should be archived, curated, and analyzed in ways that promote the synthesis of different studies. To this end, the BeeBiome consortium aims to develop an online database which would provide reference sequences, archive metadata, and host analytical resources. The goal would be to support applied and fundamental research on bees and their associated microbes and to provide a collaborative framework for sharing primary data from different research programs, thus furthering our understanding of the bee microbiome and its impact on pollinator health.

mBio↗