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At least 1,405 records · Page 78Linked to original sources
USGS1989

Water-related scientific activities of the U.S. Geological Survey in Nevada, fiscal years 1985-89

The U.S. Geological Survey has been collecting water resources data in Nevada since 1890. Most of the projects in the current Nevada District program can be classified as either basic-data acquisition (about 25%) or hydrologic interpretation (about 75 %). About 52% of the activities are supported by cooperative agreements with State and local agencies. Technical projects supported by other Federal agencies make up about 23% of the program, and the remaining 25% consists of data collection, research, and interpretive projects supported directly by the U.S. Geological Survey. Water conditions in Nevada during the 4 years covered by this report were by no means average, with 1 very wet year (1986) and 2 very dry years (1987-88). The major water resources issues include: water allocation in the Truckee-Carson River basin; irrigation return flow contamination of the Stillwater Wildlife Management Area; effects of weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site; assessment of potential long-term impacts of the proposed Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository; and drought. Future water-resources issues in Nevada are likely to center on water supply for and the environmental effects of, the rapidly growing population centers at Las Vegas, Reno, and Elko; impacts of operations at the Nevada Test Site; management of interstate rivers such as the Truckee and Colorado Rivers; hydrologic and environmental impacts at heavily mined areas; and water quality management in the Lake Tahoe Basin. (Thacker-USGS-WRD)

Open-File Report↗
USGS2011

Natural resource mitigation, adaptation and research needs related to climate change in the Great Basin and Mojave Desert

This report synthesizes the knowledge, opinions, and concerns of many Federal and State land managers, scientists, stakeholders, and partners from a workshop, held at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, on April 20-22, 2010. Land managers, research scientists, and resource specialists identified common concerns regarding the potential effects of climate change on public lands and natural resources in the Great Basin and Mojave Desert and developed recommendations for mitigation, adaptation, and research needs. Water and, conversely, the effects of drought emerged as a common theme in all breakout sessions on terrestrial and aquatic species at risk, managing across boundaries, monitoring, and ecosystem services. Climate change models for the southwestern deserts predict general warming and drying with increasing precipitation variability year to year. Scientists noted that under these changing conditions the past may no longer be a guide to the future in which managers envision increasing conflicts between human water uses and sustaining ecosystems. Increasing environmental stress also is expected as a consequence of shifting ecosystem boundaries and species distributions, expansion of non-native species, and decoupling of biotic mutualisms, leading to increasingly unstable biologic communities. Managers uniformly expressed a desire to work across management and agency boundaries at a landscape scale but conceded that conflicting agency missions and budgetary constraints often impede collaboration. More and better science is needed to cope with the effects of climate change but, perhaps even more important is the application of science to management issues using the methods of adaptive management based on long-term monitoring to assess the merits of management actions. Access to data is essential for science-based land management. Basic inventories, spatial databases, baseline condition assessments, data quality assurance, and data sharing were identified as top information priorities by all participants at this workshop. Optimizing the utility of ecosystem monitoring data will require standardizing monitoring protocols across agencies. Better communication among researchers and managers and cooperation through partnerships to manage resources across boundaries were emphasized as necessary for adapting to changing climatic conditions. However, even these strategies may be insufficient unless policy mandates, agency missions, and funding are coordinated at a high level.

Scientific Investigations Report↗
USGS2010

Great Basin Integrated Landscape Monitoring Pilot Summary Report

The Great Basin Integrated Landscape Monitoring Pilot project (GBILM) was one of four regional pilots to implement the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Science Thrust on Integrated Landscape Monitoring (ILM) whose goal was to observe, understand, and predict landscape change and its implications on natural resources at multiple spatial and temporal scales and address priority natural resource management and policy issues. The Great Basin is undergoing rapid environmental change stemming from interactions among global climate trends, increasing human populations, expanding and accelerating land and water uses, invasive species, and altered fire regimes. GBLIM tested concepts and developed tools to store and analyze monitoring data, understand change at multiple scales, and forecast landscape change. The GBILM endeavored to develop and test a landscape-level monitoring approach in the Great Basin that integrates USGS disciplines, addresses priority management questions, catalogs and uses existing monitoring data, evaluates change at multiple scales, and contributes to development of regional monitoring strategies. GBILM functioned as an integrative team from 2005 to 2010, producing more than 35 science and data management products that addressed pressing ecosystem drivers and resource management agency needs in the region. This report summarizes the approaches and methods of this interdisciplinary effort, identifies and describes the products generated, and provides lessons learned during the project.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2012

GRACEnet: addressing policy needs through coordinated cross-location research

GRACEnet (Greenhouse gas Reduction through Agricultural Carbon Enhancement network) was conceived to build upon ongoing USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) research to improve soil productivity, while addressing the challenges and opportunities of interest in C sequestration from a climate change perspective. The vision for GRACEnet was and remains: Knowledge and information used to implement scientifically based agricultural management practices from the field to national policy scales on C sequestration, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and environmental benefits. The national focus of GRACEnet uses a standardized approach by ARS laboratories and university and land manager (e.g. farmer and rancher) cooperators to assess C sequestration and GHG emission from different crop and grassland systems. Since 2002, GRACEnet has significantly expanded GHG mitigation science and delivered usable information to agricultural research and policy organizations. Recent developments suggest GRACEnet will have international impact by contributing leadership and technical guidance for the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases.

Book chapter↗
USGS2010

Integrating Agriculture and Conservation

The USGS produces the needed science-based information to guide management actions and policy decisions that support wildlife habitat and other environmental services compatible with USDA conservation goals and farm operations. The Policy Analysis and Science Assistance Branch of the Fort Collins Science Center (FORT) has conducted research involving a national landowner survey and numerous short- and long-term evaluations regarding vegetation responses to land management practices. This research helps land and resource managers to make informed decisions and resolve resource management conflicts.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS1984

Sediment transport by irrigation return flows in four small drains within the DID-18 drainage of the Sulphur Creek basin, Yakima County, Washington, April 1979 to October 1981

Suspended sediment, water discharges, and water temperatures were monitored in four small drains in the DID-18 basin of the Sulphur Creek basin, a tributary to the Yakima River, Washington. Water outflow, inflow, and miscellaneous sites were also monitored. The information was used to evaluate the effectiveness of management practices in reducing sediment loads in irrigated areas. This study was one of seven Model Implementation Plan projects selected by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to demonstrate the effectiveness of institutional and administrative implementation of management plans. Sediment discharges from the four basins could not be correlated with changes in management practices, because Imhoff Cone readings collected for the study showed no statistical differences between the three irrigation seasons. However, one drain acted as a sink for sediment where more lands were sprinkler irrigated; this drain had a smaller proportion of row crops than did the other three drains. (USGS)

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS1993

Evaluation of invasions and declines of submersed aquatic macrophytes

During the past 60 yr, sightings of aquatic macrophyte species in geographic regions where they had previously not been found have occurred with increasing frequency, apparently due to both greater dispersal of the plants as a result of human activities as well as better documentation of plant distribution. Intercontinental invasions, such as Myriophyllum spicatum and Hydrilla into North America, Elodea canadensis into Europe and Elodea nuttallii, Egeria densa and Cabomba caroliniana into Japan, have generally been well documented. However, the spread of an exotic species across a continent after its initial introduction (e.g., Potamogeton crispus in North America) or the expansion of a species native to a continent into hitherto unexploited territory (e.g.,the expansion of the North American native Myriophyllum heterophyllum into New England) have received little attention. Natural declines in aquatic macrophyte communities have also received little scientific study although there are many accounts of macrophyte declines. The best-documented example comes from the marine literature where extensive declines of eelgrass (Zostera) occurred in the 1930s along the Atlantic coast due to a pathogenic marine slime mold (''wasting disease''). The aim of this workshop was to identify examples of invasions or natural declines of aquatic macrophyte species throughout the world and assess the importance of environmental factors in their control. Forty-five scientists and aquatic plant managers from ten countries participated in the workshop. Eleven of the participants contributed written evaluations of species invasions and declines in their geo-graphic region. These were distributed to registered participants prior to the meeting and served as the starting-point of workshop discussions. To address the topics raised in the working papers, the participants divided into four working groups to evaluate: 1. Environmental controls of species invasions. 2. Biotic controls of species declines. 3. Abiotic controls of species declines. 4. Impact of management practices on macrophyte invasions or declines. Each working group was asked to identify existing evidence, the need for additional evidence and management implications of their topics and then requested to discuss their findings with the entire workshop at the conclusion of discussions.

Journal of Aquatic Plant Management↗
USGS2022

A comparison of monitoring designs to assess wildlife community parameters across spatial scales

Dedicated long-term monitoring at appropriate spatial and temporal scales is necessary to understand biodiversity losses and develop effective conservation plans. Wildlife monitoring is often achieved by obtaining data at a combination of spatial scales, ranging from local to broad, to understand the status, trends, and drivers of individual species or whole communities and their dynamics. However, limited resources for monitoring necessitates tradeoffs in the scope and scale of data collection. Careful consideration of the spatial and temporal allocation of finite sampling effort is crucial for monitoring programs that span multiple spatial scales. Here we evaluate the ability of five monitoring designs - stratified random, weighted effort, indicator unit, rotating panel, and split panel - to recover parameter values that describe the status (occupancy), trends (change in occupancy), and drivers (spatially-varying covariate and an autologistic term) of wildlife communities at two spatial scales. Using an amphibian monitoring program that spans a network of U.S. National Parks as a motivating example, we conducted a simulation study for a regional community occupancy sampling program to compare the monitoring designs across varying levels of sampling effort (ranging from 10 to 50%). We found that the stratified random design outperformed the other designs for most parameters of interest at both scales, and was thus generally preferable in balancing the estimation of status, trends, and drivers across scales. However, we found that other designs had improved performance in specific situations. For example, the rotating panel design performed best at estimating spatial drivers at a regional level. Thus, our results highlight the nuanced scenarios in which various design strategies may be preferred, and offer guidance as to how managers can balance common tradeoffs in large-scale and long-term monitoring programs in terms of the specific knowledge gained. Monitoring designs that improve accuracy in parameter estimates are needed to guide conservation policy and management decisions in the face of broad-scaled environmental challenges, but the preferred design is sensitive to the specific objectives of a monitoring program.

Ecological Applications↗
USGS2022

Decision support for aquatic restoration based on species-specific responses to disturbance

Disturbances to aquatic habitats are not uniformly distributed within the Great Lakes and acute effects can be strongest in nearshore areas where both landscape and within lake effects can have strong influence. Furthermore, different fish species respond to disturbances in different ways. A means to identify and evaluate locations and extent of disturbances that affect fish is needed throughout the Great Lakes. We used partial Canonical Correspondence Analysis to separate “natural” effects on nearshore assemblages from disturbance effects. Species-specific quadratic models of fish abundance as functions of in-lake disturbance or watershed-derived disturbance were developed separately for each of 35 species and lakewide predictions mapped for Lake Erie. Most responses were unimodal and more species decreased in abundance with increasing watershed disturbance than increased. However, eight species increased in abundance with current in-lake disturbance conditions. Optimum Yellow Perch ( Perca flavescens ) abundance occurred at in-lake disturbance values less than the gradient mean, but decreased continuously from minimum watershed disturbance to higher values. Bands of optimum in-lake conditions occurred throughout the eastern and western portions of the Lake Erie nearshore zone; some areas were less disturbed than desirable. However, watershed-derived disturbance conditions were generally poor for Yellow Perch throughout the lake. In contrast, optimum Smallmouth Bass ( Micropterus dolomieu ) abundance occurred at in-lake disturbance values greater than the gradient mean and continuously increased with increasing watershed disturbance. Smallmouth Bass responses to disturbance indicated that most of the nearshore zone was less disturbed than is desirable and were most abundant in areas that the Yellow Perch response indicated were highly disturbed. Mapping counts of species response models that agreed on the disturbance level in each spatial unit of the nearshore zone showed a fine-scale mosaic of areas in which habitat restoration may benefit many or few species. This tool may assist managers in prioritizing conservation and restoration efforts and evaluating environmental conditions that may be improved.

Great Lakes↗
USGS2018

Synthesizing models useful for ecohydrology and ecohydraulic approaches: An emphasis on integrating models to address complex research questions

Ecohydrology combines empiricism, data analytics, and the integration of models to characterize linkages between ecological and hydrological processes. A challenge for practitioners is determining which models best generalizes heterogeneity in hydrological behaviour, including water fluxes across spatial and temporal scales, integrating environmental and socio‐economic activities to determine best watershed management practices and data requirements. We conducted a literature review and synthesis of hydrologic, hydraulic, water quality, and ecological models designed for solving interdisciplinary questions. We reviewed 1,275 papers and identified 178 models that have the capacity to answer an array of research questions about ecohydrology or ecohydraulics. Of these models, 43 were commonly applied due to their versatility, accessibility, user‐friendliness, and excellent user‐support. Forty‐one of 43 reviewed models were linked to at least 1 other model especially: Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (linked to 21 other models), Soil and Water Assessment Tool (19), and Hydrologic Engineering Center's River Analysis System (15). However, model integration was still relatively infrequent. There was substantial variation in model applications, possibly an artefact of the regional focus of research questions, simplicity of use, quality of user‐support efforts, or a limited understanding of model applicability. Simply increasing the interoperability of model platforms, transformation of models to user‐friendly forms, increasing user‐support, defining the reliability and risk associated with model results, and increasing awareness of model applicability may promote increased use of models across subdisciplines. Nonetheless, the current availability of models allows an array of interdisciplinary questions to be addressed, and model choice relates to several factors including research objective, model complexity, ability to link to other models, and interface choice.

Ecohydrology↗
USGS2006

Future trends in transport and fate of diffuse contaminants in catchments, with special emphasis on stable isotope applications

A summary is provided of the first of a series of proposed Integrated Science Initiative workshops supported by the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme. The workshop brought together hydrologists, environmental chemists, microbiologists, stable isotope specialists and natural resource managers with the purpose of communicating new ideas on ways to assess microbial degradation processes and reactive transport at catchment scales. The focus was on diffuse contamination at catchment scales and the application of compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA) in the assessment of biological degradation processes of agrochemicals. Major outcomes were identifying the linkage between water residence time distribution and rates of contaminant degradation, identifying the need for better information on compound specific microbial degradation isotope fractionation factors and the potential of CSIA in identifying key degradative processes. In the natural resource management context, a framework was developed where CSIA techniques were identified as practically unique in their capacity to serve as distributed integrating indicators of process across a range of scales (micro to diffuse) of relevance to the problem of diffuse pollution assessment. Copyright ?? 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Hydrological Processes↗
USGS2013

Bridging groundwater models and decision support with a Bayesian network

Resource managers need to make decisions to plan for future environmental conditions, particularly sea level rise, in the face of substantial uncertainty. Many interacting processes factor in to the decisions they face. Advances in process models and the quantification of uncertainty have made models a valuable tool for this purpose. Long-simulation runtimes and, often, numerical instability make linking process models impractical in many cases. A method for emulating the important connections between model input and forecasts, while propagating uncertainty, has the potential to provide a bridge between complicated numerical process models and the efficiency and stability needed for decision making. We explore this using a Bayesian network (BN) to emulate a groundwater flow model. We expand on previous approaches to validating a BN by calculating forecasting skill using cross validation of a groundwater model of Assateague Island in Virginia and Maryland, USA. This BN emulation was shown to capture the important groundwater-flow characteristics and uncertainty of the groundwater system because of its connection to island morphology and sea level. Forecast power metrics associated with the validation of multiple alternative BN designs guided the selection of an optimal level of BN complexity. Assateague island is an ideal test case for exploring a forecasting tool based on current conditions because the unique hydrogeomorphological variability of the island includes a range of settings indicative of past, current, and future conditions. The resulting BN is a valuable tool for exploring the response of groundwater conditions to sea level rise in decision support.

Water Resources Research↗
USGS2023

Sharing FAIR monitoring program data improves discoverability and reuse

Data resulting from environmental monitoring programs are valuable assets for natural resource managers, decision-makers, and researchers. These data are often collected to inform specific reporting needs or decisions with a specific timeframe. While program-oriented data and related publications are effective for meeting program goals, sharing well-documented data and metadata allows users to research aspects outside initial program intentions. As part of an effort to integrate data from four long-term large-scale US aquatic monitoring programs, we evaluated the original datasets against the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data principles and offer recommendations and lessons learned. Differences in data governance across these programs resulted in considerable effort to access and reuse the original datasets. Requirements, guidance, and resources available to support data publishing and documentation are inconsistent across agencies and monitoring programs, resulting in various data formats and storage locations that are not easily found, accessed, or reused. Making monitoring data FAIR will reduce barriers to data discovery and reuse. Programs are continuously striving to improve data management, data products, and metadata; however, provision of related tools, consistent guidelines and standards, and more resources to do this work is needed. Given the value of these data and the significant effort required to access and reuse them, actions and steps intended on improving data documentation and accessibility are described.

Enviornmental Monitoring and Assessment↗
USGS2015

Volcano warning systems: Chapter 67

Messages conveying volcano alert level such as Watches and Warnings are designed to provide people with risk information before, during, and after eruptions. Information is communicated to people from volcano observatories and emergency management agencies and from informal sources and social and environmental cues. Any individual or agency can be both a message sender and a recipient and multiple messages received from multiple sources is the norm in a volcanic crisis. Significant challenges to developing effective warning systems for volcanic hazards stem from the great diversity in unrest, eruption, and post-eruption processes and the rapidly advancing digital technologies that people use to seek real-time risk information. Challenges also involve the need to invest resources before unrest to help people develop shared mental models of important risk factors. Two populations of people are the target of volcano notifications–ground- and aviation-based populations, and volcano warning systems must address both distinctly different populations.

Book chapter↗
USGS2016

Seasonal flows of international British Columbia-Alaska rivers: The nonlinear influence of ocean-atmosphere circulation patterns

The northern portion of the Pacific coastal temperate rainforest (PCTR) is one of the least anthropogenically modified regions on earth and remains in many respects a frontier area to science. Rivers crossing the northern PCTR, which is also an international boundary region between British Columbia, Canada and Alaska, USA, deliver large freshwater and biogeochemical fluxes to the Gulf of Alaska and establish linkages between coastal and continental ecosystems. We evaluate interannual flow variability in three transboundary PCTR watersheds in response to El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), Arctic Oscillation (AO), and North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO). Historical hydroclimatic datasets from both Canada and the USA are analyzed using an up-to-date methodological suite accommodating both seasonally transient and highly nonlinear teleconnections. We find that streamflow teleconnections occur over particular seasonal windows reflecting the intersection of specific atmospheric and terrestrial hydrologic processes. The strongest signal is a snowmelt-driven flow timing shift resulting from ENSO- and PDO-associated temperature anomalies. Autumn rainfall runoff is also modulated by these climate modes, and a glacier-mediated teleconnection contributes to a late-summer ENSO-flow association. Teleconnections between AO and freshet flows reflect corresponding temperature and precipitation anomalies. A coherent NPGO signal is not clearly evident in streamflow. Linear and monotonically nonlinear teleconnections were widely identified, with less evidence for the parabolic effects that can play an important role elsewhere. The streamflow teleconnections did not vary greatly between hydrometric stations, presumably reflecting broad similarities in watershed characteristics. These results establish a regional foundation for both transboundary water management and studies of long-term hydroclimatic and environmental change.

Alaska, British Columbia↗
USGS2021

Elemental and radionuclide exposures and uptakes by small rodents, invertebrates, and vegetation at active and post-production uranium mines in the Grand Canyon watershed

The effects of breccia pipe uranium mining in the Grand Canyon watershed (Arizona) on ecological and cultural resources are largely unknown. We characterized the exposure of biota to uranium and co-occurring ore body elements during active ore production and at a site where ore production had recently concluded. Our results indicate that biota have taken up uranium and other elements (e.g., arsenic, cadmium, copper, molybdenum, uranium) from exposure to ore and surficial contamination, like blowing dust. Results indicate the potential for prolonged exposure to elements and radionuclides upon conclusion of active ore production. Mean radium-226 in deer mice was up to 4 times greater than uranium-234 and uranium-238 in those same samples; this may indicate a potential for, but does not necessarily imply, radium-226 toxicity. Soil screening benchmarks for uranium and molybdenum and other toxicity thresholds for arsenic, copper, selenium, uranium (e.g., growth effects) were exceeded in vegetation, invertebrates, and rodents ( Peromyscus spp. , Thomomys bottae, Tamias dorsalis, Dipodomys deserti ). However, the prevalence and severity of microscopic lesions in rodent tissues (as direct evidence of biological effects of uptake and exposure) could not be definitively linked to mining. Our data indicate that land managers might consider factors like species, seasonal changes in environmental concentrations, and bioavailability, when determining mine permitting and remediation in the Grand Canyon watershed. Ultimately, our results will be useful for site-specific ecological risk analysis and can support future decisions regarding the mineral extraction withdrawal in the Grand Canyon watershed and elsewhere.

Arizona↗
USGS2022

Accessibility of environmental data for sharing: The role of UX in large cyberinfrastructure projects

Incorporating user experience (UX) testing when creating research cyberinfrastructure is often overlooked, but if left too late, the cost of retrofitting is considerable, and the very clients the cyberinfrastructure was built to serve may be lost. Successfully integrating UX testing into the product development cycle can be difficult but rewarding. This paper describes how UX evaluations were incorporated over ten years of operation of DataONE ( www.dataone.org ), a multi-sector science research cyberinfrastructure project created to support the discovery, access, and sustainability of data about life on Earth and the environment that sustains it. The diverse stakeholders in DataONE include data creators and users such as researchers and government workers across the broad scope of the earth and environmental sciences as well as those who hold and manage data such as libraries and data repositories. Between 2009 and 2019 DataONE members designed and constructed data management tools and services to fulfill the DataONE objectives. To assist in achieving its goals, a participatory design approach was used by establishing several largely volunteer and stakeholder-representative working groups, including the Usability and Assessment Working Group. This Working Group conducted over forty UX evaluations to assess the usability of DataONE products and websites at various stages of the development process. In addition to improving the usability of DataONE products, the UX evaluations fostered community involvement by building trust and engagement with the products being developed. The DataONE UX experience yields several important lessons which will improve the success of other projects. It is our conclusion that UX testing should be a mandatory part of the design of any cyberinfrastructure project.

Ecological Informatics↗
USGS2019

Ecosystem function and services of aquatic predators in the Anthropocene

Arguments for the need to conserve aquatic predator (AP) populations often focuses on the ecological and socio-economic roles they play. Here, we summarize the diverse ecosystem functions and services connected to APs, including regulating food webs, cycling nutrients, engineering habitat, transmitting diseases/parasites, mediating ecological invasions, effecting climate, supporting fisheries, generating tourism, and providing bioinspiration. In some cases, human-driven declines and increases in AP populations have altered these ecosystem functions and services. We present a Social Ecological Framework for supporting adaptive management decisions involving APs in response to social and environmental change. We also identify outstanding questions to guide future research on the ecological functions and ecosystem services of APs in a changing world

Trends in Ecology and Evolution↗