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At least 343 records · Page 19Linked to original sources
USGS2011

Effects of dams in river networks on fish assemblages in non-impoundment sections of rivers in Michigan and Wisconsin, USA

Regional assessment of cumulative impacts of dams on riverine fish assemblages provides resource managers essential information for dam operation, potential dam removal, river health assessment and overall ecosystem management. Such an assessment is challenging because characteristics of fish assemblages are not only affected by dams, but also influenced by natural variation and human-induced modification (in addition to dams) in thermal and flow regimes, physicochemical habitats and biological assemblages. This study evaluated the impacts of dams on river fish assemblages in the non-impoundment sections of rivers in the states of Michigan and Wisconsin using multiple fish assemblage indicators and multiple approaches to distinguish the influences of dams from those of other natural and human-induced factors. We found that environmental factors that influence fish assemblages in addition to dams should be incorporated when evaluating regional effects of dams on fish assemblages. Without considering such co-influential factors, the evaluation is inadequate and potentially misleading. The role of dams alone in determining fish assemblages at a regional spatial scale is relatively small (explained less than 20% of variance) compared with the other environmental factors, such as river size, flow and thermal regimes and land uses jointly. However, our results do demonstrate that downstream and upstream dams can substantially modify fish assemblages in the non-impoundment sections of rivers. After excluding river size and land-use influences, our results clearly demonstrate that dams have significant impacts on fish biotic-integrity and habitat-and-social-preference indicators. The influences of the upstream dams, downstream dams, distance to dams, and dam density differ among the fish indicators, which have different implications for maintaining river biotic integrity, protecting biodiversity and managing fisheries.

Wisconsin and Michigan↗
USGS2016

Groundwater contaminant science activities of the U.S. Geological Survey in New England

Aquifers in New England provide water for human needs and natural ecosystems. In some areas, however, aquifers have been degraded by contaminants from geologic and human sources. In recent decades, the U.S. Geological Survey has been a leader in describing contaminant occurrence in the bedrock and surficial aquifers of New England. In cooperation with Federal, State, and local agencies, the U.S. Geological Survey has also studied the vulnerability of groundwater to contaminants, the factors affecting the geographic distribution of contaminants, and the geochemical processes controlling contaminant transport and fate. This fact sheet describes some of the major science needs in the region related to groundwater contaminants and highlights recent U.S. Geological Survey studies that provide a foundation for future investigations.

New England↗
USGS2011

The human dimension of fire regimes on Earth

Humans and their ancestors are unique in being a fire‐making species, but ‘natural’ (i.e. independent of humans) fires have an ancient, geological history on Earth. Natural fires have influenced biological evolution and global biogeochemical cycles, making fire integral to the functioning of some biomes. Globally, debate rages about the impact on ecosystems of prehistoric human‐set fires, with views ranging from catastrophic to negligible. Understanding of the diversity of human fire regimes on Earth in the past, present and future remains rudimentary. It remains uncertain how humans have caused a departure from ‘natural’ background levels that vary with climate change. Available evidence shows that modern humans can increase or decrease background levels of natural fire activity by clearing forests, promoting grazing, dispersing plants, altering ignition patterns and actively suppressing fires, thereby causing substantial ecosystem changes and loss of biodiversity. Some of these contemporary fire regimes cause substantial economic disruptions owing to the destruction of infrastructure, degradation of ecosystem services, loss of life, and smoke‐related health effects. These episodic disasters help frame negative public attitudes towards landscape fires, despite the need for burning to sustain some ecosystems. Greenhouse gas‐induced warming and changes in the hydrological cycle may increase the occurrence of large, severe fires, with potentially significant feedbacks to the Earth system. Improved understanding of human fire regimes demands: (1) better data on past and current human influences on fire regimes to enable global comparative analyses, (2) a greater understanding of different cultural traditions of landscape burning and their positive and negative social, economic and ecological effects, and (3) more realistic representations of anthropogenic fire in global vegetation and climate change models. We provide an historical framework to promote understanding of the development and diversification of fire regimes, covering the pre‐human period, human domestication of fire, and the subsequent transition from subsistence agriculture to industrial economies. All of these phases still occur on Earth, providing opportunities for comparative research.

Journal of Biogeography↗
USGS2020

A historical look at changing water quality in the Delaware River basin

In 2019 the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) launched a pilot regional Integrated Water Availability Assessment (IWAA) in the Delaware River Basin (fig. 1). IWAA is intended to explore, test, and refine systems and processes for assessing water availability for human and ecological uses and understanding their underlying controls. Water quality plays an important role in supporting ecological health and determining the suitability of water for human consumption, recreation, agriculture, and industry. Understanding how water quality has changed over time in response to natural and human-induced changes in landscape and climate identifies potential challenges in safeguarding water for all uses. The USGS has evaluated water-quality trends across the Nation, and 22 of the evaluated sites are in the Delaware River Basin. These 22 sites are in the Appalachian Plateau, Valley and Ridge, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain Physiographic Provinces. Data from these sites indicate decadal to multidecadal changes in water quality and provide an initial look at how nutrient concentrations, such as total phosphorous, total nitrogen, and nitrate, and salinity indicators, such as specific conductance, sulfate, and chloride, have varied over time in the basin. The time period of the evaluation ranged from 1972 to 2012.

Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania↗
USGS2013

Geomorphic and human influence on large-scale coastal change

An increasing need exists for regional-scale measurements of shoreline change to aid in management and planning decisions over a broad portion of the coast and to inform assessments of coastal vulnerabilities and hazards. A recent dataset of regional shoreline change, covering a large portion of the U.S. East coast (New England and Mid-Atlantic), provides rates of shoreline change over historical (~ 150 years) and recent (25–30 years) time periods making it ideal for a broad assessment of the regional variation of shoreline change, and the natural and human-induced influences on coastal behavior. The variable coastal landforms of the region provide an opportunity to investigate how specific geomorphic landforms relate to the spatial variability of shoreline change. In addition to natural influences on the rates of change, we examine the effects that development and human modifications to the coastline have on the measurements of regional shoreline change. Regional variation in the rates of shoreline change is a function of the dominant type and distribution of coastal landform as well as the relative amount of human development. Our results indicate that geomorphology has measurable influence on shoreline change rates. Anthropogenic impacts are found to be greater along the more densely developed and modified portion of the coast where jetties at engineered inlets impound large volumes of sediment resulting in extreme but discrete progradation updrift of jetties. This produces a shift in averaged values of rates that may mask the natural long-term record. Additionally, a strong correlation is found to exist between rates of shoreline change and relative level of human development. Using a geomorphic characterization of the types of coastal landform as a guide for expected relative rates of change, we found that the shoreline appears to be changing naturally only along sparsely developed coasts. Even modest amounts of development influence the rates of change and the human imprint override the geomorphic signal. The study demonstrates that human activities associated with creating and maintaining coastal infrastructure alter the natural behavior of the coast over hundreds of kilometers and time spans greater than a century. This suggests that future assessments of vulnerability, based largely on rates of change along developed coastlines, need to take the role of human alterations into account.

Geomorphology↗
USGS2017

Climate and land-use change in wetlands: A dedication

Future climate and land-use change may wreak havoc on wetlands, with the potential to erode their values as harbors for biota and providers of human services. Wetlands are important to protect, particularly because these provide a variety of ecosystem services including wildlife habitat, water purification, flood storage, and storm protection (Mitsch, Bernal, and Hernandez 2015). Without healthy wetlands, future generations may become increasingly less in harmony with the sustainability of the Earth. To this end, the thematic feature on climate and land-use change in wetlands explores the critical role of wetlands in the overall health and well-being of humans and our planet. Our special feature contributes to the understanding of the idea that the health of natural ecosystems and humans are linked and potentially stressed by climate change and land-use change (Horton and Lo 2015; McDonald 2015). In particular, this special issue considers the important role of wetlands in the environment, and how land-use and environmental change might affect them in the future.

Ecosystem Health and Sustainability↗
USGS2013

Compilation, quality control, analysis, and summary of discrete suspended-sediment and ancillary data in the United States, 1901-2010

Human-induced and natural changes to the transport of sediment and sediment-associated constituents can degrade aquatic ecosystems and limit human uses of streams and rivers. The lack of a dedicated, easily accessible, quality-controlled database of sediment and ancillary data has made it difficult to identify sediment-related water-quality impairments and has limited understanding of how human actions affect suspended-sediment concentrations and transport. The purpose of this report is to describe the creation of a quality-controlled U.S. Geological Survey suspended-sediment database, provide guidance for its use, and summarize characteristics of suspended-sediment data through 2010. The database is provided as an online application at http://cida.usgs.gov/sediment to allow users to view, filter, and retrieve available suspended-sediment and ancillary data. A data recovery, filtration, and quality-control process was performed to expand the availability, representativeness, and utility of existing suspended-sediment data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in the United States before January 1, 2011. Information on streamflow condition, sediment grain size, and upstream landscape condition were matched to sediment data and sediment-sampling sites to place data in context with factors that may influence sediment transport. Suspended-sediment and selected ancillary data are presented from across the United States with respect to time, streamflow, and landscape condition. Examples of potential uses of this database for identifying sediment-related impairments, assessing trends, and designing new data collection activities are provided. This report and database can support local and national-level decision making, project planning, and data mining activities related to the transport of suspended-sediment and sediment-associated constituents.

Data Series↗
USGS2004

Light attenuation profiling as an indicator of structural changes in coastal marshes

To best respond to natural and human-induced stresses, resource managers and researchers require remote sensing techniques that can map the biophysical characteristics of natural resources on regional and local scales. The implementation of advanced measurement techniques would provide significant improvements in the quantity, quality, and timeliness of biophysical data useful in understanding the sensitivity of vegetation communities to external influences. In turn, this biophysical data would provide resource planners with a rational decision-making system for resource allocation and response action development planning.

Book chapter↗
USGS2021

Identification of bacteria in groundwater used for domestic supply in the southeast San Joaquin Valley, California, 2014

Groundwater is an important source of drinking water in California. Water-borne diseases caused by microbial contamination are a growing concern. The MI test, a membrane filtration method for the chromogenic/fluorogenic detection of total coliforms and Escherichia coli , was used for samples collected January to April 2014 from 42 domestic wells in the southeastern San Joaquin Valley. The wells were sampled as part of the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment Program Priority Basin Project (GAMA-PBP), a cooperative study between the U.S. Geological Survey and the California State Water Resources Control Board. Polymerase chain reaction analysis and sequencing of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) were used for 34 target and nontarget colonies that grew on the MI media from samples collected from 13 of the domestic wells to identify what genera of bacteria could exist in groundwater used by domestic wells. Gene sequences obtained using the Sanger method were entered into the basic local alignment search tool (BLAST) database, and 17 genera of bacteria were identified. Of these, 13 genera contain species that are human pathogens or opportunistic human pathogens. All the genera that include human pathogens are naturally present in soil, plants, or water; one of the pathogens also can be found in fecal matter. Six of the human pathogens were from non-target colony growth on the MI media. Target and non-target microbial growth on MI media are indicators of the possible presence of pathogenic bacteria even if the bacteria naturally are from soil rather than from a fecal source.

California↗
USGS1990

National Coastal Geology Program: a plan of geologic research on coastal erosion, coastal wetlands, polluted sediments, and coastal hard-mineral resources

More than 50 percent of the U.S. population currently live within 50 miles of an ocean, Great Lake, or major estuary. According to forecasts, the concentration of people along our coastlines will continue to increase into the 21st century. In addition to residential and commercial buildings and facilities worth tens of billions of dollars, the coasts and associated wetlands are natural resources of tremendous value, with estimates in excess of $13 billion per year for commercial and recreational fisheries alone. Human activities and natural processes are stressing the coastal environment. * Each of the coastal states and island territories is suffering problems related to coastal erosion. * Deterioration of wetlands is widespread and of great public concern. * Pollutants carried by rivers or runoff are discharged directly into coastal waters and accumulate in the sediments on the sea floor, in some areas causing damage to living resources and presenting a threat to public health. * Onshore sources for hard-mineral resources, such as sand and gravel used for construction purposes, are becoming increasingly difficult to find. New sources are being sought in coastal waters. Coastal issues will become even more important into the next century if sea level is significantly influenced by climate change and other factors.

Monograph↗
USGS1995

Kodiak brown bears

Brown bears ( Ursus arctos middendorffi ) on the Kodiak Archipelago are famous for their large size and seasonal concentrations at salmon streams. Sport hunting of Kodiak bears has been popular since World War II. Their value as captivating subjects to observe or photograph is a more recent development that is increasing rapidly; visitors from around the world come to experience brown bears on Kodiak, adding substantially to Alaska's economy. An equally important contribution of brown bears is their value as an indicator of ecosystem vitality. Despite high population numbers, Kodiak bears are vulnerable to the environmental effects that have seriously depleted brown bear populations in Europe and parts of North America (Cowan 1972; Servheen 1990). They are long-lived mammals that require large expanses of land to meet biological needs, and their low reproductive rate limits population recovery. Energy development, depletion of salmon resources, and recreational growth are factors that can adversely affect bears and, in doing so, signal a loss of environmental quality affecting many species. Management of Kodiak brown bears is directed at maintaining current density, distribution, and habitat-use patterns. This goal is challenged by growing levels of commercial and private use throughout the region. An immediate concern is cabin and lodge development on 121,500 ha (300,000 acres), formerly part of the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, that were deeded to Alaska Natives via the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Much of that Native-conveyed land is coastal or riparian habitat especially important to brown bears during summer and fall. Concurrently, recreational use of the Kodiak refuge is increasing about 10% annually (USFWS 1987). Sport fishing, bear photography, and deer and elk hunting often put bears and humans in direct conflict (Smith et al. 1989). Timber harvest on Afognak Island, uncertain trends of salmon populations due to natural or human-caused events (e.g., Exxon Valdez oil spill), and hydroelectric development (Smith and Van Daele 1990) could impose additional long-term effects on localized bear populations.

Alaska↗
USGS2010

GAGES: A stream gage database for evaluating natural and alteredflow conditions in the conterminous United States

Stream flow is a controlling element in the ecology of rivers and streams. Knowledge of the natural flow regime facilitates the assessment of whether specific hydrologic attributes have been altered by humans in a particular stream and the establishment of specific goals for stream-flow restoration. Because most streams are ungaged or have been altered by human influences, characterizing the natural flow regime is often only possible by estimating flow characteristics based on nearby stream gages of reference quality, i.e., gaged locations that are least disturbed by human influences. The ability to evaluate natural stream flow, that which is not altered by human activities, would be enhanced by the existence of a nationally consistent and up-to-date database of gages in relatively undisturbed watersheds. As part of a national effort to characterize stream-flow effects on ecological condition, data for 6785 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) stream gages and their upstream watersheds were compiled. The sites comprise all USGS stream gages in the conterminous United States with at least 20 years of complete-year flow record from 1950–2007, and for which watershed boundaries could reliably be delineated (median size ¼ 578 km2). Several hundred watershed and site characteristics were calculated or compiled from national data sources, including environmental features (e.g., climate, geology, soils, topography) and anthropogenic influences (e.g., land use, roads, presence of dams, or canals). In addition, watersheds were assessed for their reference quality within nine broad regions for use in studies intended to characterize stream flows under conditions minimally influenced by human activities. Three primary criteria were used to assess reference quality: (1) a quantitative index of anthropogenic modification within the watershed based on GIS-derived variables, (2) visual inspection of every stream gage and drainage basin from recent high-resolution imagery and topographic maps, and (3) information about man-made influences from USGS Annual Water Data Reports. From the set of 6785 sites, we identified 1512 as reference-quality stream gages. All data derived for these watersheds as well as the reference condition evaluation are provided as an online data set termed GAGES (geospatial attributes of gages for evaluating stream flow).

Ecology↗
USGS1997

Evaluation of the U.S. Geological Survey Ground-Water Data-Collection Program in Hawaii, 1992

In 1992, the U.S. Geological Survey ground-water data-collection program in the State of Hawaii consisted of 188 wells distributed among the islands of Oahu, Kauai, Maui, Molokai, and Hawaii. Water-level and water-quality (temperature, specific conductance, and chloride concentration) data were collected from observation wells, deep monitoring wells that penetrate the zone of transition between freshwater and saltwater, free-flowing wells, and pumped wells. The objective of the program was to collect sufficient spatial and temporal data to define seasonal and long-term changes in ground-water levels and chloride concentrations induced by natural and human-made stresses for different climatic and hydrogeologic settings. Wells needed to meet this objective can be divided into two types of networks: (1) a water-management network to determine the response of ground-water flow systems to human-induced stresses, such as pumpage, and (2) a baseline network to determine the response of ground-water flow systems to natural stresses for different climatic and hydrogeologic settings. Maps showing the distribution and magnitude of pumpage and the distribution of proposed pumped wells are presented to identify areas in need of water-management networks. Wells in the 1992 U.S. Geological Survey ground-water data-collection program were classified as either water-management or baseline network wells. In addition, locations where additional water-management network wells are needed for water-level and water-quality data were identified.

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS2019

Understanding conservation decisions of agriculture producers

Most land in the United States (US) is privately owned and used for agriculture. To address the effect of agriculture on wildlife, conservation professionals and organizations need to understand the land use decisions made by farmers and ranchers. We developed a tool for categorizing farmers and ranchers by their conservation land use values (LUVs) to understand how those values affect their land use motivations and resultant decisions. We defined land as the whole natural environment including soil, water, plants, fish, and wildlife. We used principal axis factoring and reliability analysis to identify statements representing human-centered values and nature-centered values of farmers and ranchers. We tested the validity of the combined statements with a survey of South Dakota’s private landowners (N = 4,000, [Jan through May 2016]) resulting in the LUV scale. Crossing the average scores on the human-centered and nature-centered statements identified 4 LUV types: humans first (20%), nature first (29%), interconnected (29%), and disconnected (22%). Analysis of variance and chi-square tests showed that, compared to the humans first and disconnected LUV types, the nature first and interconnected LUV types reported significantly greater importance of the following: most categories of types of wildlife in their land use decisions; conservation-related motivations for participating in a United States Farm Bill Conservation Program; conservation-related motivations for land use decisions; and participation in conservation-related behaviors. Conservation professionals and organizations may use the LUV scale to better understand landowners’ land use decisions to evaluate and inform conservation policy, programs, messaging, and improve conservation outcomes.

Journal of Wildlife Management↗
USGS2010

Gulf of Mexico Climate-History Calibration Study

Reliable instrumental records of past climate are available for about the last 150 years only. To supplement the instrumental record, reconstructions of past climate are made from natural recorders such as trees, ice, corals, and microfossils preserved in sediments. These proxy records provide information on the rate and magnitude of past climate variability, factors that are critical to distinguishing between natural and human-induced climate change in the present. However, the value of proxy records is heavily dependent on calibration between the chemistry of the natural recorder and of the modern environmental conditions. The Gulf of Mexico Climate and Environmental History Project is currently undertaking a climate-history calibration study with material collected from an automated sediment trap. The primary focus of the calibration study is to provide a better calibration of low-latitude environmental conditions and shell chemistry of calcareous microfossils, such as planktic Foraminifera.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2018

Evaluation of biodiversity data portals based on requirement analysis

In recent years, concern about the misuse of natural resources has been increasing. It is essential to know in detail the biodiversity of an ecosystem to understand and analyze the impact of human activities on nature, as well as to promote the economic growth of a country. To achieve these goals, public and private institutions are aggregating and sharing biological data around the world by means of biodiversity data portals. The main purpose of those portals is to provide a set of tools that help users and institutions catalog, analyze, and publish raw data about different species in a manner that is open and freely available to any interested party. Normally the process of choosing the best software solution is not straightforward. This paper proposes a methodology to evaluate a collection of data portals to establish a clear and consistent selection process that analyzes a collection of requirements and research purposes. The proposed approach is based on three strategies: the use of software engineering techniques to identify the desired group of features to be available in the data portal; the application of the Kano Satisfaction Model to score each requirement according to a preset weight of importance; and the use of tree-maps to visualize the requirements based on their implementation priority, to establish a portal deployment road-map. The proposed methodology is broadly applicable to portal analyses for many communities of practice.

Ecological Informatics↗
USGS2023

Towards a better future for biodiversity and people: Modelling Nature Futures

The Nature Futures Framework (NFF) is a heuristic tool for co-creating positive futures for nature and people. It seeks to open up a diversity of futures through mainly three value perspectives on nature – Nature for Nature, Nature for Society, and Nature as Culture. This paper describes how the NFF can be applied in modelling to support decision-making. First, we describe key considerations for the NFF in developing qualitative and quantitative scenarios: i) multiple value perspectives on nature as a state space where pathways improving nature toward a frontier can be represented, ii) mutually reinforcing key feedbacks of social-ecological systems that are important for nature conservation and human wellbeing, iii) indicators of multiple knowledge systems describing the evolution of complex social-ecological dynamics. We then present three approaches to modelling Nature Futures scenarios in the review, screening, and design phases of policy processes. This paper seeks to facilitate the integration of relational values of nature in models and strengthen modelled linkages across biodiversity, nature’s contributions to people, and quality of life.

Global Environmental Change↗
USGS2016

Modeling the effects of urban expansion on natural capital stocks and ecosystem service flows: A case study in the Puget Sound, Washington, USA

Urban expansion and its associated landscape modifications are important drivers of changes in ecosystem service (ES). This study examined the effects of two alternative land use-change development scenarios in the Puget Sound region of Washington State on natural capital stocks and ES flows. Land-use change model outputs served as inputs to five ES models developed using the Artificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES) platform. While natural capital stocks declined under managed (1.3–5.8%) and unmanaged (2.8–11.8%) development scenarios, ES flows increased by 18.5–56% and 23.2–55.7%, respectively. Human development of natural landscapes reduced their capacity for service provision, while simultaneously adding beneficiaries, particularly along the urban fringe. Using global and local Moran’s I, we identified three distinct patterns of change in ES due to projected landuse change. For services with location-dependent beneficiaries – open space proximity, viewsheds, and flood regulation – urbanization led to increased clustering and hot-spot intensities. ES flows were greatest in the managed land-use change scenario for open space proximity and flood regulation, and in the unmanaged land-use change scenario for viewsheds—a consequence of the differing ES flow mechanisms underpinning these services. We observed a third pattern – general declines in service provision – for carbon storage and sediment retention, where beneficiaries in our analysis were not location dependent. Contrary to past authors’ finding of ES declines under urbanization, a more nuanced analysis that maps and quantifies ES provision, beneficiaries, and flows better identifies gains and losses for specific ES beneficiaries as urban areas expand.

Washington↗