Skip to main content
Advanced Search

Filters: Tags: {"scheme":"None"} (X) > partyWithName: Ecosystems (X)

Folders: ROOT > ScienceBase Catalog > USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center ( Show all descendants )

260 results (16ms)   

View Results as: JSON ATOM CSV
thumbnail
The Louisiana State Legislature created the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) in order to conserve, restore, create and enhance Louisiana's coastal wetlands. The wetland restoration plans developed pursuant to these acts specifically require an evaluation of the effectiveness of each coastal wetlands restoration project in achieving long-term solutions to arresting coastal wetlands loss. This data set includes mosaicked aerial photographs for the Freshwater Introduction South of Highway 82 (ME-16) project for 2018. This data is used as a basemap land-water classification. It also serves as a visual tool for project managers to help them identify any obvious problems or land loss...
thumbnail
The Louisiana State Legislature created the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) in order to conserve, restore, create and enhance Louisiana's coastal wetlands. The wetland restoration plans developed pursuant to these acts specifically require an evaluation of the effectiveness of each coastal wetlands restoration project in achieving long-term solutions to arresting coastal wetlands loss. This data set includes mosaicked aerial photographs for the Oyster Bayou Marsh Creation and Terracing (CS-59) project for 2018. This data is used as a basemap land-water classification. It also serves as a visual tool for project managers to help them identify any obvious problems or land loss within...
thumbnail
This data set consists of digital data describing wetlands and uplands habitats for the Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program (MsCIP) area, consisting of Cat, Ship, Horn and Petit Bois Islands for the year 2020. Wetlands were classified using the Cowardin, et al., wetlands classification scheme to the level of freshwater and tidal, salinity modifiers. Uplands were classified using a customized classification scheme which can be cross-referenced to Anderson, et. al. For this dataset, upland dunes were delineated as areas at or above 1.524 meters (5 feet) as determined in the Lidar data that was referenced without modification for this classification. With this elevation criteria some delineated upland dune features...
thumbnail
Coastal management decisions are complex and include challenging tradeoffs. Decision science offers a useful framework to address such complex problems. We illustrate the process with several coastal restoration studies. Our capstone example is based on a recent barrier island restoration assessment project at Dauphin Island, Alabama, which included the development of geomorphological and ecological models that forecast environmental changes over a 10 year time period from 2015 to 2025. The proposed framework aims to serve as a tool to assist coastal managers with the process of restoration. Specifically, we discuss the importance of considering concepts and techniques from ecology, coastal geology, geomorphology,...
thumbnail
Deep-sea corals can create a highly complex, three-dimensional structure that facilitates sediment accumulation and influences adjacent sediment environments through altered hydrodynamic regimes. Infaunal communities adjacent to different coral types, including reef-building scleractinian corals and individual colonies of octocorals, are known to differ from background non-coral soft-sediment communities, often exhibiting higher macrofaunal densities and distinct community structure. However, the coral types have different morphologies, which may modify the adjacent sediment communities in discrete ways. Here we address two main questions: 1) how infaunal communities adjacent to deep-sea corals and their associated...
thumbnail
Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center investigated the sedimentary and geochemical properties of the lower reaches of the Pascagoula River along the Mississippi coast of the Gulf of Mexico by collecting estuarine, riverine and marsh sediments. This was done in order to increase understanding of the region's environmental history, describe the long-term (millennial-scale) depositional history, and identify sedimentary intervals associated with extreme marine intrusions. To this end, the group obtained long sediment cores, shovel-dug sediment slabs and marsh and riverine channel/estuarine surface samples from a north-south transect along the river edge from...
Freshwater mussels (Unionidae) are among the most imperiled groups of organisms in the world. Unionids are plagued with a lack of basic information regarding species distributions, life history characteristics, and ecological and biological requirements. We assessed the influence of hydrologic factors on the occurrence of the Suwannee Moccasinshell, Medionidus walkeri, a federally threatened freshwater mussel species endemic to the Suwannee River basin in Georgia and Florida. We also assessed the influence of survey effort on detection of M. walkeri during field surveys. All current (2013-2016) mussel survey records in the Suwannee River Basin were compiled, and cumulative discharge contributed by upstream springs...
thumbnail
Wetland restoration efforts conducted by the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) in Louisiana rely on monitoring efforts to determine the efficacy of these efforts. The Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) was developed to assist in a multiple-reference approach that uses aspects of hydrogeomorphic functional assessments and probabilistic sampling for monitoring. The CRMS program includes a suite of approximately 390 sites that encompass the range of hydrological and ecological conditions for each stratum. As part of CRMS, land and water classifications are created from Digital Orthophoto Quarter Quadrangles (DOQQs) approximately every three years at all CRMS sites. A DOQQ...
thumbnail
The Louisiana State Legislature created Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) in order to conserve, restore, create and enhance Louisiana's coastal wetlands. The wetland restoration plans developed persuant to these acts specifically require an evaluation of the effectiveness of each coastal wetlands restoration project in achieving long-term solutions to arresting coastal wetlands loss. This data set includes mosaicked aerial photographs for the Channel Armor Gap Crevasse (MR-06) project for 2016. This data set is used as a basemap land/water classification. It also serves as a visual tool for project managers to help them identify any obvious problems or land loss within their project...
The data are population sizes of yeast Saccharaomyces cerevisiae growth in laboratory cultures over a period of several days with different levels of growth inhibitor cycloheximide.
thumbnail
An important physiological constraint influencing distributions of coastal freshwater organisms is their tolerance for saline conditions. We experimentally evaluated salinity tolerance for three freshwater mussel species (Utterbackia imbecillis, Elliptio jayensis, and Glebula rotundata). Mussels were transferred abruptly from well water to one of five treatments (0 [control], 6, 12, 18 or 24 parts per thousand [ppt]) with no acclimation. Utterbackia imbecillis survived on average about 2 days at treatments ≥ 6 ppt, while Elliptio jayensis survived slightly longer (about 4 days). Glebula rotundata was most tolerant to salinity, surviving as well at 6 and 12 ppt as it did in the control. Additionally, G. rotundata...
thumbnail
Temperature is an important factor in understanding biogeography and species composition. In south Florida, non-native fishes’ tolerance to low temperatures is a critical factor in delineating their geographic spread. We provide a literature review summarizing the current state of knowledge of low-temperature tolerances for all seventeen non-native fishes that have been found in Everglades National Park.
thumbnail
In 2015-2016, the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s undercover law enforcement purchased 1,200 grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). Fish heads and eyeballs were sent overnight to U.S. Geological Survey Wetland and Aquatic Research Center for ploidy analysis. Field and laboratory standard operating procedures were established and followed. Fish lengths, fish weights, and eyeball weights were obtained from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s feral carp ploidy program for grass carp and black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus) and the Ohio grass carp. Internal 2µm or 4µm bead standards were used in establishing nuclear sizes from Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), known diploid (n=20) and triploid (n=20) carp blood, as well...
thumbnail
This study examined long-term changes in ground height using Surface Elevation Tables (SETs). Measurements were taken in the floodplains of the Cache River at Buttonland Swamp in southern Illinois. The sites where data was collected included Crawford Tract and Eagle Pond from 2020-2022 and Deer Pond and Snake Hole from 2005-2022.
thumbnail
We provide genetic and distribution data for the Louisiana Pigtoe, Pleurobema riddellii, to guide decisions related to federal protection for the species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Our final dataset includes 125 COI sequences generated as part of our study representing P. riddellii from eight North American river basins. This includes the COI sequence we generated from a museum specimen collected from the Trinity River in the late 1900s, which is the first genetic confirmation of P. riddellii in the Trinity River basin. Also included are sequences from specimens initially identified as Fusconaia cerina (n=3) Fusconaia flava (n=1), Fusconaia sp. (n=5), Pleurobema sintoxia (n=10), and Pustulosa pustulosa...
thumbnail
This study monitored soil surface elevation change from mangrove forests fertilized with nitrogen and phosphorus from 2018-2021. The mangroves selected at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) have been previously exposed to high nutrient loading from agricultural discharge into the Caloosahatchee River, which elevated soil phosphorus levels to 3-4 times ambient before treatments were impose. Sea-level rise vulnerability with additional nitrogen and phosphorus is a concern for these mangrove ecosystems.
thumbnail
We used a combination of stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen values in nesting loggerhead sea turtle samples to describe the foraging area used by each turtle. Here we present the stable isotope values for United States Geological Survey (USGS) turtles sampled in the remote Dry Tortugas National Park, south Florida, and their assigned foraging area.
thumbnail
Wetland restoration efforts conducted by the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) in Louisiana rely on monitoring efforts to determine the efficacy of these efforts. The Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) was developed to assist in a multiple-reference approach that uses aspects of hydrogeomorphic functional assessments and probabilistic sampling for monitoring. The CRMS program includes a suite of approximately 398 sites that encompass the range of hydrological and ecological conditions for each stratum. As part of CRMS, land and water classifications are created from Digital Orthophoto Quarter Quadrangles (DOQQs) approximately every three years at all CRMS sites. A DOQQ...
thumbnail
Barrier islands provide important ecosystem services, including storm protection and erosion control to the mainland, habitat for fish and wildlife, and tourism (Barbier and others, 2011; Feagin and others, 2010). These islands tend to be dynamic due to their location along the estuarine-marine interface. Besides gradual changes caused by constant forces, such as currents and tides, barrier islands face numerous threats including hurricanes, accelerated sea-level rise, oil spills, and anthropogenic impacts (Pilkey and Cooper, 2014). These threats are likely to influence the future of barrier islands in the latter part of the 21st century, especially as climate-related threats to coastal areas are expected to increase...
thumbnail
Bullseye snakehead, Channa marulius, was first detected in 2000 in the southern Florida town of Tamarac and has been expanding its geographic range. Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis is a newly-developed technique used to non-invasively detect cryptic or low-density species, or those that are logistically difficult to study. Genetic material shed into the environment through tissue and body fluids is concentrated from water samples and analyzed for the presence of target species eDNA. To help delineate bullseye snakehead’s geographic range, we developed and validated a species-specific eDNA assay for both quantitative and droplet digital PCR (ddPCR). We then used ddPCR to assess 16 locations in southeast Florida...
map background search result map search result map Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) 2015 land-water classifications Channel Armor Gap Crevasse (MR-06): 2016 Land-Water Classification Sediment macrofaunal composition, sediment grain size, and taxa functional traits of multiple deep-sea coral habitats in the Gulf of Mexico, 2009-2014 Establishing a standard ploidy assessment method using grass carp from Ohio, 2015-2016 Review of low-temperature tolerance data for 17 species of non-native fishes that have been observed in Everglades National Park. Salinity tolerance among three freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae) from Gulf Coastal Plain drainages Sedimentary data from the lower Pascagoula River, Mississippi, USA Modeling barrier island habitats using landscape position information for Dauphin Island, Alabama Bullseye snakehead environmental DNA data, and associated attributes, collected from southeast Florida, from 2015-2018 Freshwater Introduction South of Highway 82 (ME-16): 2018 land-water classification Oyster Bayou Marsh Creation and Terracing (CS-59): 2018 land-water classification February 2020 National Wetlands Inventory, Mississippi Barrier Islands Habitat Classification: (Cat Island, Ship Island, Petit Bois Island and Horn Island) Data from: Decision science as a framework for combining geomorphological and ecological modeling for the management of coastal systems Stable isotope values for Dry Tortugas nesting loggerheads sampled 2013-2018 Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) 2021 land-water classification data, Eastern Louisiana Molecular and distributional data used to investigate misidentifications, population genetic diversity, and spatiotemporal trends in distribution for Pleurobema riddellii to help guide ESA listing decisions Data Release: Buttonland Swamp, SET data Soil surface elevation change data from rod surface elevation tables (rSET) from mangrove forests at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel Island, Florida (2018-2022) Oyster Bayou Marsh Creation and Terracing (CS-59): 2018 land-water classification Channel Armor Gap Crevasse (MR-06): 2016 Land-Water Classification Data from: Decision science as a framework for combining geomorphological and ecological modeling for the management of coastal systems Freshwater Introduction South of Highway 82 (ME-16): 2018 land-water classification Soil surface elevation change data from rod surface elevation tables (rSET) from mangrove forests at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel Island, Florida (2018-2022) Stable isotope values for Dry Tortugas nesting loggerheads sampled 2013-2018 Modeling barrier island habitats using landscape position information for Dauphin Island, Alabama Data Release: Buttonland Swamp, SET data February 2020 National Wetlands Inventory, Mississippi Barrier Islands Habitat Classification: (Cat Island, Ship Island, Petit Bois Island and Horn Island) Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) 2015 land-water classifications Bullseye snakehead environmental DNA data, and associated attributes, collected from southeast Florida, from 2015-2018 Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) 2021 land-water classification data, Eastern Louisiana Review of low-temperature tolerance data for 17 species of non-native fishes that have been observed in Everglades National Park. Sediment macrofaunal composition, sediment grain size, and taxa functional traits of multiple deep-sea coral habitats in the Gulf of Mexico, 2009-2014 Salinity tolerance among three freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae) from Gulf Coastal Plain drainages Establishing a standard ploidy assessment method using grass carp from Ohio, 2015-2016 Molecular and distributional data used to investigate misidentifications, population genetic diversity, and spatiotemporal trends in distribution for Pleurobema riddellii to help guide ESA listing decisions