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Description of Work USGS is creating forecasting tools for managers to determine how water withdrawals or other hydrologic or land use changes in watersheds may affect Great Lakes ecosystems. This project is determining fish distributions in Great Lakes tributaries and how changes in stream flow may affect them. This information will help guide restoration efforts to achieve maximum effectiveness and success. Estimates were produced using WATER - a TOPMODEL based tool that estimates streamflow at any point along the stream network. The pour point is selected using a point-and-click GUI that samples information about the basin using a geodatabase of topographic and soil data spatial layers.
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Description of Work USGS employees worked with Chinese scientists to acquire and translate existing Chinese science on development. Then, bighead and silver carps were spawned and the eggs and larvae reared in the laboratory, with close control on temperature and very close observation of the different developmental stages. Multiple spawning events of each species were necessary to understand variability in developmental rate. Preserved voucher specimens and microscope photography were taken of all developmental stages. Relevance & Impact These data were first used to model the spawning locations of Asian carps in the Missouri River. They were later used in the development of the more advanced FluEgg model, which...
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This study area consists of a 10-km inland buffer of the U. S. Great Lakes shoreline. Islands within the lakes were included in this invasive Phragmites mapping project where remotely sensed imagery scenes were available.
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Description of Work The study will be implemented in two phases due to logistical constraints and the need to incorporate methods developed (and findings) from a comparable investigation underway in another AOC. The first phase will consist of site selection, methods refinement, work-plan development, subcontract assembly, site reconnaissance, and sediment collection which will be done mainly during FY2013. The second phase will consist of macroinvertebrate identification, sediment toxicity testing, data analysis and interpretation, and report preparation and review mainly during FY2014. In brief, we will generate bed sediment toxicity and benthic community data needed to test two related hypotheses that address...
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Description of Work The sensitivity of listed species of fish or amphibians was evaluated in acute and chronic toxicity tests conducted with a range of inorganic or organic chemicals with different toxic modes of action. Results of these studies indicate that the acute or chronic sensitivity of rainbow trout, but not fathead minnow, frequently provided protective acute or chronic toxicity thresholds for most of the listed species evaluated. However, only a limited number of species of sculpins or darters were included in this evaluation, and not all species tested occurred in the Great Lakes watershed. The objective of the proposed study will be to: (1) provide additional chronic toxicity data for sculpins or darters...
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Description of Work USGS scientists will support EPA's year of intensive sampling around the Great Lakes to complement and expand upon EPA and other partner entities work. In 2013, on Lake Ontario USGS will sample the food web from a nearshore (20 m) to offshore (100 m) gradient where seasonal sampling of primary producers, benthic invertebrates, zooplankton, prey fish, sport fish, and their diets will occur. We will work closely with state management agencies and stakeholder groups to ensure that ecosystem models that emerge from this work explore relevant future management scenarios. Scientists will analyze the diets of the six species of trout and salmon currently occurring in Lake Ontario. This predator diet...
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These files were used to construct corridors estimating the extent of new coastal corridors exposed by reduced lake levels. They are included here to show the available horizontal extent of lidar-derived topo-bathymetric data and thus explicitly identify gaps and limitations of predicted corridor extents under various reduced lake level scenarios. In addition, these files provide users with a background layer that depicts the topographic variability of the submerged near-shore lake bed and terrestrial landscape.These files are 5m grid representations of the hydrographic and topographic data collected by the CHARTS system along the coasts of the U.S. sides of Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair, Lake Erie,...
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Description of Work This work began by assembling fish toxicant data into a common database and examining the database for trends in toxicant data. The trends found in the toxicant database were linked to physiochemical properties of the individual toxicants. Combining the toxicant trends with the physiochemical properties may allow for the prediction of toxicity and the identification of chemicals with selectivity for the Asian carp. Identifying a selective toxicant may provide control of Asian carps while minimizing effects on other non-target aquatic species. When Asian carp specific toxicants are identified from the initial screen within the database these toxicants are then further screened in toxicity assays...
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Description of Work Currently, a standard test method does not exist for evaluating the effects of sediment-associated toxicants on freshwater mussels. A standard guide for conducting water-only laboratory toxicity tests with freshwater mussels was approved in 2006 (ASTM 2008a) and provides a tested and validated, consensus-based methodology for conducting acute or chronic water toxicity tests with the early life stages (glochidia and juveniles) of freshwater mussels. Several recent peer-reviewed scientific publications have presented data on various toxicants (Bringolf et al. 2007a,b,c; Wang et al. 2007a,b,c) generated with this method and demonstrate consistency and reliability in inter-laboratory (round robin)...
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Description of Work In 2011, the US EPA, USGS, and Canada’s DFO/EC continued the evolution of the strategy to conduct an “integrated’ (water quality to fish) spatially-consistent assessment for the entire lake in order to provide biomass estimates for each trophic level. A total of 54 sites were sampled during summer 2011. Water chemistry, nutrients, phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthic invertebrates, Mysis, and pelagic and benthic fish were collected at each site.
Description of WorkThe Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) was established to accelerate ecosystem restoration in the Great Lakes by confronting the most serious threats to the region, such as nonpoint source pollution, toxic sediments, and invasive species. Four Priority Watersheds have been targeted by the Regional Working Group's Phosphorus Reduction Work Group (Fox/Green Bay, Saginaw, Maumee, and Genesee) and are characterized by having a high density of agricultural land use and have ecosystem impairments that have been clearly identified. Monitoring is being conducted at the sub-watershed, edge-of-field, and subsurface-tile scale where monitoring locations are targeted to those areas within each watershed...
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Description of Work The first objective of this project is to restore Atlantic salmon in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River through development of new and innovative restoration techniques and evaluation of multiple salmon strains to determine their suitability for restoration. A primary focus of Atlantic salmon restoration is to evaluate survival of new strains of salmon stocked into Lake Ontario. As part of this project, the Sebago strain is being stocked into the lake and other strains are being considered for use based on life history characteristics and egg availability. This approach includes acquisition of Atlantic salmon eggs, rearing of salmon to various life stages (fry, fingerlings, smolts), marking,...
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Description of Work USGS scientists provide expertise, capacity and support for the implementation of Lakewide Management Plans (LaMPs) and the associated goals, objectives and targets for each of the Great Lakes, including Lake Superior. The LaMPs are critical binational groups that are important for promoting Great Lakes restoration. Specifically, LaMP efforts include compiling monitoring and research information into the Great Lakes web mapper (SiGL Mapper). The Mapper’s focus is on information that will result in recognition of areas where data are being collected, missing or sparse, and on areas where ecosystems are vulnerable.
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This project, a collaborative study involving the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Heidelberg University, focuses on using multi-agency water monitoring data in the Lake Erie basin (fig. 1) and a USGS package of software tools (dataRetrieval and EGRET; Hirsch and De Cicco, 2015 ) to evaluate seasonal and annual phosphorus and nitrogen trends, and to relate observed trends to climate, streamflow, and land-use activities. EGRET utilizes a recently developed trend method, Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season (WRTDS; Hirsch and others, 2010 ). WRTDS is designed to remove the effects of year-to-year streamflow variations on nutrient trends and provide improvements over prior conventional trend methods,...
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Description of Work U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists collect real-time, near-real-time, and synoptic flow and water-quality data (sediment and nutrients) from tributaries to the Great Lakes. The data provide baseline information to assess effectiveness of restoration and land management activities. Thirty of the 59 major downstream flow gages are continuously operating for water-quality samplings at these sites (number of sites reduced to 25 effective June 30, 2013). The work builds on current USGS monitoring efforts and those of partners in the Great Lakes. The results of this effort will provide information on nutrient and sediment loads and measure the effectiveness of restoration efforts in selected...
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Description of WorkThe success of GLRI beach restoration projects must be assessed to determine whether goals of recipients are on track and identify any developing unforeseen consequences of restoration efforts. Implementation of multiple BMPs during restoration can make understanding the impacts of individual BMPs difficult. However, proper site selection and well-designed monitoring and assessment plan can overcome such difficulties. The urban beaches chosen for evaluation are at various stages of the restoration process and located in Indiana (Jeorse Park Beach), Illinois (63rd Street Beach), and Wisconsin (North Beach). Data used for evaluation include continuous monitoring and synoptic mapping of nearshore...
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Description of Work To achieve a better understanding of seasonal habitats and migratory behaviors of Asian carp, we will conduct studies using telemetry, sonar and conventional fish sampling to determine 1) if, when, and where Asian carp congregate, 2) habitat overlap between Asian carp and native fishes, especially native filter-feeding fishes and potential predators, and 3) the suitability of large rivers and tributaries for spawning by Asian carp. We will also assess feeding behaviors by sampling food particles from areas with telemetry-tagged fish, at random sites and in Asian carp stomachs. Food from these sources will be characterized with a particle analyzer, genetics and microscopy to determine preferences...
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Description of Work USGS researchers have determined the densities of the eggs as these develop, and how much time the bighead and silver carp require to begin swimming and migrating laterally from flowing water into nursery habitat. This information about egg transport requirements was used to create a Tributary Assessment Tool also referred to as the Fluvial Egg Drift Simulator (FluEgg) model. The development of this tool was a collaborative effort between USGS and the University of Illinois. The tool takes into account the hydraulics of a river (water velocity and dispersion rates) and the water temperature (affects egg and larvae development rates) in order to determine if a river is sufficiently long and the...
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Description of Work U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists are focusing on restoring natural water flow and ecological processes between coastal wetlands in the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge (Ohio) and adjacent to Lake Erie to improve fish and wildlife habitat. This pilot project will develop approaches that will restore coastal wetland function and increase ecosystem resilience to be used as a model throughout the Great Lakes basin. USGS will focus on restoring natural hydrologic processes in diked coastal wetlands adjacent to Great Lakes waters to improve wetland functions like phosphorus retention and restoration of habitats for fish and wildlife. Sustainable approaches are being developed in the Maumee River...
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Description of Work USGS scientists will develop support to State partners for the removal of Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs) such as fish consumption advisories, fish tumor presence, Eutrophication and unwanted algae, drinking water problems, beach health, and concentrations of PCBs in lake trout and walleyes. Areas of Concern (AOC) principles and guidelines were developed as an initial reference point from which appropriate restoration criteria could be developed. Stage 2 Remedial Action Plans (RAPs) were developed for each of these AOCs to address impairments to any one of 14 beneficial uses associated with these areas. Specific remediation actions are completed in order to restore the beneficial use. When...
map background search result map search result map Lidar Topo-Bathymetry Forecasting Potential Phragmites Coastal Invasion Corridors Study Area Extent Benthic Communities and Sediment and Water Toxicity in the Rochester Embayment AOC Forecast/Nowcast Great Lakes Nutrient and Sediment Loadings AOC Decision Support Development and Demonstration of a Sediment Toxicity Test Method with Freshwater Mussels for Assessing Sediment Contaminants in the Great Lakes Basin and within North America Toxicity Testing of Sculpins and Darters Lake Ontario Component - Exploring changes in nutrient transfer within Great Lakes food webs: implications for fish production New Strategies for Restoring Coastal Wetland Function, Maumee River Area of Concern Lakewide Management Plan Capacity Support by U.S. Geological Survey - LAKE SUPERIOR Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative (CSMI) - LAKE SUPERIOR Evaluation of stream nutrient trends in the Lake Erie drainage basin in the presence of changing patterns in climate, streamflow, land drainage, and agricultural practices Benthic Communities and Sediment and Water Toxicity in the Rochester Embayment AOC Lake Ontario Component - Exploring changes in nutrient transfer within Great Lakes food webs: implications for fish production New Strategies for Restoring Coastal Wetland Function, Maumee River Area of Concern Evaluation of stream nutrient trends in the Lake Erie drainage basin in the presence of changing patterns in climate, streamflow, land drainage, and agricultural practices Lakewide Management Plan Capacity Support by U.S. Geological Survey - LAKE SUPERIOR Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative (CSMI) - LAKE SUPERIOR Lidar Topo-Bathymetry AOC Decision Support Forecasting Potential Phragmites Coastal Invasion Corridors Study Area Extent Forecast/Nowcast Great Lakes Nutrient and Sediment Loadings Development and Demonstration of a Sediment Toxicity Test Method with Freshwater Mussels for Assessing Sediment Contaminants in the Great Lakes Basin and within North America Toxicity Testing of Sculpins and Darters