Filters: Tags: Ecosystem Health (X)
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Background Acidification of lotic and lentic environments has been found to adversely affect the integrity of resident biological assemblages. These effects have been particularly severe in poorly buffered regions like the Western Adirondacks. Although the Clean Air Act and its amendments have greatly reduced levels of atmospheric deposition, many streams in this region are still chronically or episodically acidified. In-stream and watershed-wide liming are two directed-mitigation techniques which could be used to accelerate ecosystem recovery and help restore the condition of biological assemblages. The costs and abilities (as well as effective duration) of these techniques to improve water and soil chemistry,...
Categories: Data,
Project;
Types: Downloadable,
Map Service,
OGC WFS Layer,
OGC WMS Layer,
Shapefile;
Tags: Aquatic Community Health,
Aquatic Community Health,
Aquatic Community Health,
Completed,
Cooperative Water Program,
Problem The Neversink River and Rondout Creek are historic trout fishing and recreational streams in the heart of the Catskill Mountains of southeastern NY. Waters throughout upper reaches of both rivers currently range from neutral to severely acidic due to deposition of acid rain throughout their watersheds. Fish surveys conducted by the USGS during the late 1980s and early 1990s found that some fish species and entire assemblages were absent or depressed in many tributaries and second and third order reaches of both rivers. Recent decreases in acidity of atmospheric deposition and changes in hydrologic and thermal regimes are now affecting water chemistry (e.g., pH, acid neutralizing capacity, dissolved organic...
Categories: Data,
Project;
Types: Downloadable,
Map Service,
OGC WFS Layer,
OGC WMS Layer,
Shapefile;
Tags: Biogeochemical and Hydrologic Assessment,
Biogeochemical and Hydrologic Assessment,
BiogeochemicalandHydrologicAssessment,
Cooperative Water Program,
Ecological Assessment of Human and Natural Impacts,
Background Fish communities of the mainstem Mohawk River and Barge Canal have been well-documented (Carlson, 2015; George et al., 2016) but comparatively less information is available regarding the current status of fish communities in tributaries to the Mohawk River. This information gap is problematic because long-term shifts in species distributions or abundances due to climate change, eutrophication, or other anthropogenic stressors may go unnoticed in the absence of baseline data. More importantly, an approaching invasive fish species, the Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus), is expected to colonize much of the Mohawk River and the lower portion of many major tributaries. Introductions of Round Goby have had...
Categories: Data,
Project;
Types: Downloadable,
Map Service,
OGC WFS Layer,
OGC WMS Layer,
Shapefile;
Tags: Aquatic Community Health,
Aquatic Community Health,
Ecosystem Health,
USGS New York Water Science Center,
WSC
Description of Work The invasive form of Phragmites australis (common reed) is a well-established pest in many parts of the Great Lakes and the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts, including designated Areas of Concern. New innovative control options that sustainably target the competitive advantage often enjoyed by Phragmites and other invasive plants will contribute to a broad Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy. This project targets the microorganisms that may help Phragmites spread and will employ a molecular genetic approach to silence the genes in Phragmites that give it a competitive edge over many native plants. This project helped build and will continue to be closely aligned with the Great Lakes Phragmites...
Categories: Project;
Types: Map Service,
OGC WFS Layer,
OGC WMS Layer,
OGC WMS Service;
Tags: Areas of concern,
Ecosystem health,
GLRI,
Governmental,
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative,
Description of Work U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provided a one-week training course for ''Geomorphic Analysis of Fluvial Systems'' to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other state and local agencies in Chicago. This provided an introduction to the concepts of how stream channels change over time due to natural and human-caused changes in the watershed. This training assisted managers in understanding the goals and limits of stream restoration specific to Great Lakes streams. Much of the training centered on sediment movement in channels and also was applicable to EPA managers working on clean-sediment TMDLs and nutrient-sediment interactions.
Categories: Project;
Tags: Assessment,
Beneficial use impairment,
Climate change,
Deposition,
Ecosystem health,
These normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) raster data were compiled to develop time series data of the lower Colorado River (LCR) riparian corridor vegetation greenness and phenology since the year 2000. An objective of our study was to evaluate short and long-term effects of drought and biocontrol on LCR riparian and aquatic ecosystems south of Hoover Dam. These data represent spatially explicit scaled normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI*) difference maps between two decades (2000 to 2010 and 2011 to 2020) and two 5 year periods (2000 to 2005 and 2016 to 2020). NDVI* is an additional correction to the NDVI to account for the illumination conditions; it is a processing correction step to improve...
Stream flows are essential for maintaining healthy aquatic ecosystems and for supporting human water supply needs. Integrated modeling approaches assessing the impact of changes in climate, land use, and water withdrawals on stream flows and the subsequent impact of changes in flow regime on aquatic biota at multiple spatial scales are necessary to insure an adequate supply of water for humans and healthy river ecosystems. This report inventories and then directly examines and compares a subset of hydrological models implemented in the Southeastern US that were used to estimate streamflow at a number of gaged basins across the region. This effort was designed to evaluate, quantify and compare the magnitude, and...
Categories: Data;
Types: Citation;
Tags: ELOHA,
Landscapes,
Other Landscapes,
Rivers, Streams and Lakes,
Science Tools For Managers,
Problem Over the past century, the Harlem River watershed has become highly urbanized with 90 percent of the waterway constrained by infrastructure, which has limited access for recreational use. Bound by New York (Manhattan) and Bronx Counties, the Harlem River is a tidal strait between urbanized estuaries to the north (Hudson River) and south (East River). Direct inputs include the more than 50 combined sewer overflows (CSOs) that discharge runoff from impervious surfaces and untreated sewage to the Harlem River during precipitation events. Historic uses of the Harlem River included swimming, boating, and fishing, as well as horseback riding and hiking through adjacent parklands. As urban sprawl continued...
Background: The USGS propose a collaborative investigation with the NYSDEC and NOAA to evaluate the current condition of benthic macroinvertebrate communities and toxicity of bed sediments in the Niagara River Area of Concern (AOC). Using a probabilistic study design, sediment-toxicity data compiled by the USGS, invertebrate community data collected by NYSDEC, and sediment-chemistry data collected by NOAA will be assimilated using a Sediment Quality Triad approach (Chapman et al., 1992; USEPA, 1992) to provide a sediment-quality baseline needed to gauge changes expected to follow remediation of contaminated sediments in parts of the AOC. These data will also be used directly to confirm that the macroinvertebrate...
Categories: Data,
Project;
Types: Downloadable,
Map Service,
OGC WFS Layer,
OGC WMS Layer,
Shapefile;
Tags: Completed,
Cooperative Water Program,
Ecological Assessment of Human and Natural Impacts,
Ecological Assessment of Human and Natural Impacts,
Ecological Assessment of Human and Natural Impacts,
Background Discharges from non-point sources, municipal and industrial point sources, and combined sewage overflows over the last century resulted in elevated levels of heavy metals, conventional pollutants, phosphorus, and toxic organic contaminants in water and sediments of the Lower Genesee River and Rochester Embayment. As a result, the zooplankton and phytoplankton or “plankton” communities were designated as one of fourteen Beneficial Use Impairments (BUI); i.e., the resource was either impaired or in need of assessment in the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern (AOC). The Rochester Embayment Remedial Action Committee (RAC) was formed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC)...
Problem - There is a stated need to provide information on loading of persistent toxic pollutants to Lake Ontario from New York tributaries. The information is specifically required for the Lake Ontario Mass Balance Model, which is an integral part of the long-term Great Lakes research. The project described here is designed to demonstrate a cost-effective approach for estimation of loads of polychlorinated-biphenyls (PCBs) through use of a relatively small number of large-volume whole-water samples for PCB analysis. The Black River basin was selected to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach because it is the largest New York contributor of PCBs to Lake Ontario. Objectives - The objective of this project...
Problem The Adirondack region of New York has 128 lakes that are listed as impaired by acidity under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act. Acidity can limit the survival and reproduction of native fishes such as brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). Chronic and episodic acidification also stresses fish, aquatic macroinvertebrates, and other biota of inflowing tributaries of these and many additional lakes. Acidification of these tributaries can also affect the health of fish populations in receiving lakes, by limiting suitable spawning and nursery habitat. Although many Adirondack lakes have shown decreased acidity resulting from decreases in atmospheric sulfur and nitrogen emissions, the ecological improvements...
Problem - A variety of factors potentially impact natural resources in the Neversink River basin and in other tributaries to the Upper Delaware River along the New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey boarders in the northeastern US. Increased urbanization within most watersheds of the Delaware River has decreased forested lands and ground permeability; fractionated forests, streams, and rivers; impounded flowing waters, and discharged municipal, agricultural, and industrial pollutants into many waterways. The effects on water quality and hydrology have been quantified relatively well. The direct impacts of these perturbations on biological components of stream and river ecosystems are sometimes known, however, more...
Categories: Data,
Project;
Types: Downloadable,
Map Service,
OGC WFS Layer,
OGC WMS Layer,
Shapefile;
Tags: Catskill Mountains,
Completed,
Cooperative Water Program,
Delaware River Basin,
Ecoflows,
Conclusions: Prescribed burns did not supply the stream ecosystem with potentially important nutrient pulses that are often observed after wildfires. Prescribing higher severity burns to more closely mimic wildfires would enhance N cycling in productivity in N-limited headwater watersheds. Thresholds/Learnings: Synopsis: This study aimed to compare the short-term effects of spring prescribed burns and wildfires on Nitrogen cycling dynamics in headwater watersheds of central Idaho. Fire affected N dynamics in both terrestrial and aquatic components of the watershed ecosystem after wildfires but were limited to the terrestrial ecosystem after prescribed burns. Streamwater NO3 concentrations were affected significantly...
Categories: Publication;
Types: Citation,
Map Service,
OGC WFS Layer,
OGC WMS Layer,
OGC WMS Service;
Tags: Ecosystem,
Idaho,
Idaho Batholith,
Land use configuration,
Nitrogen Cycling,
The growth of temperate forests is typically limited by the availability of nitrogen. Elevated concentrations of nitrate in some Catskill Mountain streams, which are tributary to New York City's water-supply reservoirs west of the Hudson River, indicate that the forests of this region are at the early stages of nitrogen saturation. That is, nitrogen is available in excess of the amount utilized by vegetation and soil microorganisms in the forests. Nitrogen saturation is a concern because the mobile nitrate that moves through soil is accompanied by other nutrients such as the base cations calcium and magnesium that are necessary for forest growth but are present in short supply in some Catskill soils. And, nutrient...
Background With few exceptions, the contemporary and past effects of acidification on fish populations and communities in streams across acid-sensitive regions of NY have not been documented. The pervasive lack of information only permits anecdotal insight into the spatial effects of acidification on stream-fish assemblages and essentially precludes any broad effort to quantify temporal trends and potential recovery of fish assemblages in less acidic or less toxic streams. Though the effects of acidification on fish assemblages have been qualified in several streams of the eastern Adirondacks during 1979, the 1980s, and early 2000s, (Schofield and Driscoll 1987; Simonin et al. 2005) quantitative impacts were...
Categories: Data,
Project;
Types: Downloadable,
Map Service,
OGC WFS Layer,
OGC WMS Layer,
Shapefile;
Tags: Adirondack Mountains,
Aquatic Community Health,
Aquatic Community Health,
Aquatic Community Health,
Catskill Mountains,
The Ellison Park wetland, a 423-acre, predominantly cattail marsh at the mouth of Irondequoit Creek in Monroe County near Rochester, N.Y., was evaluated for its potential role to decrease phosphorus loads that are derived from a 151-square-mile largely urbanized area and that ultimately enter and exacerbate efforts to ameliorate the eutrophic conditions in Irondequoit Bay. Monroe County's water-quality management plan included (1) modification of flow patterns upstream from and within the wetland by diverting storm runoff into backwater areas of the wetland, and (2) construction of a flow-control structure midway through the wetland that would cause short-term rises in water levels and increased dispersion of...
Categories: Data,
Project;
Types: Downloadable,
Map Service,
OGC WFS Layer,
OGC WMS Layer,
Shapefile;
Tags: Completed,
Cooperative Water Program,
Ecological Assessment of Human and Natural Impacts,
Ecological Assessment of Human and Natural Impacts,
Ecological Assessment of Human and Natural Impacts,
These full time-series period statistics data were compiled for monitoring riparian zone trends and changes in the lower Colorado as part of a study to document riparian ecosystem health and its water use. Our study evaluated the short and long-term effects on the river's vegetation of drought and hydrological processes in this dryland region. Because of the landscape changes, we explored remote sensing-based change analysis techniques and data to develop time series data of the Colorado River riparian corridor vegetation greenness, phenology, and water use since the year 2000. We divided the river into five Reaches (R3..R7) to separate between the different land covers, management conditions, and general geospatial...
Description of Work The GLRI Rivermouths Project (template 82) is designed to enhance our understanding of how rivermouths function at both regional and local scales by 1) developing a rivermouth classification system, based on a broad scale database covering all Great Lakes rivermouths (>2000); 2) creating a science-based understanding of how the ecological structure and function of rivermouths are linked both to the landscapes they drain and to the Lakes with which they mix; and 3) increasing the public and scientific profile of these ecosystems by connecting researchers and natural resource managers through a collaborative dialog. The long-term goal is to provide enhanced guidance for restoration and rehabilitation...
Categories: Project;
Types: Map Service,
OGC WFS Layer,
OGC WMS Layer,
OGC WMS Service;
Tags: Accountability,
Areas of concern,
Ecosystem health,
GLRI,
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative,
Description of Work U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists are improving the health of the Great Lakes sport and commercial fisheries by documenting sources and the determining the processes that control mercury entering food webs, and helping to evaluate the implications for public health. Our scientists will provide decision-makers with a scientific understanding of mercury-source profiles, the relative importance of the various sources, and the expected environmental responses to Great Lakes wasters and fisheries to altered mercury loading and restoration actions. This information is intended to inform and maximize the benefit of the Great Lakes restoration program. The USGS will develop mercury and methylmercury...
Categories: Project;
Types: Map Service,
OGC WFS Layer,
OGC WMS Layer,
OGC WMS Service;
Tags: Areas of concern,
Beneficial use impairment,
Bioaccumulation,
Deposition,
Ecosystem health,
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