USGS Submissions

Conservation planners associated with the Gulf Coastal Plains and Ozarks (GCPO) and Gulf Coast Prairie (GCP) Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCCs) require contemporary and standardized vegetation maps from coastal Texas to Alabama.  Marsh salinity zone maps are used by conservation planners to model habitat availability for priority taxa (e.g., waterfowl and alligator) and for understanding impacts to priority habitats. The USGS National Wetlands Research Center has been funded by the U.S.

Effective river management depends not only on scientific understanding of the many interacting components of river systems, but also on how well that information is accessed, communicated, and used in decision processes.

This study explored the amount, type, and distribution of annual tree canopy foliage that may enter Fanno Creek in Portland, Oregon. The creek is populated with dozens of deciduous tree species, including Oregon ash, Oregon oak, Douglas fir, aspen, willow, red alder, and bigleaf maple. This abundant foliage, and its associated leaf litter, decomposes and consumes oxygen from the stream to supply nutrients to Fanno Creek.

Florida manatees range along the Gulf of Mexico coast from Florida to Texas. Little is known about manatee use areas and habitats west of the Suwannee River.  Understanding manatee distribution and resource use and knowledge of shelter and forage resources for manatees and other species such as fish and sea turtles is necessary to effectively manage northern Gulf of Mexico coastal habitats.

Marine Protection Areas have been established in Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida, and Buck Island Reef National Monument (BIRNM), U.S. Virgin Islands, to protect natural and fisheries resources and associated coral reef habitats. BIRNM includes one of the most important nesting areas for endangered hawksbill and other turtles. Habitat use by endangered sea turtles is monitored by instrumenting turtles with both acoustic and satellite tags. This research aims to contribute to their protection by deciphering spatial and temporal habitat-use patterns.

The USGS UMESC has been studying native mussels in the UMRS for several years.  Native mussel conservation and restoration is a priority in the UMRS because of the ecological services the mussels provide and their capability to serve as sentinels of river health.  Side-scan sonar imagery was collected for West Newton Chute, Navigation Pool 5 of the UMRS.  These images were georeferenced and mosaicked to create an underwater picture of the river bottom.  The goal is to identify factors limiting the distribution and abundance of freshwater mussels in the UMRS basin and pro

Cheney Reservoir is the primary water supply for the city of Wichita, Kansas, and an important recreational resource. The occurrence of cyanobacterial blooms and associated compounds are a threat to this resource. Spatial variability in cyanobacteria and microcystin (a toxin) in Cheney Reservoir was assessed during August 2011 by collecting discrete water samples from 45 locations in the reservoir. Sample collection was planned to coincide with a Landsat 5 pass to develop an algorithm to estimate algal biomass (as chlorophyll) in the reservoir.

In 2011-2013, the USGS UMESC used NEXRAD weather radar to observe waterfowl movements along the Wabash, White, and Patoka Rivers, including the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge in Indiana and Illinois.

The USGS UMESC is using high-resolution digital aerial photography and state-of-the-art 3D mapping technologies to map and characterize Great Lakes river mouth ecosystems for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.  There is a critical need to study and understand river mouth ecosystems—the complex zones where tributaries intersect with wetland and coastal processes to form productive freshwater estuaries—and how they link riverine (landscape) and Great Lakes deepwater systems.  UMESC developed geospatial datasets of aquatic vegetation for the mouths of the Pere Marquette, Ford, a

Documenting and understanding the occurrence of wetland loss and shoreline erosion along the east coast of the United States as a result of Hurricane Sandy will provide for effective planning, protection, and restoration activities.  In this effort, we are using multiple dates (1984-2013) of satellite data to evaluate landscape changes.  This analysis will enable a comparison between historical rates of wetland change and hurricane-induced change.