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J.F. Coles

Publications and source records attributed to J.F. Coles.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2011

Multilevel regression models describing regional patterns of invertebrate and algal responses to urbanization across the USA

Multilevel hierarchical regression was used to examine regional patterns in the responses of benthic macroinvertebrates and algae to urbanization across 9 metropolitan areas of the conterminous USA. Linear regressions established that responses (intercepts and slopes) to urbanization of invertebrates and algae varied among metropolitan areas. Multilevel hierarchical regression models were able to explain these differences on the basis of region-scale predictors. Regional differences in the type of land cover (agriculture or forest) being converted to urban and climatic factors (precipitation and air temperature) accounted for the differences in the response of macroinvertebrates to urbanization based on ordination scores, total richness, Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera richness, and average tolerance. Regional differences in climate and antecedent agriculture also accounted for differences in the responses of salt-tolerant diatoms, but differences in the responses of other diatom metrics (% eutraphenic, % sensitive, and % silt tolerant) were best explained by regional differences in soils (mean % clay soils). The effects of urbanization were most readily detected in regions where forest lands were being converted to urban land because agricultural development significantly degraded assemblages before urbanization and made detection of urban effects difficult. The effects of climatic factors (temperature, precipitation) on background conditions (biogeographic differences) and rates of response to urbanization were most apparent after accounting for the effects of agricultural development. The effects of climate and land cover on responses to urbanization provide strong evidence that monitoring, mitigation, and restoration efforts must be tailored for specific regions and that attainment goals (background conditions) may not be possible in regions with high levels of prior disturbance (e.g., agricultural development).

Journal of the North American Benthological Societ↗
USGS2010

Judging a brook by its cover: The relation between ecological condition of a stream and urban land cover in new England

The US Geological Survey conducted an urban land-use study in the New England Coastal Basins (NECB) area during 2001 to determine how urbanization relates to changes in the ecological condition of streams. Thirty sites were selected that differed in their level of watershed development (low to high). An urban intensity value was calculated for each site from 24 landscape variables. Together, these 30 values reppresented a gradient of urban intensity. Among various biological, chemical, and physical factors surveyed at each site, benthic invertebrate assemblages were sampled from stream riffles and also from multiple habitats along the length of the sampling reach. We use some of the NECB data to derive a four-variable urbanintensity index (NECB-UII), where each variable represents a distinct component of urbanization: increasing human presence, expanding infrastructure, landscape development, and riparian vegetation loss. Using the NECB-UII as a characterization of urbanization, we describe how landscape fragmentation occurs with urbanization and how changes in the invertebrate assemblages, represented by metrics of ecological condition, are related to urbanization. Metrics with a strong linear response included EPT taxa richness, percentage richness of non-insect taxa, and pollution-tolerance values. Additionally, we describe how these relations can help in estimating the expected condition of a stream for its level of urbanization, thereby establishing a baseline for evaluating possible affects from specific point-source stressors.

Northeastern Naturalist↗
USGS2008

Use of tolerance values to diagnose water-quality stressors to aquatic biota in New England streams

Identification of stressors related to biological impairment is critical to biological assessments. We applied nationally derived tolerance indicator values for four water-quality variables to fish and benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages at 29 sites along an urban gradient in New England. Tolerance indicator values (TIVs), as biologically based predictors of water-quality variables, were determined for dissolved oxygen, nitrite plus nitrate (nitrate), total phosphorus, and water temperature for each site based on observed biological assemblages (TIVO), and for expected assemblages (TIVE). The quotient method, based on a ratio of the TIVs for observed and expected assemblages (tolerance units), was used to diagnose potential water-quality stressors. In addition, the ratio of measured water-quality values to water-quality criteria (water-quality units) was calculated for each water-quality variable to assess measured water-quality stressors. Results from a RIVPACS predictive model for benthic macroinvertebrates and Bray-Curtis dissimilarity for fish were used to classify sites into categories of good or impaired ecological condition. Significant differences were detected between good and impaired sites for all biological tolerance units (fish and benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages averaged) except for nitrate (P = 0.480), and for all water-quality units except for nitrate (P = 0.183). Diagnosis of water-quality stressors at selected sites was, in general, consistent with State-reported causes of impairment. Tolerance units for benthic macroinvertebrate and fish assemblages were significantly correlated for water temperature (P = 0.001, r = 0.63), dissolved oxygen (P = 0.001, r = 0.61), and total phosphorus (P = 0.001, r = 0.61), but not for nitrate (P = 0.059, r = -0.35). Differences between the two assemblages in site-specific diagnosis of water-quality stressors may be the result of differences in nitrate tolerance.

Ecological Indicators↗
USGS2007

Use of stage data to characterize hydrologic conditions in an urbanizing environment

This paper presents the results of a study on the use of continuous stage data to describe the relation between urban development and three aspects of hydrologic condition that are thought to influence stream ecosystems - overall stage variability, stream flashiness, and the duration of extreme- stage conditions . This relation is examined using data from more than 70 watersheds in three contrasting environmental settings - the humid Northeast (the metropolitan Boston, Massachusetts, area); the very humid Southeast (the metropolitan Birmingham, Alabama, area); and the semiarid West (the metropolitan Salt Lake City, Utah, area). Results from the Birmingham and Boston studies provide evidence linking increased urbanization with stream flashiness. Fragmentation of developed land cover patches appears to ameliorate the effects of urbanization on overall variability and flashiness. There was less success in relating urbanization and streamflow conditions in the Salt Lake City study. A related investigation of six North Carolina sites with long term discharge and stage data indicated that hydrologic condition metrics developed using continuous stage data are comparable to flow based metrics, particularly for stream flashiness measures.

Journal of the American Water Resources Associatio↗
USGS2005

Fish assemblage responses to urban intensity gradients in contrasting metropolitan areas: Birmingham, Alabama and Boston, Massachusetts

We examined fish assemblage responses to urban intensify gradients in two contrasting metropolitan areas: Birmingham, Alabama (BIR) and Boston, Massachusetts (BOS). Urbanization was quantified by using an urban intensity index (UII) that included multiple stream buffers and basin land uses, human population density, and road density variables. We evaluated fish assemblage responses by using species richness metrics and detrended correspondence analyses (DCA). Fish species richness metrics included total fish species richness, and percentages of endemic species richness, alien species, and fluvial specialist species. Fish species richness decreased significantly with increasing urbanization in BIR (r = -0.82, P = 0.001) and BOS (r = -0.48, P = 0.008). Percentages of endemic species richness decreased significantly with increasing urbanization only in BIR (r = - 0.71, P = 0.001), whereas percentages of fluvial specialist species decreased significantly with increasing urbanization only in BOS (r = -0.56, P = 0.002). Our DCA results for BIR indicate that highly urbanized fish assemblages are composed primarily of largescale stoneroller Campostoma oligolepis, largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides, and creek chub Semotilus atromaculatus, whereas the highly urbanized fish assemblages in BOS are dominated by yellow perch Perca flavescens, bluegill Lefomis macrochirus, yellow bullhead Ameiurus natalis, largemouth bass, pumpkinseed L. gibbosus, brown bullhead A. nebulosus, and redfin pickerel Esox americanus. Differences in fish assemblage responses to urbanization between the two areas appear to be related to differences in nutrient enrichment, habitat alterations, and invasive species. Because species richness can increase or decrease with increasing urbanization, a general response model is not applicable. Instead, response models based on species' life histories, behavior, and autecologies offer greater potential for understanding fish assemblage responses to urbanization. ?? 2005 by the American Fisheries Society.

American Fisheries Society Symposium↗
USGS2005

Use of an urban intensity index to assess urban effects on streams in three contrasting environmental settings

To assess the effects of urbanization on assemblages (fish, invertebrate, and algal), physical habitat, and water chemistry, we investigated the relations among varying intensities of basin urbanization and stream ecology in three metropolitan areas: the humid northeastern United States around Boston, Massachusetts; the humid southeastern United States around Birmingham, Alabama; and the semiarid western United States around Salt Lake City, Utah. A consistent process was used to develop a multimetric urban intensity index (UII) based on locally important variables (land-use/land-cover, infrastructure, and socioeconomic variables) in each study area and a common urban intensity index (CUII) based on a subset of five variables common to all study areas. The UII was used to characterize 30 basins along an urban gradient in each metropolitan area. Study basins were located within a single ecoregion in each of the metropolitan areas. The UII, ecoregions, and site characteristics provided a method for limiting the variability of natural landscape characteristics while assessing the magnitude of urban effects. Conditions in Salt Lake City (semiarid climate and water diversions) and Birmingham (topography) required nesting sites within the same basin. The UII and CUII facilitated comparisons of aquatic assemblages response to urbanization across different environmental settings. ?? 2005 by the American Fisheries Society.

American Fisheries Society Symposium↗
USGS2001

Effect of temperature on photosynthesis-light response and growth of four phytoplankton species isolated from a tidal freshwater river

Three cyanobacteria (Microcystis aeruginosa Kutz. emend. Elenkin, Merismopedia tenuissima Lemmermann, and Oscillatoria sp.) and one diatom (Aulacoseira granulata var. angustissima O. Mull. emend. Simonsen) were isolated from the tidal freshwater Potomac River and maintained at 23??C and 40 ??mol photons??m-2??s-1 on a 16:8 L:D cycle in unialgal culture. Photosynthetic parameters were determined in nutrient-replete cultures growing exponentially at 15, 20, 25, and 30??C by incubation with 14C at six light levels. P(B)(max) was strongly correlated with temperature over the entire range for the cyanobacteria and from 15 to 25??C for Aulacoseira, with Q10 ranging from 1.79 to 2.67. The ?? values demonstrated a less consistent temperature pattern. Photosynthetic parameters indicated an advantage for cyanobacteria at warmer temperatures and in light-limited water columns. P(B)(max) and I(k) values were generally lower than comparable literature and field values, whereas ?? was generally higher, consistent with a somewhat shade acclimated status of our cultures. Specific growth rate (??), as measured by chlorophyll change, was strongly influenced by temperature in all species. Oscillatoria had the highest ?? at all temperatures, joined at lower temperatures by Aulacoseira and at higher temperatures by Microcystis. Values of ?? for Aulacaseira were near the low end of the literature range for diatoms consistent with the light-limited status of the cultures. The cyanobacteria exhibited growth rates similar to those reported in other studies. Q10 for growth ranged from 1.71 for Aulacoseira to 4.16 for Microcystis. Growth rate was highly correlated with P(B)(max) for each species and the regression slope coefficients were very similar for three of the species.

Journal of Phycology↗
USGS1999

Inventory of selected freshwater-ecology studies from the New England Coastal Basins (Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island), 1937-97

An inventory of published studies that address freshwater ecology within the New England Coastal Basins was created through computerized bibliographic literature searches and consultation with environmental agencies. Assembled papers were classified to associate their contents with one or more states, ecoregions, river basins, and ecological topics. Full references and their classifications were entered into a bibliographic software program and then exported to a data-base application to generate a checklist summary of study contents. This report presents a listing and classification of 154 selected studies, published between 1937 and 1997, that provide background knowledge and serve as general aquatic-ecology references for the New England Coastal Basins study area.

Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island↗
USGS1996

Organochlorine compounds and trace elements in fish tissue and ancillary data for the Connecticut, Housatonic, and Thames river basins study unit, 1992-94

Concentrations of organochlorine compounds and trace elements were assayed in fish tissue collected from the Connecticut, Housatonic, and Thames River Basins Study Unit, 1992-94. These data were collected to determine the occurrence and distribution of organochlorine compounds and trace elements in the study unit. Ancillary data included are land-use categories by percentage of the sampling-site basins and the size, gender, and age of the individual fish collected for this study. Concentrations of 28 organochlorine compounds in composited whole fish samples were measured at 32 sites, and concentrations of 22 trace elements in composited fish liver samples were measured at 14 of the 32 sites. Most frequently detected organochlorines were DDT related compounds at 31 sites, total PCBs at 28 sites, and chlordane related compounds at 25 sites. Concentrations of total PCBs in fish tissue were generally higher at the large river sites than at the smaller tributary sites. Concentrations of chlordane-related compounds in fish tissue were higher at sites from more urbanized basins than at sites from predominately agriculture and forested basins. Concentrations of the DDT related compounds were undifferentiated among sites comprising different land uses. Trace elements detected at all 14 sites included boron, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, selenium, and zinc. Trace elements detected at 10 or more sites included arsenic, mercury, silver, strontium, and vanadium. Antimony, beryllium, and uranium were not detected at any site.

Open-File Report↗