Search USGS⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search USGS

Results for “Environmental Development”

Search indexed USGS publications on groundwater, aquifers, geologic maps, mineral resources and earthquakes. Explore source records by subject and place.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources
USGS1976

An oilspill risk analysis for the North Atlantic outer continental shelf lease area

The Federal Government has proposed to lease 1,172,795 acres of Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) lands on Georges Bank off the New England Coast for oil and gas development. Estimated recoverable petroleum resources for the proposed 206 tract sale area range from 180 to 650 million barrels. Contingent upon actual discovery of this quantity of oil, production is expected to span a period of about 20 years. An oilspill risk analysis was conducted to determine relative environmental hazards of developing oil in the North Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf lease area. The study analyzed probability of spill occurrence, likely path of pollutants from spills, and locations in space and time of recreational and biological resources likely to be vulnerable. These results are combined to yield estimates of the overall oilspill risk associated with development of the lease area. (Woodard-USGS)

Open-File Report↗
USGS2020

Development and testing of species-specific quantitative PCR assays for environmental DNA applications

New, non-invasive methods for detecting and monitoring species presence are being developed to aid in fisheries and wildlife conservation management. The use of environmental DNA (eDNA) samples for detecting macrobiota is one such group of methods that is rapidly becoming popular and being implemented in national management programs. Here we focus on the development of species-specific targeted assays for probe-based quantitative PCR (qPCR) applications. Using probe-based qPCR offers greater specificity than is possible with primers alone. Furthermore, the ability to quantify the amount of DNA in a sample can be useful in our understanding of the ecology of eDNA and the interpretation of eDNA detection patterns in the field. Careful consideration is needed in the development and testing of these assays to ensure the sensitivity and specificity of detecting the target species from an environmental sample. In this protocol we will delineate the steps needed to design and test probe-based assays for the detection of a target species; including creation of sequence databases, assay design, assay selection and optimization, testing assay performance, and field validation. Following these steps will help achieve an efficient, sensitive, and specific assay that can be used with confidence. We demonstrate this process with our assay designed for populations of the mucket ( Actinonaias ligamentina ), a freshwater mussel species found in the Clinch River, USA.

JOVE Journal Of Visualized Experiments↗
USGS2007

San Diego Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP) Rare Plant Monitoring Review and Revision

Introduction The San Diego Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP) was developed for the conservation of plants and animals in the south part of San Diego County, under the California Natural Community Conservation Planning Act of 1991 (California Department of Fish and Game) and the Federal Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S. Code 1531-1544.) The Program is on the leading edge of conservation, as it seeks to both guide development and conserve at-risk species with the oversight of both State and Federal agencies. Lands were identified for inclusion in the MSCP based on their value as habitat for at-risk plants or plant communities (Natural Community Conservation Planning, 2005). Since its inception in the mid-1990s the Program has protected over 100,000 acres, involving 15 jurisdictions and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) in the conservation of 87 taxa. Surveys for covered species have been conducted, and management and monitoring have been implemented at some high priority sites. Each jurisdiction or agency manages and monitors their conservation areas independently, while collaborating regionally for long-term protection. The San Diego MSCP is on the forefront of conservation, in one of the most rapidly growing urban areas of the country. The planning effort that developed the MSCP was state-of-the-art, using expert knowledge, spatial habitat modeling, and principles of preserve design to identify and prioritize areas for protection. Land acquisition and protection are ahead of schedule for most jurisdictions. Surveys have verified the locations of many rare plant populations known from earlier collections, and they provide general information on population size and health useful for further conservation planning. Management plans have been written or are in development for most MSCP parcels under jurisdictional control. Several agencies are developing databases for implementation and management tracking. In many ways this program is at the cutting edge of regional conservation, testing concepts, developing techniques, and demonstrating conservation effectiveness in new and uncharted ways. Periodic program review is crucial to the continued success of the program, as it moves from a phase of planning and acquisition to one of management and monitoring. Ecological monitoring is the key to assessing the success of the protection and management implemented at each individual reserve and for the MSCP as a whole. The ultimate goal of the Program is conservation of at-risk taxa and their habitats, as well as underlying ecological processes that contribute to sustainability of the ecosystem. Monitoring guidelines and timetables were developed by Ogden Environmental and Energy Services Co., Inc. (1996), and reviewed by Conservation Biology Institute (2001). The Program is in transition now, from the initial stage of land protection to one of land management and monitoring to determine population responses to management regimes. Several agencies have already invested substantial effort in status and trend monitoring, while others are developing their monitoring plans. Management is ongoing at several sites. With both management and monitoring, collaboration and coordination among jurisdictions can be especially fruitful in conserving resources and maximizing success.

Scientific Investigations Report↗
USGS2003

Geographic Information System Tools for Conservation Planning: User's Manual

Public and private land managers desire better ways to incorporate landscape, species, and habitat relations into their conservation planning processes. We present three tools, developed for the Environmental Systems Research Institute?s ArcView 3.x platform, applicable to many types of wildlife conservation management and planning efforts. These tools provide managers and planners with the ability to rapidly assess landscape attributes and link these attributes with species-habitat information. To use the tools, the user provides a detailed land cover spatial database and develops a matrix to identify species-habitat relations for the landscape of interest. The tools are applicable to any taxa or suite of taxa for which the required data are available. The user also has the ability to interactively make polygon-specific changes to the landscape and re-examine species-habitat relations. The development of these tools has given resource managers the means to evaluate the merits of proposed landscape management scenarios and to choose the scenario that best fits the goals of the managed area.

Information and Technology Report↗
USGS2005

Geodatabase of environmental information for Air Force Plant 4 and Naval Air Station-Joint Reserve Base Carswell Field, Fort Worth, Texas, 1990-2004

Air Force Plant 4 (AFP4) and adjacent Naval Air Station-Joint Reserve Base (NAS-JRB) at Fort Worth, Tex., constitute a government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) facility that has been in operation since 1942. Contaminants from the facility, primarily volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and metals, have entered the groundwater-flow system through leakage from waste-disposal sites (landfills and pits) and from manufacturing processes (U.S. Air Force, Aeronautical Systems Center, 1995). The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force (USAF), Aeronautical Systems Center, Environmental Management Directorate (ASC/ENVR), developed a comprehensive database (or geodatabase) of temporal and spatial environmental information associated with the geology, hydrology, and water quality at AFP4 and NAS-JRB. The database of this report provides information about the AFP4 and NAS-JRB study area including sample location names, identification numbers, locations, historical dates, and various measured hydrologic data. This database does not include every sample location at the site, but is limited to an aggregation of selected digital and hardcopy data of the USAF, USGS, and various consultants who have previously or are currently working at the site.

Texas↗
USGS2019

User’s manual for the Draper climate-distribution software suite with data‑evaluation tools

Development of a time series of spatially distributed climate data is an important step in the process of developing physically based environmental models requiring distributed inputs of climate data beyond what is available from observations collected at climate stations. To prepare inputs required for model-mapping units across the study area, climate data (temperature and precipitation) are distributed by combining data from gridded surfaces of mean-monthly climate-data values with (often) widely spaced daily point observations. Examples of climate-data files used to develop PRMS-formatted input files for the Merced River Basin Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) are included in this manual. The Draper Climate-Distribution Software Suite (Draper Suite) consists of the Draper climate-distribution program (Draper) and several supporting pre- and post-processing applications. Draper combines spatially distributed input in the form of monthly averaged values for precipitation, maximum temperature, and minimum temperature with daily observed data from climate stations to estimate distributed climate-data values at predefined locations across a study area (typically a drainage basin) on a daily time step. Alternative methods are used when station data are limited or missing for a particular day. Draper uses a set of required and optional input and output files with defined formats and naming conventions. A shell application also is available to manage multiple runs of the Draper application. Other applications in the Draper Suite include (1) a tool to find and interactively remove outliers in the input data, (2) a tool to check and enforce a minimum daily temperature range, and (3) a tool to view output diagnostic information as time-series graphs. These tools can be used iteratively to evaluate and improve the results from Draper as part of a workflow involving physically based environmental models, such as the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS).

Techniques and Methods↗
USGS2013

A coupled model approach to reduce nonpoint-source pollution resulting from predicted urban growth: A case study in the Ambos Nogales watershed

The development of new approaches for understanding processes of urban development and their environmental effects, as well as strategies for sustainable management, is essential in expanding metropolitan areas. This study illustrates the potential of linking urban growth and watershed models to identify problem areas and support long-term watershed planning. Sediment is a primary source of nonpoint-source pollution in surface waters. In urban areas, sediment is intermingled with other surface debris in transport. In an effort to forecast the effects of development on surface-water quality, changes predicted in urban areas by the SLEUTH urban growth model were applied in the context of erosion-sedimentation models (Universal Soil Loss Equation and Spatially Explicit Delivery Models). The models are used to simulate the effect of excluding hot-spot areas of erosion and sedimentation from future urban growth and to predict the impacts of alternative erosion-control scenarios. Ambos Nogales, meaning 'both Nogaleses,' is a name commonly used for the twin border cities of Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. The Ambos Nogales watershed has experienced a decrease in water quality as a result of urban development in the twin-city area. Population growth rates in Ambos Nogales are high and the resources set in place to accommodate the rapid population influx will soon become overburdened. Because of its remote location and binational governance, monitoring and planning across the border is compromised. One scenario described in this research portrays an improvement in water quality through the identification of high-risk areas using models that simulate their protection from development and replanting with native grasses, while permitting the predicted and inevitable growth elsewhere. This is meant to add to the body of knowledge about forecasting the impact potential of urbanization on sediment delivery to streams for sustainable development, which can be accomplished in a virtual environment. Copyright ?? 2008 by Bellwether Publishing, Ltd. All rights reserved.

Urban Geography↗
USGS2016

Effects of water-supply reservoirs on streamflow in Massachusetts

State and local water-resource managers need modeling tools to help them manage and protect water-supply resources for both human consumption and ecological needs. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, has developed a decision-support tool to estimate the effects of reservoirs on natural streamflow. The Massachusetts Reservoir Simulation Tool is a model that simulates the daily water balance of a reservoir. The reservoir simulation tool provides estimates of daily outflows from reservoirs and compares the frequency, duration, and magnitude of the volume of outflows from reservoirs with estimates of the unaltered streamflow that would occur if no dam were present. This tool will help environmental managers understand the complex interactions and tradeoffs between water withdrawals, reservoir operational practices, and reservoir outflows needed for aquatic habitats. A sensitivity analysis of the daily water balance equation was performed to identify physical and operational features of reservoirs that could have the greatest effect on reservoir outflows. For the purpose of this report, uncontrolled releases of water (spills or spillage) over the reservoir spillway were considered to be a proxy for reservoir outflows directly below the dam. The ratio of average withdrawals to the average inflows had the largest effect on spillage patterns, with the highest withdrawals leading to the lowest spillage. The size of the surface area relative to the drainage area of the reservoir also had an effect on spillage; reservoirs with large surface areas have high evaporation rates during the summer, which can contribute to frequent and long periods without spillage, even in the absence of water withdrawals. Other reservoir characteristics, such as variability of inflows, groundwater interactions, and seasonal demand patterns, had low to moderate effects on the frequency, duration, and magnitude of spillage. The reservoir simulation tool was used to simulate 35 single- and multiple-reservoir systems in Massachusetts over a 44-year period (water years 1961 to 2004) under two water-use scenarios. The no-pumping scenario assumes no water withdrawal pumping, and the pumping scenario incorporates average annual pumping rates from 2000 to 2004. By comparing the results of the two scenarios, the total streamflow alteration can be parsed into the portion of streamflow alteration caused by the presence of a reservoir and the additional streamflow alteration caused by the level of water use of the system. For each reservoir system, the following metrics were computed to characterize the frequency, duration, and magnitude of reservoir outflow volumes compared with unaltered streamflow conditions: (1) the median number of days per year in which the reservoir did not spill, (2) the median duration of the longest consecutive period of no-spill days per year, and (3) the lowest annual flow duration exceedance probability at which the outflows are significantly different from estimated unaltered streamflow at the 95-percent confidence level. Most reservoirs in the study do not spill during the summer months even under no-pumping conditions. The median number of days during which there was no spillage was less than 365 for all reservoirs in the study, indicating that, even under reported pumping conditions, the reservoirs refill to full volume and spill at least once during nondrought years, typically in the spring. Thirteen multiple-reservoir systems consisting of two or three hydrologically connected reservoirs were included in the study. Because operating rules used to manage multiple-reservoir systems are not available, these systems were simulated under two pumping scenarios, one in which water transfers between reservoirs are minimal and one in which reservoirs continually transferred water to intermediate or terminal reservoirs. These two scenarios provided upper and lower estimates of spillage under average pumping conditions from 2000 to 2004. For sites with insufficient data to simulate daily water balances, a proxy method to estimate the three spillage metrics was developed. A series of 4,000 Monte Carlo simulations of the reservoir water balance were run. In each simulation, streamflow, physical reservoir characteristics, and daily climate inputs were randomly varied. Tobit regression equations that quantify the relation between streamflow alteration and physical and operational characteristics of reservoirs were developed from the results of the Monte Carlo simulations and can be used to estimate each of the three spillage metrics using only the withdrawal ratio and the ratio of the surface area to the drainage area, which are available statewide for all reservoirs. A graphical user-interface for the Massachusetts Reservoir Simulation Tool was developed in a Microsoft Access environment. The simulation tool contains information for 70 reservoirs in Massachusetts and allows for simulation of additional scenarios than the ones considered in this report, including controlled releases, dam seepage and leakage, demand management plans, and alternative water withdrawal and transfer rules.

Massachusetts↗
USGS2002

Environmental Database For Water-Quality Data for the Penobscot River, Maine: Design Documentation and User Guide

An environmental database was developed to store water-quality data collected during the 1999 U.S. Geological Survey investigation of the occurrence and distribution of dioxins, furans, and PCBs in the riverbed sediment and fish tissue in the Penobscot River in Maine. The database can be used to store a wide range of detailed information and to perform complex queries on the data it contains. The database also could be used to store data from other historical and any future environmental studies conducted on the Penobscot River and surrounding regions.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2017

Landscape- and local-scale habitat influences on occupancy and detection probability of stream-dwelling crayfish: Implications for conservation

Crayfish are ecologically important in freshwater systems worldwide and are imperiled in North America and globally. We sought to examine landscape- to local-scale environmental variables related to occupancy and detection probability of a suite of stream-dwelling crayfish species. We used a quantitative kickseine method to sample crayfish presence at 102 perennial stream sites with eight surveys per site. We modeled occupancy (psi) and detection probability ( P ) and local- and landscape-scale environmental covariates. We developed a set of a priori candidate models for each species and ranked models using (Q)AICc. Detection probabilities and occupancy estimates differed among crayfish species with Orconectes eupunctus , O. marchandi , and Cambarus hubbsi being relatively rare (psi < 0.20) with moderate (0.46–0.60) to high (0.81) detection probability and O. punctimanus and O. ozarkae being relatively common (psi > 0.60) with high detection probability (0.81). Detection probability was often related to local habitat variables current velocity, depth, or substrate size. Important environmental variables for crayfish occupancy were species dependent but were mainly landscape variables such as stream order, geology, slope, topography, and land use. Landscape variables strongly influenced crayfish occupancy and should be considered in future studies and conservation plans.

Arkansas, Missouri↗
USGS2008

A comparison of runoff quantity and quality from two small basins undergoing implementation of conventional- and low-impact-development (LID) strategies: Cross Plains, Wisconsin, water years 1999–2005

Environmental managers are often faced with the task of designing strategies to accommodate development while minimizing adverse environmental impacts. Low-impact development (LID) is one such strategy that attempts to mitigate environmental degradation commonly associated with impervious surfaces. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, studied two residential basins in Cross Plains, Wis., during water years 1999–2005. A paired-basin study design was used to compare runoff quantity and quality from the two basins, one of which was developed in a conventional way and the other was developed with LID. The conventional-developed basin (herein called “conventional basin”) consisted of curb and gutter, 40-foot street widths, and a fully connected stormwater-conveyance system. The LID basin consisted of grassed swales, reduced impervious area (32-foot street widths), street inlets draining to grass swales, a detention pond, and an infiltration basin. Data collected in the LID basin represented predevelopment through near-complete build-out conditions. Smaller, more frequent precipitation events that produced stormwater discharge from the conventional basin were retained in the LID basin. Only six events with precipitation depths less than or equal to 0.4 inch produced measurable discharge from the LID basin. Of these six events, five occurred during winter months when underlying soils are commonly frozen, and one was likely a result of saturated soil from a preceding storm. In the conventional basin, the number of discharge events, using the same threshold of precipitation depth, was 180, with nearly one-half of those resulting from precipitation depths less than 0.2 inch. Precipitation events capable of producing appreciable discharge in the LID basin were typically those of high intensity or precipitation depth or those that occurred after soils were already saturated. Total annual discharge volume measured from the conventional basin ranged from 1.3 to 9.2 times that from the LID basin. Development of the LID basin did not appreciably alter the hydrologic response to precipitation characterized during predevelopment conditions. Ninety-five percent or more of precipitation in the LID basin was retained during each year of construction from predevelopment through near-complete build-out, surpassing the 90-percent benchmark established for new development by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The amount of precipitation retained in the conventional basin did not exceed 94 percent and fell below the 90-percent standard 2 of the 6 years monitored. Much of the runoff in the LID basin was retained by an infiltration basin, the largest control structure used to mitigate storm-runoff quantity and quality. The infiltration basin also was the last best-management practice (BMP) used to treat runoff before it left the LID basin as discharge. From May 25, 2002, to September 30, 2005, only 24 of 155 precipitation events exceeded the retention/ infiltrative capacity of the infiltration basin. The overall reduction in runoff volume from these few events was 51 percent. The effectiveness of the infiltration basin decreased as precipitation intensities exceeded 0.5 inch per hour. Annual loads were estimated to characterize the overall effectiveness of low-impact design practices for mitigating delivery of total solids, total suspended solids, and total phosphorus. Annual loads of these three constituents were greater in the LID basin than in the conventional basin in 2000 and 2004. Seventy percent or more of all constituent annual loads were associated with two discharge events in 2000, and a single discharge event produced 50 percent or more of constituent annual loads in 2004. Each of these discharge events was associated with considerable precipitation depths and (or) intensities, ranging from 4.89 to 6.21 inches and from 1.13 to 1.2 inches per hour, respectively. These same storms did not contribute as much of the annual load in the conventional basin. With large storms and saturated soils, the ability of low-impact design techniques to reduce runoff, and thus constituent loads, can be greatly diminished. For both the LID and conventional basins, the temperature of runoff was largely affected by ambient air temperatures. However, the temperature of discharge from the LID basin increased upon runoff cessation. This increase is likely due to solar heating of water that is temporarily stored in the detention pond and infiltration basin.

Wisconsin↗
USGS2026

Current and near-future conditions of aquatic spatial data for use in ecological models in the United States

To address increasing demand for ecological models of aquatic species that can inform the management of national freshwater resources, we leveraged manager input to develop suites of environmental data layers characterizing freshwater habitats for the contiguous United States. Using the National Hydrography Dataset, these new data cover lentic and lotic systems under current and near-future environmental conditions. The data include a variety of covariate categories including climate, soil chemistry, land use and land cover, and human modification of the surrounding landscape. The predictor resolution for atmospheric climate predictors was the lake (wetland) or stream reach, and, for the terrestrial proxies, the subwatershed (HUC12) surrounding the lake or stream reach was chosen to capture the relevant land features surrounding the habitat. Future land use, land cover and streamflow predictions were included from present to mid-century. These data are available for the development of freshwater ecological models in the contiguous United States for a variety of applications, including species distribution modeling and exploring change in spatially diverse aquatic systems in time.

contiguous United States↗
USGS2025

Bayesian model selection to investigate meaningful spatial scales

Ecologists and other statistical practitioners with access to high-resolution spatial data lack guidance on best approaches for discerning meaningful spatial scales for environmental covariates which is necessary when spatial factors influence environmental processes. Recently developed methods have attempted to automate investigating spatial scales for covariates by evaluating models for which potential explanatory variables are derived from concentric circles of increasing size centered at survey locations. However, these methods make a strong assumption on the inclusion of the covariate and do not help discern whether a covariate should be included in the model. We present an approach that utilizes researcher guidance to create informative priors on the model space that, along with parallelizable Reversible Jump MCMC techniques, enables efficient estimation of posterior model probabilities to assist with the choice of meaningful spatial scales for environmental covariates.

Authorea↗
USGS2026

Bayesian model selection to investigate meaningful spatial scales

Ecologists and other statistical practitioners with access to high-resolution spatial data often lack guidance on best approaches for discerning meaningful spatial scales for environmental covariates which is necessary when spatial factors influence environmental processes. Recently developed methods have attempted to automate investigating spatial scales for covariates by evaluating models for which potential explanatory variables are derived from circular extents of increasing size centered at survey locations. However, these methods make a strong assumption on the inclusion of the covariate and do not help discern whether a covariate should be included in the model. We present an approach that utilizes researcher guidance to create informative priors on the model space that, along with parallelizable Reversible Jump Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques, enables efficient estimation of posterior model probabilities to assist with the choice of meaningful spatial scales for environmental covariates.

Ecology and Evolution↗
USGS2022

Next-generation lampricides: A three-stage process to develop improved control tools for invasive sea lamprey

Successful integrated management of the invasive predatory sea lamprey ( Petromyzon marinus ) in the Laurentian Great Lakes of North America is owed largely to the long history of beneficial use of two lampricides: 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM) and 2′,5-dichloro-4′-nitrosalicylanilide (niclosamide). Ensuring continued successful sea lamprey control necessitates consideration of possible next-generation lampricides to supplement or replace current lampricides. This review identifies fifteen hallmarks of success for current lampricides to be used as design criteria in a search for next-generation lampricides. A three-stage research approach is outlined. Targeted research using omics, computer modelling, and high-throughput technology to define molecular mechanisms and high probability molecular targets for sea lamprey selective toxic action is crucial to prioritizing chemical candidates. Targeted delivery or identifying synergists to existing or new lampricides can provide increased efficiency and reduced environmental impact. Ultimate development of next-generation lampricides will rely on traditional toxicity testing methodologies to ensure safety and regulatory compliance.

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences↗
USGS2025

Geochemical processes related to mined, milled, or natural metal deposits in a rapidly changing global environment

The demand for metals and raw materials, such as nickel and copper, has been projected to expand in the coming decades, driven by the global energy transition, the need for green technologies, and expanding infrastructure. Consequently, the increasing extraction and production of mining waste can have adverse impacts on surrounding environments and human health. The aim of this thematic collection is to fill critical knowledge gaps in the present-day cycles of metal(loid)s from source to larger sinks, and the effect of environmental management, anthropogenic development, and climate change. Altogether, the studies have been conducted in different natural settings around the world and comprise investigations in laterites, a soil-medicinal plant system, watersheds, and banded iron formations, among others. The geochemical applications in tracing mineralization, its secondary products, and/or potential impact on the immediate environment are highly diverse with applied tools ranging from isotope tracers to major and trace element systematics. Particularly the use of rare earth elements, their patterns and anomalies are methods employed by several studies in this collection. We summarize the findings to offer a potential future direction for the use of geochemical tracing techniques in resource exploration in the context of climate change and environmental challenges.

Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis↗
USGS2013

Preparation and characterization of nickel-spiked freshwater sediments for toxicity tests: toward more environmentally realistic nickel partitioning

Two spiking methods were compared and nickel (Ni) partitioning was evaluated during a series of toxicity tests with 8 different freshwater sediments having a range of physicochemical characteristics. A 2-step spiking approach with immediate pH adjustment by addition of NaOH at a 2:1 molar ratio to the spiked Ni was effective in producing consistent pH and other chemical characteristics across a range of Ni spiking levels. When Ni was spiked into sediment having a high acid-volatile sulfide and organic matter content, a total equilibration period of at least 10 wk was needed to stabilize Ni partitioning. However, highest spiking levels evidently exceeded sediment binding capacities; therefore, a 7-d equilibration in toxicity test chambers and 8 volume-additions/d of aerobic overlying water were used to avoid unrealistic Ni partitioning during toxicity testing. The 7-d pretest equilibration allowed excess spiked Ni and other ions from pH adjustment to diffuse from sediment porewater and promoted development of an environmentally relevant, 0.5- to 1-cm oxic/suboxic sediment layer in the test chambers. Among the 8 different spiked sediments, the logarithm of sediment/porewater distribution coefficient values (log K d ) for Ni during the toxicity tests ranged from 3.5 to 4.5. These K d values closely match the range of values reported for various field Ni-contaminated sediments, indicating that testing conditions with our spiked sediments were environmentally realistic.

Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry↗
USGS2023

Effects of noise from oil and gas development on ungulates and small mammals—A science synthesis to inform National Environmental Policy Act analyses

The U.S. Geological Survey is working with Federal land management agencies to develop a series of science syntheses to support environmental effects analyses that agencies conduct to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This report synthesizes science information about the potential effects of noise from oil and gas development on North American ungulates and small mammals, including rodents and leporids. We conducted a structured search of published scientific literature to find information about noise levels produced during oil and gas development, methods for analyzing sound propagation, the effects of noise on ungulates and small mammals, and measures to reduce noise emissions. We organized the sections of this synthesis to align with standard elements of NEPA analyses. We found that oil and gas development is a common source of human-caused noise on public lands and includes noise sources such as heavy construction and drilling machinery, long-term production machinery, truck traffic, and aircraft. Common techniques for predicting potential noise include field data collection using a sound level meter, inference from previously published data, and sound propagation modeling. A substantial body of research shows that human-caused noise can affect wildlife health and behavior, with variation in sensitivity to noise among species. Studies have shown consistent, detectable effects of noise on ungulates, but the amount of literature on ungulates is very small, and additional research could improve our understanding of differences in effects among species, seasons, and individual indicators of fitness. Several species of small mammals are dependent on audible signals for predator detection and communication, and noise has been shown to affect their vigilance and foraging behavior. However, other studies have documented no effects to rodents in noisy areas, and the effects of noise on small mammals may differ by species and study system. Techniques suggested in the literature for reducing noise emissions include sound barriers, seasonal and daily timing restrictions, traffic control measures, and siting infrastructure to take advantage of natural sound barriers. Public land managers can use this report by incorporating it by reference in NEPA documentation, as supplemental information, or as a general reference for literature about the effects of noise from oil and gas development on ungulates and small mammals.

Scientific Investigations Report↗