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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2001

Effects of gulls on Piping Plover nest site selection at Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge, Massachusetts

We examined the effects of Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls on Piping Plover nest site selection on South Monomoy Island, MA, from 1998 to 2000. We compared Piping Plover behavior and nest site selection in a gull-free area to a gull area, and compared Piping Plover nesting area characteristics to areas not used by plovers. We found no difference in the frequency of disturbance by gulls to pre-nesting adult plovers between the two areas. We found fewer gulls near pre-nesting adults than near random points, and fewer gulls in Piping Plover nesting areas than in areas not used by plovers. Proximity to prime foraging habitats and available nesting habitat (wide stretches of open vegetation) may be more important to Piping Plover nest site selection than the presence of gulls.

Book chapter↗
USGS2017

Final Report fr critical thresholds and ecosystem services for coastal ecological and human climate adaptation

Understanding how climate change will impact natural and human communities is a crucial part of decision making and management related to the protection of our coasts. As the effects of climate change on ecological communities grow, the possibility of crossing tipping points or thresholds of viability increases the potential for rapid and possibly irreversible changes in ecosystems. Therefore, understanding thresholds related to climate change is critical for facilitating conservation and management actions, which could help to prevent more costly and possibly catastrophic effects in the future. As part of a broad effort to synthesize and deliver coastal resilience information through the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs), Climate Science Centers, states, and other partners along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, we synthesized existing quantitative threshold information for 45 priority coastal fish, wildlife, and plant species and habitats in response to sea level rise and storm projections. Additional information was synthesized on climate change adaptation actions that can increase the persistence and resilience of species and their habitats and how these actions relate to human community resilience. In addition to two peer-reviewed manuscripts, results from these synthesis efforts were disseminated online through easily accessible, topic-specific web pages in the Massachusetts Wildlife Climate Action Tool (climateactiontool.org) to make this information more easily accessible to stakeholders across the region. The compilation and dissemination of species and habitat threshold information will help to develop a more comprehensive understanding of how natural systems will respond to climate change and how land and resource management decisions could potentially help these species.

Report↗
USGS2019

Simulated water-table and pond-level responses to proposed public water-supply withdrawals in the Hyannis Ponds Wildlife Management Area, Barnstable, Massachusetts

The glacial kettle ponds in the Hyannis Ponds Wildlife Management Area in Barnstable, Massachusetts, support a community of rare and endangered plants. The ponds are hydraulically connected to the unconfined aquifer that underlies Cape Cod. The plants are adapted to the rise and fall of water levels in the ponds as the water table fluctuates in response to seasonal and year-to-year natural changes in recharge. Pumping from wells for public water supply and recharge of wastewater at water pollution control facilities and septic systems also affect groundwater levels. The Hyannis Water System has proposed to install two additional wells in the Hyannis Ponds Wildlife Management Area and adjust rates of withdrawals and recharge of wastewater return flows for the municipal system that serves the village of Hyannis in the town of Barnstable. The proposal has raised concerns that pumping from the proposed wells could cause long-term average changes in pond levels that could adversely affect the critical pond-shore plant habitat. An available three-dimensional steady-state groundwater-flow model was used to simulate the hydrologic effects of nine pumping and wastewater return-flow scenarios prepared by the Hyannis Water System. These effects were quantified by comparison of water levels simulated for the scenarios to water levels simulated for a reference condition based on 2015 withdrawal and wastewater return-flow rates. Maps of water-level responses were prepared to show the effects of pumping from a single well at different locations in the Hyannis Ponds Wildlife Management Area on the water levels of six ponds. Steady-state simulations of the nine scenarios indicated that the shapes of the simulated water-table contours near the wildlife management area changed only slightly at the regional scale, with the largest shifts near the wildlife management area and the Barnstable Water Pollution Control Facility. The simulated changes in pond levels at 10 ponds of interest for the nine scenarios relative to the simulated pond levels for the 2015 reference condition ranged from small increases (less than 0.1 foot) in one pond each in two scenarios to declines (drawdowns) of 1.03–1.11 feet at three ponds in one scenario. Water levels at the Barnstable Water Pollution Control Facility increased because part of the increase in total withdrawals from the Hyannis Water System wells was recharged as wastewater at the water pollution control facility.

Massachusetts↗
USGS2018

Incorporating road crossing data into vehicle collision risk models for moose (Alces americanus) in Massachusetts, USA

Wildlife–vehicle collisions are a human safety issue and may negatively impact wildlife populations. Most wildlife–vehicle collision studies predict high-risk road segments using only collision data. However, these data lack biologically relevant information such as wildlife population densities and successful road-crossing locations. We overcome this shortcoming with a new method that combines successful road crossings with vehicle collision data, to identify road segments that have both high biological relevance and high risk. We used moose ( Alces americanus ) road-crossing locations from 20 moose collared with Global Positioning Systems as well as moose–vehicle collision (MVC) data in the state of Massachusetts, USA, to create multi-scale resource selection functions. We predicted the probability of moose road crossings and MVCs across the road network and combined these surfaces to identify road segments that met the dual criteria of having high biological relevance and high risk for MVCs. These road segments occurred mostly on larger roadways in natural areas and were surrounded by forests, wetlands, and a heterogenous mix of land cover types. We found MVCs resulted in the mortality of 3% of the moose population in Massachusetts annually. Although there have been only three human fatalities related to MVCs in Massachusetts since 2003, the human fatality rate was one of the highest reported in the literature. The rate of MVCs relative to the size of the moose population and the risk to human safety suggest a need for road mitigation measures, such as fencing, animal detection systems, and large mammal-crossing structures on roadways in Massachusetts.

Massachusetts↗
USGS2026

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) knowledge, risk perception, and management acceptance are influenced by media engagement and trust among deer hunters in Massachusetts

Prior to wildlife disease emergence, public outreach campaigns can improve disease-related knowledge and increase the likelihood that stakeholders accept potential management actions. One wildlife disease of particular interest is chronic wasting disease (CWD), which is spreading across the United States but has not been detected in Massachusetts. We conducted a survey of deer hunters ( n = 7,419) in Massachusetts to: (1) explore media channel usage and source trust, and (2) assess the relationship among CWD knowledge, risk perception, management acceptability, and state wildlife agency trust. We found that channel usage and source trust varied by socio-demographic factors. We also found that engagement with popular channels and trust in accurate sources were positively correlated with CWD knowledge. CWD risk perception mediated the relationship between knowledge and management acceptance, and trust was positively associated with management acceptance. Collectively, our results indicate a mixed-media campaign by state wildlife agencies could improve CWD management acceptance.

Massachusetts↗
USGS2004

Combined impacts of Black-crowned Night-Heron predation/disturbance and various management activities on Roseate Tern productivity in 2003, and testing of a video surveillance system for recording the diurnal and nocturnal behavior of terns and night-herons at Falkner Island, Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge, Connecticut, in 2004: Report to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge, Westbrook, Connecticut and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 5 Regional Office, Hadley, Massachusetts

Falkner Island (FICT), a unit of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge (SBMNWR) since 1985, is located in Long Island Sound 5 km south of Guilford, CT. For more than three decades it has been the site of the only large breeding colony in Connecticut of the federally endangered Northwest Atlantic population of Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii) and the state's largest colony of Common Terns (S. hirundo). Both species have been studied at this site since 1978 as part of the Falkner Island Tern Project (FITP), and since 1987 also as part of a regional Cooperative Roseate Tern Metapopulation Dynamics and Ecology Project (CRTMP), both coordinated by Dr. Jeffrey A. Spendelow of the U.S. Geological Survey's Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (USGS-PWRC). From 1997-2002 the Roseate Tern breeding population at this site declined by more than 50% from about 150 to about 70 nesting pairs, mostly as a result of the nocturnal predation and disturbance of tern chicks and eggs by Black-crowned Night-Herons (Nycticorax nycticorax). Here we report the results of research done with the goal of improving management of nocturnal predators and developing new practices/structures to reduce losses of tern eggs and chicks so as to prevent the abandonment of this site by Roseate Terns. Notification of release of the USGS 'Quick Response Funds' (QRF) that were to be used to support the part of this study entitled 'Nocturnal behavior/interactions of endangered Roseate Terns and Black-crowned Night-Herons', and final approval of the Study Plan for this research did not occur until after the breeding season in 2003 was well underway. As a result, some work will need to be completed during the 2004 field season. There are two major objectives of this study. The first is to collect basic information (a) on the nocturnal behavior and interactions of Roseate (and Common) Terns with predatory Black-crowned Night-Herons, and (b) on how the behavior of the night-herons and the behavior and productivity of the terns are affected by the activities of management personnel (or researchers) that may be moving around the island at night. The second objective is to develop new structures (or to modify existing ones) that can be used by adult Roseate Terns for nesting sites and/or by chicks as hiding sites so that tern eggs and chicks will be less susceptible to night-heron predation. Work on the development and comparative use of various man-made structures began prior to the start of the 2003 nesting season; work on the evaluation and testing of a video surveillance system to study the nocturnal behavior of the terns and night-herons began in June 2003. Reported here are (1) the results of work on the placement and use by Roseate Terns of several types of structures in different habitats, and (2) a description of the set-up, testing, and evaluation of a multi-camera video system to record tern and predator behavior during both day and night. Also given here is some additional information on other factors that affected the productivity of the Roseate Terns at FICT collected as part of the CRTMP which served as the underlying foundation for the additional work done with support of the 2003 Quick Response Funds.

Book↗
USGS2014

Hydraulic assessment of existing and alternative stream crossings providing fish and wildlife passage at seven sites in Massachusetts

Seven existing road crossing structures at streams in Massachusetts were evaluated hydraulically and compared to hypothetical alternative structures designed for Aquatic Organism Passage (AOP) using standards developed by the Massachusetts River Continuity Partnership. Hydraulic simulations made for flood flows ranging from 20- to 0.2-percent annual exceedance probability (AEP) indicate that the existing structures are at full capacity for many of the simulated AEP floods, causing appreciable backwater upstream from the structure, which exacerbates upstream flooding and causes road overflow in many cases. The existing structures also create an impediment to AOP by failing to meet standards for openness, height, span, and velocity. Simulated hypothetical road crossing structures that provide for fish and wildlife passage by meeting or exceeding the AOP standards were able to convey most simulated AEP flood flows without causing appreciable backwater upstream from the structure. At sites where backwater was still present, it occurred only at the highest simulated flows and was compounded by the low downstream gradient that affected the water-surface elevation at the structure. The simulations of the alternative structures also indicate that, in addition to improved passage for fish and wildlife, the structures are more resilient to large floods and provide a greater buffer to uncertainties and potential changes in flood flows than the existing stream-crossing structures.

Massachusetts↗
USGS2017

Vulnerabilities to climate change of Massachusetts animal species of greatest conservation need

Over the last decade, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has addressed the potential and actual impacts of climate change on state flora and fauna. The state’s involvement began in 2007 when, led by the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (DFW) and assisted by Manomet Center for Con-servation Research, it carried out one of the first habitat vulnerability assessments in North America (Manomet, 2010). The new methods and processes that resulted were later applied to vulnerability assessments in North America and elsewhere. In 2011, the state assisted the North-eastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (NEAFWA) in organizing and leading a pio-neering three-year, thirteen-state research effort to evaluate the vulnerabilities of fish and wild-life habitats to climate change in the northeast, from Maine south to West Virginia (NEAFWA, 2012). This focus on climate change vulnerabilities led to three important early realizations: (1) simply categorizing and scoring vulnerabilities might not lead to better conservation outcomes. It was vital to also understand why some resources were more or less vulnerable to climate change in order to identify potential intervention points on which conservation actions and strategies could be based. (2) simply producing research results was not enough; these results had to be cast as specific conservation actions. Moreover (3), these actions needed to be communicated in a useful form to conservation “actors”, such as state agencies, land trusts, land managers, etc. These real-izations led to the next step on the Commonwealth’s journey to effective conservation in an age of climate change - the Massachusetts Wildlife Climate Action Tool (CAT).

Report↗
USGS2022

Standard operating protocol for mark and recapture monitoring of Brook Floater in streams

The Brook Floater ( Alasmidonta varicosa ) is a small (<100 mm) freshwater mussel (Family: Unionidae) found in streams of the eastern United States (U.S.) (Nedeau 2008). While there has been limited effort to document the status of Brook Floater across its range, there is evidence of Brook Floater range contraction and declining local abundances over recent decades (Wicklow et al. 2017, NatureServe 2021). Brook Floater is a Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) in 15 states (94% of range); listed as endangered, threatened, or special concern in nearly every state and province where it still occurs; and has been extirpated from two states (Rhode Island and Delaware). Brook Floater was petitioned for Federal listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act; however, the listing was determined not to be warranted (U.S. FWS 2019), although it remains a Regional SGCN of very high concern in U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (U.S. FWS) Regions 5 (Terwilliger 2015) and 4 (SEAFWA-WDC 2019) and is an At-Risk Species in U.S. FWS Region 5. A critical component of understanding population declines is site-specific information about population density and demographics (e.g., growth, age structure) to assess population viability. This information had previously only been collected for a few populations of Brook Floater (e.g., Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission) and methods to collect these data varied from state to state, thus limiting comparisons across the range. In 2016, a competitive State Wildlife Grant (SWG) was awarded to develop a standardized monitoring technique that will aid in understanding differences in population viability across its range and assess changes in populations through time. The protocol described in this report was subsequently developed and tested by Massachusetts and Maine (2 sites in each state) and revised based on field experiences. Data collected using this protocol will allow for state managers to make informed decisions about management actions for Brook Floater. Monitoring approaches are ideally designed to meet management objectives. Management objectives are specific, quantifiable outcomes that reflect the values of the decision makers and relate directly to the management decisions (Conroy and Peterson 2013). Lack of well-defined objectives hinders success of conservation and management actions because there are undefined metrics to determine when the objectives have been met (Yoccoz et al. 2001, Nichols and Thompson 2006). While monitoring to understand a system (i.e., status and trends; Reynolds et al. 2016) provides baseline information for developing management recommendations in the future, Nichols and Thompson (2006) criticize status and trends monitoring because of time lags associated with conservation and the costs and resource availability needed for surveillance, among other reasons. State partners in the Brook Floater SWG have a variety of different monitoring objectives (e.g., abundance/density, survival, recruitment) that depend on the population sizes and demographics. There are many approaches for estimating population parameters such as density, age structure, recruitment, and growth rates. For example, presence/absence (i.e., multistate models), counts (i.e., multi-state models or Dail-Madsen model; Dail and Madsen 2011), and capture mark-recapture (CMR; e.g. Cormack-Jolly-Seber models; Lindberg and Rexstad 2002) are all approaches for assessing population status and viability.

Cooperator Science Series↗
USGS1987

Lead poisoning in Canada geese on Plum Island, Massachusetts (USA)

During December 1983 and early January 1984, about 200 Canada geese (Branta canadensis) died of lead poisoning at Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island, Massachusetts. In an effort to determine the source of lead, 100 bottom samples were taken from a refuge impoundment where much of the mortality/morbidity occurred. An average of 157,150 pellets/ha was found with a range of 64,582 to 322,910 pellets/ha. Water levels in this impoundment were low when Canada geese arrived, making shot more readily available to the geese and contributing to the outbreak. To minimize the risk of Canada geese being exposed to lead shot poisoning at this location in the future, we recommend several corrective manipulations of habitat.

Massachusetts↗
USGS2008

Prevalence of tumors in brown bullhead from three lakes in southeastern Massachusetts, 2002

The Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR) has been a military base on western Cape Cod since the early 1900s. Contaminated surface water and ground water from the MMR have discharged into several kettle lakes on or near the base. To discover whether the prevalences of tumors and other lesions in brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus) in these lakes, particularly Ashumet Pond, were elevated above normal, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), assisted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MADFW), conducted a study in 2002 of brown bullhead in Ashumet Pond and in two reference lakes, Santuit Pond (on Cape Cod) and Great Herring Pond (on the mainland of Massachusetts). Brown bullhead from Great Herring Pond had few external raised lesions (2.8 percent), a low prevalence of liver neoplasms (5 percent), and little genetic damage to their red blood cell nuclei. Brown bullhead from Ashumet Pond had a high prevalence of raised lesions (62.1 percent), which included histopathologically verified papillomas and squamous carcinoma; an elevated incidence of liver neoplasms (16.7 percent); and an elevated level of genetic damage to their red blood cell nuclei. Because red blood cells in fish have a lifespan of about 100 days, these results indicate an ongoing exposure to genotoxins in Ashumet Pond. Brown bullhead from Santuit Pond also had elevated prevalences of raised lesions (48.3 percent) and liver neoplasms (15 percent), although the prevalences of large and multiple lesions were significantly lower than those in fish from Ashumet Pond. These differences may indicate differing causes of pathology in the two lakes. The high prevalence of melanistic lesions on brown bullhead from Ashumet Pond, combined with the tumor pathology and genetic damage, implicates chemical carcinogens as one of the causal factors in that lake.

Massachusetts↗
USGS2005

[Book review] Massachusetts breeding bird atlas

A glance at the dust jacket of this handsome volume drives home the conservation message that breeding bird atlases are designed to promote—that bird populations are changing over vast areas and, unless we become aware of changes in status and take remedial action, some species will disappear from our neighborhoods and even our county or state. A case in point involves the closely related Golden-winged Warbler ( Vermivora chrysoptera ) and Blue- winged Warbler ( Vermivora pinus ). The males are shown in the atlas with their breeding distribution maps. When I was an active birder in the Boston suburbs in the 1930s, the Golden-winged Warbler was a common breeder and it was a treat to find a Blue-winged Warbler. The atlas map 40 years later (1974–1979) shows only five confirmed records statewide for the Golden-winged Warbler, compared with 73 for the Blue-winged Warbler, and the Golden-winged Warbler is now listed as endangered by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. Nationally, it is a species of management concern.

The Auk↗
USGS2010

Preliminary assessment of factors influencing riverine fish communities in Massachusetts

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (MDCR), Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP), and the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game (MDFG), conducted a preliminary investigation of fish communities in small- to medium-sized Massachusetts streams. The objective of this investigation was to determine relations between fish-community characteristics and anthropogenic alteration, including flow alteration and impervious cover, relative to the effect of physical basin and land-cover (environmental) characteristics. Fish data were obtained for 756 fish-sampling sites from the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife fish-community database. A review of the literature was used to select a set of fish metrics responsive to flow alteration. Fish metrics tested include two fish-community metrics (fluvial-fish relative abundance and fluvial-fish species richness), and five indicator species metrics (relative abundance of brook trout, blacknose dace, fallfish, white sucker, and redfin pickerel). Streamflows were simulated for each fish-sampling site using the Sustainable Yield Estimator application (SYE). Daily streamflows and the SYE water-use database were used to determine a set of indicators of flow alteration, including percent alteration of August median flow, water-use intensity, and withdrawal and return-flow fraction. The contributing areas to the fish-sampling sites were delineated and used with a Geographic Information System (GIS) to determine a set of environmental characteristics, including elevation, basin slope, percent sand and gravel, percent wetland, and percent open water, and a set of anthropogenic-alteration variables, including impervious cover and dam density. Two analytical techniques, quantile regression and generalized linear modeling, were applied to determine the association between fish-response variables and the selected environmental and anthropogenic explanatory variables. Quantile regression indicated that flow alteration and impervious cover were negatively associated with both fluvial-fish relative abundance and fluvial-fish species richness. Three generalized linear models (GLMs) were developed to quantify the response of fish communities to multiple environmental and anthropogenic variables. Flow-alteration variables are statistically significant for the fluvial-fish relative-abundance model. Impervious cover is statistically significant for the fluvial-fish relative-abundance, fluvial-fish species richness, and brook trout relative-abundance models. The variables in the equations were demonstrated to be significant, and the variability explained by the models, as measured by the correlation between observed and predicted values, ranges from 39 to 65 percent. The GLM models indicated that, keeping all other variables the same, a one-unit (1 percent) increase in the percent depletion or percent surcharging of August median flow would result in a 0.4-percent decrease in the relative abundance (in counts per hour) of fluvial fish and that the relative abundance of fluvial fish was expected to be about 55 percent lower in net-depleted streams than in net-surcharged streams. The GLM models also indicated that a unit increase in impervious cover resulted in a 5.5-percent decrease in the relative abundance of fluvial fish and a 2.5-percent decrease in fluvial-fish species richness.

Massachusetts↗
USGS2011

Factors influencing riverine fish assemblages in Massachusetts

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game, conducted an investigation of fish assemblages in small- to medium-sized Massachusetts streams. The objective of this study was to determine relations between fish-assemblage characteristics and anthropogenic factors, including impervious cover and estimated flow alteration, relative to the effects of environmental factors, including physical-basin characteristics and land use. The results of this investigation supersede those of a preliminary analysis published in 2010. Fish data were obtained for 669 fish-sampling sites from the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife fish-community database. A review of the literature was used to select fish metrics - species richness, abundance of individual species, and abundances of species grouped on life history traits - responsive to flow alteration. The contributing areas to the fish-sampling sites were delineated and used with a geographic information system to determine a set of environmental and anthropogenic factors that were tested for use as explanatory variables in regression models. Reported and estimated withdrawals and return flows were used together with simulated unaltered streamflows to estimate altered streamflows and indicators of flow alteration for each fish-sampling site. Altered streamflows and indicators of flow alteration were calculated on the basis of methods developed in a previous U.S. Geological Survey study in which unaltered daily streamflows were simulated for a 44-year period (water years 1961-2004), and streamflow alterations were estimated by use of water-withdrawal and wastewater-return data previously reported to the State for the 2000-04 period and estimated domestic-well withdrawals and septic-system discharges. A variable selection process, conducted using principal components analysis and Spearman rank correlation, was used to select a set of 15 non-redundant environmental and anthropogenic factors to test for use as explanatory variables in the regression analyses. Twenty-one fish species were used in a multivariate analysis of fish-assemblage patterns. Results of nonmetric multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis were used to group fish species into fluvial and macrohabitat generalist habitat-use classes. Two analytical techniques, quantile regression and generalized linear modeling, were applied to characterize the association between fish-response variables and environmental and anthropogenic explanatory variables. Quantile regression demonstrated that as percent impervious cover and an indicator of percent alteration of August median flow from groundwater withdrawals increase, the relative abundance and species richness of fluvial fish decrease. The quantile regression plots indicate that (1) as many as seven fluvial fish species are expected in streams with little flow alteration or impervious cover, (2) no more than four fluvial fish species are expected in streams where flow alterations from groundwater withdrawals exceed 50 percent of the August median flow or the percent area of impervious cover exceeds 15 percent, and (3) few fluvial fish remain at high rates of withdrawal (approaching 100 percent) or high rates of impervious cover (between 25 and 30 percent). Three generalized linear models (GLMs) were developed to quantify the response of fluvial fish to multiple environmental and anthropogenic variables. All variables in the GLM equations were demonstrated to be significant (p less than 0.05, with most less than 0.01). Variables in the fluvial-fish relative-abundance model were channel slope, estimated percent alteration of August median flow from groundwater withdrawals, percent wetland in a 240-meter buffer strip, and percent impervious cover. Variables in the fluvial-fish species-richness model were drainage area, channel slope, total undammed reach length, percent wetland in a 240-meter buffer strip, and percent impervious cover. Variables in the brook trout relativeabundance model were drainage area, percent open water, and percent impervious cover. The variability explained by the GLM models, as measured by the pseudo R2, ranged from 18.2 to 34.6, and correlations between observed and predicted values ranged from 0.50 to 0.60. Results of GLM models indicated that, keeping all other variables the same, a one-unit (1 percent) increase in the percent depletion of August median flow would result in a 0.9-percent decrease in the relative abundance (in counts per hour) of fluvial fish. The results of GLM models also indicated that a unit increase in impervious cover (1 percent) resulted in a 3.7-percent decrease in the relative abundance of fluvial fish, a 5.4-percent decrease in fluvial-fish species richness, and an 8.7-percent decrease in brook trout relative abundance.

Massachusetts↗
USGS1995

Canada geese in the Atlantic Flyway

Large changes have occurred in the geographic wintering distribution and subspecies composition of the Atlantic Flyway population of Canada geese ( Branta canadensis ) over the last 40 years. The Atlantic Flyway can be thought of as being partitioned into four regions: South, Chesapeake, mid-Atlantic, and New England. Wintering numbers have declined in the southern states (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida), increased then decreased in the Chesapeake region (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia), and increased markedly in the mid-Atlantic region (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia) (Serie 1993; Fig. 1). In the New England region (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut), wintering numbers increased from around 6,000 during 1948-50 to between 20,000 and 30,000 today (Serie 1993). Overall, the total number of wintering geese reaching a peak of 955,000 in 1981 and has since declined 40% to 569,000 in 1993. Compounding these distributional changes in wintering numbers, the subspecies composition has also changed. The Canada goose population is composed of migrant geese (primarily B.c. canadensis and B.c. interior ) that breed in the subarctic regions of Canada and resident geese (primarily B.c. maxima and B.c. moffitti ) that breed in southern Canada and the United States (Stotts 1983). The number of resident geese in Maine to Virginia has increased considerable from maybe 50,000 to 100,000 in 1981 (Conover and Chasko 1985) to an average of 560,000 in 1992-93 (H. Heusman, Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, personal communication). This rapid increase in resident geese suggests that the migrant population has declined more than the 40% decline observed in total wintering geese from 1981 to 1993.

Atlantic Flyway↗
USGS2015

Groundwater and surface-water interaction and effects of pumping in a complex glacial-sediment aquifer, phase 2, east-central Massachusetts

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Town of Framingham, Massachusetts, has investigated the potential of proposed groundwater withdrawals at the Birch Road well site to affect nearby surface water bodies and wetlands, including Lake Cochituate, the Sudbury River, and the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in east-central Massachusetts. In 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey developed a Phase 1 numerical groundwater model of a complex glacial-sediment aquifer to synthesize hydrogeologic information and simulate potential future pumping scenarios. The model was developed with MODFLOW-NWT, an updated version of a standard USGS numerical groundwater flow modeling program that improves solution of unconfined groundwater flow problems. The groundwater model and investigations of the aquifer improved understanding of groundwater&ndash;surface-water interaction and the effects of groundwater withdrawals on surface-water bodies and wetlands in the study area. The initial work also revealed a need for additional information and model refinements to better understand this complex aquifer system. In this second phase of the study, the original groundwater flow model was revised to improve representation of groundwater and surface-water hydrology, stabilize the model, and reduce model error. The model was simplified by reducing the number of layers from 5 to 3 and adding the MODFLOW lake package (LAK) to simulate Lake Cochituate and Pod Meadow Pond and better represent interaction between the lakes and the aquifer. Model revisions improved stability and shortened run times, allowing use of automated parameter estimation software (PEST) to further refine the model hydraulic parameters and reduce simulation errors. Model simulations indicate that under average base-flow conditions, the Birch Road wells have a small effect on flow in the Sudbury River during most months, even at the maximum pumping rate of 4.9 ft 3 /s (3.17 Mgal/d). Maximum percent streamflow depletion in the Sudbury River caused by simulated pumping takes place during simulated drought conditions, when streamflow decreased by as much as 21 percent under maximum continuous pumping. Simulations also indicate that groundwater withdrawals at the Birch Road site could be managed so that adverse streamflow impacts are substantially ameliorated. Under the most ecologically conservative simulated drought conditions, simulated streamflow depletion was reduced from 21 percent to 3 percent by pumping at the maximum rate for 6 months rather than for 12 months. Simulations that return 10 percent of the Birch Road well withdrawals to Pod Meadow Pond indicate a modest reduction in the Sudbury River streamflow depletion and provide a larger percentage increase to streamflow just downstream of the pond. The groundwater model also indicates that well locations can have a large effect on the sustainable pumping rate and so should be chosen carefully. The model provides a tool for evaluating alternative pumping rates and schedules not included in this analysis.

Massachusetts↗
USGS2024

Monitoring questing winter tick abundance on traditional moose hunting lands

An important symbolic and subsistence animal for many Native American Tribes, the moose ( Alces alces ; mos in Algonquin, Penobscot language) has been under consistent threat in the northeastern United States because of winter tick ( Dermacentor albipictus ) parasitism over the past several decades, causing declines in moose populations throughout the region. This decline has raised concern for Tribes and agencies that are invested in moose. Given this concern, it is increasingly important to effectively monitor and develop strategies to manage winter ticks to address consistent population declines of moose due to winter ticks. The Penobscot Nation developed a novel strategy to sample questing winter ticks (i.e., ticks that are actively seeking hosts) using a plot-based sampling protocol that may be suitable for heterogeneous habitats. We deployed this protocol in the northeastern United States in 2022 during the tick questing period (Sep–Dec) on Penobscot Nation sovereign trust lands, the White Mountain National Forest and Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge, and western-central Massachusetts, USA. We analyzed the data using occupancy and N-mixture models. Detection probability peaked during mid-October and tick occupancy and abundance were greatest at sites with intermediate understory vegetation height. The sampling protocol was successful at sampling ticks in Massachusetts, where abundances were expected to be low, indicating that it may be useful for studies planning to monitor winter tick distribution and abundance in areas with sub-optimal moose habitat and where winter tick abundance is expected to be low. This approach may also benefit managers or researchers intending to monitor many species of hard ticks, and where imperfect detection is expected.

Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire↗