Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
November 2012 Activity Highlights
Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
La Crosse, Wisconsin
Topics covered in the November activity report.
Aquatic Ecosystem Health
Florfenicol Medicated Feed in Aquaculture
- Mark Gaikowski, Sue Schleis (UMESC), Jeffrey Wolf (Experimental Pathology Laboratories), Darrell Tuomari, and Richard Endris (Merck Animal Health) published the results of a study to determine the safety of florfenicol medicated fish feed for the treatment of Streptococcus iniae in tilapia. Their study showed that 50% /w florfenicol medicated fish feed, when administered in feed to tilapia at the recommended dose (15 mg FFC/kg BW/day) for 10 days, would be well tolerated. The manuscript’s abstract is available at http://tpx.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/10/26/0192623312463986.abstract
Aquatic Invasive Species
Zebra Mussels and Zequanox Control
- Mark Gaikowski and Jim Luoma (UMESC) will meet with Craig Dawson, Eric Fieldseth (aquatic invasive species staff, Minnehaha Creek Watershed District), and Peter Sorensen (University of Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Center), November 16, to discuss the use of Lake Minnetonka as a potential test location for field evaluation of Zequanox to control zebra mussels in open water systems. The lake could be selected as one of the test sites for a project funded by the Minnesota Legislative Citizens Commission on Minnesota Resources.
Asian Carp Research Updates
- Mark Gaikowski (UMESC) traveled to Chicago, IL to provide updates on UMESC’s Asian carp projects, at the Monitoring and Rapid Response Working Group meeting November 14, and the Great Lakes Mississippi River Interbasin Separation study meeting November 15.
Climate and Land-use Change: Satellite- and Ground-based Sensors
- Walt Sadinski (UMESC) and Alisa Gallant (EROS) presented a webinar, “Integrating Data from Satellite- and Ground-based Sensors to Assess Hydrologic and Biological Conditions Relative to Climate and Land-use Change,” for the USGS’s Climate and Land Use Change Program’s Brown Bag Seminar Series, November 14. The presentation featured results from interdisciplinary research integrated across spatial and temporal scales on wetland-upland landscapes in the United States and Canada. The work involves six USGS science centers, federal agencies and academic institutions in the United States and Canada, state agencies in three states, and ten DOI management areas, a tribal area, federal and provincial lands in Canada, and other U.S. and Canadian land areas. Sadinski is the overall project lead (support from USGS’s Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative) and Gallant is the geospatial lead (support from the Climate and Land Use Change Program). Additional information is available at http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/twgcrn.html.
Computer Modeling and Population Estimations
- Brain Gray (UMESC) recently posted the SAS code he uses for fitting zero-inflated binomial/site occupancy models on UMESC’s Web site. Site occupancy models are commonly used to estimate the probability that a species is present at a sampling location, and are commonly fit using R, Presence, or Mark. However, site occupancy models may also be fit using SAS, a computer software package still commonly used in the federal government. The SAS code for fitting site occupancy models with and without random site effects on the detection parameter and under both frequentist and Bayesian assumptions is available at http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/staff/bios/bgray/code/zibsas.html.
Geospatial Sciences and Technology
- John (JC) Nelson, Randy Hines, and Ron Wencl (UMESC) will meet with members of the Wisconsin Geographic Information Coordination Council (WIGICC) for a tour of UMESC and to learn about the Center’s programs and capabilities, Thursday November 15. The WIGICC is a newly formed organization that serves as the primary forum and coordinating body for geographic information and technology in the State of Wisconsin.
- Jason Rohweder (UMESC) will present, “Application of Wind Fetch and Wave Models for Habitat Rehabilitation and Enhancement Projects - 2012 Update,” at the Fall U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Fish and Wildlife Work Group meeting, November 29 at the Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center. Rohweder will present a short history of the project and an overview of the updates that are being made to the tools to increase functionality and efficiency. Additional information on the Wind Fetch models is available at http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/management/dss/wind_fetch_wave_models.html.
- Andrew Strassman, Erin Hoy, Kevin Hop, Jennifer Dieck, Joe Jakusz, Heidi Langrehr, John (JC) Nelson, and Enrika Hlavacek (UMESC) will meet with Jim Drake (NatureServe) to review the Accuracy Assessment (AA) results of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park Vegetation Mapping Project and review the timeline for final product development on December 12.
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI)
- Thomas Custer and Christine Custer will give invited presentations at the 33rd annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) November 12-15, at Long Beach, CA. Both presentations highlight work the Custer’s are doing related to Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) Project 80; Birds as Indicators of Contaminant Exposure in the Great Lakes.
- “Tree swallows: A tool to assess remedy effectiveness,” by Thomas W. Custer, Christine M. Custer, and Paul M. Dummer. This presentation highlights the effective use of tree swallows to assess and monitor changes in bioavailable sediment contamination.
- “Birds as a tool in the Great Lakes AOC delisting process,” by Christine M. Custer, Thomas W. Custer, and Paul M. Dummer. This presentation highlights the effective use of tree swallows to collect empirical data that can be directly used by State and Federal agencies to quantify effects, if present, of bioavailable sediment contamination.
- William Richardson (UMESC) will travel to Armidale, New South Wales, Australia to deliver a keynote address for the Australian Limnological Society’s 2012 Congress, November 26-29 (http://www.asl.org.au/asl-congress-2012/). Richardson’s presentation, “‘Frestuaries’ of the Laurentian Great Lakes: Rivermouth ecotones as transformers of land and lake derived nutrients and particles.” will focus on results and implications of recent research from a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative project #82, Characterize Habitat and Foodweb Structures across Great Lakes Rivermouth Estuaries. Richardson and team have shown that patterns of land-use and mixing of lake and river water determine quality (e.g., fatty acids; carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus concentrations) and quantity of food particle transported to rivermouths. Biophysical processes unique to rivermouth ecotones then can transform land-derived nutrients and transported particles into higher quality food for food webs of rivermouth and near-shore ecosystems. Such transformations are likely dependent on the geomorphology of the rivermouth, and extent of mixing with lake water. These findings will be important to help direct future restoration of rivermouths and enhance fisheries of nearshore zones of the Great Lakes. Additional information is available at http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/river_productivity/glri_rivermouth_systems.html and http://cida.usgs.gov/glri/projects/accountability/rivermouth_ecosystems.html.
Upper Mississippi River
Upper Mississippi River System Quarterly Meetings
- David Bornholdt (MWR), Mike Jawson, and Barry Johnson (UMESC) will participate in the quarterly meetings of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association and the Upper Mississippi River Restoration-Environmental Management Program Coordinating Committee, November 28-29, in St. Paul, MN. The meetings will focus on issues of management and science applications for the Upper Mississippi River System.
Drawdown Effects in Native Mussels
- Teresa Newton (UMESC) will meet with staff from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and The Nature Conservancy on November 7, to develop a plan for evaluating the effects of a water level drawdown in Mississippi River (MR) Navigation Pool 3 (Hastings, MN to Hager City WI). In 2000, MR resource managers began using water discharge rates at the River’s navigation dams, to lower water levels during the summer months in an effort to mimic the seasonal water level fluctuations which used to occur before the dams were built. The benefits of the water level drawdowns include rehabilitating habitats for vegetation and desirable fauna. One concern is, whether or not the water level drawdowns have an adverse effect on the River’s native mussels. Newton and colleagues will discuss the sampling design they plan to use to estimate the effects of the drawdown on native mussel populations. These surveys will give resource managers an estimate of the mussel population in Pool 3 as a whole, as well as an estimate of population size within areas which may be dewatered during a drawdown. If scheduled, the native mussel survey is expected to occur during 2013, with the drawdown occurring 2014 or later. The study is designed to complement previous sampling efforts within MR Navigation Pools 5, 6, and 18, and add to our knowledge of the effects of water level manipulations on native mussel populations.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Waterfowl Boating Disturbance in Refuge Closed Areas
- Steve Houdek and Luke Fara (UMESC) presented, “Boater compliance with the Lake Onalaska Voluntary Waterfowl Avoidance Area” (VWAA), at a meeting of the La Crosse County Conservation Alliance, November 5. The Lake Onalaska VWAA, which is located within La Crosse County, is an important waterfowl resting and feeding area during the fall migration season. The Lake Onalaska VWAA is located within the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, within Mississippi River Navigation Pool 7. The waterfowl which use the VWAA are sensitive to human activity. Even relatively distant boating activity may be enough to cause the birds to flush and burn-up valuable energy reserves. The Lake Onalaska VWAA was established in 1986 to reduce boating disturbances; UMESC scientists are studying boater compliance to determine the effectiveness of the program. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is using this information to promote the VWAA program and strengthen public support. Additional information is available is available at http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/terrestrial/migratory_birds/boater_compliance_voluntary_avoidance_areas.html and http://www.fws.gov/refuge/Upper_Mississippi_River/Voluntary_Avoidance.html
Birds as Indicators of Environmental Contaminants
- A summary of Tom Custer’s (UMESC) activities using tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) as indicators of sediment contaminants leaching into the food chain were recently reported in the magazine, “The Scientist.” Dan Cossins’s article summarized information presented by Custer at this year’s SETAC meeting in Long Beach, CA. A copy of Cossin’s article can be viewed online at http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/33329/title/Birds-Monitor-Pollution/.
Acronyms
AA – Accuracy Assessment
AOC – Area of Concern
DOI – Department of the Interior
EROS – Earth Resources Observation Systems
FWS – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
GLRI – Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
MR – Mississippi River
MWR – Midwest Region
PFCs – Perfluoronated Compounds
SAS – Statistical Analyses Software
SETAC – Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
UMESC – Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
USGS – U.S. Geological Survey
VWAA – Voluntary Waterfowl Avoidance Area
WIGICC – Wisconsin Geographic Information Coordination Council
URL: http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/outreach/highlights/2012_nov_umesc_highlights.html
Page Contact Information: Contacting the Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Page Last Modified:
December 19, 2012
