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Research: USGS Water Resources Discipline (WRD), Colorado Water Science Center

USGS scientist Travis Schmidt takes field notes at a sampling location in the La Plata Wilderness, Colorado
USGS scientist Travis Schmidt takes field notes at a sampling location in South Fork Lake Creek in the La Plata Wilderness, Colorado. South Fork Lake Creek is an example of how natural geologic processes can cause acid rock drainage. No mining occurred in the watershed, yet acid rock drainage impairs aquatic life for miles of stream. Photo: Sarah Ryan, courtesy of Travis Schmidt, USGS.

Effective river management depends on understanding the relations between variables—both the expected responses to alternative management actions and the management actions required to produce a desired objective. Describing and quantifying these relations improve the foundation on which river management decisions are made.

FORT (as a Biological Resources Discipline science center) and the USGS Water Resources Discipline (WRD) are making strides to build connections between the physical and biological disciplines. To this end, several WRD scientists associated with the USGS Colorado Water Science Center are collocated at FORT, where they are collaborating with FORT scientists to investigate complex management questions requiring expertise in both disciplines. Bringing capabilities to the scientific mix that complements FORT’s, these WRD researchers are engaged in research in the following areas, as exemplified in the subsequent list of products:

  1. fate and transport of pollution and the effects on aquatic ecosystems
  2. ecology of insect, fish, and diatom communities and how they respond to and recover from a variety of natural and human-induced stressors
  3. characterization of streamflow and sediment transport
  4. biological assessment of ecological integrity
  5. influence of geology and mining on water and sediment quality and ecological integrity of aquatic ecosystems
  6. global change effects on (a) alpine watershed nutrient processes and (b) semi-arid-land wetlands, migratory birds, and their prey

Baron, J.S., T.S. Schmidt, and M.D. Hartman. 2009. Climate-induced changes in high elevation stream nitrate dynamics. Global Change Biology 15: 1777-1789.

Bird D.A., M.A. Sares, G. Policky, T.S. Schmidt, and S.E. Church. 2006.  Impact on water quality and biota from natural acid rock drainage in Colorado’s Lake Creek watershed. In: R.I. Barnhisel, ed. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage, March 26-30, 2006. Lexington, KY: American Society of Mining and Reclamation. p. 158-186.

Capesius, J.P., J.R Sullivan, G.B. O'Neill, and C.A. Williams. 2005. Using the tracer-dilution discharge method to develop streamflow records for ice-affected streams in Colorado. U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2004-5164. 14 p.

Church S.E., D.L. Fey, T.L. Klein, T.S. Schmidt, R.B. Wanty, E. DeWitt, B. Rockwell, and C.A. San Juan. 2009. Environmental effects of hydrothermal alteration and historical mining on water and sediment quality in central Colorado. In: R.M.T. Webb and D.J. Semmens, eds. 2009. Planning for an uncertain future—Monitoring, integration, and adaptation. Proceedings of the Third Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2009-5049. 292 p.

Clements, W.H., M.L. Brooks, D.R. Kashian, and R.E. Zuellig. 2008. Changes in dissolved organic material determine exposure of stream benthic communities to UV-B radiation and heavy metals: Implications for climate change. Global Change Biology 14(9): 2201-2214.

Fey, D.L., S.E. Church, T.S. Schmidt, R.B. Wanty, P.L. Verplanck, P.J. Lamothe, M. Adams, and M.W. Anthony. 2007. Selected field parameters from streams and preliminary analytical data from water and macroinvertebrate samples, Central Colorado Assessment Project, Task, 2004 and 2005. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2007–1044. 41 p.

Kondratieff, B.C., R.E. Zuellig, R.F. Kirchner, and D.R. Lenat. 2006. Three new species of Perlesta (Plecoptera: Perlidae) from eastern North American and notes on new state records. Illiesia 2(5): 31-38.

Kuhn, Gerhard, and C.A. Williams. 2004. Evaluation of streamflow losses along the Gunnison River from Whitewater downstream to the Redlands Canal Diversion Dam, near Grand Junction, Colorado, Water Years 1995–2003. U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2004-5095. 22 p.

Kumar, S., S.A. Spaulding, T.J. Stohlgren, K. Hermann, T. Schmidt, and L. Bahls. 2009. Potential habitat distribution for the freshwater diatom Didymosphenia geminata in the continental US. Frontiers in Ecology and Environment 7(8): 415-420.

Schmidt, T.S., S.E. Church, W.H. Clements, K. Mitchell, D. Fey, R. Wanty, C.A. San Juan, and M. Adams. 2007. Landscape ecotoxicology: Linking catchment lithology to ecological state of streams in the central Rocky Mountains of Colorado. In:2007 GSA Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, October 28-31, 2007. Boulder, CO: The Geological Society of America. p. 103.

Schmidt, T.S., S.E. Church, W.H. Clements, K.A. Mitchell, D.L. Fey, R.B. Wanty, P.L. Verplanck, C.A. San Juan, T.L. Klein, E.H. DeWitt, and B.W. Rockwell. 2009. Aquatic ecosystems in central Colorado are influenced by mineral forming processes and historical mining. In: R.M.T. Webb and D.J. Semmens. Planning for an uncertain future—Monitoring, integration, and adaptation. Proceedings of the the Third Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds. U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2009-5049. 292 p.

Schmidt, T.S., S.E. Church, R.B. Wanty, D.L. Fey, L. McEachron, J.G. Crock, M. Adams, and M.W. Anthony. 2005. The influence of catchment geology on water quality and benthic macroinvertebrate communities in streams from the Colorado Mineral Belt. abs. In: Workshop: Application of earth science information to mining-related environmental and health risk assessments, Denver, CO, September 2005. p. 1.

Schmidt, T.S., W.H. Clements, S.E. Church, R.B. Wanty, D.L. Fey, L. McEachron, P.L. Verplank, J.G. Crock, M. Adams, and M.W. Anthony. 2006. Utilizing Path Analysis to model watershed structure and historical land use affects on local stream geochemistry and ecological responses. abs. In: NABS Annual meeting, Anchorage, Alaska, 2006. North American Benthological Society. p. 1.

Schmidt, T.S., R.B. Wanty, S.E. Church, C.S. Juan, W.H. Clements, D.F. Fey, P.L. Verplanck, J.G. Crock, M. Adams, and M.W. Anthony. 2008. Utilizing structural equation modeling techniques to model watershed structure and land use affects on stream geochemistry and ecological responses. abs. In: Second Annual U.S. Geological Survey Modeling Conference, Orange Beach, AL, February 10-17, 2008. U.S. Geological Survey. p. 1.

Sprague, L.A., R,E. Zuellig, and J.A. Dupree. 2006. Chapter A. Effects of urbanization on stream ecosystems in the South Platte River Basin, Colorado and Wyoming. In: Effects of urbanization on stream ecosystems in six metropolitan areas of the United States. U.S. Geological Survey. p. 141.

Verplanck, P.L., S.F. Murphy, P.W. Birkeland, J. Pitlick, L.D. Barber, and T.S. Schmidt. 2008. Boulder Creek: A stream ecosystem in an urban landscape. In: R.G. Raynolds (ed.). Roaming the Rocky Mountains and Environs: Geological Field Trips. Geological Society of American Field Guide 10. Boulder, CO: The Geological Society of America. p. 217-233.

Wanty, R.B., P.L. Verplanck, S.E. Church, D. Fey, C.A. San Juan, T. Schmidt, and M. Adams. 2007. Regional variations in surface-water chemistry in central Colorado, including areas affected by high natural backgrounds and historic mining. abs. In: Geologic Society of America, Denver, CO, October 2007. p. 1.

Wanty, R.B., P.L. Verplanck, C.A. San Juan, S.E. Church, T.S. Schmidt, D.L. Fey, E.H. DeWitt, and T.L. Klein. 2008. Geochemistry of surface water in alpine catchments in central Colorado, USA: Resolving host-rock effects at different spatial scales. Applied Geochemistry 24(4): 600-610.

Ward, J.V., B.C. Kondratieff, and R.E. Zuellig. 2002. An illustrated guide to the mountain stream insects of Colorado. Boulder, Colorado: University Press of Colorado. 219 p.

Williams, C.A. 2008. An evaluation of suspended-sediment transport equations using daily-sediment records for the Gunnison River near Grand Junction, Colorado; and the Green River near Jensen, UT; Water Year 2005. abs. In: Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program and the San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program 29th Annual Recovery Program Researchers Meeting, Moab, UT, January 15-16, 2008. p. 1.

Williams, C.A. 2007. Assessment of sediment transport using Multi-Dimensional Surface-Water Modeling System (MD-SWMS) for a razorback sucker spawning habitat near Jensen, Utah; April-May, 2006. abs. In: Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program and the San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program 28th Annual Recovery Program Researchers Meeting, Grand Junction, CO, January 17-18, 2007. p. 1.

Williams, C.A., S.J. Gerner, J.E. Elliott. 2009. Summary of fluvial sediment collected at selected sites on the Gunnison River in Colorado and the Green and Duchesne Rivers in Utah, water years 2005–2008. U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 409. 123 p.

Williams, C.A., and K.J. Leib. 2005. Using tracers to evaluate streamflow gain-loss characteristics of Terror Creek, in the vicinity of a mine-permit area, Delta County, Colorado, Water Year 2003. U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2005-5018. 27 p.

Zuellig, R.E., J.F. Bruce, E.E. Evans, and R.W. Stogner. 2008. Urban-related environmental variables and their relation with patterns in biological community structure in the Fountain Creek Basin, Colorado, 2003–2005.  U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 57-5225. 24 p.

Zuellig, R.E., D.R. Kashian, M.L. Brooks, P.M. Kiffney, and W.H. Clements. 2008. The influence of metal exposure history and ultraviolet-B radiation on benthic communities in Colorado Rocky Mountain streams. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 27(1): 120-134.

Zuellig, R. E., B. C. Kondratieff, and H. A. Rhodes. 2002. Benthos recovery after an episodic sediment release into a Colorado Rocky Mountain river. Western North American Naturalist 62(1): 59-72.

Zuellig, R.E, B.C. Kondratieff, D.E. Ruiter, and R.A. Thorp. 2006. An annotated list of the mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies of the Sand Creek Basin, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado, 2004 and 2005. Web resource. http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/ds183/.

Staff

Williams, Cory (streamflow, sediment transport, water quality, GIS analysis)

Schmidt, Travis (ecotoxicology, climate change, landscape controls on water quality)

Zuellig, Robert (stream ecology, biological assessment, water quality)

Current Studies

 Click HERE for all current riverine studies at FORT

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