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Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

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The majority of our ecological research is conducted in support of Department of the Interior issues and lands in the Upper Midwest. The Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) links its research closely with other U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) science centers to broadly address ecological and population concerns throughout the Nation's heartland.

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William H. Gingerich Recognized by the Food and Drug Administration

Researchers Recognized for Contributions to Approval of 35% PEROX-AID®

During a recent awards ceremony, Dave Lovetro, Eka Chemicals representative, recognized the aquaculture drug team for their dedication and efforts towards the approval of 35% PEROX-AID®, the first “broad-use”, waterborne, aquaculture drug approved in more than 20 years. USGS representatives, Dr. Bob Szaro, Chief Scientist for Biology, and Doug Beard, Fisheries, Aquatic and Endangered Resources Program Coordinator, were present to congratulate the researchers. The photo shows the researchers who generated critical data to satisfy the drug approval along with the USGS representatives.

Scientists Recognized in La Crosse, Wis.; First New Waterborne Aquaculture Drug in 20 Years Approved

Researchers Recognized for Contributions to Approval of 35% PEROX-AID®

LTRMP Technical Report: Status and Trends of Selected Resources of the Upper Mississippi River System

Status and Trends of Selected Resources of the Upper Mississippi River SystemLike other large rivers, the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) serves a diversity of roles. The UMRS provides commercial and recreational fishing, floodplain agriculture, drinking water for many communities, an important bird migration pathway, a variety of recreational activities, and a navigation system that transports much of the country’s agricultural exports. These multiple roles present significant management challenges.

Regular assessment of the condition of the river is needed to improve the design of conservation and management plans and evaluate their effectiveness. This report provides a summary of the recent status (mean and range of conditions) and trends (change in a consistent direction over time) for selected indicators of the ecological condition of the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. Data collected by the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program (LTRMP) are used to describe biological, physical, and chemical indicators of river condition over 9–12 years in most instances.

 

Winter’s End, Watercolor, Helen KlebesadelClimate Change:  Ecosystem Impacts and Management Strategies for the Midwest U.S.

A symposium titled ‘Climate Change: Ecosystem Impacts and Management Strategies For the Midwest U.S’ was held at the 68th Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference in Madison, Wisconsin, 10-11 December 2007.

 
updated Geospatial and Decision Support Projects

LINKA Decision Support System (DSS) can be defined as, "A spatially based computer application or data that assists a researcher or manager in making decisions."

LINK is the latest product from a series of DSS that uses species habitat matrices to model potential species habitat and habitat diversity.

   
Web Site: The Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative at UMESC

Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative web sitePopulations of amphibians have been declining around the world. The U.S. Geological Survey is working to understand the extent and causes of such declines through the Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative.
USGS Open File Report: Application of Wind Fetch and Wave Models for Habitat Rehabilitation and Enhancement Projects

graph outputModels based upon coastal engineering equations have been developed to quantify wind fetch length and several physical wave characteristics. These models, developed using Environmental System's Research Institutes ArcGIS 9.2 Geographic Information System platform, were used to quantify differences in proposed island construction designs for three Habitat Rehabilitation and Enhancement Projects (HREPs) in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Paul District (Capoli Slough and Harpers Slough) and St. Louis District (Swan Lake).
   

Web Site: Maps, Models, and Tools for Bird Conservation Planning

Maps, Models, and Tools for Bird Conservation PlanningScientists at the USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center have developed statistical models for predicting and mapping habitat associations across entire ecoregions for species at risk like the cerulean warbler (Dendroica cerulea).

The Geospatial Sciences Team has published 3 new GIS tools for ArcMap 9.2: Percent Edge Tool, Adjacency For WinBUGS Tool, and Split By Attribute Tool. Installation files and instructions are located on each tool’s information page.

3 new GIS toolsThe Percent Edge Tool creates an edge file containing area, compactness, perimeter, shared edge lengths with adjacent polygons, and percentage of shared edge with adjacent polygons.This information can then be summarized into a pivot table and queried. Example: where are all of the large, compact, woody wetland polygons that share > 30% of their edge with emergent herbaceous wetlands?

The Adjacency For WinBUGS Tool iteratively processes polygons within a selected layer and creates a text file of polygonal adjacency where each polygon is identified by a unique Adj_ID value. The output of this tool is used in WinBUGS (MRC Biostatistics Unit Cambridge) by the car.normal, car.l1, and mv.car conditional autoregressive distributions.

The Split By Attribute Tool takes a single spatial dataset and splits it into many component spatial datasets based on the unique values of a chosen attribute field. 

 
Web Site: Tracking Common Loon Migrations on the Web

Loon MigrationsBy implanting radio transmitters in adult loons, scientists are able to gain important information about migration routes, staging areas, and locations of wintering grounds.
 
Web Site: Freshwater Mussels of the Upper Mississippi River System

Freshwater Mussels of the Upper Mississippi River System Nearly 300 species of mussels inhabit freshwater rivers, streams, and lakes in North America. Unfortunately, freshwater mussels are now one of the most imperiled groups of animals. In North America, it is estimated that 43% of the 300 species of freshwater mussels are in danger of extinction.
   

GIS Data for Pool 5 Drawdown Project Pool 5 GIS dataIn an effort to enhance the production of aquatic vegetation and improve fish and wildlife habitat, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers conducted a water level reduction on Navigation Pool 5 in summer 2005 and has planned a second drawdown for summer 2006.

The drawdowns target a reduction of water levels by 1.5 ft. at Lock and Dam 5 (L&D 5) during the growing season. The GIS data depicting substrate exposed with the 2005 drawdown, along with aerial photography, are served for use by resource managers and planners.

USGS Fact Sheet: Taking the Pulse of a River System: First 20 Years Long Term Resource Monitoring on the Upper Mississippi River System

LTRMP: Taking the Pulse of a River SystemThe Long Term Resource Monitoring Program (LTRMP) for the Upper Mississippi River System is the Nation’s first large-scale effort to determine the status and trends of these natural components of a large river. The mission of the LTRMP is to provide decision-makers with information to help them balance the multiple uses of the Mississippi River.

   
Long Term Resource Monitoring Program

The Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center administers the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program (LTRMP) of the Environmental Management Program. The LTRMP is the Nation's largest river monitoring program with six remote state-operated field stations.

Data and Sampling Information Land Cover ViewerRelated LTRMP Information

Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
2630 Fanta Reed Road
La Crosse, Wisconsin 54603
Phone: (608) 783-6451


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