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Jeffrey Houser

Position title: Research Ecologist

Email: jhouser@usgs.gov
Phone: 608.781.6262
Fax: 608.783.6066

Education:
2001 Ph.D. Zoology - Dissertation Title: Dissolved organic carbon in lakes: effects on thermal structure, primary production, and hypolimnetic metabolism. University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
1998 M.S. Zoology - Thesis Title: Food web structure and experimental enrichment: effects on phosphorus sedimentation and retention. University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
1994  B.S. Magna cum Laude and with Honors in Biology - Senior Thesis Title Genetic diversity and divergence of endangered Galapagos and Hawaiian petrel populations. Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina                 

Primary Responsibilities/Activities:
Jeff is the component leader for the water quality component of the Long Term Research Monitoring Program (LTRMP) on the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). He works with other members of the LTRMP partnership at UMESC, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the 5 UMRS states (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri) to coordinate the ongoing monitoring research relevant to UMRS water quality.  He also obtains funds for and conducts additional limnological research on the UMRS. 

Research Interests:

• Understanding spatial and temporal patterns in water quality and using what is learned through this understanding to inform river management decisions.
• Ecosystem metabolism and its effects on dissolved oxygen and nutrient dynamics in rivers.
• Carbon and nutrient cycling in rivers.

Active Projects:

• Water quality component of the Long Term Resources Monitoring Program (LTRMP Team)
• Primary production in the UMRS: Contrasts in dissolved oxygen dynamics, primary production, and respiration among aquatic areas of the Upper Mississippi River System (LTRMP/River productivity team).

Select Publications:
De Jager, N.R., and J.N. Houser. 2012. Variation in water-mediated connectivity influences patch distributions of total N, total P, and TN:TP ratios in the Upper Mississippi River, USA. Freshwater Science 31:1254-1272.

Houser, J.N., D.W. Bierman, R.M. Burdis, and L.A. Soeken-Gittinger. 2010. Longitudinal trends and discontinuities in nutrients, chlorophyll and suspended solids in the Upper Mississippi River: implications for transport, processing, and export by large rivers. Hydrobiologia 651:127–144.

Gray, B.R., W. Shi, J.N. Houser, J.T. Rogala, Z. Guan, and J.L. Cochran-Biederman. 2010. Cumulative effects of restoration efforts on ecological characteristics of an open water area within the Upper Mississippi River. River Research and Applications DOI: 10.1002/rra.1375

Houser, J.N. and Richardson, W.B. 2010. Nitrogen and phosphorus in the Upper Mississippi River: transport, processing, and effects on the river ecosystem. Hydrobiologia 640:71-88.

Houser, J.N. 2006. Water color affects the stratification, surface temperature, heat content, and mean epilimnetic irradiance of small lakes. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 63:2447-2455.

Houser, J.N., P.J. Mulholland, and K.O. Maloney. 2006. Upland disturbance affects headwater stream nutrients and suspended sediments during baseflow and stormflow. Journal of Environmental Quality 35:352–365.

Houser, J.N., P.J. Mulholland, and K.O. Maloney. 2005. Catchment disturbance and stream metabolism: patterns in ecosystem respiration and gross primary production along a gradient of upland soil and vegetation disturbance. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 24:538-552.

Houser, J.N., D.L. Bade, J.J. Cole, M.L. Pace. 2003. The dual influences of dissolved organic carbon on hypolimnetic metabolism: organic substrate and photosynthetic inhibition. Biogeochemistry 64:247-269.

Houser, J.N., S.R. Carpenter, J.J. Cole. 2000. Food web structure and nutrient enrichment: effects on sediment phosphorus retention in whole-lake experiments. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 57:1524-1533.

Links:
Long Term Resources Monitoring Program

LTRMP Water Quality Component

Curriculum Vitae

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