Alachlor and Two Degradates of Alachlor in Ground And Surface Water, Southwestern Georgia And Adjacent Parts Of Alabama And Florida, 1993-2005

Proceedings of the 2007 Georgia Water Resources Conference, March 27-29, 2007, Athens, Georgia.Alachlor and Two Degradates of Alachlor in Ground And Surface Water, Southwestern Georgia And Adjacent P Ground- and surface-water samples have been collected in the Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint River Basin (ACFB) and Georgia-Florida Coastal Plain (GAFL) study units since 1993 as part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) program. This paper focuses on the use and occurrence of the herbicide alachlor and two degradates of alachlor in several ACFB and GAFL NAWQA ground- and surface-water sampling networks within agricultural areas in southwestern Georgia and adjacent parts of Alabama and Florida. Alachlor was analyzed during cycle I (1993–2001 water years) and to date in cycle II (2002–2005) of NAWQA. Two degradates of alachlor—alachlor ethane sulfonic acid (alachlor ESA) and alachlor oxanilic acid (alachlor OA)—were analyzed in a subset of cycle II samples collected during water year 2002 and during May 2004. Although alachlor use in the study area declined from the 13th most used herbicide during 1992 to the 24th most used herbicide during 2002, alachlor was the third most frequently detected pesticide in ground water for 1993–2005 behind the more frequently used herbicides atrazine and metolachlor. Alachlor was the only pesticide analyzed during this study that exceeded a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency maximum contaminant level standard (2 micrograms per liter) or health-advisory level in ground-water samples collected within the study area. When analyzed, alachlor ESA and alachlor OA were typically detected more frequently and at higher concentrations than alachlor.Sponsored and Organized by: U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Natural Resources Conservation Service, The University of Georgia, Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of TechnologyThis book was published by the Institute of Ecology, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-2202. The views and statements advanced in this publication are solely those of the authors and do not represent official views or policies of The University of Georgia, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Georgia Water Research Institute as authorized by the Water Resources Research Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-397) or the other conference sponsors

Defining Ecological Drought for the Twenty-First Century

THE RISING RISK OF DROUGHT. Droughts of the twenty-first century are characterized by hotter temperatures, longer duration, and greater spatial extent, and are increasingly exacerbated by human demands for water. This situation increases the vulnerability of ecosystems to drought, including a rise in drought-driven tree mortality globally (Allen et al. 2015) and anticipated ecosystem transformations from one state to another—for example, forest to a shrubland (Jiang et al. 2013). When a drought drives changes within ecosystems, there can be a ripple effect through human communities that depend on those ecosystems for critical goods and services (Millar and Stephenson 2015). For example, the “Millennium Drought” (2002–10) in Australia caused unanticipated losses to key services provided by hydrological ecosystems in the Murray–Darling basin—including air quality regulation, waste treatment, erosion prevention, and recreation. The costs of these losses exceeded AUD $800 million, as resources were spent to replace these services and adapt to new drought-impacted ecosystems (Banerjee et al. 2013). Despite the high costs to both nature and people, current drought research, management, and policy perspectives often fail to evaluate how drought affects ecosystems and the “natural capital” they provide to human communities. Integrating these human and natural dimensions of drought is an essential step toward addressing the rising risk of drought in the twenty-first century

Genetic variants associated with subjective well-being, depressive symptoms, and neuroticism identified through genome-wide analyses

Very few genetic variants have been associated with depression and neuroticism, likely because of limitations on sample size in previous studies. Subjective well-being, a phenotype that is genetically correlated with both of these traits, has not yet been studied with genome-wide data. We conducted genome-wide association studies of three phenotypes: subjective well-being (n = 298,420), depressive symptoms (n = 161,460), and neuroticism (n = 170,911). We identify 3 variants associated with subjective well-being, 2 variants associated with depressive symptoms, and 11 variants associated with neuroticism, including 2 inversion polymorphisms. The two loci associated with depressive symptoms replicate in an independent depression sample. Joint analyses that exploit the high genetic correlations between the phenotypes (|ρ^| ≈ 0.8) strengthen the overall credibility of the findings and allow us to identify additional variants. Across our phenotypes, loci regulating expression in central nervous system and adrenal or pancreas tissues are strongly enriched for association.</p

Characterization of anthropogenic organic compounds in the source water and finished water for the City of Atlanta, October 2002–September 2004

As part of the Source Water-Quality As-sessment (SWQA)—one of several study components within the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water-Quality Assessment Program—the source water and fin-ished water for the City of Atlanta are being analyzed for the presence of more than 270 anthropogenic organic com-pounds representing a diverse group of extensively used chemicals. During the first phase of the study, 17 source-water samples were collected from October 2002 through December 2003 at the City of Atlanta drinking-water in-take. As part of the second phase of the study, 16 paired samples from the drinking-water intake and finished water at the Chattahoochee Water Treatment Plant (CWTP) are being collected from July 2004 through May 2005. This paper characterizes the occurrence of anthropogenic organic compounds in the source water and finished water for the City of Atlanta, based on results from the first phase and the first three paired samples from the second phase of the study. Thirty-seven pesticides, 11 pesticide degradates, 37 organic wastewater compounds, and 16 volatile organic compounds were detected; multiple anthropogenic organic compounds were detected in each sample collected. Concentrations of anthropogenic organic compounds detected in source-water samples for the City of Atlanta generally were low, and SWQA samples included in this report did not exceed Federal drinking-water standards or health advisories, although such standards or advisories have not been established for most of these compounds. Maximum concentrations measured in source-water sam-ples for the herbicides simazine and MCPA and the insecti-cide diazinon ranged from 81 to 12 percent of available standards and advisories. For all other anthropogenic or-ganic compounds with available drinking-water standards or health advisories, the maximum concentrations measured in source-water samples ranged from 10 to 100,000 times less than available standards and advisories. Fewer anthropogenic organic compounds were de-tected in the finished water from the CWTP than in source water, and concentrations generally were less than concen-trations in source water by one to three orders of magni-tude, with the notable exception of total trihalomethane (THM). THMs are common disinfection by-products, es-pecially when surface water is chlorinated to protect against bacterial contamination. Concentrations of total THMs detected in finished water generally were low (from 35 to 38 micrograms per liter) and compare well with the CWTP’s consumer confidence reports. There were no exceedences of Federal drinking-water standards or health advisories in the first three finished-water sam-ples. For all other anthropogenic organic compounds with available drinking-water standards or health advisories, the maximum concentrations measured in finished-water samples ranged from 100 to 100,000 times less than avail-able standards and advisories.Sponsored by: Georgia Environmental Protection Division U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Water Science Center U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Water Resources Institute The University of Georgia, Water Resources Facult

Modeling Climate Change and Ecosystem Response-developing Tools to Guide Resource Management in the Southeastern United States

Proceedings of the 2011 Georgia Water Resources Conference, April 11, 12, and 13, 2011, Athens, Georgia.Resource managers are at the forefront of a new era of environmental decision making. They must consider the potential effects of climate change on the Nation’s resources and proactively develop strategies for dealing with those changes on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. This requires rigorous, scientific understanding of the interactions among the varying components of atmospheric, hydrologic, terrestrial, and biological systems and the ability to predict the resulting changes to ecological systems. The Southeast Regional Assessment Project is an interdisciplinary U.S. Geology Survey project that is designed to analyze climate change data and develop tools for assessing how climate change is likely to affect wildlife resources.Sponsored by: Georgia Environmental Protection Division U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Water Science Center U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Water Resources Institute The University of Georgia, Water Resources FacultyThis book was published by Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-2152. The views and statements advanced in this publication are solely those of the authors and do not represent official views or policies of The University of Georgia, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Georgia Water Research Institute as authorized by the Water Research Institutes Authorization Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-307) or the other conference sponsors

Defining Ecological Drought for the Twenty-First Century

THE RISING RISK OF DROUGHT. Droughts of the twenty-first century are characterized by hotter temperatures, longer duration, and greater spatial extent, and are increasingly exacerbated by human demands for water. This situation increases the vulnerability of ecosystems to drought, including a rise in drought-driven tree mortality globally (Allen et al. 2015) and anticipated ecosystem transformations from one state to another—for example, forest to a shrubland (Jiang et al. 2013). When a drought drives changes within ecosystems, there can be a ripple effect through human communities that depend on those ecosystems for critical goods and services (Millar and Stephenson 2015). For example, the “Millennium Drought” (2002–10) in Australia caused unanticipated losses to key services provided by hydrological ecosystems in the Murray–Darling basin—including air quality regulation, waste treatment, erosion prevention, and recreation. The costs of these losses exceeded AUD $800 million, as resources were spent to replace these services and adapt to new drought-impacted ecosystems (Banerjee et al. 2013). Despite the high costs to both nature and people, current drought research, management, and policy perspectives often fail to evaluate how drought affects ecosystems and the “natural capital” they provide to human communities. Integrating these human and natural dimensions of drought is an essential step toward addressing the rising risk of drought in the twenty-first century