Publications by authors named "Amber Ignatius"

The US state of Georgia includes the range of several periodical cicada broods and is the southernmost state in which Brood X periodical cicadas emerge; however, no research has focused on this brood in this state. We used reports of sightings on social media, communication with the public, and our own searches to determine the geographic range in Georgia and timing of biological events. Both adults and exuviae were identified to species to determine the species makeup at those locations.

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Reservoirs are dominant features of the modern hydrologic landscape and provide vital services. However, the unique morphology of reservoirs can create suitable conditions for excessive algae growth and associated cyanobacteria blooms in shallow in-flow reservoir locations by providing warm water environments with relatively high nutrient inputs, deposition, and nutrient storage. Cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms (cyanoHAB) are costly water management issues and bloom recurrence is associated with economic costs and negative impacts to human, animal, and environmental health.

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The Piscine Stream Community Estimation System (PiSCES) provides users with a hypothesized fish community for any stream reach in the conterminous United States using information obtained from Nature Serve, the US Geological Survey (USGS), StreamCat, and the Peterson Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes of North America for over 1000 native and non-native freshwater fish species. PiSCES can filter HUC8-based fish assemblages based on species-specific occurrence models; create a community abundance/biomass distribution by relating relative abundance to mean body weight of each species; and allow users to query its database to see ancillary characteristics of each species (e.g.

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Article Synopsis
  • Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHAB) pose significant risks to human and ecological health, causing issues like fish kills and water quality problems in lakes globally.
  • Satellite technology, specifically the European Space Agency's MERIS and upcoming Sentinel-1-3 OLCI, was evaluated for its effectiveness in detecting cyanoHAB occurrences in lakes across the U.S.
  • The study found that satellite imagery could resolve about 5.6% of the waterbodies and 57% of public water surface intake locations, highlighting areas like Lake Apopka and Grand Lake St. Marys with high bloom frequencies that exceed World Health Organization safety thresholds.
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Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHAB) cause human and ecological health problems in lakes worldwide. The timely distribution of satellite-derived cyanoHAB data is necessary for adaptive water quality management and for targeted deployment of water quality monitoring resources. Software platforms that permit timely, useful, and cost-effective delivery of information from satellites are required to help managers respond to cyanoHABs.

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