Vascular plants and plant habitats of Brush Creek Island, Lewis County, Kentucky, U.S.A.

A descriptive survey of the vascular flora and plant habitats of Brush Creek Island, a 6.7-ha Ohio River island in Lewis County, Kentucky, was conducted during 1995–1996 and 2012. Brush Creek Island (BC), one of three Ohio River islands politically a part of Kentucky, is currently under private ownership and projected as a future part of the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge. Two major habitats in 2012 were Vegetated Unconsolidated Shoreline and Bottomland Hardwood Forest, a final sere of Late Old Field and Immature Bottomland Hardwood Forest. Two additional 1996 habitats, a seasonal Riverine Emergent Wetland and Late Old Field, were altered through fluvial action and secondary succession processes by 2012. An annotated list consists of 330 species in 220 genera from 82 families. Taxa are composed of one Monilophyte, four Magnoliids, 76 Monocots, and 249 Eudicots. Ninety-three taxa (28.2%) are non-native adventive or naturalized spe-cies. Forty-eight taxa (54%) are classified as Kentucky invasive plants. A total of 189 species (57.3%) are hydrophytes. Ninety-five native or non-native taxa (28.8%) are Lewis County distribution records.

A Case Study of a Prymnesium parvum Harmful Algae Bloom in the Ohio River Drainage: Impact, Recovery and Potential for Future Invasions/Range Expansion

Inland waters provide valuable ecosystem goods and services and are intrinsically linked to downstream coastal areas. Water quality impairments that lead to harmful algal blooms damage valuable commercial and recreational fishing economies, threaten food security, and damage already declining native species. Prymnesium parvum is a brackish water golden alga that can survive in salinities less than 1 ppm and when it blooms it can create toxins that kill aquatic life. Blooms have been documented globally including 23 U.S. states. We report a case study of an aquatic life kill associated with P. parvum in Dunkard Creek (WV-PA, USA), in the Ohio River Drainage. We document the immediate impact to aquatic life and responses of the aquatic community ten years post-kill. Most fish species returned within a year. Excellent connectivity to unimpacted tributaries and a river downstream likely aided the reestablishment of most species, although some had not reached pre-kill abundances after ten years. Mussel taxa did not recover despite significant efforts to relocate adult mussels and stocking of host fish inoculated with glochidia; probably due to other water quality impairments. Given the potential for lateral transport of P. parvum via industry and natural vectors we conducted an ecological risk assessment mapping the spatial extent of U.S. waters that could be threatened by golden algae colonization and blooms using a national water quality database and a state database. Overall, about 4.5% of lotic systems appeared to have some level of risk of harboring P. parvum, making them at risk for potential golden algae blooms in the face of increasing salinization and eutrophication of freshwaters.

The Hopewell airburst event, 1699-1567 years ago (252-383 CE)

Meteorites, silicious vesicular melt glass, Fe and Si-rich magnetic spherules, positive Ir and Pt 25 anomalies, and burned charcoal-rich Hopewell habitation surfaces demonstrate that a cosmic airburst event occurred over the Ohio River valley during the late Holocene. A comet-shaped earthwork was constructed near the airburst epicenter. Twenty-nine radiocarbon ages demonstrate that the event occurred between 252 and 383 CE, a time when 69 near-Earth comets were documented. While Hopewell people survived the catastrophic event, it likely contributed to their cultural decline. The Hopewell comet airburst expands our understanding of the frequency and impact of cataclysmic cosmic events on complex human societies.

Draft Genome Sequences of Three Shewanella sp. Strains Isolated from Urban Freshwaters in the Ohio River Valley, USA

Draft genome sequences of three Shewanella sp. strains are reported. The strains NKUCC01_JLK, NKUCC05_KAH, and NKUCC06_TVS were isolated from freshwater sources in the Ohio River Valley, USA. These genome sequences provide insights into Shewanella adaptation to urban freshwaters and may help to elucidate their roles in biogeochemical cycling.

First Records of Freckled Madtom (Noturus nocturnus) in Ohio, USA

Two new Ohio localities for the Freckled Madtom (Noturus nocturnus Jordan and Gilbert, 1886) were recently discovered. These are the first, and currently only, Freckled Madtom collected in Ohio waters. A single individual was collected in the Scioto River in Scioto County by the Midwest Biodiversity Institute (MBI) and a previously misidentified specimen was collected in the Ohio River at the Hannibal Locks and Dam by the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO). The closest historical records are from the Little Sandy River and Big Sandy River drainages in eastern Kentucky. Other Ohio River collections have been made near the border of Kentucky and Indiana. The origins of the recent Ohio specimens are unknown; whether they emanate from other known populations or have been overlooked altogether is unclear.

Precipitation Characteristics of Warm Season Weather Types in the Southeastern United States of America

Daily weather types (WTs) over the Southeast United States have been analyzed using 850 hPa winds from reanalysis data from March to October of 1979–2019. Six WTs were obtained. WTs 1–3 represent mid-latitude synoptic systems propagating eastward. WT4 is a summer-type pattern predominantly occurring in June–August, with the center of the North Atlantic Subtropical High (NASH) along the Gulf coast in the southern United States. WT5 is most frequent from August to middle October, with the NASH pushed further north and southerly winds over the northern Great Plains. An anticyclone centered at the Carolina coast characterizes WT6, which occurs in all months but is slightly more frequent in the spring and fall, especially in October, corresponding to fair weather in the region. WTs 1, 2 and 3 can persist for only a few days. WTs 4, 5 and 6 can have long spells of persistence. Besides self-persistence, the most observed progression loop is WT1 to WT2, to WT3, and then back to WT1, corresponding to eastward-propagating waves. WTs 4 and 5 are likely to show persistence, with long periods of consecutive days. WT6 usually persists but can also transfer to WT3, i.e., a change from fair weather in the Southeast U.S. to rainy weather in the Mississippi River Valley. A diurnal cycle of precipitation is apparent for each WT, especially over coastal plains. The nocturnal precipitation in central U.S. is associated with WT3. WTs 1–3 are more frequent in El Niño years, corresponding to stronger westerly wave activities and above normal rainfall in the Southeast U.S. in the spring. The positive rainfall anomaly in the Mississippi and Ohio River valley in El Niño years is also associated with more frequent WT3.

POPULATION STRUCTURE AND GENE FLOW IN THE SHEEPNOSE MUSSEL (PLETHOBASUS CYPHYUS) AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR CONSERVATION

North American freshwater mussel species have experienced substantial range fragmentation and population reductions. These impacts have the potential to reduce genetic connectivity among populations and increase the risk of losing genetic diversity. Thirteen microsatellite loci and an 883 bp fragment of the mitochondrial ND1 gene were used to assess genetic diversity, population structure, contemporary and historical migration rates, and population size changes across the range of the Sheepnose mussel (Plethobasus cyphyus). Population structure analyses reveal five populations, three in the Upper Mississippi River Basin and two in the Ohio River Basin. Sampling locations exhibit a high degree of genetic diversity and contemporary migration estimates indicate that migration between populations within river basins is occurring, although at low rates. but no migration is occurring between the Ohio and Mississippi river basins. No evidence of bottlenecks was detected, and almost all locations exhibited the signature of population expansion. Our results indicate that although anthropogenic activity has altered the landscape across the range of the Sheepnose, these activities have yet to be reflected in losses of genetic diversity. Efforts to conserve sheepnose populations should focus on maintaining existing habitats and fostering genetic connectivity between extant demes to conserve remaining genetic diversity for future viable Sheepnose populations.