Soil Survey Problems of Eastern United States

United States Geological Survey

Mercury in the Soil of Two Contrasting Watersheds in the Eastern United States

Soil represents the largest store of mercury (Hg) in terrestrial ecosystems, and further study of the factors associated with soil Hg storage is needed to address concerns about the magnitude and persistence of global environmental Hg bioaccumulation. To address this need, we compared total Hg and methyl Hg concentrations and stores in the soil of different landscapes in two watersheds in diffe...

Vole Control in the Eastern United States

The meadow vole (Microtus ennsylvanicus) and pine vole M_. pinetorum) are major pests in fruit orchards in the eastern U.S. These species damage trees by gnawing the bark or root systems during the winter months, thus, reducing the fruit yields or in many cases actually killing the trees. Orchard owners generally use an integrated pest management approach involving a combination of methods: (1)...

Soil carbon sequestration in United States rangelands

Rangelands are uncultivated lands that include grasslands, savannahs, steppes, shrub lands, deserts and tundra. The native vegetation on rangelands is predominantly grasses, forbs and shrubs (Kothmann, 1974). Rangelands cover 31 percent of the land surface area of the United States (Havstad et al., 2009), and up to half of the land surface area worldwide (Lund, 2007). Most land areas that are n...

Health System Reform in the United States

In 2010, the United States adopted its first-ever comprehensive set of health system reforms in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Implementation of the law, though politically contentious and controversial, has now reached a stage where reversal of most elements of the law is no longer feasible. The controversial portions of the law that expand affordable health insurance coverage to most U.S. cit...