Amount of soil (about 200 mg) from which Geomyces destructans was cultured. This shows the small amount of soil needed to harbor live fungus and the threat that humans might pose in moving it around from cave to cave on their gear, boots, and clothing.

The fungus that has killed millions of bats in eastern North America since 2006 can survive in the environment for long periods of time, according to new research conducted by the USGS National Wildlife Health Center and collaborating partners at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, and U.S. Forest Service.

What is White Nose Syndrome?

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a disease that has resulted in large-scale population declines for many species of North American bats. It is caused by Geomyces destructans, a fungus that is only capable of growing at cool temperatures; for this reason, the pathogen can only grow on bats when they are hibernating and have a depressed body temperature.

The WNS Causing Fungus Can Survive for Years

Scientists were previously unsure of how the fungus survived during the summer months when a bat’s body temperature is above that which is permissible for the growth of G. destructans. A new study published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology sheds light on this mystery, demonstrating that the fungus can survive over the summer in the soil of the caves and mines where bats hibernate.  Researchers at the USGS National Wildlife Health Center used culture techniques to analyze soil samples collected from 14 caves and mines in which bats with white-nose syndrome had been previously observed. The scientists found that G. destructans remained viable in the soil of these sites over the summer when bats were absent.  The findings reveal that caves and mines, which remain cool year-round, can serve as reservoirs for the fungus and that bats entering previously infected sites may contract white-nose syndrome from the environment.

In addition, the researchers found that G. destructans could persist in caves and mines for periods of time much longer than several months. At one site, the fungus was still surviving in soil two years after bats had been excluded from the mine. Similar species of fungi that are not pathogenic to bats appear to play out their entire life cycles in the soil of caves, and it is plausible that G. destructans is capable of doing the same. Once G. destructans arrives at a cave or mine, it is possible the site could remain contaminated indefinitely.

What these Findings Mean for Bats and Humans

This research has important implications for managing WNS and vulnerable bat species by revealing the important role that the environment plays in the disease. For example, the findings suggest that susceptible bats may not be able to effectively re-colonize caves and mines that have been previously contaminated and that the reintroduction of certain bat species to such sites may not be a sound strategy for reestablishing lost populations. Although bats likely play a major role in transporting the fungus, the work additionally highlights the potential for humans entering contaminated caves and mines to come into contact with G. destructans years after bats have disappeared from those sites.

The same study also used molecular techniques to examine the distribution of G. destructans in eastern North America and provided new evidence that the fungus is not native to the continent. These findings support a previous hypothesis that G. destructans may have been introduced from Europe where bats do not appear to die from infection by the fungus.  Using these molecular techniques, the scientists  looked for the fungus in the soil of 55 caves and mines where bats hibernate in the eastern U.S. They found that G. destructans was limited to caves and mines within the range of the disease, but the fungus could not be detected in sites that remained disease-free. In addition, the investigation found that the fungus’ presence correlated with the arrival of white-nose syndrome at sites sampled before and after the disease was observed. These results indicate that a pre-existing form of the fungus was not present prior to the manifestation of disease and argues against G. destructans being native to parts of eastern North America prior to the emergence of white-nose syndrome.

Early Detection of WNS

Amount of soil (about 200 mg) from which Geomyces destructans was cultured. This shows the small amount of soil needed to harbor live fungus and the threat that humans might pose in moving it around from cave to cave on their gear, boots, and clothing.

The molecular techniques used in the study represent the first successful attempt to use high-throughput screening, a method to rapidly test large numbers of environmental samples, for G. destructans and accurately distinguish it from the large number of similar fungi that occur in caves and mines. Such a technique has great utility in monitoring sites for the fungus and could serve as a means by which the disease agent can be detected prior to the disease itself being observed. This could allow for proactive management strategies that may reduce the number of bats lost and prevent or slow the spread of the fungus across the landscape.

Bat with white-nose syndrome.

As Halloween approaches and bats prepare for winter hibernation, these iconic animals of the night sky face an uncertain future because of white-nose syndrome (WNS). USGS scientists and others continue to make progress in understanding this deadly bat disease. WNS has killed over 5 million bats since it first appeared in New York in 2007, and the disease, caused by the fungus Geomyces destructans, has spread at an alarming rate to 19 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces (view map).

USGS Science and White Nose Syndrome

USGS science is providing the foundation for informed decisions to manage this devastating wildlife disease.

“The USGS research to combat white nose syndrome lies in what scientists call ‘Pasteur’s Quadrant’: it is not only of immediate and intense need because of the havoc that this disease is causing to an economically important animal, but it also advances the frontier of understanding of how fungi thrive in the environment,” said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. “The race is on: scientist versus fungus, with the survival of several important species of bats at stake.”

Partnerships among agencies – federal, state, tribal, academic, and NGOs – have been essential to combating WNS. In particular, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has funded multi-agency studies that address priorities of the WNS National Plan for assisting states, federal agencies, and tribes to manage WNS. Over the past three years, USGS scientists have published over 30 scientific articles contributing to the ever increasing understanding of this deadly disease.

“The partnership with USGS has provided a solid framework for science-based management of the disease,” said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National White-Nose Syndrome Coordinator Jeremy Coleman. “Working cooperatively with our agency partners provides an opportunity to more efficiently and effectively address priorities in working toward containment of white-nose syndrome.”

WNS Fungus Findings

Scientists are currently searching for weak links in WNS disease processes to break cycles of infection and to slow the spread of this disease. In one of these studies, recently published in the journal PLoS ONE, scientists at USGS National Wildlife Health Center have carefully defined the effects of temperature on the growth of the WNS causing fungus, G. destructans. In the laboratory, scientists have shown that small changes in temperature, consistent with those found in bat caves, affect the overall growth rate and physiology of the fungus. Within caves or mines, localized variations in microclimates provide different environments for bats to hibernate. Different species of bats prefer different microclimate conditions for hibernation, which has been proposed as one of the reasons why some bat species may be more susceptible to WNS than others.

USGS scientists, in collaboration with EcoHealth Alliance and other agencies, have recently initiated a two-year study to build upon the knowledge gained in this laboratory study. They will measure variations in microclimates within actual bat caves and compare these conditions to the presence and abundance of G. destructans in the environment and on bats at those locations. Information from this study will then be used to predict the distribution of G. destructans within bat caves and to estimate the potential for progression of WNS at hibernation sites across the landscape.

Hibernating bats showing signs of infections with Geomyces destructans, the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome.

In two additional studies, published in the journal Mycologia , USGS and U.S. Forest Service  scientists  teamed up with others to learn more about the fungal ecology of bat hibernation sites and developed an improved diagnostic test for the fungus. Researchers examined G. destructans within the broader group of related Geomyces fungal species, most of which do not cause disease in bats, but are common in bat caves. This information is helping scientists to understand more about the diversity of related fungi in bat caves as well as the delicate ecology of these underground ecosystems. These findings were then used in the second study to develop a new highly sensitive and specific test that can differentiate between G. destructans and similar fungal species. This new test provides a valuable and reliable tool for enhanced diagnosis and surveillance of WNS.

More information on white-nose syndrome in bats can be found at:

USGS National Wildlife Health Center, WNS page

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, White-Nose Syndrome.org

USGS Fort Collins Science Center, WNS page

USGS biologists translocated critically endangered Laysan Teal, such as this adult with brood, from Laysan Island to Midway Island in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands to expand the species’ population and range and help guard against extinction.

Saving a critically endangered species takes time and patience. U.S. Geological Survey scientists learned this anew as they surveyed the toll on the critically endangered Laysan teal (Anas laysanensis) from last year’s Pacific Ocean Tōhuku Tsunami generated by an earthquake in Japan.

The population of Laysan teal, a small duck once found throughout the Hawaiʻian Islands, had grown rapidly from an estimated 450 birds on tiny Laysan Island to an estimated 830 birds by 2010 at two sites after successful reintroduction to Midway Atoll led by Michelle Reynolds, a research wildlife biologist with the USGS Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii, in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Rendered extinct on Hawaii’s main islands hundreds of years ago by the human introduction of rats, the teal had been found in recent times only in the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, which are rat-free. In 2004 and 2005, Reynolds and her multi-agency team moved 42 of the surviving birds on Laysan Island within the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, a strategic World War II battlefield that is now part of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument – and that, like Laysan, is free of mammalian predators. The teal on Midway took to their new island home, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and produced more ducklings than ever documented before.

Then came the March 2011 tsunami that washed over large areas of both Midway and Laysan islands. At Midway Atoll, the tallest wave was nearly 5 feet. As Reynolds and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service monitor the population to determine the impact of the tsunami on both refuge areas, they are reassured by the knowledge they gained from the successful reintroduction effort. Research on the conservation biology of endangered species will help not only the Laysan teal but many island species worldwide that are vulnerable to random disasters, and affected by climate change, habitat loss or predation by non-native species.

John Klavitter of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, left, and USGS biologist Michelle Reynolds attach transmitters to critically endangered Laysan teal that were translocated from Laysan to Midway Island to expand the species’ population and range.

“The species is still at risk,” Reynolds said. “The wild translocation to re-establish a second population was shown to be feasible and successful, but more populations are needed to reduce the high risks of living on low-lying tiny islands.”

In conservation biology, “translocation” is the managed relocation of members of a wildlife species – either captive-bred or from the wild – to someplace else in hope of expanding the species’ population and range. Fewer than half the translocations of threatened species are deemed successful by their investigators. Problems can arise with the population to be moved, such as lack of genetic diversity limiting its breeding success, or with the proposed new habitat, or because of an abundance of predators. Sometimes, the new home just doesn’t seem right to the translocated species and the animals will disperse across the landscape, and scientists have to find out why they don’t survive or breed. Many years ago, a previous effort to save the Laysan teal failed when the translocated birds simply turned up their bills at their new location – as sometimes happens – and tried to fly back to Laysan, never to be seen again.

Reynolds’ work with the Laysan teal emphasized not only keeping them close to the release site to acclimate them during the critical first few months after translocation, but also to learn everything possible about how the species uses and adapts to habitat. The birds’ flight feathers were trimmed when they were released at Midway, so they could not fly for the first year after translocation. This would not have been possible if rats, accidentally introduced during WWII, had not been removed from the atoll when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took over Midway’s management in 1996. Extra food was set out near the release site that first season, so the teal might be less likely to scatter across the island rather than choose mates and breed.

Even so, Reynolds recalls, the birds “sometimes didn’t follow the plan.”

“We had one female bird that just went off by herself, just walked a couple of kilometers to the middle of the island, away from all potential mates, to nest without a drake. She produced multiple infertile nests there, until the population grew,” she said. Most ducks, however, found mates and produced successful nests in their first year on Midway. By 2010, there were more than 400 Laysan teal on Midway. The growth was leveling off, a sign that the species’ population density may have been reached. This is important to know for future translocations: A long-term goal is to return the Laysan teal – “Hawaiʻi’s own duck,” – Reynolds said – to a higher-elevation site in the main Hawaiʻian Islands. Reynolds’ and co-authors’ latest research is published in a recent issue of Animal Conservation.

USGS biologists translocated critically endangered Laysan Teal, such as this one, from Laysan Island to Midway Island in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands to expand the species’ population and range and help guard against extinction.

Because both Laysan and Midway are so remote, Reynolds has been able to visit the study sites with the Laysan teal only once or twice a year after the reintroduction. The refuge field camp at Laysan is a five- or six-day boat trip from Honolulu and an inter-island flight from Hawaiʻi Island, where Reynolds works at the USGS Kīlauea Field Station. Field biologists must stay for months and bring food, water and other supplies. Midway Atoll has an airstrip with thrice-monthly flights, but it is also remote, located approximately 350 miles northwest of Laysan.

Both Laysan and Midway are part of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (also called the Leeward Islands), small, low-lying islands and atolls running some 1200 miles northwest of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau in the Pacific Ocean. Jointly protected as the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge, and Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, the 140,000-square-mile region is designated by UNESCO as one of only 26 mixed (natural and cultural) World Heritage Sites on the planet. Remote and ecologically vulnerable, most of the Northwestern Hawaiian Island region is uninhabited and closed to the public. Midway has about 60 residents, as well as scientific installations including a USGS seismic monitoring station.

A Gillette's checkerspot butterfly visiting sneezeweed. Credit: A. Miller-Rushing

As the climate has warmed, many plants are starting to grow leaves and bloom flowers earlier. A new study published in the journal, Nature, suggests that most field experiments may underestimate the degree to which the timing of leafing and flowering changes with global warming.

Understanding how plants are responding to climate change will help develop more accurate indicators of spring, forecast the onset of allergy season or the chances of western wildfires, manage wildlife and invasive plants, and help inform habitat restoration plans.

In this new study, scientists evaluated the sensitivity of plants to changes in temperature using two sources: experimental plots versus historical observations from natural sites.

The experiments analyzed in this study were conducted by artificially inducing warming in small study plots, and then measuring plant responses. The historical observations entailed long-term monitoring of multiple species at natural ecological research sites without any manipulation. The date of leafing and flowering was synthesized for dozens of warming experiments and monitoring sites across the Northern Hemisphere.

Scientists conclude that compared to warming experiments, historical monitoring shows temperature sensitivity to be four times greater for leafing and over eight times faster for flowering.

Recording how climatic variations and trends impact seasonal events in plants. Credit: A. Miller-Rushing

On average, the warming experiments predicted that every degree rise in Celsius would advance plants’ flowering and leafing from half a day to 1.6 days, while historical observations indicate a temperature sensitivity of about 5 to 6 days per degree Celsius. The finding was strikingly consistent across species and datasets. Conclusions from this study are based on analysis of more than 1600 plant species on four continents.

The study of how climatic variations and trends impact seasonal events in plants and animals is termed “phenology.” This includes when cherry trees or lilacs blossom, when robins build their nests, when salmon swim upstream to spawn, or when leaves turn colors in the fall.

The study was conducted by an interdisciplinary team led by Elizabeth Wolkovich, with the University of British Columbia, and Ben Cook, with NASA-Goddard. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation, the State of California and the University of California, Santa Barbara. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the USA-National Phenology Network (USA-NPN) also provided support and assisted with assembling and analyzing historical phenological observations and climate data.

Future Tracks: Experiments and Observations

Observing changes in the seasonality of plants in Concord, Massachussets. Credit: A. Miller-Rushing

The authors of the Nature paper recognize the value of both experiments and monitoring. They call for standardization of measurements and protocols as well as improvements in experimental design, and continuation and expansion of long-term monitoring efforts like the USA-NPN.

The USA-NPN brings together citizen scientists, government agencies, non-profit groups, educators and students of all ages to monitor the impacts of climate change on plants and animals in the United States. The USA-NPN was established by the USGS in collaboration with the National Science Foundation.

“This study underscores the reasons for recent establishment of a USA-NPN to help track, understand, and hopefully forecast different species responses to climate variability and change across the U.S.,” said USGS scientist Julio Betancourt, who is a co-author of this new report.

You Can Help! Track the Pulse of our Planet

We need your help to track the pulse of our planet. Through the USA-NPN’s Nature’s Notebook, citizens across the nation are providing data on plants and animals.

People like you — gardeners, farmers, birders, hikers, anglers, joggers, or all-around nature enthusiasts — are already recording the recurring events they see in the lives of the plants and animals around them. This includes when cherry trees or lilacs blossom, when robins build their nests, when salmon swim upstream to spawn, or when leaves turn colors in the fall.

Become involved and sign up through the USA-NPN website, or contact the USA-NPN Executive Director Jake Weltzin at jweltzin@usgs.gov.

Mining bee on great false leopardbane in Concord, Massachusetts. Credit: A. Miller-Rushing

More Information

Read a University of California, San Diego, press release, as well as a NASA feature, on this new article.

Barred owls like this one were most strongly associated with patches of large hardwood and conifer trees in relatively flat areas along streams.

Invasive barred owls in the central Coast Range of western Oregon appear to be outcompeting the federally threatened northern spotted owl for critical resources such as space, habitat and food, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey’s David Wiens. The study confirms that barred owls not only use similar forest types and prey species as spotted owls, but also that a high density of barred owls can reduce the amount of those resources available to spotted owls.

The northern spotted owl was designated as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1990. In recent years, however, the larger and more aggressive barred owl has expanded its range from eastern into western North America, where its geographic range now overlaps the entire range of the northern spotted owl.

Now, barred owls have become more common than spotted owls in the forests of western Oregon, according to Wiens, who received his Ph.D. at Oregon State University for this work. The three-year study was the result of a research partnership led by the USGS that included OSU, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, Oregon Department of Forestry, and Boise State University.

Wiens’ study identified at least 82 pairs of barred owls but only 15 pairs of spotted owls. The barred owls had a 92 percent probability of surviving from one year to the next, compared to 81 percent for spotted owls. Furthermore, barred owls produced more than six times as many owlets as did the spotted owls over the study period.

Both species frequently used patches of old conifer forest or stands of hardwood trees along streams while hunting for food and roosting, and both species survived better when there were greater amounts of old conifer forest within their territories. But while barred owls are selecting older forest habitat, as shown in Weins’ study, they thrive in other habitats as well. In contrast, spotted owls are almost entirely dependent on older forests.

Weins said his study by itself doesn’t assess whether barred owls are making it difficult for the spotted owl to recover. He cautioned that he did not examine cause-and-effect relationships. Furthermore, the study area was limited and encompassed a highly fragmented landscape, conditions found in some but not all portions of the spotted owl’s range. However, the study does support the conclusion that barred owls are probably having a significant impact on spotted owls.

“Despite two decades of dedicated management efforts, northern spotted owl populations have continued to decline throughout much of their range,” said Eric Forsman, a U.S. Forest Service researcher who also participated in the study. “This study suggests that conservation of old forest habitat is still a critical need for spotted owls, so we will continue to work with our research and management partners to collect information and explore options for management.”

The full report, “Competitive Interactions and Resource Partitioning between Northern Spotted Owls and Barred Owls in Western Oregon,” is available as an Oregon State University doctoral dissertation.

USGS scientists Doug Halm, Paul Schuster, and Kathy Kelsey collecting melt water samples from Gulkana Glacier. Results of recent analyses identified old carbonin the Yukon River, but also indicated that the chemical source was not derived from ancient plant material stored in the glacier, but from fossil fuel sources derived from atmospheric deposition. This add new complications to the interpretation of carbon sources and sinks in high latitudes and of the apparent sources of old organic carbon exported by arctic rivers.

A new study concludes that fossil fuel emissions are likely contributors to a substantial amount of organic carbon found on glaciers in Alaska.

Fossil fuel emissions, which contain organic carbon, can speed up the rate of glacier melt when deposited on glacier surfaces. In addition, the organic molecules associated with these deposits can be transported in rivers and streams, affecting downstream aquatic ecosystems. Knowledge of the source and age of organic carbon in glaciers allows for a better understanding of these and other impacts.

Prior research suggested that the main sources of organic carbon in Alaska’s glaciers were from forests and peatlands overrun by glaciers as far back as ten thousand years ago. While old soil and plant material are still possible sources of glacial organic carbon, new research indicates that human-created, or anthropogenic, sources are also important.

“We knew the organic carbon present in Alaska’s glaciers was old, but identifying the sources of this material has been difficult due to the lack of chemical data,” said USGS scientist George Aiken.

While extensive burning of fossil fuels is, geologically speaking, a relatively modern practice, the fuels themselves and the resulting carbon emissions are ancient. This is because the fuels are formed from plants and microorganisms that lived millions of years ago.

“Now we know that a substantial amount of ancient organic matter associated with these and other glaciers is of anthropogenic origin,” continued Aiken.

Why Study Carbon Levels?

When organic matter and other materials from the atmosphere are deposited on the surface of a glacier, less sunlight can be reflected and, therefore, more radiation and heat are absorbed. Having these materials on snow and ice surfaces causes them to melt faster.

Another concern is impacts to ecosystems and species habitats. As an example, organic matter exported to coastal areas is a potential nutrient or food source for aquatic bacteria, phytoplankton, and small grazing zooplankton. Climate warming or other factors may change the amount and quality of organic carbon available to these organisms. These aquatic organisms are also the base of the food web for all aquatic communities.

“When trying to understand climate change and decipher the carbon cycle puzzle, we need to make sure that we are using all of the right pieces,” said USGS scientist Rob Striegl. “As part of that puzzle, we are studying the source and amount of carbon flowing into the Arctic Ocean. An understanding of the complete picture allows for the most informed decisions to protect our environment.”

Melt water stream discharging from Gulkana Glacier, Alaska. USGS research of the Yukon River has had a long term goal of determining the source and fate of organic carbon transported by the river to the Bering Sea and ultimately the Arctic Ocean.

“The Arctic is of special interest because what happens there, such as extensive glacier melt, has impacts on the rest of the world,” continued Striegl. “Glacier environments, especially those in the high latitudes of the Arctic, are also among the most sensitive to climate warming.”

New Twist to Understanding Carbon in Glaciers

“Our new paper describes, for the first time, the detailed chemical composition of dissolved organic matter associated with glaciers and glacial meltwater in coastal Alaska and in Wyoming,” said Aiken.

“This study adds a twist to previous understandings, showing there is another source of organic carbon out there that needs to be considered,” said Striegl.

This study, published in the journal Nature Geosciences, was a collaborative effort of many institutions led primarily by the University of Alaska Southeast, Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, Woods Hole Research Center, and the USGS.

The Role of USGS Science

Earlier studies by the USGS, in collaboration with university researchers, found the presence of ancient organic carbon in the Yukon River and traced it back to meltwater from glaciers. For further analyses, USGS scientists continued those collaborations to sample meltwater from Mendenhall Glacier and Herbert Glacier in southeastern Alaska. The samples were then analyzed at USGS and university laboratories to develop the conclusions outlined in this new study.

“This truly is a collaborative effort, taking the expertise of many scientists to put the story together on the source of the carbon,” said Striegl. “The original work of the USGS in the Yukon basin helped form the questions and lab results contributed to answering the questions; but it took specialized instrumentation and scientific expertise from several other organizations to determine the final answer.”

Additional samples used for age dating and for other chemical characterization of the organic carbon of glaciers from other locations came from Gulkana Glacier in Alaska and from Fremont Glacier in Wyoming.

USGS scientists Doug Halm, Paul Schuster, Peter Murdoch, and Kathy Kelsey collecting melt water samples from Gulkana Glacier.

The Big Picture of Aquatic Carbon

The USGS has a long term goal of determining the source and fate of organic and inorganic carbon transported to coastal areas and oceans across the entire Nation. USGS research on the Yukon and other Arctic rivers is particularly focused on climate warming effects on mobilizing ancient carbon from permafrost to coastal regions and the Arctic Ocean. The USGS participates in the Arctic Great Rivers Observatory project, which is an international effort to study the six largest rivers, including the Yukon, which flow into the Arctic Ocean.

Learn more about USGS Yukon River Basin studies.

Contact: Jessica Robertson

Over the past 75 years, the conservation research at Patuxent has helped rescue species from the brink of extinction, provided the key data to ban or regulate harmful pollutants, and modeled how climate change will affect populations and habitat. Celebrate with us on Oct. 15, 2011, in Laurel, Maryland.

By 1936, devastating losses of wildlife populations — the result of market hunting, habitat degradation, and drought — were threatening the Nation’s natural resource heritage.

In response, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt launched a new era of wildlife conservation by creating the Patuxent Research Refuge.

Over the next 75 years, this research and conservation center would

• contribute to rescuing species from the brink of extinction,
• develop critical tools to manage hunted waterfowl species,
• provide the key data to ban or regulate pollutants that negatively impact people and wildlife, and
• model the effects of climate change on populations and habitat.

Patuxent has developed the models of the Nation’s migratory waterfowl harvest, established the effects of DDT on birds, created the science to breed and restore Whooping Cranes and other endangered species, produced fundamental methods to estimate wildlife populations, and directed the advancement of management practices used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Wildlife Refuge System and other land resource managers.

Center History

A costumed technician feeds a 3-day-old whooper chick. All of the whooping cranes alive in North America today derive from a flock of about 16 birds, of which maybe only 3 or 4 females were laying eggs. The cranes were essentially extinct in the wild, but through the hard work of Federal, State, and nongovernmental groups, about 250 whooping cranes live in the wild now. Another 150 more whoopers live in captivity, with USGS having the largest breeding flock of about 60 birds. About half of these USGS-raised birds are returned to the wild each year. Photo credit: Kathleen O'Malley, USGS.

In 1936, despite facing the Great Depression and 21 percent unemployment in America, President Roosevelt and conservation leaders Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling and Ira Gabrielson had the courage, foresight, and commitment to create the Nation’s first wildlife research center.

Originally created within the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the research program at Patuxent is now a part of the Department of the Interior as the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. The Patuxent Research Refuge, also within the DOI, is part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Patuxent conservation science campus is co-located on more than 12,750 acres of wildlife habitat in the Baltimore–Washington corridor.

The USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and the USFWS Patuxent Research Refuge continue to play critical roles in education, outreach, and the development of wildlife conservation science.

Through the decades, Patuxent’s scientists have been responsible for many important advances in natural resource conservation and have had global impact with research and partnerships in 76 countries on all seven continents.

Today

Seventy-five years later, wildlife conservation science is again at a crossroads.

Climate change, water availability, changes in land use, renewable energy development, and urbanization present new challenges to conservation programs. Solutions are complex. They must be interdisciplinary in nature and landscape oriented.

Today the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center is helping the Nation to

• track, understand, and prevent the spread of contagious diseases, such as bird flu;
• understand the causes and implications of the decline in pollinators, such as bees;
• determine the cause and find solutions for wildlife mortality, such as white-nose syndrome in bats and plague in endangered black-footed ferrets;
• understand the impacts of wind power on bats and birds;
• understand how pollutants and contaminants, including persistent organic pollutants, pesticides, petroleum crude oil, mercury, and lead shot, affect wildlife and their recovery;
• monitor the decline, threats to, and recovery of endangered species; and
• much more.

USGS scientists at Patuxent in Laurel, Maryland, along with their USGS  Biological Survey Unit counterparts at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, remain committed to solving the wildlife and environmental challenges of tomorrow.

Anniversary Celebrations at Patuxent

The Patuxent Wildlife Research Center wants to celebrate its 75^th anniversary with you. Please browse our public events.

Join us for the Patuxent Wildlife Festival on October 15, 2011, at Patuxent’s National Wildlife Visitor Center in Laurel, Maryland. Enjoy live animals, children’s crafts, tram tours, live music, scientific demonstrations, and behind-the-scenes research tours. Visit our Whooping Crane and Sea Duck colonies where scientists raise and study these species.

Soy and rice cultivation in Northern Paraguay

New USGS research shows that rice could become adapted to climate change and some catastrophic events by colonizing its seeds or plants with the spores of tiny naturally occurring fungi. The DNA of the rice plant itself is not changed; instead, researchers are re-creating what normally happens in nature.

Learn more

An adult female polar bear and her two cubs travel across the sea ice of the Arctic Ocean north of the Alaska coast.

USGS science supports management, conservation, and restoration of imperiled, at-risk, and endangered species.

Imperiled, at-risk, and endangered species receive special research interest at USGS, which is the scientific arm of the Department of the Interior. Our research on species diversity, life history, health and diseases, community ecology, and habitat requirements of at-risk species supports the management, conservation, and restoration of our nation’s aquatic and wildlife resources.

Polar Bears and Sea Ice: Polar bears were the first species listed as threatened because of observed and projected declines in sea-ice. Over the past 25 years, the summer sea ice melt period in the Arctic has lengthened, and sea ice cover has declined dramatically. Since 1985, scientists at the USGS Alaska Science Center have conducted research on polar bears to inform policy makers regarding conservation of the species and its habitat. Ongoing studies are designed to document population responses of polar bears to changing ice conditions and refine models used to project the future status of polar bears worldwide. These studies will provide managers with information needed to develop strategies to assure long-term polar bear survival in a changing ice environment.

Learn more

Listen to Corecast Who’s Your Mama? Conservation Genetics and At-Risk Species

USGS Sea Otter Studies Clue in on Coastal Health: Sea otters are a favorite at zoos and aquariums but three of the nine wild sea otter populations in the U.S. are federally listed as threatened. In California, USGS biologists lead an annual population census to assess the local populations’ recovery, working closely with state agencies and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. USGS biologists are also teaming up with government, aquarium, and university researchers to conduct the Pacific Nearshore Project, which assesses the health of coastal waters and resources in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, and California. Scientists will investigate sea otter populations in these waters for critical clues to the health of these economically and ecologically important habitats.

Learn more  

Caution:  Slow-Moving Mammals: USGS conducts long-term, detailed studies on the life

A Manatee in Florida

 history, population dynamics, and ecological requirements of the West Indian manatee. Federally listed as endangered, the manatee is a large, gentle, plant-eating, and slow-moving marine mammal. Entirely aquatic, their range is limited by temperature. Manatees cannot survive for extended periods in water colder than about 63°F. USGS biologists work cooperatively with federal and state researchers and managers on research identified as essential for the recovery of the species.

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The Whooping Crane: Back from Extinction: Large and majestic, the whooping crane was once on the brink of extinction.  America’s tallest bird stands five feet tall with a wingspan of about eight feet, and is federally listed as endangered. All the birds alive in North America, currently about 250 birds, are descendants from a flock of only 16 individual birds. USGS is engaged in a whooping crane captive breeding program and conducts research on whooper propagation, monitoring wild populations, survival of released birds, and veterinary care.

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A Male Spectacled Eider in Alaska

Hide and Seek: Eiders at Sea:

After breeding numbers of spectacled eiders, a large sea duck, declined by 96 percent at a primary breeding area in Alaska, the species was listed as threatened.  Potential risks to eiders include being subjected to increased exposure during storms in winter, changes in foods because of declining ice, and warming temperatures in the Bering Sea.  Increased vessel traffic in new ice-free shipping lanes may also impact eiders. To evaluate these potential threats, USGS is using satellite telemetry to track eiders when these colorful birds are in the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas.  Scientists have already located previously unknown wintering areas of these birds, and studies are continuing to document changes in distribution and abundance in the rapidly changing Arctic.

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Jeepers! Those Endangered Honeycreepers: Climate change and disease threaten many species of Hawaiian honeycreepers, unusual birds that live in high-elevation rain forests on the islands of Kauai, Maui, and Hawaii, which are cool enough to limit transmission of the introduced disease, avian malaria. USGS scientists have documented recent dramatic increases in avian malaria on the Alakai plateau on Kauai that could affect recovery of two endangered honeycreepers, the ‘Akikiki (Kauai creeper) and `Akeke`e (Kauai akepa), and one endangered thrush, the puaiohi (small Kauai thrush). They are continuing to work on projects to determine how some more common native forest birds may be adapting to this disease and whether they hold important keys for long-term conservation of more threatened species.

In addition, USGS scientists have studied the critically endangered palila for 25 years; this species feeds on the seeds of the māmane, a native tree that is nutritious but toxic to many other vertebrate species. The palila population has declined steadily during the past 8 years, putting the remaining 1,300 birds at very high risk of extinction. USGS biologists have provided much-needed information on palila life history and on developing restoration techniques, including returning palila to portions of their former range. Some of those birds established a breeding colony at the new site, proving the potential value of translocation for reestablishing populations. Much of the recent decline is due to drought, but long-term browsing by introduced sheep has also reduced the ability of the palila’s subalpine woodland habitat to support them. New research will help managers evaluate how vegetation responds to periodic sheep removals. For more info on climate change and honeycreepers.

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Ecology and Diagnosis of Introduced Avian Malaria in Hawaiian Forest Birds

Jeepers Creepers! Climate Change Threatens Endangered Honeycreepers

Palila Restoration: Lessons from Long-term Research

What a Breeding Western Yellow-Billed Cuckoo Wants: The western yellow-billed

A Western Yellow-Billed Cuckoo

cuckoo is a shy, neotropical migrant bird once common throughout the American West; it is currently a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act. After spending the winter in South America, western cuckoos arrive in the Western United States beginning in June to breed along rivers and streams. The western cuckoo, however, has disappeared from the Pacific Northwest and Canada, leaving breeding to occur in isolated areas along rivers in Arizona, California, and New Mexico. Scientists with the USGS and Northern Arizona University studied this bird along the lower Colorado River in Arizona to understand its habitat needs. This research revealed that western cuckoos prefer habitat dominated by large continuous areas of streamside habitat dominated by native trees.

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Mussels on the Edge:  Native freshwater mussels are among the most fascinating, widespread, and endangered animals in fresh waters. They play important ecological roles in our lakes and rivers and their shells are used to produce cultured pearls. Mussels are threatened by changes in flow patterns within rivers caused by dams, dikes, and levees; by sediment increases in rivers and streams; and by invasive species, such as zebra mussels and Asian carps, that compete with mussels for food.  Rising water temperatures and drought that may result from climate change have the potential to adversely affect the health and valuable services of mussel populations even more.  Research conducted by USGS scientists and partners are showing how elevated temperatures may affect the survival, growth, reproduction, and physiology of native mussels.

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Mojave Desert Tortoise found in Piute Valley in Clark County, Nevada, in 2005

USGS Delves Into Desert Tortoise Dangers:

The Mojave desert tortoise is federally listed as threatened — facing dangers such as habitat fragmentation, climate warming, as well as invasive grasses, which overrun native vegetation and increase risk of deadly wildfires. USGS biologists are using genetic studies to uncover whether these long-lived reptiles are experiencing isolation and inbreeding due to habitat loss, and conducting comprehensive habitat mapping to determine whether sufficient habitat corridors exist for tortoise populations to naturally to move across their native desert landscape — where the burrows they dig help jumpstart local ecosystems.

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USGS Research Gives Endangered Frogs a Second Hop at Survival: As part of the USGS Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI; http://armi.usgs.gov/), USGS biologists are leading the monitoring and reintroduction effort of the Southern California mountain yellow-legged frog — federally listed as endangered with only 200 wild adults remaining in the mountains surrounding Los Angeles County. Working with biologists at the San Diego Zoo, USGS biologists help reintroduce zoo-bred tadpoles and eggs to wild streams, and study their survival and how wildfires and invasive species affect these frogs.

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Elevated Extinction Risk for Mountain Salamander: The Shenandoah salamander is a

Shenandoah Salamander

small, terrestrial woodland salamander found only within the Shenandoah National Park.  Like other high-elevation species, this salamander is severely threatened by climate change, which is expected to result in dramatic temperature and moisture changes in the Appalachians. Because many high-elevation salamander species are specifically adapted to the unusual conditions typical of these sites, they may not be able to survive the changing conditions in the future without management.  Compounding their risk is that many of these high-elevation species have extraordinarily small ranges, including the endangered Shenandoah salamander. USGS ARMI (Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative; http://armi.usgs.gov/) scientists are combining detailed habitat models (these show where the species occurs) with experimental tests of the fate of the species under future climate conditions to forecast the extinction risk for this species and to provide information to the National Park Service on the best way to help lessen this extinction risk.

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A Devilish Situation for the Devils Hole Pupfish: Contained deep within a limestone cavern in the Mojave Desert, Devils Hole is a constant temperature (93 degrees), 10 by 50 foot pool of water. Devils Hole pupfish live only in Devils Hole, dependent on a tiny spawning shelf less than 13 feet long and 7 feet wide. There, these tiny colorful fish – the males a sparkling blue, the females a more subdued grey-blue or silvery-blue – have made their home for thousands of years. Devils Hole pupfish populations remained about 400-500 individuals until the late 1960s when the water level in the pool dropped in response to pumping of nearby irrigation wells. Pupfish numbers declined precipitously, and though water in Devils Hole is now maintained at a minimum level, the pupfish are still greatly imperiled.  With intensive management efforts, pupfish numbers are increasing from a critical low of just 38 individuals in 2006 to about 118 in 2010.  USGS scientists and their partners are using video to help them assess relationships between environmental conditions and spawning in the pupfish to help managers better understand the habitat and spawning requirements and ultimately help in captive propagation.

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A Face Only a Mother Could Love: The endangered humpback chub is a freshwater fish found only in the Colorado River Basin. Like other native Colorado River fish species, the humpback chub has an unusual body shape, presumably an adaptation to life in a large, active river. The USGS has developed a mark-recapture model to estimate adult population trends and the number of juvenile fish surviving to adulthood for the Grand Canyon population. The most recent USGS analysis indicates that the number of Grand Canyon adult humpback chub—fish 4 years old or older and capable of reproducing—increased by about 50 percent between 2001 and 2008. Scientists estimate that there are about 7,650 adult fish in the Grand Canyon population.

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The Merrimack River draining northeast Massachusetts and New Hampshire is home to two sturgeon species: the shortnose sturgeon (federally endangered) and the Atlantic sturgeon (under consideration for federal listing).

Coastal Migration of Merrimack River Sturgeons:

The Merrimack River draining northeast Massachusetts and New Hampshire is home to two sturgeon species: the shortnose sturgeon (federally endangered) and the Atlantic sturgeon (under consideration for federal listing).  Atlantic sturgeon make extensive coastal migrations, but those captured within the Gulf of Maine appear to remain within the region.  Developing interests in coastal hydro-kinetic power turbines (these harness the power from moving water), particularly in Canadian waters, may prove to be a significant threat to coastal-wandering sturgeon and a more detailed understanding of their movements may assist hydro-kinetic development.  Until recently, shortnose sturgeon were believed to spend much of their lives within their natal river system, particularly populations in the northeast and Gulf of Maine.  A recent collaboration of the USGS with university and state partners identified a previously unobserved coastal spawning migration of pre-spawning female shortnose sturgeon. 

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Two Cladonia Lichen Species Among Blueberry Plants

New USGS research shows that certain lichens can break down the infectious proteins responsible for chronic wasting disease, a troubling neurological disease fatal to wild deer and elk and spreading throughout the United States and Canada.

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