Eastern Ecological Science Center
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In 2020, the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and Leetown Science Center merged to create the Eastern Ecological Science Center (EESC). Our goals are to align our scientific capabilities with the most pressing conservation and management challenges; establish an engaged workforce that fosters high relationship trust with employees, partners and the public; and be a ‘go to’ organization for delivering actionable science to those responsible for conserving our nation’s natural resources for the enjoyment of current and future generations.
Risks posed by SARS-CoV-2 to North American bats
The virus that causes COVID-19 likely evolved in a mammalian host, possibly Old-World bats, before adapting to humans, raising the question of whether reverse zoonotic transmission to bats is possible. Wildlife management agencies in North America...
Read moreEffects of long-term cortisol treatment on growth and osmoregulation
Cortisol is the final product of the hypothalamic-pituitary-interrenal (HPI) axis and acts as a gluco- and mineralo-corticoid in fish. Long-term elevations of cortisol have been linked to reduced growth in fishes, but the mechanism(s) and relative...
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Enjoy these quick links to the most requested information about EESC!
AI for citizen science in fish biology
North American Breeding Bird Survey
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News
USGS-Led Study Helps in the Fight Against the Coronavirus Pandemic
With few additional targeted tests and non-invasive surveys, public health agencies can better estimate disease occurrence and trends, changes in transmission, rates of hospitalization and death and effectiveness of vaccines and other control measures.
Partner Spotlight: The Canadian Bird Banding Office
Many North American migratory bird species travel from North America to Central and South America during their yearly migrations. Therefore, studying birds in a coordinated fashion across borders is critical, making the USGS Bird Banding Laboratory’s partnership with the Bird Banding Office in Canada vital in managing the North American Bird Banding Program.
It’s Pollinator Week!
Pollinators in the form of bees, birds, butterflies, bats and beetles provide vital but often invisible services, from supporting terrestrial wildlife and plant communities, to supporting healthy watersheds.
Publications
Optimization of salt marsh management at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey, through use of structured decision making
Structured decision making is a systematic, transparent process for improving the quality of complex decisions by identifying measurable management objectives and feasible management actions; predicting the potential consequences of management actions relative to the stated objectives; and selecting a course of action that maximizes the total...
Neckles, Hilary A.; Lyons, James E.; Nagel, Jessica L.; Adamowicz, Susan C.; Mikula, Toni; Castelli, Paul M.; Rettig, Virginia
Evaluation of regulatory action and surveillance as preventive risk-mitigation to an emerging global amphibian pathogen Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal)
The emerging amphibian pathogen Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) is a severe threat to global urodelan (salamanders, newts, and related taxa) biodiversity. Bsal has not been detected, to date, in North America, but the risk is high because North America is one of the global hotspots for urodelan biodiversity. The North American...
Grear, Daniel A.; Mosher, Brittany A.; Richgels, Katherine; Campbell Grant, Evan H. Local fruit availability and en route wind conditions are poor predictors of bird abundance and composition during fall migration in coastal Yucatán Peninsula
In migratory stopover habitats, bird abundance and composition change on a near daily basis. On any given day, the local bird community should reflect local environmental conditions but also the environments that birds encountered previously along their migratory route. For example, during fall migration, the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in...
Feldman, Richard E; Celis-Murillo, Antonio; Deppe, Jill L.; Dorantes-Euan, Alfredo