Decision Science and Quantitative Methods

USGS scientists are collaborating with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MDDNR) to develop and evaluate a genetic assay for blue catfish fish diets that will allow us to design a cost-effective monitoring program for determining the diet of wild fish.

Effective management programs for vector-borne pathogens, such as West Nile Virus and the Lyme disease spirochete, are necessary to protect public health. However, some vector control methods, such as landscape manipulations and pesticide applications, can also adversely affect nontarget species and environmentally sensitive natural systems. Efficient targeting and integration of vector control...

Developing Novel Amplicon Sequencing Assays From Scat For Diet Analysis of the pacific pocket mouse ( perognathus longimembris pacificus )

Potash, with the active ingredient potassium chloride (KCl) is a chemical that is currently being evaluated for potential use as a molluscicide to combat invasive zebra mussels and quagga mussels in Western United States waters.

Current and increasing visitation to protected natural areas has the potential to negatively impact natural resources and threaten the quality of visitors’ experiences. In backcountry and wilderness settings land managers have often allowed visitors to select and create their own campsites, which surveys reveal are often close to water, formal trails, and other campsites. This research is focused...

Development of Deployable Multispectral Sensors for Monitoring

The Challenge: Conservation and management of natural animal populations requires knowledge of their dynamics and associated environmental and management influences. Specifically, informed management requires periodic estimates of system state (e.g., population size) and models for projecting consequences of management actions for subsequent state dynamics. However, it is very difficult to draw...

The Challenge: A variety of important questions about the conservation and management of natural resources requires information about the spatial distribution of organisms. For species of conservation concern, the size of a species’ range is a criterion used to assign species status as threatened or endangered. For invasive species and disease organisms, the dynamics of the species range expansion...

The Challenge: Since its inception in 2002 the USGS Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) has taken the lead in monitoring amphibian populations on Department of Interior lands. ARMI scientists work on a broad spectrum of species and management issues to address the core causes of amphibian declines. In many cases, research requires complex study designs and innovative methods. A key...

The biggest natural resource management challenges include competing views of the value and uses of those resources in society. Patuxent scientists develop methods to manage resources given those competing views under a “structured decision making” (SDM) framework. Our scientists both practice and train others in key SDM skills, such as model development and monitoring design.

Lyme disease is the most prevalent vector-borne disease in North America, with about 300,000 cases per year in the U.S. We are studying transmission of the spirochete that causes this disease among wild animals and the blacklegged tick vectors, to determine why Lyme disease is common in the northeast and northern Midwest but rare in the south, even though blacklegged ticks are present in all of...

An estimated 146 million Americans participated in more than 10.9 billion outdoor recreation activities in 2017. Virtually all protected natural areas have recreational trails as an essential infrastructure component to accommodate these outdoor recreation activities and visitor access, supporting a diverse array of opportunities and experiences that include nature study, hiking, camping, mountain...