Fish and Wildlife

Wetland and Aquatic Research Center and Fort Collins Science Center are coordinating a long-term, landscape-scale Burmese python research strategy for South Florida.

Resource management decisions need to be informed by up-to-date, quality science and data. However there is sometimes an overwhelming number of scientific publications for managers to consider in their decisions. This project provides concise summaries of recent, peer-reviewed science and data products about different resources and topics of management concern, integrated into a searchable tool.

USGS researchers, in collaboration with the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative and other partners, are developing a statistically based prioritization tool that will aid agencies in their management decisions.

Research on Guam has led to development and validation of numerous effective control tools, including the advancement of reptile control to support native species recovery.

The greater sage-grouse has been a focus of scientific investigation and management action for the past two decades. The sheer number of scientific publications can be a challenge for managers tasked with evaluating and determining the need for potential updates to existing planning documents.

This research effort is an interagency partnership between U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to model the social-ecological system that encompasses chronic wasting disease management in the United States. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal, neurologically degenerative disease that impacts many cervid species in North America (e.g., elk, moose, mule deer, and white...

USGS scientists are identifying local adaptation in sage-grouse by modeling allelic variation at large numbers of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in relation to environmental and climate variables.

Using the existing rangewide genetic and demographic data, scientists from the USGS, USDA Forest Service, and University of Waterloo will assess the relative contributions of habitat and genetic connectivity to lek size and stability.

Assessing vulnerability to climate change is a key step in anticipating climate impacts on species.

Management agencies are increasingly restoring sagebrush systems by removing conifers. These treatments likely result in mixed effects for wildlife species, and wildlife response may vary across the landscape. Declining sagebrush and pinyon-juniper associated bird populations highlight a clear need for tools that can help guide conifer management across the sagebrush ecosystem.

USGS and Colorado State University scientists will use data about sage-grouse and mule deer population data across Wyoming to evaluate the effectiveness of disturbance thresholds and investigate the efficacy of other disturbance metrics.

USGS researchers and partners are working to investigate how transportation activities may drive changes in sage-grouse populations, using annually time-stamped transportation from the Wyoming Department of Transportation and sage-grouse population data from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.