Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center (NOROCK)
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We hope you will enjoy learning about the variety of ecosystems and species we are studying throughout the United States. We are part of the Northwest Region of the USGS and our scientists work on diverse issues such as wildlife health, invasive species, climate, endangered species and much more. Click on Science to begin exploring the places we go and the species and landscapes we study.
NOROCK in the News
Recent news and media featuring NOROCK Science. Click below for our most recent features.
Glaciers GoneNOROCK Quick Links
Check out our most up-to-date data, events and science.
Flattop Mountain Snowpack Data for Water Year 2017
Glacier Repeat Photography Project
NOROCK ScienceNews
The U. S. Geological Survey is poised to bring a dynamic array of science and tools to help decision-makers manage and offset effects of increased drought across the United States, according to a drought plan report released today.
The warming climate has dramatically reduced the size of 39 glaciers in Montana since 1966, some by as much as 85 percent, according to data released by the U.S. Geological Survey and Portland State University.
As part of ongoing efforts required under the Endangered Species Act to monitor the population of grizzly bears in the Yellowstone Ecosystem, the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST) traps and monitors grizzly bears for research and monitoring purposes. Here you will find trapping notifications for the 2017 field season.
Publications
Shifting brucellosis risk in livestock coincides with spreading seroprevalence in elk
Tracking and preventing the spillover of disease from wildlife to livestock can be difficult when rare outbreaks occur across large landscapes. In these cases, broad scale ecological studies could help identify risk factors and patterns of risk to inform management and reduce incidence of disease. Between 2002 and 2014, 21 livestock herds in the...
Brennan, Angela; Cross, Paul C.; Portacci, Katie; Scurlock, Brandon M.; Edwards, William H. Assessment of imperfect detection of blister rust in whitebark pine within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
We examined data on white pine blister rust (blister rust) collected during the monitoring of whitebark pine trees in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (from 2004-2015). Summaries of repeat observations performed by multiple independent observers are reviewed and discussed. These summaries show variability among observers and the potential for...
Wright, Wilson J.; Irvine, Kathryn M. Unraveling the disease consequences and mechanisms of modular structure in animal social networks
Disease risk is a potential cost of group living. Although modular organization is thought to reduce this cost in animal societies, empirical evidence toward this hypothesis has been conflicting. We analyzed empirical social networks from 43 animal species to motivate our study of the epidemiological consequences of modular structure in animal...
Sah, Pratha; Leu, Stephan T.; Cross, Paul C.; Hudson, Peter J.; Bansal, Shweta