Images

California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) surfaces in a pond in Point Reyes National Seashore, CA.

The late USGS herpetologist Dr. Gary Fellers

Southern California neighborhood scarred by wildfire.

A western spadefoot toad (Spea hammondii) found near Badger Canyon, CA.

Cassin's auklet with a radio transmitter attached for a study in the Channel Islands.

USGS marine biologists set sail on a crisp September morning to capture and tag wild sea otters to monitor the health of this threatened species.

Small waterbirds resting atop a limestone outcropping in Chokoloskee Bay.

Creosote scrub habitat (one type of preferred desert tortoise habitat) in the Mojave Desert.

USGS scientists found this adult mountain yellow-legged frog on June 10 in Tahquitz Creek, a rediscovered population
of the endangered frog in the San Jacinto Wilderness, San Bernardino National Forest, California.

Assessing suitable sites in southern California
for reintroducing endangered southern mountain yellow-legged frogs, USGS scientists rediscovered a population in the San Jacinto Wilderness, 50 years since this frog was last seen there.

The health and population growth of the southern sea otter -- a federally listed threatened species -- can serve as an indicator of the health and condition of California's coastal waters.

The Western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis) is a relatively common and widespread lizard in Southern California. It is larger and prefers less open habitat than the related side-blotched lizard, yet USGS and National Park Service biologists are finding signs of genetic isolation in both species.

This map of the Thousand Oaks, Calif. area visualizes the degree of genetic isolation being experienced by the wrentit (Chamaea fasciata), a small songbird.

A Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog (Rana sierrae) scans the landscape in Yosemite National Park.

A male Agassiz's desert tortoise, equipped with a transmitter, in a wind energy facility near Palm Springs, Calif.

In contrast to pale, sick specimens, healthy sea stars are vibrantly colored, active predators, like this giant sea star (Pisaster giganteus) with a captured cowrie snail.

Sea urchins crawl upon the disintegrated corpse of a sea star that succumbed to Sea Star Wasting Disease—a smattering of unrecognizable white matter. 

The sunflower sea star (Pycnopodium helianthoides) can be found in a variety of colors in the wild, like this healthy specimen with a lavender hue.

Tidepool scenes of vibrantly colored sea stars could become a rarity as the Sea Star Wasting Disease spreads. 

The State of California studies dead sea otters, like this one found by USGS scientists in Piedras Blancas, Calif., to learn about their causes of death and to understand the variety of environment stress factors that impact the nearshore marine environment.