Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Green treefrogs call from their favorite habitat, rivers and lakes. They’re native to Louisiana and Florida, where these were recorded. Credit: Paul Moler, used with permission.

Squirrel treefrogs are also native to Florida and Louisiana. Hear them calling from ditches, puddles and other ephemeral pools of water. Credit: Paul Moler, used with permission.
 

USGS scientists Daniel Catizone (left) and David Seay (center) joined federal and state workers and volunteers in rescuing an estimated 1,000 cold-stunned sea turtles, making this the second largest sea turtle rescue of the 21^st century. Photo by Margaret Lamont, USGS

USGS scientist Margaret Lamont measures a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle recovered from the cold waters of St. Joseph Bay. Rescued sea turtles are weighed, measured andmarked with an identifier, and are examined to determine if they need medical attention. Photo by USGS. 

USGS scientist Margaret Lamont, who has studied sea turtles in Florida since 1995, carries a cold-stunned green sea turtle from the mud flats of St. Joseph Bay. Photo by USGS.

Eglin Air Force Base biologist Kathy Gault (left) and Dave Seay (right), a contract biologist working with the USGS, hauled cold-stunned sea turtles to safety along the icy shore of Cape San Blas. Scientists and licensed volunteers walked the beaches and marshes, loading cold-stunned sea turtles into kayaks. Once full, kayaks could weigh more than 400 pounds and had to be dragged two to three...

Scientists and volunteers use nets to scoop the immobile sea turtles out of St. Joseph Bay before transporting them to safety. Photo by USGS. 

When water temperatures drop below 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius), cold-blooded sea turtles, like this Kemp’s ridley, can become cold-stunned. They are unable to swim or even raise their heads out of the water to breathe, which can lead to drowning. Photo by Margaret Lamont, USGS

David Seay, a contract biologist working with the USGS, holds a green sea turtle that is recovering from the effects of cold-stunning in St. Joseph Bay. Photo by Margaret Lamont, USGS.

It looks like a holiday ornament, but this lovely object is a single-celled freshwater alga from the desmid family, found in the marshes of Florida’s Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. USGS biologist Barry Rosen photographed it at 200x magnification using ultraviolent light and a fluorescence microscope. Desmids range in size from under 10 microns—approximately the width...

Graph of land area change rate in coastal Louisiana from 1932–2016.  The red line approximates the long-term land area change rate. 95 out of 100 statistical analyses would produce a very similar trend (dotted blue lines). Credit: USGS