Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Can you hear the difference between the non-native Cuban treefrog and two common Louisiana native treefrogs? Cuban treefrogs’ call is distinctive. Biologist Paul Moler of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission recorded them in South Florida. Credit: Paul Moler, used with permission.

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 conducts a health assessment on a mantee in Crystal River, Florida.

A broken concrete foundation and some shattered floor tiles were all that remained of the sea turtle researchers' field station and home base after Category Four Hurricane Michael struck Cape San Blas on Oct. 10, 2018.

A deeply eroded sand dune on the beach at Cape San Blas shows Hurricane Michael's impact on parts of the Florida Panhandle shoreline.

A beach house in Cape San Blas, Florida destroyed by Hurricane Michael, which struck the Florida Panhandle as a Category Four storm Oct. 10, 2018.

For ten years, this yellow concrete block house in Cape San Blas, Florida, dubbed Fish Inn, was the seasonal office, laboratory and living quarters for a team of USGS sea turtle researchers during their field season from November till April.

Bee pollinating a flowering coastal prairie plant

Lionfish invasion (1985-2018). Lionfish invaded US Atlantic coastal waters, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico with unprecedented, alarming speed. Though reports of sightings date back to the 1980s, it is only recently that the species has exploded in numbers and range. In fact, the lionfish invasion is the 

USGS conducts a health assessment on a mantee in Crystal River, Florida.