Images

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy in the Arctic.

Collecting a DNA sample from a native freshwater mussel's muscular foot.

The Wisconsin Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit (WCWRU) graduate student, Megan Jones, explains the ecology of small mammals at Thomson Prairie as part of a class field trip organized by WCWRU for the University of Wisconsin Grassland Ecology Class.

An approximately 2 inch long monarch butterfly caterpillar or larva grazes on the leaves of a butterfly weed in a northern Virginia garden. The dark lumps on the leaves around the caterpillar are its droppings or feces.

An approximately 2 inch long monarch butterfly caterpillar or larva grazes on the leaves of a butterfly weed in a northern Virginia garden. The dark lumps on the leaves around the caterpillar are its droppings or feces.

View of the Spring Run near the gage, downstream of the main vent. 

Multiple sets of tracks left by numerous sea turtle hatchlings when they emerged from their nests and crawled toward the sea during the night.

Two sets of tracks left by tiny sea turtle hatchlings when they emerged from their nests and crawled toward the sea during the night.

Two sets of tracks left by tiny sea turtle hatchlings when they emerged from their nests and crawled toward the sea during the night.

A set of tracks left by tiny sea turtle hatchlings when they emerged from their nests and crawled toward the sea during the night.

A morning photo depicts evidence of a sea turtle nesting the previous night (from the sea, left; return to sea, right). The protective stakes mark a nest from an earlier week as part of a county research program that marks and records every eighth nest.

Subtropical Atlantic Ocean sunrise with the dark clouds of a distant offshore thunderstorm.

A morning photo depicts evidence of a sea turtle nesting the previous night (from the sea, left; return to sea, right). The protective stakes mark a nest from an earlier week as part of a county research program that marks and records every eighth nest.

A morning photo depicts evidence of a sea turtle nesting the previous night (from the sea, left; return to sea, right). The protective stakes mark a nest from an earlier week as part of a county research program that marks and records every eighth nest.

Subtropical Atlantic Ocean sunrise with the dark clouds of a distant offshore thunderstorm.

Red morning sunrise on the Atlantic Ocean as seen from a barrier island.

Research excavation of a loggerhead sea turtle nest (Caretta caretta) on a sandy Florida beach. The excavation is part of a county research program that keeps track of the number of nests (by species) - mostly loggerhead, a few greens, and an occasional leatherback.

A morning photo depicts evidence of a sea turtle nesting the previous night (from the sea, left; return to sea, right). The protective stakes mark a nest from an earlier week as part of a county research program that marks and records every eighth nest.

A morning photo depicts evidence of a sea turtle nesting the previous night (from the sea, left; return to sea, right). The protective stakes mark a nest from an earlier week as part of a county research program that marks and records every eighth nest.

Wave action produced by a tropical storm (Fay) eroded barrier island beaches on the Atlantic coast of Florida, producing cliff-like escarpments as depicted here.