Images

This image shows part of a gas drilling rig in Colorado.

A bridge board and current meter being used to measure the streamflow on Pembina River at Neche, ND.

Buoys are attached to trotlines deployed in the Lower Missouri River.

Pallid sturgeon caught in the Lower Missouri River.

SRX receivers (left) and a ruggedized laptop computer (right) are essential tools for telemetry tracking on the Lower Missouri River.

Red River of the North at Halstad, Minnesota, on April 1, 2011, just prior to ice breaking up.

Wood frog embryos in a partly ice-covered Wisconsin wetland. Interconnected wetlands and uplands are critical elements of most North American landscapes and support our quality of life in profound ways. To provide much-needed information, the USGS is leading a growing network of U.S.

A brackish marsh in the Mississippi River Delta.

Storm clouds over the Missouri River.

Performing double duties of tracking and collecting acoustic images, Chad Vishy operates one of his three computers and five screens necessary to simultaneously collect this variety of data.

Research vessel Theodore R. Schmudde anchors in the swift water before lowering the sand cam (metal object suspended to the pulleys at the front of the boat).

Weighted, small mesh nets (left and right side of the boat attached to winches) are lowered to the bottom of the river near potential spawning sites.  After a set period of time, the nets are raised and the contents are hand-picked for any Acipenseriformes (sturgeon and paddlefish) larvae.  Samples are preserved for laboratory identification and genetic an

This lichen, Lobaria pulmonaria, is found in northern North America, where it is becoming rare in places.  Lichens -- which are often mistaken for moss -- are unusual plant-like organisms that are actually symbioses of fungi, algae and bacteria living together.

Acoustic telemetry tags have to be fairly small to fit inside a five to fifteen pound pallid sturgeon.  The average tag is about the size of your ring finger (60-90 mm long and 16 mm diameter).  That means the battery that powers the acoustic tag is small, too.  A small battery means that the signal from the tag is relatively weak, or fairly quiet.

Biologists prepare to tandem track a flooded Missouri River in search of telemetered Pallid Sturgeon.

Dredging the entrance canal to the Caloosahatcee River in Moore Haven, FL.

A radio tracking boat cruises down a flooded Yellowstone River in search of telemetered pallid sturgeon. 

Alicia Torregrosa is downloading data from a phenocam on BLM land in Idaho.

Photo taken on top of Meteorogical station in El Yunque Forest.

Scientist displays juvenile tarpon captured in a tidal pond.

Photo taken from above the Lago Icacos Damsite.