Images

A Phragmites rhizome, or a belowground stem that puts up new shoots, dug up in a coastal marsh of Lake Erie in northern Ohio. Phragmites' belowground biomass can exceed that of its aboveground biomass. 

USGS scientists perform research on invasive sea lampreys looking for ways to minimize their ability to use fish passages and gain access to new habitats.

Page 67 photo from

Is this cemetery haunted? Probably not, but there could be tiny things moving beyond the grave. The USGS sampled groundwater downhill of Mt. Hope Cemetery in Lansing, Michigan, to find out if materials associated with decomposition and burial processes could affect groundwater quality near a cemetery.

Example of CoSMoS projection displayed in the Our Coast, Our Future (OCOF) online tool.

This image shows a sea lamprey in its larvae phase.

This microscopic image shows a sun-shaped area within turtle skin cells where chelonid herpesvirus 5 replicates. The virus capsids, or protein shells, are arrayed like a corona around the circle. ChHV5 is associated with fibropapillomatosisa tumor disease affecting endangered green turtles.

This image shows the blue version of sylvatic plague vaccine bait for prairie dogs. 

Prairie dogs in the wild are less likely to succumb to a deadly disease called sylvatic plague after they ingest peanut-butter-flavored bait that contains a vaccine against the disease.

Introduced Phragmites australis, also called the common reed, is an invasive grass in the Great Lakes.

For the first time, high-resolution images show the three-dimensional structure of massive ice deposits on Mars. 

This high-resolution NASA HiRISE image shows a detailed subsection of an icy scarp on Mars in enhanced color. 

Dry wash in San Rafael Desert with white surface salts. White efflorescent salts form on the soil surface as water evaporates from the soil leaving the salt at the surface. 

The arrows in this image point to mouths of individual corallimorphs, which are a type of invasive anemone that typically thrives in coral reefs that have been degraded by environmental or man-made disturbances. Each corallimorph mouth is surrounded by a corona of tentacles.

Monitoring equipment at Frio River at Concan, Tex.

Back cover photo from

Is this cemetery haunted? Probably not, but there could be tiny things moving beyond the grave. The USGS sampled groundwater downhill of Mt. Hope Cemetery in Lansing, Michigan, to find out if materials associated with decomposition and burial processes could affect groundwater quality near a cemetery.

As floodwaters recede, USGS scientists document high water marks, which include debris carried by flood water. The USGS Flood Inundation Mapper incorporates data about past flooding on Lake Ontario’s New York shoreline, including high water marks. Photo by Jared Marion, USGS.

USGS technicians prepare to board a boat to go out to the center of the channel in the San Joaquin River below Friant Dam to get an accurate measurement of water flow during releases from the Dam for flood control.

This image shows a sea lamprey in its larvae phase.

Green sea turtles are listed as threatened or endangered throughout their range. (Credit: Thierry Work, USGS)

Gila monsters are one of only two venomous lizard species in the world. They live in the southwestern U.S. and in Mexico. This animated GIF comes from a video that short features USGS Emeritus Research Ecologist, Cecil Schwalbe describing details of Gila monster biology and ecology and how he survived a very painful Gila monster bite.

This photomicrograph shows a liver of a frog with a severe Perkinsea infection.