Images

This photo was taken at Station 4 in 2009 before the Great Works Dam was removed. This location was just upstream of the dam and water levels are significantly lower now that the dam is removed.

IGBST researchers begin gathering biological data from the bear.  The kerchief over the bear's eyes protects it from dust and debris and reduces visual stimulation. The small tubing in its nose, known as a nasal cannula, delivers oxygen to the animal while it is tranquilized.

Drought and climate change are causing extensive forest dieback in the U.S. West as well as worldwide. These photos show dead ponderosa pines in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico killed by a combination of drought stress and attacks by bark beetles on weakened trees.

Many species of Hawaiian honeycreepers have persisted into the 20th century because high elevation rain forests on the islands of Kaua’i, Maui, and Hawai’i are cool enough to limit transmission of introduced avian malaria (Plasmodium relictum).

Many species of Hawaiian honeycreepers have persisted into the 20th century because high elevation rain forests on the islands of Kaua’i, Maui, and Hawai’i are cool enough to limit transmission of introduced avian malaria (Plasmodium relictum).

An adult female polar bear and her two cubs travel across the sea ice of the Arctic Ocean north of the Alaska coast.

Many species of Hawaiian honeycreepers have persisted into the 20th century because high elevation rain forests on the islands of Kaua’i, Maui, and Hawai'i are cool enough to limit transmission of introduced avian malaria (Plasmodium relictum).

These live Asian swamp eels were imported from southeast Asia and sold in an urban food market in the U.S. Raw or undercooked Asian swamp eels could transmit a parasitic infection called gnathostomiasis to consumers, and wild eels could become widespread in some U.S. waters.

A photomicrograph depicting the calcium carbonate tests of ten species of marine foraminiferans. Upon death, their tests can form calcareous marine sediments known as foraminiferan ooze.

A photomicrograph depicting the calcium carbonate tests of ten species of marine foraminiferans. The image has been inverted to bring out details. Upon death, their tests can form calcareous marine sediments known as foraminiferan ooze.

A photomicrograph depicting the siliceous tests of ten species of marine radiolarians. This image has been inverted to bring out details. Upon death, their tests can form siliceous marine sediments known as radiolarian ooze.

Back-lit photographs of wings of White-nose Syndrome (WNS)-positive little brown bats, one with subtle circular and irregular pale areas (arrows) indicating areas of fungal infection (A) and another bat (B) with areas of relatively normal tone and elasticity (black arrow), compared to a WNS affected area that looks like crumpled tissue paper with loss of elasticity,

Hibernating little brown bat with white muzzle typical of White-nose syndrome.

Rush River at Amenia, North Dakota, streamflow 1,650 cubic feet per second,  looking upstream.  Photograph taken during spring 2009 flooding.

A class photo! The entire gang of adolescent whooping crane chicks appear to be ice skating at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Md.

This adolescent chick, hatched and raised at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, is one of ten whooping cranes being released in Louisiana in February 2011. It is a milestone for the state and for the birds, which have not lived in the state since the 1950s.

Suzanne Nicholson, USGS, collecting soil at one of the sites in New Jersey, on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean just south of Atlantic City.

In 1986, Lake Nyos, in the volcanic region of Cameroon, released a cloud of CO₂ into the atmosphere, killing 1,700 people and 3,500 livestock in nearby towns and villages. Since then, engineers have been artificially removing the gas from the lake through piping. This photo shows the Lake Nyos pipe in operation.

2006 Rockslide on Ferguson-Hwy 140 in California along the Merced River about 8 miles west of El Portal and the entrance of Yosemite National Park.

USGS scientist Art Bookstrom looks at puzzling sedimentary structures in metasedimentary rocks of the Apple Creek Formation, near the Jackass prospect, near Iron Creek, in the southeastern part of the Idaho cobalt belt, in east-central Idaho.

USGS scientist Art Bookstrom hammers on limonite-stained breccia, cutting banded siltite of the Apple Creek Formation, exposed near the Uncle Sam portal of the Blackbird cobalt-copper mine, in the Salmon River Mountains of east-central Idaho.