Bird and Terrestrial Species Conservation

The U.S. Geological Survey Eastern Ecological Science Center (EESC) strives to provide world-class science to inform natural resource decisions that preserve and enhance our quality of life. We work directly with managers of our shared natural resources to provide the unbiased scientific tools, research and innovations needed to make informed decisions in today’s complex and rapidly changing...

Ongoing global outbreaks demonstrate the capacity of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) to impact poultry, wild birds, and even human health. USGS research is advancing the understanding of the spatial and temporal interface between wild and domestic bird populations from which these viruses emerge to aid biosecurity planning and outbreak response.

USGS research is quantifying the strains and prevalence of avian influenza viruses circulating in wild waterfowl and improving our understanding of how viruses move between and within migratory flyways.

USGS research is investigating the prevalence and strains of avian influenza viruses in the aquatic environment, how those viruses compare to those circulating within wild birds in the same area, and how viruses persist in the environment across seasons.

The USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center (EESC) is rooted in a proud tradition of service to the nation—advancing science that informs the conservation and management of fish, wildlife, and habitats across the eastern United States and beyond. Our mission is clear: deliver reliable, partner-driven science that supports natural resource decisions today, while ensuring these resources remain...

Hunting is an economic engine for the U.S. and responsible management of these resources directly supports 45.2 billion dollars spent by hunters annually. Conservation and management of hunting resources also contributes substantially to the 394.8 billion dollars spent on all wildlife-related recreation. Hunting traditions are an integral component of our American heritage, with 14.4 million...

Decision analysis is widely used in business applications to improve cost saving and increase efficiency under uncertainty. Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey Eastern Ecological Science Center (EESC) include world-renowned experts who use data, mathematics, statistics, and computer science to help frame and solve decision problems to support U.S. national security, public health, wildlife...

USGS researchers are collaborating with partners around the globe to leverage new and existing telemetry data to answer broad scale questions about factors influencing avian movement and migration.

USGS is collaborating with numerous partner institutions to explore susceptibility and pathogenesis of relevant avian influenza strains in waterfowl species with special emphasis on sea ducks and diving ducks.

USGS researchers are at the forefront of building and maintaining datasets that represent the spatial and temporal patterns in avian influenza virus prevalence in wild birds, which is critical information used to estimate transmission risk to domestic poultry.

USGS is creating spatially and temporally explicit inputs to improve avian influenza transmission risk modeling. This project places special emphasis on wild bird distribution and abundance models as well as avian influenza prevalence models.

USGS researchers are developing novel methods to improve our understanding of waterfowl distributions and abundance across the United States to inform a variety of ongoing disease studies. Understanding the distribution of wild waterfowl is a critical component to assessing avian influenza transmission risks across the landscape.