FRESC Snake River Field Station
FRESC Cascadia Field Station
FRESC Olympic Field Station
Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center
Scientists from the Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center capitalize on their diverse expertise to answer scientific questions shaped by the environments of the western United States. We collaborate with each other and with partners to provide rigorous, objective, and timely information and guidance to support management, conservation, and restoration of the Nation's natural resources.
FRESC Research Teams
FRESC Research Teams
FRESC scientists, individually or collaboratively with partners, investigate high-priority questions about biological systems.
News
Inaugural USGS Wildlife Health Awareness Day - April 25, 2025
Inaugural USGS Wildlife Health Awareness Day - April 25, 2025
New study on the economics of public land treatments reveals treatment characteristics influence costs
New study on the economics of public land treatments reveals treatment characteristics influence costs
Long-term drought assessment: hydrologic, ecological, and social impacts
Long-term drought assessment: hydrologic, ecological, and social impacts
Publications
Simulated soundscapes and transfer learning boost the performance of acoustic classifiers under data scarcity Simulated soundscapes and transfer learning boost the performance of acoustic classifiers under data scarcity
1. The biodiversity crisis necessitates spatially extensive methods to monitor multiple taxonomic groups for evidence of change in response to evolving environmental conditions. Programs that combine passive acoustic monitoring and machine learning are increasingly used to meet this need. These methods require large, annotated datasets, which are time-consuming and expensive to produce...
Metabarcoding analysis of arthropod pollinator diversity: A methodological comparison of eDNA derived from flowers and DNA derived from bulk samples of insects Metabarcoding analysis of arthropod pollinator diversity: A methodological comparison of eDNA derived from flowers and DNA derived from bulk samples of insects
Limitations of traditional insect sampling methods have motivated the development and optimisation of new non-lethal methods capable of quantifying diverse arthropod communities. Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding using arthropod-specific primers has recently been investigated as a novel way to characterise arthropod communities from the DNA they deposit on the surface of plants...
Soil-microbial communities respond less than plant communities to synthetic- or bio-herbicides applied to address the exotic grass-fire cycle in rangelands Soil-microbial communities respond less than plant communities to synthetic- or bio-herbicides applied to address the exotic grass-fire cycle in rangelands
The exotic grass-fire cycle is degrading semiarid rangelands, such as the vast areas of shrub-steppe in North America now invaded by fire-promoting cheatgrass. Chemical- or bio-herbicides are sprayed onto soils to inhibit the invaders, but information on chemical- or bio-herbicide impacts to soil microbial communities is limited. We asked how the soil-microbiome responded to the...
Science
USGS Science Syntheses for Public Lands Management
Scientific information is fundamental to understanding how proposed actions on public lands may impact the environment. Development of new science is occurring at rates that can make it challenging for biologists, resource managers, decision makers, private landowners, and other stakeholders to ensure they are using up-to-date, high-quality science information to inform their decisions. Further...
USGS Technical Transfer for Department of Defense Installations in the Sagebrush Biome
The USGS has initiated a new collaboration effort with Department of Defense (DoD) in the sagebrush biome. The goal of this effort is to establish a network with DoD resource managers to define pervasive natural resource issues facing DoD installations and to identify existing innovative USGS science and tools that support DoD resource managers. Through this effort, the USGS will provide subject...
Prey Availability
Migratory wildlife need to balance the benefits of migration and reproduction with the physiological costs. This is particularly challenging in dynamic environments like wetlands, where food levels can vary greatly from year to year. For shorebirds in the Great Basin region, saline or terminal lakes provide essential habitats during their annual life cycle. To understand how changes in hydrology...
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Species Management Research Program, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Fort Collins Science Center, Nevada Water Science Center, Oregon Water Science Center, Utah Water Science Center, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC), Saline Lake Ecosystems Integrated Water Availability Assessment