Species Biology

Researchers will collect location data that will be used to identify areas of high-use for resident sea turtles in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

To assess use of dredge material areas, avian ecologists from USGS WARC are conducting bird surveys across the annual life cycle.

Flow cytometry is a technique for rapidly analyzing large numbers of animal cells using light-scattering, fluorescence, and absorbance measurements.

The Northwestern Atlantic population of loggerhead sea turtles is one of the largest in the world. Genetic studies have divided this population into 5 management units including a genetically distinct group that nests throughout the northern Gulf.

The ornate chorus frog, once common throughout its range, appears to be experiencing population declines. USGS has partnered with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to assess the ornate chorus frog population status across its distribution.

USGS researchers will track juvenile Burmese python within Big Cypress National Preserve (BICY) and collect data on snake growth, habitat use, and causes of mortality. Known-fate models will be used to estimate survival and better understand factors that influence survival.

USGS researchers will characterize the ecology of benthic invertebrates associated with deep-sea environments and broader food-web dynamics within hardground features, seeps, and adjacent soft sediments. This project will provide important information regarding deepwater benthic habitats, such as chemosynthetic communities and deep-sea corals, that could be affected by offshore wind development.

USGS is collaborating with partners to develop a scientific vision for freshwater Mussel research.

USGS' and Loyola University New Orleans' innovative research techniques played a role in the decision to downlist the Okaloosa Darter, a freshwater fish endemic to northwest Florida, from Endangered to Threatened in 2011, and the removal of the fish from the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 2023.

Researchers are capturing and banding birds within flooded agricultural sites to understand habitat use of these artificial wetland habitats.

USGS scientists are working with partners at the Puget Sound Partnership and the State of Washington’s Department of Ecology to develop two new tools to help us understand how human disturbance affects life at the top of Puget Sound: a Marine Benthic Index and a graphical causal model.

USGS researchers will conduct analysis to determine how shorebird abundance, diversity, and nesting success changed following predator removal.