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The USGS Ecosystems Mission Area

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Ecosystems Science at USGS

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USGS Landscape Science Strategy

Science informing decision making on public lands and across all of our Nation’s landscapes.

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USGS Wildland Fire Science

USGS science helps understand the causes, consequences, and benefits of wildfire and helps prevent and manage larger, catastrophic events.

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DISCOVRE

Diversity, Systematics and Connectivity of Vulnerable Reef Ecosystems

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Ecosystems Mission Area

The USGS Ecosystems Mission Area provides science to help America achieve sustainable management and conservation of biological resources in wild and urban spaces, and places in between.

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Newsletter - EcoNews

Native westslope cutthroat trout swim in the north fork of the Flathead River in northwestern Montana.

This quarterly newsletter highlights ecosystems science and activities coming out of our Science Centers and Cooperative Research Units across the Nation. 

EcoNews Issues

Webinar - Friday's Findings

Colorado Aspen with mountains in the background

A public webinar series meant to offer our audience an opportunity to discover the Ecosystems science capacity within the USGS.

Upcoming Webinars

Where's our Science?

Ecosystems Mission Area Locations

Find out where Ecosystems Science Centers, Field Stations, Climate Adaptation Science Centers, and Cooperative Research Units are located.

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News

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USGS Friday's Findings—December 1, 2023

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Waste not, want not: How USGS capabilities enhance COVID-19 wastewater surveillance

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Why we have better maps of Mars than of the seafloor—and what USGS is doing to change that

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Publications

Characterizing the movement of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in an avian aquatic–terrestrial food web

The movement of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) through linked aquatic–terrestrial food webs is not well understood. Tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) in such systems may be exposed to PFAS from multiple abiotic and/or biotic compartments. We show from fatty acid signatures and carbon stable isotopes that tree swallow nestlings in southwestern Ontario fed on both terrestrial and aquat
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Kailee E. Hopkins, Melissa A. McKinney, Amandeep Saini, Robert J. Letcher, Natalie K. Karouna-Renier, Kim J. Fernie
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Eastern Ecological Science Center

Deer management generally reduces densities of nymphal Ixodes scapularis, but not prevalence of infection with Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto

Human Lyme disease–primarily caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (s.s.) in North America–is the most common vector-borne disease in the United States. Research on risk mitigation strategies during the last three decades has emphasized methods to reduce densities of the primary vector in eastern North America, the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis). Controlling white-tailed
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Alynn Martin, Danielle Buttke, Jordan Raphael, Kelsey Taylor, Sarah Maes, Christina M. Parise, Howard Ginsberg, Paul Cross
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, Eastern Ecological Science Center

Divergent community trajectories with climate change across a fine-scale gradient in snow depth

Fine-scale microclimate variation due to complex topography can shape both current vegetation distributional patterns and how vegetation responds to changing climate. Topographic heterogeneity in mountains is hypothesized to mediate responses to regional climate change at the scale of metres. For alpine vegetation especially, the interplay between changing temperatures and topographically mediated
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Meagan Ford Oldfather, Sarah C. Elmendorf, Elisa Van Cleemput, Jonathan J. Henn, Jared D. Huxley, Caitlin T. White, Hope C. Humphries, Marko J. Spasojevic, Katharine N. Suding, Nancy C. Emery
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Climate Adaptation Science Centers
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Science

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Spawing sockeye salmon in a Matanuska River side channel, Alaska

Fish and Aquatic Ecology

Fish and aquatic habitats in Alaska support important commercial, sport, and subsistence fisheries and provide forage fish that support wildlife populations. The USGS Alaska Science Center conducts interdisciplinary research to inform local, state, federal, and international policy makers regarding conservation of fish, aquatic species, and their habitats. We work collaboratively with hydrologists...
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Species Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center
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Fish and Aquatic Ecology

Fish and aquatic habitats in Alaska support important commercial, sport, and subsistence fisheries and provide forage fish that support wildlife populations. The USGS Alaska Science Center conducts interdisciplinary research to inform local, state, federal, and international policy makers regarding conservation of fish, aquatic species, and their habitats. We work collaboratively with hydrologists...
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Monitoring and Adaptive Management Process for Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage and Assessment Plan

Natural Resource Damage and Assessment (NRDA) Program- DOI Monitoring and Adaptive Management Technical Assistance

WARC researchers are providing support to Louisiana Monitoring and Adaptive Management activities.
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center , Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
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Natural Resource Damage and Assessment (NRDA) Program- DOI Monitoring and Adaptive Management Technical Assistance

WARC researchers are providing support to Louisiana Monitoring and Adaptive Management activities.
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coastal wetland at sunset

Quantifying Changes in Wetland Area and Habitat Types in the Deepwater Horizon Louisiana Restoration Area 1985-Present with Remote Sensing

USGS researchers will quantify wetland change and wetland vegetation community type change through the analyses of aerial vegetation survey data and investigate potential relationships between Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and marsh elevation change.
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center , Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
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Quantifying Changes in Wetland Area and Habitat Types in the Deepwater Horizon Louisiana Restoration Area 1985-Present with Remote Sensing

USGS researchers will quantify wetland change and wetland vegetation community type change through the analyses of aerial vegetation survey data and investigate potential relationships between Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and marsh elevation change.
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