Ecosystems Science at USGS
USGS Landscape Science Strategy
Science informing decision making on public lands and across all of our Nation’s landscapes.
Science informing decision making on public lands and across all of our Nation’s landscapes.
USGS Wildland Fire Science
USGS science helps understand the causes, consequences, and benefits of wildfire and helps prevent and manage larger, catastrophic events.
USGS science helps understand the causes, consequences, and benefits of wildfire and helps prevent and manage larger, catastrophic events.
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.
News
Publications
Chronic wasting disease: State of the science
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion disease affecting cervid species, both free-ranging and captive populations. As the geographic range continues to expand and disease prevalence continues to increase, CWD will have an impact on cervid populations, local economies, and ecosystem health. Mitigation of this “wicked” disease will require input from many different stakeholders including hunters,
Predicting the spatial distribution of wintering golden eagles to inform full annual cycle conservation in western North America
Wildlife conservation strategies focused on one season or population segment may fail to adequately protect populations, especially when a species’ habitat preferences vary among seasons, age-classes, geographic regions, or other factors. Conservation of golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) is an example of such a complex scenario, in which the distribution, habitat use, and migratory strategies of t
Eggshell thickness and egg morphometrics in five songbird species from the Central Valley, California
Avian eggshell thickness is an important life history metric in birds and has broad applications across disciplines ranging from animal behavior to toxicology. Empirical eggshell thickness values for songbirds (Order Passeriformes) are under-represented in the literature due to the difficulty of measuring smaller eggs using traditional methods. We used a Hall-effect thickness gauge to measure eggs
Science
6PPD-Quinone
6PPD-Q is a compound used to make tires more durable and is also linked to toxicity for Coho Salmon and other aquatic species.
Expanding Distribution of Chronic Wasting Disease
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) has been detected in 32 US states and five Canadian provinces in free-ranging cervids and/or commercial captive cervid facilities. CWD has been detected in free-ranging cervids in 32 states and four provinces and in captive cervid facilities in 18 states and three provinces.
Fish Slam December 2023
Fifty-four biologists from nine organizations, including USGS, participated in a two-day Fish Slam event on December 13 - 14, 2023 in Southwest Florida.