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.
USGS Drought Science
Helping managers understand the interactions that determine the magnitude and impact of drought on water availability and ecosystems across the Nation
Helping managers understand the interactions that determine the magnitude and impact of drought on water availability and ecosystems across the Nation
Ecosystems Mission Area
The USGS Ecosystems Mission Area provides science that directly benefits the health, safety, and prosperity of the American people by providing trusted and timely information to help address the Nation’s toughest management and conservation issues impacting public lands and the surrounding communities that benefit from them.
Newsletter - EcoNews
Newsletter - EcoNews
This quarterly newsletter highlights ecosystems science and activities coming out of our Science Centers and Cooperative Research Units across the Nation.
Webinar - Friday's Findings
Webinar - Friday's Findings
A public webinar series meant to offer our audience an opportunity to discover the Ecosystems science capacity within the USGS.
Where's our Science?
Where's our Science?
Find out where Ecosystems Science Centers, Field Stations, Climate Adaptation Science Centers, and Cooperative Research Units are located.
News
Securing the Nation’s Need for Native Seed
Securing the Nation’s Need for Native Seed
New USGS Model Uses Dragonflies to Estimate Freshwater Mercury Risk on U.S. Protected Lands
New USGS Model Uses Dragonflies to Estimate Freshwater Mercury Risk on U.S. Protected Lands
Ecological benefits and risks of fuel breaks vary across the sagebrush biome
Ecological benefits and risks of fuel breaks vary across the sagebrush biome
Publications
An enigmatic wild passerine mortality event in the eastern United States
The ability to rapidly respond to wildlife health events is essential. However, such events are often unpredictable, especially with anthropogenic disturbances and climate-related environmental changes driving unforeseen threats. Many events also are short-lived and go undocumented, making it difficult to draw on lessons learned from past investigations. We report on the response to a...
Understanding and predicting infection dynamics for an endangered amphibian using long-term surveys of wild and translocated frogs
Amphibians are a prominent component of Earth's sixth mass extinction and the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is a primary driver of declines. Although Bd dynamics are well studied, the environmental drivers, exacerbating risk factors, and value of conservation interventions like translocations remain challenging to predict. Here, we present results from two decades...
Parentage and sibship relationships among captive snakes at the Phoenix Zoo—2024 data summary
IntroductionThe narrow-headed gartersnake (Thamnophis rufipunctatus) is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2014). This species has a strong association with aquatic habitats, and these habitats have been highly altered by impoundments, land-use changes, and the introduction and spread of non-native aquatic species, which contributed to...
Science
Diseases We Study
USGS scientists are at the table with public and animal health agencies as they tackle wildlife diseases including chronic wasting disease, avian influenza, plague, and white-nose syndrome. We are developing advanced tools for disease diagnosis, surveillance, risk assessment and control to support management of wildlife diseases.
Supporting Interstate Conservation of Atlantic Sturgeon (Acipenser o. oxyrinchus) Using Genetics, Telemetry, and Side-scan Sonar
USGS scientists are using innovative combinations of telemetry, genetics, and side-scan Sonar to support conservation of endangered Atlantic sturgeon ( Acipenser o. oxyrinchus).
Sagebrush Landscape Collaborative
Encompassing over 175 million acres, America’s “Sagebrush Sea” is the largest terrestrial ecosystem in the lower 48 states. A predominately shrubland system, this landscape ranges over deserts, valleys, mountains, and mesas from the Canadian border to our southwestern deserts. The sagebrush ecosystem – the ancestral homeland of many Tribal Nations – supports critical agricultural and recreation...