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
As Midwestern Lakes Warm, Fish Face Asymmetrical Impacts
As Midwestern Lakes Warm, Fish Face Asymmetrical Impacts
Introducing the Earth in Flux Chart Gallery
Introducing the Earth in Flux Chart Gallery
Sixty-seven years and still digging! A brief history of the USGS Benchmark Glacier Project
Sixty-seven years and still digging! A brief history of the USGS Benchmark Glacier Project
Publications
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...
Predictions of elk and chronic wasting disease dynamics at the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming, and surrounding areas
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Elk Refuge (NER) in Jackson, Wyoming, supplementally feeds Cervus elaphus canadensis (elk) and Bison bison (American bison) during winter months, but the costs and benefits of this management strategy are being reevaluated considering the potential effects of chronic wasting disease (CWD) on elk. U.S. Geological Survey scientists worked with...
Science
A National Predictive Model for PFAS Occurrence in Groundwater
In October of 2024, USGS Scientist’s published a study where they created a model to predict PFAS occurrence in groundwater at the depths of drinking water supplies. This model can help guide our partners to sample areas where PFAS in drinking water could be an issue for the public.
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, California Water Science Center, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center, New England Water Science Center, New Jersey Water Science Center, New Mexico Water Science Center, New York Water Science Center, Pennsylvania Water Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC), Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)
Chronic Wasting Disease
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) affects cervids (elk, moose, mule deer, and white-tailed deer) throughout the U.S. CWD affects the nervous system in these animals and creates distinctive brain lesions. At this time, we have no treatment for CWD and it is fatal to the animals who contract it. CWD is caused by an infectious, irregular form of cellular prion protein. CWD can be directly and indirectly...
Fish & Wildlife Disease: Avian Disease
Since 2006, we have partnered with agencies around the world to monitor the spread of highly pathogenic (HPAI) avian influenza. In 2014, our scientists detected three HPAI viruses for the first time in wild birds in North America: H5N2, H5N8, and a recombinant H5N1. In response to HPAI detections, our scientists are working closely with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other Federal and...