Ecosystems

These images show grass carp larvae from the Maumee River. Characteristics of larval grass carp include overall length (left), skeletal muscle development (center) and presence of an eye spot that lacks pigmentation (right; pigment starting to develop on lower eye).

Left: Prototype ABS plastic eel climbing ramp under development and testing at CAFRL. New substrate design allows for passage of a wider size range of eels with less need for precise flow regulation. Right: juvenile eel climbing wetted ABS plastic substrate.

USA-NPN Pheno Forecast of emerald ash borer adult emergence. Yellow areas indicate locations that will have reached the accumulated temperature requirements for adult emergence as of April 1, 2019.

Radio-tagged silver phase American Eels being released for a CAFRL telemetry study of downstream passage of eels at hydroelectric dams on the Shetucket River, Connecticut.

Prototype design of an airlift developed at CAFL to transport downstream migrant eels through a bypass pipe and away from turbine intakes. The airlift design passes eels as well as a conventional siphon or gravity pipe.

Map of locations of the 16 Ecosystems Science Centers and 40 Cooperative Research Units across the U.S.

Sue Phillips headshot

The USGS Ecosystems Mission Area brings you Outstanding in the Field, a series of stories about our science, our adventures, and our efforts to better understand our fish and wildlife and the ecosystems that support them. In this episode we describe the USGS’s efforts to track frog populations in the southeast United States. 
 

Torrent salamanders are Northwest-U.S. endemic, headwater-stream-associated amphibian species that have a dearth of basic ecological information, but are thought to be highly vulnerable to habitat changes. This taxon currently has two candidates for listing by the Endangered Species Act: the Cascade torrent salamander (Rhyacotriton cascadae) and the Columbia

Mule deer are an important part of the Western landscape and are coveted among big-game hunters throughout the country. These animals draw outdoor enthusiasts to states, such as Wyoming, where nearly 800,000 people hunted, fished, and viewed wildlife, and contributed $1.1 billion to the state’s economy. Balancing a growing infrastructure in the west that includes housing

USGS scientist Emma Kelsey drives a survey vessel off the Central California Coast as part of a seabird survey.

In collaboration with California State Parks, USGS Western Ecological Research Center biologists are conducting at-sea surveys of  the Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus), a small endangered seabird, to estimate abundance, distribution and