Images

Blood samples from pallid sturgeon are taken to assess hormone levels and reproductive condition. 

An American alligator and a Burmese python locked in a struggle to prevail in Everglades National Park. This python appears to be losing, but snakes in similar situations have apparently escaped unharmed, and in other situations pythons have eaten alligators.

Demonstration wetland at Henderson, Nevada, where vegetated hummocks were built into the wastewater treatment wetland to improve its effectiveness and sustainability, as well as provide quality wildlife habitat.

Acoustic receivers detect and process the acoustic signal from the telemetry tags telling the tracking crew which direction to go to find the fish, and even which fish it is.

A gator relaxes in the shade underneath our station’s dock.

Mara Tongue download data from phenocam located in Idaho. The phenocam takes a picture daily and that data is used to help track phenological changes (the timing and vigor of seasonal biological events). The data from the phenocam is used (with other data) to gain a better understanding of vegetation changes over the entire ecoregion.

Alicia Torregrosa download data from a phenocam located in Idaho. The phenocam takes a picture daily and that data is used to help track phenological changes (the timing and vigor of seasonal biological events). The data from the phenocam is used (with other data) to gain a better understanding of vegetation changes over the entire ecoregion.

USGS Alaska Science Center biologist George Esslinger seeks relief from the hot California sun and his smothering drysuit, as he and his crew catch a rare break during a day of capturing and tagging wild sea otters.

USGS research is at the intersection of geology and biology – the whole of the desert.

Water Lily.

GLSC dive team called to do inspection of Kalispell for zebra mussels.

Driving along the road to our next site and came upon this hawk on a dead tree.

These rice plants show the difference in growth of rice plants exposed to salt when grown with and without endophytes, which are mutually beneficial microscopic fungi that live in most plants.

Data storage tags (DST) implanted in telemetered pallid sturgeon record the water temperture and fish depth at pre-programed time intervals. 

Study chamber containing a pregnant pocketbook mussel (Lampsilis cardium) exposed to an elevated water temperature of 32 degrees Celsius. This mussel is showing signs of stress--lying on top of the substrate and unable to burrow.

Newly hatched pallid sturgeon propagated at the Columbia Environmental Research Center.

A Washington Department of Ecology scientist maps the bathymetry of the mouth of the Elwha River using an integrated GPS and echo sounder on a personal watercraft. 

The USGS National Wildlife Health Center conducts a bat autopsy as part of its efforts to study the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome in bats.

USGS microbiology technician evaluates a bacterial assay to determine the cause of a wildlife mortality. The USGS National Wildlife Health Center works to identify, track, and prevent wildlife disease.

Sunrise reflecting on a November morning on the Sacramento River, California.

Female pallid sturgeon, PLS11-007, is released back into the Missouri River after an ultrasound evaluation of her reproductive condition.