Images

Distribution map: distribution of chronic wasting disease in North America

Rivers in the western U.S. rivers are experiencing changes in nutrient loading because of rapid urban development, but the effects of changing nutrient loading on the structure and function of stream ecosystems, especially fish habitat, are not fully understood.

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is an emerging infectious disease that is fatal to free-ranging and captive animals in Cervidae (the deer family; referred to as “cervids”). Affected animals include deer, elk, moose, and reindeer.

A brook floater filter feeding as it is anchored into the sediment of a stream bottom. Habitat loss is a long-recognized problem for many endangered species, and the brook floater is no exception. In-stream alterations that change flow and alter sediment loads can affect downstream locations where freshwater mussels live.

Brent Cunningham with Desert Tortoise in Ridgecrest, CA.

Collecting a sediment core with the freezing drive shoe technology on a hollow stem auger drill rig at Bemidji oil spill site.

Four recently hatched piping plover chicks huddle in the nest bowl on the Garrison Reach of the Missouri River, North Dakota

Groundwater sampling along the north well transect at the Bemidji site.

Female Southwestern Willow Flycatcher with colorful bands in 2019 on the upper San Luis Rey River. The bird was originally banded as a nestling by USGS biologist Scarlett Howell on the upper San Luis Rey River in July 2017.

USGS technicians collect water samples for eDNA analysis to estimate foothill yellow-legged frog (Rana boylii) presence at historically occupied sites throughout Oregon. These data are important for assessing the species' status and conservation needs. 

Two red sea urchins (Mesocentrotus franciscanus) sit on the deck of the R/V Falkor. These sea urchins were collected during the #HuntingBubbles research cruise led by the USGS and Schmidt Ocean Institute, which focused on exploring and understanding methane seeps and the communities that depend on them along the Cascadia Margin.

Group photo of USGS Bemidi oil spill research team meeting in June of 2019 at Ruttgers Birchmont Lodge in Bemidji, MN.

BsalSwabbing - The rough-skinned newt (Taricha granulosa) is a native western species susceptible to the salamander chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal), in laboratory studies.

Image screen shot of GCMRC sediment monitoring application

Biological Technician, Laura (Laney) White records data on Beaufort sea state and environmental conditions during a flight.

Matt Kauffman, Unit Leader, USGS Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, second from left, works with Wyoming Game and Fish Department and University of Wyoming collaborators to release an elk fitted with a global positioning system (GPS) tracking collar.

Shovelnose sturegon.

Fishing on Hells Canyon Reservoir, Snake River, Idaho-Oregon. Photo Credit: Austin Baldwin

Scientist in field assessing soil sampling locations at the Badger Army Ammunition Plant site in Sauk County, WI.

Staff from the USGS Great Lakes Science Center gaze at the Mackinac Bridge rising above the mist in the Straits of Mackinac, Michigan. The lines they are holding are attached to grappling hooks being used to retrieve acoustic telemetry equipment anchored on the bottom of the straits.

Vegetation has begun to regrow in Whiskeytown National Recreation Area 9 months after summer 2018's Carr Fire near Redding, California, where USGS WERC researchers are studying fire impacts, post-fire vegetation recovery, and post-fire erosion and debris flows.