Images

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

This is Teodora Rautu. She is a Biological Science Technician on the field crew for USGS Western Ecological Research Center's Sierra Nevada Forest Dynamics project. The tree she is getting read to cut into has recently died.

This is Teodora Rautu. She is a Biological Science Technician on the field crew for USGS Western Ecological Research Center's Sierra Nevada Forest Dynamics project.  She is measuring the diameter of a red fir and trying to navigate the tape through the branches.

This is Teodora Rautu. She is a Biological Science Technician on the field crew for USGS Western Ecological Research Center's Sierra Nevada Forest Dynamics project.  She is measuring the diameter of a Giant Sequoia.

Teodora Rautu and Eva Lopez, Biological Science Technicians on the field crew for the USGS Western Ecological Research Center's Sierra Nevada Forest Dynamics project, work together to measure the diameter of a Giant Sequoia.

San Francisco Bay and the surrounding wetlands and ponds provide important habitat for waterfowl and shorebirds.

A team from the WERC San Diego Field Station traveled to the Sierra National Forest, CA this past week to prepare their field site for season two of an exciting study of federally threatened Yosemite toads. This is a collaborative project with the U.S.

Wildlife disease experts at the USGS National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, WI examine a double-crested cormorant while wearing full biosafety gear.  The postmortem examination, also known as a necropsy, gives the scientists clues to what may have caused the animal to die.  Examination of wild birds is important to detect pathogens that could imp

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.

A California myotis (Myotis californicus) gets ready to fly away after identification and measurements are taken. USGS is conducting research in collaboration with NPS to learn about the roosting ecology of Western bats in an effort to improve management and conservation of bat populations.

Distribution map: distribution of chronic wasting disease in North America

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. 

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

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.