Images

A Phragmites rhizome, or a belowground stem that puts up new shoots, dug up in a coastal marsh of Lake Erie in northern Ohio. Phragmites' belowground biomass can exceed that of its aboveground biomass. 

Crocodilians are one of the few reptile taxa that exhibit parental care. In alligators, following nest construction, females stay nearby in a guard hole, and are known to defend their nests against predators or other intruders.

This image shows a sea lamprey in its larvae phase.

Green sea turtles are listed as threatened or endangered throughout their range. (Credit: Thierry Work, USGS)

This photomicrograph shows a liver of a frog with a severe Perkinsea infection.

Coral reefs are prone to phase shifts where they quickly transition from coral-dominated to a uniformity of other organisms, typically algae. The Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the Central Pacific is a unique case where a transition from corals to corallimorphs occurred.

Close-up photo of several duck decoys and an adult Canvasback duck.

Waterfowl hunting’s annual economic footprint is over $3 billion.

A male lesser scaup at the USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center in Maryland. This bird was not part of this new research. Photograph taken in 2017. Credit: Jeffrey Sullivan, USGS. 

A part of the National Elk Refuge showing an example of the habitat diversity on the refuge’s landscape with flat grassland, grassland-covered hills, and tree-covered hills depicted. Sheep Mountain (not part of the refuge) is in the background.

A little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) with white-nose syndrome hibernating in a Virginia cave during late spring of 2016.

Coral reefs are prone to phase shifts where they quickly transition from coral-dominated to a uniformity of other organisms, typically algae. The Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the Central Pacific is a unique case where a transition from corals to corallimorphs occurred.

Image from a remote camera placed in a golden eagle nest in the Mojave Desert.  The parent is feed the chick a snake.  

A USGS scientist spreads moss fragments for a study to test the restoration potential of moss, an important component of biological soil crust. A jute net, foreground, helps stabilize the moss fragments as they adhere to the soil.

The USGS RAMPS program hosts workshops where land managers from federal, state, and local agencies, practitioners, and NGO's can come together to discuss challenges and develop creative solutions.

Emperor geese gathered near the shoreline on Kodiak Island.

It looks like a holiday ornament, but this lovely object is a single-celled freshwater alga from the desmid family, found in the marshes of Florida’s Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. USGS biologist Barry Rosen photographed it at 200x magnification using ultraviolent light and a fluorescence microscope.

Non-native Cuban treefrogs have established a breeding population in New Orleans, Louisiana, the first such population on the U.S. mainland outside Florida. The treefrogs were discovered at the Audubon Zoo shortly after a shipment of palm trees from Florida were planted in the zoo's elephant enclosure in 2016.

Equipment used during a shore-counted portion of the annual range-wide sea otter census.  On the clipboard is a paper map, with sea otter locations, numbers, behavior and habitat recorded, as well as some other environmental variables.  The spotting scope is used to view sea otters that are far away, and binoculars are used to scan areas for otters.

Rainbow trout are native only to the western United States but are stocked widely throughout the country to increase fishing opportunities for anglers. Competitive interactions have been shown to be condition specific (for example, water temperature) and, thus, may only occur seasonally or under certain environmental conditions.

Scientists record whether a surf scoter duck pecks at a target after tones are played at certain frequencies. This is part of a study by the USGS and partners to identify the frequencies at which sea ducks can hear underwater.

A long-tailed duckling. This species was studied as part of research by the USGS and partners to identify the frequencies at which sea ducks can hear underwater.