Images

Microcystis is one of the most common bloom-forming cyanobacteria, AKA, blue-green algae.  Many strains of this species produce a family of potent liver toxins, the microcystins.

The Hawaiian ‘I‘iwi, a native forest bird species only found in the Hawaiian Islands. 

Fledgling Arctic Warbler on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska. This photo was taken on the Seward Peninsula as part of the Changing Arctic Ecosystems Boreal-Arctic Transition Zone program.

Mark Henderson recently started as the Unit Leader for the USGS Vermont Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Vermont. Prior to joining the Vermont Cooperative Research Unit, he was the acting unit leader at the California Cooperative Research Unit for six years.

Trail head sign to Lower Jumpup Spring, north of Grand Canyon. 

Honey bee laden with pollen.  Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center has developed a genetic sequencing strategy to identify bee-collected pollen. 

Newly hatched pallid sturgeon free embryo.  On average, pallid sturgeon hatch between 7 to 9 millimeters (about 0.25 to 0.35 inch).

Well-developed pallid sturgeon embryos can be seen approximately four days after fertilization. 

The neural plate or primitive streak of developing pallid sturgeon embryos can be seen 2 days after fertilization. 

Pallid sturgeon embryos approximately 8 hours after fertilization.

Angler catches a fish during a Panfish Fishing Tournament on June 6, 2015 on Brownlee Reservoir in Oregon. Fish serve as an important recreational, commercial, and cultural resource in the United States and Canada. Credit: Baker County Tourism

Two snow geese and a single black brant goose fight over nesting territories on the Colville River Delta in Alaska.

USGS biologists collecting biological information from a grizzly bear they have captured. Biologists collect hair samples for genetic analysis, weigh the bear, and gather numerous measurements of the body, such as the head, paws, claws, teeth, etc. Overall condition of the bear is assessed as well, including a body fat measurement.

Snags provide habitat for a wide range of organisms from cavity-nesting birds to insects, and are critical for maintaining forest biodiversity. Resource managers can create snags by topping trees to mitigate loss of snags to timber harvest, but information regarding changes in habitat for snag-dependent wildlife over time as created snags decay is lacking.

Pallid sturgeon larvae at 14 days post hatch. On agerage, pallid sturgeon transition to active feeding at approximately 16 to 18 millimeters (about 0.7 inch).

Pallid sturgeon free embryo at 2 days post hatch.  At two days after hatching the free embryos are generally 9 to 11 millimeters (0.35 to 0.45 inch).

Northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) are mostly non-migratory, long-lived birds whose populations have declined in mature forests of western North America.

A Ph.D. student setting up a trap to capture bees.

A large giant African land snail sitting on a gloved hand.  The snail is approximately 8 inches long and covers the entire hand.  

A Megachile bee on a primrose flower.

Researchers emptying a set of traps. The team uses a hand-net to capture larger bees observed along the transects. The same approach is used in the non-powerline land cover types to survey bees in those land covers.