Images

Tufted puffins are an iconic species in the Pacific Northwest that provide a wide range of ecological, economic, and historically important services such as ecotourism for local communities- and bringing marine derived nutrients to terrestrial habitats.

This original photograph was taken during field work for her project looking at ringtail demographics and habitat use in southwestern Oregon.

The barn owl is a secretive species that is seldom observed during daylight hours away from its roosts and is one of the least vocal owls. They are difficult to detect at night except when they have large young in the nest.

Morgan Stum is a master’s student at Penn State University, Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. Morgan is leading research on stream fish communities in the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in West Virginia and the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Composite image/poster of several North American darter photographs captured via electrofishing for Morgan’s master’s project. North American darters are a widely threatened subfamily of freshwater fishes, with little known about their larval ecology.

The Topeka Shiner is federally endangered and has experienced drastic reductions in its distribution. In Missouri, the Topeka Shiner has undergone a drastic reduction in distributional range over the last half century, leaving few remaining known populations.

Seals swim along the Oregon Coast. Modeling animal movement through landscapes is a key component to understanding population

ecology, how populations can be managed, how human actions impact the population.

Tufted puffin flying over the Oregon Coast. The Tufted Puffin – a seabird of the North Pacific Rim – has evinced steep declines off the west coast of the continental United States in recent years, but it is less clear that the species is declining in the northern portion of its range.

Cover image for video "Climate Research and Development Program – Ariana Sutton-Grier".

Cover image for video "Climate Research and Development Program – Day in the Life of Climate R & D".

Example of a three-dimensional QUIC-Fire simulation. The example site is located in the Dixie Fire, CA. QUIC-Fire is a fast, 3-D simulation tool for prescribed fire planning. It can help managers understand the complex and dynamic behavior of wildland fires.

Lizzy Lang, graduate research assistant, Iowa State University, leads research on Blanding’s Turtle. Lizzy’s project helps decision-makers in Iowa and Illinois to make informed decisions about the endangered Blanding’s turtle.

A view of Gothic Mountain from the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory research meadow in Gothic, Colorado.

A Motus tower installed on the spillway of the former Glines Canyon Dam in Olympic National Park. The solar-powered array of radio antennae will detect the signals send by tiny transmitters known as “nanotags” that have been attached to small flying animals. This tower was installed to study bat movement behavior.

Researchers examine a bat wing while in the process of capturing bats to attach tiny Motus radio tags to track their movements.

A researcher holds a myotis bat during the process of capturing bats to fit them with Motus transmitters.

A forest trail meanders through a grove of Aspen trees in Colorado during early autumn.

A USGS scientist preparing a soil monitoring station for winter, with a view of Mt. Baldy in the Colorado Elk Mountains.

A scientist carefully collects a soil sample to determine soil density. Accurate soil density measurements are required for scaling soil carbon from the plot to the landscape. 

A team of biologists prepares to measure, weigh, and tag a captured bats. On the left, USGS biologist Gabe Reyes has a bat in a bag, used to separate and calm the bats. USGS biologist Julia Ersan is holding some alcohol used to ensure clean instruments and work surfaces, and USGS biologist Austin Waag is getting something out of a backpack.

A USGS researcher working with a potable eDNA autosampler located next to a stream in Montana.