Images

Black-tailed prairie dogs are quite susceptible to sylvatic plague, but a new plague vaccine put in their food shows significant promise in the laboratory. The prairie dogs transmit the disease to endangered black-footed ferrets, who eat the prairie dogs and are also quite susceptible to the disease.

Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) patient from a BEN village in Romania. The photo was taken at a dialysis clinic in Romania where the patient traveled every 2 to 3 days to receive dialysis, the principal treatment option for people with BEN. This patient died from complications of BEN within a year after this photo was taken in 2000.

Normal size kidney (left) and a Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) kidney (right). The BEN kidney is reduced by one third compared to a normal kidney.

Two Yupik Eskimo students from Chevak, Alaska holding a tundra swan cygnet. These student volunteers were helping with an annual USGS waterfowl banding program along the Kashunuk River near the Bering Sea coast in western Alaska.

Burmese python (Python molurus). Photo courtesy of Roy Wood, National Park Service.

Boa Constrictor (Boa constrictor) at a county park in southeastern Miami. Photo courtesy of Mike Rochford, University of Florida. Used with permission.

A female Burmese python (Python molurus) on her nest with eggs. Photo by Jemeema Carrigan, University of Florida. Courtesy of Skip Snow, National Park Service. Used with permission.

USGS microbiologist Maren Tuttle counts hatched northern pike fry.

Dr. Hiroyoshi Higuchi (left), Mr. Ken-ichi Tokita (right), and other cooperators from the University of Tokyo, work with USGS scientists to attach a satellite transmitter to the backs of northern pintail ducks on wintering areas of Northern Honshu, Japan.

Little blue heron siblings.

An adult piping plover. The piping plover is a small migratory shorebird listed as endangered in Canada and the U.S. Great Lakes, and threatened throughout the remainder of its U.S. breeding and winter range. Recent surveys indicate that there are only about 8,000 adults in existence.

California condors are one of the most endangered birds in North America. In the early 1990s, captive-bred condors were reintroduced into the wild in California. As of January 2010, about 190 condors now live in the wild and more reintroductions are being considered.

Mountains, plains, soil, and grasses all work together as part of the natural ecosystems of the American West.

Sage-grouse have declined throughout their entire range, largely due to the loss and fragmentation of sagebrush habitat.

A colorful clay-colored sparrow nest. These sparrows live in brushy grasslands and prairie habitats.

Elk congregate on the Camp Creek Feed Ground in northwestern Wyoming.

Elk congregate on the Camp Creek Feed Ground in northwestern Wyoming.

Clay-colored sparrow nest.

Lead shot in the fall zone at the Broadkiln Sportsman's Club (quarter-coin for scale).

Honey bees live and work in highly collaborative, social colonies with a sole reproducing queen, and they make honey by storing nectar from flowering plants in their hives for use during food scarcities.

The USGS researches land use and honey bee health in the northern Great Plains. This research will be useful in equipping land managers and policy makers with the best-available science to improve forage and habitat for pollinators in a part of the country that is undergoing rapid land-use change.