Images

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.

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.

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

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. 

Screen shot visualization of wind direction and velocity from a coupled/fire atmosphere model run of a wildfire (Dude Fire).

A scenic view of Gothic Mountain in the Elk Mountains of Colorado. USGS scientists captured this photo while collecting soil sample data in the area.

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.

Orange streams are increasingly common in the Brooks Range of northern Alaska. The orange stream color reflects oxidized iron, but also often indicates elevated heavy metal concentrations. Our ongoing study aims to document these occurrences and the timing of their onset.

Vegetation growth is assisting the Muddy Creek channel in becoming deeper and narrower (Carbon County, Wyoming).  Photo by Patrick Anderson (USGS)