Images

Red spruce forests, once widespread across the central and southern Appalachians, now persist only in scattered fragments on mountaintops. 

This red spruce forest and understory vegetation are part of a larger patchwork of red spruce forest stands across the central and southern Appalachians, separated from each other by miles of hardwood such as maple, oak, and beech.

Gaudineer Knob in eastern West Virginia is home to one of the few remaining old-growth red spruce forests in the region, sitting as a unique reminder of what red spruce forests once looked like across the central and southern Appalachians. 

Red spruce forests, once widespread across the central and southern Appalachians, now persist only in scattered fragments on mountaintops.

USGS researchers with the Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (NE CASC) and Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, and graduate students at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Va Tech) are working with the Central Appalachian Red Spruce Restoration Initiative, U.S. Forest Service, U.S.

Spruce Knob is the highest point in West Virginia, which offers incredible views of misty ridgelines and the unmistakable scent of spruce on cool mountain air.

A shelf full of legacy data collected on seabirds in Cook Inlet and Glacier Bay, Alaska.

The Cranesbill miner bee helps pollinate many wild geraniums throughout woodlands and the eastern US.

Credit: Ben Slyngstad, ORISE, National CASC

The Blue calamintha bee is endemic to Florida and is typically found around sandy scrub habitats.

Credit: Ben Slyngstad, ORISE, National CASC

The Kansas squash bee aids in pollinating squash flowers.

Credit: Ben Slyngstad, ORISE, National CASC

Roughly 32% of the ~5570 bee species native to the US are pollen specialists, making them an important part of ecosystems.

Credit: Ben Slyngstad, ORISE, National CASC

Alaska Science Center Data Management staff organize, scan, and digitally archive physical data. Once published as part of a data release, the physical data are organized and placed into banker boxes, labeled with pertinent information, such as the data release DOI, and moved to a secure location.

This is a map of the nets on the Upper Klamath Lake in Oregon. The Western Fisheries Research Center carefully monitors juvenile Sucker populations for signs of population recovery and to better understand where they habitate.

Its early morning as we pass a green expanse of farmland and pull into a parking lot with a boat ramp sloping into the massive waters of Upper Klamath Lake. Paving machines drone next to us, widening the road winding along the lake shore.

Since 2009, the WFRC has partnered with Real Time Research to study bird predation of suckers. Scientists scan large nesting sites of fish-eating (piscivorous) birds, looking for PIT tags from juvenile and adult suckers that have been eaten by the birds.

This is a photo of the endangered Klamath Sucker in Upper Klamath Lake, OR. Through decades of research, scientists of the USGS Western Fisheries Research Center have determined that, over the last 30 years, something has prevented young suckers from reaching adulthood.

We pack up, leave shore, and head toward our first target—a set of trap nets--with tempered hopes of finding something exceedingly rare: evidence of surviving juvenile suckers. After hours on the lake and around 20 nets void of juvenile suckers, we steer the boat back towards the marshlands near our truck. 

Lost River and Shortnose suckers are on the verge of extinction in Upper Klamath Lake. Age data indicate that almost all adult suckers remaining in the lake spawning populations were hatched in the early 1990s.

This is an infographic of the life cycle of the parasite, Diplostomum gavium. This parasite affects the Sucker fish in the Upper Klamath Lake. Upper Klamath Lake is home to large colonies of birds and an abundance of snails and fish, making it a haven for trematodes who are reliant on all three for their life cycle. Birds host adult flukes in their intestines.

Laura Shriver, RAMPS coordinator, gives a tour of a Northern Arizona RestoreNet site to Northern Arizona University students. Photo by Jessica Archibald (Diablo Trust).

Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey and University of Arizona collaborate with Diablo Trust ranchers on range improvement and restoration efforts on Northern Arizona rangelands. Photo by Jessica Archibald (Diablo Trust).