Images

This is a screen grab of the Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database. This database is used to track the spread of invasive aquatic species across the United States landscape.

Art of Inquiry show hosted at USGS on 22 September, 2025 as part of Flagstaff Festival of Science and in collaboration with Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy

New World Screwworm is a fly (Cochliomyia hominivorax) that lays eggs in open wounds of warm-blooded animals. Once hatched, the larvae (maggots) consume the living tissues at the edge of the wound, leading to severe illness and death if left untreated. 

New World Screwworm is a fly (Cochliomyia hominivorax) that lays eggs in open wounds of warm-blooded animals. Once hatched, the larvae (maggots) consume the living tissues at the edge of the wound, leading to severe illness and death if left untreated. 

Chris Pullano and Ryan Tomka load acoustic telemetry receives on to boat in lower Columbia River estuary. Field work was recently completed for the first year of a study to better understand how young salmon use restored habitats in the Lower Columbia River Estuary.

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.

Chirs Pullano and Collin Smith unearth the buried cable tethering an acoustic receiver to shore in the lower Columbia River estuary.  Shifting sands frequently bury equipment making it difficult to retrieve. During the 2025 field season, researchers deployed acoustic telemetry equipment to track yearling Chinook salmon as they moved through both restored e

Ryan Tomka retrieves an acoustic telemetry receiver from the lower Columbia River estuary. During the 2025 field season, researchers deployed acoustic telemetry equipment to track yearling Chinook salmon as they moved through both restored estuarine wetlands and the main Columbia River channel.

A die-off of primarily Black-legged Kittiwakes took place from July-September 2025 in Kachemak Bay and killed hundreds of birds as well as several species of marine mammals. There is not yet an identified cause of death. 

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.

An Incident Remote Automatic Weather Station (iRAWS) is a portable, solar-powered weather station to support fire operations on the Lower Sugarloaf Fire, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in Washington.

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