Images

A Berlese-Tullgren funnel system that is used for studying soil invertebrates. This laboratory technique causes soil invertebrates to move away from the soil surface as it is being warmed and dried by the lights above. The invertebrates are caught in jars of ethanol below the funnels, counted, and identified under a microscope.

Bromus Rubens (red brome) is an invasive annual grass that grows in warmer deserts of the Southwest U.S. It can carry fires in systems that aren't fire adapted, causing lasting damage to desert flora, as shown here in the Sonoran desert north of Phoenix, AZ.

Sampling Striped Bass for diet items in the San Francisco Estuary.

Thinning rangelands by removing trees such as juniper is a common mangement action done across the intermountain west. The goals of this type of vegetation treatment typically are to increase forage and habitat for grazing animals, improve soil conditions, and/or reduce risks of catastrophic fire.

Greater White-fronted Goose marked with GSM/GPS collar is ready for release in the Sacramento Valley.

Southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) float in Morro Bay, CA.

Touring public lands, guided by the people who manage the lands, is a important to RAMPS. On these tours we get to meet the passionate people, understand their challenges and aspirations, and help make steps towards innovative science-based solutions.

Goose wearing a GPS collar around its neck flies over water

In 2018, USGS and partners completed an incredible feat against a harmful aquatic invasive species when over 240,000 pounds of invasive Silver Carp and Bighead Carp were removed from Creve Coeur Lake in Maryland Heights, Missouri.

USGS biologist Jeffrey Kohl holds a Lesser Snow Goose marked with a GSM/GPS solar-powered neck collar.

A female northern harrier (Circus cyaneus) gazes into the camera at Suisun Marsh, CA.

USGS conducts a health assessment on a mantee in Crystal River, Florida.

Organ pipe cactus are rare in the Sonoran desert in the U.S. They can only be found in and around Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, shown here. The distribution of Organ Pipe Cactus is limited due to lack of tolerance for cold temperatures. The biota of the Sonoran desert is particularly senstive to disturbance.

US Fish and Wildlife Service Kodiak amphibious aircraft used in the GoMMAPPS aerial seabird surveys from 2017-2020 and 2022-2023.

Field water-level monitoring gage EDEN 13. Photograph by Michael Oliver, U.S. Geological Survey.
U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2017–3069
Version 1.1, January 2018

A USGS intern preparing to examine a black carp captured from the wild. This fish and others were examined for various aspects of their life history, including age, the environments in which they have lived and whether they were naturally reproduced. Credit: USGS.

USGS scientist Sarah Fitzgerald holds a surf scoter that has been fitted with a satellite tag that works by transmitting the location of the birds to satellites that are orbiting the Earth. (Jonathan Fiely, USGS)

A Phragmites rhizome, or a belowground stem that puts up new shoots, dug up in a coastal marsh of Lake Erie in northern Ohio. Phragmites' belowground biomass can exceed that of its aboveground biomass. 

Early development zebrafish embryos are used as an alternative approach to the use of adult zebrafish in ecotoxicology studies.

This image shows a sea lamprey in its larvae phase.

This microscopic image shows a sun-shaped area within turtle skin cells where chelonid herpesvirus 5 replicates. The virus capsids, or protein shells, are arrayed like a corona around the circle. ChHV5 is associated with fibropapillomatosisa tumor disease affecting endangered green turtles.