Images

USGS Western Ecological Research Center scientist Lesley DeFalco pollinates sun cup flowers for the Desert Restoration Program. In the experiment pictured here, USGS scientists pollinated individual sun cup flowers using a small paintbrush to help increase seed stocks to use in experiments throughout the Mojave Desert.

Width measurement for Pacific pocket mouse forefoot print on track card

This female Lesser Scaup is being swabbed to test for current infection with an avian influenza virus. By understanding prevelance among different species we can better understand the risk of transmisison across the wild bird - domestic poultry interface.

USGS scientist Nick Johnson isn’t afraid to get dirty. Here he is expressing green feces from a parasitic sea lamprey. DNA in the feces may help USGS scientists discover the identity of sea lamprey’s last meal. 

A long-tailed duck with an underwater speaker in the background. This is part of a study by the USGS and partners to identify the frequencies at which sea ducks can hear underwater. The research can help inform decisions on the use of sound devices to deter ducks from fishing gillnets and other threats. Credit: Jonathan Fiely, USGS. Date: March 2017.

Honey bees play a major role in pollinating the world’s plants, including those we eat regularly. However, land-use changes that decrease flower abundance can affect bee health and pollination services.

Cover photo for Shinneman, D.J., Welty, J.L., Arkle, R.S., Pilliod, D.S., Glenn, N.F., McIlroy, S.K., Halford, A.S., 2018, Fuels guide and database for intact and invaded big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) ecological sites—User manual: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series Report 1048, p.

Raccoon with a transmitter sits by the edge of the water in Suisun Marsh.

This remote area along the southern Idaho-Oregon border was affected by the 2015 Soda Fire, which burned nearly 400 square miles of sagebrush habitat important to many species of wildlife, as well as federal and private ranchlands.

Wastewater from oil production in the Williston Basin leaked from a pipeline, spilling into Blacktail Creek, North Dakota. Geochemical and biological samples were to identify geochemical signatures of spilled wastewaters as well as biological responses. 

The desmid family of single-celled green algae are never found in abundance, says USGS biologist Barry Rosen. They inhabit the soft, slightly acidic water of wetlands that depend on rainwater, like Florida’s Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. They don’t “bloom” en masse, but their presence is an indicator of good water quality.

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

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

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

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

A Chinese firebelly newt (Cynops orientalis), the first salamander species found to be infected with the spring viraemia of carp virus.

South Carolina alligators occupy a patchwork of diverse habitats, including rivers, lakes, wooded swamps, tidal marshes, and impounded freshwater wetlands. As a mobile, opportunistic predator, alligators seasonally adjust their habitat use for feeding.

This auger is used to collect 1 meter deep soil cores for a carbon budget study associated with the SageSTEP project. SageSTEP is a long-term, multi-disciplinary experiment evaluating sagebrush restoration methods in the Great Basin.

Turbid glacial runoff in roaring river, surrounded by mountains in Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

Eastern tiger salamanders are on the move! This one was spotted crossing the road at St. Croix Wetland Management District in Wisconsin. Tiger salamanders mostly eat small insects and worms.

Photo by Caitlin Smith/USFWS.

Frosted flatwoods salamander in St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, Florida