Ecosystems Science at USGS
USGS Landscape Science Strategy
Science informing decision making on public lands and across all of our Nation’s landscapes.
Science informing decision making on public lands and across all of our Nation’s landscapes.
USGS Wildland Fire Science
USGS science helps understand the causes, consequences, and benefits of wildfire and helps prevent and manage larger, catastrophic events.
USGS science helps understand the causes, consequences, and benefits of wildfire and helps prevent and manage larger, catastrophic events.
Ecosystems Mission Area
The USGS Ecosystems Mission Area provides science to help America achieve sustainable management and conservation of biological resources in wild and urban spaces, and places in between.
News
The 2024 Southern Sea Otter Census and Statistical Model Development
The 2024 Southern Sea Otter Census and Statistical Model Development
USGS Friday's Findings - September 27, 2024
USGS Friday's Findings - September 27, 2024
Non-native plants consistently drive changes in functional traits of plant communities
Non-native plants consistently drive changes in functional traits of plant communities
Publications
North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center regional science plan—2023–28
The U.S. Geological Survey North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (NC CASC), established in 2012, is part of a national network supporting climate-informed decisions that benefit wildlife and habitats. The NC CASC provides climate science for the U.S. Department of the Interior, State agencies, and Tribal nations to support effective resource management. Collaborating with the National an
Synchrony of alewife, Alosa pseudoharengus, year-class strength in the Great Lakes region
Fish recruitment is interannually variable and challenging to predict. Annual recruitment is often regionally synchronized among populations and identifying drivers of such synchrony may help shed light on recruitment dynamics. We investigated interannual variation of alewife Alosa pseudoharengus recruitment by estimating year-class strength for populations from three of the Laurentian Great Lakes
Pathology of tissue loss in three key gorgonian species in the Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean is known for its marine biodiversity, especially gorgonian forests. Unfortunately, these are experiencing rapid declines due to climate change, manifested by repeated marine heat waves resulting in mass mortality events since the early 1990 s. To better understand why gorgonians are declining, more systematic approaches to investigate the exact causes are needed, and pathology ma
Science
Passage, migration and critical habitat of Atlantic (Acipenser oxyrhinchus oxyrhinchus) and shortnose (Acipenser brevirostrum) sturgeons in New England waters.
USGS scientists are studying the passage, migration and critical habitat of the Atlantic ( Acipenser oxyrhinchus oxyrhinchus ) and shortnose ( Acipenser brevirostrum ) sturgeon in New England waters to provide managers with population-specific details upon which effective steps can be taken to protect these endangered species.
Reptile and Amphibian Road Ecology
USGS is working with many partners to help reptiles, amphibians and other animals cross roads safely, improving access to essential habitat.
Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Research
The Rio Grande/Rio Bravo (hereafter referred to as the Rio Grande) in the Big Bend region of Texas, USA, and Chihuahua and Coahuila, Mexico, has substantially narrowed since the early 1900s. This narrowing has been caused by the construction and operation of dams and irrigation diversions in upstream reaches of the Rio Grande in the U.S. and the Rio Conchos in Mexico that has reduced flows without...