Biosurveillance

INHABIT is a desktop-optimized web application and decision support tool with mapped and tabular summaries of habitat suitability models for over two hundred fifty terrestrial invasive plant species of management concern across the contiguous United States. It is the product of a scientist-practitioner partnership and is designed to facilitate enhanced invasive species management actions...

USGS is studying the spread and effects of “blotchy bass syndrome” on black basses ( Micropterus spp). USGS and state agencies have partnered with citizen scientists and recreational organizations to create a continent-wide biosurveillance network to monitor the syndrome.

Introduced rats are notorious predators of birds and their nests worldwide, but especially on remote islands. Rats ( Rattus exulans) first arrived in Hawai‘i with Polynesian colonists about 1,000 years ago, resulting in deleterious consequences for native birds and ecosystems. Since Western contact in 1778, two additional rat species have become established in Hawai‘i, including the highly...

Early detection of invasive species can enable their successful eradication. With climate change and dynamic patterns of global trade, it is difficult to predict which new invasive species will next get introduced and where introduction and establishment will occur. We are analyzing where non-native species have first established in Hawai‘i to develop mapped predictions of the relative risk of new...

European green crabs are one of the most widespread marine invasive species on the planet. Where they are abundant, green crabs compete with other crabs and disturb sediment which can lead to loss of eelgrass and associated habitat essential for commercial, cultural, and ecologically important fish and invertebrate species. Green crab also are a major predator of clams, mussels, and oysters.

WHISPers, the Wildlife Health Information Sharing Partnership - event reporting system, is a web-based repository of basic information on current and historic wildlife mortality (death) and/or morbidity (illness) events reported by partners nationwide. It is also the portal to request diagnostic and epidemiologic services from the USGS National Wildlife Health Center.

Multiple research endeavors at the USGS National Wildlife Health Center are ongoing to help assess the possible impacts of SARS-CoV-2 on wildlife.

Below are the USGS 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) research projects related to COVID-19 pathways and wildlife dynamics. Select tabs above for related items.

Below are the USGS 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) research projects related to tracking bats and coronaviruses. Select tabs above for related items.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was signed into law on March 27th, 2020, to aid response efforts and ease the economic impact of COVID-19. The Department of the Interior received funds to “prevent, prepare for, and response to coronavirus, domestically or internationally including, “biosurveillance of wildlife and environmental persistence studies.” The USGS...

The USGS has developed the Rapid environmental (e)DNA Assessment and Deployment Initiative & Network (READI-Net) to accelerate the implementation of environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis as a best practice for the early detection of aquatic biological threats. READI-Net provides tools and a strategy to collect and deliver early detection data for natural resource managers and public health protection...

Wetland and Aquatic Research Center and Fort Collins Science Center are coordinating a long-term, landscape-scale Burmese python research strategy for South Florida.