Biosurveillance

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.

WARC researchers are addressing an urgent need to identify specific habitat use of pythons on Key Largo, FL.

Research on Guam has led to development and validation of numerous effective control tools, including the advancement of reptile control to support native species recovery.

ʻŌhiʻa ( Metrosideros polymorpha) is the dominant tree in Hawaiian forests, but Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD), a newly emerging disease that stands to cause high mortality of this ecologically important tree, may lead to invasions by exotic plants as gaps open in the forest. To better understand if planting of ʻōhiʻa seedlings can be used as a restoration tool, we investigated the survival of ʻōhiʻa...

The environmental DNA (eDNA) samples collected, processed, and sequenced by the Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) and partner agencies are being archived in a cloud-based database application. Consolidating eDNA data will significantly improve researchers and managers ability to visualize, analyze, and integrate sequence data as a monitoring and early detection system for...

USGS is applying decision analysis to identify cost-effective methods for controlling invasive species like the Argentine black and white tegu.

The introduction of non-native fishes is a problem across the United States, particularly in Florida. USGS scientists are developing a decision support tool to help natural resourece managers prioritize which species to focus prevention, detection, rapid response, and control efforts.

Disease in amphibian populations can have a range of effects, from devastating declines following introduction of a novel pathogen to recurring breakout events on a landscape. Elucidating mechanisms underlying the effects of diseases on amphibian populations is crucial to help managers make appropriate decisions to achieve management goals for amphibians.

Forecasts of where species might be and what impacts they may have are necessary for management of invasive species. Researchers at FORT are using various approaches to provided needed information to resource managers to combat invasive plants, animals, and disease organisms.

Detecting invasive species at low densities or prior to population establishment is critical for successful control and eradication. For example, Burmese pythons occupy thousands of square kilometers of mostly inaccessible habitats.

This project examined altitudinal movements of the endangered Hawaiian hoary bat and their use of high elevation caves on the slopes of Mauna Loa volcano on the island of Hawai‘i.