Images

Coral reefs provide ample opportunities for recreational activities and fishing and add important cultural value to coastal communities. 

They also bolster biodiversity by giving food and shelter to many species. 

The structure of a reef helps dampen waves and protects coastlines from storms and erosion. 

Blue carbon refers to carbon captured in coastal and ocean ecosystems.

Washington Water Science Center staff welcomed Director Applegate by wearing his signature bowtie. (photo credit: Sarah Dunn, WA Water Science Center).

Director Applegate and staff from Western Fisheries Research Center pose in front of the newly painted mural at the Western Fisheries Research Center’s headquarters. The mural features three swimming salmon, a DNA helix, a microscope, and the USGS logo. (Photo credit: Rachel Reagan, Western Fisheries Research Center)

Director Applegate and Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center staff during his visit to the University of Washington. (photo credit: Jenny Dettman, University of Washington)

The Santa Ana River is the largest river entirely within Southern California in the United States.

2024 BLM Fire Employee Photo Contest Category - Fuels Management and Prescribed Fire. Interagency operations on prescribed fire with Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control holding with Rio Grande National Forest lighting on BLM project. Blanca Wetlands RX, 10 miles northeast of Alamosa, Colorado. 

View of Colorado River in the Grand Canyon from overlook. Photo by Jordan Bush, ORISE participant, National USGS CASC.

The USGS partners with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to run a fish laboratory, where they run experiments to see how native and invasive fish interact. Here, biologist Drew Eppehimer transports two juvenile smallmouth bass to a new tank.

The secret lives of... trees? Trees can live for hundreds and sometimes thousands of years. As they grow, they add new layers of growth – or tree rings – that scientists can study to learn about the tree’s life. The width of tree rings often reflects the factor most influencing growth from one year to the next depending upon where the tree lives.

The cold never bothered our USGS scientists! They ask – do you want to collect an ice core?

Time to get our hands dirty! Paleoclimate researchers study sediment cores, which are accumulated layers of mud and dead plant material collected in a long tube, to learn about what the climate and environment of the past was like.

All of Earth’s ecosystems are directly or indirectly impacted by humans. But landscapes where people live, work, and travel can become dominated by people, such that the built environment and people’s daily activities control major ecological processes.

Aerial view of Ucluelet, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, showing coastal mountains along the Queen Charlotte Fault zone.

Arctic Ecosystems are at the forefront of climate change and many of the ecosystem services they provide are rapidly threatened or changing.

You can find more Climate Illustrations here.

A picture of a pink flower on an Opuntia cactus, also known as a prickly pear cactus.

The Bitterroot River in Darby, Montana taken by Roger Peterson of US Forest Service. 

Staff from the Pacific Islands and Alaska CASCs meet to discuss commonalities between their two regions.

The grey PVC pipe is securely mounted on the river bank to house water-quality instruments. 

USGS scientist collects a water-quality sample in the Grand Canyon, Arizona. 

Upper Mississippi River Restoration program partners meet in the field to discuss a backwater habitat rehabilitation project in Pool 4 of the Mississippi.