Images

Flames consume woody fuels in a managed wildfire, New Mexico

A convective smoke plume from a managed wildfire rises above Ponderosa pine trees, New Mexico

Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii virginalis) are the southernmost subspecies of Cutthroat Trout, making it particularly vulnerable to anticipated warming and drying throughout its range.

A panorama from Folly Island. Folly Island, a preserve owned by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, is about 7 acres. It is located in Bartlett Narrows, along the western coast of Mount Desert Island.

Highly diverse and resilient reef within Bird Island Marine Protected Area, Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands.

Carson Baughman conducting lake surveys in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge in 2014.

Cape Romain Project team members (left to right) David Salvesen, Gerard McMahon, Fred Johnson and Raye Nilius (Lowcountry Refuges Team Leader) tour freshwater impoundements and areas of coastal erosion at the refuge. (credit - M. Eaton)

Fred Johnson (USGS, WARC) views the remnant damage caused by Hurricane Hugo (1989) on the South Carolina coast, at Cape Romain NWR. (credit - M. Eaton)

Remnants of South Carolina’s threatened maritime forest on the coast of Cape Romain Nat’l Wildlife Refuge.  Sea-level rise is impacting these forests and the critical habitat they provide, creating ‘boneyard beaches’.  (credit - M. Eaton)

Pinyon-juniper and sagebrush on Juniper Mountain, Nevada.                  

Grazed grasses interspersed with low shrubs in coastal dunes at Makahoa Point east of the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge (JCNWR) on Oahu, Hawaii.

Yosemite Valley California: A classic U-shaped glacial valley

Yosemite Valley from the Yosemite Falls trail. Yosemite Valley is a glacial valley in the Sierra Nevada mountains and the focal point of Yosemite National Park. The Valley is drained by the Merced River.

Wave-driven flooding and overwash on Roi-Namur Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands

To understand how changes in rainfall and temperature might affect coastal wetlands in the northern Gulf of Mexico, USGS researchers conducted field studies at 10 estuaries in five states (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida). The fieldwork took place in a variety of coastal wetland types, including mangroves, marshes, and salt flats.

Our research collaborator, Corinna Pinzari, snapped this breathtaking shot of a Maui treeline silhouetted by the setting sun. Corinna is a bat researcher who works closely with USGS ecologist, Dr. Frank Bonaccorso.

Stark comparison between bog (no permafrost) in the foreground and a boreal forest (with permafrost) in the background in the Alaskan interior.

Blueberry plant with berries in fall colors.

Loch Vale Watershed in the Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

In the Fox Islands of Alaska, Driftwood Bay on Umnak Island faces the deep-sea trench formed by the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone.

At the Birds Caribbean annual meeting in Grenada in 2013 Dr. Terando gave the keynote speech discussing threats to biodiversity in the Caribbean due to climate change.

The Hawaii County Fire Department captured this image of Isaac Hale Park and boat ramp during their overflight of the area late this afternoon.