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Fires are actually an important part of many ecosystems' regeneration cycles, including the Pine Barrens. Properly managed prescribed fires can help these cycles by burning underbrush and letting new native plants sprout. Prescribed fires can also reduce wildfire risk by removing the build-up of tinder and fuel on the forest floor.

While these vast open spaces might seem uniform, they're actually home to diverse plant and animal species, and they provide a whole host of ecosystem services! Migratory birds and grazing animals increase biodiversity and are loved by all. Wildflowers support pollinators that are vital to sustainable agriculture.

Messages from beyond the grave? Don't grab the Ouija board just yet!

These messages are coming to us through the efforts of paleoecologists, who use fossils to learn how the Earth's climate has changed over time. This information can help us understand modern-day trends in climate and how to adapt to them.

Old growth forests have two very important functions:

1. They absorb and store more carbon than they release, reducing carbon in the atmosphere.
2. They provide important Bigfoot habitat.

Find more Climate Illustrations here. 

Terrible omen, or friendly pollinator?

Either way, planting native flowers and plants will help you stay on Mothman's good side! (It can't hurt, right?) By providing food and habitat, native plants can attract all manner of winged pollinators to your yard, including bees, butterflies, and moths.
 

After a hard day's work creepin' the swamps and backroads of the Everglades, you just want to sit back and relax into a nice, tepid bath of frog larvae and pond scum. But only a properly working wetland that's filtering water, storing carbon, reducing flooding, and providing important habitat can give your gnarled, human-like hair this kind of silky sheen.

The USGS provides science to other Department of the Interior agencies to inform natural resource management.

Postdoctoral researchers, faculty mentors, and CASC staff participating in the Future of Aquatic Flows cohort of the Climate Adaptation Postdoctoral (CAP) Fellows Program met for their first in-person workshop in August 2023. The workshop was held in Santa Barbara, California. 

Postdoctoral scholars with the Future of Aquatics Flows cohort of the Climate Adaptation Postdoctoral (CAP) Fellows Program met at an in-person workshop in Santa Barbara, California in August 2023. They worked together to identify a topic for the national synthesis project they will work on together over the next two years.

Postdoctoral fellows in the Future of Aquatic Flows cohort and their faculty mentors work together to identify a topic for a collaborative national synthesis project.

CAP fellows participated in team-building activities at an in-person workshop in August 2023 in Santa Barbara, California.

Five ways climate change is affecting Salmon.

Graphic by Courtenay Duzet, USGS. 

Looking down from the lookout point at Brink of Lower Falls, over the Yellowstone River, as it flows south into the distance.

A child riding a mountain bike on a trail in Golden Gate State Park in Colorado amidst the vibrant yellow colors of fall.

A scenic view of Gothic Mountain in the Elk Mountains of Colorado. USGS scientists captured this photo while collecting soil sample data in the area.

A forest trail meanders through a grove of Aspen trees in Colorado during early autumn.

Similar nearby headwater streams are being evaluated to determine how shifts in habitat availability and connectivity in drought years affect fish populations (Carbon County, Wyoming). Photo by Patrick Anderson (USGS).

CASC Senior Administrator Doug Beard co-chaired the working group that led to the IPBES Assessment Report on invasive species which provides management tools and policymaking options to deal with the challenges of biological invasions.

A rooftop patio at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) in Santa Barbara, California.

A view of the southeast side of Olosega Island (foreground), with Ofu Island visible in the background. These volcanoes have steep cliffs and are separated by a 50-foot (15 meter) channel. The steep cliff in the photo is a dike sticking out into the ocean that has been more resistant to weathering than surrounding lava flows. USGS photo by D. Downs.

Field of invasive annual grasses. Photo by Janet Prevéy (USGS - Fort Collins Science Center).