Fish and Aquatic Species

The Conasauga River in northwest Georgia and southeast Tennessee harbors the majority of mussel diversity still found in the Georgia portion of the Upper Coosa Basin. While the Conasauga historically supported at least 44 mussel species, only about 20 species remain.

WaterSMART (Sustain and Manage America’s Resources for Tomorrow) is a program of the Department of the Interior that focuses on improving water conservation and helping water-resource managers make sound decisions about water use.

Fish otoliths - ear bones - can be used to identify the fish nursery habitat used by estuarine fish.

Black carp have likely been present in the Mississippi River since the 1990s, but their current distribution and spread is not well understood. Genetics is helping to shed light on this species, including its diversity, the relatedness of wild and captive fish, and its introduction history.

Marine reserves and protected areas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico encompass a variety of tropical ecosystems, including coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrass beds, but questions remain regarding how effective these areas are at preserving and protecting the habitats and species they encompass. USGS and collaborators address this question by examining the biodiversity and food web...

Neonicotinoid insecticides the fastest growing insecticide worldwide - and may play a role in the declines of terrestrial and aquatic vertebrate species.

USGS scientists investigate adaptive habitat conservation for Flatwoods salamanders.

The Striped Newt is a small salamander found in xeric habitats (e.g., scrub, sandhill, dry flatwoods) of the lower coastal plain and northern peninsular Florida. Though once considered "common," they are currently a candidate species for federal listing.

Welcome to the Experimental Stream Lab at the US Geological Survey's Leetown Science Center in Kearneysville West Virginia.

Habitat alteration and climate, when combined, are serious threats to amphibians and other wildlife. Habitat suitability models are being used to predict the responses of an amphibian community to hydrological and habitat restoration in the Greater Everglades Ecosystem.

The South Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative (SALCC) has proposed natural resource indicators and associated targets for the marine ecosystem.

Climate change and invasive species are two key drivers of biodiversity loss. Knowing how amphibians respond to climate change and invasive species can greatly improve predictions of species' persistence in the face of these factors and can help guide resource managers and conservation biologists in developing strategies to manage for these encroaching disturbances.