Fish and Aquatic Species

Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge is situated within a riverine system where refuge wetlands receive sediment-laden inflows that have been associated with diminished plant communities and water quality conditions. Accordingly, improved habitat- and water-quality conditions have been recognized as overall management goals, and the collection of baseline biotic and abiotic data has been identified...

We are working in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to (1) quantify cumulative effects of prairie-pothole wetlands on stream communities; (2) explore relationships between aquatic-system connectivity and genetic-, species-, and ecosystem-scale biological diversity at watershed and landscape scales; (3) develop mapping unit descriptors based on biotic community traits for...

Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) is investigating limitations to restoring abundant aquatic macroinvertebrate populations to Minnesota wetlands and shallow lakes. Recent research on larger more permanent wetlands in Minnesota indicates that there have been decreases in quality of wetlands of use by ducks. That research also describes a decline in abundance of amphipods, a shrimp...

CERC scientists apply advanced measurement and modeling approaches to quantifying habitats in large rivers. Our research has been applied to improving the understanding of the reproductive ecology of the endangered pallid sturgeon ( Scaphirhynchus albus) in the Missouri River.

The USGS conducts research on marine wildlife, habitats, and processes to provide science to inform our partners as they make decisions relative to species status, resource use, and human activities.

In addition to the direct effects of sea ice loss on walrus ( Odobenus rosmarus divergens) and polar bears ( Ursus maritimus) that use ice as a platform, the decline of Arctic sea ice is predicted to promote a fundamental ecosystem shift from benthic animals that forage on the sea floor to pelagic animals that forage near the sea surface.

High latitude ecosystems are among the most vulnerable to long-term climate change, yet continuous, multidecadal indicators by which to gauge effects on biology are scarce, especially in freshwater environments.

Permafrost thaw is leading to a myriad of changes in physical and chemical conditions throughout the Arctic.

The potential for invasive species introductions in Arctic and Subarctic ecosystems is growing as climate change manifests and human activity increases in high latitudes.

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.

Bioinformatics is a relatively new field of science that incorporates elements of biology and computer science together for the purpose of developing efficient and robust methods for the analyses and interpretation of large amounts of biological data, typically DNA or RNA sequence data.

Disease may be caused by infectious agents, nutritional imbalances, physiological or genetically-based abnormalities, and suboptimal environmental conditions, acting either alone or in combination with other factors. In many instances, environmental stressors may merge forces with an infectious agent or some other non-infectious factor to produce or exacerbate a state of disease. By studying...