Species Status Assessments

Populations of amphibians have been declining around the world (Stokstad 2004). The US Geological Survey is working to understand the extent and causes of such declines via the Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI). We are conducting research in support of this program in the Midwest Region of ARMI. Our offices and laboratories are at the Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center...

Invertebrate communities provide food for several economically and ecologically important fish and waterbird species in coastal estuaries. Scientists at the WERC San Francisco Bay Estuary Field Station specialize in studying foraging ecology of waterbirds and fishes, general food web dynamics across estuaries, and the effects of habitat restoration and other factors on waterbird prey availability.

Adult sea lamprey abundance in Lake Erie increased during the past decade, exceeding pre-control levels and causing extensive mortality on some strains of stocked lake trout (Markham 2015). Control agents speculate that this increase may be due to an uncontrolled larval sea lamprey population in the St. Clair River because other known sources of larval sea lampreys are regularly treated with...

It is (relatively) easy to construct complex hierarchical models for analysis of the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), but deciding which model best describes population change is difficult. We are developing methods for model selection for BBS and other important survey data sets, and using them to refine our estimates of population change from this important survey.

The boreal forest in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada contains most of the breeding range of the American black duck ( Anas rubripes). We collaborate with scientists from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service to design and analyze waterfowl surveys in this large and often inaccessible area.

Designing and analyzing large-scale animal surveys is an important focus of our research. Although we conduct research into analysis methods for many surveys, the primary focus of this project is to conduct analyses and develop web-based summaries of data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS).

The Challenge: Since 1966, the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) has filled a vital role in identifying at-risk bird species for Federal, State, and private entities. The BBS is a scientifically rigorous population count performed by a highly skilled, largely volunteer work force of nearly 2,500 observers. Every year these observers visit most of the survey’s 4,500 routes, which consist of...

The Challenge: The North American Bird Phenology Program (BPP) houses a data set of 6 million historical observations of over 800 bird species, documenting occurrences and migration times from the 1880s through the 1970s -- the longest and most comprehensive legacy data set on bird migration in existence. In an effort to rescue this invaluable data set, the BPP has scanned and are in the process...

The Challenge: How can we preserve and maintain evidence from our scientific past and continue to smartly expand that resource to help scientists find the answers to the questions and challenges they will face in the future?

Bats are the only flying mammals that are active mostly at night and occur on all continents except Antarctica. Bats are ecologically diverse, with a range of species that specialize in feeding on fruit, nectar, blood, fish, small mammals, and insects. However, of the more than 1,100 known species of bats on Earth, the majority specialize in feeding on insects. In the United States for example, of...

The Challenge: The Federal Aviation Administration has long relied on the expertise provided by the Smithsonian Feather Identification Lab for identification of bird remains recovered from bird-aircraft (birdstrike) collisions. Recently, these identifications are increasingly reliant on data from mitochondrial DNA. While generally successful in delimiting species, mitochondrial DNA is not...

The Challenge: Accurate taxonomic delineation of species and subspecies provides the biological and legal foundation for effective conservation action, whether by domestic resource management agencies or by other countries throughout the hemisphere that may be involved through international treaties or common conservation threats. Although birds are among the most well-known groups of organisms...