Tools and Technology
Tools and Technology
We develop advanced technologies such as remote sensing, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, and genetic tools to assess species population and health and improve models that incorporate climate change impacts to predict biodiversity response. These tools help managers develop a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of species population trajectories and distribution shifts.
Filter Total Items: 120
Decision Science Support for SARS-CoV-2 Risk to North American Bats
The Eastern Ecological Science Center is working closely with federal, state, and tribal partners to help inform decisions that reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from humans to North American wildlife, including bats.
Strategic Habitat Conservation for Gulf Sturgeon
WARC researchers partnered with Gulf Sturgeon decision makers and biologists to develop a Bayesian network model that uses habitat characteristics to predict the quantity of juvenile winter foraging habitat under alternative river discharge and timing of juvenile arrival scenarios.
Strategic Habitat Conservation for Brown Pelican
WARC researchers partnered with managers and species experts to develop a Bayesian network model and a geospatial habitat characteristics dataset to predict the number of Brown Pelican breeding pairs on islands in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
Decision science support for Chronic Wasting Disease
Eastern Ecological Science Center adds the decision analytical skill set to the existing body of USGS expertise on Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), in support of our sister DOI agencies.
Strategic Habitat Conservation for Beach Mice (Peromyscus polionotus ssp.)
WARC researchers partnered with beach mice managers and biologists to estimate habitat objectives and the amount of effort needed to achieve the habitat objective (i.e., management efficiency) for three beach mice subspecies in Florida’s panhandle.
Development and Implementation of Environmental DNA (eDNA) Tools to Aid Listing and Recovery Efforts for Imperiled and Common Freshwater Mussels
Researchers will develop and optimize an eDNA assay to delineate the current distribution of P. inflatus . The assay will then be used to provide up-to-date distributional information and detection rates for P. inflatus in the Pearl River basin.
Understanding Avian Habitat Availability and Use After Barrier Island Restoration in Coastal Louisiana
Using ecological and geographical data, WARC researchers and their partners are analyzing avian and benthic sampling on Whiskey Island and Caminda Headland to compare pre- and post-restoration aspects of habitat occupancy, habitat availability, habitat use, and kernal density estimation.
Bison Conservation
USGS science in support of the Department of the Interior's Bison Conservation Initiative.
A Multiscale Approach to Understanding Migratory Landbird Habitat Use of Functional Stopover Habitat Types and Management Efforts
USGS scientists are using a spatially-explicit Bayesian network model to predict the difference between energetic value and energetic demand for stopover habitats for migrating landbirds.
Decision-support tool for managing endangered species in the face of uncertainty
Along the Santa Clara River in California, populations of the federally and state-listed Least Bell's Vireo ( Vireo bellii pusillus ) are recovering from near extirpation. Habitat protection and restoration, as well as reducing brood parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds ( Molothrus ater ), are thought to be the primary drivers of this recovery. The challenge going forward is to find the right...
Development of Sampling Protocols and Diagnostic Tools for Assessment of Freshwater Mussel Health
Assessing Impacts of Emerging and Established Diseases to Aquatic Ecosystems The role of disease in freshwater mussel declines has been largely ignored due to the lack of appropriate diagnostic tools. Furthermore, health assessment of mussels in conjunction with restoration and propagation has not been considered during stocking and augmentation activities. This project will develop standard...
Deep Learning for Automated Detection and Classification of Waterfowl, Seabirds, and other Wildlife from Digital Aerial Imagery
The U.S. Geological Survey Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center is developing deep learning algorithms and tools for the automatic detection, enumeration, classification, and annotation of seabirds and other marine wildlife from digital aerial imagery — advancing cutting-edge research in collaboration with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS...