Wildlife and Terrestrial Species
Wildlife and Terrestrial Species
We provide rigorous and unbiased information on migratory birds, terrestrial and marine mammals, amphibians and reptiles, native plants, threatened and endangered species, wildlife disease, and on wildlife issues resulting from human activities. Our science contributes toward a more complete understanding of the Nation’s ecosystems and landscapes.
Species We Study
Species We Study
Healthy wildlife populations sustain communities across the Nation, and maintaining ecosystems thriving with biodiversity ensures these resources are available for generations to come.
Outstanding in the Field
Outstanding in the Field
In this episode we head to southern Florida to learn about one of North America’s most misunderstood - yet threatened - mammals: bats
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Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative: Midwest Region
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...
Survival and Recruitment of Common Eiders in the Gulf of Maine
The dresseri race of common eiders breed from central Labrador to southern Maine and winter from Newfoundland to Massachusetts. The breeding population in the mid-1980s was estimated to be 71,000 pairs, of those 40% were in Maine. In Maine, nesting eiders increased from a few pairs in the early 1900s to approximately 28,000 pairs in 1989. Although the number of birds seems to be stable, the number...
Adaptive Management of American Woodcock in the Atlantic Northern Forest Bird Conservation Region
The Challenge: Research goals of this project seek to take an adaptive approch to habitat management for American woodcock. Under this process a mix of early successional forest habitat will be created following the allowable guidelines of state forest management, National Wildlife Refuge management plans, and commercial timber management plans; management actions will consist of various...
Analyses of Woodcock Singing Ground Surveys in the Northeast
The Challenge: Research goals of this project seek to determine if survey routes for American woodcock are sampling represenative habitats and whether routes are distributed proportionally to early successional habitats and biophysical regions across Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire. If routes are not representatively distributed (i.e., biased), we will evaluate the effects of this bias on...
Monitoring migration of American woodcock past Cape May, NJ
The American woodcock is a popular game bird in much of eastern North America. The woodcock population declined between 1968- 2000 at an annual rate of 2.3% in the Eastern region and 1.6% in the Central region. The annual migration of woodcock from the breeding grounds to their wintering areas has been of interest to biologists and hunters. Migration corridors along the Atlantic coast, such as...
Response of Avian Community to Forest Management on Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge
The Challenge: Research goals focus on measurement of direct effects of various habitat management techniques for game species on neotropical migratory birds. Analyses are ongoing to determine if avian species richness, diversity, and relative abundance of land birds has changed at Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge as a result of habitat management; determine if the structure of the avian...
Bats in Forests Managed for Wildlife
The Challenge: Within the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV), forest managers may prescribe variable retention silvicultural treatments within bottomland hardwood forests on public lands to improve forest conditions (i.e., structural heterogeneity, species composition, and senescence) for priority wildlife species. This is referred to as wildlife-forestry silviculture. However, concerns have been...
The Release of Parent-reared Whooping Crane Colts into the Eastern Migratory Population
The Challenge: Whooping cranes have been successfully introduced using costume rearing techniques in either a direct autumn release or in an ultralight led migration from Wisconsin to Florida. In Florida, we have also released parent-reared whooping cranes. Not much is known about the learning that takes place in this K-selected species over the almost one year that the young whooping crane colt...
Implementing Cross Validation Approaches for Model Selection and Evaluating Goodness of Fit in Complex Hierarchical Models
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.
Population Change and Abundance of Black Ducks and Mallards in Eastern North America
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.
Design and Analysis of Surveys for Estimation of Temporal and Spatial Change in Animal Populations
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).
Development of Statistical Methods for Biological Applications
The Challenge: Wildlife science and management are guided by data, and it is unquestionably the case that the greatest success occurs when good data are analyzed by good statistical methods.