Images

This is fieldwork from a Chinook salmon egg survival pilot study in the Sacramento River. Egg boxes were placed in the river at different locations to collect data on egg-to-fry survival. Some examples of data collected include water velocity and river flow, gravel temperature, scour and deposition, and sediment type.

The Yuma myotis bat, Myotis yumanensis, has a body length of only 1.5-1.9 inches and they weigh less than half an ounce.

Scars on the skin of this bat's wing suggest white-nose syndrome infection over the previous winter.

Individual bats are tested for Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome, by wiping a sterile swab across the skin of a bat's outstretched wing and muzzle.

Yuma myotis has a wide range throughout western North America, from the Southwestern regions of Canada into Mexico. 

This is a photo from our scientists working with the Yakama Nation to remove smallmouth bass and other invasive salmon-eating predators. The work involves taking fin clips, scales, diet samples, and tagging and releasing larger fish. This fieldwork will continue through late May 2025. The crew shown in the photos are Ben, Becky, Jeff, and Chloe. 

California Department of Fish & Wildlife boat on Shasta Reservoir partnering with USGS Western Fisheries Research Center to conduct telemetry studies.

Mitchell Morse and Caitlin Stockwell drove down to Redding, CA to wrap up the Shasta Reservoir fish telemetry project. They worked with California Department of Fish and Wildlife partners to remove 16 submersible acoustic telemetry receivers within the reservoir, and 5 receivers installed on Shasta Dam.

This is Shasta Dam in California. Mitchell Morse and Caitlin Stockwell drove down to Redding, CA to wrap up the Shasta Reservoir fish telemetry project. They worked with California Department of Fish and Wildlife partners to remove 16 submersible acoustic telemetry receivers within the reservoir, and 5 receivers installed on Shasta Dam.

A photo of the McCloud arm looking upstream from one of the telemetry deployment sites.

Northwestern pond turtles are sexually dimorphic (females and males look different). One way to tell female and male turtles apart is that they often have different color patterns on their face and throats. Females have a more speckled throat, while males throats tend to be more solidly white/yellow.

These turtles are considered juveniles until they reach about 5 inches long. In this part of their range turtles remain juveniles and usually do not begin to reproduce until they are over ten years old.  

Photo taken at Lookout Point Reservoir, Oregon. 

We glue transmitters onto their upper shells (called their carapace) using non-permanent epoxy. We will track these turtles until the transmitter battery dies (about 2 years) and soon after that the epoxy degrades, and the transmitter will fall off the turtle without harming the turtle or it's shell. 

Turtle found in the spring coming out of brumation. It is still covered in mud from being buried in the ground all winter.  They can brumate up to several months! 

Photo taken at Lookout Point Reservoir, Oregon. 

Rainfall mobilizes roadway contaminants that flow from storm drains into aquatic habitats. Photo taken in the Pacific Northeast

Chris Pullano and Evan Hockett setting out early morning to reconfigure acoustic telemetry receivers on Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon. Receivers were deployed under ice cover all winter to understand winter movements and habitat use by endangered Lost River suckers.

Ramona Rapp is preparing the surgery station where adult Lost River suckers are surgically implanted with acoustic telemetry transmitters. This study is being conducted to understand seasonal survival and habitat use of Lost River suckers in Upper Klamath Lake.

Matt Sholtis, Brian Hayes, and Evan Hockett returning from a rough day on the water, where they retrieved acoustic telemetry receivers that were set under ice cover all winter to track winter movements of endangered Lost River suckers in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon. 

Sarah Flores collecting snails from the marshes of Upper Klamath Lake. At the Western Fisheries Research Center, scientists are conducting research on parasites in Upper Klamath Lake, Klamath Falls, OR.

Local snail screening set up in Klamath Falls, OR at the Bureau of Reclamation facility. Five snails per tank on the right and cups with one snail on the left.

Sarah Flores presenting her lab's work at the 2025 International Symposium on Fish Parasites in Mérida Yucatán, Mexico. Sarah Flores works with the Western Fisheries Research Center in Seattle, WA to help suckers in the Upper Klamath Lake in Klamath Falls, OR.