Species Management

The sagebrush biome is one of the largest ecosystems in North America. Encompassing nearly one-third of the continental U.S., it provides critical resources for millions of Americans and a home for hundreds of plants and animal species in the West. Natural resource management in sagebrush ecosystems can be complex, and science can support management decisions by providing knowledge and tools to...

USGS researchers are combatting avian malaria by improving the trapping and tracking of mosquitoes in endangered Hawaiian bird habitats.

Abundance data are collected for bird populations throughout the Pacific Islands by numerous federal, state, university, and non-profit organizations. In order to ensure data are standardized and available to researchers throughout the region, interagency bird databases have been created and continue to be used. These databases contain more than a million compiled, proofed, and standardized...

The Brown Treesnake Rapid Response Team (RRT) evaluates snake sightings and quickly deploys when sightings are credible and match a brown treesnake. The RRT is an interagency partnership that cooperatively prevents the spread of brown treesnakes in the United States and territories.

Migratory wildlife need to balance the benefits of migration and reproduction with the physiological costs. This is particularly challenging in dynamic environments like wetlands, where food levels can vary greatly from year to year. For shorebirds in the Great Basin region, saline or terminal lakes provide essential habitats during their annual life cycle. To understand how changes in hydrology...

We are working on understanding the chemical ecology of Rapid ʽŌhiʽa Death (ROD), which is critical for protecting both healthy and ROD-infected ʽōhiʽa. A better understanding could lead to early ROD detection tools and the development of attractants and repellents to manipulate ambrosia beetle populations.

The Conservation Efforts Database (CED) is a secure online data repository that collects, stores, and retrieves spatially explicit, spatially obscure, and non-spatial information on species and habitat conservation and management actions. The CED is designed to allow data collection from all interested partners including federal, state, local, non-government organizations, universities, private...

This web-based mapping tool, released in 2024, enables users to identify which threats are driving the current status of Sagebrush Ecological Integrity (SEI), assess if SEI and associated threats, such as invasive annual grass, conifer encroachment, human modification - have changed over time, and visualize spatial trends in SEI and threats. The Sagebrush Ecosystem Trends Module supports managers...

The CED Gunnison Sage-grouse Recovery Module was released in 2020 and is designed to capture any effort designed to benefit Gunnison sage-grouse recovery. This includes habitat restoration and any activities that contribute to the recovery of Gunnison sage-grouse, a federally listed threatened species. While similar to the Sagebrush Module, The Gunnison Sage-Grouse Recovery module contains fields...

The CED Cutthroat Module, released in 2024, is our latest module and is designed to capture any action related to the conservation, enhancement, restoration, or recovery of native, inland cutthroat trout or the habitats and waters that they depend on. The first iteration of this module was designed specifically for the Lahontan cutthroat trout. However, we are currently working on expanding the...

The CED Sagebrush Module, first released in 2014, captures any conservation effort, enhancement, restoration, plan, or action related to the sagebrush landscape or activities that benefit sagebrush-dependent species. The CED was originally focused only on greater sage-grouse and thus, most of the records currently in our database are related to this species, but, starting in 2019, we expanded our...

Using thermal cameras, we are determining the population size and cave occupancy of the Mariana swiftlet and Pacific sheath-tailed bat. Both species face extirpation from the Northern Mariana Islands and are listed as endangered. Understanding the species' population status can assist in planning recovery efforts for both species.