Unified Interior Regions
Florida
World class scientists working in Southeast Region Science Centers help our partners understand and manage complex issues including competition for limited water resources, coastal hazards, mineral and energy resource extraction, degraded ecosystems, vector-borne diseases, rapidly changing land use, and response to climate change.
States L2 Landing Page Tabs
The Oysters of Chicopit: Status of the Oyster Population in Chicopit Bay before, during, and after the Construction of the Mile Point Project
Chicopit Bay, part of the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve in Florida, is a small embayment at the intersection of San Pablo Creek (part of the Intercoastal Waterway) and the St. Johns River. Home to a number of small oyster beds, this area is now being dredged to help eliminate cross currents from the main shipping channel of the St. Johns. WARC researchers collect baseline...
Impacts of Non-Native Fishes in the Florida Everglades
The Florida Everglades is the largest wetland ecosystem in the United States and supports a diverse flora and fauna, including many rare species.
Advanced Technological Solutions in Support of Greater Everglades Priority Ecosystem Science: Joint Ecosystem Modeling (JEM)
The JEM Biological Database offers secure data storage in relational databases, as well as web applications to manage, search, analyze, and report on captured data.
Collaborative Development of Ecological Forecasting Model and Data Manipulation Software: Everglades National Park, South Florida Natural Resources Center (SFNRC)
The goal of the Advanced Applications Team’s partnership with SFNRC is to facilitate the use of scientific research findings in restoration and land management decisions.
Mangroves vs. Salt Marshes: Mangrove Forest Range Expansion at the Expense of Salt Marshes
Winter climate change has the potential to have a large impact on coastal wetlands in the southeastern United States.
Baseline Aquatic Contamination and Endocrine Status in Resident Fish Populations of Biscayne National Park and in the Adjacent Coastal Environment
As part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, water managers are planning to use treated wastewater from the South District Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) to supplement the canal waters that will be used to rehydrate wetlands adjacent to the Biscayne National Park (Park).
Population Demography and Food Web Analysis of Large Aquatic Salamanders (Siren and Amphiuma) in North Florida
Understanding amphibian's life-histories can help predict how they may persist in aquatic habitats in the face of droughts and other climate change-associated events.
Socio-Ecological Conservation Targets for the Peninsular Florida Landscape Conservation Cooperative
Peninsular Florida has a high density of species and ecosystems of conservation concern, as well as many threats to the persistence of native species and their habitats. USGS worked closely with the Peninsular Florida Landscape Conservation Cooperative to define conservation targets to help meet conservation goals.
Peninsular Florida Landscape Conservation Cooperative (PFLCC) Climate Scenarios and Species Vulnerability Assessment
Peninsular Florida is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change in the United States. With complex socioeconomic and ecology dynamics and a large number of governing agencies involved in conservation planning, USGS worked to created an appropriate framework for landscape conservation cooperative-scale decision-making across current conservation planning agencies and jurisdictions...
Winter Manatee Foraging Behavior and the Decline of Seagrass Beds in the Northern Indian River Lagoon
With high numbers of manatees using the Florida Power and Light power plant warm water refuge during winter, their impact on the seagrass beds in the Indian River Lagoon is considered an important indicator of the long-term capacity of the area to support the manatees. USGS is working with partners to investigate the spatial extent and intensity of manatee use of seagrass beds in the area. ...
Mangrove Migration Network
At the poleward marsh-mangrove ecotone, mangrove abundance and coverage is winter temperature-sensitive in that it oscillates in response to the frequency, duration, and/or intensity of extreme winter temperatures. Future winter climate change is expected to facilitate poleward mangrove range expansion at the expense of salt marshes in Texas, Louisiana, and parts of Florida.
Life History Characterization and Host Fish Identification for Federally Listed and Imperiled Freshwater Mussel Species in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia and Florida
Freshwater mussels are considered the most imperiled group of animals in the United States. These animals provide valuable ecological services by filtering water, sequestering nutrients, and providing forage for migratory birds, small mammals, and turtles. They also have a unique and complex life cycle that makes them especially vulnerable to human disturbances. It includes a parasitic larval...
Frosted flatwoods salamander
Frosted flatwoods salamander in St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, Florida
Frosted flatwoods salamander
Frosted flatwoods salamander, St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, Florida
Black and white Tegu lizard in the Florida Everglades grass.
Black and white Tegu lizard in the Florida Everglades grass.
Lush thicket of Staghorn Coral in the Dry Tortugas National Park
Lush thicket of staghorn coral in the Dry Tortugas National Park
Beach-monitoring video camera atop hotel in Madeira Beach, Florida
USGS research oceanographers Jenna Brown and Joe Long installed this video camera atop the Shoreline Island Resort hotel in Madeira Beach, Florida. Starting in February 2017, the camera has recorded video for 17 minutes every hour during daylight hours. Selected images are posted at https://
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Discussing corals as climate change recorders at an outreach event
USGS scientists Lauren Toth and Jen Flannery of the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center discuss how they study corals to better understand past climate change. The Center participates in the St. Petersburg Science Festival each year.
USGS storm-tide sensor
This U.S. Geological Survey storm-tide sensor was installed on a pier pylon near Big Talbot Island State Park in Duval County, Florida, in preparation for Hurricane Matthew's arrival.
Cyanobacterial blooms in 2016 on Lake Okeechobee, Florida
Cyanobacterial blooms, such as the one shown that occurred in 2016 on Lake Okeechobee, Florida, can release toxins.
Oaxaca Cave Sleeper is a newly discovered species
This Oaxaca Cave Sleeper is one of thirteen specimens collected from a cave beneath a reservoir on Mexico's Tonto River. It lacks eyes, is unpigmented, and has sensory adaptations characteristic of fish that live in total darkness. Thuis is the holotype, the example used to describe and name this newly identified species. Credit: Howard L. Jelks and Stephen J. Walsh, USGS
A laboratory specimen shows the cavefish's absence of eyes
A laboratory preparation of a Oaxaca Cave Sleeper specimen shows the absence of eyes in this newly identified cavefish species. Credit: Stephen J. Walsh, USGS
Wave runup during Tropical Storm Colin at Madeira Beach, Florida
This short video demonstrates wave runup and setup on a beach on a stormy day during Tropical Storm Colin. The camera, positioned in the surf zone, shows a multistory building in the background, while waves run up the shallow beach and wash sand from the eroded dune edge (scarp). The vegetation that normally protects the dune has dangling roots where the sand has been
Total Water Level and Coastal Change Forecast Viewer
Screenshot of Total Water Level and Coastal Change Forecast Viewer on June 4, 2016, two days before Tropical Storm Colin was expected to hit Florida’s Gulf of Mexico coast. This forecast is for Treasure Island (blue balloon on map) on the day of Colin’s arrival (June 6, 2016). Top
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With the release of US Topo maps for Florida and Illinois, the continental US is now covered with the new digital quadrangles
Davie, FL. -- A new online tool will make data on several of Florida’s threatened and endangered species—including the Florida panther, American crocodile, and Key deer—more readily accessible to resource managers and planners.
Sandy beaches and barrier islands along the northern Gulf of Mexico are highly vulnerable to beach and dune erosion as Hurricane Isaac makes landfall this week, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey assessment. The projections also show which coastal areas may see storm-surge topping sand dunes and beaches.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Seventy-eight percent of Florida's west central coast and 23 percent of the Panhandle are very likely to face beach and dune erosion as Tropical Storm Isaac moves into the area early next week, according to an assessment released by the U.S. Geological Survey on Friday. These numbers are likely to increase if the storm reaches hurricane strength as predicted.
While many Florida residents breathed a collective sigh of relief Wednesday after Tropical Storm Debby made its way across the state and into the Atlantic, officials caution that flooding may continue in some locations for a number of days.
TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tampa office of U.S. Geological Survey Florida Water Science Center will relocate from its current location near the University of South Florida to an industrial park in Lutz in August.
For the first time, scientists have measured the amount of dissolved organic carbon and mercury moving from a southwest Florida mangrove swamp via tides to coastal waters. The scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey discovered that a large amount of mercury and methylmercury–the form of mercury that is most toxic and the form that accumulates in fish–flows from mangroves into...
Study Offers Clues to Loggerheads' Elusive Habits at Sea
Three non-native fish species have been spotted in Florida waters again this past year after not being seen for as many as 19 years. The fishes -- a panther grouper, spotted scat, and yellow tang -- were found off West Palm, Stuart and Pompano Beach.
Streamflow and groundwater conditions in southwestern Georgia and adjacent parts of Florida and Alabama continued to worsen during July. Waterways in many of the regions rivers are setting new record lows with gauges on the Flint, Suwannee, Ochlocknee, Alapaha, and Apalachicola rivers recording the lowest water levels in their history due to lower than normal rainfall.
A manatee spotted this week in Calvert County, Maryland is the same one that first made waves 17 years ago when he appeared in Chesapeake Bay just before the onset of winter and later had to be rescued.
Harvesting the bountiful and renewable energy of the Florida sun, a new solar heating system that will reduce carbon dioxide emissions and save on energy costs is being installed at the U.S. Geological Survey facility in St. Petersburg, Fla. Evacuated-tube solar collectors will supplement the current natural-gas boiler to provide heat in the winter and reheat conditioned air in the summer.
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Locations
Wetland and Aquatic Research Center - Gainesville, FL
Phone: 352-378-8181
Fax: 352-378-4956
Caribbean-Florida Water Science Center - Lutz, FL Office
Phone: (813) 498-5000
Fax: (813) 498-5002
St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
Phone: (727) 502-8000
Fax: (727) 502-8181
USGS-St. Petersburg Carbon Analytical Laboratory
USGS Everglades Research Offices
Phone: 305-242-7834
Caribbean-Florida Water Science Center - Fort Myers, FL Field Office
Phone: (239) 275-8448
Fax: (239) 275-6820
Caribbean Florida Water Science Center - Tallahassee, FL Field Office
Phone: (850) 553-3640
Fax: (805) 553-3641
Caribbean-Florida Water Science Center - Orlando, FL Field Office
Phone: (407) 803-5500
Fax: (407) 803-5501
Caribbean-Florida Water Science Center - Davie, FL Field Office
Phone: (954) 377-5900
Fax: (954) 377-5901
