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
Spring Fish Slam 2017 – Big Cypress
22-23 March 2017 - Ten teams of fishery biologists sampled 28 sites amid unexpected wildfires in the Big Cypress National Preserve over the two day period. On the second day a reporter from the Miami Herald accompanied a ground crew team.
Florida Non-Native Fish Action Alliance
The Florida Non-Native Fish Action Alliance brings together federal and state agencies, academic institutions, and non-governmental organizations to address the need for documenting and managing the non-native fishes introduced to the state's waters.
Seabird Research Program
The Seabird Research Program at PWRC is focused on studying the ecology of species present across the Atlantic Coast. This program was a natural progression of PWRC's historic work studying the coastal ecology of wildlife in and around the Chesapeake Bay. We now focus on the three key areas on a variety of species: physiology, avoided bycatch, and movement ecology.
Biology, Impacts and Control of Invasive Reptiles in the Everglades
Invasive species are considered to be second only to habitat degradation in terms of negative impacts on the Earth’s ecosystems, and our scientists make up a significant proportion of the global expertise in the rapidly-growing problem of invasive reptiles.
USGS Everglades Research Offices - Florida
The Daniel Beard Center in Everglades National Park provides the base for most of the field work done on the control of invasive reptiles by USGS Fort Collins Science Center staff. The team works in Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge, and other parts of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem focusing on, among other species of concern,...
Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) - Southeast Region Water Quality
The U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) began in 2000 with the goal of determining the status and trends of amphibian populations throughout the U.S. The program was designed to provide information useful in determining causes of declines or other changes in population distributions. Personnel in the South Atlantic Water Science Center are...
Fish Slam - Fall 2016
November 1 - 2, 2016 – Eight teams of fishery biologists from the US Geological Survey (USGS), US Fish and Wildlife Service - Peninsular Florida Fisheries Office and Welaka National Fish Hatchery (USFWS), the National Park Service (NPS), Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Florida International University (FIU), and Zoo Miami sampled 20 sites for non-native fishes in Palm...
Demographic and Population Models to Assess Recovery and Status of the Endangered Florida Manatee
Population models developed by USGS are the primary decision-support tools used for status assessments, and rely on estimates of adult survival and reproduction rates from mark-recapture studies.
Modeling, Estimation, and Adaptive Management of Florida Manatees
The Challenge: Florida manatees are threatened by watercraft-related mortality, the potential loss of warmwater habitat, red tide events, and other anthropogenic factors. The USFWS and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have regulatory authorities under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), and state statutes to recover manatees. To...
Modeling Past Variation in Florida Manatee Survival, Breeding, and Movements Rates to Establish Baselines for Aquatic Ecosystem and Restoration Research
Long-term monitoring data in the Manatee Individual Photo-identification System (MIPS), developed and coordinated by WARC-Sirenia Project in collaboration with Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute and Mote Marine Laboratory, are the basis for modeling manatee demography rates.
Manatee Health Assessment and Biomedical Studies
A multi-agency effort assesses the health of manatees and provides baseline information on their health, reproductive status, and nutritional condition.
Manatee Photo ID as a Tool for Research: The Manatee Individual Photo-Identification System (MIPS)
Since 1978, USGS scientists have photo-documented manatees in the Southeast United States. Now, more than 3,000 manatees can be found in the MIPS database.
Prescribed Burn — Tall Timbers Research Station, FL (Footage of Drone)
See the actual drone footage at: https://www.usgs.gov/media/videos/prescribed-burn-tall-timbers-research-...
Footage of drone during a prescribed fire at Tall Timbers Research Station, Tallahassee, Florida (April 19, 2017).
Sailfin catfishes discovered in Big Cypress
The sailfin catfish is one of 13 species of nonnative fish that biologists discovered during the Fish Slam in Big Cypress National Preserve, March 23, 2017.
Non-native pike killifish from the Big Cypress
The pike killifish, native to Mexico and Central America, was one of 13 nonnative fish species that biologists discovered during the two-day Fish Slam in Big Cypress National Preserve, March 22 and 23, 2017.
Deploying survey equipment at Madeira Beach, FL
Scientists deploy a Chirp seismic instrument from the beach. Seismic data provide view of sub-seafloor geology, which records depositional and erosional events and reveals geologic controls on sediment supply.
USGS Supports Broward Water Matters Day 2017
Caribbean-Florida Water Science Center, Davie Office, supported Broward County Watter Matters Day on March 11, 2017 as part of an outreach event to the public.
http://www.broward.org/WaterMatters/Pages/ProgramsWMD.aspx
A snowflake chain? Nope. A one-celled green alga.
The desmid family of single-celled green algae are never found in abundance, says USGS biologist Barry Rosen. They inhabit the soft, slightly acidic water of wetlands that depend on rainwater, like Florida’s Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. They don’t “bloom” en masse, but their presence is an indicator of good water quality. Rosen’s research is
...Schematic showing how sediment on the seafloor moves
Schematic showing how sediment on the seafloor moves in response to a force created by the combined action of tides, ocean waves, and wind-driven currents. Sediment movement influences habitat for plants and animals, affects construction of facilities for development for offshore energy, causes suspension of contaminants such as oil that adhere to sediment particles, and
...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://
...Scientists use the word “anthropogenic” in referring to environmental change caused or influenced by people, either directly or indirectly.
The invasive giant African land snail is expanding its range in Miami, and with it, the range of the parasitic rat lungworm, according to new U.S. Geological Survey led research.
Cheryl J. Hapke begins work this week as the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey’s St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center.

Wading bird numbers in the Florida Everglades are driven by water patterns that play out over multiple years according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey and Florida Atlantic University.
Wading bird numbers in the Florida Everglades are driven by water patterns that play out over multiple years according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey and Florida Atlantic University.
The risk of extinction for the endangered Florida manatee appears to be lower, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey led study.
EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Fla.— The largest and longest Burmese Python tracking study of its kind -- here or in its native range -- is providing researchers and resource managers new information that may help target control efforts of this invasive snake, according to a new study led by the U.S. Geological Survey.
USGS scientists have updated the hydrogeologic framework for the Floridan aquifer system that underlies Florida and parts of Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina.
Many loggerhead sea turtles that nest in Dry Tortugas National Park head to rich feeding sites in the Bahamas after nesting, a discovery that may help those working to protect this threatened species
New genetic data suggest the red lionfish invasion in the Caribbean Basin and Western Atlantic started in multiple locations, not just one as previously believed, according to a new study led by the U.S. Geological Survey.
MENLO PARK, Calif.— Smartphones and other personal electronic devices could, in regions where they are in widespread use, function as early warning systems for large earthquakes according to newly reported research.
MENLO PARK, California — Los teléfonos móviles y otros dispositivos electrónicos personales podrían ayudar en las regiones donde se encuentran en uso generalizado, y pueden funcionar como sistemas de alerta para terremotos mayor según la nueva investigación científica recien publicada.