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.
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Coral Disease
We investigated coral disease processes and causes by characterizing microbial communities in diseased and healthy representatives of selected coral species both temporally and spatially by employing microarray technology. We tested the diagnostic potential of coral fluorescence for identifying disease-induced physiological stress.
American Fisheries Society Imperiled Freshwater and Diadromous Fishes of North America
This website provides access to the list of imperiled freshwater and diadromous fishes of North America as determined by the 2008 American Fisheries Society (AFS) Endangered Species Committee (ESC) on Fishes.
Mapping Mangrove Condition
Mangroves have decreased worldwide due to human development, climate change and other forces. In southwest Florida, tremendous growth and development pressure has resulted in appreciable losses in mangrove wetlands.
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.
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.
Like many Keys corals, this one has no new growth
A modern coral reef in Dry Tortugas National Park. There is little living coral and high rates of bioerosion. Photo taken under research permit number DRTO-2018-SCI-0005. Credit: Lauren Toth, USGS
1985-2018 Lionfish Invasion
Lionfish invasion (1985-2018). Lionfish invaded US Atlantic coastal waters, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico with unprecedented, alarming speed. Though reports of sightings date back to the 1980s, it is only recently that the species has exploded in numbers and range. In fact, the lionfish invasion is the
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Can you hear me now?
Steve Suttles (USGS) uses a radio to determine if an Acoustic Backscatter sensor (white circle) is still operating at the end of the deployment.
Oh Buoy!
crew of the R/V Savannah recover the buoy deployed at the offshore site to record meteorological data.
Quadpod Recovery
USGS team and R/V Savannah crew prepare to lower the quadpod deployed at the nearshore site onto the deck during recovery operations. Note all the hairy encrusting organisms that grew in 3 months and how close to the shoreline the ship is.
Fieldwork on Florida Bay Islands
A USGS researcher conducts fieldwork on Buttonwood Key, an island in Florida Bay, to determine the impacts of Hurricane Irma. The storm left thick deposits of mud on the island, which are being measured, sampled and photographed. Many of the islands in Florida Bay have open mudflats in the center, surrounded by mangroves on the perimeter.
Berm at Jim Foot Key, Florida (2018)
In Photo: The red circle indicates the same position as shown in the April 2014 photo. The mangroves have lost all their leaves and the berm is significantly thinner following the storm.
Scientists from the Florence Bascom Geoscience Center first sampled four islands in
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Field water-level monitoring gage EDEN 13
Field water-level monitoring gage EDEN 13. Photograph by Michael Oliver, U.S. Geological Survey.
U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2017–3069
Version 1.1, January 2018
USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
Elkhorn coral in Biscayne National Park
The CMHRP is testing the calcification rates of different genetic strains of threatened Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) to advise local and Federal agencies engaged in coral reef restoration. Elkhorn coral is the sole Florida-Caribbean species responsible for creating the reef crest, which is the geological feature responsible for protecting shorelines from wave
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Low dunes near Cape Canaveral launch pads often overwash during storms
Low dunes near Cape Canaveral launch pads 39A and 39B often overwash during storm events, transporting sand landward. Critical infrastructure may be buried or flooded. In addition, significant landward transport of sand may lead to extensive shoreline erosion.
Estimated and measured bathymetry offshore of Madeira Beach, Florida
Estimated and measured ocean depths (bathymetry) from Madeira Beach, Florida. Each panel shows same geographic area. m = meters. Left: Snapshot transformed from original oblique camera view to overhead “map” view. Middle: Bathymetry estimated by applying cBathy algorithm to July 2017 video imagery. Right: Bathymetry measured with sonar in February 2017. Despite being based
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With the release of new US Topo maps for Illinois and South Dakota, the USGS has completed the second, three-year cycle of revising and updating electronic US Topo quadrangles. This means that since late 2009, the USGS has published nearly every map in the conterminous U.S., twice.
Alligators and the Everglades go hand-in-hand, and as water conditions change in the greater Everglades ecosystem, gators are one of the key species that could be affected.
Alligators and the Everglades go hand-in-hand, and as water conditions change in the greater Everglades ecosystem, gators are one of the key species that could be affected.
Recently released US Topo maps for Florida now feature more trails using data provided by the U.S. Forest Service as well as trail information from other federal, state and private sources.
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.
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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