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Ecosystems Mission Area

The USGS Ecosystems Mission Area provides science to help America achieve sustainable management and conservation of biological resources in wild and urban spaces, and places in between.

News

Friday's FIndings - May 24, 2024

Friday's FIndings - May 24, 2024

Living with Wildfire: The Wildfire Research Team adds new USGS-led collaborator report to their series on projects informing community wildfire risk mitigation

Living with Wildfire: The Wildfire Research Team adds new USGS-led collaborator report to their series on projects informing community wildfire risk mitigation

USGS Scientist Discusses Using DNA to Assist with Aquatic Invasive Species Management in BioScience Podcast

USGS Scientist Discusses Using DNA to Assist with Aquatic Invasive Species Management in BioScience Podcast

Publications

U.S. Geological Survey—Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center 2021–23 research activity report

The mission of Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center is to provide scientific information needed to conserve and manage the Nation’s natural capital for current and future generations, with an emphasis on migratory birds, Department of the Interior trust resources, and ecosystems of the Nation’s interior. This report provides an overview of the studies conducted at Northern Prairie during fisc

Impacts of artificial rearing on cisco Coregonus artedi morphology, including pugheadedness

Cisco (Coregonus artedi Lesueur, 1818) in the Laurentian Great Lakes declined throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Managers are attempting to restore Great Lakes cisco and other coregonines using multiple approaches, including stocking. A potential obstacle to these efforts is that artificially reared coregonines can display deformities and morphological differences compared to wild fish, but t
Authors
Andrew Edgar Honsey, Katie Victoria Anweiler, David Bunnell, Cory Brant, Georgia Wende Hoffman, Brian O'Malley, Kevin Keeler, Chris Olds, Jeremy Kraus, Yu-Chun Kao, Wendylee Stott

Dryland soil recovery after disturbance across soil and climate gradients of the Colorado Plateau

Drylands impacted by energy development often require costly reclamation activities to reconstruct damaged soils and vegetation, yet little is known about the effectiveness of reclamation practices in promoting recovery of soil quality due to a lack of long-term and cross-site studies. Here, we examined paired on-pad and adjacent undisturbed off-pad soil properties over a 22-year chronosequence of
Authors
Kathryn Delores Eckhoff, Sasha C. Reed, John B. Bradford, Nikita C. Daly, Keven Griffen, Robin H. Reibold, Randi Lupardus, Seth M. Munson, Aarin Sengsirirak, Miguel L. Villarreal, Michael C. Duniway

Science

Walrus Research

The USGS Alaska Science Center conducts long-term research on the Pacific walrus to provide scientific information to Department of Interior management agencies and Alaska Native co-management partners. In addition, the USGS Pacific walrus research program collaborates with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the State of Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game and Alaska Native co...
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Walrus Research

The USGS Alaska Science Center conducts long-term research on the Pacific walrus to provide scientific information to Department of Interior management agencies and Alaska Native co-management partners. In addition, the USGS Pacific walrus research program collaborates with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the State of Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game and Alaska Native co...
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Expanding Distribution of Chronic Wasting Disease

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) has been detected in 34 US states and five Canadian provinces in free-ranging cervids and/or commercial captive cervid facilities. CWD has been detected in free-ranging cervids in 34 states and four provinces and in captive cervid facilities in 19 states and three provinces.
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Expanding Distribution of Chronic Wasting Disease

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) has been detected in 34 US states and five Canadian provinces in free-ranging cervids and/or commercial captive cervid facilities. CWD has been detected in free-ranging cervids in 34 states and four provinces and in captive cervid facilities in 19 states and three provinces.
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2022 Year in Review

This has been another outstanding year for the CRU Program, and I am pleased to provide you with our 2022 Year in Review report. Highlights of this past year include the creation of our 42nd unit at Michigan State University and the completion of hiring activities for 37 new unit scientists in 31 States. In this report, you will learn more about the spectacular accomplishments of our students...
link

2022 Year in Review

This has been another outstanding year for the CRU Program, and I am pleased to provide you with our 2022 Year in Review report. Highlights of this past year include the creation of our 42nd unit at Michigan State University and the completion of hiring activities for 37 new unit scientists in 31 States. In this report, you will learn more about the spectacular accomplishments of our students...
Learn More