Images

Scientists sample a rough-skinned newt for the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, or Bsal, at a pond near Portland, Oregon. Bsal is decimating wild salamander populations in Europe and could emerge in the U.S. thro

To investigate whether insects could be used as bioindicators of climate change, USGS researchers studied insect community composition along an elevation gradient in semi-arid shrublands of eastern Oregon.

A snag - or dead tree- remaining after timber harvest on BLM land in Eugene, OR. The western purple martin, a declining songbird species, depends on snags for nesting.

NPS/USGS remote den camera. Fisher family denning in a mountain beaver burrow. Look carefully! Two fisher kits in front of their den site in a mountain beaver burrow (foreground) with mom (background left) watching on. The kits are about 4-5 months old.

The 2016 SageSTEP field crew.  They are collecting vegetation monitoring data at SageSTEP's (Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Project) Moses Coulee site.  SageSTEP is a regional experiment evaluating methods of sagebrush steppe restoration in the Great Basin.

Biological soil crusts, or biocrusts, are lichens, mosses, and cyanobacteria that grow on the soil surface and are common in the spaces between native plants in arid and semi-arid systems. Biocrusts reduce soil erosion, contribute to nutrient and water cycling, and reduce evaporation and invasion by exotic plants.

USGS researchers Brome McCreary (orange vest) and Chris Pearl take measurements on Cascades frog at a mountain lake in Oregon.

Anna Ormiston and Jesi Hessong, student contractors with the USGS Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative, or ARMI, display several discarded mylar balloon collected by field teams working in and around the Capital Region National Parks in the summer of 2015. They collected a total of 71 balloons.

Determining aboveground biomass of sagebrush, grasses, and forbs is important for estimating fuel loads, measuring carbon storage, and assessing habitat quality in shrublands. Remote sensing may offer a more efficient alternative to common, labor intensive methods of measuring aboveground biomass that are difficult to apply across large areas.

USGS scientists monitor BLM efforts to restore vegetation in the area burned byt he 2015 Soda Fire in southwest Idaho and southeast Oregon sagebrush-steppe.

Samples from various aquatic species and other material necessary to create environemntal DNA (eDNA) assays are stored at the Snake River Field Station in Boise. Water samples from aquatic ecosystems are compared against the assays to identify the presence and location of species in those ecosystems.

Samples collected form coho salmon that will be used to develop environmental DNA (eDNA) assays for the species. Water samples from aquatic ecosystems are compared against the assays to identify the presence and location of species in those ecosystems.

A wind farm on Kibby Mountain in western Maine. Researchers at the Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center are collecting remains from birds and bats found dead at renewable energy facilities across the country. 

Sagebrush seedlings grown at Birds of Prey National Conservation Area before outplanting to sites at BOP NCA in Nov 2012 in sites previously burned in wildfire summer 2012

Scenic view from Siuslaw National Forest, OR.

Sagebrush seedlings grown at Birds of Prey National Conservation Area before outplanting to sites at BOP NCA in Nov 2012 in sites previously burned in wildfire summer 2012

Snags provide habitat for a wide range of organisms from cavity-nesting birds to insects, and are critical for maintaining forest biodiversity. Resource managers can create snags by topping trees to mitigate loss of snags to timber harvest, but information regarding changes in habitat for snag-dependent wildlife over time as created snags decay is lacking.

Joan Hagar and Amy Comstock assess the long-term ecological value and characteristics of snags created for wildlife

Joan Hagar and Amy Comstock assess the long-term ecological value and characteristics of snags created for wildlife

Northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) are mostly non-migratory, long-lived birds whose populations have declined in mature forests of western North America.

A pair of American avocets wading in a saline lake in the Great Basin. Many bird species rely on food resources found in saline lakes, such as brine shrimp and brine flies.