Tools for Landscape Assessment

The USGS is developing science and decision support tools to inform policy and management decisions about various aspects of the energy development life cycle.

Recent advances in molecular biology allow us to develop and apply the tools and concepts of molecular genetics to the conservation of biological resources. Working with our partners, we design and implement studies that provide genetic and genomic information for a broad range of applications, as detailed below.

The Information Science Branch develops and applies approaches that integrate natural science, computer technology, and information management to address key natural resource issues. Branch staff work with USGS scientists and data managers to convert field observations into GIS-oriented data and metadata products. The Branch also supports ecological and landscape modeling, including the...

True data integration across many databases and projects requires new thinking about the design of data collection and distribution applications. Working with multiple USGS partners, the Information Science Branch researched and designed a new approach to software development and deployment that maintains function-based containers connected by web services. This component approach provides...

A central focus of this program is to conduct multi-scale assessments in order to develop related geospatial decision-support tools and methods. The program includes synthesizing broad-scale datasets and developing innovative approaches to assess the vulnerability and resilience of wildlife habitats and ecosystems, relative to land management decisions and ecosystem stressors on Department of the...

The mission of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Sustaining Environmental Capital Initiative (SECI) is to develop and enhance science and research on ecosystem services in support of improving natural resource management. This effort is in response to the fourth recommendation of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) July 2011 report: "Federal agencies with...

As the Nation strives to lessen its dependence on foreign oil, domestic energy production has increased dramatically. This is especially true for renewable energy sources such as wind: from 2007 to 2009, for example, wind energy development increased 341 percent in Wyoming (Fig. 1, Science tab), and it continues on that trajectory today. However, the effects of renewable energy development on...

The Information Science Branch developed a set of performance, security, and resiliency models to evaluate information architectures optimized for cloud hosting solutions.

Increased wildfire-induced loss of sagebrush in North American shrublands are outpacing natural recovery and leading to substantial habitat loss for sagebrush-obligate species like sage-grouse. The products and information developed for this project will help restoration practitioners, biologists, and land managers evaluate the efficacy of sagebrush restoration approaches as well as their ability...