Ecological Stressors

Through a collaborative effort with other federal agencies and academic and research institutions, the USGS is working to inform and enhance the protection and management of coral communities in mesophotic and deep benthic areas of the Gulf of Mexico.

Researchers are investigating beach compaction, the incubation environment for turtle nests, and shorebird nest abundance at beaches throughout the southeastern United States to better understand the impacts of beach compaction to nesting turtles and foraging seabirds.

USGS scientists are working with partners at the Puget Sound Partnership and the State of Washington’s Department of Ecology to develop two new tools to help us understand how human disturbance affects life at the top of Puget Sound: a Marine Benthic Index and a graphical causal model.

A USGS multi-disciplinary team will use laboratory and modeling approaches to investigate the cause of stony coral tissue loss disease.

USGS will collaborate with the Miccosukee and Seminole Tribes to co-design a dashboard mock-up for a real-time web application that monitors tree island health in the Everglades.

USGS Researchers at the Wetland and Aquatic Research Center and the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center will provide valuable information to natural resource managers on how important coastal ecosystems in the National Park Service South Atlantic-Gulf Region may change over time. This information could assist with future-focused land management and stewardship.

One of the largest and most expensive restoration efforts in the world is the restoration of the Everglades, a sub-tropical freshwater wetland system located in southern Florida. This unique ecosystem supports several endemic and endangered species, provides flood control for Florida’s large urban population, and provides water for both the agricultural and drinking supply within the state. The Co

USGS Researchers are collaborating to study avian and mammalian cells to detect sublethal toxin effects following exposure to harmful algal blooms.

USGS scientists will be analyzing weather surveillance radar observations of birds departing stopover habitats to measure responses to climate change.

Sampling for Gulf Coast waterdogs is providing essential information to better understand the factors that impact the species' occupancy across Louisiana.

The U.S. Geological Survey Amphibian Research Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) is using a combination of swabbing, non-lethal tissue sampling, soil and water sampling, and collection of a variety of other environmental variables to determine the relationships between the prevalence and pathogen load of Bd infection and environmental stressors on green treefrog survival.

WARC researchers are gathering amphibian data to better understand the impact of natural disasters on treefrog populations and examine post-event processes.