Species of Management Concern

USGS is working with partners to understand how the federally protected Florida manatee ( Trichechus manatus latirostris) population changes over time and responds to threats.

"BearTrak" is an app that provides a central repository for Louisiana black bear tracking data, allowing managers to access information more quickly and reliably. USGS science was used in the decision to delist the species from the Endangered Species Act in 2016. Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries continues to monitor the Louisiana black bear population.

A multi-agency effort assesses the health of manatees and provides baseline information on their health, reproductive status, and nutritional condition.

USGS WARC ecologists are assisting partners in conducting avian surveys on Chandeleur Islands during the pre-restoration monitoring phase to document threatened and endangered species, species richness and diversity, species abundance, and habitat use.

USGS will deploy a small, portable radar aboard a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel to measure the abundance, geographic distribution, and flight altitude of birds migrating across the continental shelf of the northern Gulf.

In response to declining populations, researchers at WARC are collecting data on demographics, movement patterns and habitat use, ecological niche and foraging ecology, and nesting ecology of diamondback terrapins.

The federally threatened piping plover relies on sand-beach habitat year-round for nesting, foraging, and roosting, habitat that is particularly vulnerable to loss and degradation from coastal development, recreation activities, erosion, and sea-level rise.

USGS is partnering with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to digitize 20 years of historic sea turtle relocation trawling reports from over 50 sites across nine states.

The over-arching goal of GoAMAPPS is to collect broad-scale survey data for seabirds, marine mammals and sea turtles to determine distribution and abundance in the Gulf.

A new study aims to collect information on sturgeon temporal and spatial distribution to inform offshore wind energy and sand leasing operations.

USGS researchers are examining germination of Purple Loosestrife to determine if the seed bank can reestablish this invasive species in the Mississippi Delta.

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.