Images

View of the Green River near New Hradec, North Dakota.

Biologist Dave Combs, holds female pallid sturgeon PLS11-007 recaptured on March 15, 2012.  This female is in reproductive condition and will spawn in the spring of 2012.

Barred owls (Strix varia) have expanded their geographic range from eastern to western North America. Their newly expanded range now completely overlaps that of the federally threatened northern spotted owl (S. occidentalis caurina).

This female Burmese python broke the records for her length -- 17 feet, 7 inches – and the number of eggs she contained: 87. She was first captured in Everglades National Park by USGS researchers in the spring of 2012, when they followed a "Judas snake" -- a male python with a transmitter -- and found her nearby in the bushes.

Fungi growing from soil collected in a cave. Arrow points to Geomyces destuctans, the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome in bats.

Amount of soil (about 200 mg) from which Geomyces destructans was cultured. This shows the small amount of soil needed to harbor live fungus and the threat that humans might pose in moving it around from cave to cave on their gear, boots, and clothing.

A boar of about 260 pounds near Pecan Island, Louisiana, with LOTEK tracking collar attached and ready for release.

A sleet storm approaches the sagebrush habitat at the south end Stinkingwater Mountians near Warm Springs Reservoir in eastern Oregon

From 2012-2013, telemetry data were collected from nine eagles outfitted with a backpack holding a global positioning system-global system for mobile communications, or GPS-GSM, telemetry system. The telemetry system recorded and stored a GPS location every 15-minutes and sent the locations, via the GSM – or mobile phone – network, to a server once per day.

Researchers use a net to pull an endangered wild manatee onto the beach in order to conduct a physical examination. Information on manatee biology in Crystal River enables biologists to better understand the complex issues confronting this fragile species.

Graduate student holds a pallid sturgeon. The goal of this study is to assess latitudinal variation in growth rates of pallid sturgeon and shovelnose sturgeon and determine how those rates are affected by diet and temperature.

Research of the Montana Cooperative Fishery Research Unit will continue to focus on applied fisheries-management problems and issues. Our studies are initiated in response to the needs of the Cooperators and other management agencies and are designed to provide information useful in directly improving management of aquatic resources.

Opening of a large lava tube at El Malpais National Monument in western New Mexico and likely roost for bats, 2011.

View from sandstone bluff overlooking extinct lava flows at El Malpais National Monument, New Mexico.

A beard lichen (Usnea sp.) grows on an Island Oak on Santa Rosa Island and helps to create the fog precipitation.

Elk in the Beartooth Mountains, Wyoming. The USGS and partners study the effects of climate change on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. 

Source: USGS National Wetlands Research Center. Photographer: Brad M. Glorioso. Calling male; Coldwater River National Wildlife Refuge, Mississippi

Anaxyrus fowleri - Fowler's Toad

Capturing juvenile Chinook salmon in Cougar Reservoir, Oregon using a Lampara net.

USGS scientist Dave Brandt holds a captured whooping crane while Dr. Barry Hartup with the International Crane Foundation assesses the bird's health before marking.

Ambystoma californiense - California Tiger Salamander is a A dark brown salamander with yellow spots.

Fishing guide Camp Walker, Catalyst Charters, of Islamorada, Fla.,  took this photo of a Burmese python swimming in Florida Bay from the end of Twisty Channel toward End Key on Nov. 16, 2011.