Images

Dawn Childs SCUBA dives on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, at night. Dawn is an Information Specialist with the Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program in the Ecosystems Mission Area, USGS.

Crocodilians are one of the few reptile taxa that exhibit parental care. In alligators, following nest construction, females stay nearby in a guard hole, and are known to defend their nests against predators or other intruders.

Lake Sturgeon caught on the Gasconade River, Missouri.

Rainbow trout are native only to the western United States but are stocked widely throughout the country to increase fishing opportunities for anglers. Competitive interactions have been shown to be condition specific (for example, water temperature) and, thus, may only occur seasonally or under certain environmental conditions.

Jazmyn Bernard, an undergraduate student in the School of Renewable Natural Resources, dredges oysters in Sister Lake, Louisiana. Across coastal areas of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill resulted in significant ecological injury and over $8 billion directed to restoration activities.

Amelia DuVall is a seabird ecologist and a member of the Quantitative Conversation Lab at the Washington Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. Amelia's taking samples of a Scripps’ murrelet chick.

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is frequently queried regarding the general status of endangered and threatened mussels in Missouri, a question that will remain incompletely answered until a sufficiently rigorous and comprehensive assessment and monitoring framework is implemented in Missouri.

Blue vane traps are one method used to collect bees in experimental study fields and are then emptied after 24 hrs. Bee tissues are undergoing analyses for pesticide residues.

Limited information is available about the movements of riverine smallmouth bass in landscapes with prevalent river-reservoir interfaces. This lack of information is especially problematic for the Neosho subspecies of smallmouth bass given the distribution covers an interwoven landscape of rivers and reservoirs.

Researcher swabs the body of a honeybee with fuschin gel to later use to identify the pollen particles on the bee's body and determine what plants the bee visited.

Mark Ford and his graduate students at the Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (Ecosystems Mission Area, USGS), on the Virginia Tech campus, lead research on white-nose syndrome in bats across the mid-Atlantic states and northeast U.S. The research focuses on habitat use, distribution, and population ecology.

The Riverside East Solar Energy Zone is a vast area in southern California designated for large-scale solar development. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is charged with monitoring wildlife in this area to minimize the effects of the solar production on wildlife species.

USGS and other scientists have studied in-depth alligator populations in Florida and Louisiana, but basic ecological knowledge is lacking for populations at the northern edge of their range.

South Carolina alligators occupy a patchwork of diverse habitats, including rivers, lakes, wooded swamps, tidal marshes, and impounded freshwater wetlands. As a mobile, opportunistic predator, alligators seasonally adjust their habitat use for feeding.

Reports of golden eagle mortality linked to wind energy facilities are cause for concern especially when coupled with the knowledge that golden eagles move great distances between breeding and wintering areas. Mortalities at a particular wind energy facility can consequently affect breeding populations of golden eagles at local and continent-wide scales.

Student volunteers are trained to scan historic library materials. The materials can be complex, consisting of multiple parts.

Led by Dr. Al Zale with the Montana Cooperative Fishery Research Unit at Montana State University, researchers Michael Lance and T. David Ritter are working closely with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks personnel, local landowners, and engineers to study salmonid movements in the popular Smith River system in central Montana.

Researcher wearing blue gloves holds a northern long-eared bat during a field trip to Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. 

An example of a riparian system within the rugged desert landscape. Zone-tailed Hawks nested in the trees in the bottom of the canyon. 

Student dusts the Model A Ford coupe used by USGS scientists from the 1930s to 1965. 

The Smithsonian Natural History Museum offers hands-on learning experiences.