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Ecosystems Mission Area

The USGS Ecosystems Mission Area provides science that directly benefits the health, safety, and prosperity of the American people by providing trusted and timely information to help address the Nation’s toughest management and conservation issues impacting public lands and the surrounding communities that benefit from them. 

News

USGS Joins the Bird Collision Prevention Alliance to Combat Bird Collisions

USGS Joins the Bird Collision Prevention Alliance to Combat Bird Collisions

Climate change and the global redistribution of biodiversity: are expected range shifts supported by the evidence?

Climate change and the global redistribution of biodiversity: are expected range shifts supported by the evidence?

Webinar Series - Friday's Findings

Webinar Series - Friday's Findings

Publications

Coelomic foreign bodies in wild-caught Python spp. in the Greater Everglades Ecosystem, Florida, USA Coelomic foreign bodies in wild-caught Python spp. in the Greater Everglades Ecosystem, Florida, USA

Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) and African rock pythons (Python sebae) have established invasive populations in southern Florida, severely disrupting local ecosystems. We analysed necropsy data from 2,179 pythons captured between 2006 and 2022, revealing nine cases of coelomic foreign bodies, primarily consisting of bird beaks, which presumably entered the coelom following...
Authors
Gretchen E. Anderson, McKayla M. Spencer, Ray W. Snow, Andrea Currylow, Frank N. Ridgley, Bryan G. Falk, Amy A. Yackel Adams

Unintended indirect effects limit elk productivity from supplemental feeding in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Unintended indirect effects limit elk productivity from supplemental feeding in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

The widespread practice of supplemental feeding, a bottom-up forcing of resource availability, is intended to improve wildlife population health and survival. However, supplemental feeding could trigger indirect effects by altering predation rates and disease dynamics. We investigated the effects of feeding on three key elk (Cervus canadensis) population productivity metrics (calf:cow...
Authors
Brian Scott Dugovich, Emily M. Tomaszewski, Eric K. Cole, Sarah Dewey, Daniel MacNulty, Brandon Scurlock, Daniel Stahler, Paul C. Cross

Wake Atoll vessel movement biosecurity program efficacy Wake Atoll vessel movement biosecurity program efficacy

Executive SummaryThe purpose of this Wake Atoll Vessel Movement Biosecurity Program Efficacy document is to provide the United States Air Force (USAF) with an unbiased review of the current (2015; hereafter referred to as the 2015 Biosecurity Plan) biosecurity plan for the military base Wake Island Airfield (WIA) on Wake Atoll (hereafter Wake). Periodic reviews are an integral step for...
Authors
Stacie A. Hathaway, James C. Molden, Robert Peck, Kristen R. Rex, Cheryl S. Brehme, Theo Black, Robert N. Fisher

Science

USGS Ecosystems Science Strengthening America's Hunting and Fishing Heritage

USGS science is vital for securing the hunting and fishing traditions many Americans value. By studying wildlife populations, habitats, and health, the USGS provides essential information that helps ensure these outdoor activities can continue to thrive.
USGS Ecosystems Science Strengthening America's Hunting and Fishing Heritage

USGS Ecosystems Science Strengthening America's Hunting and Fishing Heritage

USGS science is vital for securing the hunting and fishing traditions many Americans value. By studying wildlife populations, habitats, and health, the USGS provides essential information that helps ensure these outdoor activities can continue to thrive.
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USGS Alaska Science Center Wildlife Tracking Data Collection

Understanding the short- and long-distance movements of wildlife is critical for a wide variety of ecological research questions and management decisions. Since the mid-1980s, the USGS Alaska Science Center has used information from telemetry devices on wildlife species to determine locations of animals throughout their annual cycles, understand patterns of habitat use, quantify time spent on...
USGS Alaska Science Center Wildlife Tracking Data Collection

USGS Alaska Science Center Wildlife Tracking Data Collection

Understanding the short- and long-distance movements of wildlife is critical for a wide variety of ecological research questions and management decisions. Since the mid-1980s, the USGS Alaska Science Center has used information from telemetry devices on wildlife species to determine locations of animals throughout their annual cycles, understand patterns of habitat use, quantify time spent on...
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Research to support conservation of America’s national mammal, the bison

Once numbering in the tens of millions, plains bison ( Bison bison bison) were nearly driven to extinction with only a few hundred individuals remaining by the late 19th century. Plains bison have since recovered to approximately 20,000 animals managed in conservation herds throughout North America, yet substantial challenges to their recovery remain. The Department of the Interior (DOI) stewards...
Research to support conservation of America’s national mammal, the bison

Research to support conservation of America’s national mammal, the bison

Once numbering in the tens of millions, plains bison ( Bison bison bison) were nearly driven to extinction with only a few hundred individuals remaining by the late 19th century. Plains bison have since recovered to approximately 20,000 animals managed in conservation herds throughout North America, yet substantial challenges to their recovery remain. The Department of the Interior (DOI) stewards...
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