USGS Wildland Fire Science
USGS science helps understand the causes, consequences, and benefits of wildfire and helps prevent and manage larger, catastrophic events.
USGS science helps understand the causes, consequences, and benefits of wildfire and helps prevent and manage larger, catastrophic events.
USGS Drought Science
Helping managers understand the interactions that determine the magnitude and impact of drought on water availability and ecosystems across the Nation
Helping managers understand the interactions that determine the magnitude and impact of drought on water availability and ecosystems across the Nation
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.
Newsletter - EcoNews
Newsletter - EcoNews
This quarterly newsletter highlights ecosystems science and activities coming out of our Science Centers and Cooperative Research Units across the Nation.
Webinar - Friday's Findings
Webinar - Friday's Findings
A public webinar series meant to offer our audience an opportunity to discover the Ecosystems science capacity within the USGS.
Where's our Science?
Where's our Science?
Find out where Ecosystems Science Centers, Field Stations, Climate Adaptation Science Centers, and Cooperative Research Units are located.
News
Ecological benefits and risks of fuel breaks vary across the sagebrush biome
Ecological benefits and risks of fuel breaks vary across the sagebrush biome
Earth Science Matters - Volume 19, Winter 2024
Earth Science Matters - Volume 19, Winter 2024
2024 Year in Review
2024 Year in Review
Publications
Understanding and predicting infection dynamics for an endangered amphibian using long-term surveys of wild and translocated frogs
Amphibians are a prominent component of Earth's sixth mass extinction and the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is a primary driver of declines. Although Bd dynamics are well studied, the environmental drivers, exacerbating risk factors, and value of conservation interventions like translocations remain challenging to predict. Here, we present results from two decades...
Parentage and sibship relationships among captive snakes at the Phoenix Zoo—2024 data summary
IntroductionThe narrow-headed gartersnake (Thamnophis rufipunctatus) is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2014). This species has a strong association with aquatic habitats, and these habitats have been highly altered by impoundments, land-use changes, and the introduction and spread of non-native aquatic species, which contributed to...
Predictions of elk and chronic wasting disease dynamics at the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming, and surrounding areas
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Elk Refuge (NER) in Jackson, Wyoming, supplementally feeds Cervus elaphus canadensis (elk) and Bison bison (American bison) during winter months, but the costs and benefits of this management strategy are being reevaluated considering the potential effects of chronic wasting disease (CWD) on elk. U.S. Geological Survey scientists worked with...
Science
Sagebrush Keystone Initiative
Encompassing over 175 million acres, America’s “Sagebrush Sea” is the largest terrestrial ecosystem in the lower 48 states. A predominately shrubland system, this landscape ranges over deserts, valleys, mountains, and mesas from the Canadian border to our southwestern deserts. The sagebrush ecosystem – the ancestral homeland of many Tribal Nations – supports critical agricultural and recreation...
USGS at the 2025 Philadelphia Flower Show
USGS returns to the Philadelphia Flower Show in 2025 with an exhibit themed around bees, birds and blooms. We hope to see you in March!
Mapping wild horse densities across broad landscapes of the Western United States
Researchers at USGS are using historical wild horse survey and monitoring records to conduct a study of horse density across sagebrush ecosystems of the western United States. Researchers will develop generalized density maps for the species that will enhance concurrent evaluations into the ecological effects of wild horse populations.