Taxonomic Group

USGS researchers will characterize the ecology of benthic invertebrates associated with deep-sea environments and broader food-web dynamics within hardground features, seeps, and adjacent soft sediments. This project will provide important information regarding deepwater benthic habitats, such as chemosynthetic communities and deep-sea corals, that could be affected by offshore wind development.

Renewable energy development is expanding in southwestern deserts, including in Arizona. Energy developers look to resource management agencies to provide siting guidance on public lands where there might be conflicts with wildlife. Often, agency guidance considers species of conservation concern and economic importance, but information on comprehensive vertebrate biodiversity has been hard to...