USGS EcoNews - Vol. 2 | Issue 1
New Study Reveals Hidden Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on Inland Freshwater Fisheries
A recent PNAS brief report by an international group of authors, including National CASC fish biologist Abby Lynch, found that the COVID-19 pandemic has had highly variable effects on inland fisheries across the world.
Wildfires in Old Mining Areas Pose Risk to Water Quality
This article is part of the Fall 2020 issue of the Earth Science Matters Newsletter.
Environmental Health Program Drinking Water Science
Drinking water in the United States rarely is tested for contaminants and pathogens at the tap, where human exposure can occur. In this special issue, we present the science to help understand contaminants and pathogens in drinking water at business and residential taps.
Our New Team
Islands to Interfaces: Integrating Field Biology with Computer Science to Address Wildlife Survey Challenges
The USGS Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit is collaborating with faculty and graduate and undergraduate students in wildlife ecology, remote sensing, and computer science at the University of Maine to investigate the efficacy of using a variety of data collection approaches to survey colonial nesting birds in Maine.
Assessing Consequences of Human Activity on Wildlife Populations
Human activity sometimes stresses or kills individual animals. Most of the tools we have to address this problem are focused on those individuals. We have limited ways to understand how human activity impacts wildlife populations. USGS scientists have developed a new tool to help managers understand the effects of human stressors on wildlife populations.
Invasive Carp Control: Carbon Dioxide
Invasive carps (silver, bighead, black, grass) cause considerable economic and ecological damage to important fishery and water resources in the United States. Carbon dioxide (CO2) applied into water is being developed as a new chemical method to control invasive carps and other aquatic invasive species. Ongoing studies are evaluating the effectiveness of CO2 as a behavioral deterrent to limit range expansion by blocking upstream migrations and as a lethal control to manage existing populations. Development of CO2 as a chemical control could provide resource managers with a simple, cost-effective, widely available tool to support Integrated Pest Management plans. Current efforts are focused on maintaining CO2 pesticide registration; determining the efficacy of CO2 as fish deterrent strategy; determining the efficacy of CO2 as a lethal control; developing engineering designs for large-scale CO2 infusion systems; evaluating the effects of CO2 on non-target organisms; and expanding uses to address other aquatic invasive species issues.
Chronic Wasting Disease: Can Science Save Our Dear Deer?
Chronic wasting disease is as ominous as it sounds for North American cervids.
Webinar Series - Friday's Findings
Friday's Findings is a public webinar series hosted by the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area. These half hour webinars are meant to provide listeners an overview of the science topic and chance to ask questions. We hope to offer our audience an opportunity to discover the Ecosystems science capacity within the USGS.
USGS Ecosystems Podcast Series - Outstanding in the Field
The USGS Ecosystems Mission Area brings you Outstanding in the Field, an original podcast series that tells stories about our science, our adventures, and our efforts to better understand fish and wildlife and the ecosystems that support them.