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At least 379 records · Page 21Linked to original sources
USGS2022

Using in situ/ex situ research collaborations to support polar bear conservation

A warming Arctic threatens the long-term persistence of polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ) in the wild. Historically, little collaboration existed between the in situ and ex situ polar bear scientific communities. However, for the past decade, zoo professionals, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) have partnered to leverage resources and expertise with the goal of addressing science needs and enhancing polar bear conservation efforts. We discuss examples where collaborative efforts have addressed polar bear research needs and highlight opportunities for future integrated in situ and ex situ research.

Book chapter↗
USGS2018

Evaluation of sockeye salmon after passage through an innovative upstream fish-passage system at Cle Elum Dam, Washington, 2017

Executive Summary The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology), working with the Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project Workgroup (composed of representatives of the Yakama Nation; Federal, State, county, and city governments; environmental organizations; and irrigation districts), developed the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan (Integrated Plan). The Integrated Plan identifies a comprehensive approach to water resources and ecosystem restoration improvements in the Yakima Basin to be implemented over a 30-year period. The Integrated Plan includes seven elements: Reservoir fish passage, Structural and operational changes to existing facilities, Surface water storage, Groundwater storage, Habitat/watershed protection and enhancement, Enhanced water conservation, and Market reallocation. The first listed element, reservoir fish passage, will be expensive and take many years to accomplish. Reclamation and Ecology decided to look at new and innovative means to provide passage that could help reduce project cost and construction timing while maintaining survival rates of traditional upstream passage facilities. Reclamation contracted with the U.S. Geological Survey to do a study to evaluate the outcome of passage through one innovative fish-passage system at Cle Elum Dam, the first Integrated Plan reservoir fish-passage project being implemented.

Washington↗
USGS2022

Projecting the remaining habitat for the western spadefoot (Spea hammondii) in heavily urbanized southern California

Extensive urbanization in coastal southern California has reduced natural habitat in this biodiversity hotspot. To better conserve ecological communities, state and federal agencies, along with local jurisdictions and private stakeholders, developed regional conservation plans for southern California. Although many protected areas exist within this region, the patchwork nature of these protected areas might not provide good coverage for species that require multiple habitat components, such as amphibians with complex life histories. Because of declines in the past century, the status of the western spadefoot ( Spea hammondii ) in southern California is of concern to state and federal wildlife agencies. Species distribution models (SDMs) can aid in determining the conservation status of imperiled species by projecting where suitable habitat remains and how much is protected from further development. We built SDMs that integrated site-occupancy data from systematic pitfall trapping surveys and presence-only data from biodiversity databases and citizen science platforms to project the current distribution of western spadefoots in southern California. Western spadefoot occurrence was positively related to the cover of grassland or shrub/scrub and the % sand in the soil within a 1000 m buffer, and was negatively related to slope, elevation, and distance to ephemeral streams or vernal pools . Most of the remaining unprotected habitat for western spadefoots is in the southern half of its historical range in western San Diego and Riverside counties. A few large tracts of spadefoot habitat exist on U.S. Department of Defense lands and smaller tracts remain on ecological reserves owned by state and local government agencies. Only small patches of habitat remain in the northern half of this clade’s historical range in Ventura, Orange, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino counties. Existing regional conservation plans provide ostensible spatial coverage of the majority of extant habitat for western spadefoots in southern California, but most of the habitat within the jurisdiction of these plans lacks formal protection, exposing this species to further declines as urbanization continues in the 21st century.

California↗
USGS2024

Food-web dynamics of a floodplain mosaic overshadow the effects of engineered logjams for Pacific salmon and steelhead

Food webs vary in space and time. The structure and spatial arrangement of food webs are theorized to mediate temporal dynamics of energy flow, but empirical corroboration in intermediate-scale landscapes is scarce. River-floodplain landscapes encompass a mosaic of aquatic habitat patches and food webs, supporting a variety of aquatic consumers of conservation concern. How the structure and productivity of these patch-scale food webs change through time, and how floodplain restoration influences their dynamics, are unevaluated. We measured productivity and food-web dynamics across a mosaic of main-channel and side-channel habitats of the Methow River, WA, USA, during two study years (2009–2010; 2015–2016) and examined how food webs that sustained juvenile anadromous salmonids responded to habitat manipulation. By quantifying temporal variation in secondary production and organic matter flow across nontreated river-floodplain habitats and comparing that variation to a side channel treated with engineered logjams, we jointly confronted spatial food-web theory and assessed whether food-web dynamics in the treated side channel exceeded natural variation exhibited in nontreated habitats. We observed that organic matter flow through the more complex, main-channel food web was similar between study years, whereas organic matter flow through the simpler, side-channel food webs changed up to ~4-fold. In the side channel treated with engineered logjams, production of benthic invertebrates and juvenile salmonids increased between study years by 2× and 4×, respectively; however, these changes did not surpass the temporal variation observed in untreated habitats. For instance, juvenile salmonid production rose 17-fold in one untreated side-channel habitat, and natural aggregation of large wood in another coincided with a shift to community and food-web dominance by juvenile salmonids. Our findings suggest that interannual dynamism in material flux across floodplain habitat mosaics is interrelated with patchiness in food-web complexity and may overshadow the ecological responses to localized river restoration. Although this dynamism may inhibit detection of the ecological effects of river restoration, it may also act to stabilize aquatic ecosystems and buffer salmon and other species of conservation concern in the long term. As such, natural, landscape-level patchiness and dynamism in food webs should be integrated into conceptual foundations of process-based, river restoration.

Washington↗
USGS2022

Fijian sea krait behavior relates to fine-scale environmental heterogeneity in old-growth coastal forest: The importance of integrated land–sea management for protecting amphibious animals

The importance of terrestrial coastal ecosystems for maintaining healthy coral reef ecosystems remains understudied. Sea kraits are amphibious snakes that require healthy coral reefs for foraging, but little is known about their requirements of terrestrial habitats, where they slough their skin, digest prey, and breed. Using concurrent microclimate measurements and behavior surveys, we show that a small, topographically flat atoll in Fiji with coastal forest provides many microhabitats that relate to the behaviors of Yellow Lipped Sea Kraits, Laticauda colubrina . Microclimates were significantly related to canopy cover, leaf litter depth, and distance from the high-water mark (HWM). Sea kraits were almost exclusively observed in coastal forest within 30 m of the HWM. Sloughing of skins only occurred within crevices of mature or dying trees. Resting L. colubrina were significantly more likely to occur at locations with higher mean diurnal temperatures, lower leaf litter depths, and shorter distances from the HWM. On Leleuvia, behavior of L. colubrina therefore relates to environmental heterogeneity created by old-growth coastal forests, particularly canopy cover and crevices in mature and dead tree trunks. The importance of healthy coastal habitats, both terrestrial and marine, for L. colubrina suggests it could be a good flagship species for advocating integrated land-sea management. Furthermore, our study highlights the importance of coastal forests and topographically flat atolls for biodiversity conservation. Effective conservation management of amphibious species that utilize land- and seascapes is therefore likely to require a holistic approach that incorporates connectivity among ecosystems and environmental heterogeneity at all relevant scales.

Ecology and Evolution↗
USGS2023

Closing the gap between science and management of cold-water refuges in rivers and streams

Human activities and climate change threaten coldwater organisms in freshwater ecosystems by causing rivers and streams to warm, increasing the intensity and frequency of warm temperature events, and reducing thermal heterogeneity. Cold-water refuges are discrete patches of relatively cool water that are used by coldwater organisms for thermal relief and short-term survival. Globally, cohesive management approaches are needed that consider interlinked physical, biological, and social factors of cold-water refuges. We review current understanding of cold-water refuges, identify gaps between science and management, and evaluate policies aimed at protecting thermally sensitive species. Existing policies include designating cold-water habitats, restricting fishing during warm periods, and implementing threshold temperature standards or guidelines. However, these policies are rare and uncoordinated across spatial scales and often do not consider input from Indigenous peoples. We propose that cold-water refuges be managed as distinct operational landscape units, which provide a social and ecological context that is relevant at the watershed scale. These operational landscape units provide the foundation for an integrated framework that links science and management by (1) mapping and characterizing cold-water refuges to prioritize management and conservation actions, (2) leveraging existing and new policies, (3) improving coordination across jurisdictions, and (4) implementing adaptive management practices across scales. Our findings show that while there are many opportunities for scientific advancement, the current state of the sciences is sufficient to inform policy and management. Our proposed framework provides a path forward for managing and protecting cold-water refuges using existing and new policies to protect coldwater organisms in the face of global change.

Global Change Biology↗
USGS2025

Considering multiecosystem trade-offs is critical when leveraging systematic conservation planning for restoration

Conservationists are increasingly leveraging systematic conservation planning (SCP) to inform restoration actions that enhance biodiversity. However, restoration frequently drives ecological transformations at local scales, potentially resulting in trade-offs among wildlife species and communities. The Conservation Interactions Principle (CIP), coined more than 15 years ago, cautions SCP practitioners regarding the importance of jointly and fully evaluating conservation outcomes across the landscape over long timeframes. However, SCP efforts that guide landscape restoration have inadequately addressed the CIP by failing to tabulate the full value of the current ecological state. The increased application of SCP to inform restoration, reliance on increasingly small areas to sustain at-risk species and ecological communities, ineffective considerations for the changing climate, and increasing numbers of at-risk species, are collectively intensifying the need to consider unintended consequences when prioritizing sites for restoration. Improper incorporation of the CIP in SCP may result in inefficient use of conservation resources through opportunity costs and/or conservation actions that counteract one another. We suggest SCP practitioners can avoid these consequences through a more detailed accounting of the current ecological benefits to better address the CIP when conducting restoration planning. Specifically, forming interdisciplinary teams with expertise in the current and desired ecosystem states at candidate conservation sites; improving data availability; modeling and computational advancements; and applying structured decision-making approaches can all improve the integration of the CIP in SCP efforts. Improved trade-off assessment, spanning multiple ecosystems or states, can facilitate efficient, proactive, and coordinated SCP applications across space and time. In doing so, SCP can effectively guide the siting of restoration actions capable of promoting the full suite of biodiversity in a region.

Global Change Biology↗
USGS2025

Integrated patterns of residence and movement create testable hypotheses about fish feeding migrations

Developing and testing alternate hypotheses about patterns, mechanisms, and consequences of movement in geographically-large, heterogeneous, natural systems can advance the scientific understanding of animal migration and benefit the conservation of most mobile species. Within organismal movement trajectories, different combinations of residence and movement are predicted from existing ecological theories (e.g. long distance migration, site fidelity, central place foraging, ideal free distribution, habitat shifts). However, testing these conceptually-based, spatially-explicit hypotheses about animal movement and migration in the field can be logistically challenging. Here our purpose is to introduce Resmo , a framework of metrics and analyses that integrate site-specific RESidence and across-site MOvements. We illustrate the ecological insights from this framework using the empirical example of coastal Striped Bass ( Morone saxatilis ) during their seasonal feeding migration. Our use of site-specific Resmo applied to empirical telemetry data enhanced the understanding of feeding behavior of migratory fish, suggested testable ecologically-meaningful hypotheses about foraging, and identified criteria on which to base the selection of future sampling locations. In summary, the Resmo approach provides a useful new direction for thinking about animal migration, animal movement, biological conservation, and future priorities for empirical field data collection related to understanding the distribution of mobile organisms.

Scientific Reports↗
USGS2020

Integrating multiple data sources and multi-scale land-cover data to model the distribution of a declining amphibian

Determining the spatial scale at which landscape features influence population persistence is an important task for conservation planning. One challenge is that sampling biases confound factors that influence species occurrence and survey effort. Recent developments in Point Process Models (PPMs) enable researchers to disentangle the sampling process from ecological drivers of species' distributions. Land-cover change is a driver of decline for the western spadefoot (Spea hammondii), which has been extirpated from much of its range in California. Assessing this species' status requires information on the current distribution of suitable habitat within its historical range, but little is known about the effect of the landscape surrounding breeding ponds on spadefoot occurrence. Critically, surveys for western spadefoots often occur along roads, potentially biasing data used to fit species distribution models. We created PPMs integrating historical presence/non-detection and presence-only data for western spadefoots and land-cover data at multiple spatial scales to model the distribution of this species while removing the influence of sampling bias. There was spatial sampling bias in presence-only data; records were more likely to be reported near roads and urban centers and PPMs that removed sampling bias outperformed models that ignored sampling bias. The occurrence of western spadefoots was positively related to the proportion of grassland within a 2000 m buffer. The remaining habitat for western spadefoots is largely found in the foothills surrounding California's Central Valley. Our study illustrates how PPMs can improve projections of habitat suitability and our understanding of the drivers of species' distributions.

California↗
USGS2026

A practical framework for identifying genetic subpopulations and ESUs: Insights for IUCN assessments and broader management

Species conservation assessments evaluate extinction risk, and recovery potential, advancing species persistence through guiding resource prioritization and planning. Assessment frameworks, including the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List and Green Status of Species, typically focus on species as a whole. Importantly, they do not routinely account for genetically distinct units or do not have standardized methods of unit delineation. This limits the representation of genetically distinct components, including adaptive genetic diversity that underpins long-term resilience and recovery. Incorporating standardized within-species units like subpopulations and Evolutionarily Significant Units (ESUs) into species assessments could help address this oversight. However, identifying and delineating such units remain challenging, particularly when molecular data are limited. Here, we propose a flexible framework that integrates molecular and non-molecular evidence to identify both subpopulations and ESUs across taxa, providing a practical tool to incorporate within-species diversity into conservation assessments.

BioScience↗
USGS2026

Restoration based on cost-benefit optimization: A grasslands pilot study

Ecological restoration is essential to meeting global biodiversity conservation goals. Given limited conservation budgets, deciding where to restore habitat is a key challenge for the coming decade. We developed a spatially explicit framework to optimize ecological restoration site selection by integrating land use history, species distributions, and economic costs. The framework includes the following steps: identify potential restoration area based on relevant environmental measures like land use; identify species of interest; calculate restoration benefits by modeling habitat and climate suitability and estimating reduced extinction risk associated with restoring a particular land parcel based on a modified species–area relationship; aggregate benefits across species; and compare to parcel-level land acquisition costs. We applied linear programming to maximize conservation benefit/restoration cost ratios to identify optimized restoration sites. We illustrate this approach using a case study for highly threatened grassland ecosystems in the Great Plains region of Kansas, USA. We selected five grassland animal species (greater prairie chickens [ Tympanuchus cupido ], lesser prairie chickens [ Tympanuchus pallidicinctus ], swift fox [ Vulpes velox ], pronghorn [ Antilocapra americana ], and regal fritillary [ Speyeria idalia ]) as indicators of restoration benefit across taxa. For the indicator species that we chose, shortgrass and mixed-grass prairies had the highest conservation benefit to cost ratio. Setting a minimum restoration threshold for each habitat type allowed us to identify high-priority tallgrass prairie sites. Despite increasing interest in ecological restoration, optimizing restoration site selection is challenging because one must consider habitat features that do not currently exist. The modeling approach described here is flexible and can be updated for different ecosystems, species, and conservation priorities. We outline potential alterations that can be made in future analyses, depending on desired restoration goals.

Kansas↗
USGS2021

Integrated hierarchical models to inform management of transitional habitat and the recovery of a habitat specialist

Quantifying the contribution of habitat dynamics relative to intrinsic population processes in regulating species persistence remains an ongoing challenge in ecological and applied conservation. Understanding these drivers and their relationship is essential for managing habitat‐dependent species, especially those that specialize in transitional habitats. Limitations in the ability of natural disturbance to mediate transitional habitat dynamics have resulted in a decline in early‐ and mid‐successional vegetation structure and prompted the need for aggressive habitat management to replace natural perturbations and increase habitat structural complexity. We describe a collaborative effort with a group of independent land managers to design an adaptive management program for restoring an imperiled ecosystem and recovering declining populations of an endemic habitat specialist. We developed a set of integrated, hierarchical models to estimate management‐mediated transition rates among vegetation classes in two dominant scrub communities and the species response (local colonization and extinction probabilities) as a function of habitat state. Models were fit using a long‐term data set of habitat and occupancy observations from 361 Florida scrub‐jay territories across two Florida counties. Occupancy model results correspond closely to previous approaches of estimating differential survival and reproductive success associated with habitat conditions, with highest colonization and lowest extinction rates estimated for those habitat states found to have the highest rates of survival and reproduction. In addition to offering an innovative approach for jointly modeling habitat and species population dynamics, the program we describe will also be of interest from a management perspective by providing guidance for developing collaborative, adaptive management frameworks from the ground up. We engaged land managers via workshops to specify objectives and desired state‐variable conditions, identify management alternatives, and elicit consensus opinions on model parameters. Treating expert opinions as pseudo‐observations to define Dirichlet priors allowed us to make use of existing management knowledge. Formal learning was then accumulated by updating transition probability estimates as management activities were implemented over the study period. We believe this adaptive management framework provides a useful approach for increasing our understanding of complex ecological relationships and hope that it will be adopted by others who have interest in informing management and conservation efforts.

Florida↗
USGS2020

Validating deployment of aerially delivered toxic bait cartridges for control of invasive brown treesnakes

Aerial application of management tools can provide a cost‐effective means to conserve or control wildlife populations at the landscape scale. Large spatial scales, however, present difficulties when assessing in situ reliability and integrity of the devices themselves. We demonstrate application of a distance‐sampling density estimation approach to assess the performance of a newly developed toxicant bait system for the control of invasive brown treesnakes ( Boiga irregularis ). Bait cartridges were designed to open in flight to expose the toxicant‐laced bait and tangle in the forest canopy via a plastic ribbon component. Following application of 12,686 bait cartridges from an automated aerial delivery system over a 55‐ha site on Guam, USA, we employed distance sampling techniques to evaluate cartridge performance. We performed 22 line‐transect surveys for a total distance of 10.3 km, during which we recorded all observations of unopened bait cartridges, instances in which the ribbon did not remain attached to the cartridge capsule (i.e., ribbon failure), and carcasses of brown treesnakes and nontarget species. Too few undeployed bait cartridges ( n = 6), brown treesnake carcasses ( n = 1), or nontarget carcasses ( n = 0) were observed during surveys to support additional analysis. We detected 299 instances of ribbon failure. Using standard distance‐sampling analyses, we estimate that ribbon failure occurred in 3,376 ± 351 (estimate ± SE; 95% CL = 2,746–4,150) cartridges or 21.6–32.7% of the total applied. Our results demonstrate the utility of distance‐sampling density estimation techniques to validate performance and reliability of aerially applied management tools.

Wildlife Society Bulletin↗
USGS2017

Spatial and temporal genetic analysis of Walleyes in the Ohio River

Previous genetic analyses have shown that Walleyes Sander vitreus in the upper Ohio River comprise two distinct genetic strains: (1) fish of Great Lakes origin that were stocked into the Ohio River basin and (2) a remnant native strain (Highlands strain). Resource agencies are developing management strategies to conserve and restore the native strain within the upper reaches of the Ohio River. Hybridization between strains has impacted the genetic integrity of the native strain. To better understand the extent and effects of hybridization on the native strain, we used mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite markers to evaluate the spatial (river sections) and temporal (pre- and poststocking) genetic diversity of Ohio River Walleyes. Contemporary Lake Erie Walleyes and archival museum specimens collected from the Ohio River basin were used for comparison to contemporary Ohio River samples. Although there was evidence of hybridization between strains, most of the genetic diversity within the Ohio River was partitioned by basin of origin (Great Lakes versus the Ohio River), with greater similarity among river sections than between strains within the same section. Results also suggested that the native strain has diverged from historical populations. Furthermore, notable decreases in measures of genetic diversity and increased relatedness among native-strain Walleyes within two sections of the Ohio River may be related to stocking aimed at restoration of the Highlands strain. Our results suggest that although the Highlands strain persists within the Ohio River, it has diverged over time, and managers should consider the potential impacts of future management practices on the genetic diversity of this native strain.

Ohio River↗
USGS2017

Late-Holocene climate evolution at the WAIS Divide site, West Antarctica: Bubble number-density estimates

A surface cooling of ∼1.7°C occurred over the ∼two millennia prior to ∼1700 CE at the West Antarctic ice sheet (WAIS) Divide site, based on trends in observed bubble number-density of samples from the WDC06A ice core, and on an independently constructed accumulation-rate history using annual-layer dating corrected for density variations and thinning from ice flow. Density increase and grain growth in polar firn are both controlled by temperature and accumulation rate, and the integrated effects are recorded in the number-density of bubbles as the firn changes to ice. Number-density is conserved in bubbly ice following pore close-off, allowing reconstruction of either paleotemperature or paleo-accumulation rate if the other is known. A quantitative late-Holocene paleoclimate reconstruction is presented for West Antarctica using data obtained from the WAIS Divide WDC06A ice core and a steady-state bubble number-density model. The resultant temperature history agrees closely with independent reconstructions based on stable-isotopic ratios of ice. The ∼1.7°C cooling trend observed is consistent with a decrease in Antarctic summer duration from changing orbital obliquity, although it remains possible that elevation change at the site contributed part of the signal. Accumulation rate and temperature dropped together, broadly consistent with control by saturation vapor pressure.

Journal of Glaciology↗
USGS2020

A comparative phylogeographic approach to facilitate recovery of an imperiled freshwater mussel (Bivalvia: Unionida: Potamilus inflatus)

North American freshwaters are among the world’s most threatened ecosystems, and freshwater mussels are among the most imperiled inhabiting these systems. A critical aspect of conservation biology is delineating patterns of genetic diversity, which can be difficult when a taxon has been extirpated from a significant portion of its historical range. In such cases, evaluating conservation and recovery options may benefit by using surrogate species as proxies when assessing overall patterns of genetic diversity. Here, we integrate the premise of surrogate species into a comparative phylogeographic framework to hypothesize genetic relationships between extant and extirpated populations of Potamilus inflatus by characterizing genetic structure in co-distributed congeners with similar life histories and dispersal capabilities. Our mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data exhibited variable patterns of genetic divergence between Potamilus spp. native to the Mobile and Pascagoula + Pearl + Pontchartrain (PPP) provinces. However, hierarchical Approximate Bayesian Computation indicated that the diversification between Mobile and PPP clades was synchronous and represents a genetic signature of a common history of vicariance. Recent fluctuations in sea-level appear to have caused Potamilus spp. in the PPP to form a single genetic cluster, providing justification for using individuals from the Amite River as a source of brood stock to re-establish extirpated populations of P. inflatus. Future studies utilizing eDNA and genome-wide molecular data are essential to better understand the distribution of P. inflatus and establish robust recovery plans. Given the imperilment status of freshwater mussels globally, our study represents a useful methodology for predicting relationships among extant and extirpated populations of imperiled species.

Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana↗
USGS2019

Understanding tidal marsh trajectories: Evaluation of multiple indicators of marsh persistence

Robust assessments of ecosystem stability are critical for informing conservation and management decisions. Tidal marsh ecosystems provide vital services, yet are globally threatened by anthropogenic alterations to physical and biological processes. A variety of monitoring and modeling approaches have been undertaken to determine which tidal marshes are likely to persist into the future. Here, we conduct the most robust comparison of marsh metrics to date, building on two foundational studies that had previously and independently developed metrics for marsh condition. We characterized pairs of marshes with contrasting trajectories (of marsh cover ) across six regions of the United States, using a combination of remote-sensing and field-based metrics. We also quantified decadal trends in marsh conversion to mudflat/open water at these twelve marshes. Our results suggest that metrics quantifying the distribution of vegetation across an elevational gradient represent the best indicators of marsh trajectories. The unvegetated to vegetated ratio and flood-ebb sediment differential also served as valuable indicators. No single metric universally predicted marsh trajectories, and therefore a more robust approach includes a suite of spatially integrated, landscape-scale metrics that are mostly obtainable from remote sensing. Data from surface elevation tables and marker horizons revealed that degrading marshes can have higher rates of vertical accretion and elevation gain than more intact counterparts, likely due to longer inundation times potentially combined with internal recycling of material. A high rate of elevation gain relative to local sea-level rise has been considered critical to marsh persistence, but our results suggest that it also may serve as a signature of degradation in marshes that have already begun to deteriorate. This investigation, with rigorous comparison and integration of metrics initially developed independently, tested at a broad geographic scale, provides a model for collaborative science to develop management tools for improving conservation outcomes.

Environmental Research Letters↗
USGS2015

Social and Economic Analysis Branch: integrating policy, social, economic, and natural science

The Fort Collins Science Center's Social and Economic Analysis Branch provides unique capabilities in the U.S. Geological Survey by leading projects that integrate social, behavioral, economic, and natural science in the context of human–natural resource interactions. Our research provides scientific understanding and support for the management and conservation of our natural resources in support of multiple agency missions. We focus on meeting the scientific needs of the Department of the Interior natural resource management bureaus in addition to fostering partnerships with other Federal and State managers to protect, restore, and enhance our environment. The Social and Economic Analysis Branch has an interdisciplinary group of scientists whose primary functions are to conduct both theoretical and applied social science research, provide technical assistance, and offer training to support the development of skills in natural resource management activities. Management and research issues associated with human-resource interactions typically occur in a unique context and require knowledge of both natural and social sciences, along with the skill to integrate multiple science disciplines. In response to these challenging contexts, Social and Economic Analysis Branch researchers apply a wide variety of social science concepts and methods which complement our rangeland/agricultural, wildlife, ecology, and biology capabilities. The goal of the Social and Economic Analysis Branch's research is to enhance natural-resource management, agency functions, policies, and decisionmaking.

Fact Sheet↗