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At least 1,153 records · Page 64Linked to original sources
USGS2018

U.S. Geological Survey response to white-nose syndrome in bats

Overview Since its discovery in 2007, the fungal disease known as white-nose syndrome (WNS) has killed more than six million bats. Ten of 47 bat species have been affected by WNS across 32 States and 5 Canadian Provinces. The cold-growing fungus ( Pseudogymnoascus destructans ) that causes WNS infects skin covering the muzzle, ears, and wings of hibernating bats. The fungus erodes deep into the vitally important skin of bat wings and fatally disrupts hibernation of bats through physical damage and energy depletion as they try to cope with infection. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) science has been critical in identifying the causal fungus, characterizing the effects of WNS, and tracking the fungus as it rapidly spreads through many populations of bats in North America. Early USGS research enhanced our understanding of how WNS affects individual bats and how the fungus persists in the environment. Today, USGS scientists are engaged in a nationwide response to WNS, in close coordination with our partners at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), National Park Service (NPS), and U.S. Forest Service (USFS).

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2019

Updates to the Madison Lake (Minnesota) CE–QUAL–W2 water-quality model for assessing algal community dynamics

A previously developed CE–QUAL–W2 model for Madison Lake, Minnesota, simulated the algal community dynamics, water quality, and fish habitat suitability of Madison Lake under recent (2014) meteorological conditions. Additionally, this previously developed model simulated the complex interplay between external nutrient loading, internal nutrient loading from sediment release of phosphorus, and the organic matter decomposition of the algal biomass. However, the partitioning of Cyanophyta within the modeling framework was simplified to one group and did not account for how different Cyanophyta populations are affected by light conditions, use of nitrogen, temperature growth ranges, and differences in settling rates. Properly capturing Cyanophyta dynamics is important given the potential risks posed by potential large algal blooms. For example, when Cyanophyta form large blooms, recreational activities can become restricted in certain areas because of thick algal scums or algal mats, in addition to the possible production of a class of toxins, known as cyanotoxins, capable of threatening human health, domestic animals, and wildlife. Therefore, we updated the model to partition the Cyanophyta into a group that fixed nitrogen and a second, more buoyant Cyanophyta group that did not independently fix nitrogen. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the St. Croix Watershed Research Station (Science Museum of Minnesota) with support from the Environmental and Natural Resources Trust Fund of Minnesota (Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources), updated the Madison Lake CE–QUAL–W2 model to address the shortcomings of simulating Cyanophyta in the previously developed model and better characterize Cyanophyta into two groups. In addition to updating the Cyanophyta group differentiation, the part of the model that handles the simulation of algal community dynamics was updated while preserving model predictive capabilities for nutrients, water temperature, and dissolved oxygen. The calibration and validation of the model was done under recent meteorological conditions with large and persistent Cyanophyta blooms (2014 and 2016). Overall, the model simulations predicted the persistently large total phosphorus concentrations in the hypolimnion of Madison Lake and key differences in nutrient concentrations between 2014 and 2016. The Cyanophyta bloom persistence throughout the summer was also simulated by the model in 2014 and 2016, a critical goal of the model update. Finally, monthly total phosphorus budgets were calculated for the updated Madison Lake model for 2014 and 2016.

Minnesota↗
USGS2011

Effects of supplemental feeding and aggregation on fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations in elk

Habitat modifications and supplemental feeding artificially aggregate some wildlife populations, with potential impacts upon contact and parasite transmission rates. Less well recognized, however, is how increased aggregation may affect wildlife physiology. Crowding has been shown to induce stress responses, and increased glucocorticoid (GC) concentrations can reduce immune function and increase disease susceptibility. We investigated the effects of supplemental feeding and the aggregation that it induces on behavior and fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations (fGCM) in elk (Cervus elaphus) using observational and experimental approaches. We first compared fGCM levels of elk on supplemental feedgrounds to neighboring elk populations wintering in native habitats using data from 2003 to 2008. We then experimentally manipulated the distribution of supplemental food on feedgrounds to investigate whether more widely distributed food would result in lower rates of aggression and stress hormone levels. Contrary to some expectations that fed elk may be less stressed than unfed elk during the winter, we found that elk on feedgrounds had fecal GC levels at least 31% higher than non-feedground populations. Within feedgrounds, fGCM levels were strongly correlated with local measures of elk density (r 2 = 0.81). Dispersing feed more broadly, however, did not have a detectable effect on fGCM levels or aggression rates. Our results suggest that increases in aggregation associated with winter feedgrounds affects elk physiology, and the resulting increases in fGCM levels are not likely to be mitigated by management efforts that distribute the feed more widely. Additional research is needed to assess whether these increases in fGCMs directly alter parasite transmission and disease dynamics.

Journal of Wildlife Management↗
USGS2022

Can’t see the flowers for the trees: Factors driving floral abundance within early-successional forests in the central Appalachian Mountains

Silviculture can be a powerful tool for restoring and enhancing habitat for forest-dependent wildlife. In eastern North America, regenerating timber harvests support abundant wildflowers that provide essential forage for native pollinators. Factors driving floral resource availability within regenerating forests remain almost entirely unstudied. Recent efforts to increase the area of regenerating forests (<10 years old) through overstory removal harvest in the central Appalachian Mountains provide an opportunity to investigate the development of forest wildflower communities following canopy removal. We conducted 1208 surveys of blooming plants across 143 harvests, recording 1 525 245 flowers representing 220 taxa spanning 47 families. The number of flowers within recently harvested stands was negatively associated with fern and sapling cover but positively associated with grass and bramble ( Rubus spp.) cover. Early in the growing season, more flowers bloomed in older regenerating stands (e.g., >5 years old), but this pattern reversed by the end of the growing season. Ultimately, our study demonstrates that the abundance of flowers available to pollinators within regenerating hardwood stands varies with factors associated with advancing succession. Recognizing the potential trade-off between woody regeneration (i.e., saplings) and pollinator forage availability may benefit forest managers who intend to provide floral resources to flower-dependent wildlife like pollinators via silviculture.

Pennsylvania↗
USGS2012

Ecological effects of climate change on salt marsh wildlife: a case study from a highly urbanized estuary

Coastal areas are high-risk zones subject to the impacts of global climate change, with significant increases in the frequencies of extreme weather and storm events, and sea-level rise forecast by 2100. These physical processes are expected to alter estuaries, resulting in loss of intertidal wetlands and their component wildlife species. In particular, impacts to salt marshes and their wildlife will vary both temporally and spatially and may be irreversible and severe. Synergistic effects caused by combining stressors with anthropogenic land-use patterns could create areas of significant biodiversity loss and extinction, especially in urbanized estuaries that are already heavily degraded. In this paper, we discuss current ideas, challenges, and concerns regarding the maintenance of salt marshes and their resident wildlife in light of future climate conditions. We suggest that many salt marsh habitats are already impaired and are located where upslope transgression is restricted, resulting in reduction and loss of these habitats in the future. In addition, we conclude that increased inundation frequency and water depth will have negative impacts on the demography of small or isolated wildlife meta-populations as well as their community interactions. We illustrate our points with a case study on the Pacific Coast of North America at San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge in California, an area that supports endangered wildlife species reliant on salt marshes for all aspects of their life histories.

Journal of Coastal Research↗
USGS1994

Undernutrition and serum and urinary urea nitrogen of white-tailed deer during winter

Direct, practical means of assessing undernutrition in deer ( Odocoileus spp.) and other ungulates during winter are needed in areas of research and management. We examined the relationship between mass loss and serum urea nitrogen (SUN) and urinary urea nitrogen:creatinine (U:C) in captive white-tailed deer ( O. virginianus ). During 4 February-5 May 1988, we maintained 7 adult white-tailed deer on various feeding regimes to simulate natural nutritional restriction during winter. Mass loss was greater ( P = 0.037) in deer (17.0-32.2%) fed restricted amounts of a low protein low energy diet versus control deer (7.0-17.4%) fed the same diet ad libitum. Serum triiodothyronine (T3) concentrations did not differ ( P = 0.191) between groups, but declined ( P = 0.001) as nutrition declined. Slopes of percent mass lossSUN and urinary U:C relationships were positive (P = 0.008 and 0.055) in 7 and 6 deer, respectively. Mean U:C was directly related ( r 2 = 0.52, P = 0.040) to mean cumulative mass loss, whereas mean SUN was not ( r 2 = 0.29, P = 0.125). Data presented support the potential of urinary U:C as an index of winter nutritional condition of white-tailed deer; however, additional research is required to provide a complete understanding of this index's utility under field conditions.

Minnesota↗
USGS2004

Cyanide hazards to plants and animals from gold mining and related water issues

Highly toxic sodium cyanide (NaCN) is used by the international mining community to extract gold and other precious metals through milling of high-grade ores and heap leaching of low-grade ores (Korte et al. 2000). The process to concentrate gold using cyanide was developed in Scotland in 1887 and was used almost immediately in the Witwatersrand gold fields of the Republic of South Africa. Heap leaching with cyanide was proposed by the U.S. Bureau of Mines in 1969 as a means of extracting gold from low-grade ores. The gold industry adopted the technique in the 1970s, soon making heap leaching the dominant technology in gold extraction (Da Rosa and Lyon 1997). The heap leach and milling processes, which involve dewatering of gold-bearing ores, spraying of dilute cyanide solutions on extremely large heaps of ores containing low concentrations of gold, or the milling of ores with the use of cyanide and subsequent recovery of the gold-cyanide complex, have created a number of serious environmental problems affecting wildlife and water management. In this account, we review the history of cyanide use in gold mining with emphasis on heap leach gold mining, cyanide hazards to plants and animals, water management issues associated with gold mining, and proposed mitigation and research needs.

Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxico↗
USGS2009

The Saga of Leafy Spurge (Euphorbia esula) in the Northern Great Plains

Leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L.) is an invasive Eurasian perennial introduced into the United States as a contaminant of crop seed in the 1880s and 1890s. It typically forms monocultures in rangeland and natural areas of the northern Great Plains where, because of the latex that occurs in all parts of the plant, it is not consumed by naturally occurring herbivores. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists and their collaborators have been studying leafy spurge at Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) and at Arrowwood and Tewaukon National Wildlife Refuges in North Dakota since 1998. Study findings have been published in Larson and Grace (2004), Larson and others (2006), Larson and others (2007), Jordan and others (2008), and Larson and others (2008). This fact sheet summarizes that body of research.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2010

Saltcedar (Tamarix spp.) and Russian Olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia) in the Western United States-A Report on the State of the Science

The Salt Cedar and Russian Olive Control Demonstration Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-320) directs the Department of the Interior to submit a report to Congress that includes an assessment of several issues surrounding these two nonnative trees, now dominant components of the vegetation along many rivers in the Western United States. This report was published in 2010 as a U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report (available online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2009/5247). The report was produced through a collaborative effort led by the Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Geological Survey, with critical contributions from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and from university researchers. The document synthesizes the state of the science and key research needs on the following topics related to management of saltcedar (Tamarix spp.) and Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia) in the Western United States: their distribution and abundance (extent); the potential for water savings associated with controlling these species; considerations related to wildlife use of saltcedar and Russian olive habitat and restored habitats; methods of control and removal; possible utilization of dead biomass following control and removal; and approaches and challenges associated with site revegetation or restoration. A concluding chapter discusses possible long-term management strategies, potentially useful field-demonstration projects, and a planning process for on-the-ground projects involving removal of saltcedar and Russian olive.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2006

Final integrated trip report: site visits to Area 50, Andersen Air Force Base, Guam National Wildlife Refuge, War in the Pacific National Historical Park, Guam, Rota and Saipan, CNMI, 2004-2005

Limestone forests are the most diverse natural plant communities of Guam. Like other natural vegetation types, these forests have a long history of anthropogenic disturbances, being altered and shaped by humans for more than 4,000 years. Although this occupation represents a relatively long human influence in comparison to other Pacific islands, animals associated with humans, such as commensal rodents, arrived in these islands beginning only 1,000 years ago, and larger mammals, such as pigs (Sus scrofa), may not have arrived until European contact. Limestone forests, which also occur on several other Mariana Islands, developed in the presence of frequent tropical storms and are therefore well adapted to this type of natural disturbance regime. However, recent human activities including large scale clearing and conversion combined with the presence of high levels of alien herbivores and seed predators, and the loss of ecological services provided by the former native avifauna may be causing the decline of Guam's forests. Limestone forests on northern Guam, much like those of other Mariana Islands, were heavily cleared for the construction of military installations during World War II. The accidental introduction of the Brown Tree Snake (Boiga irregularis; BTS) around this same period subsequently accelerated the disappearance of Guam's native avifauna and other endemic terrestrial vertebrates, and with them, seed dispersal, pollination, and the predatory regulation of herbivorous insects. Guam and the Mariana Islands contained a high proportion (32 pecent) of endemic bird species, with 4 forms endemic to Guam alone: the now extinct Guam Flycatcher (Myiagra freycineti), and Guam Bridled White-eye (Zosterops conspicillatpicillata), one of three island endemic subspecies from the Marianas; Guam rail (Rallus owstonii); and Guam Kingfisher (Todiramphus cinnamominus cinnamominus), an island endemic subspecies of the regionally endemic Micronesian Kingfisher. Guam once supported the Mariana Gallinule (Gallinula chloropus guami), the Mariana Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos oustaleti), Mariana Fruit-Dove (Ptilinopus roseicapilla), White-throated Ground Dove (Gallicolumba xanthonura xanthonura), Mariana Crow (Corvus kubaryi), and the Nightingale Reed-warbler (Acrocephalus luscinia), all endemic to the Mariana Islands. Other regionally endemic endangered species include the Micronesian Megapode (Megapodius laperouse), and the Mariana Swiftlet (Aerodramus bartschi), now reduced to a small population on Guam. Likewise, the flora of Guam is unique, with 21percent of its native vascular plants endemic to the Mariana Islands. In limestone forests of Northern Guam, a number of tall forest tree species such as joga, Elaeocarpus joga (Elaeocarpaceae); pengua or Macaranga thompsonii (Euphorbiaceae); ifit or Intsia bijuga (Fabaceae); seeded breadfruit or Artocarpus marianensis (Moraceae); and umumu or Pisonia grandis (Nyctaginaceae) may be in decline as a result of herbivory by mammals. All show reduced regeneration and age distributions highly skewed towards older individuals. These species provided important habitat for some of Guam's endangered forest birds that remain in captivity such as the Mariana Crow, Guam Kingfisher, and Guam Rail. The recent high frequency of intense tropical storms and herbivory caused by large populations of feral pigs and Philippine sambar deer (Cervus mariannus), as well as invasive alien vines that may suppress tree regeneration, could be permanently altering the structure of regenerating forests and composition of important canopy species on secondary limestone substrates that were cleared and compacted during airfield construction from 1944 through the 1970s. Guam National Wildlife Refuge (GNWR) was established at Ritidian Point, after it was determined to be excess property by the U.S. Navy. Most of the refuge, about 9,087 hectares, is an 'overlay refuge' on lands administered by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. Although the military mission comes first on these lands, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service assists in protecting native species and habitats. The recovery of limestone forest on Guam for forest bird habitat may require intensive management, including reduction of feral herbivores, propagation, out-planting, weed control, and periodic suppression of herbivorous insects. Research to support these techniques may be best accomplished in small areas where potential limiting factors can easily be experimentally manipulated. Area 50, a 24 ha enclosure, contains a relictual patch of relatively undisturbed limestone forest surrounded by tarmac allowing easy access and management opportunities to control alien mammals and snakes. These species have been periodically managed in the past, but recent typhoons have damaged snake-proofing on the enclosure fence. A new concrete barrier is planned to provide more permanent control opportunities within this enclosed area or another similar area, thereby allowing experimental research for various management regimes. Eradication and control of alien vertebrate and plant pests will provide habitat where native communities can be restored in a small, intensively managed area. The stated aim of this project is to "affect ecosystem restoration through the removal and exclusion of introduced species and the reestablishment and propagation of native species, with focus on the reintroduction of native forest bird species." This will be achieved by constructing a multispecies barrier surrounding the area, coordinated eradication of selected alien species within the area, and possible reintroduction of Mariana Crow, Guam Kingfisher, and Guam Rail. This barrier also allows experimental research questions to be addressed within the small enclosure around Area 50 that may be applied to manage and restore the larger areas of limestone forest on northern Guam and also similar forests on other islands of the Marianas.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2010

Fort Collins Science Center-Fiscal year 2009 science accomplishments

Public land and natural resource managers in the United States are confronted with increasingly complex decisions that have important ramifications for both ecological and human systems. The scientists and technical professionals at the U.S. Geological Survey Fort Collins Science Center?many of whom are at the forefront of their fields?possess a unique blend of ecological, socioeconomic, and technological expertise. Because of this diverse talent, Fort Collins Science Center staff are able to apply a systems approach to investigating complicated ecological problems in a way that helps answer critical management questions. In addition, the Fort Collins Science Center has a long record of working closely with the academic community through cooperative agreements and other collaborations. The Fort Collins Science Center is deeply engaged with other U.S. Geological Survey science centers and partners throughout the Department of the Interior. As a regular practice, we incorporate the expertise of these partners in providing a full complement of ?the right people? to effectively tackle the multifaceted research problems of today's resource-management world. In Fiscal Year 2009, the Fort Collins Science Center's scientific and technical professionals continued research vital to Department of the Interior's science and management needs. Fort Collins Science Center work also supported the science needs of other Federal and State agencies as well as non-government organizations. Specifically, Fort Collins Science Center research and technical assistance focused on client and partner needs and goals in the areas of biological information management and delivery, enterprise information, fisheries and aquatic systems, invasive species, status and trends of biological resources (including human dimensions), terrestrial ecosystems, and wildlife resources. In the process, Fort Collins Science Center science addressed natural-science information needs identified in the U.S. Geological Survey Science Strategy (http://www.usgs.gov/science_strategy), including understanding and predicting change in ecosystems, climate variability and change, energy development and land management, the role of the environment and wildlife in human health, freshwater ecosystems, data integration, and evolving technologies. Several science projects were expanded in Fiscal Year 2009 to meet these evolving needs.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2014

Influence of nonnative and native ungulate biomass and seasonal precipitation on vegetation production in a Great Basin ecosystem

The negative effects of equid grazers in semiarid ecosystems of the American West have been considered disproportionate to the influence of native ungulates in these systems because of equids' large body size, hoof shape, and short history on the landscape relative to native ungulates. Tools that can analyze the degree of influence of various ungulate herbivores in an ecosystem and separate effects of ungulates from effects of other variables (climate, anthropomorphic disturbances) can be useful to managers in determining the location of nonnative herbivore impacts and assessing the effect of management actions targeted at different ungulate populations. We used remotely sensed data to determine the influence of native and nonnative ungulates and climate on vegetation productivity at wildlife refuges in Oregon and Nevada. Our findings indicate that ungulate biomass density, particularly equid biomass density, and precipitation in winter and spring had the greatest influence on normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values. Our results concur with those of other researchers, who found that drought exacerbated the impacts of ungulate herbivores in arid systems.

Nevada, Oregon↗
USGS1995

Ecology and conservation of the Marbled Murrelet in North America: An overview

Over the past decade, the Marbled Murrelet has become a focus of much controversy. It was listed as threatened in Washington, Oregon, and California by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in February 1993. In order to aid the various agencies with management, the Marbled Murrelet Conservation Assessment was formed to bring together scientists, managers, and others to gather all the available data on this small seabird. This volume of research is the culmination of that effort. In this chapter, we integrate the results of the investigations and summaries on the past history, present status, and possible future of the species, based on the data presented in this volume and other published research. We also propose what we consider the most important research needs. Then, based on the findings of this volume, we suggest actions for management to help ensure the survival of the species.

Book chapter↗
USGS2012

USGS Environmental health science strategy: providing environmental health science for a changing world: Public review release

America has an abundance of natural resources. We have bountiful clean water, fertile soil, and unrivaled national parks, wildlife refuges, and public lands. These resources enrich our lives and preserve our health and wellbeing. These resources have been maintained because of our history of respect for their value and an enduring commitment to their vigilant protection. Awareness of the social, economic, and personal value of the health of our environment is increasing. The emergence of environmentally driven diseases caused by environmental exposure to contaminants and pathogens is a growing concern worldwide. New health threats and patterns of established threats are affected by both natural and anthropogenic changes to the environment. Human activities are key drivers of emerging (new and re-emerging) health threats. Societal demands for land and natural resources, a better quality of life, improved economic prosperity, and the environmental impacts associated with these demands will continue to increase. Natural earth processes, climate trends, and related climatic events will add to the environmental impact of human activities. These environmental drivers will influence exposure to disease agents, including viral, bacterial, prion, and fungal pathogens, parasites, natural earth materials, toxins and other biogenic compounds, and synthetic chemicals and substances. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) defines environmental health science broadly as the interdisciplinary study of relations among the quality of the physical environment, the health of the living environment, and human health. The interactions among these three spheres are driven by human activities, ecological processes, and natural earth processes; the interactions affect exposure to contaminants and pathogens and the severity of environmentally driven diseases in animals and people. This definition provides USGS with a framework for synthesizing natural science information from across the Bureau and providing it to environmental, natural resource, agricultural, and public-health managers. The USGS is a Federal science agency with a broad range of natural science expertise relevant to environmental health. USGS provides scientific information and tools as a scientific basis for management and policy decision making. USGS specializes in science at the environment-health interface, by characterizing the processes that affect the interaction among the physical environment, the living environment, and people, and the resulting factors that affect ecological and human exposure to disease agents. This report describes a 10-year strategy that encompasses the portfolio of USGS environmental health science. It summarizes national environmental health priorities that USGS is best suited to address, and will serve as a strategic framework for USGS environmental health science goals, actions, and outcomes for the next decade. Implementation of this strategy is intended to aid coordination of USGS environmental health activities and to provide a focal point for disseminating information to stakeholders. The "One Health" paradigm advocated by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2011), and the American Veterinary Medicine Association (AVMA, 2008), among others, is based on a general recognition that the health of humans, animals, and the environment are inextricably linked. Thus, successful efforts to protect that health will require increased interdisciplinary research and increased communication and collaboration among the broader scientific and health community. This strategy is built upon that paradigm. The vision, mission, and five cornerstone goals of the USGS Environmental Health Science Strategy were developed with significant input from a wide range of stakeholders. Vision - The USGS is a premier source of the environmental health science needed to safeguard the health of the environment, fish, wildlife, and people. Mission - The mission of USGS in environmental health science is to contribute scientific information to environmental, natural resource, agricultural, and public-health managers, who use that science to support sound decision making. USGS provides the science to: - Goal 1: Identify, prioritize, and detect contaminants and pathogens of emerging environmental concern. - Goal 2: Reduce the impact of contaminants on the environment, fish, wildlife, and people. - Goal 3: Reduce the impact of pathogens on the environment, fish, wildlife, and people. - Goal 4: Discover the complex interactions and combined effects of exposure to contaminants and pathogens. - Goal 5: Prepare for and respond to environmental impacts and related health threats of natural and anthropogenic disasters. Goals 1 through 4 are intended to provide science to address environmental health threats in a logical order, from informing prevention and preparedness, to supporting systematic management response to environmental health issues. Goal 4 addresses the interaction among contaminants and pathogens, an issue of emerging concern in environmental health science. Goal 5 acknowledges the fact that natural and anthropogenic disasters can cause immediate and prolonged adverse environmental health threats. This strategy proposes that USGS take the following strategic science actions to achieve each of the five goals of this strategy: Goal 1: Identify, prioritize, and detect contaminants and pathogens of emerging environmental concern. - Strategic Science Action 1. - Prioritize contaminants and pathogens of emerging concern to guide research, detection, and management activities. - Strategic Science Action 2. - Conduct surveillance and monitoring to provide early warning of emerging health threats. - Strategic Science Action 3. - Develop approaches and tools that identify vulnerable environmental settings, ecosystems, and species. Goal 2: Reduce the impact of contaminants on the environment, fish, wildlife, and people. - Strategic Science Action 1. - Systematically characterize the sources, occurrence, transport and fate of environmental contaminants to guide efforts to manage and mitigate contamination. - Strategic Science Action 2. - Evaluate the threats of contamination on the health of the environment, fish, wildlife, and people, and inform the associated management and protection efforts. - Strategic Science Action 3. - Characterize potential human exposure to support establishment of health-based standards or guidelines and contamination-reduction efforts. Goal 3: Reduce the impact of pathogens on the environment, fish, wildlife, and people. - Strategic Science Action 1. - Determine the biotic and abiotic factors that control the ecology of infectious diseases affecting natural populations of aquatic and terrestrial species and potential transmission to other animals and humans. - Strategic Science Action 2. - Establish how natural and anthropogenic environmental changes affect the distribution and severity of infectious diseases in natural populations of aquatic and terrestrial species and potential transmission to other animals and humans. - Strategic Science Action 3. - Develop surveillance systems to identify changing patterns of disease activity in priority geographic areas. Goal 4: Discover the complex interactions and combined effects of exposure to contaminants and pathogens. - Strategic Science Action 1. - Identify how exposure to one class of disease agents (contaminants or pathogens) can make an organism more susceptible to effects from exposure to the other class of disease agents. - Strategic Science Action 2. - Implement interdisciplinary studies that characterize the effects of combined exposure to pathogens and contaminants. Goal 5: Prepare for and respond to the environmental impacts and related health threats of natural and anthropogenic disasters. - Strategic Science Action 1. - Establish a formal interdisciplinary science capability to rapidly assess the environmental health risks associated with disasters. - Strategic Science Action 2. - Enhance methods to anticipate, prepare for, and identify environmental, ecological, and related health impacts of future disasters. This strategy is one of seven USGS science strategies developed concurrently: - Climate and Land Use Change - Core Science Systems - Ecosystems - Energy and Mineral Resources - Environmental Health - Natural Hazards - Water. This strategy describes how USGS will address the highest priority environmental health issues facing the Nation. The ultimate intended outcome of this science strategy is prevention and reduction of adverse impacts to the quality of the environment, the health of our living resources, and human health. Communication with, and receiving input from, partners and stakeholders regarding their science needs is essential for successful implementation of this strategy. It is incumbent on USGS to reach out to all stakeholders to ensure that USGS efforts are focused on the highest priority environmental health issues and that products are provided in the most timely and usable form to all those who can use them. USGS must reach out to the scientific community, internally and externally, to ensure that our efforts are integrated with and take full advantage of the activities of others.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2023

Assessment of potential recovery viability for Colorado Pikeminnow Ptychocheilus lucius in the Colorado River in Grand Canyon

Colorado Pikeminnow Ptychocheilus lucius, the Colorado River’s top native predatory fish, was historically distributed from the Gulf of California delta to the upper reaches of the Green, Colorado, and San Juan rivers in the Colorado River basin in the Southwestern US. In recent decades Colorado Pikeminnow population abundance has declined, primarily due to predation by warmwater nonnative fish and habitat modification following dam construction. Small, reproducing populations remain in the Green and upper Colorado rivers, but their current population trajectory is declining and the San Juan River population is maintained primarily through stocking. As such, establishment of an additional population could aid recovery efforts and increase the species’ resilience and population redundancy. The Colorado River in Grand Canyon once supported Colorado Pikeminnow, but until recently habitat suitability in this altered reach was considered low due to a depressed thermal regime and abundant nonnative predators. Climate change and ongoing drought has presented an opportunity to evaluate the feasibility of native fish restoration in a system where declining reservoir storage has led to warmer releases and re-emergence of riverine habitat. These changes in the physical attributes of the river have occurred in concert with a system-wide decline in nonnative predators. Conditions ten years ago were not compatible with reintroduction feasibility in Grand Canyon; however, due to rapidly changing conditions an expert Science Panel was convened to evaluate whether the physical and biological attributes of this reach could now support various life stages of Colorado Pikeminnow. Here, we report on the evaluation process and outcome from the Science Panel, which developed a science-based recommendation to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on reintroduction feasibility. The Science Panel concluded that current habitat attributes in Grand Canyon could satisfy some, but perhaps not all, Colorado Pikeminnow life history requirements. This reach has the potential to support adult and sub-adult growth, foraging, migrations, and spawning, but low juvenile survival may limit recruitment. However, populations of other native species are successfully reproducing and increasing in western Grand Canyon, even in areas once considered suboptimal habitat. Should managers decide to move to the next phase of this process, actions such as experimental stocking and monitoring, telemetry studies, bioenergetics modeling, and laboratory-based research may provide additional information to further evaluate a potential reintroduction effort in this rapidly changing but highly altered system.

Arizona↗
USGS2011

Occupancy and abundance of wintering birds in a dynamic agricultural landscape

Assessing wildlife management action requires monitoring populations, and abundance often is the parameter monitored. Recent methodological advances have enabled estimation of mean abundance within a habitat using presence–absence or count data obtained via repeated visits to a sample of sites. These methods assume populations are closed and intuitively assume habitats within sites change little during a field season. However, many habitats are highly variable over short periods. We developed a variation of existing occupancy and abundance models that allows for extreme spatio‐temporal differences in habitat, and resulting changes in wildlife abundance, among sites and among visits to a site within a field season. We conducted our study in sugarcane habitat within the Everglades Agricultural Area southeast of Lake Okeechobee in south Florida. We counted wintering birds, primarily passerines, within 245 sites usually 5 times at each site during December 2006–March 2007. We estimated occupancy and mean abundance of birds in 6 vegetation states during the sugarcane harvest and allowed these parameters to vary temporally or spatially within a vegetation state. Occupancy and mean abundance of the common yellowthroat ( Geothlypis trichas ) was affected by structure of sugarcane and uncultivated edge vegetation (occupancy = 1.00 [ = 0.96–1.00] and mean abundance = 7.9 [ = 3.2–19.5] in tall sugarcane with tall edge vegetation versus 0.20 [ = 0.04–0.71] and 0.22 [ = 0.04–1.2], respectively, in short sugarcane with short edge vegetation in one half of the study area). Occupancy and mean abundance of palm warblers ( Dendroica palmarum ) were constant (occupancy = 1.00, = 0.69–1.00; mean abundance = 18, = 1–270). Our model may enable wildlife managers to assess rigorously effects of future edge habitat management on avian distribution and abundance within agricultural landscapes during winter or the breeding season. The model may also help wildlife managers make similar management decisions involving other dynamic habitats such as wetlands, prairies, and even forested areas if forest management or fires occur during the field season.

Florida↗
USGS2024

Ecological trade-offs associated with fuel breaks in the sagebrush ecosystem

Background Unprecedented wildfire frequency, fueled by invasive annual grasses, threatens sagebrush ecosystems. To suppress wildfire and conserve sagebrush, land management agencies have installed fuel breaks across the sagebrush biome. However, despite the potential reduction in wildfire, fuel breaks may have ecological costs. Determining an acceptable balance between risks and benefits of fuel breaks is needed to avoid accelerating sagebrush loss, annual grass invasion, and habitat degradation. To evaluate the potential for ecological trade-offs to occur, we characterized the contexts in which known fuel breaks currently exist. We synthesized spatial data on all known fuel breaks and a suite of variables that may contribute to fuel break risks and benefits, including burn probabilities, predicted fuel break effectiveness, linear infrastructure, invasive annual grass cover, soil moisture conditions that confer resistance to invasion and resilience to disturbance, and priority wildlife habitats across the sagebrush biome. Results We found that within the sagebrush biome, fuel breaks are generally located in areas with high burn probability and are thus positioned well to intercept potential wildfires. However, fuel breaks are also frequently positioned in areas with lower predicted fuel break effectiveness relative to the sagebrush biome overall. Fuel breaks also are spatially associated with high invasive grass cover, indicating the need to better understand the causal relationship between fuel breaks and annual invasive grasses. We also show that the fuel break network is dense within priority wildlife habitats. Dense fuel breaks within wildlife habitats may trade off wildfire protection for decreased integrity of such habitats. Conclusions Our analyses describe the potential for fuel breaks to invoke ecological trade-offs and show that the balance of risks and benefits differs across sagebrush ecosystems. Strategic research and actions are needed to evaluate which factors tip the balance towards maximizing wildfire suppression while minimizing risk to sensitive ecological resources.

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