Ecosystems Science at USGS
USGS Landscape Science Strategy
Science informing decision making on public lands and across all of our Nation’s landscapes.
Science informing decision making on public lands and across all of our Nation’s landscapes.
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.
Ecosystems Mission Area
The USGS Ecosystems Mission Area provides science to help America achieve sustainable management and conservation of biological resources in wild and urban spaces, and places in between.
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
Wind Energy and Wildlife: We can Have Both
Wind Energy and Wildlife: We can Have Both
New USGS-led Research Sheds Light on Deep-Sea Food Webs
New USGS-led Research Sheds Light on Deep-Sea Food Webs
Mapped: 33 new big game migrations across American West
Mapped: 33 new big game migrations across American West
Publications
Vegetation loss following vertical drowning of Mississippi River deltaic wetlands leads to faster microbial decomposition and decreases in soil carbon
Wetland ecosystems hold nearly a third of the global soil carbon pool, but as wetlands rapidly disappear the fate of this stored soil carbon is unclear. The aim of this study was to quantify and then link potential rates of microbial decomposition after vertical drowning of vegetated tidal marshes in coastal Louisiana to known drivers of anaerobic decomposition altered by vegetation loss. Profiles
Seasonal and species-level water-use strategies and groundwater dependence in dryland riparian woodlands during extreme drought
Drought-induced groundwater decline and warming associated with climate change are primary threats to dryland riparian woodlands. We used the extreme 2012–2019 drought in southern California as a natural experiment to assess how differences in water-use strategies and groundwater dependence may influence the drought susceptibility of dryland riparian tree species with overlapping distributions. We
Management implications of habitat selection by whooping cranes (Grus americana) on the Texas coast
Effective habitat management for rare and endangered species requires a thorough understanding of their specific habitat requirements. Although machine learning models have been increasingly used in the analyses of habitat use by wildlife, the primary focus of these models has been on generating spatial predictions. In this study, we used machine learning models in combination with simulated manag
Science
Synthesis of sage-grouse genetic information to support conservation and land management actions
Sage-grouse, iconic birds of the American West, have experienced dramatic reductions and fragmentation of habitat, resulting in significant conservation concern. Genetic information can help inform priorities for protection and habitat restoration as well as strategies for translocations, but may be difficult for resource managers to find, interpret, and use in their decision making. In this work...
Polar Bear Research
Polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ) are one of 4 marine mammal species managed by the U.S. Department of Interior. The USGS Alaska Science Center leads long–term research on polar bears to inform local, state, national and international policy makers regarding conservation of the species and its habitat. Our studies, ongoing since 1985, are focused on population dynamics, health and energetics...
USGS Alaska Science Center Wildlife Tracking Data Collection
Understanding the short- and long-distance movements of wildlife is critical for a wide variety of ecological research questions and management decisions. Since the mid-1980s, the USGS Alaska Science Center has used information from telemetry devices on wildlife species to determine locations of animals throughout their annual cycles, understand patterns of habitat use, quantify time spent on...