USGS Submissions

CWPPRA is Federal legislation enacted in 1990 to identify and fund site-specific projects to create, restore, protect, or enhance coastal wetlands. The National Wetlands Research Center (NWRC) maps trends, patterns and the effectiveness of restoration strategies using color infrared aerial imagery acquisition, land-water classification and habitat mapping.

Using multispectral aerial photography acquired by Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), shorelines and wetland habitats are being accurately delineated to reference shoreline location and habitat type for fall 2008, fall 2010, and fall 2011.  The habitat mapping effort utilizes the USFWS National Wetlands Inventory hierarchical wetland classification scheme.   This classification will help identify fragile environments that are associated with breeding bird nesting grounds, fisheries and other wildlife habitats.

Louisiana experiences more wetland loss than all other States in the conterminous United States combined, with a net change in land area of about -4,877 km² from 1932 to 2010. Documenting and understanding the occurrence and rates of wetland loss are necessary for effective planning, protection, and restoration activities.  Remotely sensed datasets are utilized to better understand the extent, rates, and causal mechanisms of wetland loss.  The number of remotely sensed datasets that are used to study trends in wetland area change is increasing.

Feral swine (i.e., feral hogs, feral pigs) are invasive species that were first introduced to the conterminous United States in the 1500s by European explorers. Throughout the United States, feral swine foraging activities have been shown to increase soil erosion, interfere with agriculture and other economic activities, adversely affect wetlands, forests, native wildlife, and can change entire ecological systems. Their high intelligence, adaptability, and omnivorous diet make eradication extremely difficult.

Radio telemetry was used to track long-nosed bats (Mexican long-nosed bat and the lesser long-nosed bat) in and between the Animas Mountains and Big Hatchet Mountains in southwestern New Mexico.  Eonfusion 4D visualization software was used to display bat movements through time with Landsat 5 imagery (acquired October 11, 2010) displayed in the background for spatial reference.  The bats are thought to roost in the Big Hatchet Mountains and travel west in the evening to forage in the Animas Mountains.  Eonfusion was used to calculate bat movement speeds.  The assumption

The wolf is listed on the Federal Endangered Species List in all 48 conterminous States and is in different stages of recovery in various areas.  For many years the USGS has been monitoring in the Superior National Forest of Minnesota an intact, natural wolf population that was never extirpated. This monitoring provides background information about the kinds of population changes that can be expected without endangering other managed and recovering populations.

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is an emerging infectious disease of bats caused by a recently discovered cold-growing fungus that thrives in dark caves where bats hibernate.  Although the fungus is known to cause WNS, the exact process by which it leads to death remains unknown.  USGS Fort Collins Science Center (FORT) biologists are remotely observing the hibernation behaviors of bats before and after the arrival of the WNS fungus to better understand how aberrant behaviors associated with fungal infection might cause WNS mortality.  Working in collaboration with the National Par

Wind turbines are causing unprecedented mortality of migratory tree-roosting bats and are also affecting other bat species of conservation concern.  Although collisions of bats with tall structures were historically rare, it is now estimated that several hundred thousand tree-roosting bats in the United States die at wind turbines each year.  The causes of bat susceptibility to turbines remain unknown, and there are no reliable ways of predicting risk to bats before building turbines at a site.  Understanding the problem is hampered by the difficulty of observing small animal

Information is lacking about wolf movements anywhere near the northern extreme of the species’ range in the High Arctic (> 75º N latitude).  In this area, wolves prey primarily on muskoxen and must survive 4 months of 24 hour/day winter darkness and temperatures reaching -53 ºC.  The extent to which wolves remain active and prey on muskoxen during the dark period is unknown.

In 2009, the National Park Service (NPS) completed an elk management plan and environmental impact statement that called for a 50% reduction of elk numbers at Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota.  The plan prescribed modification of the park fence to achieve a change in elk distribution, leading to increased hunting mortality outside the park.