FWS

Tumbesian dry forest in southern Ecuador and northern Peru faces a number of threats from factors such as climate change, wildfire, and intensive livestock grazing that can result in degraded conditions. Large-area monitoring is needed to support national and international watershed projects seeking to preserve the forest and thereby maintain a fresh water supply, plant and animal diversity, and other resource values.

Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is a highly invasive, non-native grass that threatens wildlife habitat, migratory corridors, and agricultural production in the sagebrush ecosystems of the western U.S.

FWS National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) that contain impoundments used to provide shorebird and waterbird habitat are required to report on the available habitat area by depth class as the water levels change in the impoundments during the migration seasons.  At the Alligator River NWR, North Carolina, U.S.

A key vegetation parameter important to maintaining Golden-cheeked Warbler (hereafter warbler) breeding habitat is the amount of broadleaf versus Ashe juniper tree cover on a site. Mixed composition woodlands with mature Ashe juniper trees provide enhanced foraging opportunities through high arthropod diversity and supply juniper bark used for nesting.

The North American semiarid sagebrush biome exhibits considerable climatic complexity driving dynamic spatiotemporal shifts in primary productivity. Greater and Gunnison sage-grouse are adapted to patterns of resource intermittence and rely on stable adult survival supplemented by occasional recruitment pulses when climatic conditions are favorable.

Documenting bird and bat migration is challenging because migration activity is sporadic, and nocturnal migrants (most aerial vertebrate migrants) are difficult to observe.

FWS scientists used multitemporal Landsat imagery in Google Earth Engine to construct seasonal averages of temperature and turbidity along the entire length of the Lower Mississippi River.  In battue open waters (near shore within levees), results indicate that oxbows and other off channel open waters tend to be warmer and less turbid than main channel conditions; water bodies that are more well-connected with the river tend to be more turbid and cooler durin

Current and accurate wetland maps are required for a variety of uses.  Individual land owners, non-profit organizations such as Ducks Unlimited, local governments, and state and Federal governments use wetland maps regularly to help plan for land management, development, and restoration.  Wetland permitting, environmental impact statements, and transportation planning processes are more efficient and cost-effective if there are current and accurate wetla

In the Great Lakes Basin, wetlands are considered to be the most vulnerable landscape feature subject to human actions and climate change.  The wetlands are part of the water infrastructure and provide flood storage, storm surge protection, carbon storage, clean water, and unique fish and wildlife habitats.  The public and wetland managers are asking for more frequent updates of wetland and adjacent habitat change.  Monitoring wetlands seasonally is