U.S. Department of the Interior
Over two-thirds of all land birds and over half of the migratory species in North America move long distances to areas in Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean islands. For birds crossing the Gulf of Mexico, habitats along the northern coast provide the last possible stopover before autumn migrants make a nonstop flight.
Telemetry has advanced understanding of wildlife biology in lockstep with advances in technology. Recent development of automated radio tracking systems can provide precise information on habitat use at small-scale and large-scale movements across continents by continually monitoring for tag frequencies.
Cyanobacterial blooms are a global concern because they pose a threat to human and aquatic ecosystem health and cause economic damage. Cyanobacteria can produce toxins potent enough to adversely affect the health of humans, pets, livestock, and wildlife. The USGS is collaborating with the U.S.
Scientists from eight USGS Science Centers completed a multidisciplinary data collection effort during the week of October 21–25, 2019, using new technologies to map and validate bathymetry over a large stretch of the non-tidal Potomac River.
Satellite monitoring of evergreen pinyon-juniper ecosystems in Arizona revealed an unexpected winter-peaking signal in a time series of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values. The interpretation of the unusual timing is that the imaged vegetation experienced maximum greenness during the coldest season of the year.
Alterations to river flow can impact natural and cultural resources within river valleys and riparian zones.
LANDFIRE’s mission is to provide agency leaders and managers with a common “all-lands” dataset (including maps) of vegetation and wildland fire/fuels information for strategic fire and resource management planning and analysis.
Burn severity mapping is commonly informed by changes in vegetation spectral response; the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program, for instance, relies on pre- and post-fire Landsat image pairs to delineate and characterize fire severity.
Microbial biofilm communities (comprised of bacteria, diatoms, protozoa, and fungi) inhabit the surface of intertidal mudflats and comprise a large proportion of shorebirds’ diets. Given their major role in intertidal food webs, understanding biofilm distribution, quantity, and nutritional value for shorebirds is of vital importance.
The USGS, in partnership with a network of national and global institutes, is developing a comprehensive Global Hyperspectral Imaging Spectral-library of Agricultural-Crops (GHISA).