GPS

Tidal marsh wetlands across the world have been lost due to human impacts. Because these marshes are critical to myriad wildlife taxa, they are often the focus of restoration projects. The Suisun Marsh of California, which is part of the San Francisco Bay Estuary and the largest brackish marsh on the United States Pacific Coast, is a critical stopover for thousands of migratory waterfowl transiting along the Pacific Flyway.

Disturbances to animals can cause changes in behavior. Therefore, it is critical for wildlife managers to understand what disturbances may impact animals and how animals adapt to them. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists analyzed the relationship between human-based disturbance and animal movement and habitat use.

Waterfowl rely on continent-wide wetland networks supporting migratory pathways that connect important breeding and wintering grounds. Locally, wetland habitat availability is affected by water policy and regional environmental characteristics that result in substantial annual variation in the quantity and quality of habitats available to waterfowl and other waterbirds. 

The 2020 fire season in western North American was among the most extreme on record.

Tidal marsh wetlands worldwide have been lost due to human impacts. Tidal marshes are critical to many wildlife taxa and have become the focus of many restoration projects. In the Suisun Marsh of California, part of the San Francisco Bay Estuary and the largest brackish marsh on the U.S.

As part of a broader trial of noninvasive methods to research wild wolves (Canis lupus) in the Superior National Forest (SNF), Minnesota, the USGS Wolf and Deer Project (Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center) explored whether wolves could be remotely monitored using a new, inexpensive (approximately $80 USD in 2019), remotely deployable, passive acoustic recording device.

Disturbances to animals can cause changes in behavior. Therefore, it is critical for wildlife managers to understand what disturbances may impact animals and how animals adapt to them. USGS scientists analyzed the relationship between human-based disturbance and animal movement and habitat use.

Waterfowl rely on continent-wide wetland networks supporting migratory pathways that connect important breeding and wintering grounds. Globally, 30 to 90% of these networks are threatened or have been heavily modified or destroyed by human development.

In 2018, members of the USGS Western Ecological Research Center (WERC) Dixon Field Station attached Global Positioning System-Global System for Mobile Communication (GPS-GSM) accelerometer transmitters to 257 geese and 300 ducks to monitor migration patterns and behavior, with the end goal of providing timely and actionable data for their project cooperators.

The USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center uses Very High Frequency (VHF) and Global Positioning System (GPS) radio collars to study white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and gray wolf (Canis lupus) movements, ecology, and populations in the Superior National Forest (SNF) of northeastern Minnesota.