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USGS1995

Can we manage for biological diversity in the absence of science?

Conservation of biological diversity is dependent on sound scientific information about underlying ecological processes. Current knowledge of the composition, distribution, abundance and life cycles of most species of plants and animals is incomplete, insufficient, unreliable, or nonexistent. Contemporary managers are also confronted with additional levels of complexity related to varying degrees of knowledge and understanding about interactions of species and ecosystems. Consequently, traditional species-oriented management schemes may have unintended consequences and ecosystem-oriented management initiatives may fail in the face of inadequate or fragmentary information on the structure, function, and dynamics of biotic communities and ecological systems. Nevertheless, resource managers must make decisions and manage based on the best biological information currently available. Adaptive resource management may represent a management paradigm that allows managers to learn something about the species or systems that they are managing while they are managing, but potential pitfalls lurk for such approaches. In addition to lack of control over the primary physical, chemical, and ecological processes, managers also lack control over social, economic, and political parameters affecting resource management options. Moreover, appropriate goals may be difficult to identify and criteria for determining success may be elusive. Some management responsibilities do not lend themselves to adaptive strategies. Finally, the lessons learned from adaptive management are usually obtained from a highly situational context that may limit applicability in a wider range of situations or undermine confidence that problems and solutions were properly diagnosed and addressed. Several scenarios are critically examined where adaptive management approaches may be inappropriate or ineffective and where management for biological diversity may be infeasible or inefficient without a sound scientific basis. Whereas some level of management must exist to meet agency responsibilities, more research is needed to conserve biological diversity.

Wildlife Society Annual Conference↗

USGS2025

Between a rock and a hard place: Experiences of the chronic wasting disease management community

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a widespread and incurable cervid disease. Despite continuing investments, the logistical challenges of CWD have required wildlife managers and researchers to navigate changing priorities with conflicting public perceptions. When overcoming difficult management problems, leveraging exploratory methods may identify previously unrecognized hypotheses. In this study, we interviewed wildlife managers and researchers to describe the diverse experiences of experts in the CWD management community. Our study asked about common management strategies used, challenges experienced, and attempted to understand how decision-making in CWD management is shaped and constrained. Our study participants experienced a wide range of constraining factors, primarily related to external influences. We also identified connections between these constraints and a common concern for staff and public burnout. The results of this study provide insight on constraints limiting CWD management success and possible explanations for some commonly recognized challenges resulting from social and ecological interactions.

Journal of Society and Natural Resources↗

USGS2024

Developing a photography-based harvest survey to estimate age and subspecies composition of midcontinent sandhill cranes

Midcontinent sandhill cranes ( Antigone canadensis ) are managed as a single population, but hunting regulations are structured so harvest is targeted towards the more numerous lesser sandhill cranes ( A. c. canadensis ). However, research indicates that greater sandhill cranes ( A. c. tabida ) have been disproportionally exposed to harvest at a rate exceeding their proportion within the midcontinent population. In addition, harvest has increased 22% per year in the U.S. Central Flyway states. The midcontinent population appears to be growing in recent years, but variability in annual abundance estimates has increased substantially. With limited resources and harvest management uncertainty increasing, we developed methods for a citizen science, photography-based harvest survey to estimate age and subspecies composition of harvested midcontinent sandhill cranes. To develop survey methods, we collected physical parts from 284 sandhill cranes in North Dakota in 2019 and 2020. We manually measured the culmen and tarsus using calipers, and digitally measured these parts using photographs and computer software. All digitally derived measurements were 2.5% to 5.9% larger than manual measurements; therefore, we developed linear models that adjusted digital measurements, facilitating subspecies prediction using an existing morphometric-based technique. In 2021, we requested an equal number of hunters to participate using 2 data collection methods to test if hunters could reliably take photographs suitable for digital measurement. Collection method 1 involved photographing the head and leg simultaneously, and Collection method 2 involved photographing the head only. Hunters submitted a total of 239 photographs. Only 80 of these photographs were submitted using Collection method 1, and 72% were suitable for digital measurement. Conversely, hunters submitted twice as many photographs using Collection method 2, and 88% of these photographs were deemed suitable. Although obtaining the tarsus measurement slightly improved subspecies predictability, Collection method 2 increased participation and usable data. We believe our results could be used to develop an operational survey of age and subspecies composition of midcontinent sandhill cranes, wherein a sample of crane hunters throughout the midcontinent population range would be asked to electronically submit a photograph of the head of each bird they harvest. A time series of age and subspecies composition of this population would provide managers with valuable information and improve harvest management at minimal additional cost and burden, compared to a traditional parts collection survey administered by mail.

Wildlife Society Bulletin↗

USGS2020

Gene transcript profiling in desert bighorn sheep

Respiratory disease is a key factor affecting the conservation and recovery of bighorn sheep ( Ovis canadensis ) populations. Innovative, minimally invasive tools such as gene transcription–based diagnostics have the potential to improve our understanding of the broad range of factors that can affect the health of wild sheep. Evaluation of transcript levels for genes representative of multiple internal systems enables measurement of physiological responses of individuals as well as populations to environmental stressors such as pathogens, nutritional deficiency, or contaminants. We developed real‐time polymerase chain reaction assays for 14 genes of interest representing systems including inflammation, cell signaling, detoxification, antiviral, antibacterial, or general stress. Initial results from desert bighorn sheep ( O. c. nelsoni ) sampled from the River, Muddy, and Bare mountains as well as from the Pintwater Range, in southern Nevada, USA, indicated unique transcript profiles associated with each population. This initial study provides the framework from which controlled variable or longitudinal studies can be made, thus augmenting the potential to inform management actions in the future.

Nevada↗

USGS2011

Spatiotemporal distribution and population characteristicsof a nonnative lake trout population, with implications for suppression

We evaluated the distribution and population characteristics of nonnative lake trout Salvelinus namaycush in Lake McDonald,Glacier National Park,Montana, to provide biological data in support of a potential suppression program. Using ultrasonic telemetry, we identified spatial and temporal distribution patterns by tracking 36 adult lake trout (1,137 relocations). Lake trout rarely occupied depths greater than 30 m and were commonly located in the upper hypolimnion directly below the metalimnion during thermal stratification. After breakdown of themetalimnion in the fall, lake trout primarily aggregated at two spawning sites. Lake trout population characteristics were similar to those of populations within the species' native range. However, lake trout in Lake McDonald exhibited lower total annual mortality (13.2%), latermaturity (age 12 formales, age 15 for females), lower body condition, and slower growth than are typically observed in the southern extent of their range. These results will be useful in determining where to target suppression activities (e.g., gillnetting, trap-netting, or electrofishing) and in evaluating responses to suppression efforts. Similar evaluations of lake trout distribution patterns and population characteristics are recommended to increase the likelihood that suppression programs will succeed. ?? American Fisheries Society 2011.

North American Journal of Fisheries Management↗

USGS2013

Golden eagle population trends in the western United States: 1968-2010

In 2009, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service promulgated permit regulations for the unintentional lethal take (anthropogenic mortality) and disturbance of golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos). Accurate population trend and size information for golden eagles are needed so agency biologists can make informed decisions when eagle take permits are requested. To address this need with available data, we used a log-linear hierarchical model to average data from a late-summer aerial-line-transect distance-sampling survey (WGES) of golden eagles in the United States portions of Bird Conservation Region (BCR) 9 (Great Basin), BCR 10 (Northern Rockies), BCR 16 (Southern Rockies/Colorado Plateau), and BCR 17 (Badlands and Prairies) from 2006 to 2010 with late-spring, early summer Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) data for the same BCRs and years to estimate summer golden eagle population size and trends in these BCRs. We used the ratio of the density estimates from the WGES to the BBS index to calculate a BCR-specific adjustment factor that scaled the BBS index (i.e., birds per route) to a density estimate. Our results indicated golden eagle populations were generally stable from 2006 to 2010 in the 4 BCRs, with an estimated average rate of population change of −0.41% (95% credible interval [CI]: −4.17% to 3.40%) per year. For the 4 BCRs and years, we estimated annual golden eagle population size to range from 28,220 (95% CI: 23,250–35,110) in 2007 to 26,490 (95% CI: 21,760–32,680) in 2008. We found a general correspondence in trends between WGES and BBS data for these 4 BCRs, which suggested BBS data were providing useful trend information. We used the overall adjustment factor calculated from the 4 BCRs and years to scale BBS golden eagle counts from 1968 to 2005 for the 4 BCRs and for 1968 to 2010 for the 8 other BCRs (without WGES data) to estimate golden eagle population size and trends across the western United States for the period 1968 to 2010. In general, we noted slightly declining trends in southern BCRs and slightly increasing trends in northern BCRs. However, we estimated the average rate of golden eagle population change across all 12 BCRs for the period 1968–2010 as +0.40% per year (95% CI = −0.27% to 1.00%), suggesting a stable population. We also estimated the average rate of population change for the period 1990–2010 was +0.5% per year (95% CI = −0.33% to 1.3%). Our annual estimates of population size for the most recent decade range from 31,370 (95% CI: 25,450–39,310) in 2004 to 33,460 (95% CI: 27,380–41,710) in 2007. Our results clarify that golden eagles are not declining widely in the western United States. © 2013 The Wildlife Society.

Arizona;California;Colorado;Idaho;Iowa;Kansas;Minn↗

USGS2019

Exit here: Strategies for dealing with aging dams and reservoirs

Aging infrastructure is prevalent throughout the world but water control management structures, specifically dams are of growing concern. Dams and their corresponding reservoirs have inherent, but separate, lifespans. The proportion of dams around the world that continue operation beyond their intended lifespans is growing at an alarming rate. Society will not only have to navigate the tradeoffs associated with the deterioration of services provided by reservoirs and dams, but also impending structural failures. Society is nearing a critical pinch point where we will have to decide how to deal with dams and reservoirs at scales that range from a single system to multiple systems in large watersheds. No comprehensive strategy exists to inform both the range of actions that can be applied to such infrastructure and how such actions would influence biophysical, socioeconomic, and geopolitical tradeoffs. The development of proactive exit strategies is a critical first step in ensuring controlled transitions for aging dams and reservoirs. Herein, we present an overview of actions and considerations for aging dams and reservoirs in the USA followed by an initial framework for exit strategy development to launch further discussion on how society could deal with this aging infrastructure.

Aquatic Sciences↗

USGS2017

Distributional changes and range predictions of downy brome (Bromus tectorum) in Rocky Mountain National Park

Downy brome (Bromus tectorum L.), an invasive winter annual grass, may be increasing in extent and abundance at high elevations in the western United States. This would pose a great threat to high-elevation plant communities and resources. However, data to track this species in high-elevation environments are limited. To address changes in the distribution and abundance of downy brome and the factors most associated with its occurrence, we used field sampling and statistical methods, and niche modeling. In 2007, we resampled plots from two vegetation surveys in Rocky Mountain National Park for presence and cover of downy brome. One survey was established in 1993 and had been resampled in 1999. The other survey was established in 1996 and had not been resampled until our study. Although not all comparisons between years demonstrated significant changes in downy brome abundance, its mean cover increased nearly fivefold from 1993 (0.7%) to 2007 (3.6%) in one of the two vegetation surveys (P = 0.06). Although the average cover of downy brome within the second survey appeared to be increasing from 1996 to 2007, this slight change from 0.5% to 1.2% was not statistically significant (P = 0.24). Downy brome was present in 50% more plots in 1999 than in 1993 (P = 0.02) in the first survey. In the second survey, downy brome was present in 30% more plots in 2007 than in 1996 (P = 0.08). Maxent, a species-environmental matching model, was generally able to predict occurrences of downy brome, as new locations were in the ranges predicted by earlier generated models. The model found that distance to roads, elevation, and vegetation community influenced the predictions most. The strong response of downy brome to interannual environmental variability makes detecting change challenging, especially with small sample sizes. However, our results suggest that the area in which downy brome occurs is likely increasing in Rocky Mountain National Park through increased frequency and cover. Field surveys along with predictive modeling will be vital in directing efforts to manage this highly invasive species. ?? Weed Science Society of America 2011.

Invasive Plant Science and Management↗

USGS2012

The U.S. Geological Survey Ecosystem Science Strategy, 2012-2022 - Advancing discovery and application through collaboration

Ecosystem science is critical to making informed decisions about natural resources that can sustain our Nation’s economic and environmental well-being. Resource managers and policy-makers are faced with countless decisions each year at local, state, tribal, territorial, and national levels on issues as diverse as renewable and non-renewable energy development, agriculture, forestry, water supply, and resource allocations at the urban-rural interface. The urgency for sound decision-making is increasing dramatically as the world is being transformed at an unprecedented pace and in uncertain directions. Environmental changes are associated with natural hazards, greenhouse gas emissions, and increasing demands for water, land, food, energy, mineral, and living resources. At risk is the Nation’s environmental capital, the goods and services provided by resilient ecosystems that are vital to the health and well-being of human societies. Ecosystem science—the study of systems of organisms interacting with their environment and the consequences of natural and human-induced change on these systems—is necessary to inform decision-makers as they develop policies to adapt to these changes. This Ecosystems Science Strategy is built on a framework that includes basic and applied science. It highlights the critical roles that USGS scientists and partners can play in building scientific understanding and providing timely information to decision-makers. The strategy underscores the connection between scientific discoveries and the application of new knowledge. The strategy integrates ecosystem science and decision-making, producing new scientific outcomes to assist resource managers and providing public benefits. The USGS is uniquely positioned to play an important role in ecosystem science. With its wide range of expertise, the agency can bring holistic, cross-scale, interdisciplinary capabilities to the design and conduct of monitoring, research, and modeling and to new technologies for data collection, management, and visualization. Collectively, these capabilities can be used to reveal ecological patterns and processes, explain how and why ecosystems change, and forecast change over different spatial and temporal scales. USGS science can provide managers with options and decision-support tools to use resources sustainably. The USGS has long-standing, collaborative relationships with the DOI and other partners in the natural sciences, in both conducting science and its application. The USGS engages these partners in cooperative investigations that otherwise would lack the necessary support or be too expensive for a single bureau to conduct. The heart of this strategy is a framework and vision for USGS ecosystems science that focuses on five long-term goals, which are seen as interconnected and reinforcing components: • Improve understanding of ecosystem structure, function, and processes. The focus for this goal is an understanding of how ecosystems work, including the dynamics of species, their populations, interactions, and genetics, and how they change across spatial and temporal scales. • Advance understanding of how drivers influence ecosystem change. The challenges here are explaining the drivers of ecosystem change, their spatio-temporal patterns, their uncertainties and interactions, and their influence on ecosystem processes and dynamics. • Improve understanding of the services that ecosystems provide to society. Here the emphasis is on the measurement of environmental capital and ecosystem services, and the identification of sources and patterns of change in space and time. • Develop tools, technologies, and capacities to inform decision-making about ecosystems. This includes developing new technologies and approaches for conducting applications-oriented ecosystem science. A principal challenge will be how to quantify uncertainty and incorporate it in decision analysis. • Apply science to enhance strategies for management, conservation, and restoration of ecosystems. These challenges include development of novel approaches to monitoring, assessment, and restoration of ecosystems; new methods to address species of concern and communities at risk; and innovations in decision analysis and support to address imminent ecosystem changes or those that are underway. Closely integrated with the five goals are four strategic approaches that provide the path forward for the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area. These approaches cross-cut all of the goals and are seen as essential to the implementation of this strategy: • Assess information needs for ecosystem science through enhanced partnerships. Work with the DOI and other agencies and institutions to identify, design, and implement priority decision-driven ecological research. • Promote the use of interdisciplinary ecosystem science. Design and conduct interdisciplinary process-oriented research in ecosystem science. • Enhance modeling and forecasting. Build models to forecast ecosystem change, assess future management scenarios, and reduce uncertainties through an adaptive learning process. • Support decision-making. Use quantitative approaches to assess the vulnerabilities of ecosystems, habitats, and species, and evaluate strategies for adaptation, restoration, and sustainable management. Following the strategic approaches are a set of proposed actions that represent a sampling of specific activities that align with this strategy and that address the Nation’s most pressing environmental needs. The strategy emphasizes coordination of activities across the USGS mission areas pursuant to these goals. Ecosystem science is inherently interdisciplinary and requires a broad perspective that incorporates the biological and physical sciences, climate science, information technology, and scientific capacity in mission areas across the Bureau. With its emphasis on coordination, this strategy can provide a critical underpinning for integrated science efforts with scientists from multiple mission areas of the USGS working together. Of course, the USGS will continue to conduct both discipline-specific and interdisciplinary investigations, and both will continue to be vital parts of the ecosystem science portfolio. Finally, the strategy stresses the importance of coordination with other Federal agencies and organizations in the natural resources community. The USGS collaborates with resource agencies in the DOI and other organizations throughout the world to meet societal needs for species and ecosystem management. Working with these agencies and organizations, the USGS will play a key role over the next decade in advancing the scientific foundation for sustaining the natural resources that diverse, productive, resilient ecosystems provide.

Open-File Report↗

USGS2020

Use of museum specimens to refine historical pronghorn subspecies boundaries

Endangered Sonoran ( Antilocapra americana sonoriensis ) and Peninsular ( A. a. peninsularis ) pronghorn persist largely because of captive breeding and reintroduction efforts. Recovery team managers want to re-establish pronghorn in their native range, but there is currently uncertainty regarding the subspecies status of extinct pronghorn populations that historically inhabited southern California, USA, and northern Baja California, Mexico. To address this uncertainty, we genotyped museum specimens and conducted phylogenetic and population genetic analyses of historical data in the context of 3 contemporary pronghorn populations. The historical northern Baja California pronghorn share the most ancestry with contemporary Peninsular pronghorn, whereas pronghorn in southern California share more ancestry with contemporary American ( A. a. americana ) pronghorn. For reintroductions into northern Baja California, the Peninsular subspecies is more appropriate based on museum genetic data. For reintroductions into Southern California, ecological and genetic factors are both important, as the subspecies most genetically related to historical populations (American) may not be well-adapted to the hot, low-elevation deserts of the reintroduction area. © 2019 The Wildlife Society.

California↗

USGS2017

USA National Phenology Network’s volunteer-contributed observations yield predictive models of phenological transitions

In support of science and society, the USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN) maintains a rapidly growing, continental-scale, species-rich dataset of plant and animal phenology observations that with over 10 million records is the largest such database in the United States. Contributed voluntarily by professional and citizen scientists, these opportunistically collected observations are characterized by spatial clustering, inconsistent spatial and temporal sampling, and short temporal depth. We explore the potential for developing models of phenophase transitions suitable for use at the continental scale, which could be applied to a wide range of resource management contexts. We constructed predictive models of the onset of breaking leaf buds, leaves, open flowers, and ripe fruits – phenophases that are the most abundant in the database and also relevant to management applications – for all species with available data, regardless of plant growth habit, location, geographic extent, or temporal depth of the observations. We implemented a very basic model formulation - thermal time models with a fixed start date. Sufficient data were available to construct 107 individual species × phenophase models. Of these, fifteen models (14%) met our criteria for model fit and error and were suitable for use across the majority of the species’ geographic ranges. These findings indicate that the USA-NPN dataset holds promise for further and more refined modeling efforts. Further, the candidate models that emerged could be used to produce real-time and short-term forecast maps of the timing of such transitions to directly support natural resource management.

PLoS ONE↗

USGS2011

Factors affecting the occurrence of saugers in small, high-elevation rivers near the western edge of the species' natural distribution

Factors affecting the occurrence of saugers Sander canadensis were studied throughout the Wind River basin, a high-elevation watershed (> 1,440 m above mean sea level) on the western periphery of the species' natural distribution in central Wyoming. Adult saugers appeared to have a contiguous distribution over 170 km of streams among four rivers in the watershed. The upstream boundaries of sauger distribution were influenced by summer water temperatures and channel slopes in two rivers and by water diversion dams that created barriers to upstream movement in the other two rivers. Models that included summer water temperature, maximum water depth, habitat type (pool or run), dominant substrate, and alkalinity accounted for the variation in sauger occurrence across the watershed within the areas of sauger distribution. Water temperature was the most important basin-scale habitat feature associated with sauger occurrence, and maximum depth was the most important site-specific habitat feature. Saugers were found in a larger proportion of pools than runs in all segments of the watershed and occurred almost exclusively in pools in upstream segments of the watershed. Suitable summer water temperatures and deep, low-velocity habitat were available to support saugers over a large portion of the Wind River watershed. Future management of saugers in the Wind River watershed, as well as in other small river systems within the species' native range, should involve (1) preserving natural fluvial processes to maintain the summer water temperatures and physical habitat features needed by saugers and (2) assuring that barriers to movement do not reduce upstream boundaries of populations.

Transactions of the American Fisheries Society↗

USGS2020

Black bear movement and food conditioning in an exurban landscape

Conflicts between humans and wildlife have become increasingly important challenges for resource managers along the urban‐wildland interface. Food conditioning (i.e., reliance by an animal on anthropogenic foods) of American black bears (Ursus americanus ) is related to conflict behavior (i.e., being bold or aggressive toward humans, consuming human food or garbage, causing property damage) and often occurs in communities adjacent to Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM or Park), USA. The goal of our study was to evaluate black bear space use in GRSM and in exurban areas on surrounding private lands and to identify factors associated with food conditioning and conflict behavior. We radio‐collared 53 bears (29 males, 24 females) from 2015 to 2017 to compare space use characteristics and used carbon isotopic signatures (δ13C) from bear hair to assess food conditioning. We then performed an integrated step selection function (iSSF) analysis to characterize and compare movement and resource use as related to food conditioning. Based on the stable isotope analyses, 24 bears were classified as food conditioned (FC; 16 males and 8 females) and 37 were not food conditioned (NFC; 14 males and 23 females). Annual 95% kernel density estimate (KDE) home ranges and 50% KDE core area estimates of female and male bears did not differ by level of food conditioning (i.e., mean δ13C), but 95% and 50% home ranges of FC females were smaller than NFC females when data from 2015, a year of food scarcity and abnormally large home ranges, were excluded. The mean proportion of exurban development (e.g., roads, buildings, openings) within 95% KDE and 50% KDE home ranges of females increased with mean δ13C (i.e., greater food conditioning). The iSSF models indicated that FC bears were more likely to use forest openings associated with higher levels of development than NFC bears. We used those models to demonstrate how landscape modifications can reduce bear use of exurban areas, particularly for NFC bears. Our stable isotope, movement, and resource use data indicate that conflict behaviors displayed by many bears within GRSM were learned in areas outside Park boundaries. © 2020 The Wildlife Society.

Tennessee, North Carolina↗

USGS2008

Environmental occurrence and shallow ground water detection of the antibiotic monensin from dairy farms

Pharmaceuticals used in animal feeding operations have been detected in various environmental settings. There is a growing concern about the impact on terrestrial and aquatic organisms and the development of antibiotic-resistant strains of microorganisms. Pharmaceutical use in milking cows is relatively limited compared with other livestock operations, except for the ionophore monensin, which is given to lactating cows as a feed. By weight, monensin can be the most significant antibiotic used in a dairy farm. This study investigates the potential of monensin to move from dairy operations into the surrounding ground water. Using two dairy farms in California as study sites, we twice collected samples along the environmental pathway-from flush lanes, lagoon waters, and shallow ground water beneath the dairies and beneath its associated manured fields. Monensin concentrations were determined using solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry with positive electrospray ionization. Monensin was detected in all of the flush lane and lagoon water samples. Theoretical maximum concentration estimated from the actual dosing rate and the theoretical excretion rate assuming no attenuation was one order of magnitude greater than observed concentrations, suggesting significant attenuation in the manure collection and storage system. Monensin was also detected, at levels ranging from 0.04 to 0.39 microg L(-1), in some of the ground water samples underneath the production area of the dairy but not from the adjacent manured fields. Concentrations in ground water immediately downgradient of the lagoons were one to two orders of magnitude lower than the concentrations detected in lagoons, suggesting attenuation in the subsurface. The data suggest the possibility of monensin transport into shallow (2-5 m) alluvial ground water from dairy management units, including manure storage lagoons and freestalls occupied by heifers, lactating cows, and dry cows.

Journal of Environmental Quality↗

USGS2013

U.S. Geological Survey ecosystems science strategy—Advancing discovery and application through collaboration

Executive Summary Ecosystem science is critical to making informed decisions about natural resources that can sustain our Nation’s economic and environmental well-being. Resource managers and policymakers are faced with countless decisions each year at local, regional, and national levels on issues as diverse as renewable and nonrenewable energy development, agriculture, forestry, water supply, and resource allocations at the urban-rural interface. The urgency for sound decisionmaking is increasing dramatically as the world is being transformed at an unprecedented pace and in uncertain directions. Environmental changes are associated with natural hazards, greenhouse gas emissions, and increasing demands for water, land, food, energy, mineral, and living resources. At risk is the Nation’s environmental capital, the goods and services provided by resilient ecosystems that are vital to the health and wellbeing of human societies. Ecosystem science—the study of systems of organisms interacting with their environment and the consequences of natural and human-induced change on these systems—is necessary to inform decisionmakers as they develop policies to adapt to these changes. This Ecosystems Science Strategy is built on a framework that includes basic and applied science. It highlights the critical roles that U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists and partners can play in building scientific understanding and providing timely information to decisionmakers. The strategy underscores the connection between scientific discoveries and the application of new knowledge, and it integrates ecosystem science and decisionmaking, producing new scientific outcomes to assist resource managers and providing public benefits. We envision the USGS as a leader in integrating scientific information into decisionmaking processes that affect the Nation’s natural resources and human well-being. The USGS is uniquely positioned to play a pivotal role in ecosystem science. With its wide range of expertise, the Bureau can bring holistic, cross-scale, interdisciplinary capabilities to the design and conduct of monitoring, research, and modeling and to new technologies for data collection, management, and visualization. Collectively, these capabilities can be used to reveal ecological patterns and processes, explain how and why ecosystems change, and forecast change over different spatial and temporal scales. USGS science can provide managers with options and decision-support tools to use resources sustainably. The USGS has long-standing, collaborative relationships with the Department of the Interior (DOI) and other partners in the natural sciences, in both conducting science and applying the results. The USGS engages these partners in cooperative investigations that otherwise would lack the necessary support or be too expensive for a single bureau to conduct. The heart of this strategy is a framework for USGS ecosystems science that focuses on five long-term goals, which are seen as interconnected components that reinforce our vision of the USGS providing science that is at the forefront of decisionmaking: Improve understanding of ecosystem structure, function, and processes. The focus for this goal is an understanding of how ecosystems work, including the dynamics of species, their populations, interactions, and genetics, and how they change across spatial and temporal scales. Advance understanding of how drivers influence ecosystem change. The challenges here are explaining the drivers of ecosystem change, their spatio-temporal patterns, their uncertainties and interactions, and their influence on ecosystem processes and dynamics. Improve understanding of the services that ecosystems provide to society. Here the emphasis is on the measurement of environmental capital and ecosystem services, and the identification of sources and patterns of change in space and time. Develop tools, technologies, and capacities to inform decisionmaking about ecosystems. This includes developing new technologies and approaches for conducting applications-oriented ecosystem science. A principal challenge will be how to quantify uncertainty and incorporate it in decision analysis. Apply science to enhance strategies for management, conservation, and restoration of ecosystems. These challenges include development of novel approaches to monitoring, assessment, and restoration of ecosystems; new methods to address species of concern and communities at risk; and innovations in decision analysis and support to address imminent ecosystem changes or those that are underway. Closely integrated with the five goals are four strategic approaches that provide the path forward for the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area. These approaches cross-cut all of the goals and are seen as essential to the implementation of this strategy: Assess information needs for ecosystem science through enhanced partnerships. Work with the DOI and other agencies and institutions to identify, design, and implement priority decision-driven ecological research. Promote the use of interdisciplinary ecosystem science. Design and conduct interdisciplinary process-oriented research in ecosystem science. Enhance modeling and forecasting. Build models to forecast ecosystem change, assess future management scenarios, and reduce uncertainties through an adaptive learning process. Support decisionmaking. Use quantitative approaches to assess the vulnerabilities of ecosystems, habitats, and species, and evaluate strategies for adaptation, restoration, and sustainable management. Following the four strategic approaches are a set of proposed actions that represent a sampling of specific USGS activities that align with this strategy and that address the Nation’s most pressing environmental needs. The strategy emphasizes coordination of activities across the USGS mission areas pursuant to these goals. Ecosystem science is inherently interdisciplinary and requires a broad perspective that incorporates the biological and physical sciences, climate science, information technology, and scientific capacity in mission areas across the Bureau. With its emphasis on coordination, this strategy can provide a critical underpinning for integrated science efforts with scientists from multiple mission areas of the USGS working together. Of course, the USGS will continue to conduct discipline-specific and interdisciplinary investigations, and both will continue to be vital parts of the ecosystem science portfolio. Finally, the strategy stresses the importance of coordination with other Federal agencies and organizations in the natural resources community. The USGS collaborates with resource agencies in the DOI and other organizations throughout the world to meet societal needs for species and ecosystem management. Working with these agencies and organizations, the USGS will play a key role in guiding sound decisionmaking during the next decade by advancing the scientific foundation for sustaining the natural resources that diverse, productive, resilient ecosystems provide.

Circular↗

USGS2007

Second chance for the plains bison

Before European settlement the plains bison ( Bison bison bison ) numbered in the tens of millions across most of the temperate region of North America. Within the span of a few decades during the mid- to late-1800s its numbers were reduced by hunting and other factors to a few hundred. The plight of the plains bison led to one of the first major movements in North America to save an endangered species. A few individuals and the American Bison Society rescued the remaining animals. Attempts to hybridize cattle and bison when bison numbers were low resulted in extensive cattle gene introgression in bison. Today, though approximately 500,000 plains bison exist in North America, few are free of cattle gene introgression, 96% are subject to anthropogenic selection for commodity production, and only 4% are in herds managed primarily for conservation purposes. Small herd size, artificial selection, cattle-gene introgression, and other factors threaten the diversity and integrity of the bison genome. In addition, the bison is for all practical purposes ecologically extinct across its former range, with multiple consequences for grassland biodiversity. Urgent measures are needed to conserve the wild bison genome and to restore the ecological role of bison in grassland ecosystems. Socioeconomic trends in the Great Plains, combined with new information about bison conservation needs and new conservation initiatives by both the public and public sectors, have set the stage for significant progress in bison conservation over the next few years.

Biological Conservation↗

USGS2016

Complementary approaches to diagnosing marine diseases: a union of the modern and the classic

Linking marine epizootics to a specific aetiology is notoriously difficult. Recent diagnostic successes show that marine disease diagnosis requires both modern, cutting-edge technology (e.g. metagenomics, quantitative real-time PCR) and more classic methods (e.g. transect surveys, histopathology and cell culture). Here, we discuss how this combination of traditional and modern approaches is necessary for rapid and accurate identification of marine diseases, and emphasize how sole reliance on any one technology or technique may lead disease investigations astray. We present diagnostic approaches at different scales, from the macro (environment, community, population and organismal scales) to the micro (tissue, organ, cell and genomic scales). We use disease case studies from a broad range of taxa to illustrate diagnostic successes from combining traditional and modern diagnostic methods. Finally, we recognize the need for increased capacity of centralized databases, networks, data repositories and contingency plans for diagnosis and management of marine disease.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B:↗

USGS2020

Genetic structure of Smallmouth Bass in the Lake Michigan and Upper Mississippi River drainages relates to habitat, distance, and drainage boundaries: Smallmouth bass population genetic structure

Analysis of genetic connectivity helps to define stock boundaries and provides information on interpopulation dynamics, such as migration and spawning site fidelity. We used 16 microsatellite loci to describe the genetic population structure of 1,215 Smallmouth Bass Micropterus dolomieu from 32 sites throughout the upper Mississippi River and Lake Michigan watersheds. We found that Smallmouth Bass populations formed two genetically distinct units separated by the Mississippi River–Lake Michigan drainage boundary. Smallmouth Bass from the Lake Michigan drainage could be parsimoniously grouped into two or six genetically distinct units that largely corresponded with either river or lake habitats, while fish from the Mississippi River drainage grouped into two, six, or nine genetic units that were mostly associated with watershed boundaries. In the Lake Michigan and Mississippi River drainages, relative migration was limited between lake and river sites, suggesting that gene flow between neighboring sites with different habitat attributes can be low. Our research provides a higher‐resolution assessment of Smallmouth Bass genetic structure in a core portion of the species’ range and provides strong evidence that Smallmouth Bass populations are structured at small spatial scales that are potentially associated with habitat type. These results demonstrate the importance of evaluating genetic structure at small spatial scales and adopting management strategies that preserve genetic diversity of black bass populations at both the watershed level and the habitat level.

Michigan, Wisconsin↗