Welcome to the USGS Wildlife: Terrestrial and Endangered Resources Program
USGS scientists supported by the Wildlife: Terrestrial and Endangered Resources Program (Wildlife Program) conduct research on diverse natural resource topics involving migratory wildlife, marine mammals, threatened and endangered species, wildlife disease, terrestrial plants, and amphibians.
These activities focus primarily on the information needs of Department of the Interior partners, although we also collaborate with State governments, tribes, and nongovernmental organizations. The Wildlife Program supports the development of new information and tools for the management of wildlife on Federally managed lands such as National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, and Bureau of Land Management areas.
Above Image: Hibernating bats showing white nose syndrome. Credit: Nancy Heaslip, New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation.
It has been estimated that over 100,000 bats have died in the northeast due to a mysterious white fungus called White-Nose Syndrome (WNS). Scientists are discovering a large number of bats within caves and mines with a white fungus on their muzzles and other parts of their bodies. It is uncertain as to how this fungus is being transmitted and its long-term effects on North American bats. Scientists at the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the New York State Department of Health are "quite concerned about future effects on bat populations wherever environmental conditions are conducive to growth of the fungus. To manage and perhaps halt this disease, we have to first better understand it."
Endangered Species Bulletin, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -
The special issue of the Endangered Species Bulletin (vol.33, no. 3) is now available on the USFWS website. This issue was designed to reflect the range and nature of the research and conservation actions that the dynamic partnership between USFWS and USGS research projects in support of endangered species conservation.
Cover Image: A green sea turtle is about to be tagged as
scientists study the endangered animal’s habitat in
the greater Everglades ecosystem.
photo by Kristen M. Hart
The Wildlife Disease Information Nodeof the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) provides access to a variety of data on wildlife diseases, mortality
events, and other critical information contributed by partners from Federal and State agencies, as well as national, international, academic, research, and nongovernmental organizations.