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Alaska Science Center - Avian Influenza Research

This web resource provides information concerning the on-going Research at the USGS Alaska Science Center on birds and avian influenza (bird flu). The site links to quick facts, on-going research, workshop results, monitoring and surveillance, guidelines on how to safeguard against avian influenza, publications and reports, migratory bird More...

  • Bar-tailed Godwits Roosting

Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica): USGS Alaska Science Center Bar-tailed Godwit Life History

It is estimated that 100,000-150,000 Bar-tailed Godwits breed in Alaska. Under the US Shorebird Conservation Plan, they are a species of High Concern mainly due to their small population size, threats to their non-breeding grounds (especially at migratory stopover sites in Asia), and their relatively restricted breeding distribution within the More...

  • Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica)

Trophic coupling and habitat connectivity among coral reef, mangrove, and seagrass fishes and benthic invertebrate communities of the Virgin Islands National Park (VIIS) and Coral Reef National Monument (VICR)

The connection between fish habitat utilization, prey use, and fish movement patterns is not known in relation to available invertebrate prey resources in off-reef sites. Developing a better understanding of the habitat use, diet, and resource needs of benthic communities and their interactions with mobile fish and invertebrates is an important More...

  • Cushion Star (Oreaster reticulatus)

Evaluation of Fish Movement and Water Velocities Near a Prototype Behavioral Guidance System at Lower Granite Dam

Since 1994, scientists from the Anadromous Fish Ecology Team have been assisting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in evaluating the migration behavior and passage of juvenile salmon and steelhead through Lower Granite Reservoir and Dam on the Snake River, WA. The goal of this study is to identify the behavior of individual juvenile salmon More...

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Xenobiotic Impact on Arctic Charr: Nutritional Modulation and Physiological Consequences

The Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) in the northern most latitudes migrate to the ocean in the spring to feed and grow. This results in accumulation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) in their visceral fat. During the winter, the charr reside in freshwater lakes and do not feed. They do mobilize lipids from adipose tissue for energy, which More...

  • Photo of Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus).

Data from the 2006 International Piping Plover Census

This report presents the results of the 2006 International Census of Piping Plovers (Charadrius melodus). Two sets of tabular data are reported: one for distribution and abundance of wintering Piping Plovers, the other for distribution and abundance of breeding Piping Plovers. The winter census resulted in the observation of 3,884 Piping Plovers More...

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Evaluating the Role of Wetlands to Endangered Salmonids at Toppenish and Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge

Threatened and endangered salmonids in the Pacific Northwest often use backwaters and wetlands as they migrate toward the ocean, however our understanding of the role of wetlands to juvenile salmonids is limited. The major Objective of this study was to determine whether juvenile steelhead were being tapped on the wetland during spring, and More...

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Building Experimental Capacity to Assess Ballast Treatment Effectiveness and Residual Risk

Ballast water discharges are the most significant cause of aquatic biological invasions in coastal waters, including the Great Lakes. Currently, treatment of ballast water prior to discharge at the receiving port offers significant promise to help control this problem. However, development of treatment technologies is limited by lack of objective More...

  • Image of ship discharging ballast water

Genetic Analysis of Pacific Salmonids in the Northeast Pacific and the Russian Far East

This U.S./Russian collaboration will investigate genetics and life histories of Kamchatka Peninsula rainbow trout and steelhead (O. mykiss), and Dolly Varden, white-spotted, and arctic char (S. malma, S. leucomaensis, and S. alpinus, respectively). Both anadromous and resident forms of these generally occur in Kamchatka rivers that are free from More...

  • Shown are an adult Siberian white spotted char, or kundza (Salvelinus leucomaensis, top), and a pre-

Quantitative Threats Analysis for the Florida Manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris)

This report assesses and forecasts the status of the Florida manatee population over 50 to 150 years, and examines the relative roles that different threats play in determining the status of these marine mammals, in cooperation with scientists at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWC). More...

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The pulse of the estuary: Monitoring and Managing Water Quality in the San Francisco Estuary

The purpose of The Pulse is to make the most important information available on water quality in the San Francisco Estuary accessible to water quality managers, decision-makers, scientists, and the public. An article by USGS scientists Collin Eagles-Smith and Josh Ackerman on mercury bioaccumulation and effects on birds in San Francisco Bay More...

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Process structuring coastal marine communities in Alaska: DOI trust resources

An overview of research that looks at the interactions between sea otters and prey species, allowing an assessment of the effects that sea otters have on composition and productivity of coastal marine communities. Includes links to USGS publications resulting from this research.

  • two people with binoculars looking out onto a body of water from the shore