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Monitoring

Research Activities

Patuxent Wildlife Research Center scientists are currently conducting research on a wide variety of scientific topics. To view and search Patuxent's projects and other work by USGS staff, click on the following link: Research Topics.

Long-Term Programs

Biomonitoring of Environmental Status and Trends (BEST) - Patuxent participates in this national program designed to measure and assess the responses of organisms, populations and communities to contaminants.

Bird Banding Laboratory – Providing numbered leg bands to bird banders and managing huge databases of bandings and recoveries essential for many migratory bird management and research applications (in partnership with the Canadian Wildlife Service)

Breeding Bird Survey – Monitoring the status of breeding bird populations in the United States and Canada (in partnership with the Canadian Wildlife Service): data, analyses, analytical software, information for participants

North American Amphibian Monitoring Program - a collaborative effort among regional partners and the USGS to monitor populations of vocal amphibians using a calling survey technique

The North American Bird Phenology Program - houses a unique and largely forgotten collection of six million Migration Observer Cards that illuminate migration patterns and population status of birds in North America.

Northeast Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) – Patuxent participates in this intensive monitoring and associated research studies on Department of the Interior lands in the northeastern United States.

Resources and References

Managers' Monitoring Manual – describes how to design a wildlife monitoring program

National Amphibian Atlas - county-based distribution maps of all amphibians known to occur in the United States

Population Analysis Software – a variety of downloadable, statistical tools for analyzing bird or other population data

Population Databases – Audubon Christmas Bird Count Analysis 1959-1988, Avian Point Counts, Breeding Bird Census, Breeding Bird Survey, Colonial Waterbirds, Grassland Bird Home Page, Breeding Bird Atlas Explorer (some features of these databases are password-protected)

Standard Methods for Measuring Biodiversity – a series of manuals presenting inventory and monitoring methods for various animal and plant taxa

Related Links

• Bird Source -- a partnership of Audubon and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology
• Frogwatch USA
• Inventory and Monitoring on National Parks
• NBII - National Biological Information Infrastructure