USGS Ecosystems Science: From Genes to Landscapes

Salmon on their spawning run. USGS photo.

Why ecosystems science

Thriving fisheries, healthy wildlife, flourishing forests and grasslands benefit every American. Ecosystems and the living things in them are the foundation of the nation's conservation heritage — and an economic asset for generations to come. Quality of life and economic strength depend on healthy ecosystems; understanding how and why they change guides the work to prevent damage, restore them and sustain them.

The U.S. Geological Survey's Ecosystems Mission Area is the biological research arm of the Department of the Interior (DOI). It provides research, technical help and education through Cooperative Research Units and Science Centers in nearly every state, funded by Congress through six programs: Cooperative Research Units, Environments, Fisheries, Invasive Species, Status and Trends, and Wildlife. The Cooperative Research Units also support graduate education in fisheries and wildlife science and link resource agencies with universities.

Its research focuses on five core priorities.

1. Natural resource stewardship

Guiding fish, wildlife and land management to support outdoor recreation, avoid or reverse the need for federal species protections, and provide diverse habitat.

• Recreation: about 440 million people visit DOI lands each year — largely in rural America — to hunt, fish and watch wildlife. Land managers depend on the best available science to sustain those resources.
• Mule deer: in Wyoming, USGS research discovered the country's longest-known mule deer migration, about 150 miles. Seeing how important the corridor was, wildlife managers and the public created a new state-owned management area protecting part of it.
• Species decisions: long-term USGS research informed the decisions to remove federal protection from the Yellowstone grizzly bear, downlist the Florida manatee from endangered to threatened, and avoid the need to list the Pacific walrus.

2. Energy and national security

Tools that help governments and energy producers get the most energy with the least harm to wildlife.

The U.S. energy industry employs more than 1.9 million people in oil, gas, coal, hydropower, wind, solar and geothermal production. USGS science supports balanced development that protects the lands and waters behind America's fish and wildlife heritage.

A hydroelectric dam. USGS photo.

• Dams and fish: dams supply hydropower, control floods, provide irrigation and recreation — but many block fish migration to spawning grounds. USGS science helps restore self-sustaining runs of migratory fish while balancing energy, water management and ecosystem restoration.
• Wind and bats: Hawaiʻi requires 100 percent of its energy to come from domestic renewable sources — but not at the cost of the native Hawaiian hoary bat, which wind turbines can injure. USGS is developing ultrasonic and ultraviolet-light deterrents to cut bat injuries and deaths, with the aim of using them nationwide.

3. Invasive species and wildlife disease

Tools for early detection of, and effective response to, damaging invasive species and wildlife diseases.

These threats cost the country billions of dollars a year in surveillance, education, prevention and management — costs borne by farms, businesses and governments.

Laboratory work. USGS photo.

• Zebra mussels have invaded more than half of U.S. lakes, including all five Great Lakes, harming agriculture, drinking water, recreation and native species. USGS provides detection and monitoring tools and develops controls.
• White-nose syndrome, discovered in 2007, has killed more than 6 million bats. Insect-eating bats likely save U.S. agriculture at least $50 billion a year in pest control, USGS research shows. USGS develops tools for diagnosis, surveillance, risk assessment and control.

4. Emerging and existing threats

Strategies and tools to protect communities, resources and infrastructure from threats such as wildfire, disease and harmful algal blooms.

Wildfire in sagebrush. USGS photo.

• Wildfire: fire benefits nature, but fire seasons are longer and fires bigger. In 2017, 10 million acres burned in the U.S., costing the federal government $2.9 billion to fight. In western sagebrush, invasive plants such as cheatgrass take over burned ground and feed more fire; managers use USGS tools to decide where to focus fire protection and post-fire restoration — for sage grouse, mule deer and the ranchers who rely on sagebrush.

A harmful algal bloom. USGS photo.

• Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are a concern in all 50 states, affecting health, fisheries and the economy. Near Lake Erie, fishing license sales fell 10 to 13 percent when a bloom was present, and home values near affected lakes can drop sharply. USGS science helps control blooms and gives early warning — including for Native American and Alaska Native communities that rely on subsistence fishing.

5. Infrastructure development

Guiding infrastructure by finding barriers to wildlife movement, restoring balanced landscapes, and strengthening coasts.

Homes on the coast. USGS photo.

• Coasts: coastal population was set to reach nearly 134 million by 2020, with growing risk from storms like Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. USGS science helps design cost-effective rebuilding that serves security, the economy, and cultural and natural resources.
• The Elwha: in Washington, the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams came out because of low output, high upkeep and blocked fish migration. USGS science helped reconnect the river's flow and fish habitat to the coast of the Olympic Peninsula. Fish numbers are the highest in more than 30 years, beaches are growing, and the removal brought tourism, and cultural and safety benefits to the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe.

A wetland. USGS photo.

• The Everglades: the Everglades anchor South Florida's tourism, recreation and farming. Florida's priority is to restore the quality and flow of Everglades water while keeping flood control and supply for more than 7 million people. Small changes in water depth matter a great deal; the USGS-built Everglades Depth Estimation Network gives real-time water depths to track the ecosystem's response and guide restoration.

A monitoring station in a marsh. USGS photo.

More: USGS Ecosystems Mission Area.

Sources

Based on Ecosystems Science — Genes to Landscapes, USGS Fact Sheet 2018-3030 (May 2018), U.S. Geological Survey; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The introduction and photographs are taken from the fact sheet's PDF; a grizzly photograph by an outside photographer and the banner's stock images are not reproduced. The source puts DOI visitors' recreation spending at $145 million a year, which cannot be squared with 440 million visits, so this page leaves the figure out.