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The Science Information Office (SIO) helps promote collaboration between the Bureau's science and information activities through oversight of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Enterprise Information Program and a focus on efforts for Enterprise Geographic Information Systems (GIS), USGS Information Strategy, and Information Technology (IT) Capital Planning....

The Information Resources Management (IRM) Team, in the Geographic Information Office (GIO) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), manages compliance with information mandates defined by Public Law, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) (specifically Circular A- 130), the National Archives and Records Administration, the Department of the Interior (DOl), and other official sources. The team uses...

The Geographic Information Office, Information Technology Office (ITO), operating under the Chief Technology Officer, directs the management of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) information technology (IT) networks and systems supporting the telecommunications, computing, software applications management, and information technology security. The ITO supports IT activities across the nation and works closely with the Department of the Interior's (DOI),...

The St. Croix River contains a diverse and abundant group of freshwater mussels. The St. Croix is one of the few rivers in the Midwest not substantially affected by the invasion of the exotic zebra mussel, which encrusts and kills native freshwater mussels. Increased concentrations of ammonia in river sediments,...

Introduction In the past two decades, scientists around the world have increasingly noted losses of amphibian populations. Many of these declines have occurred in protected areas like national parks, where the causes mostly remain mysterious. However, in multipleuse landscapes, resource managers frequently face more obvious conservation problems and must make decisions...

Plants may offer our best hope of removing greenhouse gases (gases that contribute to global warming) emitted to the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels. At the same time, global warming could change environments so that natural plant communities will either need to shift into cooler climate zones, or...

The Leetown Science Center conducts research to provide information needed to restore, enhance, maintain, and protect fish and other important aquatic and terrestrial organisms and their supporting ecosystems....

USGS scientists are embarking on bold new research to better understand the consequences this disease may have on wildlife and human health....

No abstract available....

Mercury can adversely affect humans and wildlife through consumption of contaminated fish, particularly by sensitive individuals, such as children and women of childbearing age. Mercury is currently the leading cause of impairment in the Nation’s estuaries and lakes and was cited in nearly 80 percent of fish-consumption advisories (2,242 of...

Satellite Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) is a revolutionary technique that allows scientists to measure and map changes on the Earth's surface as small as a few millimeters. By bouncing radar signals off the ground surface from the same point in space but at different times, the radar satellite can...

The U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources, in cooperation with Federal, State, and local agencies, obtains a large amount of data pertaining to the ground-water resources of California each water year (October 1?September 30). These data constitute a valuable database for developing an improved understanding of the water resources of the...

In 2001, the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program began an intensive study of nutrient enrichment elevated concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus in streams in five agricultural basins across the Nation (see map, p. 2). This study is providing nationally consistent and comparable data and analyses of nutrient...

Selenium is an element required in trace amounts for human and animal health, but it can cause health problems for livestock, wildlife, and humans when ingested in higher-than-required concentrations. Incidences of mortality, birth defects, and reproductive failure in waterfowl were discovered at Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge, San Joaquin Valley, California,...

On October 25, 1997, in and around the Routt National Forest and the Mount Zirkel Wilderness Area, a winter snowstorm occurred in conjunction with heavy winds that resulted in the destruction of thousands of acres of old-growth tree stands. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service,...

Ten years ago, the upper Mississippi River Basin in the Midwestern United States experienced the costliest flood in the history of the United States. The flood came to be known as “ The Great Flood of 1993.”...

Streamflow is a component of aquatic ecosystem health, and long-term alteration of streamflow characteristics can produce large changes in aquatic ecosystem structure and function. The physical, chemical, and biological properties of aquatic ecosystems are all affected by the magnitude and frequency of streamflow. For example, the physical structure (hydrogeomorphology) of...