Consists of parts of: Threats to Biological Resources-Environmental Change 13,384 11,771 Consists of parts of: Investigations of Biological Resources-Biology of Wildlife 15,041 16,369 Consists of parts of: Investigations of Biological Resources-Biology of Ecosystems 32,004 22,523 Consists of parts of: Investigations of Biological Resources-Ecology of Application of Science Information to Management 3,008 2,052 Consists of parts of: Tools for Natural Resource Managers-Science in Endangered & At-Risk Species 13,367 12,382 Consists of parts of: Investigations of Biological Resources-Biology of Critical Species; Tools for Natural Resource Managers-Science in Support of Management Alternatives Exotic (Non-Indigenous) Species 5,007 5,167 Consists of all of: Threats to Biological Resources-Invasive Species Science & Research Center Support 25,103 Total Biological Research & Monitoring 138.521 97.734 Table 2 Note: In FY 2000 the Science & Research Center Support funding is included in the Science Support and Facilities activities. To make biological science activities readily available to all interested parties, the Science Information System (SIS), an automated query system has been developed. The SIS is designed to meet the information needs of scientists and resource managers; both within the USGS and Department of the Interior and in partner organizations, client agencies, and special interest groups. Its purpose is to provide a comprehensive scientific information database containing summary descriptions of the objectives, location, funding sources, general approach, and anticipated applications of results of USGS scientific efforts. Metadata on projects that contribute to Biological Research and Monitoring program areas are included in the SIS database. The SIS may be accessed and queried on the world wide web at http://cristel.nal.usda.gov:8080/star/brd.html. Biological Research & Monitoring Subactivity The following describes the Biological Research and Monitoring subactivity under the new, Status and Trends Biological status and trends science integrates inventory and monitoring efforts and current historical data sets with a focus on DOI trust resources and lands. This program area seeks to provide an integrated monitoring approach that describes and tracks the abundance, distribution, productivity, and health of the Nation's plants, animals, and ecosystems. It encompasses activities at the landscape, community, population, and genetic levels and develops inventory and monitoring techniques and statistical methods specifically applicable to DOI land and resource management needs. While focused on Department lands, information is also useful to other public and private organizations. Regular assessments and analyses of biological resources help policymakers and the public make informed decisions about their management, while maintaining the health, diversity, and ecological balance of biological resources. The work involves extensive cooperation with Federal, State, and private agencies and organizations. Science Support for Management of Department of the Interior Lands As land management agencies find themselves with enhanced mission commitments and new legal mandates to assure the sustainability of park ecosystems, the need for integrated inventory and monitoring guidelines and criteria that can be extrapolated across broad landscapes and include multiple spatial and temporal scales is urgent. Based on consensus by DOI Science Board, the USGS Status and Trends program convened a multi-bureau task group to develop a framework for integrated inventory and monitoring for: riparian areas, aquatic and terrestrial Invasive species; threatened and endangered species; amphibians; and landscape-level ecosytems and biological communities. Standardized protocols and technology, as determined by an in-depth assessment of documented inventory and monitoring programs and methodologies--or newly designed if required, will provide the basic inventory and monitoring framework. Initially, a cooperative DOI effort established in a biogeographical region of ecological interest to DOI agencies has been developed as a short-term pilot. The results will provide the information needed to better structure a credible long-term inventory and monitoring program across a broad landscape, define an effective and efficient process for inventory and monitoring and doing business across multiple DOI agencies and begin institutionalizing long-term inventory and monitoring to assess the Status and Trends of the Nation's natural resources by the USGS. 55-301 99-8 Biological Research and Monitoring Subactivity National Park Monitoring - The NPS is the steward of significant natural resources that occur in more than 265 units of the National Park System. Legal mandates require the establishment of scientifically-based programs to ensure the protection and preservation of these natural resources as a key element of their park management. To deal with natural resource management concerns, a long-term prototype monitoring program that evaluates the status and trends of selected ecological communities has been developed by the NPS. To meet the needs of individual park programs, National Park Monitoring The prototype monitoring program at Cape Cod National Seashore has hosted a long-term coastal ecosystem monitoring conference to initiate the transfer of monitoring methods to other coastal parks. Ten coastal parks participated in the conference discussion. The talks focused on how to integrate a prototype program throughout the Seashore biogeographical region. in 7 biogeographical regions, USGS scientists assist in the development and/or evaluation of the prototype monitoring framework, statistical design and methodology. A goal of the prototype program is to provide high quality credible methods and tools that are adaptable for use in other parks, refuges, or on DOI lands within similar ecological areas. Bird Monitoring - Patuxent Wildlife Research Center is developing an electronic data center that will permit ready access to the most important bird population monitoring databases in North America. At the core of this center is the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) database, which can provide long-term information on population changes in nearly 500 bird species. The BBS, originally a Fish and Wildlife Service program and now managed by USGS, has been the single most important source of guidance for migratory nongame bird conservation programs in the United States over the past two decades. The data center also provides access to the National Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count database, the most comprehensive database on North American birds during the winter season. A database on colonial waterbirds (herons, terns, etc.) is presently being developed, and a prototype system for the extensive Partners-in-Flight "point count" database will be tested soon. In the future, population information on other bird groups, such as shorebirds, will be targeted for inclusion. The data center is evolving as a series of data-sharing partnerships between USGS and other agencies and organizations and will feature the option of data access through the Internet. For data that are the property of other organizations, the nature of the partnerships will vary from actual co-management of data to simple computer linkages between USGS and the organization. As a "one-stop-shopping" site for bird population information, the national bird population data center will become an indispensable resource for wildlife managers at the Federal, State, and local levels. Mammal Monitoring - USGS scientists have partnership efforts to monitor the status and trends of wildlife populations that extend from the Arctic to Yellowstone to the Everglades of Florida. Reports by USGS scientists to commissions charged with oversight for these wildlife populations, such as the Arctic Research Commission and the Marine Mammal Commission, include population studies of polar bears in the Beaufort Sea and the status and trends of polar bears in the state of Alaska. Methods for measuring population changes of moose have been reported and are key to Yellowstone National Park resource management. Improved methods for determining the distribution of swift foxes in Kansas, and the continued enhancement and input of science information for the Manatee Photo Identification System, which provides the ability to determine survival rates of the manatee, are each important to the DOI agencies responsible for their stewardship. Biological Research & Monitoring Subactivity Amphibian Monitoring - In the face of growing recognition that many species of frogs, toads, and salamanders are experiencing alarming population declines, USGS has been stepping up its amphibian monitoring efforts. The North American Amphibian Monitoring Program, coordinated by USGS and implemented largely by State natural resource agencies, has expanded to include 28 States and 6 Canadian provinces. The standardized methodology used enables all data collected to be consolidated and analyzed at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. Methods for surveying and monitoring salamander populations are also being developed to provide States with tools for tracking populations of their vulnerable salamander species. Surveys and related methods are being tested in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia; Big Bend National Park, Texas; and Point Reyes National Seashore, California. Even in these pristine areas amphibians have been shown to be vulnerable to environmental stresses. Fish Monitoring - In cooperation with States, tribes and other Federal agencies, the USGS collects, analyzes and interprets data on Great Lakes fishery resources and on anadromous and interjurisdictional species on the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf Coasts. The development of accurate census techniques, improved population dynamics models, and statistically valid methods for quantifying environmental and harvest effects are critical parts of this research. Information gathered and disseminated allows resource managers to effectively regulate the harvest, identify populations that may become threatened and reduce mortality levels. Improved Sampling Techniques for USGS scientists completed a five-year study to adapt and refine the use of acoustic technology to enhance the assessment and study of Great Lakes fishes. Use of acoustic sampling techniques, when fully integrated with existing surveys, will greatly enhance sampling and study of Great Lakes fish communities by the USGS and our Federal, state, and tribal partners. Offshore Environmental Studies (Monitoring) · Offshore environmental studies conducted by the USGS provide environmental monitoring information to the Department's Minerals Management Service (MMS) for use in offshore oil and gas exploration development and production decision making. Scientists are studying factors responsible for apparent large-scale declines in populations of amphibians, the introduction of predatory fish, and epidemic disease are all possible causes of declines. Monitoring efforts in the Gulf of Mexico have generated monitoring information which help to explain the effects of offshore oil and gas activities on marine biota. In some cases these data can be used to develop mitigating measures and stipulations for offshore oil and gas operations. In Alaska, USGS scientists provide seabird/forage fish and shorebird monitoring data to the MMS. Standards and Protocols - USGS scientists are continuing to develop standards and protocols for the implementation of many different inventory and monitoring projects. Monitoring protocols and methods include statistical sampling designs and adhere to the standards of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure. Examples include: protocols for all taxa biodiversity inventory in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, mist-net inventory and monitoring of bats in Pacific Northwest forests, citizen monitoring of benthic communities in relation to land management changes, using DNA to monitor grizzly and black bear populations, assessing reconstructed depressional wetlands in the Mid-Atlantic states assessing relative habitat value of the restored versus natural coastal marshes to migratory birds in Chesapeake Bay, and for behavioral indices of contaminant stress in aquatic organisms. Biological Research and Monitoring Subactivity Taxonomy, Systematics, and Museum Studies - USGS scientists located at the National Museum of Natural History, a major repository of information important in the conservation of species, evaluate the current systematic status of species, study variation in natural communities of animals, and serve as a clearinghouse for accurate information of wildlife species. Curation of the North American vertebrate collections at the Smithsonian Institute involve long-term collection of both the specimens and the data on the specimens as well as management of a long-term data base. Recent Accomplishments World's Largest Seagrass Inventory Completed - The USGS National Wetlands Research Center mapped the distribution of seagrass habitat in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. This project covered over 2000 miles of shoreline from the Chandeleur Islands of Louisiana to Anclote Key, Florida. The mapping was based on 1992 natural color 1:24,000 scale aerial photography and followed a standardized mapping protocol and classification system. This is the largest seagrass mapping project to date in the world (950,000 acres of seagrass). Funding and staff partners for ground truthing and peer review include the EPA's Environmental Management Assessment Program (EMAP), MMS's Gulf of Mexico Region, Florida Department of Wildlife Service's Panama City Ecological Services Office, NPS's Gulf Island National Seashore, University of South Alabama's Dauphin Island Sea Lab, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Lab. Contaminants Contaminant research and monitoring is directed at understanding how contaminants, such as pesticides, industrial chemicals, excessive nutrients, algal toxins, and trace elements, affect organisms, populations, and ecosystems. Information generated by contaminant research and monitoring is provided to regulators, and land and resource managers to help minimize impacts of contaminants on biological resources. USGS scientists integrate the principles of environmental toxicology and chemistry with those of ecology and conservation biology to comprehensively address contaminant issues of importance to the DOI. Biomonitoring of Environmental Status and Trends (BEST) - The BEST Program monitors, identifies, and assesses the effects of environmental contaminants on the Nation's biological resources, particularly those under the stewardship of the DOI, in order to provide scientific information for guiding management actions. To accomplish this goal, BEST integrates field and retrospective monitoring, synthesis, applied research, and technical assistance. For all these components, impacts of environmental contaminants on biological resources are evaluated through the application of multiple lines of evidence that include measures of both exposure and effect. Monitoring provides natural resource managers with comparisons of broad geographic areas for evaluating the relative threats of contaminants to biological resources across the U.S., benchmark databases for interpreting the results of site-specific investigations, and pictures of temporal patterns for assessing changes in exposures and effects (See http://www.best.usgs.gov/). Field monitoring has focused on the Mississippi, Rio Grande, and Columbia river basins, but work is continuing on developing approaches for DOI lands and key habitats of species under DOI stewardship. Retrospective monitoring has focused on the |