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The California Sea Otter Stranding Network is part of the USGS effort to monitor southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) and provide data to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. WERC's Brian Hatfield and Dr. Tim Tinker works with multiple institutions and partners to report, recover, and examine stranded sea otters. TRENDS IN SEA OTTER MORTALITY Since 1968, biologists and veterinarians at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and the USGS Western Ecological Research Center have documented and examined all reported sea otter strandings -- counting the number of dead, sick or injured sea otters recovered along California each year -- in an effort to understand the population trends of the southern...
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The U.S. Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center (USGS-WERC), with support from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), is working with many partners to generate an Atlas of Breeding Seabirds of the Main Hawaiian Islands. This atlas will provide benchmarks to measure future changes in seabird population sizes and breeding distribution throughout Hawai‘i and will also assist efforts to evaluate threats to Hawaiian seabirds both on land and at sea. Ultimately, species- and colony-specific data for main Hawaiian Island seabirds on land and at sea will inform evaluations of potential risk and options for mitigation strategies for effects of offshore energy infrastructure on seabirds. This ScienceBase...
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In California, the near-shore area where the ocean meets the land is a highly productive yet sensitive region that supports a wealth of wildlife, including several native bird species. These saltmarshes, mudflats, and shallow bays are not only critical for wildlife, but they also provide economic and recreational benefits to local communities. Today, sea-level rise, more frequent and stronger storms, saltwater intrusion, and warming water temperatures are among the threats that are altering these important habitats. Much of the existing research on anticipating the effects of changing conditions on coastal ecosystems relies on global or regional scale data, meaning that the detailed information necessary for local-scale...
This public folder contains approved data release products produced by the USGS Western Ecologial Research Center. This folder also includes metadata that will be harvested and displayed by the USGS Science Data Catalog ( http://data.usgs.gov/datacatalog) to improve access and discovery.
Categories: Collection
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A standardized method to survey sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) was developed by WERC scientists and put into use in 1982 in California. Survey procedures involve counting animals during the "spring survey" -- generally beginning in April and ending in June or early July, depending on weather conditions. Two-person teams use binoculars and spotting scopes to count individuals from accessible stretches of coastline and from fixed-wing aircraft in the remaining areas. The counts made from shore are plotted on maps and then entered into a spatial database. The aerial counts are entered directly into a geographic information system-linked database in the aircraft. The survey records the total otter numbers, the...
Airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) is a valuable tool for collecting large amounts of elevation data across large areas; however, the limited ability to penetrate dense vegetation with lidar hinders its usefulness for measuring tidal marsh platforms. Methods to correct lidar elevation data are available, but a reliable method that requires limited field work and maintains spatial resolution is lacking. We present a novel method, the Lidar Elevation Adjustment with NDVI (LEAN), to correct lidar digital elevation models (DEMs) with vegetation indices from readily available multispectral airborne imagery (NAIP) and RTK-GPS surveys. By using available imagery and with minimal field surveys, we showed that...
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Over 50% of commercial and recreationally important fish species depend on coastal wetlands. In the Pacific Northwest, coastal wetlands, where the ocean meets the land, are highly productive areas that support a wealth of wildlife species from salmon to ducks. The tidal marshes, mudflats, and shallow bays of coastal estuaries link marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats and provide economic and recreational benefits to local communities. However, wetlands in this region and elsewhere are threatened by sea-level rise and other climate-related changes. According to a USFWS and NOAA report, between 2004 and 2009, 80,000 acres of wetland were lost on average each year, which is a significant increase from the previous...
    map background search result map search result map Marshes to Mudflats: Climate Change Effects Along Coastal Estuaries in the Pacific Northwest Effects of Sea-Level Rise and Extreme Storms on California Coastal Habitats: Part 2 Western Ecological Research Center Approved Data Releases Atlas of Breeding Seabirds of the Main Hawaiian Islands Atlas of Breeding Seabirds of the Main Hawaiian Islands Effects of Sea-Level Rise and Extreme Storms on California Coastal Habitats: Part 2 Marshes to Mudflats: Climate Change Effects Along Coastal Estuaries in the Pacific Northwest Western Ecological Research Center Approved Data Releases