Imperiled Aquatic Species

USGS fisheries and aquatics scientists provide science support to natural resource managers by investigating the factors that contribute to the conservation and recovery of at-risk species.

Mussels

• Developing Water Quality Standards for Recovery of Imperiled Freshwater Mussels (Family Unionidae) (CERC)
  
  
• Ecology and Biology of Declining Freshwater Mussels (Freshwater mussels) (LSC)
  
  
• Host Fish Identification and Early Life Thermal Requirements for the Federal Endangered Winged Mapleleaf Mussel (PDF) (Winged mapleleaf mussel) (UMESC)
  
  
• Native Mussels of the Upper Mississippi River (Mussels) (UMESC) (also related to Aquatic Community Ecology)
  

Salmon

• Klamath Basin: A Watershed Approach to Support Habitat Restoration, Species Recovery, and Water Resource Planning. (Pacific salmon) Download the fact sheet about this cross-disciplinary multi-topical research. (PDF) (WFRC)
  
  
• Lake Clark Sockeye Salmon Research Projects in Alaska (Sockeye salmon) (ASC)
  
  
• Wandering Wildlife: Tracking Animal Movements with Radio Telemetry (Sockeye salmon) (ASC) (also related to Restoration Science and Technology, Species Diversity and Life History)

Sturgeon

Pallid sturgeon

• Conceptual Life-History Model for Pallid and Shovelnose Sturgeon (CERC)
  
  
• Development of Methods to Determine the Reproductive Status of Pallid Sturgeon in the Missouri River  (CERC)
  
  
• Distribution of Potential Spawning Habitat for Sturgeon in the Lower Missouri River, 2003-06 (CERC)
  
  
• Factors Affecting the Reproduction, Recruitment, Habitat, and Population Dynamics of Pallid Sturgeon and Shovelnose Sturgeon in the Missouri River (CERC)
  
  
• Pallid Sturgeon in the Lower Mississippi Region: Hematology and Genome Information. Download the report (1,5 MB, PDF) (NWRC)
  
  
• The Pallid Sturgeon. Scientific Investigations Help Understand Recovery Needs. Download the fact sheet for a comprehensive overview about CERC research on Pallid sturgeon (211 KB, PDF) (CERC)
  
  
• Pallid Sturgeon Recovery Challenge. Scientists investigate the factors affecting survival of the endangered Missouri River fish. ) Download the fact sheet about CERC investigation of habitat conditions necessary for sturgeon's successful reproduction and recruitment. (144 KB, PDF) (CERC)
  
  
• Sturgeon Research Update: Confirmed Pallid Sturgeon Spawning in the Missouri River in 2007. Download the fact sheet (1 MB, PDF) (CERC)
  
  
• Ultrasonic and Endoscopic Examination of Lower Missouri and Lower Mississippi Pallid Sturgeon to Determine Sex and 2006 Broodstock Potential. Download the summary report (1,5 MB, PDF) (CERC)

*See also: Pallid Sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus)- species profile from the Mississippi Interstate Cooperative Resource Association (MICRA), a membership organization for improvement of "the conservation, development, management and utilization of interjurisdictional fishery resources ... in the Mississippi River Basin." (USGS BRD is a partner of MICRA, USGS CERC hosts the Web site of the organization.)

Gulf sturgeon

• Winter Habitat Use by Juvenile Gulf Sturgeon in the Suwannee Estuary as Revealed by Automated Acoustic Telemetry (FISC)
  
  
• Yellow River Sturgeon Research (Gulf sturgeon) (FISC)

Lake sturgeon

• Detroit River Candidate Sites for Habitat Remediation (Lake sturgeon, Lake whitefish) (GLSC) (also related to River Science)

• Lake Sturgeon, Dinosaur of the Great Lakes (Lake sturgeon) (GLSC)

• Lake Sturgeon Spawning Habitat Creation (Lake sturgeon) (GLSC)

• Restoration of Lake Sturgeon in the Detroit River (Lake sturgeon) (GLSC) (also related to River Science)

Paddlefish

• Paddlefish Study Project (Paddlefish) (UMESC) (also related to Restoration Science and Technology)

Restoring Landscapes and Imperiled Communities

• Arid Lands of the Southwest. Fact Sheet. Download the File. (1585 KB, PDF--get Adobe Reader) (Cui-ui, Desert pupfish, Lahontan cutthroat trout, Moapa dace) (WFRC)
  
  
• Benthic Community Response to Limestone Tributary Drainage in a Mine-Acid Impaired River System: Implications for Restoration of Fishes (Diadromous fish, Freshwater mussels, Plankton) (LSC) (also related to Restoration Science and Technology)
  

• Keeping the Common Species Common: Great Lakes Aquatic GAP Program (GLSC)

• Species at Risk in the Great Lakes  (Alewife, American eel, Asian clams, Atlantic salmon, Blue pike, Ciscoes, Coaster book trout, Deepwater sculpin, Dreissenid mussels, Lake herring, Lake sturgeon, Lake trout, Lake whitefish, Phragmites/Common reed, Round goby, Ruffe, Unionid clams) (GLSC)