"Teddy Bear" Unlikely to Go Extinct plus 1 more

[USGS Newsroom <noreply+feedproxy@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Title: USGS Newsroom

"Teddy Bear" Unlikely to Go Extinct plus 1 more

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"Teddy Bear" Unlikely to Go Extinct

Posted: 19 Nov 2014 05:00 AM PST

Summary: The bear species nicknamed “teddy” more than a century ago that inspired the iconic stuffed toy still popular today will likely survive at least another century, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey study

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USGS study looks at Louisiana Black Bear Population

Contact Information:

Joseph  Clark ( Phone: 865-974-4790 ); Christian Quintero ( Phone: 813-498-5019 );

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A threatened Louisiana black bear and her cubs up in a tree. (High resolution image)

The bear species nicknamed “teddy” more than a century ago that inspired the iconic stuffed toy still popular today will likely survive at least another century, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey study. 

The threatened Louisiana black bear, one of 18 subspecies of black bear in North America, has less than a 1 percent chance of going extinct in the next 100 years.  The bear was once found throughout Louisiana, eastern Texas, southern Arkansas and western Mississippi. Habitat loss and overhunting has since reduced and fragmented the population resulting in its listing as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1992.

The species was nicknamed the “teddy bear” in 1902 when President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt famously refused to shoot a tethered bear while on a hunting trip.

To determine the viability of the bear population today, researchers used projections of population growth over time based on capture and radio-telemetry data to estimate the bear’s extinction probability. In some instances, scientists captured and released the bears to obtain the data, while other times they collected DNA extracted from hair samples to identify individual bears. The study also used genetics and capture data to evaluate how frequently individual bears move between the fragmented subpopulations of Louisiana black bear in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Connectivity among subpopulations of a species is important to help avoid genetic problems resulting from too much inbreeding. These findings address goals created in 1995 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for recovery.

“Estimates of a species’ viability can help wildlife managers determine the status of threatened, endangered or at-risk species and guide effective management efforts,” said Joseph Clark, the USGS research ecologist who led the study in collaboration with Jared Laufenberg from the University of Tennessee. “This study will be used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine whether to pursue removing the bear from the ‘threatened’ species list.”

Researchers collected data with DNA sampling, live capture, winter den visits and monitoring of radio-collared animals from 2002 to 2014. To collect the DNA samples, researchers set up barbed wire fences that bears had to cross to obtain pastry baits. This method, which does not harm the bears, results in the bears leaving their DNA in the form of hair samples on the barbs, which scientists are able to use to identify the individual identities of each bear visiting the site.   

Bears in Louisiana primarily exist in four distinct subpopulations, and data were sufficient for researchers to perform viability analyses on three of them. The probability of these bears not going extinct ranged from 29.5 percent to greater than 99 percent, depending on the subpopulation and the assumptions upon which the models were based.  However, the chances that all of the subpopulations will simultaneously go extinct, based on the most conservative models, were only 0.4 percent. The researchers also found that individual bears were moving among some subpopulations.

“The completion of this project represents many years of collaborative work and we’re excited about the results,” said Maria Davidson, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries biologist program manager.  “The information provided by this project is based on the best available science, enabling us to make management decisions focused on the long term sustainability of the Louisiana black bear.”

Since originally being listed as threatened in 1992, the Louisiana black bear population has grown and the habitat has recovered to the extent that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering “delisting,” or removing the bear from the threatened species list. This population growth is because of state and federal protection of the bears, a reintroduction project and habitat recovery aided by the Federal Conservation Reserve Program and the Federal Wetlands Reserve Program.

This study was completed in cooperation with Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, University of Tennessee and Louisiana State University, among others. The full study is available online.

USGS-NASA Award Recognizes Innovations in Earth Observation

Posted: 18 Nov 2014 12:00 PM PST

Summary: A pioneer in mapping global land cover change and the team behind the United States’ most advanced land surface mapping satellite have both been honored with the 2014 William T. Pecora Award for achievement in Earth remote sensing

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Contact Information:

Jon Campbell ( Phone: 703-648-4180 );

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A pioneer in mapping global land cover change and the team behind the United States’ most advanced land surface mapping satellite have both been honored with the 2014 William T. Pecora Award for achievement in Earth remote sensing. Sponsored by the Department of the Interior's U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA, the annual award was presented on Nov. 18 in Denver at the 19^th William T. Pecora Memorial Remote Sensing Symposium. 

Christopher O. Justice, professor and chair of geographical sciences at the University of Maryland, College Park, was honored for advancing the understanding of the Earth by means of remote sensing. The government and industry team that built and now operates Landsat 8, the latest in the Landsat series of satellites, was also acknowledged for their contributions to study of Earth’s land surface and coastal regions. 

Landsat 8, launched as the Landsat Data Continuity Mission in February 2013, provides frequent global medium-resolution data for science and applications. Landsat 8 extends the unprecedented Landsat data record which now covers more than four decades. 

Justice has made numerous scientific contributions to the study of land use and land cover change and the detection and analysis of wildfires, expanding the use of Earth-observing data from NASA’s Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instruments. 

An innovator in the use of global daily polar orbiter satellite data for mapping and monitoring land cover, Justice provided the vision that led to the first global 1-km data Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) dataset. He leads long-term monitoring of the Congo Basin using Landsat data, an effort that provides invaluable information on the state of the forests of central Africa. 

Justice is perhaps best known for his research on wildfires. First using AVHRR data and now MODIS and VIIRS, he successfully developed algorithms for fire detection and burned area estimation. He spearheaded the development of a rapid response system that reveals the location of fires shortly after images are obtained. This system has provided significant practical benefits in many parts of the world and is regularly used in the strategic deployment of fire-fighting assets. 

Justice now leads agricultural monitoring efforts. With colleagues from NASA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he leads the development of a system for forecasting agricultural production based primarily on MODIS data. He is working on transitioning the system to use VIIRS data to ensure longer-term continuity. 

The Landsat 8 Team is a partnership between USGS  and NASA with strong contributions from industry and the academic community. The Landsat 8 Project Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., oversaw development and launch of the satellite. The USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, managed ground system development and assumed operation of the mission following in-orbit commissioning. 

Landsat 8’s Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) was built at NASA Goddard. Ball Aerospace & Technology Corporation was responsible for the Operational Land Imager (OLI). Orbital Sciences Corporation built the spacecraft, and United Launch Alliance provided the Atlas 2 launch vehicle. The Landsat Science Team of university and government scientists provided scientific and technical input to a wide range of mission activities. 

The Landsat 8 Team met the challenge of continuing and advancing the Landsat legacy of observations. The OLI sensor on Landsat 8 is a substantial technical advancement over the Thematic Mapper sensors flown since 1982 on Landsats 4, 5, and 7. In addition, the TIRS instrument utilizes a two-band thermal infrared sensor to more effectively address atmospheric contamination in the thermal infrared spectrum. Mission performance has exceeded expectations, providing more imagery, higher quality measurements, and new capabilities over previous missions.  

The Pecora Award was established in 1974 to honor the memory of a former USGS director and Interior undersecretary. William T. Pecora was influential in the establishment of the Landsat satellite program, which created a continuous record of Earth's land areas spanning a period of more than 40 years.