The many animal species across U.S. forests and rangelands form a complex web of life that shapes the world around them. Forests depend upon pollinators such as hummingbirds, butterflies and bees, and animals that eat or move fruits and nuts, allowing tree and other plant seeds to disperse and regenerate across the landscape.

While many animals can adapt to a suite of habitat conditions, others are “specialists” with very specific habitat requirements ranging from open, recently disturbed early successional conditions to unfragmented mature forest. Many wildlife species are threatened by habitat degradation or loss, disease, and a changing climate.

Forest Service researchers study many wildlife species and communities because:

• Forests and rangelands provide habitats and homes for thousands of animals, including many threatened and endangered species. Forest management can be key to maintaining quality habitats and sustaining populations.
   
• New diseases are threatening the populations of many wildlife species, throwing off the balance of their entire ecosystems. For example, the chytrid fungus is threatening many amphibian species, and white-nose syndrome is decimating populations of many bat species.
   
• Wildlife is important to our spiritual wellbeing and economy, generating billions of dollars through  birdwatching, wildlife photography, hunting, and nature-focused tourism.
   
• Some bird species serve as “canaries in the coal mine"– their population health can indicate the well-being of the ecosystem at large. For example, the Forest Service is working with the Bureau of Land Management and other agencies to maintain and restore key habitats for the Greater Sage-Grouse and other sagebrush-associated species.
   
• Climate change highlights the importance of maintaining high-quality habitats and movement corridors for animals to facilitate survival and migration across landscapes in response to shifting environments and forest conditions.

Featured Work

• The North American Bat Monitoring Program coordinates bat population monitoring across the U.S. This allows scientists and managers to track how bats are being impacted by white-nose syndrome and other threats.

• R&D scientists are researching habitat requirements of endangered and sensitive wildlife species such as red-cockaded woodpeckers, Mexican and northern spotted owls, northern goshawk, greater sage-grouse, Kirtland’s warblers, Indiana bats, Canada lynx, wolverines, and gopher frogs. 

• R&D scientists are experimentally testing how natural disturbances such as wildfire and hurricanes, or forest management including prescribed fire or timber harvests affect reptile, amphibian, breeding bird, and insect communities.

• Scientists are addressing habitat and nutritional needs of game species such as deer and elk, how their populations are affected by predators such as coyotes, how their browsing impacts forest restoration, and factors affecting hunter success.

• Researchers are modelling landscapes to help establish or conserve wildlife corridors and reduce habitat fragmentation, ensuring that animals can move freely across landscapes for breeding, migration, and in response to a changing climate.