Ecology/Ecosystems Research Opportunities
The below list features profiles of USGS scientists who are looking for interns to assist with their research in different areas of ecology and adjacent fields of study. Interested students should reach out to the individual researcher via the contact information provided.
Joseph Eisaguirre, Research Wildlife Biologist
Contact: jeisaguirre@usgs.gov
My current areas of research include spatiotemporal statistical methods for studying changes in wildlife distribution and abundance, statistical methods for using movement data to better understand wildlife population ecology and demographics, and expanding wildlife populations in Alaska. I currently have projects on caribou and golden eagle movement ecology and survival, sea otter spatiotemporal population dynamics and survey design, and barred owl range expansion. I have broad interests in movement ecology and statistical ecology and aim to design research in those areas to better inform the management of wildlife. I encourage students with similar interests to reach out to discuss potential opportunities to design projects related to my ongoing or other similar work. I also collaborate on a range of projects and potentially have access to other datasets.
Ian Pearse, Research Ecologist
Contact: ipearse@usgs.gov
I study the ecology of plants and insects. I conduct ecological experiments and surveys, mostly outdoors, but sometimes in a lab or greenhouse. Much of my work asks basic questions. How do plants defend themselves against herbivores? How and why do trees time their reproduction? Most of my work has applications to address major environmental concerns. How can we reverse the loss of declining bumble bees? How can we best manage public lands to cope with invasive species? I enjoy working with students and figuring out our shared interests.
Beth Middleton, Research Ecologist
Contact: middletonb@usgs.gov; 337-262-7618
Geographical trends in ecosystem function and biodiversity of wetlands and climate change
Science Issue and Relevance: Extreme drought, flooding and temperatures in the southeastern United States may become more frequent in the future and are likely to have effects on wetland ecosystem function. This study looks current trends in swamp responses to environment across the southeastern United States to make predictions of future changes in production, regeneration, carbon storage, and emissions.
Methods for Addressing the Issue: These studies are conducted in the North American Bald Cypress Swamp Network (NABSCN), which is a long-term study network located throughout the southeastern United States along the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley from southern Louisiana to southern Illinois, and the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts from Texas to Florida and Maryland/Delaware, respectively (70 wetlands total). The network has replication at the landscape level, with five replicate swamps per geographical area from Illinois to Louisiana, Texas to Florida, and Florida to Delaware..
Within each wetland, production, growth and regeneration are studied. Annual estimates include above- and below-ground production, decomposition, soil carbon content, tree growth, and seed banks. Environmental measurements include water, sediment and salinity dynamics; many sites have water level recorders and Sediment Elevation Tables.
Interns will be able to design their own studies utilizing long-term data sets on ecosystem function from 2002-2022. Interns can also design their own short term manipulative study within the study network. There are opportunities for collaboration on paleoecology and threatened and endangered species.
JoAnn Holloway, Research Biogeochemist
Contact: jholloway@usgs.gov
Watershed-scale mining impacts
I develop interdisciplinary research teams that address watershed-scale legacy mining impacts in the Salmon River Mountains of Idaho using an array of tools: water chemistry, soil characterization, ecotoxicology, and geospatial analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of natural attenuation as a component of mining remediation. Another objective is to evaluate stakeholder perception of the balance between mining, remediation, subsistence land-use, and recreation through ecosystem services modeling. Students with NSF funding and interest in either of these areas are encouraged to contact me. This research opportunity is flexible due to the interdisciplinary nature of this work.
Toni Lyn Morelli, Research Ecologist
Contact: tmorelli@usgs.gov
Toni Lyn's research focuses on the impacts of global change in species and ecosystems in the U.S. and beyond. She uses a variety of techniques to do this, from fieldwork to ecological modeling, usually involving stakeholder engagement using the process of translational ecology. Her previous NSF graduate students have investigated moose range shifts, Arctic ground squirrel occupancy, red squirrel genomic diversity, cognitive behavior in the field, bird acoustics, and invasive vs. native plant trade. She has a large, diverse, and vibrant lab that provides an enriching and supportive community, exemplified by this publication produced by her students: https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi…;
G. Lynn Wingard, Research Geologist (Conservation Paleobiology)
Contact: lwingard@usgs.gov
Our projects focus on several aspects of restoration of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem, and we work with resource managers to provide science that supports decision-making. One component of our work develops salinity estimates for south Florida’s estuaries circa 1900 CE, prior to significant alteration of the hydrology. This research applies modern analog data to analyses of sediment cores to interpret past salinity patterns and species distributions. The results of our paleosalinity estimates are used by resource managers to set targets for restoration of more natural salinities in the estuaries. Data on species distributions (both fossil and living) are also used to identify indicator species for monitoring the success of restoration. The second component of our work examines the impacts of coastal storms, sea level rise and anthropogenic alteration on resiliency of the south Florida coast. We employ a variety of tools to assess these changes, including sediment core analyses, remote sensing, and on-site monitoring (surface elevation tables, mangrove monitoring plots). Our sediment core analyses indicate that climate variability alone, without significant sea level rise, can cause coastal inundation and transgression. The results of our studies can assist resource managers with planning for future coastal resiliency over the coming century.
Helen Sofaer, Research Ecologist
Contact: hsofaer@usgs.gov
I’m a quantitative ecologist who does research focused on invasive species and climate change. I study a variety of taxa, including birds, plants, and beetles, and do research from local to macroecological scales. Research projects can focus on analyses of existing datasets, often studying patterns and drivers of invasions across space and time, or can integrate with on-the-ground research in Pacific Island systems. Quantitative projects include working with large spatial datasets in R and applying modern statistical methods to answer questions in population, community, and landscape ecology with the aim of informing management strategies.
Greg Noe, Ecosystem Ecologist: Wetlands, Streams, and Restoration
Contact: gnoe@usgs.gov
Research Interests: Wetland ecosystem ecology, focusing on the interactive influences of hydrology, geomorphology, climate, and biology on nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon, and sediment biogeochemistry and transport in wetlands, streams, and watersheds, as well as plant community ecology and restoration ecology.
Rose Swift, Research Ecologist
Contact: rswift@usgs.gov
As an ecologist, I study how different perturbations (e.g., climate change, land-use conversion, habitat change, species interactions) affect species across multiple spatiotemporal scales. My research touches on multiple subdisciplines, including conservation biology, community ecology, landscape ecology, population demography, behavioral ecology, and applied management. Much of my current work focuses on estimating population vital rates through quantitative demographic models to improve conservation and management of migratory bird species. I have ongoing current work on federally listed birds, grassland-nesting songbirds, and shorebirds throughout the annual cycle with an emphasis on questions related to the Great Plains. My research uses a variety of field techniques and quantitative approaches depending on the research question that will aid in ongoing conservation efforts.
Curt Storlazzi, Research Geologist
Contact: cstorlazzi@usgs.gov
The overall objective our efforts is to better understand the geologic and oceanographic processes that affect the growth and vitality of coral reefs, the coastal flood risk reduction they provide adjacent coastlines, how climate change and sea-level rise will increase that risk, and how coral reef restoration, as a nature-based solution, will reduce that risk and increase the resiliency of coral reef-lined coasts and their associated communities. It is interdisciplinary in that it requires understanding of climate and watershed processes, coastal oceanography, sediment dynamics, and coral physiology, ecology, geochemistry, and socioeconomics. Our research on this interdisciplinary topic is (1) through field studies that seek to identify the role of key environmental processes; (2) through monitoring efforts coordinated with National and local action strategy groups, with development of new techniques and/or technologies; and (3) through numerical modeling to identify likely behavior of waves, water levels, sediment, nutrients, contaminants, and coral larvae under typical and extreme events and future projections based on global climate model outputs.
Dylan Gomes, Biologist/Ecologist
Contact: dgomes@usgs.gov
I'm a Biologist at the U.S. Geological Survey Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center. My research focuses on a large range of fish and wildlife species population ecology, ecological and ecosystem modeling, and exploring management and recovery actions for imperiled species. I build both simulation-based and statistical ecological models (primarily in R), integrating population dynamics, trophic interactions, food webs, and environmental variation at multiple scales to improve our understanding of ecosystem dynamics. I often work closely with cooperators to develop ecological models and decision-support tools that meet the needs of decision makers. Our decision-support models are used to explore management and restoration options for aquatic and terrestrial species and landscapes. I have additional interests in noise and light pollution, open science, and methodological development.
Stephen Formel, Biologist, Node Manager of GBIF-US and OBIS-USA
Contact: sformel@usgs.gov
I'm a biologist with the USGS Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS) program. As the node manager for the Ocean Biodiversity Information System - USA (OBIS-USA) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility US (GBIF-US) we facilitate the mobilization, reuse, and synthesis of biodiversity data. I am always working to improve data management and standards implementation for large, complex data and projects, so I regularly work with groups like Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP), Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG), and the Genomics Standards Consortium (GSC)
So, what kinds of work could we do together? I often collaborate with labs, institutions, and projects to apply standards and practices to their data. As often as possible, we try to develop programmatic solutions for this (i.e. R and python). Since we tend to review the same material regularly, we are always interested creating useful educational materials. If you're more interested in hardcore analysis, GBIF and OBIS share massive amounts of data, and frequently biologists and ecologists can become overwhelmed trying to wrangle the data. We create syntheses and analyses of these data to demonstrate efficient workflows and push the envelope on how these data can be useful for science and decision makers.
In short, there are so many directions I can move in, that I'm very open to ideas that can be connected to biodiversity informatics, GBIF, OBIS, or any of the relevant standards.
Matt Falcy, Assistant Unit Leader (USGS) and Assistant Professor (University of Idaho)
Contact: mfalcy@usgs.gov
I am a quantitative animal ecologist interested in population dynamics and management. I work on statistical analyses and code simulation models in R. I have a few partially completed projects that a student could work on. These range from individual based models of eco-evolutionary dynamics to bioenergetics modeling to development of Bayesian belief networks for decision-support. Student will integrate with approximately 6 graduate students I supervise at the University of Idaho.
Kurt P. Kowalski, Research Ecologist
Contact: kkowalski@usgs.gov
I am a Research Wetland Ecologist at the USGS Great Lakes Science Center (GLSC) with a focus on restoration of Great Lakes coastal wetland habitats and invasive plant control methods (e.g., researching new bioherbicides for non-native Phragmites australis). My research group’s current efforts involve the development of novel management strategies that are of significant value and interest to land managers across North America. Through collaborative efforts with academic, government (U.S. and Australia), and other partners, we are engaged in innovative research to find more sustainable control mechanisms for non-native Phragmites and other invasive plant species. We are currently (1) developing and testing treatment approaches targeting alterations to the microbial (bacteria, fungi) communities that occur in and around invasive plants and (2) species-specific molecular approaches (e.g., RNA interference) to control the most aggressive traits of Phragmites and Hydrocharis morsus-ranae (European Frog-bit, EFB). In addition to developing alternative treatment methods for high-profile invasive species, we are working with the Great Lakes Commission to implement the Great Lakes Phragmites Collaborative, the Phragmites Adaptive Management Program, and other efforts to maximize management impact on this species. My team has a long history of working with academic partners and university students and looks forward to building on these relationships to advance wetland and invasive species science.