Blake Hossack, Ph.D.
Blake Hossack's research is focused on measuring population and community responses to climate change, energy development, invasive species, and wetland mitigation and management
Research Interests
Most of Blake's research is focused on wetlands and amphibians, with long-term research areas in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem (Montana), Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (Wyoming), southern Arizona and Mexico, the northern Great Plains, and the subarctic (Manitoba). To improve conservation success, Blake has increasingly sought to integrate research into management applications. He is stationed at the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana, where he coordinates activities for the Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI).
Current Research Projects:
- Long-term research on amphibians and wetlands in the Desert Southwest, Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and Crown of the Continent Ecosystem
- Effects of disease on imperiled amphibian populations
- Designing citizen science programs for research on effects of climate change on wetland communities in the Canadian Subarctic
- Measurement of the threat of climate to aquatic species, their capacity for local adaptation, and adaptive management to reduce threats.
- Integrating metapopulation ecology and landscape ecology for improved population viability analysis and conservation decision-making.
- Quantifying the ecological value of mitigation and other constructed wetlands
- Informing recovery of threatened and endangered amphibians in the US-Mexico Borderlands
- Effects of energy development on wetland communities in the Prairie Pothole Region
- Using environmental DNA (eDNA) to detect and monitor pathogens and rare herpetofauna
- Documenting responses of aquatic communities to installation of beaver dam analog structures in headwater streams in prairie and sagebrush lands
Science and Products
Climate Science and Adaptation Planning Support for State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs) in the North Central Region
State Wildlife Action Plans are intended to provide proactive planning and guidance for the management of rare or imperiled species, including Species of Greatest Conservation Need. States must update their State Wildlife Action Plans every 10 years, but planners often lack the capacity or resources to integrate climate change into their planning. Revised State Wildlife Action Plans for...
Western Waters Invasive Species and Disease Research Program
Researchers at the Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center's Western Waters Invasive Species and Disease Research Program work extensively with federal, state, tribal, regional, and local partners to deliver science to improve early detection and prevention of invasive species and disease; understand complex interactions that promote invasive species and disease, and their impacts (and associated...
Modeling Colonization of a Population of Chiricahua Leopard Frogs
Managing a species with intensive tools like reintroduction may focus on single sites or entire landscapes. For mobile species like the federally-threatened Chiricahua leopard frog (Lithobates chiricahuensis [CLF]), both suitable colonization sites and suitable dispersal corridors between sites are needed. Following the eradication of the invasive American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) from...
Amphibian Chytrid Fungus Sampling in Arizona and Mexico
Information on disease presence can be of use to natural resource managers, especially in areas supporting threatened and endangered species that occur coincidentally with species that are suspected vectors for disease. A general sense of pathogen presence (or absence) can inform management directed at threatened and endangered species, especially in regions where disease is suspected to have...
Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative: Rocky Mountain Region
The Rocky Mountain Region of Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) encompasses Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. Two USGS Science Centers initiate and develop ARMI projects in this region. Investigations at NOROCK are headed by Dr. Blake Hossack. Investigations at the Fort Collins Science Center (FORT), Colorado, are headed by Dr. Erin Muths. The ARMI program is based on a...
RARMI: Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center (NOROCK) Apex Sites
In contrast to RARMI study areas in Colorado that have 10 or more years of records of continuous population monitoring, there are fewer long-term datasets for amphibian populations in the northern Rocky Mountains. The exception is an ongoing study of Columbia spotted frogs at Lodge Creek, Yellowstone National Park. Three other long-term research and monitoring areas have been established in the...
Elucidating mechanisms underlying amphibian declines in North America using hierarchical spatial models
Amphibian populations are declining globally at unprecedented rates but statistically rigorous identification of mechanisms is lacking. Identification of reasons underlying large-scale declines is imperative to plan and implement effective conservation efforts. Most research on amphibian population decline has focused on local populations and local factors. However, the ubiquity of...
Science and Products
Climate Science and Adaptation Planning Support for State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs) in the North Central Region
State Wildlife Action Plans are intended to provide proactive planning and guidance for the management of rare or imperiled species, including Species of Greatest Conservation Need. States must update their State Wildlife Action Plans every 10 years, but planners often lack the capacity or resources to integrate climate change into their planning. Revised State Wildlife Action Plans for...
Western Waters Invasive Species and Disease Research Program
Researchers at the Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center's Western Waters Invasive Species and Disease Research Program work extensively with federal, state, tribal, regional, and local partners to deliver science to improve early detection and prevention of invasive species and disease; understand complex interactions that promote invasive species and disease, and their impacts (and associated...
Modeling Colonization of a Population of Chiricahua Leopard Frogs
Managing a species with intensive tools like reintroduction may focus on single sites or entire landscapes. For mobile species like the federally-threatened Chiricahua leopard frog (Lithobates chiricahuensis [CLF]), both suitable colonization sites and suitable dispersal corridors between sites are needed. Following the eradication of the invasive American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) from...
Amphibian Chytrid Fungus Sampling in Arizona and Mexico
Information on disease presence can be of use to natural resource managers, especially in areas supporting threatened and endangered species that occur coincidentally with species that are suspected vectors for disease. A general sense of pathogen presence (or absence) can inform management directed at threatened and endangered species, especially in regions where disease is suspected to have...
Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative: Rocky Mountain Region
The Rocky Mountain Region of Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) encompasses Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. Two USGS Science Centers initiate and develop ARMI projects in this region. Investigations at NOROCK are headed by Dr. Blake Hossack. Investigations at the Fort Collins Science Center (FORT), Colorado, are headed by Dr. Erin Muths. The ARMI program is based on a...
RARMI: Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center (NOROCK) Apex Sites
In contrast to RARMI study areas in Colorado that have 10 or more years of records of continuous population monitoring, there are fewer long-term datasets for amphibian populations in the northern Rocky Mountains. The exception is an ongoing study of Columbia spotted frogs at Lodge Creek, Yellowstone National Park. Three other long-term research and monitoring areas have been established in the...
Elucidating mechanisms underlying amphibian declines in North America using hierarchical spatial models
Amphibian populations are declining globally at unprecedented rates but statistically rigorous identification of mechanisms is lacking. Identification of reasons underlying large-scale declines is imperative to plan and implement effective conservation efforts. Most research on amphibian population decline has focused on local populations and local factors. However, the ubiquity of...