Christian Che-Castaldo, PhD
Assistant Unit Leader - Wisconsin Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit
Dr. Che-Castaldo received his Ph.D. in Behavior, Ecology, Evolution and Systematics from the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Che-Castaldo was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stony Brook University's Institute for Advanced Computational Science, a Research Scientist at the Mount St. Helens Institute and a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University, before joining the USGS Wisconsin Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit in 2023.
Dr. Che-Castaldo is a quantitative ecologist interested in population and community ecology, primary succession, and building pipelines to facilitate species conservation. His research focuses on combining remote sensing with long-term ecological data using Bayesian hierarchical models, with an emphasis on high-performance computing, forecasting, and reproducible science. Dr. Che-Castaldo is a co-developer of the Antarctic Penguin Biogeography Project, an open-access decision support tool designed for Southern Ocean managers, scientists, and the public. He also has a long-standing interest in the ecological recovery of Mount St. Helens following its 1980 volcanic eruption.
Professional Experience
Assistant Unit Leader, Wisconsin Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, 2023-
Education and Certifications
Ph.D. - University of Maryland
Science and Products
Living with uncertainty: Using multi-model large ensembles to assess emperor penguin extinction risk for the IUCN Red List Living with uncertainty: Using multi-model large ensembles to assess emperor penguin extinction risk for the IUCN Red List
Improved methods for identifying species at risk are needed to strengthen climate change vulnerability assessments, as current estimates indicate that up to one million species face extinction due to environmental changes. Integrating multiple sources of uncertainty enhances the robustness of Red List of Threatened Species assessments, providing a more comprehensive understanding of...
Authors
Stephanie Jenouvrier, Alice Eparvier, Bilgecan Sen, Francesco Ventura, Christian Joseph Che-Castaldo, Marika Holland, Laura Landrum, Kristen Krumhardt, Jimmy Garnier, Karine Delord, Christophe Barbraud, Philip Trathan
Temporal and spatial equivalence in demographic responses of emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) to environmental change Temporal and spatial equivalence in demographic responses of emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) to environmental change
1. Population ecology and biogeography applications often necessitate the transfer of models across spatial and/or temporal dimensions to make predictions outside the bounds of the data used for model fitting. However, ecological data are often spatiotemporally unbalanced such that the spatial or the temporal dimension tends to contain more data than the other. This unbalance frequently...
Authors
Bilgecan Şen, Christian Joseph Che-Castaldo, Michelle A. LaRue, Kristen M. Krumhardt, Laura Landrum, Marika M. Holland, Heather J. Lynch, Karine Delord, Christophe Barbraud, Stéphanie Jenouvrier
Penguin colony georegistration using camera pose estimation and phototourism Penguin colony georegistration using camera pose estimation and phototourism
Satellite-based remote sensing and uncrewed aerial imagery play increasingly important roles in the mapping of wildlife populations and wildlife habitat, but the availability of imagery has been limited in remote areas. At the same time, ecotourism is a rapidly growing industry and can yield a vast catalog of photographs that could be harnessed for monitoring purposes, but the inherently...
Authors
Haoyu Wu, Clare Flynn, Carole Hall, Christian Joseph Che-Castaldo, Dimitris Samaras, Mathew Schwaller, Heather J. Lynch
The potential for species distribution models to distinguish source populations from sinks The potential for species distribution models to distinguish source populations from sinks
1. While species distribution models (SDM) are frequently used to predict species occurrences to help inform conservation management, there is limited evidence evaluating whether habitat suitability can reliably predict intrinsic growth rates or distinguish source from sink populations. Filling this knowledge gap is critical for conservation science, as applications of SDMs for...
Authors
Bilgecan Sen, Christian Joseph Che-Castaldo, H. Resit Akcakaya
Detecting stochasticity in population time series using a non-parametric test of intrinsic predictability Detecting stochasticity in population time series using a non-parametric test of intrinsic predictability
1. Many ecological systems dominated by stochastic dynamics can produce complex time series that inherently limit forecast accuracy. The ‘intrinsic predictability’ of these systems can be approximated by a time series complexity metric called weighted permutation entropy (WPE). While WPE is a useful metric to gauge forecast performance prior to model building, it is sensitive to noise...
Authors
Bilgecan Sen, Christian Joseph Che-Castaldo, Heather J. Lynch, Francesco Ventura, Michelle A. LaRue, Stephanie Jenouvrier
Non-USGS Publications**
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
Science and Products
Living with uncertainty: Using multi-model large ensembles to assess emperor penguin extinction risk for the IUCN Red List Living with uncertainty: Using multi-model large ensembles to assess emperor penguin extinction risk for the IUCN Red List
Improved methods for identifying species at risk are needed to strengthen climate change vulnerability assessments, as current estimates indicate that up to one million species face extinction due to environmental changes. Integrating multiple sources of uncertainty enhances the robustness of Red List of Threatened Species assessments, providing a more comprehensive understanding of...
Authors
Stephanie Jenouvrier, Alice Eparvier, Bilgecan Sen, Francesco Ventura, Christian Joseph Che-Castaldo, Marika Holland, Laura Landrum, Kristen Krumhardt, Jimmy Garnier, Karine Delord, Christophe Barbraud, Philip Trathan
Temporal and spatial equivalence in demographic responses of emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) to environmental change Temporal and spatial equivalence in demographic responses of emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) to environmental change
1. Population ecology and biogeography applications often necessitate the transfer of models across spatial and/or temporal dimensions to make predictions outside the bounds of the data used for model fitting. However, ecological data are often spatiotemporally unbalanced such that the spatial or the temporal dimension tends to contain more data than the other. This unbalance frequently...
Authors
Bilgecan Şen, Christian Joseph Che-Castaldo, Michelle A. LaRue, Kristen M. Krumhardt, Laura Landrum, Marika M. Holland, Heather J. Lynch, Karine Delord, Christophe Barbraud, Stéphanie Jenouvrier
Penguin colony georegistration using camera pose estimation and phototourism Penguin colony georegistration using camera pose estimation and phototourism
Satellite-based remote sensing and uncrewed aerial imagery play increasingly important roles in the mapping of wildlife populations and wildlife habitat, but the availability of imagery has been limited in remote areas. At the same time, ecotourism is a rapidly growing industry and can yield a vast catalog of photographs that could be harnessed for monitoring purposes, but the inherently...
Authors
Haoyu Wu, Clare Flynn, Carole Hall, Christian Joseph Che-Castaldo, Dimitris Samaras, Mathew Schwaller, Heather J. Lynch
The potential for species distribution models to distinguish source populations from sinks The potential for species distribution models to distinguish source populations from sinks
1. While species distribution models (SDM) are frequently used to predict species occurrences to help inform conservation management, there is limited evidence evaluating whether habitat suitability can reliably predict intrinsic growth rates or distinguish source from sink populations. Filling this knowledge gap is critical for conservation science, as applications of SDMs for...
Authors
Bilgecan Sen, Christian Joseph Che-Castaldo, H. Resit Akcakaya
Detecting stochasticity in population time series using a non-parametric test of intrinsic predictability Detecting stochasticity in population time series using a non-parametric test of intrinsic predictability
1. Many ecological systems dominated by stochastic dynamics can produce complex time series that inherently limit forecast accuracy. The ‘intrinsic predictability’ of these systems can be approximated by a time series complexity metric called weighted permutation entropy (WPE). While WPE is a useful metric to gauge forecast performance prior to model building, it is sensitive to noise...
Authors
Bilgecan Sen, Christian Joseph Che-Castaldo, Heather J. Lynch, Francesco Ventura, Michelle A. LaRue, Stephanie Jenouvrier
Non-USGS Publications**
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.