Diann is a research wildlife ecologist at the Eastern Ecological Science Center located in Laurel, MD
Productivity of Species of Concern – Least Tern and Common Tern on Poplar Island Restoration Site
This project aims to understand the factors driving breeding success of multiple waterbird species, with special emphasis on Least and Common Terns (two species of concern) on Poplar Island Environmental Restoration Project.
She began working at Patuxent in 1999. Her background is in wetland ecology and ornithology and her research interests include using spatial modeling techniques to help answer questions related to wildlife and stressors such as climate change and disease.
Recently Hosted Visiting Scientists from Chinese Academy of Sciences (2012-2013)
Education and Certifications
B.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Science (1995) from the Pennsylvania State University
M.S. in Ecology (1998) from the Pennsylvania State University
Ph.D. (2012) from the University of Maryland’s Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences interdisciplinary ecology program
Honors and Awards
2017 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)
University of Maryland Goldhaber Travel Grant
2011 NSF SGER Grant
2007 NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes
2005 University of Maryland Nagel Travel Grant
2005 USGS, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center Star Award 2000
Science and Products
Asian Flyways Collaborative for Waterbirds (AFCoW)
Blue-winged Teal and Cross Continental Avian Influenza Transmission
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Seaduck Challenge Study
Avian Influenza Surveillance in Waterfowl in the Atlantic Flyway
Pathogens in the Aquatic Environment – Waterfowl, Avian Influenza
USGS Wild Bird Avian Influenza Program – Studies from Endemic Regions of Eurasia
Productivity of Species of Concern – Least Tern and Common Tern on Poplar Island Restoration Site
Using Advanced Technology to Enhance Research at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (PWRC) - a Public-Private Partnership
Deriving Spatial Waterfowl Inputs for Disease Risk Modeling
Sea-level Rise
Shoreline Changes and Impacts to Natural Resources in Chesapeake Bay
Coastal Salt Marsh Management Along the Atlantic
Models describing the distribution of chickens, ducks, and geese in China
Species distribution models from a habitat suitability approach: waterfowl of China
Spatial Models of Wild Bird Risk Factors for Highly Pathogenic A(H5N1) Avian Influenza Virus Transmission
Data concerning maintenance and dissemination of avian-origin influenza A virus within the Northern Atlantic Flyway of North America
Predicted Avian Influenza Prevalence for Wild Waterfowl Species Across the Continental United States.
Poplar Island Digitizing
Testing transmitter types, harness types, and harness materials for attachment of radio transmitters onto avian chicks
Shoreline delineations for 21 Subestuaries in the Chesapeake Bay 2010-2014.
Assessing Nest Attentiveness of Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) via Video Cameras and Temperature Loggers
Temporal Viral Viability Data from Avian Influenza A Viruses Maintained in North American Wetlands Under Experimental and Environmental Conditions
Waterfowl occurrence and residence time as indicators of H5 and H7 avian in?uenza in North American Poultry
Using Thermal Infrared Cameras to Detect Avian Chicks at Various Distances and Vegetative Coverages
Poplar Island: Understanding the development of a beneficial use restoration site
Highly pathogenic avian influenza is an emerging disease threat to wild birds in North America
Pathways for avian influenza virus spread: GPS reveals wild waterfowl in commercial livestock facilities and connectivity with the natural wetland landscape
A comparison of methods for the long-term harness-based attachment of radio-transmitters to juvenile Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica)
The spatial-temporal relationship of blue-winged teal to domestic poultry: Movement state modeling of a highly mobile avian influenza host
Do contrasting patterns of migration movements and disease outbreaks between congeneric waterfowl species reflect differing immunity?
Crossroads of highly pathogenic H5N1: overlap between wild and domestic birds in the Black Sea-Mediterranean impacts global transmission
Diurnal timing of nonmigratory movement by birds: The importance of foraging spatial scales
The pathogenesis of a North American H5N2 clade 2.3.4.4 group A highly pathogenic avian influenza virus in surf scoters (Melanitta perspicillata)
Influenza A viruses remain infectious for more than seven months in northern wetlands of North America
Assessing nest attentiveness of Common Terns via video cameras and temperature loggers
Waterfowl occurrence and residence time as indicators of H5 and H7 avian influenza in North American Poultry
Visualizing Models for Avian Influenza Viruses
Emergence of avian influenza viruses with the potential to be highly pathogenic to poultry, wild birds, & humans, such as the highly pathogenic H5N1 and H7N9 cause serious concern for the global economic & public health sectors. Visual representations of model data can be effective in helping to discover how the spread of the virus is influenced by environmental & human
Science and Products
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Asian Flyways Collaborative for Waterbirds (AFCoW)
The Asian Flyways Collaborative for Waterbirds (AFCoW) is a collaborative group effort that brings together research scientists engaged in understanding waterbird ecology in Eastern Asia. Due to the complexity of waterbird biology and unique threats to their populations in East Asia, we have established a voluntary international network of collaborators to promote advanced studies of large-scale...Blue-winged Teal and Cross Continental Avian Influenza Transmission
This project aims to improve our understanding of the migratory ecology of Blue-winged Teal and how this may impact the ability of this species to transmit avian influenza or other pathogens across the wild bird – domestic poultry interface.This project aims to improve our understanding of the migratory ecology of Blue-winged Teal and how this may impact the ability of this species to transmit...Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Seaduck Challenge Study
This project seeks to improve our understanding of the susceptibility and pathogenesis of pertinent strains of avian influenza viruses in diving duck species.Avian Influenza Surveillance in Waterfowl in the Atlantic Flyway
This project seeks to quantify the strains and prevalence of avian influenza viruses circulating in wild waterfowl across the Atlantic Flyway, and allow comparison with the nations other flyways.Pathogens in the Aquatic Environment – Waterfowl, Avian Influenza
This project focuses on understanding the prevalence and strains of avian influenza viruses in the aquatic environment and how this compares to those circulating within wild birds in the same area.USGS Wild Bird Avian Influenza Program – Studies from Endemic Regions of Eurasia
This project focuses on tracking wild birds throughout Eurasia via satellite telemetry to better understand their spatiotemporal movement patterns, relationship to domestic birds, and potential role in the spread, persistence, and amplification of avian influenza viruses.Productivity of Species of Concern – Least Tern and Common Tern on Poplar Island Restoration Site
This project aims to understand the factors driving breeding success of multiple waterbird species, with special emphasis on Least and Common Terns (two species of concern) on Poplar Island Environmental Restoration Project.Using Advanced Technology to Enhance Research at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (PWRC) - a Public-Private Partnership
This project is focused on exploring the use of new technology to collect data on colonially nesting waterbird species in ways that reduce disturbance, improve data accuracy, or allow for the examination of previously unanswerable questions.Deriving Spatial Waterfowl Inputs for Disease Risk Modeling
This project is an effort to create spatially and temporally explicit models for waterfowl distribution across the United States for use in avian influenza transmission risk modeling.Sea-level Rise
Acceleration in sea-level rise and changing environmental stressors have important implications for the integrity of coastal wetlands and for efforts to restore and protect the ecosystem services they provide. Federal and state agencies need to make more detailed assessments of how different watersheds and shoreline types might influence an array of ecosystem functions and components and scientist...Shoreline Changes and Impacts to Natural Resources in Chesapeake Bay
This project aims to improve our understanding of the impacts of shoreline hardening on aquatic ecosystems.Coastal Salt Marsh Management Along the Atlantic
This project seeks to improve our understanding of how Open Marsh Water Management techniques aimed at mosquito reduction have impacted their target ecosystems along the Atlantic coast. - Data
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Models describing the distribution of chickens, ducks, and geese in China
This data release provides models detailing previous efforts to understand the distribution of domestic poultry throughout China. These data support a previous USGS publication.Species distribution models from a habitat suitability approach: waterfowl of China
This is a data release for models indicating suitable habitat for waterfowl at a 1km resolution across China. Faced with limited data, we built species distribution models using a habitat suitability approach for China's breeding and non-breeding waterfowl. An extensive review of the literature was used to determine model parameters for habitat modeling. Habitat relationships were implemented in GSpatial Models of Wild Bird Risk Factors for Highly Pathogenic A(H5N1) Avian Influenza Virus Transmission
Wild waterfowl (family Anatidae) are reported as secondary transmitters of HPAIV and primary reservoirs for low-pathogenic avian influenza viruses, yet spatial inputs for disease risk modeling for this group have been lacking. Using geographic information software and Monte Carlo simulations, we developed geospatial indices of waterfowl abundance at 1 km resolutions for the breeding and winteringData concerning maintenance and dissemination of avian-origin influenza A virus within the Northern Atlantic Flyway of North America
This data release details the results of avian influenza sampling of dabbling ducks in Maine and Maryland. These data support an associated USGS publication.Predicted Avian Influenza Prevalence for Wild Waterfowl Species Across the Continental United States.
This data release provides the predicted proportion of birds testing positive for IAV for each species at weekly intervals for each county centroid in the continental United States. This data supports a paired USGS publication.Poplar Island Digitizing
In order to allow for a comparison across years we visually digitized landcover of Poplar Island from a single image per year at a 1:1000 spatial extent with a minimum mapping unit of 300 square meters (no minimum dimensions aside from area). Images used to assign landcover were provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and were captured between July and October of their respective years. All iTesting transmitter types, harness types, and harness materials for attachment of radio transmitters onto avian chicks
In an effort to facilitate research into the period between fledging and first breeding of juvenile terns we examined the impact of various combinations of harness types (backpack, leg-loop, and 3D printed harnesses), harness materials (Conrad-Jarvis automotive ribbon, Stretch Magic elastic thread, and Teflon ribbon), and transmitter types (CTT LifeTag and Lotek Nanotag) on a surrogate for juvenilShoreline delineations for 21 Subestuaries in the Chesapeake Bay 2010-2014.
In many coastal regions throughout the world, there is increasing pressure to harden shorelines to protect human infrastructures against sea level rise, storm surge, and erosion. These data reflect the digitization of the shorelines of 21 sub-estuaries throughout the Chesapeake Bay (USA) as observed from 2010 through 2014. Shoreline segments are classified into one of seven shoreline types: bulkheAssessing Nest Attentiveness of Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) via Video Cameras and Temperature Loggers
While nest attentiveness plays a critical role in the reproductive success of avian species, little is known regarding the nest attentiveness patterns of many species during incubation. However, improvements in both video monitoring and temperature logging devices present an opportunity to improve our understanding of this aspect of avian behavior. To evaluate the ability of these technologies toTemporal Viral Viability Data from Avian Influenza A Viruses Maintained in North American Wetlands Under Experimental and Environmental Conditions
Data sets containing: (1) sample collection and influenza A virus (IAV) screening information for wild ducks, (2) water temperature data for six North American wetlands, (3) water quality measurement from those wetlands, (4) laboratory-based study of viral viability using Minnesota wetland water, (5) naive mallards challenged experimentally with IAVs identified from the field experiment, and (6) gWaterfowl occurrence and residence time as indicators of H5 and H7 avian in?uenza in North American Poultry
This data release contains model outputs depicting the probability of an H5 or H7 avian influenza outbreak at any given point in the continental United States for each week of the year.Using Thermal Infrared Cameras to Detect Avian Chicks at Various Distances and Vegetative Coverages
These data represent the ability of two thermal infrared cameras to detect a chicken chick under a variety of vegetation coverage's. - Publications
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Poplar Island: Understanding the development of a beneficial use restoration site
Poplar Island, like many other islands throughout the Chesapeake Bay, eroded from 460 hectares in 1847 to only 1.5 hectares by the 1990’s. However, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Maryland Department of Transportation, and numerous other state and federal agencies selected this site as the location of a beneficial use project aimed at restoring remote island habitat in the Chesapeake Bay using cHighly pathogenic avian influenza is an emerging disease threat to wild birds in North America
Prior to the emergence of the A/goose/Guangdong/1/1996 (Gs/GD) H5N1 influenza A virus, the long-held and well-supported paradigm was that highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks were restricted to poultry, the result of cross-species transmission of precursor viruses from wild aquatic birds that subsequently gained pathogenicity in domestic birds. Therefore, management agencies typicallPathways for avian influenza virus spread: GPS reveals wild waterfowl in commercial livestock facilities and connectivity with the natural wetland landscape
Zoonotic diseases are of considerable concern to the human population and viruses such as avian influenza (AIV) threaten food security, wildlife conservation and human health. Wild waterfowl and the natural wetlands they use are known AIV reservoirs, with birds capable of virus transmission to domestic poultry populations. While infection risk models have linked migration routes and AIV outbreaks,A comparison of methods for the long-term harness-based attachment of radio-transmitters to juvenile Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica)
BackgroundWhile the period from fledging through first breeding for waterbird species such as terns (e.g., genus Sterna, Sternula) is of great interest to researchers and conservationists, this period remains understudied due in large part to the difficulty of marking growing juveniles with radio transmitters that remain attached for extended periods.MethodsIn an effort to facilitate such researchThe spatial-temporal relationship of blue-winged teal to domestic poultry: Movement state modeling of a highly mobile avian influenza host
1. Migratory waterfowl facilitate long distance dispersal of zoonotic pathogens and are increasingly recognized as contributing to the geographic spread of avian influenza viruses (AIV). AIV are globally distributed and have the potential to produce highly contagious poultry disease, economically impact both large-scale and backyard poultry producers, and raise the specter of epidemics and pandemiDo contrasting patterns of migration movements and disease outbreaks between congeneric waterfowl species reflect differing immunity?
Long-distance migrations influence the dynamics of hostpathogen interactions and understanding the role of migratory waterfowl in the spread of the highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIV) is important. While wild geese have been associated with outbreak events, disease ecology of closely related species has not been studied to the same extent. The swan goose (Anser cygnoides) and the barCrossroads of highly pathogenic H5N1: overlap between wild and domestic birds in the Black Sea-Mediterranean impacts global transmission
Understanding transmission dynamics that link wild and domestic animals is a key element of predicting the emergence of infectious disease, an event that has highest likelihood of occurring wherever human livelihoods depend on agriculture and animal trade. Contact between poultry and wild birds is a key driver of the emergence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), a process that allows forDiurnal timing of nonmigratory movement by birds: The importance of foraging spatial scales
Timing of activity can reveal an organism's efforts to optimize foraging either by minimizing energy loss through passive movement or by maximizing energetic gain through foraging. Here, we assess whether signals of either of these strategies are detectable in the timing of activity of daily, local movements by birds. We compare the similarities of timing of movement activity among species using sThe pathogenesis of a North American H5N2 clade 2.3.4.4 group A highly pathogenic avian influenza virus in surf scoters (Melanitta perspicillata)
BackgroundAquatic waterfowl, particularly those in the order Anseriformes and Charadriiformes, are the ecological reservoir of avian influenza viruses (AIVs). Dabbling ducks play a recognized role in the maintenance and transmission of AIVs. Furthermore, the pathogenesis of highly pathogenic AIV (HPAIV) in dabbling ducks is well characterized. In contrast, the role of diving ducks in HPAIV maintenInfluenza A viruses remain infectious for more than seven months in northern wetlands of North America
In this investigation, we used a combination of field- and laboratory-based approaches to assess if influenza A viruses (IAVs) shed by ducks could remain viable for extended periods in surface water within three wetland complexes of North America. In a field experiment, replicate filtered surface water samples inoculated with duck swabs were tested for IAVs upon collection and again after an overwAssessing nest attentiveness of Common Terns via video cameras and temperature loggers
While nest attentiveness plays a critical role in the reproductive success of avian species, little nest attentiveness data with high temporal resolution is available for many species. However, improvements in both video monitoring and temperature logging devices present an opportunity to improve our understanding of this aspect of avian behavior. To investigate nest attentiveness behaviors and evWaterfowl occurrence and residence time as indicators of H5 and H7 avian influenza in North American Poultry
Avian influenza (AI) affects wild aquatic birds and poses hazards to human health, food security, and wildlife conservation globally. Accordingly, there is a recognized need for new methods and tools to help quantify the dynamic interaction between wild bird hosts and commercial poultry. Using satellite-marked waterfowl, we applied Bayesian joint hierarchical modeling to concurrently model specie - Web Tools
Visualizing Models for Avian Influenza Viruses
Emergence of avian influenza viruses with the potential to be highly pathogenic to poultry, wild birds, & humans, such as the highly pathogenic H5N1 and H7N9 cause serious concern for the global economic & public health sectors. Visual representations of model data can be effective in helping to discover how the spread of the virus is influenced by environmental & human
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