The USGS Alaska Science Center Ecosystems Analytics program is a group of quantitative biologists and research statisticians who provide analytical support to USGS scientists to answer challenging ecological topics and management questions for USGS partners.
Emily L Weiser, Ph.D.
Emily Weiser is a Wildlife Biologist providing quantitative support to projects at the Alaska Science Center.
Previously, Emily provided statistical support to the Monarch Conservation Science Partnership to develop a continental-scale sampling strategy for monarch butterflies and the resources that sustain them, collaborated with a large network of researchers to conduct demographic analyses for shorebirds in the Arctic, worked closely with conservation managers to improve genetic and demographic viability of forest birds in New Zealand, and worked with partners on Alaska's North Slope to assess the effects of human activity on Glaucous Gulls and their prey.
Professional Experience
2019 - Present: Wildlife Biologist, Alaska Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Anchorage, AK
2016 - 2019: Biologist, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, U.S. Geological Survey, La Crosse, WI
2014 - 2016: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
Education and Certifications
PhD, Zoology, University of Otago (Dunedin, New Zealand); 2014
MSc, Wildlife Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks; 2010
BA, Biology, Colby College (Maine, USA); 2004
Science and Products
Geese migrating over the Pacific Ocean select altitudes coinciding with offshore wind turbine blades
Optimizing surveys of fall-staging geese using aerial imagery and automated counting
Fully accounting for nest age reduces bias when quantifying nest survival
TrendPowerTool: A lookup tool for estimating the statistical power of a monitoring program to detect population trends
Sample-size considerations for a study of shorebird nest survival in the 1002 Area, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska
Annual adult survival drives trends in Arctic-breeding shorebirds but knowledge gaps in other vital rates remain
Evidence for a growing population of eastern migratory monarch butterflies is currently insufficient
Challenges for leveraging citizen science to support statistically robust monitoring programs
Is the timing, pace and success of the monarch migration associated with sun angle?
Balancing sampling intensity against spatial coverage for a community science monitoring programme
Technical comment on “Global pattern of nest predation is disrupted by climate change in shorebirds”
Geographic variation in the intensity of warming and phenological mismatch between Arctic shorebirds and invertebrates
Ecosystems Analytics
Q&A: USGS and 2024 the Anchorage Bike to Work Day
Q&A: Improving Aerial Surveys of Geese in Alaska with Aerial Imagery
TrendPowerTool: A web lookup tool for estimating the statistical power of a monitoring program to detect population trends
Monarch Conservation Science Partnership Map Viewer and Tools
Monarch Conservation Science Partnership
Movement Data for Migrating Geese Over the Northeast Pacific Ocean, 2018-2021
Aerial Photo Imagery from Fall Waterfowl Surveys, Izembek Lagoon, Alaska, 2017-2019
Counts of Birds in Aerial Photos from Fall Waterfowl Surveys, Izembek Lagoon, Alaska, 2017-2019
Nest Survival Bias Analysis
The USGS Alaska Science Center Ecosystems Analytics program is a group of quantitative biologists and research statisticians who provide analytical support to USGS scientists to answer challenging ecological topics and management questions for USGS partners.
Semipalmated Sandpipers with A) Leg bands only (no flag), or B) leg bands plus flag From: Leg flags do not affect shorebird nests: https://doi.org/10.1111/jofo.12264
Semipalmated Sandpipers with A) Leg bands only (no flag), or B) leg bands plus flag From: Leg flags do not affect shorebird nests: https://doi.org/10.1111/jofo.12264
Photo equipment used to take pictures of fall staging migratory geese at Izembek Lagoon, Alaska. Scientists from the USGS Alaska Science Center and the U.S.
Photo equipment used to take pictures of fall staging migratory geese at Izembek Lagoon, Alaska. Scientists from the USGS Alaska Science Center and the U.S.
Channels and mudflats of Izembek Lagoon, Alaska, taken from a USFWS survey aircraft. Photo Courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public Domain. Dennis Marks USFWS photographer.
Channels and mudflats of Izembek Lagoon, Alaska, taken from a USFWS survey aircraft. Photo Courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public Domain. Dennis Marks USFWS photographer.
Eunbi Kwon, a PhD student at Kansas State University at that time, researching the breeding ecology of shorebirds breeding at Nome as part of the Arctic Shorebird Demographics Network collaboration. The bird was marked to allow it to be individually identified when it returned to the study area.
Eunbi Kwon, a PhD student at Kansas State University at that time, researching the breeding ecology of shorebirds breeding at Nome as part of the Arctic Shorebird Demographics Network collaboration. The bird was marked to allow it to be individually identified when it returned to the study area.
Red-necked Phalarope hatchlings (chicks). The photo was taken at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska as part of nest-monitoring research.
Red-necked Phalarope hatchlings (chicks). The photo was taken at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska as part of nest-monitoring research.
Proportion of time that Pacific Flyway geese are at risk of wind-turbine strikes during transoceanic migrations
This tool shows the proportion of goose locations expected to be in or below a user-specified rotor-swept zone based on expected goose flight altitudes.
Scripts to Analyze Altitude Selection in Migrating Pacific Flyway Geese
R scripts for analysis of fall photographic waterfowl surveys, Izembek NWR, Alaska, 2017-2019
Nest Survival Bias Analysis
This R script will run one replicate of one scenario used by Weiser (in review) to quantify biases in estimates of nest survival when nests are not found at the beginning of the nesting interval (age 0). The script simulates nest monitoring histories based on input parameters, applies models with or without an age effect to estimate daily survival rates, and calculates nest survival (to the end of
Arctic Shorebird Population Model
GRTS for Integrated Monarch Monitoring Program Code
Science and Products
Geese migrating over the Pacific Ocean select altitudes coinciding with offshore wind turbine blades
Optimizing surveys of fall-staging geese using aerial imagery and automated counting
Fully accounting for nest age reduces bias when quantifying nest survival
TrendPowerTool: A lookup tool for estimating the statistical power of a monitoring program to detect population trends
Sample-size considerations for a study of shorebird nest survival in the 1002 Area, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska
Annual adult survival drives trends in Arctic-breeding shorebirds but knowledge gaps in other vital rates remain
Evidence for a growing population of eastern migratory monarch butterflies is currently insufficient
Challenges for leveraging citizen science to support statistically robust monitoring programs
Is the timing, pace and success of the monarch migration associated with sun angle?
Balancing sampling intensity against spatial coverage for a community science monitoring programme
Technical comment on “Global pattern of nest predation is disrupted by climate change in shorebirds”
Geographic variation in the intensity of warming and phenological mismatch between Arctic shorebirds and invertebrates
Ecosystems Analytics
Q&A: USGS and 2024 the Anchorage Bike to Work Day
Q&A: Improving Aerial Surveys of Geese in Alaska with Aerial Imagery
TrendPowerTool: A web lookup tool for estimating the statistical power of a monitoring program to detect population trends
Monarch Conservation Science Partnership Map Viewer and Tools
Monarch Conservation Science Partnership
Movement Data for Migrating Geese Over the Northeast Pacific Ocean, 2018-2021
Aerial Photo Imagery from Fall Waterfowl Surveys, Izembek Lagoon, Alaska, 2017-2019
Counts of Birds in Aerial Photos from Fall Waterfowl Surveys, Izembek Lagoon, Alaska, 2017-2019
Nest Survival Bias Analysis
The USGS Alaska Science Center Ecosystems Analytics program is a group of quantitative biologists and research statisticians who provide analytical support to USGS scientists to answer challenging ecological topics and management questions for USGS partners.
The USGS Alaska Science Center Ecosystems Analytics program is a group of quantitative biologists and research statisticians who provide analytical support to USGS scientists to answer challenging ecological topics and management questions for USGS partners.
Semipalmated Sandpipers with A) Leg bands only (no flag), or B) leg bands plus flag From: Leg flags do not affect shorebird nests: https://doi.org/10.1111/jofo.12264
Semipalmated Sandpipers with A) Leg bands only (no flag), or B) leg bands plus flag From: Leg flags do not affect shorebird nests: https://doi.org/10.1111/jofo.12264
Photo equipment used to take pictures of fall staging migratory geese at Izembek Lagoon, Alaska. Scientists from the USGS Alaska Science Center and the U.S.
Photo equipment used to take pictures of fall staging migratory geese at Izembek Lagoon, Alaska. Scientists from the USGS Alaska Science Center and the U.S.
Channels and mudflats of Izembek Lagoon, Alaska, taken from a USFWS survey aircraft. Photo Courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public Domain. Dennis Marks USFWS photographer.
Channels and mudflats of Izembek Lagoon, Alaska, taken from a USFWS survey aircraft. Photo Courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public Domain. Dennis Marks USFWS photographer.
Eunbi Kwon, a PhD student at Kansas State University at that time, researching the breeding ecology of shorebirds breeding at Nome as part of the Arctic Shorebird Demographics Network collaboration. The bird was marked to allow it to be individually identified when it returned to the study area.
Eunbi Kwon, a PhD student at Kansas State University at that time, researching the breeding ecology of shorebirds breeding at Nome as part of the Arctic Shorebird Demographics Network collaboration. The bird was marked to allow it to be individually identified when it returned to the study area.
Red-necked Phalarope hatchlings (chicks). The photo was taken at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska as part of nest-monitoring research.
Red-necked Phalarope hatchlings (chicks). The photo was taken at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska as part of nest-monitoring research.
Proportion of time that Pacific Flyway geese are at risk of wind-turbine strikes during transoceanic migrations
This tool shows the proportion of goose locations expected to be in or below a user-specified rotor-swept zone based on expected goose flight altitudes.
Scripts to Analyze Altitude Selection in Migrating Pacific Flyway Geese
R scripts for analysis of fall photographic waterfowl surveys, Izembek NWR, Alaska, 2017-2019
Nest Survival Bias Analysis
This R script will run one replicate of one scenario used by Weiser (in review) to quantify biases in estimates of nest survival when nests are not found at the beginning of the nesting interval (age 0). The script simulates nest monitoring histories based on input parameters, applies models with or without an age effect to estimate daily survival rates, and calculates nest survival (to the end of