Evan Grant, Ph.D.
Biography
Evan Grant the principle investigator of the US Geological Survey’s Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI), northeast region. Evan's research focuses on questions relating to amphibian populations, specifically with respect to their landscape-scale ecology. Evan also uses decision science to aid resource managers.
Education:
- PhD, 2009, University of Maryland College Park, Program of Marine, Estuarine and Environmental Sciences and Department of Entomology
- BS, 2001, Cornell University, Natural Resources, with Distinction in Research
ResearcherID: N-5160-2014
Research Gate profile: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Evan_Grant2
Science and Products
Vernal Pool Inundation Models
Modeling the response of cave hibernating Myotis species to white-nose syndrome mitigation tactics
Research collaboration: Robin Russell (NWHC), Tonie Rocke (NWHC), Wayne Thogmartin (UMESC), Evan Grant (PWRC)
White-nose syndrome is a fungal disease devastating cave-hibernating bat species (Myotis spp.) in the eastern...
A generic web application to visualize and understand movements of tagged animals
The goal of this project was to maximize the value of expensive animal tagging data. We developed an interactive web application to help scientists understand patterns in their own tagging datasets and to help scientists, funders and agencies communicate tagging data to decision-makers and to the general public. Interactive visualizations have emerged recently as a valuable tool for...
Pre-listing Science Support in the Northeast
The background information required to support listing decisions is not always current or available, and additional information or tools to model potential future condition can greatly improve the confidence in Species Status Assessments. We are working closely with multiple partners to provide updated information, model potential outcomes, and identify key uncertainties relevant to amphibian...
Amphibians
Patuxent has a strength in Herpetology, with an emphasis on amphibian work: we manage the Northeast Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) and we specialize in the taxonomy, status, and distribution of amphibians – as well as reptiles – with our museum-based team at the...
Climate Change
The impacts of a changing climate on wildlife and associated ecosystems have yet to be fully determined but changes are clearly underway as are a variety of investigations to assess how we can best preserve key resources while effectively managing others. Using a variety of tools and a combination of studies including adaptive management, long-term monitoring, mathematical modeling, and...
Other Wildlife Diseases
Wildlife diseases are an important stressor to some wildlife species. Patuxent scientists work with birds and amphibians to understand how diseases affect their populations. Our scientists are at work on a broad range of questions to understand wildlife disease. Our research is working to answer questions like “How might differences in tick behavior influence the risk of Lyme disease for...
Structured Decision Making
The biggest natural resource management challenges include competing views of the value and uses of those resources in society. Patuxent scientists develop methods to manage resources given those competing views under a “structured decision making” (SDM) framework. Our scientists both practice and train others in key SDM skills, such as model development and monitoring design.
Occupancy
Many wildlife studies seek to understand changes or differences in the proportion of sites occupied by a species of interest. These studies are hampered by imperfect detection of these species, which can result in some sites appearing to be unoccupied that are actually occupied. Occupancy models solve this problem and produce unbiased estimates of occupancy (ie, occurrence) and related...
Adaptive Management
Adaptive management (AM) combines management and monitoring, with the aim of updating knowledge and improving decision-making over time. We provide a guide for managers who may realize the potential of AM, but are unsure where to start. The urgent need for iterative management decisions, the existence of uncertainty, and the opportunity for learning offered by often highly-controlled captive...
Assessing Amphibian Disease Risk in the Northeast
The Challenge: Disease in amphibian populations can have a range of effects, from devastating declines following introduction of a novel pathogen to recurring breakout events on a landscape. Elucidating mechanisms underlying the effects of diseases on amphibian populations is crucial to help managers make appropriate decisions to achieve management goals for amphibians.
Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI): Understanding Amphibian Populations in the Northeastern United States
Currently, 90 amphibian species are recognized in the Northeast, including 59 species in the Order Caudata (salamanders) and 31 species in the Order Anura (frogs and toads). Almost half of the amphibians in the Northeast are salamanders within the family Plethodontidae. Amphibians are found in all physiographic regions of the Northeast, from sea level to the heights of the Appalachian,...
Range position and climate sensitivity: the structure of among-population demographic responses to climatic variation
This data set is comprised of four files related to the counts of wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) egg masses in the Northeast United States and climatic information derived for the count locations. One file contains data for the counts at all locations, the other files contain derived temperature and precipitation data for models used in the published manuscript.
North American Amphibian Monitoring Program (NAAMP) anuran detection data from the eastern and central United States (1994-2015)
The North American Amphibian Monitoring Program (NAAMP) was a collaborative citizen science effort between the US Geological Survey (USGS) and 26 Partners (state agencies, universities, and nonprofits) for monitoring calling amphibian populations over much of the eastern and central United States.
Principles and mechanisms of wildlife population persistence in the face of disease
Emerging infectious diseases can result in species declines and hamper recovery efforts for at-risk populations. Generalizing considerations for reducing the risk of pathogen introduction and mitigating the effects of disease remains challenging and inhibits our ability to provide guidance for species recovery planning. Given the growing rates of...
Russell, Robin E.; Direnzo, Graziella Vittoria; Szymanski, J.; Alger, Katrina Elizabeth; Campbell Grant, Evan H. A latent process model approach to improve the utility of indicator species
The state of an ecosystem is governed by dynamic biotic and abiotic processes, which can only be partially observed. Costs associated with measuring each component limit the feasibility of comprehensive assessments of target ecosystems. Instead, indicator species are recommended as a surrogate index. While this is an attractive concept, indicator...
Fleming, Jillian Elizabeth; Sutherland, Chris; Sterrett, Sean C; Campbell Grant, Evan H. Moving from decision to action in conservation science
Biodiversity loss is a major threat to the integrity of ecosystems and is projected to worsen, yet the path to successful conservation remains elusive. Decision support frameworks (DSFs) are increasingly applied by resource managers to navigate the complexity, uncertainty, and differing socio-ecological objectives inherent to conservation problems...
Wright, Alexander; Bernard, Riley F; Mosher, Brittany A.; O'Donnell, Katherine; Braunagel, Taylor; DiRenzo, Graziella V.; Fleming, Jillian Elizabeth; Shafer, Charles; Brand, Adrianne B.; Zipkin, Elise F.; Campbell Grant, Evan H. Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) not detected in an intensive survey of wild North American amphibians
The salamander chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans [Bsal]) is causing massive mortality of salamanders in Europe. The potential for spread via international trade into North America and the high diversity of salamanders has catalyzed concern about Bsal in the U.S. Surveillance programs for invading pathogens must initially meet...
Waddle, Hardin; Grear, Daniel A.; Mosher, Brittany; Campbell Grant, Evan H.; Adams, Michael J.; Backlin, Adam R.; Barichivich, William; Brand, Adrianne B.; Bucciarelli, Gary M.; Calhoun, Daniel L.; Chestnut, Tara; Davenport, Jon M.; Dietrich, Andrew E.; Fisher, Robert N.; Glorioso, Brad; Halstead, Brian J.; Hayes, Marc P; Honeycutt, R. Ken; Hossack, Blake R.; Kleeman, Patrick M.; Lemos-Espinal, Julio A; Lorch, Jeffrey M.; Atkinson, Robert W.; Muths, Erin L.; Pearl, Christopher; Richgels, Katherine; Robinson, Charles W; Roth, Mark F.; Rowe, Jennifer; Sadinski, Walter; Sigafus, Brent H.; Stasiak, Iga; Sweet, Samuel; Walls, Christopher B.; Watkins-Colwell, Gregory J; White, C. LeAnn; Williams, Lori A; Winzeler, Megan E. A national-scale assessment of mercury bioaccumulation in United States National Parks using dragonfly larvae as biosentinels through a citizen-science framework
We conducted a national-scale assessment of mercury (Hg) bioaccumulation in aquatic ecosystems using dragonfly larvae as biosentinels, by developing a citizen science network to facilitate biological sampling. Implementing a carefully designed sampling methodology for citizen scientists, we developed an effective framework for landscape-level...
Eagles-Smith, Collin; Willacker, James; Nelson, Sarah J.; Flanagan Pritz, Collen M; Krabbenhoft, David P.; Chen, Celia Y.; Ackerman, Joshua T.; Campbell Grant, Evan H.; Pilliod, David Effects of snowpack, temperature, and disease on the demography of a wild population of amphibians
Understanding the demographic consequences of interactions among pathogens, hosts, and weather conditions is critical in determining how amphibian populations respond to disease and in identifying site-specific conservation actions that can be developed to bolster persistence of amphibian populations. We investigated population dynamics in Boreal...
Muths, Erin L.; Hossack, Blake R.; Grant, Evan H.; Pilliod, David; Mosher, Brittany A. A synthesis of evidence of drivers of amphibian declines
Early calls for robust long-term time series of amphibian population data, stemming from discussion following the first World Congress of Herpetology, are now being realized after 25 yr of focused research. Inference from individual studies and locations have contributed to a basic consensus on drivers of amphibian declines. Until recently there...
Grant, Evan H.; Miller, D. A. W.; Muths, Erin L.
Assessing the risks posed by SARS-CoV-2 in and via North American bats—Decision framing and rapid risk assessment
The novel β-coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, may pose a threat to North American bat populations if bats are exposed to the virus through interaction with humans, if the virus can subsequently infect bats and be transmitted among them, and if the virus causes morbidity or mortality in bats. Further, if SARS-CoV-2 became established in bat populations, it...
Runge, Michael C.; Campbell Grant, Evan H.; Coleman, Jeremy T. H.; Reichard, Jonathan D.; Gibbs, Samantha E. J.; Cryan, Paul M.; Olival, Kevin J.; Walsh, Daniel P.; Blehert, David S.; Hopkins, M. Camille; Sleeman, Jonathan M. Identifying research needs to inform white-nose syndrome management decisions
Ecological understanding of host–pathogen dynamics is the basis for managing wildlife diseases. Since 2008, federal, state, and provincial agencies and tribal and private organizations have collaborated on bat and white‐nose syndrome (WNS) surveillance and monitoring, research, and management programs. Accordingly, scientists and managers have...
Bernard, Riley; Reichard, Jonathan D.; Coleman, Jeremy T. H.; Blackwood, Julie C.; Verant, Michelle L.; Segers, Jordi; Lorch, Jeffery M.; White, John Paul; Moore, M.S.; Russell, Amy L.; Katz, Rachel A.; Linder, Daniel L.; Toomey, Rick S.; Turner, Gregory G.; Frick, Winifred F.; Vonhof, Maarten J.; Willis, Craig K.R.; Campbell Grant, Evan H. Factors facilitating co-occurrence at the Range Boundary of Shenandoah and Red-backed Salamanders
The transition from species in allopatry to sympatry, i.e., the co-occurrence zone of competing species, allows for investigation of forces structuring range limits and provides evidence of the evolutionary and population responses of competing species, including mechanisms facilitating co-occurrence (e.g., character displacement). The Shenandoah...
Amburgey, Staci M.; Miller, David A. W.; Brand, Adrianne B.; Dietrich, Andrew E; Campbell Grant, Evan H. A hierarchical analysis of habitat area, connectivity, and quality on amphibian diversity across spatial scales
Habitat fragmentation can alter species distributions and lead to reduced diversity at multiple scales. Yet, the literature describing fragmentation effects on biodiversity patterns is contradictory and inconclusive, possibly because most studies fail to integrate spatial scale into experimental designs and statistical analyses. As a result, it is...
Wright, AD; Campbell Grant, Evan H.; Zipkin, EF Successful molecular detection studies require clear communication among diverse research partners
Molecular detection techniques are powerful tools used in ecological applications ranging from diet analyses to pathogen surveillance. Research partnerships that use these tools often involve collaboration among professionals with expertise in field biology, laboratory techniques, quantitative modeling, wildlife disease, and natural resource...
Mosher, B. A.; Bernard, R. F.; Lorch, Jeffrey M.; Miller, D. A. W.; Richgels, Katherine L. D.; White, C. LeAnn; Campbell Grant, Evan H.
Modeling Management Actions Helps Researchers Pinpoint the Main Culprit of Wood Frog Declines
Amphibian decline is a global conservation crisis driven by multiple interacting stressors, which often act at a local scale with global implications.
A Unified Research Strategy for Disease Management
As wildlife diseases increase globally, an understanding of host-pathogen relationships can elucidate avenues for management and improve conservation efficacy. Amphibians are among the most threatened groups of wildlife, and disease is a major factor in global amphibian declines.
Large-scale Review of Amphibian Species and Community Response to Climate Change
Amphibian species and community richness has been declining in North America and climate change may play a role in these declines. Global climate change has led to a range shift of many wildlife species and thus understanding how these changes in species distribution can be used to predict amphibian community responses that may improve conservation efforts.
Pre-publication Communication of Research Results
Until publication in a peer-reviewed journal, communication of provisional scientific findings beyond participants in the study is typically limited. This practice helps ensure scientific integrity. However, a dilemma arises when a delay in communication of provisional findings has urgent societal repercussions, particularly for conservation, public health, or domestic animal health...
New Research Confirms Continued, Unabated and Large-Scale Amphibian Declines: Local Action Key to Reversing Losses
New U.S. Geological Survey-led research suggests that even though amphibians are severely declining worldwide, there is no smoking gun – and thus no simple solution – to halting or reversing these declines.
USGS Science at Ecological Society of America’s Conference: From Climate Change to Fire, Drought, and Wind Energy
From climate change to wind energy effects on birds and bats to wildlife disease, U.S. Geological Survey research will be presented at the annualEcological Society of America (ESA) meetings from Aug. 10 to 14, 2014, in Sacramento. The theme of this year’s meeting is “From Oceans to Mountains: It’s All Ecology.”