Hardin Waddle, Ph.D.
Biography
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Wildlife Ecology, University of Florida, 2006
M.S. Biology, Florida International University, 2000
B.S., Wildlife Science, Auburn University, 1996
RESEARCH
Hardin Waddle currently works as a research ecologist for the USGS, where he serves as the principal investigator for the south-central region of the Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI). His research interests include population ecology and conservation of amphibians and reptiles, primarily in the wetlands and swamps of the southeastern United States.
Science and Products
An Online Portal for Managing and Reporting Annual Piping Plover Monitoring Data
Federally-listed as threatened since 1986, the Atlantic Coast Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) population comprises fewer than 2,000 breeding pairs, according to the most recent census data. These breeding pairs are the target of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) species recovery plan.
Amphibian Occupancy Modeling in the South-Central Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) Region
In response to growing public concerns about this loss of biodiversity, the U.S. Congress funded the Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI), a national program coordinated by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Monitoring Effects of Barrier Island Restoration on Piping Plovers in Louisiana
The federally threatened piping plover relies on sand-beach habitat year-round for nesting, foraging, and roosting, habitat that is particularly vulnerable to loss and degradation from coastal development, recreation activities, erosion, and sea-level rise.
Evaluation of Tegu Movements and Habitat Use in Relation to Location and Habitat
Tegus are breeding, they have a diverse diet, and they are established in areas throughout South Florida. USGS is tracking this problematic reptile species to better understand their movements and habitat use to help managers prevent dispersal into new areas.
Response of a Threatened Shorebird to Severe Storms
The federally protected Atlantic Coast Piping Plover relies on habitats that were affected by Hurricane Sandy. USGS works to understand how these changes have affected nesting habitat and the reproductive success of the shorebird.
Prevalence Rates of Snake Fungal Disease and its Population-Level Impacts in a Snake Assemblage in Southwest Louisiana
In the last twenty years, an extraordinary number of fungal and fungal-like diseases have caused some of the most severe die-offs and extinctions ever observed in wild species.
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 declines...
Forecasting the Effects of Land-Use and Climate Change on Wildlife Communities and Habitats in the Lower Mississippi Valley
This project built on an existing regional conservation partnership to use the most recent downscaled climate model projections to forecast the likely impacts of climate change to species and ecosystems in the Lower Mississippi Valley (LMV). The objective of this work was to develop and test ecological and biological models to facilitate regional adaptive management of wildlife resources and...
Amphibian monitoring in hardwood forests: Optimizing methods for contaminant‐based compensatory restorations
Amphibians such as frogs, toads, and salamanders provide important services in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and have been proposed as useful indicators of progress and success for ecological restoration projects. Limited guidance is available, however, on the costs and benefits of different amphibian monitoring techniques that might be...
Kunz, Bethany K.; Waddle, Hardin; Green, Nicholas S. Identifying management-relevant research priorities for responding to disease-associated amphibian declines
A research priority can be defined as a knowledge gap that, if resolved, identifies the optimal course of conservation action. We (a group of geographically distributed and multidisciplinary research scientists) used tools from nominal group theory and decision analysis to collaboratively identify and prioritize information...
Campbell Grant, Evan H.; Adams, M.J.; Fisher, Robert N.; Grear, Daniel A.; Halstead, Brian J.; Hossack, Blake R.; Muths, Erin L.; Richgels, Katherine L. D.; Russell, Robin E.; Smalling, Kelly L.; Waddle, J. Hardin; Walls, Susan C.; White, C. LeAnn Quantifying climate sensitivity and climate-driven change in North American amphibian communities
Changing climate will impact species’ ranges only when environmental variability directly impacts the demography of local populations. However, measurement of demographic responses to climate change has largely been limited to single species and locations. Here we show that amphibian communities are responsive to climatic variability, using >...
Miller, David A.W.; Campbell Grant, Evan H.; Muths, Erin L.; Amburgey, Staci M.; Adams, M.J.; Joseph, Maxwell B.; Waddle, J. Hardin; Johnson, Pieter T.J.; Ryan, Maureen E.; Schmidt, Benedikt R.; Calhoun, Daniel L.; Davis, Courtney L.; Fisher, Robert N.; Green, David M.; Hossack, Blake R.; Rittenhouse, Tracy A.G.; Walls, Susan C.; Bailey, Larissa L.; Cruickshank, Sam S.; Fellers, Gary M.; Gorman, Thomas A.; Haas, Carola A.; Hughson, Ward; Pilliod, David S.; Price, Steven J.; Ray, Andrew M.; Sadinski, Walter; Saenz, Daniel; Barichivich, William J.; Brand, Adrianne B,; Brehme, Cheryl S.; Dagit, Rosi; Delaney, Katy S.; Glorioso, Brad M.; Kats, Lee B.; Kleeman, Patrick M.; Pearl, Christopher; Rochester, Carlton J.; Riley, Seth P. D.; Roth, Mark F.; Sigafus, Brent Prepublication communication of research results
Publishing of scientific findings is central to the scientific process, and it is traditional to consider findings “provisional” until accepted by a peer-reviewed journal. Until publication, communication of provisional findings beyond participants in the study is typically limited. This practice helps assure scientific integrity. However, a...
Adams, M.J.; Harris, Reid N.; Campbell Grant, Evan H.; Gray, Matthew J.; Hopkins, M. Camille ; Iverson, Samuel A.; Likens, Robert; Mandica, Mark; Olson, D.H.; Shepack, Alex; Waddle, Hardin Establishment of the exotic invasive Cuban treefrog (Osteopilus septentrionalis) in Louisiana
The Cuban treefrog, Osteopilus septentrionalis, is native to Cuba, the Bahamas, and the Cayman Islands, and is invasive in areas where it has been introduced and established in the Caribbean as well as Florida. Despite repeated occurrences in several states over many years, it was not believed that Cuban treefrogs had successfully established...
Glorioso, Brad M.; Waddle, J. Hardin; Muse, Lindy J.; Jennings, Nicole D.; Litton, Melanie; Hamilton, Joel; Gergen, Steven; Heckard, David Novel dermatophilosis and concurrent amyloidosis in Sanderlings (Calidris alba) from Louisiana, USA
We observed Sanderlings (Calidris alba) with facial growths in coastal Louisiana, US during summer of 2016. Severe lesions were associated with lethargy and lack of a flight response. We determined that the skin growth etiology was a bacterium of the genus Dermatophilus, rarely reported infecting birds. Sanderlings also exhibited severe...
Shearn-Bochsler, Valerie I.; Schulz, Jessica L.; Dobbs, Robert C.; Lorch, Jeffrey M.; Waddle, J. Hardin; Grear, Daniel A. A new framework for analysing automated acoustic species-detection data: occupancy estimation and optimization of recordings post-processing
The development and use of automated species-detection technologies, such as acoustic recorders, for monitoring wildlife are rapidly expanding. Automated classification algorithms provide a cost- and time-effective means to process information-rich data, but often at the cost of additional detection errors. Appropriate methods are necessary to...
Chambert, Thierry A.; Waddle, J. Hardin; Miller, David A.W.; Walls, Susan C.; Nichols, James D. Characterization of microsatellite loci for the Gulf Coast waterdog (Necturus beyeri) using paired-end Illumina shotgun sequencing and cross-amplification in other Necturus
Amphibians are one of the most threatened groups of vertebrates (Stuart et al. 2004; Wake and Vredenburg 2008), and the application of molecular techniques to amphibian ecology and genetics has dramatically improved our ability to conserve species and populations (see Shaffer et al. [2015] for review). Microsatellites, tandem repeats of two to six...
Lamb, Jennifer Y.; Kreiser, Brian R.; Waddle, Hardin; Qualls, Carl P. Alligator, Alligator mississippiensis, habitat suitability index model
The 2012 Coastal Master Plan utilized Habitat Suitability Indices (HSIs) to evaluate potential project effects on wildlife species. Even though HSIs quantify habitat condition, which may not directly correlate to species abundance, they remain a practical and tractable way to assess changes in habitat quality from various restoration actions. As...
Waddle, J. Hardin Prevalence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and B. salamandrivorans in the Gulf Coast Waterdog, Necturus beyeri, from Southeast Louisiana, USA
The globally widespread amphibian fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) has been linked to amphibian declines worldwide (Lips et al. 2006; Skerratt et al. 2007). In Louisiana, USA, Bd has been found in several amphibian species (Chatfield et al. 2012; Rothermel et al. 2008), but to our knowledge no population-level die-offs have been...
Glorioso, Brad M.; Waddle, J. Hardin; Richards-Zawacki, Corinne L. Nocturnal arboreality in snakes in the swamplands of the Atchafalaya Basin of south-central Louisiana and Big Thicket National Preserve of Southeast Texas
The southeastern United States is home to a diverse assemblage of snakes, but only one species, the Rough Greensnake (Opheodrys aestivus), is considered specialized for a predominantly arboreal lifestyle. Other species, such as Ratsnakes (genus Pantherophis) and Ribbonsnakes/Gartersnakes (genus Thamnophis), are widely known to climb into...
Glorioso, Brad M.; Waddle, J. Hardin Expert elicitation, uncertainty, and the value of information in controlling invasive species
We illustrate the utility of expert elicitation, explicit recognition of uncertainty, and the value of information for directing management and research efforts for invasive species, using tegu lizards (Salvator merianae) in southern Florida as a case study. We posited a post-birth pulse, matrix model in which four age classes of tegus are...
Johnson, Fred A.; Smith, Brian J.; Bonneau, Mathieu; Martin, Julien; Romagosa, Christina; Mazzotti, Frank J.; Waddle, J. Hardin; Reed, Robert; Eckles, Jennifer Kettevrlin; Vitt, Laurie J.
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.
Invasive Cuban Treefrogs Leap Out of Florida, Establish First Known Population in Louisiana
A population of exotic invasive Cuban treefrogs has been discovered in New Orleans, more than 430 miles (700 kilometers) from the nearest known population in Florida, making this the first known breeding population in the mainland United States outside that state, reports a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Scroll down to hear and download calls of Cuban treefrogs and two native treefrogs.
Snake Fungal Disease Found in Louisiana
Snake fungal disease, or SFD, a disease causing high mortality rates in some species of snakes, has been found in Louisiana for the first time, according to a new study by U.S. Geological Survey scientists. SFD now has been confirmed in at least 16 states in the Eastern and Midwestern United States.
Everglades’ Alligator Numbers Drop after Dry Years
Alligators and the Everglades go hand-in-hand, and as water conditions change in the greater Everglades ecosystem, gators are one of the key species that could be affected.