Helen Sofaer is a Research Ecologist at the Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center in Hawaii.
Science and Products
Assessing the Proliferation, Connectivity, and Consequences of Invasive Fine Fuels on the Sagebrush Biome
INHABIT: A web-based decision support tool for invasive plant species habitat visualization and assessment across the contiguous United States
Invader in Hawai‘i, the Queensland Longhorn Beetle
Developing a macroecological understanding of invasive plant impacts based on abundance and trait data
Crafting Ecological Scenarios to Implement the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) Framework
Webinar: Projecting Climate Change Impacts on Wetland-Dependent Birds in the Prairie Pothole Region
The Role of Climate in Shaping Invasive Plant Abundance across Different Spatial Locations
Documenting, Mapping, and Predicting Invasive Species Using the Fort Collins Science Center's RAM (Resource for Advanced Modeling)
Hawaiʻi Ambrosia Beetle Trap Lures and Repellents 2020-2021
INHABIT species potential distribution across the contiguous United States (ver. 3.0, February 2023)
Data to create and evaluate distribution models for invasive species for different geographic extents
Great Basin predicted potential cheatgrass abundance, with model estimation and validation data from 2011-2019
Presence and abundance data and models for four invasive plant species
Co-occurrence and Occupancy Dynamics of Mourning Doves and Eurasian Collared-Doves
Data on the impacts of garlic mustard from a weeding experiment in Pennsylvania 2006-2016
Non-native and synanthropic bird data derived from 2010-2012 Breeding Bird Survey and associated landscape metrics from 2011 NLCD
Abundance of wetland-dependent birds at Breeding Bird Survey routes and associated land cover and climate information
Measurements of plant abundance with reference to dominant plants in Illinois wetlands
Breeding Bird Survey songbird occurrences during 1977-1979 and 2012-2014 in conterminous U.S.
Data associated with Sofaer and Jarnevich 'Accounting for sampling patterns reverses the relative importance of trade and climate for the global sharing of exotic plants'
Invaders at the doorstep: Using species distribution modeling to enhance invasive plant watch lists
SPCIS: Standardized Plant Community with Introduced Status database
Regional models do not outperform continental models for invasive species
Climate matching with the climatchR R package
Potential cheatgrass abundance within lightly invaded areas of the Great Basin
INHABIT: A web-based decision support tool for invasive plant species habitat visualization and assessment across the contiguous United States
Management foundations for navigating ecological transformation by resisting, accepting, or directing social-ecological change
Despite striking global change, management to ensure healthy landscapes and sustained natural resources has tended to set objectives on the basis of the historical range of variability in stationary ecosystems. Many social–ecological systems are moving into novel conditions that can result in ecological transformation. We present four foundations to enable a transition to future-oriented conservat
A science agenda to inform natural resource management decisions in an era of ecological transformation
Modelling presence versus abundance for invasive species risk assessment
Negative effects of an allelopathic invader on AM fungal plant species drive community‐level responses
Ecological forecasting—21st century science for 21st century management
Natural resource managers are coping with rapid changes in both environmental conditions and ecosystems. Enabled by recent advances in data collection and assimilation, short-term ecological forecasting may be a powerful tool to help resource managers anticipate impending near-term changes in ecosystem conditions or dynamics. Managers may use the information in forecasts to minimize the adverse ef
A modeling workflow that balances automation and human intervention to inform invasive plant management decisions at multiple spatial scales
High-throughput calculations of climatch scores
climatchR: An implementation of Climatch in R
Science and Products
- Science
Assessing the Proliferation, Connectivity, and Consequences of Invasive Fine Fuels on the Sagebrush Biome
Invasive annual grasses can replace native vegetation and alter fire behavior, impacting a range of habitats and species. A team of researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey, Colorado State University, the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are working to identify factors that influence changes in the distribution and abundance of invasive annual grasses (IAGs)...INHABIT: A web-based decision support tool for invasive plant species habitat visualization and assessment across the contiguous United States
Many managers are hampered by the scope of the invasive species problem compared to their available resources. Habitat suitability models of invaders can help fill this resource gap, helping with activities such as watch list compilation and targeted surveillance and eradication efforts.Invader in Hawai‘i, the Queensland Longhorn Beetle
Acalolepta aesthetica, known as the Queensland Longhorn Beetle, is a wood-boring beetle that has recently emerged as a problematic invader on the Hawai‘i Island. We are determining its current range and identifying patterns of host tree use, focusing on culturally important and native trees.Developing a macroecological understanding of invasive plant impacts based on abundance and trait data
Understanding invasive plant impacts can provide insight into community assembly and inform the development of successful management strategies. The impacts of invasive species depend on how they alter patterns of abundance within recipient communities and on the characteristics of the invaders and the affected species. Research has suggested that common species may be more impacted by invasions,Crafting Ecological Scenarios to Implement the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) Framework
As climate change progresses, profound environmental changes are becoming a widespread concern. A new management paradigm is developing to address this concern with a framework that encourages strategic decisions to resist, accept, or direct ecological trajectories. Effective use of the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework requires the scientific community to describe the range of plausible ecologWebinar: Projecting Climate Change Impacts on Wetland-Dependent Birds in the Prairie Pothole Region
View this webinar to learn how scientists are projecting the impacts of climate change on birds in the Prairie Pothole Region.The Role of Climate in Shaping Invasive Plant Abundance across Different Spatial Locations
Invasive plants are a major land management problem in the Western U.S. Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is the most prominent and problematic invader in cold deserts, with negative effects on rangeland fire patterns, wildlife habitats, and forage/vegetation. Red brome (B. madritensis) is an invader in the Mojave Desert, and can similarly introduce a new fire patterns to sensitive warm desert scrub. TDocumenting, Mapping, and Predicting Invasive Species Using the Fort Collins Science Center's RAM (Resource for Advanced Modeling)
The Resource for Advanced Modeling room provides a collaborative working environment for up to 20 scientists, supported with networked, wireless computing capability for running and testing various scientific models (e.g., Maxent, Boosted Regression Trees, Logistic Regression, MARS, Random Forest) at a variety of spatial scales, from county to global levels. Models use various predictor layers... - Data
Filter Total Items: 13
Hawaiʻi Ambrosia Beetle Trap Lures and Repellents 2020-2021
This data release includes data and metadata containing (1) ambrosia beetle (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) trapping data using two different lures at Waiākea Forest Reserve and ʻŌlaʻa Forest of Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, (2) ambrosia beetle trapping data using paired lures and repellents from two trials conducted at Waiākea Forest Reserve, and (3) the localities of all traps used in both trappiINHABIT species potential distribution across the contiguous United States (ver. 3.0, February 2023)
We developed habitat suitability models for invasive plant species selected by Department of Interior land management agencies. We applied the modeling workflow developed in Young et al. 2020 to species not included in the original case studies. Our methodology balanced trade-offs between developing highly customized models for a few species versus fitting non-specific and generic models for numerData to create and evaluate distribution models for invasive species for different geographic extents
We developed habitat suitability models for invasive plant species selected by Department of Interior land management agencies. We applied the modeling workflow developed in Young et al. 2020 to species not included in the original case studies. Our methodology balanced trade-offs between developing highly customized models for a few species versus fitting non-specific and generic models for numerGreat Basin predicted potential cheatgrass abundance, with model estimation and validation data from 2011-2019
This data release includes data and metadata describing 1) the rule set used to create vegetation type categories for the Great Basin; 2) estimation and validation data used to fit models of cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) cover; and 3) mapped predictions of potential cheatgrass abundance.Presence and abundance data and models for four invasive plant species
We developed habitat suitability models for four invasive plant species of concern to Department of Interior land management agencies. We generally followed the modeling workflow developed in Young et al. 2020, but developed models both for two data types, where species were present and where they were abundant. We developed models using five algorithms with VisTrails: Software for Assisted HabitaCo-occurrence and Occupancy Dynamics of Mourning Doves and Eurasian Collared-Doves
Data on mourning dove and Eurasian collared-dove occurrences, and associated covariates.Data on the impacts of garlic mustard from a weeding experiment in Pennsylvania 2006-2016
Data were collected on the abundance of plants in a 10-year weeding experiment of garlic mustard, located at Trillium Trails Park in Pennsylvania. Garlic mustard was weeded annually to suppress its abundance, and the impacts of garlic mustard were measured based on the response of the plant community to garlic mustard weeding. Because garlic mustard is known to suppress mycorrhizal fungi, the mycoNon-native and synanthropic bird data derived from 2010-2012 Breeding Bird Survey and associated landscape metrics from 2011 NLCD
Locations of and proportional abundance of non-native and synanthropic passerines were extracted from Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) data from 2010-2012. Information characterizing the spatial variation and the associated amount, aggregation, and diversity of developed and agricultural land cover types was extracted from the National Land Cover Datasets of 2011. Data supported analyses in the publicatAbundance of wetland-dependent birds at Breeding Bird Survey routes and associated land cover and climate information
Estimation and validation data for site by species matrices used in the publication 'Clustering and ensembling approaches to support surrogate-based species management' by H.R. Sofaer et al. 2019 Diversity and DistributionsMeasurements of plant abundance with reference to dominant plants in Illinois wetlands
Data were collected on plant abundance in Illinois with the goal of determining correlations between the abundance of dominant plant taxa and other plant species.Breeding Bird Survey songbird occurrences during 1977-1979 and 2012-2014 in conterminous U.S.
Data used in: "Misleading prioritizations from modeling range shifts under climate change" by H.R. Sofaer, C.S. Jarnevich, and C.H. Flather. Breeding Bird Survey data (version 2014.0) for songbirds were summarized over historical (1977-1979) and recent (2012-2014) time periods at routes in the conterminous U.S. Avian occurrence data were combined with information on climate and land cover at eachData associated with Sofaer and Jarnevich 'Accounting for sampling patterns reverses the relative importance of trade and climate for the global sharing of exotic plants'
These data were analyzed for the publication 'Accounting for sampling patterns reverses the relative importance of trade and climate for the global sharing of exotic plants': Aim: Exotic species distributions reflect patterns of human-mediated dispersal, species climatic tolerances, and a suite of other biotic and abiotic factors. The relative importance of each of these factors will shape how the - Publications
Filter Total Items: 26
Invaders at the doorstep: Using species distribution modeling to enhance invasive plant watch lists
Watch lists of invasive species that threaten a particular land management unit are useful tools because they can draw attention to invasive species at the very early stages of invasion when early detection and rapid response efforts are often most successful. However, watch lists typically rely on the subjective selection of invasive species by experts or on the use of spotty occurrence records.AuthorsCatherine S. Jarnevich, Peder Engelstad, Jillian LaRoe, Brandon Hays, Terri Hogan, Jeremy Jirak, Ian Pearse, Janet S. Prevéy, Jennifer Sieraki, Annie Simpson, Jess Wenick, Nicholas Young, Helen SofaerSPCIS: Standardized Plant Community with Introduced Status database
The movement of plant species across the globe exposes native communities to new species introductions. While introductions are pervasive, two aspects of variability underlie patterns and processes of biological invasions at macroecological scales. First, only a portion of introduced species become invaders capable of substantially impacting ecosystems. Second, species that do become invasive at oAuthorsLais Petri, Evelyn M. Beaury, Jeff Corbin, Kristen Peach, Helen Sofaer, Ian Pearse, Reagan Early, Dave Barnett, Inés Ibáñez, Robert K. Peet, Michael Schafale, Thomas Wentworth, James Vanderhorst, David N. Zaya, Greg Spyreas, Bethany A. BradleyRegional models do not outperform continental models for invasive species
Aim: Species distribution models can guide invasive species prevention and management by characterizing invasion risk across space. However, extrapolation and transferability issues pose challenges for developing useful models for invasive species. Previous work has emphasized the importance of including all available occurrences in model estimation, but managers attuned to local processes may beAuthorsCatherine S. Jarnevich, Helen Sofaer, Peder Engelstad, Pairsa BelamaricClimate matching with the climatchR R package
Climate matching allows comparisons of climatic conditions between different locations to understand location and species range climatic suitability. The approach may be used as part of horizon scanning exercises such as those conducted for invasive species. We implemented the CLIMATCH algorithm into an R package, climatchR. The package allows automated and scripted climate matching exercises acroAuthorsRichard A. Erickson, Peder S Engelstad, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Helen Sofaer, Wesley DanielPotential cheatgrass abundance within lightly invaded areas of the Great Basin
ContextAnticipating where an invasive species could become abundant can help guide prevention and control efforts aimed at reducing invasion impacts. Information on potential abundance can be combined with information on the current status of an invasion to guide management towards currently uninvaded locations where the threat of invasion is high.ObjectivesWe aimed to support management by develoAuthorsHelen Sofaer, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Erin K. Buchholtz, Brian S. Cade, John T. Abatzoglou, Cameron L. Aldridge, Patrick Comer, Daniel Manier, Lauren E. Parker, Julie A. HeinrichsINHABIT: A web-based decision support tool for invasive plant species habitat visualization and assessment across the contiguous United States
Narrowing the communication and knowledge gap between producers and users of scientific data is a longstanding problem in ecological conservation and land management. Decision support tools (DSTs), including websites or interactive web applications, provide platforms that can help bridge this gap. DSTs can most effectively disseminate and translate research results when producers and users collaboAuthorsPeder Engelstad, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Terri Hogan, Helen Sofaer, Ian Pearse, Jennifer Sieracki, Neil Frakes, Julia Sullivan, Nicholas E. Young, Janet S. Prevéy, Pairsa Nicole Belamaric, Jillian Marie LaroeManagement foundations for navigating ecological transformation by resisting, accepting, or directing social-ecological change
Despite striking global change, management to ensure healthy landscapes and sustained natural resources has tended to set objectives on the basis of the historical range of variability in stationary ecosystems. Many social–ecological systems are moving into novel conditions that can result in ecological transformation. We present four foundations to enable a transition to future-oriented conservat
AuthorsDawn Magness, Linh Hoang, Travis Belote, Jean Brennan, Wylie Carr, F. Stuart Chapin, Katherine R. Clifford, Wendy Morrison, John Morton, Helen SofaerA science agenda to inform natural resource management decisions in an era of ecological transformation
Earth is experiencing widespread ecological transformation in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems that is attributable to directional environmental changes, especially intensifying climate change. To better steward ecosystems facing unprecedented and lasting change, a new management paradigm is forming, supported by a decision-oriented framework that presents three distinct management cAuthorsShelley Crausbay, Helen Sofaer, Amanda E. Cravens, Brian C. Chaffin, Katherine R. Clifford, John E. Gross, Corrine N. Knapp, David J Lawrence, Dawn Magness, Abraham J. Miller-Rushing, Gregor W. Schuurman, Camille S. Stevens-RumannModelling presence versus abundance for invasive species risk assessment
AimInvasive species prevention and management can be guided by comparisons of invasion risk across space and among species. Species distribution models are widely used to assess invasion risk and typically estimate suitability for species presence. However, suitability for presence may not capture patterns of abundance and impact. We asked how models estimating suitability for presence versus suitAuthorsCatherine S. Jarnevich, Helen Sofaer, Peder EngelstadNegative effects of an allelopathic invader on AM fungal plant species drive community‐level responses
The mechanisms causing invasive species impact are rarely empirically tested, limiting our ability to understand and predict subsequent changes in invaded plant communities. Invader disruption of native mutualistic interactions is a mechanism expected to have negative effects on native plant species. Specifically, disruption of native plant‐fungal mutualisms may provide non‐mycorrhizal plant invadAuthorsMorgan Roche, Ian Pearse, Lalasia Bialic-Murphy, Stephanie N Kivlin, Helen Sofaer, Susan KaliszEcological forecasting—21st century science for 21st century management
Natural resource managers are coping with rapid changes in both environmental conditions and ecosystems. Enabled by recent advances in data collection and assimilation, short-term ecological forecasting may be a powerful tool to help resource managers anticipate impending near-term changes in ecosystem conditions or dynamics. Managers may use the information in forecasts to minimize the adverse ef
AuthorsJohn B. Bradford, Jake Weltzin, Molly L. McCormick, Jill Baron, Zack Bowen, Sky Bristol, Daren Carlisle, Theresa Crimmins, Paul C. Cross, Joe DeVivo, Mike Dietze, Mary Freeman, Jason Goldberg, Mevin Hooten, Leslie Hsu, Karen Jenni, Jennifer L. Keisman, Jonathan Kennen, Kathy Lee, David P. Lesmes, Keith Loftin, Brian W. Miller, Peter S. Murdoch, Jana Newman, Karen L. Prentice, Imtiaz Rangwala, Jordan Read, Jennifer Sieracki, Helen Sofaer, Steve Thur, Gordon Toevs, Francisco Werner, C. LeAnn White, Timothy White, Mark T. WiltermuthByEcosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS) Program, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Fort Collins Science Center, Kansas Water Science Center, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Water Science Center, National Wildlife Health Center, New Jersey Water Science Center, Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center, Southwest Biological Science Center, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Upper Midwest Water Science CenterA modeling workflow that balances automation and human intervention to inform invasive plant management decisions at multiple spatial scales
Predictions of habitat suitability for invasive plant species can guide risk assessments at regional and national scales and inform early detection and rapid-response strategies at local scales. We present a general approach to invasive species modeling and mapping that meets objectives at multiple scales. Our methodology is designed to balance trade-offs between developing highly customized modelAuthorsNicholas E. Young, Catherine S. Jarnevich, Helen Sofaer, Ian Pearse, Julia Sullivan, Peder Engelstad, Thomas J. Stohlgren - Software
High-throughput calculations of climatch scores
Matching climate envelopes allows people to examine how potential invasive species may match habitats. This repository contains code for using the climatchR package for high-throughput calculations of climatch scores for species using GBIF data. Climatch is based upon the climatch algorithm as implemented through the climatchR package.climatchR: An implementation of Climatch in R
Matching climate envelopes of allows people to examine how potential invasive species may match habitats. The Australian government created Climatch to do allow for these comparisons. However, this webpage does not allow for readily scripting climate matching. Hence, the authors created climatchR, an R package (R Core Team 2020) implementing the climatch method in R. This was created to allow auto - Multimedia