Jake joined the US Geological Survey in 2007 to design and implement the USA National Phenology Network. Since 2015 he has also served as the Program Manager for the Status & Trends Program in the Ecosystems Mission Area.
Jake’s interest in natural history developed as he grew up in Alaska and served as an exchange student in the Australian outback. His interests range broadly -- from natural resource management to ecological- and ecosystem-level research -- across a variety of systems ranging from deserts to grasslands, savannas to forests, and even to wetlands.
Research Interests
Jake is interested in how the structure and function of plant and animal populations, communities and ecosystems respond to global environmental change, including atmospheric chemistry, climate change, and biological invasions. He also studies how scientists understand and describe changes in ecosystems over space and time, from monitoring, to data management and analysis, to delivery of ecological knowledge and information to stakeholders. Current interests include citizen science, enterprise tools for monitoring, data visualization and delivery, and ecological forecasting.
Professional Experience
Post-doctoral Fellowship at University of Notre Dame
Associate Professor, University of Tennessee
Program Director, National Science Foundation
Executive Director, USA National Phenology Network
Program Manager, Status & Trends Program, US Geological Survey
Education and Certifications
B.S., Colorado State University
M.S., Texas A&M University
Ph.D., University of Arizona
Science and Products
Ecological Forecasting Workshop
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 changes in ecosystem dynamics (that is, the approaching near-term changes in ecosystems). Managers may use the information in f
Workflows to Support Integrated Predictive Science Capacity: Forecasting Invasive Species for Natural Resource Planning and Risk Assessment
Insect pests cost billions of dollars per year globally, negatively impacting food crops and infrastructure and contributing to the spread of disease. Timely information regarding developmental stages of pests can facilitate early detection and control, increasing efficiency and effectiveness. To address this need, the USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN) created a suite of “Pheno Forecast” ma...
Collaborating with Resource Managers to Identify and Address Phenological Information Needs
Plants and animals undergo certain recurring life-cycle events, such as springtime flowering or migrations between summer and winter habitats, that are often strongly controlled by changes in environmental conditions, including climate. Because species interact, shifts in one species’ phenology can have cascading effects throughout entire food webs and ecosystems. Recent advances have helped grow
Developing APIs to support enterprise level monitoring using existing tools
In this age of rapidly developing technology, scientific information is constantly being gathered across large spatial scales. Yet, our ability to coordinate large-scale monitoring efforts depends on development of tools that leverage and integrate multiple sources of data. North American bats are experiencing unparalleled population declines. The North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat), a
Integration of Phenological Forecast Maps for Assessment of Biodiversity: An Enterprise Workflow
Recent open data policies of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which were fully enforceable on October 1, 2016, require that federally funded information products (publications, etc.) be made freely available to the public, and that the underlying data on which the conclusions are based must be released. A key and relevant aspect of these
Incorporating USGS Web Cameras into the Phenocam Network to Enhance Scientific Understanding of Phenological Trends and Variability
The USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN) and the North Central Climate Science Center (NC CSC) seek to enhance scientific understanding of how climate trends and variability are linked to phenology across spatial scales, with the ultimate goal of being able to understand and predict climate impacts on natural resources. A key step towards achieving this long-term goal is connecting local obser
Geocaching Natural Features - Applying Game Mechanics to Citizen Science Data Collection
ScienceCache is a scientific geocaching mobile application framework that targets two user groups for citizen science data collection: youth and geocachers. By melding training and games into the hunt for place-based data collection sites and incorporating photo uploads as data and authentication, new volunteers can collaborate in robust data collection. Scientists build a project on the administr
Webinar: The USA National Phenology Network: Informing Science, Conservation and Resource Management
View this webinar to learn more about the USA National Phenology Network.
Science and Products
- Publications
- Science
Ecological Forecasting Workshop
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 changes in ecosystem dynamics (that is, the approaching near-term changes in ecosystems). Managers may use the information in fWorkflows to Support Integrated Predictive Science Capacity: Forecasting Invasive Species for Natural Resource Planning and Risk Assessment
Insect pests cost billions of dollars per year globally, negatively impacting food crops and infrastructure and contributing to the spread of disease. Timely information regarding developmental stages of pests can facilitate early detection and control, increasing efficiency and effectiveness. To address this need, the USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN) created a suite of “Pheno Forecast” ma...Collaborating with Resource Managers to Identify and Address Phenological Information Needs
Plants and animals undergo certain recurring life-cycle events, such as springtime flowering or migrations between summer and winter habitats, that are often strongly controlled by changes in environmental conditions, including climate. Because species interact, shifts in one species’ phenology can have cascading effects throughout entire food webs and ecosystems. Recent advances have helped growDeveloping APIs to support enterprise level monitoring using existing tools
In this age of rapidly developing technology, scientific information is constantly being gathered across large spatial scales. Yet, our ability to coordinate large-scale monitoring efforts depends on development of tools that leverage and integrate multiple sources of data. North American bats are experiencing unparalleled population declines. The North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat), aIntegration of Phenological Forecast Maps for Assessment of Biodiversity: An Enterprise Workflow
Recent open data policies of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which were fully enforceable on October 1, 2016, require that federally funded information products (publications, etc.) be made freely available to the public, and that the underlying data on which the conclusions are based must be released. A key and relevant aspect of theseIncorporating USGS Web Cameras into the Phenocam Network to Enhance Scientific Understanding of Phenological Trends and Variability
The USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN) and the North Central Climate Science Center (NC CSC) seek to enhance scientific understanding of how climate trends and variability are linked to phenology across spatial scales, with the ultimate goal of being able to understand and predict climate impacts on natural resources. A key step towards achieving this long-term goal is connecting local obserGeocaching Natural Features - Applying Game Mechanics to Citizen Science Data Collection
ScienceCache is a scientific geocaching mobile application framework that targets two user groups for citizen science data collection: youth and geocachers. By melding training and games into the hunt for place-based data collection sites and incorporating photo uploads as data and authentication, new volunteers can collaborate in robust data collection. Scientists build a project on the administrWebinar: The USA National Phenology Network: Informing Science, Conservation and Resource Management
View this webinar to learn more about the USA National Phenology Network. - News
- Multimedia