Jim is a Research Ecologist at the Eastern Ecological Science Center in Laurel, MD.
STRUCTURED DECISION MAKING AND ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT PROJECTS (DECISION ANALYST & TEAM LEAD)
- Development of an Integrated Avian Monitoring Framework for the Northern Gulf of Mexico: Application of Structured Decision Making. (3 SDM workshops: USFWS/USGS SDM Workshop, National Conservation Training Center, Shepherdstown, WV, 3-7 February 2014; Spanish Fort, AL, 7-8 May 2014; Cedar Key, FL, 12-14 August 2014)
- Use of Structured Decision Making to Identify Management Priorities and Monitoring Targets for Salt Marsh Ecosystems (2 SDM workshops, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, 11-12 and 24-26 January 2012)
- Decision Analysis for Optimal Wetland Management at Patuxent Research Refuge: Application of SDM for Comprehensive Conservation Planning (worked with Refuge staff during multiple meetings over a period of six months, 2011-2012)
- Decision Analysis for Coastal Wetland Management in Delaware Under Uncertainty about Sea Level Rise (USFWS/USGS SDM Workshop, National Conservation Training Center, Shepherdstown, WV, 13-17 September 2010)
- Scaup Conservation Action Plan: Linking Models to Conservation Actions and the Revised NAWMP (4 SDM workshops, 2009-2011)
- Impoundment Management at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge for the Benefit of Breeding Whooping Cranes (SDM workshop, Necedah NWR, 23-27 March 2009)
- Conservation and Management Decisions for Mountain Plovers throughout the Annual Cycle (USFWS/USGS SDM Workshop, National Conservation Training Center, Shepherdstown, WV, 21-25 July 2008)
- Application of Structured Decision Making to Assessment of Salt Marshes on National Wildlife Refuges in the Northeastern, Southwestern, and Northwestern U.S. (SDM workshop, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, 7-11 April 2008)
- Impoundment Management at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge (SDM workshop, Necedah NWR, 4-7 March 2008)
- Integrated Wetland Bird Management and Monitoring Initiative. (USFWS/USGS SDM Workshop, National Conservation Training Center, Shepherdstown, WV, 28 January-1 February 2008)
- Strategic Habitat Conservation (SHC) in the Prairie Pothole Region. (USFWS/USGS SDM Workshop, La Crosse, WI, 14-18 January 2008)
- Wetland Loss and Fire Effects at Blackwater NWR and Fishing Bay WMA. (USFWS Adaptive Management Consultancy, Cambridge, MD, 23-24 October 2007 and 29-30 April 2008)
- Application of Structured Decision Making for Multi-species Management of Horseshoe Crab and Shorebird Population in Delaware Bay. (SDM Workshop, National Conservation Training Center, Shepherdstown, WV, 9-13 July 2007)
Professional Experience
Instructor
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Conservation Training Center
Introduction to Structured Decision Making 01/2010, 03/2008, 05/2013
Shorebird Ecology and Management 6 times in 2007-2014
Lecturer in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Biology 08/2002 - 08/2004
Department of Wildlife, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA
lectures:
- Conservation Biology
- Ornithology
- Ecology of Wildlife Populations
- Ecology and Management of Wetland Habitats for Wildlife
- Introduction to Wildlife Conservation and Administration (lecture)
Discussions:
- Senior Seminar in Wildlife Management
- Ecology of Animal Movements
- Advanced Population Ecology
Education and Certifications
Ph.D. Biology, 2001, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, Dissertation: Population Ecology and Foraging Behavior of Breeding Birds in Bottomland Hardwood Forests
M.S. Aquaculture, Fisheries, and Wildlife Biology, 1994, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, Thesis: Eco-physiology of Shorebirds During Winter and Migration at South Island, SC
B.S. Wildlife and Fisheries Biology, 1986, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405
Science and Products
Red Knot Migration and Population Ecology
Use of Structured Decision Making to Optimize Salt Marsh Management Decisions at Northeastern National Wildlife Refuges
Informing Management of Waterfowl Harvest in a Changing Climate
Marine Bird Populations and the Gulf of Mexico Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (GoMMAPPS)
Structured Decision Making
Decision-Support for Migratory Bird Management in the Face of Uncertainty
Structured Decision Making: Methods, Applications, and Capacity-Building
Qualitative value of information for the effects of prescribed fire in Gulf of Mexico marshes: Expert judgment scores from a 2020 adaptive management workshop
Structured decision making to rank North American Wetland Conservation Act proposals within joint venture regions
Optimization of salt marsh management at the Petit Manan National Wildlife Refuge of the Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex, Maine, through use of structured decision making
Optimization of salt marsh management at the Eastern Shore of Virginia and Fisherman Island National Wildlife Refuges, Virginia, through use of structured decision making
Optimization of salt marsh management at the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, Maine, through use of structured decision making
Optimization of salt marsh management at the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, Maine, through use of structured decision making
Structured decision making and optimal bird monitoring in the northern Gulf of Mexico
Optimization of salt marsh management at the Long Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex, New York, through use of structured decision making
Species-specific demographic and behavioral responses to food availability during migratory stopover
Multicriteria decisions and portfolio analysis: Land acquisition for biological and social objectives
Optimization of salt marsh management at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey, through use of structured decision making
Stopover ecology of red knots in southwestern James Bay during southbound migration
Using decision science for monitoring threatened western snowy plovers to inform recovery
Optimal horseshoe crab harvest policies via approximate dynamic programming
Science and Products
- Science
Red Knot Migration and Population Ecology
Eastern Ecological Science Center biologists are studying migration and population ecology of the rufa red knot, a bird species that is dependent on horseshoe crab eggs to complete its trans-hemispheric migration. The birds' spring migration is timed with spawning of horseshoe crabs because the eggs are the perfect food for a migrating red knot.Use of Structured Decision Making to Optimize Salt Marsh Management Decisions at Northeastern National Wildlife Refuges
US Fish and Wildlife Service completed a regional assessment of salt marsh integrity (SMI) on 15 National Wildlife Refuges/Refuge Complexes in the northeastern US. Developed within a structured decision making (SDM) framework, the SMI assessment provides essential baseline data on salt marsh condition relative to regional management objectives. These data now provide the basis for applying the SDM...Informing Management of Waterfowl Harvest in a Changing Climate
The ability to effectively manage wildlife in North America is founded in an understanding of how human actions and the environment influence wildlife populations. Current management practices are informed by population monitoring data from the past to determine key ecological relationships and make predictions about future population status. In most cases, including the regulation of waterfowl huMarine Bird Populations and the Gulf of Mexico Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (GoMMAPPS)
The Challenge: The Gulf of Mexico has critically important breeding, staging, and wintering habitats for North America’s migratory birds. Unfortunately, limited information is available to quantitatively characterize species composition, distribution, and abundance of birds Gulf-wide, particularly for seabirds. The number of platforms and cumulative level of oil and gas activity in the northern...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.Decision-Support for Migratory Bird Management in the Face of Uncertainty
Migratory birds are responding to changes in climate in complex and sometimes unpredictable ways. The timing of breeding and migration typically coincide with the periods of peak food availability; however, these peaks are shifting as temperatures and precipitation patterns change, resulting in a mismatch in the timing of key events. The degree to which this mismatch is impacting migratory birds vStructured Decision Making: Methods, Applications, and Capacity-Building
The Challenge: The field of decision analysis is a rich and mature discipline that provides robust methods for helping decision makers understand the nature of their decisions, involve stakeholders and scientists in appropriate steps of the process, and develop transparent records for the public. The use of these structured approaches is emerging in natural resource management, and there is strong... - Data
Qualitative value of information for the effects of prescribed fire in Gulf of Mexico marshes: Expert judgment scores from a 2020 adaptive management workshop
This data set was collected as part of a structured decision-making workshop designed to identify sources of uncertainty and articulate alternative hypotheses about prescribed fire in high marshes of the Gulf of Mexico. Workshop participants independently scored alternative hypotheses based on a standard rubric using an online system. Following the workshop, we used the scores to compute QVoI for - Publications
Filter Total Items: 53
Structured decision making to rank North American Wetland Conservation Act proposals within joint venture regions
The North American Wetlands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 4401-4412) provided funding and administration for wetland management and conservation projects. The North American Wetland Conservation Fund, enabled in 1989 with the Act, provides financial resources. Resource allocation decisions are based, in part, on regional experts, particularly migratory bird Joint Ventures (JVs) (i.e., partnerships fOptimization of salt marsh management at the Petit Manan National Wildlife Refuge of the Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex, Maine, through use of structured decision making
Structured decision making is a systematic, transparent process for improving the quality of complex decisions by identifying measurable management objectives and feasible management actions; predicting the potential consequences of management actions relative to the stated objectives; and selecting a course of action that maximizes the total benefit achieved and balances tradeoffs among objectiveOptimization of salt marsh management at the Eastern Shore of Virginia and Fisherman Island National Wildlife Refuges, Virginia, through use of structured decision making
Structured decision making is a systematic, transparent process for improving the quality of complex decisions by identifying measurable management objectives and feasible management actions; predicting the potential consequences of management actions relative to the stated objectives; and selecting a course of action that maximizes the total benefit achieved and balances tradeoffs among objectiveOptimization of salt marsh management at the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, Maine, through use of structured decision making
Structured decision making is a systematic, transparent process for improving the quality of complex decisions by identifying measurable management objectives and feasible management actions; predicting the potential consequences of management actions relative to the stated objectives; and selecting a course of action that maximizes the total benefit achieved and balances tradeoffs among objectiveOptimization of salt marsh management at the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, Maine, through use of structured decision making
Structured decision making is a systematic, transparent process for improving the quality of complex decisions by identifying measurable management objectives and feasible management actions; predicting the potential consequences of management actions relative to the stated objectives; and selecting a course of action that maximizes the total benefit achieved and balances tradeoffs among objectiveStructured decision making and optimal bird monitoring in the northern Gulf of Mexico
The avian conservation community struggles to design and implement large scale, long-term coordinated bird monitoring programs within the northern Gulf of Mexico due to the complexity of the conservation enterprise in the region; this complexity arises from the diverse stakeholders, multiple jurisdictions, complex ecological processes, myriad habitats, and over 500 species of birds using the regioOptimization of salt marsh management at the Long Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex, New York, through use of structured decision making
Structured decision making is a systematic, transparent process for improving the quality of complex decisions by identifying measurable management objectives and feasible management actions; predicting the potential consequences of management actions relative to the stated objectives; and selecting a course of action that maximizes the total benefit achieved and balances tradeoffs among objectiveSpecies-specific demographic and behavioral responses to food availability during migratory stopover
Understanding the effects of migratory stopover site conditions on both demographic rates and migratory behaviors is critical for interpreting changes in passage population sizes at stopover sites and predicting responses to future changes and conservation actions. We used a Bayesian formulation of the open robust design model to analyze mark-resight observations of three migratory shorebird speciMulticriteria decisions and portfolio analysis: Land acquisition for biological and social objectives
Resource allocation for land acquisition is a common multi-objective problem that involves complex trade-offs. The National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service currently uses the Targeted Resource Acquisition Comparison Tool (TRACT) to allocate funds from the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund (MBCF; established through the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation ActOptimization of salt marsh management at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey, through use of structured decision making
Structured decision making is a systematic, transparent process for improving the quality of complex decisions by identifying measurable management objectives and feasible management actions; predicting the potential consequences of management actions relative to the stated objectives; and selecting a course of action that maximizes the total benefit achieved and balances tradeoffs among objectiveStopover ecology of red knots in southwestern James Bay during southbound migration
Many shorebirds rely on small numbers of staging sites during long annual migrations. Numerous shorebird species are declining and understanding the importance of these staging sites is important for successful conservation. We surveyed endangered rufa red knots (Calidris canutus rufa) staging in James Bay, Ontario, Canada, during southbound migration in 2017 and 2018. We used mark‐resight data anUsing decision science for monitoring threatened western snowy plovers to inform recovery
Western Snowy Plovers (Charadrius nivosus nivosus) are federally listed under the US Endangered Species Act as Threatened. They occur along the US Pacific coastline and are threatened by habitat loss and destruction and excessive levels of predation and human disturbance. Populations have been monitored since the 1970s for distribution, reproduction, and survival. Since the species was federally l - Software
Optimal horseshoe crab harvest policies via approximate dynamic programming
Approximate Dynamic Programming relies on forward simulation of the system, so two population projection models are used, one for crabs and one for red knots. The two models are linked: HSC abundance is a predictor variable in the REKN model. Other useful outputs are produced as well, such as predictions of future harvest.