James E Lyons, Ph.D.
Biography
EDUCATION:
- 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 (Advisor: Dr. Jeffrey R. Walters)
- 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, (Advisor: Dr. Susan M. Haig)
- B.S. Wildlife and Fisheries Biology, 1986, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405
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 Populations in Delaware Bay. (SDM Workshop, National Conservation Training Center, Shepherdstown, WV, 9-13 July 2007)
TEACHING 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
Humbolt State University
- Department of Wildlife, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA
- Conservation Biology (lecture)
- Ornithology (lecture)
- Ecology of Wildlife Populations (lecture)
- Ecology and Management of Wetland Habitats for Wildlife (lecture)
- Introduction to Wildlife Conservation and Administration (lecture)
- Senior Seminar in Wildlife Management (discussion)
- Ecology of Animal Movements (discussion)
- Advanced Population Ecology (discussion)
Science and Products
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...
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...
Marine 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...
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.
Structured 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...
Using 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,...
Marcot, Bruce G.; Lyons, James; Elbert, Daniel C; Todd, Laura
Optimization of salt marsh management at the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge, Connecticut, 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...
Low, Laurel E.; Neckles, Hilary A.; Lyons, James E.; Nagel, Jessica L.; Adamowicz, Susan C.; Mikula, Toni; Vagos, Kristina; Potvin, Richard
Research priorities for migratory birds under climate change—A qualitative value of information assessment
The mission of the U.S. Geological Survey National Climate Adaptation Science Center is to provide actionable, management-relevant research on climate change effects on ecosystems and wildlife to U.S. Department of the Interior bureaus. Providing this kind of useful scientific information requires understanding how natural-resource managers make...
Rubenstein, Madeleine A.; Rushing, Clark S.; Lyons, James E.; Runge, Michael C.
Optimization of tidal marsh management at the Cape May and Supawna Meadows National Wildlife Refuges, 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...
Neckles, Hilary A.; Lyons, James E.; Nagel, Jessica L.; Adamowicz, Susan C.; Mikula, Toni; Braudis, Brian; Hanlon, Heidi Decision implementation and the double-loop process in adaptive management of horseshoe crab harvest in Delaware Bay
No abstract available.
McGowan, Conor P.; Smith, David; Lyons, James E. Introduction to resource allocation
With ongoing habitat loss and degradation, ever-increasing threats to biodiversity, and limited funding for conservation and management, nearly every natural resource manager routinely faces difficult resource allocation problems. Funding and capacity for natural resource management rarely meet the need, and informed resource allocations are...
Lyons, James E. Resource allocation for coastal wetland management: Confronting uncertainty about sea level rise
Coastal wetlands are rich and diverse ecosystems with a wide variety of birdlife and other natural resources. Decision making for coastal wetland management is difficult given the complex nature of these ecological systems and the frequent need to meet multiple objectives for varied resources. Management challenges in the coastal zone are...
Lyons, James E.; Kalasz, Kevin S.; Breese, Gregory; Boal, Clint W. Using value of information to prioritize research needs for migratory bird management under climate change: A case study using federal land acquisition in the United States
In response to global habitat loss, many governmental and non‐governmental organizations have implemented land acquisition programs to protect critical habitats permanently for priority species. The ability of these protected areas to meet future management objectives may be compromised if the effects of climate change are not considered in...
Rushing, Clark S; Rubenstein, Madeleine A.; Lyons, James E.; Runge, Michael C. Black oystercatcher (Haematopus bachmani) population size, use of marine reserve complexes, and spatial distribution in Oregon
The Black Oystercatcher is a large shorebird found along the west coast of North America. Because of their small global population size, low reproductive rate, and dependence on rocky intertidal habitats, they are considered a “species of high conservation concern” and may act as an indicator of intertidal ecosystem health. In 2015, the Audubon...
Liebezeit, Joe; O'Connor, Amelia; Lyons, James; Shannon, Courtney; Stephensen, Shawn; Elliott-Smith, Elise
Optimization of salt marsh management at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, 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...
Neckles, Hilary A.; Lyons, James E.; Nagel, Jessica L.; Adamowicz, Susan C.; Mikula, Toni; Holcomb, Kevin S.
Optimization of salt marsh management at the Rhode Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex 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...
Neckles, Hilary A.; Lyons, James E.; Nagel, Jessica L.; Adamowicz, Susan C.; Mikula, Toni; Ernst, Nicholas T.
Spatial integration of biological and social objectives to identify priority landscapes for waterfowl habitat conservation
Waterfowl population management and habitat conservation compose one of the oldest and most successful adaptive management frameworks in the world. Since its inception, the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP) has emphasized strategically targeted conservation investments in regions that most affect waterfowl population dynamics. By...
Krainyk, Anastasia; Lyons, James E.; Brasher, Michael G.; Humburg, Dale D.; Souilliere, Greg J.; Coluccy, John M.; Petrie, Mark J.; Howerter, David W.; Slattery, Stuart M.; Rice, Mindy B.; Fuller, Joe C.