Cronin JP, MA Rua, and CE Mitchell. 2014. Why is living fast dangerous? Disentangling the role of resistance and tolerance of disease. The American Naturalist. 184, 172-187 doi: 10.1086/676854
James Patrick Cronin, Ph.D.
My research uses analytical tools to identify ecological processes operating in natural systems and aid decision makers in conserving and restoring natural landscapes. My projects generally focus on (1) translating human knowledge and beliefs about how the world works into causal models and (2) using causal models to inform large-scale restoration efforts.
Biography
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Pittsburgh
B.A., Biology, St. John's University
BACKGROUND
2018-Present: Research Ecologist, US Geological Survey, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center (formerly National Wetland Research Center), Lafayette, LA, USA
2014-2018: Ecologist, US Geological Survey, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center (formerly National Wetland Research Center), Lafayette, LA, USA
2013-2014: Research Scientist I, Five Rivers Services LLC, USGS National Wetland Research Center, Lafayette, LA, USA
2006-2013: Postdoctoral Research Associate Infectious Disease Ecology, Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
1999-2006: Ph.D. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology; NSF Gk-12 Teaching Fellow, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA
1996-1999: B.A. Magna cum laude Biology, St. John’s University, MN
PUBLICATIONS and DATA SHARING
See below
NEWS
Nature News Flash: http://rdcu.be/bK4i
ResearchGate: https://goo.gl/4cRlKF
Googlescholar: https://goo.gl/eb69Kv
Science and Products
Date published: March 18, 2016
Status: Active Establishing Explicit Biological Objectives to Guide Strategic Habitat Conservation for the Gulf Coast
To inform conservation efforts for the Gulf Coast, USGS is developing a suite of decision support tools to provide explicit population and habitat objectives.
Contacts: James Patrick Cronin, Ph.D.
Date published: January 1, 2017
Biological planning units and aquatic extensions for the Gulf Coast
The success of Gulf Coast restoration efforts hinge on partners sharing a common vision for conservation framed by explicit biological objectives for specific conservation targets. However, specific and explicit biological objectives that quantify what it means to actually share a common vision remain undefined. Therefore, this project's goal is to develop explicit biological objectives for...
Attribution: Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
Year Published: 2020
Trait‐based variation in host contribution to pathogen transmission across species and resource supplies
Two key knowledge gaps currently limit the development of more predictive and general models of pathogen transmission: (1) the physiological basis of heterogeneity in host contribution to pathogen transmission (reservoir potential) remains poorly understood, and (2) a general means of integrating the ecological dynamics of host communities has yet...
Welsh, Miranda E; Cronin, James P.; Mitchell, Charles E.
Year Published: 2020
A graphical causal model for resolving species identity effects and biodiversity–ecosystem function correlations
Identifying and clearly communicating the drivers of ecosystem function is a crucially important goal for both basic and applied ecology. This has proven difficult because the putative causes (e.g., environment, species identity, biodiversity, and functional traits) are numerous and correlated. The problem is exacerbated by a lack of a formal...
Schoolmaster, Donald R.; Zirbel, Chad R; Cronin, James P.
Year Published: 2020
Final project memorandum: Identifying conservation objectives for the Gulf Coast habitats of the black skimmer and gull-billed tern
Many shorebirds and nearshore waterbirds are of conservation concern across the Gulf of Mexico due to stressors such as human disturbance, predation, and habitat loss and degradation. Conservation and protection of these birds is important for the functioning of healthy ecosystems and for maintaining biodiversity in North America. Consequently,...
Cronin, James P.
Year Published: 2018
A causal partition of trait correlations: using graphical models to derive statistical models from theoretical language
Recent studies hypothesize various causes of species‐level trait covariation, namely size (e.g., metabolic theory of ecology and leaf economics spectrum), pace‐of‐life (e.g., slow‐to‐fast continuum; lifestyle continuum), evolutionary history (e.g., phylogenetic conservatism), and ecological conditions (e.g., stabilizing selection). Various methods...
Cronin, James P.; Schoolmaster, DonaldAttribution: Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, Ecosystems, Region 2: South Atlantic-Gulf (Includes Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands), Region 4: Mississippi Basin
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Cronin, J.P., and Schoolmaster, D.R., Jr., 2018, A causal partition of trait correlations: using graphical models to derive statistical models from theoretical language: Ecosphere, v. 9, no. 9, art. e02422, https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2422.
Year Published: 2016
U.S. Geological Survey science strategy for highly pathogenic avian influenza in wildlife and the environment (2016–2020)
IntroductionThrough the Science Strategy for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in Wildlife and the Environment, the USGS will assess avian influenza (AI) dynamics in an ecological context to inform decisions made by resource managers and policymakers from the local to national level. Through collection of unbiased scientific information on...
Harris, M. Camille; Pearce, John M.; Prosser, Diann J.; White, C. LeAnn; Miles, A. Keith; Sleeman, Jonathan M.; Brand, Christopher J.; Cronin, James P.; De La Cruz, Susan; Densmore, Christine L.; Doyle, Thomas W.; Dusek, Robert J.; Fleskes, Joseph P.; Flint, Paul L.; Guala, Gerald F.; Hall, Jeffrey S.; Hubbard, Laura E.; Hunt, Randall J.; Ip, Hon S.; Katz, Rachel A.; Laurent, Kevin W.; Miller, Mark P.; Munn, Mark D.; Ramey, Andrew M.; Richards, Kevin D.; Russell, Robin E.; Stokdyk, Joel P.; Takekawa, John Y.; Walsh, Daniel P.Attribution: Alaska Science Center, National Wildlife Health Center, Ecosystems, Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS), Region 11: Alaska, United States of America, Laboratories, Laboratory for Infectious Disease and the Environment
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Harris, M.C., Pearce, J.M., Prosser, D.J., White, C.L., Miles, A.K., Sleeman, J.M., Brand, C.J., Cronin, J.P., De La Cruz, S., Densmore, C.L., Doyle, T.W., Dusek, R.J., Fleskes, J.P., Flint, P.L., Guala, G.F., Hall, J.S., Hubbard, L.E., Hunt, R.J., Ip, H.S., Katz, R.A., Laurent, K.W., Miller, M.P., Munn, M.D., Ramey, A.M., Richards, K.D., Russell, R.E., Stokdyk, J.P., Takekawa, J.Y., and Walsh, D.P., 2016, U.S. Geological Survey science strategy for highly pathogenic avian influenza in wildlife and the environment (2016–2020): U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2016–1121, 38 p., http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/ofr20161121.
Year Published: 2016
The role of habitat filtering in the leaf economics spectrum and plant susceptibility to pathogen infection
1.The Leaf Economics Spectrum (LES) describes global covariation in the traits of plant leaves. The LES is thought to arise from biophysical constraints and habitat filtering (ecological selection against unfit trait combinations along environmental gradients). However, the role of habitat filtering in generating the LES has not been tested...
Welsh, Miranda E; Cronin, James P.; Mitchell, Charles E.Attribution: Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, Ecosystems, , Region 2: South Atlantic-Gulf (Includes Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands), Region 4: Mississippi Basin
View Citation
Welsh, M.E., Cronin, J.P., and Mitchell, C.E., 2016, The role of habitat filtering in the leaf economics spectrum and plant susceptibility to pathogen infection: Journal of Ecology, Accepted Author Manuscript, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12632.
Pre-USGS Publications
Cronin, JP, Rúa MA and Mitchell CE. 2014. Data from: Why is living fast dangerous? Disentangling the roles of resistance and tolerance of disease. American Naturalist, Dryad Digital Repository: http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8mq2q.
Welsh ME, Cronin JP, and Mitchell CE. 2016. The role of habitat filtering in the leaf economics spectrum and plant susceptibility to pathogen infection. Journal of Ecology 104, 1768–1777
Welsh ME, Cronin JP and Mitchell CE. 2016. Data from: the role of habitat filtering in the leaf economics spectrum and plant susceptibility to pathogen infection. Dryad Digital Repository, http://datadryad.org/resource/doi:10.5061/dryad.356v3
Borer ET, Seabloom EW, Mitchell CE and Cronin JP. 2014. Multiple nutrients and herbivores interact to govern diversity, productivity, composition, and infection in a successional grassland. Oikos. 123, 214-224
Cronin JP, Han BA, Keesing F, Kilpatrick AM, Metcalf CJE, and Welsh ME. 2012. Towards trait-based disease ecology: Integrating theory and data across kingdoms. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 93, 95-99
Cronin JP, Tonsor SJ, and Carson WP. 2010. A simultaneous test of trophic interaction models: Which vegetation characteristic explains herbivore control over plant community mass? Ecology Letters. 13, 202-212
Cronin JP, Welsh ME, Dekkers MG, Abercrombie ST, and Mitchell CE. 2010. Host physiological phenotype explains pathogen reservoir potential. Ecology Letters, 13, 1221-1232
Carson WP, Cronin JP, and Long ZT. 2004. A general rule for predicting when insects will have strong top-down effects on plant communities: On the relationship between insect outbreaks and host concentration. Pages 193-212 in Weisser WW and E Siemann (eds). Insects and Ecosystem Function. Ecological Studies Series Vol. 173. Springer-Verlag
Cronin JP and Carson WP. Competition. 2002. In Macmillian Science Library: Biology Macmillan Reference USA, Gale Group. New York, NY. (Invited)
Cronin JP and Carson WP. Competition. 2002. In Macmillian Science Library: Biology Macmillan Reference USA, Gale Group. New York, NY. (Invited)