I have interdisciplinary expertise in biology, geographical information systems (GIS) and application programming. My work emphasizes landscape ecology and the creation of flexible tools and models to assess species habitat.
Recent Projects:
- Web mapping application development
- West Newton Chute Native Mussel Story Map
- Upper Mississippi River System - Systemic Spatial Data Viewer
- Upper Mississippi River Restoration - Long Term Resource Monitoring element - Spatial Data Query Tool
- Upper Mississippi River System - Historic Map Viewer
- Isle Royale National Park - Modelling spatial and temporal variability in browsing by moose under varying predation scenarios
- Tool and data development in support of the Monarch Conservation Science Partnership
- Monarch Conservation Science Partnership Map Viewer and Tools
- Management Unit Prioritization Tools
- Anticipated Effects of Development on Habitat Fragmentation and Movement of Mammals Into and Out of the Schoodic District, Acadia National Park, Maine
- Application of Wind Fetch and Wave Models for Habitat Rehabilitation and Enhancement Projects
- 2012 update
- LINK: ArcGIS Tools for Conservation Planning
Education and Certifications
1998 M.S., Resource Analysis, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota
1995 B.S., Ecology, Winona State University
Science and Products
Understanding constraints on submersed vegetation distribution in a large, floodplain river: the role of water level fluctuations, water clarity and river geomorphology
Aquatic vegetation is a key component of large floodplain river ecosystems. In the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS), there is a long-standing interest in restoring aquatic vegetation in areas where it has declined or disappeared. To better understand what constrains vegetation distribution in large river ecosystems and inform ongoing efforts to restore submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV), we...
Upper Mississippi River System Weighted Wind Fetch Analysis (1989, 2000, 2010/2011)
Wind fetch is defined as the unobstructed distance that wind can travel over water in a constant direction. Fetch is an important characteristic of open water because longer fetch can result in larger wind-generated waves. The larger waves, in turn, can increase shoreline erosion and sediment re-suspension.
Monarch Conservation Planning Tools
Monarch Conservation Planning Tools
Monarch Conservation Science Partnership Map Viewer and Tools
This web mapping application is a repository for data and tools that support the Monarch Conservation Science Partnership.
Decision Support Systems
A Decision Support System (DSS) can be defined in many ways. The working definition the Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) uses is, "A spatially based computer application or data that assists a researcher or manager in making decisions." This is quite a broad definition and it needs to be, as the possibilities for types of DSS are limited only by the user group and the developer...
Anticipated effects of development on habitat fragmentation and movement of mammals into and out of the Schoodic District, Acadia National Park, Maine
Most national parks interact with adjacent lands because their boundaries fail to encompass all regional habitats, species pools, and migration routes. Activities planned for adjacent lands can have adverse effects on park resources and visitor experiences. For example, fragmentation of adjacent habitat into smaller and more isolated remnants may influence the suitability of park habitat for a...
Application of Wind Fetch and Wave Models for Habitat Rehabilitation and Enhancement Projects - 2012 Update
Models based upon coastal engineering equations have been developed to quantify wind fetch length and several physical wave characteristics including significant height, length, peak period, maximum orbital velocity, and shear stress These models, modified to operate using Environmental Systems Research Institute's ArcGIS 10.0/10.1 Geographic Information System platform, were used to quantify...
Monarch Conservation Science Partnership
The Challenge Over the last two decades, the Eastern migratory population of monarch butterflies has declined by about 80%, leading many scientists to consider how to best conserve and rebuild monarch populations. Conservation efforts can be challenging to design and execute because of the multi-generational migration of monarchs that spans North America. Conservationists must consider many...
Science to Assess Future Conservation Practices for the Mississippi River Basin
USFWS Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) throughout the Mississippi River Basin (MRB) have identified high nutrient runoff, a major contributor to Gulf hypoxia, and declines in wildlife populations (especially grassland and riparian birds), as conservation challenges requiring collaborative action. This project aimed to develop a spatial decision support system (DSS) to address these issue
Application of a Decision Support Tool for Prioritizing Restoration of Private Land Units within a Joint Northern Missouri Focal Area - derived spatial data
This shapefile describes the outputs from the application of a decision support tool (Rohweder and others 2015) used to assist the Northern Missouri Private Lands Program make thoughtful and strategic choices about where to spend its limited management resources. It incorporates landscape and management unit features to help prioritize management on 17 oak savanna and open woodland restoration and
Application of a Decision Support Tool for Prioritizing Management Units at Minnesota Valley Wetland Management District - derived spatial data
This shapefile describes the outputs from the application of a decision support tool (Rohweder and others 2015) used to assist the Minnesota Valley Wetland Management District make thoughtful and strategic choices about where to spend its limited management resources. It incorporates landscape and management unit features to identify which Waterfowl Production Areas have the greatest biological po
Segment-scale classification, large rivers of the Upper Midwest United States
This dataset is part of a multi-scale assessment and classification for segments of 15 rivers of the Upper Midwest United States that meet various criteria for largeness. All rivers are tributary to the Mississippi River system. The 11,600 kilometers (km) that qualified as large were parsed into 10-kilometer-long segments and classified by major alterations (free-flowing, navigation pools, storage
2010 Monarch Relevant Land Cover Data Set for Mexico
The USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center developed a Monarch Relevant Land Cover data set covering the area of Mexico. We used the 2010 land cover data set produced by the tri-national North American Land Change Monitoring System (NALCMS) and supported by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) that depicts year 2010 land cover across North America at 30-meter spatial resolu
2010 Monarch Relevant Land Cover Data Set for Canada
The USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center developed a Monarch Relevant Land Cover data set covering the area of Canada. We used the 2010 land cover data set produced by the tri-national North American Land Change Monitoring System (NALCMS) and supported by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) that depicts year 2010 land cover across North America at 30-meter spatial resolu
2010/11 Level 3 Aquatic Areas - Upper Mississippi River System
The U.S. Geological Survey's Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) created high-resolution land cover/use data sets for the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). Aerial images of Pools 3-13 Upper Mississippi River System and Pools, Alton-Marseilles, Illinois River were collected in color infrared (CIR) in August of 2010 at 8/pixel and 16/pixel respectively using a mapping-grade Appl
2010/11 Level 2 Aquatic Areas - Upper Mississippi River System
The U.S. Geological Survey's Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) has created high-resolution land cover/use data sets for the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). Aerial images of Pools 3-13 Upper Mississippi River System and Pools, Alton-Marseilles, Illinois River were collected in color infrared (CIR) in August of 2010 at 8/pixel and 16/pixel respectively using a mapping-grade
Understanding constraints on submersed vegetation distribution in a large, floodplain river: The role of water level fluctuations, water clarity and river geomorphology
Aquatic vegetation is a key component of large floodplain river ecosystems. In the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS), there is a long-standing interest in restoring aquatic vegetation in areas where it has declined or disappeared. To better understand what constrains vegetation distribution in large river ecosystems and inform ongoing efforts to restore submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV), we d
Upper Mississippi River system weighted wind fetch analysis (1989, 2000, 2010/2011)
Wind fetch is defined as the unobstructed distance that wind can travel over water in a constant direction. Fetches are limited by landforms surrounding the body of water. Fetch is an important characteristic of open water because longer fetches can result in larger wind-generated waves. The larger waves, in turn, can increase shoreline erosion and sediment resuspension (Rohweder and others 2012).
Climate change Is likely to alter future wolf - moose - forest interactions at Isle Royale National Park, United States
We evaluated how climate change and variable rates of moose browsing intensity, as they relate to wolf predation, might affect the forests of Isle Royale National Park, Michigan, United States by conducting a modeling experiment. The experiment consisted of contrasting three different scenarios of wolf management and with a static (current conditions) and changing climate (high emissions). Our res
Quantifying and mapping inundation regimes within a large river‐floodplain ecosystem for ecological and management applications
Spatial information on the distribution of ecosystem patterns and processes can be a critical component of designing and implementing effective management programs in river‐floodplain ecosystems. For example, translating how flood pulses detected within a stream gauge record are spatially manifested across a river‐valley bottom can be used to evaluate whether the current distribution of physical c
A hydrogeomorphic classification of connectivity of large rivers of the Upper Midwest, United States
River connectivity is defined as the water-mediated exchange of matter, energy, and biota between different elements of the riverine landscape. Connectivity is an especially important concept in large-river corridors (channel plus floodplain ) because large rivers integrate fluxes of water, sediment, nutrients, contaminants, and other transported constituents emanating from large contributing drai
Exploring silica stoichiometry on a large floodplain riverscape
Freshwater ecosystems are critical zones of nutrient and carbon (C) processing along the land-sea continuum. Relative to our understanding of C, nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) cycling within the freshwater systems, the controls on silicon (Si) cycling and export are less understood. Understanding Si biogeochemistry and its coupled biogeochemical processing with N and P has direct implications fo
Spatially explicit modelling of floodplain forest succession: Interactions among flood inundation, forest successional processes, and other disturbances in the Upper Mississippi River floodplain, USA
Simulation models are often used to identify hydrologic regimes suitable for different riparian or floodplain tree species. However, most existing models pay little attention to forest successional processes or other disturbances that may interact with the hydrologic regime of river systems to alter forest dynamics in space and time. In this study, we introduce a flood disturbance module to the LA
Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program Long Term Resource Monitoring element—Spatial data query tool
The Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) Program Long Term Resource Monitoring (LTRM) element has been monitoring fish, water quality, and vegetation in six study pools in the Upper Mississippi River system for approximately 30 years. Geographic locations were recorded for all sampling points. All of this information has been made publicly available by way of data download and visualization
Indicators of ecosystem structure and function for the Upper Mississippi River System
This report documents the development of quantitative measures (indicators) of ecosystem structure and function for use in a Habitat Needs Assessment (HNA) for the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). HNAs are led periodically by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) Program, which is the primary habitat restoration program on the UMRS. The UMRR Program hel
Restoring monarch butterfly habitat in the Midwestern US: 'All hands on deck'
The eastern migratory population of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus plexippus) has declined by >80% within the last two decades. One possible cause of this decline is the loss of ≥1.3 billion stems of milkweed (Asclepias spp.), which monarchs require for reproduction. In an effort to restore monarchs to a population goal established by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and adopted by Mexico,
Modelling moose–forest interactions under different predation scenarios at Isle Royale National Park, USA
Loss of top predators may contribute to high ungulate population densities and chronic over-browsing of forest ecosystems. However, spatial and temporal variability in the strength of interactions between predators and ungulates occurs over scales that are much shorter than the scales over which forest communities change, making it difficult to characterize trophic cascades in forest ecosystems. W
Science and Products
- Science
Understanding constraints on submersed vegetation distribution in a large, floodplain river: the role of water level fluctuations, water clarity and river geomorphology
Aquatic vegetation is a key component of large floodplain river ecosystems. In the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS), there is a long-standing interest in restoring aquatic vegetation in areas where it has declined or disappeared. To better understand what constrains vegetation distribution in large river ecosystems and inform ongoing efforts to restore submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV), we...Upper Mississippi River System Weighted Wind Fetch Analysis (1989, 2000, 2010/2011)
Wind fetch is defined as the unobstructed distance that wind can travel over water in a constant direction. Fetch is an important characteristic of open water because longer fetch can result in larger wind-generated waves. The larger waves, in turn, can increase shoreline erosion and sediment re-suspension.Monarch Conservation Planning Tools
Monarch Conservation Planning ToolsMonarch Conservation Science Partnership Map Viewer and Tools
This web mapping application is a repository for data and tools that support the Monarch Conservation Science Partnership.Decision Support Systems
A Decision Support System (DSS) can be defined in many ways. The working definition the Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) uses is, "A spatially based computer application or data that assists a researcher or manager in making decisions." This is quite a broad definition and it needs to be, as the possibilities for types of DSS are limited only by the user group and the developer...Anticipated effects of development on habitat fragmentation and movement of mammals into and out of the Schoodic District, Acadia National Park, Maine
Most national parks interact with adjacent lands because their boundaries fail to encompass all regional habitats, species pools, and migration routes. Activities planned for adjacent lands can have adverse effects on park resources and visitor experiences. For example, fragmentation of adjacent habitat into smaller and more isolated remnants may influence the suitability of park habitat for a...Application of Wind Fetch and Wave Models for Habitat Rehabilitation and Enhancement Projects - 2012 Update
Models based upon coastal engineering equations have been developed to quantify wind fetch length and several physical wave characteristics including significant height, length, peak period, maximum orbital velocity, and shear stress These models, modified to operate using Environmental Systems Research Institute's ArcGIS 10.0/10.1 Geographic Information System platform, were used to quantify...Monarch Conservation Science Partnership
The Challenge Over the last two decades, the Eastern migratory population of monarch butterflies has declined by about 80%, leading many scientists to consider how to best conserve and rebuild monarch populations. Conservation efforts can be challenging to design and execute because of the multi-generational migration of monarchs that spans North America. Conservationists must consider many...Science to Assess Future Conservation Practices for the Mississippi River Basin
USFWS Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) throughout the Mississippi River Basin (MRB) have identified high nutrient runoff, a major contributor to Gulf hypoxia, and declines in wildlife populations (especially grassland and riparian birds), as conservation challenges requiring collaborative action. This project aimed to develop a spatial decision support system (DSS) to address these issue - Data
Application of a Decision Support Tool for Prioritizing Restoration of Private Land Units within a Joint Northern Missouri Focal Area - derived spatial data
This shapefile describes the outputs from the application of a decision support tool (Rohweder and others 2015) used to assist the Northern Missouri Private Lands Program make thoughtful and strategic choices about where to spend its limited management resources. It incorporates landscape and management unit features to help prioritize management on 17 oak savanna and open woodland restoration andApplication of a Decision Support Tool for Prioritizing Management Units at Minnesota Valley Wetland Management District - derived spatial data
This shapefile describes the outputs from the application of a decision support tool (Rohweder and others 2015) used to assist the Minnesota Valley Wetland Management District make thoughtful and strategic choices about where to spend its limited management resources. It incorporates landscape and management unit features to identify which Waterfowl Production Areas have the greatest biological poSegment-scale classification, large rivers of the Upper Midwest United States
This dataset is part of a multi-scale assessment and classification for segments of 15 rivers of the Upper Midwest United States that meet various criteria for largeness. All rivers are tributary to the Mississippi River system. The 11,600 kilometers (km) that qualified as large were parsed into 10-kilometer-long segments and classified by major alterations (free-flowing, navigation pools, storage2010 Monarch Relevant Land Cover Data Set for Mexico
The USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center developed a Monarch Relevant Land Cover data set covering the area of Mexico. We used the 2010 land cover data set produced by the tri-national North American Land Change Monitoring System (NALCMS) and supported by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) that depicts year 2010 land cover across North America at 30-meter spatial resolu2010 Monarch Relevant Land Cover Data Set for Canada
The USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center developed a Monarch Relevant Land Cover data set covering the area of Canada. We used the 2010 land cover data set produced by the tri-national North American Land Change Monitoring System (NALCMS) and supported by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) that depicts year 2010 land cover across North America at 30-meter spatial resolu2010/11 Level 3 Aquatic Areas - Upper Mississippi River System
The U.S. Geological Survey's Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) created high-resolution land cover/use data sets for the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). Aerial images of Pools 3-13 Upper Mississippi River System and Pools, Alton-Marseilles, Illinois River were collected in color infrared (CIR) in August of 2010 at 8/pixel and 16/pixel respectively using a mapping-grade Appl2010/11 Level 2 Aquatic Areas - Upper Mississippi River System
The U.S. Geological Survey's Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) has created high-resolution land cover/use data sets for the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). Aerial images of Pools 3-13 Upper Mississippi River System and Pools, Alton-Marseilles, Illinois River were collected in color infrared (CIR) in August of 2010 at 8/pixel and 16/pixel respectively using a mapping-grade - Publications
Understanding constraints on submersed vegetation distribution in a large, floodplain river: The role of water level fluctuations, water clarity and river geomorphology
Aquatic vegetation is a key component of large floodplain river ecosystems. In the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS), there is a long-standing interest in restoring aquatic vegetation in areas where it has declined or disappeared. To better understand what constrains vegetation distribution in large river ecosystems and inform ongoing efforts to restore submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV), we dUpper Mississippi River system weighted wind fetch analysis (1989, 2000, 2010/2011)
Wind fetch is defined as the unobstructed distance that wind can travel over water in a constant direction. Fetches are limited by landforms surrounding the body of water. Fetch is an important characteristic of open water because longer fetches can result in larger wind-generated waves. The larger waves, in turn, can increase shoreline erosion and sediment resuspension (Rohweder and others 2012).Climate change Is likely to alter future wolf - moose - forest interactions at Isle Royale National Park, United States
We evaluated how climate change and variable rates of moose browsing intensity, as they relate to wolf predation, might affect the forests of Isle Royale National Park, Michigan, United States by conducting a modeling experiment. The experiment consisted of contrasting three different scenarios of wolf management and with a static (current conditions) and changing climate (high emissions). Our resQuantifying and mapping inundation regimes within a large river‐floodplain ecosystem for ecological and management applications
Spatial information on the distribution of ecosystem patterns and processes can be a critical component of designing and implementing effective management programs in river‐floodplain ecosystems. For example, translating how flood pulses detected within a stream gauge record are spatially manifested across a river‐valley bottom can be used to evaluate whether the current distribution of physical cA hydrogeomorphic classification of connectivity of large rivers of the Upper Midwest, United States
River connectivity is defined as the water-mediated exchange of matter, energy, and biota between different elements of the riverine landscape. Connectivity is an especially important concept in large-river corridors (channel plus floodplain ) because large rivers integrate fluxes of water, sediment, nutrients, contaminants, and other transported constituents emanating from large contributing draiExploring silica stoichiometry on a large floodplain riverscape
Freshwater ecosystems are critical zones of nutrient and carbon (C) processing along the land-sea continuum. Relative to our understanding of C, nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) cycling within the freshwater systems, the controls on silicon (Si) cycling and export are less understood. Understanding Si biogeochemistry and its coupled biogeochemical processing with N and P has direct implications foSpatially explicit modelling of floodplain forest succession: Interactions among flood inundation, forest successional processes, and other disturbances in the Upper Mississippi River floodplain, USA
Simulation models are often used to identify hydrologic regimes suitable for different riparian or floodplain tree species. However, most existing models pay little attention to forest successional processes or other disturbances that may interact with the hydrologic regime of river systems to alter forest dynamics in space and time. In this study, we introduce a flood disturbance module to the LAUpper Mississippi River Restoration Program Long Term Resource Monitoring element—Spatial data query tool
The Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) Program Long Term Resource Monitoring (LTRM) element has been monitoring fish, water quality, and vegetation in six study pools in the Upper Mississippi River system for approximately 30 years. Geographic locations were recorded for all sampling points. All of this information has been made publicly available by way of data download and visualizationIndicators of ecosystem structure and function for the Upper Mississippi River System
This report documents the development of quantitative measures (indicators) of ecosystem structure and function for use in a Habitat Needs Assessment (HNA) for the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). HNAs are led periodically by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) Program, which is the primary habitat restoration program on the UMRS. The UMRR Program helRestoring monarch butterfly habitat in the Midwestern US: 'All hands on deck'
The eastern migratory population of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus plexippus) has declined by >80% within the last two decades. One possible cause of this decline is the loss of ≥1.3 billion stems of milkweed (Asclepias spp.), which monarchs require for reproduction. In an effort to restore monarchs to a population goal established by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and adopted by Mexico,Modelling moose–forest interactions under different predation scenarios at Isle Royale National Park, USA
Loss of top predators may contribute to high ungulate population densities and chronic over-browsing of forest ecosystems. However, spatial and temporal variability in the strength of interactions between predators and ungulates occurs over scales that are much shorter than the scales over which forest communities change, making it difficult to characterize trophic cascades in forest ecosystems. W