Jeffrey E Lovich, Ph.D.
As a Research Ecologist, Jeff is interested in the interactions of animals and their physical environment. Current research is focused on the ecology of turtles and tortoises and the effects of utility-scale renewable energy development (wind and solar) on wildlife, particularly in the Desert Southwest USA.
Research interests
Jeff has studied the ecology and systematics of turtles and other animals for over 30 years, discovering and naming four of the world’s 356 turtle species, including three in the United States and one in Japan. Other interests include the ecological impacts of invasive species, the ecology and distribution of relict species, and the impacts of human activities (including wind and solar energy development) on wildlife and ecological patterns and processes in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts.
Books
- Turtles of the United States and Canada (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994)
- Biological Diversity: Problems and Challenges (Pennsylvania Academy of Science, 1994)
- The State of the Colorado River Ecosystem in the Grand Canyon (U.S. Geological Survey, 2005)
- Turtles of the United States and Canada, Second Edition (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009)
- Turtles of the World (Princeton University Press, 2021)
Professional Experience
Center Director - USGS, Western Ecological Research Center
Chief - USGS, Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center
Education and Certifications
B.S. (1982) and M.S. degrees (1984) Biology, George Mason University
Ph.D. (1990) Ecology, University of Georgia, Institute of Ecology
Affiliations and Memberships*
Member IUCN (World Conservation Union), Species Survival Commission, Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group
Honors and Awards
Fulbright Senior Specialist Award 2008 Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco.
Elected Fellow of The Linnean Society of London, the world's oldest active biological society.
Science and Products
Variation in annual clutch phenology of desert tortoises (Gopherus morafkai) in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona
Sustainability of utility-scale solar energy – critical ecological concepts
Mammalian mesocarnivore visitation at tortoise burrows in a wind farm
Hierarchical, quantitative biogeographic provinces for all North American turtles and their contribution to the biogeography of turtles and the continent
The evolution of different maternal investment strategies in two closely related desert vertebrates
Unusual population attributes of invasive red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans) in Japan: do they have a performance advantage?
Developing an effective Agassiz's Desert Tortoise monitoring program: Final report to the Coachella Valley Conservation Commission
Reptiles and amphibians
The effects of drought and fire in the extirpation of an abundant semi-aquatic turtle from a lacustrine environment in the southwestern USA
A report on genetic affinities and relatedness of Agassiz’s desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) at opposite ends of the Coachella Valley in California
Climate change and collapsing thermal niches of Mexican endemic reptiles
Gopherus Agassizii (Mohave Desert Tortoise). Nest Depredation
Science and Products
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Filter Total Items: 101
Variation in annual clutch phenology of desert tortoises (Gopherus morafkai) in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona
The phenology of egg production and oviposition in organisms affects survival and development of neonates and thus, both offspring and maternal fitness. In addition, in organisms with environmental sex determination, clutch phenology can affect hatchling sex ratios with attendant effects on population demography. The rapid rate of contemporary climate change might disrupt reproductive phenologiesAuthorsJeffrey E. Lovich, Roy C. Averill-Murray, Mickey Agha, Joshua R. Ennen, Meaghan AustinSustainability of utility-scale solar energy – critical ecological concepts
Renewable energy development is an arena where ecological, political, and socioeconomic values collide. Advances in renewable energy will incur steep environmental costs to landscapes in which facilities are constructed and operated. Scientists – including those from academia, industry, and government agencies – have only recently begun to quantify trade-offs in this arena, often using ground-mounAuthorsKara A. Moore-O'Leary, Rebecca R. Hernandez, Dave S. Johnston, Scott R. Abella, Karen E. Tanner, Amanda C. Swanson, Jason R. Kreitler, Jeffrey E. LovichMammalian mesocarnivore visitation at tortoise burrows in a wind farm
There is little information on predator–prey interactions in wind energy landscapes in North America, especially among terrestrial vertebrates. Here, we evaluated how proximity to roads and wind turbines affect mesocarnivore visitation with desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) and their burrows in a wind energy landscape. In 2013, we placed motion-sensor cameras facing the entrances of 46 activeAuthorsMickey Agha, Amanda L. Smith, Jeffrey E. Lovich, David F. Delaney, Joshua R. Ennen, Jessica R. Briggs, Leo J. Fleckenstein, Laura A. Tennant, Shellie R. Puffer, Andrew D. Walde, Terence R. Arundel, Steven J. Price, Brian D. ToddHierarchical, quantitative biogeographic provinces for all North American turtles and their contribution to the biogeography of turtles and the continent
Our study represents the first attempt to describe biogeographic provinces for North American (México, United States, and Canada) turtles. We analyzed three nested data sets separately: (1) all turtles, (2) freshwater turtles, and (3) aquatic turtles. We georeferenced North American turtle distributions, then we created presence–absence matrices for each of the three data sets. We used watershed uAuthorsJoshua R. Ennen, Wilfredo A. Matamoros, Mickey Agha, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Sarah C. Sweat, Christopher W. HoagstromThe evolution of different maternal investment strategies in two closely related desert vertebrates
We compared egg size phenotypes and tested several predictions from the optimal egg size (OES) and bet-hedging theories in two North American desert-dwelling sister tortoise taxa, Gopherus agassizii and G. morafkai, that inhabit different climate spaces: relatively unpredictable and more predictable climate spaces, respectively. Observed patterns in both species differed from the predictions of OEAuthorsJoshua R. Ennen, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Roy C. Averill-Murray, Charles B. Yackulic, Mickey Agha, Caleb Loughran, Laura A. Tennant, Barry SinervoUnusual population attributes of invasive red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans) in Japan: do they have a performance advantage?
The slider turtle (Trachemys scripta Thunberg in Schoepff, 1792) is native to the USA and Mexico. Due to the popularity of their colorful hatchlings as pets, they have been exported worldwide and are now present on all continents, except Antarctica. Slider turtles are well-established in Japan and occupy aquatic habitats in urban and agricultural areas, to the detriment of native turtles with whicAuthorsMari Taniguchi, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Kanako Mine, Shintaro Ueno, Naoki KamezakiDeveloping an effective Agassiz's Desert Tortoise monitoring program: Final report to the Coachella Valley Conservation Commission
Agassiz’s desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) is a conservation-reliant species with populations north and west of the Colorado River protected as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (Averill-Murray et al. 2012). Since it was listed under this category in 1990, a great deal has been learned about the natural history of the species, and it is now one of the best-studied turtles in the UnitAuthorsJeffrey E. Lovich, Shellie R. PufferReptiles and amphibians
Summary – We reviewed all the peer-reviewed scientific publications we could find on the known and potential effects of wind farm development, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning on reptiles and amphibians (collectively herpetofauna) worldwide. Both groups are declining globally due to a multitude of threats including energy development. Effect studies were limited to the long-term researcAuthorsJeffrey E. Lovich, Joshua R. EnnenThe effects of drought and fire in the extirpation of an abundant semi-aquatic turtle from a lacustrine environment in the southwestern USA
We documented a significant mortality event affecting a southwestern pond turtle (Actinemys pallida) population living in a lake in southern California, USA. The area around the lake was impacted by a large wildland fire in 2013 that occurred during a protracted drought. As the mortality event was still unfolding, we collected data in 2014 on water quality, demographic structure, and short-term suAuthorsJeffrey E. Lovich, Mari Quillman, Brian Zitt, Adam Schroeder, David E. Green, Charles B. Yackulic, Paul Gibbons, Eric GoodeA report on genetic affinities and relatedness of Agassiz’s desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) at opposite ends of the Coachella Valley in California
This report summarizes the results for mtDNA and STR genotyping of 41 desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) DNA samples from opposite sides of the Coachella Valley: one sample from the west side at the Mesa wind energy facility in the Whitewater Hills and the other from the mouth of Cottonwood Canyon in Joshua Tree National Park, both within the boundaries of the Coachella Valley Multiple Species HAuthorsJeffrey E. Lovich, Taylor Edwards, Brian Kreiser, Shellie R. Puffer, Mickey AghaClimate change and collapsing thermal niches of Mexican endemic reptiles
Recent climate change should result in expansion of species to northern or high elevation range margins, and contraction at southern and low elevation margins due to extinction. Climate models predict dramatic extinctions and distributional shifts in the next century, but there are few ground-truths of these dire forecasts leading to uncertainty in predicting extinctions due to climate change. PreAuthorsBarry Sinervo, Rafael A. Lara Reséndiz, Donald B. Miles, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Joshua R. Ennen, Johannes Müller, Robert D. Cooper, Philip C. Rosen, Joseph A. E. Stewart, Juan Carlos Santos, Jack W. Sites, Paul Gibbons, Eric Goode, L. Scott Hillard, Luke Welton, Mickey Agha, Gabriel Caetano, Mercy Vaughn, Cristina Meléndez Torres, Héctor Gadsden, Gamaliel Casteñada Gaytán, Patricia Galina-Tessaro, Fernando I. Valle Jiménez, Jorge H. Valdez-Villavicencio, Norberto Martínez Méndez, Guillermo Woolrich Piña, Victor Luja Molina, Aníbal Díaz de la Vega Pérez, Diego M. Arenas Moreno, Saúl Domínguez Guerrero, Natalia Fierro, Scott Butterfield, Michael Westpha, Raymond B. Huey, William Mautz, Víctor Sánchez-Cordero, Fausto R. Méndez de la CruzGopherus Agassizii (Mohave Desert Tortoise). Nest Depredation
No abstract available.AuthorsR. A. Henderson, S. R. Puffer, Jeffrey E. Lovich - News
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government