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Jonathan Kennen

Jonathan has worked throughout his career to advance ecological and ecohydrological science as part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA), National Water Census (NWC), Water Availability and Use Science Program (WAUSP) and Integrated Water Prediction (IWP) Program.

Dr. Kennen currently conducts and coordinates a highly diverse range of research to address the informational needs of the USGS, its partners, state agencies and NGOs. His research is centered on three primary areas: 1) evaluating the effects of hydrologic modification on stream assemblages, 2) assessing the effects of anthropogenic activities on aquatic ecosystem structure and function and 3) modeling flow alteration-ecology response relations. He is a co-developer of the USGS Hydroecological Integrity Assessment (HIT) Process which implements a set of tools for setting environmental-flow standards and comparing past and proposed streamflow alterations. Other ongoing research efforts include assessing the effects of water-supply development on aquatic assemblages, modeling the responses of stream macroinvertebrate and fish assemblages to land use changes, evaluating methods to support TMDL processes using hydrologic modification as a surrogate for aquatic life impairment, assessing ecological trends, and evaluating the effects of climate change on hydrological and ecological response. Dr. Kennen also represents the U.S. Geological Survey on multi-agency technical advisory committees addressing complex ecological, hydrological, water-quality, management, and natural resource issues and currently serves on the New Jersey Science Advisory Board (Ecological Processes Committee) and the Advisory Council for the New Jersey Water Resources Research Institute.

*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