Karen N Courtot
Karen (Fischer) Courtot has worked as a biologist at PIERC since 2011. Karen coordinates 'ōpe'ape'a (Hawaiian hoary bat) projects and center-wide project and data management. Her previous work at PIERC focused on investigations of potential impacts of sea-level rise on wildlife in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and studies of the ecology and population dynamics of Laysan ducks.
Education and Certifications
M.S. Wildlife Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon
B.A. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
Science and Products
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Sea-level Rise Scenarios and Models 2010-2015 Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Sea-level Rise Scenarios and Models 2010-2015
This data release consists of two ESRI geodatabases that store inundation areas for various future scenarios of sea-level rise (SLR), groundwater rise, and storm waves for Laysan Island and Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Five types of inundation scenarios are considered: (1) passive SLR, (2) passive SLR including groundwater rise, (3) wave-driven inundation during...
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands: Impacts to Avifauna from the Tohoku Tsunami 2011 Northwestern Hawaiian Islands: Impacts to Avifauna from the Tohoku Tsunami 2011
This collection of nine datasets covers Midway Atoll and Laysan Island in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and was created to help estimate the impacts of the March 11, 2011 tsunami event on avifauna in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. For each island, we generated a coastline dataset and a land cover dataset based on satellite imagery taken the year before the tsuanmi event. We also...
Filter Total Items: 20
How many Laysan Teal Anas laysanensis are on Midway Atoll? Methods for monitoring abundance after reintroduction How many Laysan Teal Anas laysanensis are on Midway Atoll? Methods for monitoring abundance after reintroduction
Wildlife managers often request a simple approach to monitor the status of species of concern. In response to that need, we used eight years of monitoring data to estimate population size and test the validity of an index for monitoring accurately the abundance of reintroduced, endangered Laysan Teal Anas laysanensis. The population was established at Midway Atoll in the Hawaiian...
Authors
Michelle H. Reynolds, Karen Courtot, Jeffrey Hatfield
Lessons from the Tōhoku tsunami: A model for island avifauna conservation prioritization Lessons from the Tōhoku tsunami: A model for island avifauna conservation prioritization
Earthquake-generated tsunamis threaten coastal areas and low-lying islands with sudden flooding. Although human hazards and infrastructure damage have been well documented for tsunamis in recent decades, the effects on wildlife communities rarely have been quantified. We describe a tsunami that hit the world's largest remaining tropical seabird rookery and estimate the effects of sudden...
Authors
Michelle H. Reynolds, Paul Berkowitz, John Klavitter, Karen Courtot
A low-disturbance capture technique for ground-nesting Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) A low-disturbance capture technique for ground-nesting Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Capturing breeding adults of colonially nesting species can entail risks of nest failure and even colony abandonment, especially in species that react strongly to human disturbance. A low-disturbance technique for capturing specific adult Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) at a ground-nesting colony was developed to reduce these risks and is described here. Nesting habitat
Authors
Karen Courtot, Daniel D. Roby, Lauren H. Kerr, Donald E. Lyons, Jessica Y. Adkins
Will the effects of sea-level rise create ecological traps for Pacific Island seabirds? Will the effects of sea-level rise create ecological traps for Pacific Island seabirds?
More than 18 million seabirds nest on 58 Pacific islands protected within vast U.S. Marine National Monuments (1.9 million km2). However, most of these seabird colonies are on low-elevation islands and sea-level rise (SLR) and accompanying high-water perturbations are predicted to escalate with climate change. To understand how SLR may impact protected islands and insular biodiversity...
Authors
Michelle H. Reynolds, Karen Courtot, Paul Berkowitz, Curt D. Storlazzi, Janet Moore, Elizabeth Flint
Developing nondestructive techniques for managing conflicts between fisheries and double-crested cormorant colonies Developing nondestructive techniques for managing conflicts between fisheries and double-crested cormorant colonies
Double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) have been identified as the source of significant mortality to juvenile salmonids (Oncorhynchus spp.) in the Columbia River Basin. Management plans for reducing the size of a large colony on East Sand Island (OR, USA) in the Columbia River estuary are currently being developed. We evaluated habitat enhancement and social attraction as
Authors
Yasuko Suzuki, Daniel D. Roby, Donald E. Lyons, Karen Courtot, Ken Collis
Long-term monitoring of endangered Laysan ducks: Index validation and population estimates 1998–2012 Long-term monitoring of endangered Laysan ducks: Index validation and population estimates 1998–2012
Monitoring endangered wildlife is essential to assessing management or recovery objectives and learning about population status. We tested assumptions of a population index for endangered Laysan duck (or teal; Anas laysanensis) monitored using mark–resight methods on Laysan Island, Hawai’i. We marked 723 Laysan ducks between 1998 and 2009 and identified seasonal surveys through 2012 that...
Authors
Michelle H. Reynolds, Karen Courtot, Kevin W. Brinck, Cynthia Rehkemper, Jeffrey Hatfield
Science and Products
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Sea-level Rise Scenarios and Models 2010-2015 Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Sea-level Rise Scenarios and Models 2010-2015
This data release consists of two ESRI geodatabases that store inundation areas for various future scenarios of sea-level rise (SLR), groundwater rise, and storm waves for Laysan Island and Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Five types of inundation scenarios are considered: (1) passive SLR, (2) passive SLR including groundwater rise, (3) wave-driven inundation during...
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands: Impacts to Avifauna from the Tohoku Tsunami 2011 Northwestern Hawaiian Islands: Impacts to Avifauna from the Tohoku Tsunami 2011
This collection of nine datasets covers Midway Atoll and Laysan Island in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and was created to help estimate the impacts of the March 11, 2011 tsunami event on avifauna in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. For each island, we generated a coastline dataset and a land cover dataset based on satellite imagery taken the year before the tsuanmi event. We also...
Filter Total Items: 20
How many Laysan Teal Anas laysanensis are on Midway Atoll? Methods for monitoring abundance after reintroduction How many Laysan Teal Anas laysanensis are on Midway Atoll? Methods for monitoring abundance after reintroduction
Wildlife managers often request a simple approach to monitor the status of species of concern. In response to that need, we used eight years of monitoring data to estimate population size and test the validity of an index for monitoring accurately the abundance of reintroduced, endangered Laysan Teal Anas laysanensis. The population was established at Midway Atoll in the Hawaiian...
Authors
Michelle H. Reynolds, Karen Courtot, Jeffrey Hatfield
Lessons from the Tōhoku tsunami: A model for island avifauna conservation prioritization Lessons from the Tōhoku tsunami: A model for island avifauna conservation prioritization
Earthquake-generated tsunamis threaten coastal areas and low-lying islands with sudden flooding. Although human hazards and infrastructure damage have been well documented for tsunamis in recent decades, the effects on wildlife communities rarely have been quantified. We describe a tsunami that hit the world's largest remaining tropical seabird rookery and estimate the effects of sudden...
Authors
Michelle H. Reynolds, Paul Berkowitz, John Klavitter, Karen Courtot
A low-disturbance capture technique for ground-nesting Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) A low-disturbance capture technique for ground-nesting Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Capturing breeding adults of colonially nesting species can entail risks of nest failure and even colony abandonment, especially in species that react strongly to human disturbance. A low-disturbance technique for capturing specific adult Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) at a ground-nesting colony was developed to reduce these risks and is described here. Nesting habitat
Authors
Karen Courtot, Daniel D. Roby, Lauren H. Kerr, Donald E. Lyons, Jessica Y. Adkins
Will the effects of sea-level rise create ecological traps for Pacific Island seabirds? Will the effects of sea-level rise create ecological traps for Pacific Island seabirds?
More than 18 million seabirds nest on 58 Pacific islands protected within vast U.S. Marine National Monuments (1.9 million km2). However, most of these seabird colonies are on low-elevation islands and sea-level rise (SLR) and accompanying high-water perturbations are predicted to escalate with climate change. To understand how SLR may impact protected islands and insular biodiversity...
Authors
Michelle H. Reynolds, Karen Courtot, Paul Berkowitz, Curt D. Storlazzi, Janet Moore, Elizabeth Flint
Developing nondestructive techniques for managing conflicts between fisheries and double-crested cormorant colonies Developing nondestructive techniques for managing conflicts between fisheries and double-crested cormorant colonies
Double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) have been identified as the source of significant mortality to juvenile salmonids (Oncorhynchus spp.) in the Columbia River Basin. Management plans for reducing the size of a large colony on East Sand Island (OR, USA) in the Columbia River estuary are currently being developed. We evaluated habitat enhancement and social attraction as
Authors
Yasuko Suzuki, Daniel D. Roby, Donald E. Lyons, Karen Courtot, Ken Collis
Long-term monitoring of endangered Laysan ducks: Index validation and population estimates 1998–2012 Long-term monitoring of endangered Laysan ducks: Index validation and population estimates 1998–2012
Monitoring endangered wildlife is essential to assessing management or recovery objectives and learning about population status. We tested assumptions of a population index for endangered Laysan duck (or teal; Anas laysanensis) monitored using mark–resight methods on Laysan Island, Hawai’i. We marked 723 Laysan ducks between 1998 and 2009 and identified seasonal surveys through 2012 that...
Authors
Michelle H. Reynolds, Karen Courtot, Kevin W. Brinck, Cynthia Rehkemper, Jeffrey Hatfield