Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Ken Krauss, Ph.D.

Ken Krauss is a Research Ecologist at the USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center. 

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Biology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 2004  

M.S., Forestry, Louisiana State University, 1997

B.S., Biology, University of Southwestern Louisiana, 1994

RESEARCH

Ken Krauss' research spans several habitats, from mangroves to tidal freshwater forested wetlands and marshes. His research takes a multi-tiered approach to understanding eco-physiological processes in coastal wetland forests; defining gas exchange between the soil and atmosphere, and among the leaf, tree, and atmosphere. Research has defined thresholds to tidal freshwater forested wetland habitat change in the face of persistent environmental drivers (esp. sea level rise and salinity), defined the potential of forested wetlands to influence water cycling in coastal areas, and has begun to establish the potential of other wetland types to contribute to water conservation, especially under drought and perennial salinization. Krauss also focuses on the vulnerability of coastal swamp forests and mangroves to sea-level rise, and on how science can inform management and restoration activity within the coastal zone.

BACKGROUND

He has been a scientist with the federal government since 1997, first with the USDA Forest Service in Stoneville, Mississippi and, then, in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he studied sedimentation, systematics, regeneration, growth, invasion biology, and ecophysiology of Pacific island forested wetlands in the Federated States of Micronesia and Hawaii. Krauss began working at the USGS National Wetlands Research Center in 2001 (renamed to USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, or WARC, in 2015), where he maintains an expertise in forest ecology and ecophysiology, and serves as one of WARC's climate change scientists focusing on mangroves and tidal freshwater forested wetlands.

2004-present, Research Ecologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, Lafayette, Louisiana  

2001-2004, Ecologist, U.S. Geological Survey, National Wetlands Research Center, Lafayette, Louisiana  

1997-2001, Ecologist, USDA Forest Service, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, Honolulu, Hawaii  

1996-1997, Ecophysiologist Technician, USDA Forest Service, Center for Bottomland Hardwoods Forestry, Stoneville, Mississippi  

1995-1996, Graduate Research Assistant, Louisiana State University, School of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries, Baton Rouge, Louisiana