Kristen Hart, Ph.D.
Kristen Hart is a research ecologist, focusing on population-level studies on the ecology of a broad array of herpetofauna and other wildlife in south Florida.
She leads several research programs and collaborates closely with other USGS, university, and National Park Service scientists. She has built a program of USGS cyclic- and reimbursable funded research; major funding has been provided from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the US Army Corps of Engineers, the USGS Priority Ecosystem Studies Program, the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program, and the National Park Service. She works with rare, threatened, endangered, and invasive species of reptiles including Diamondback terrapins, loggerhead sea turtles, green sea turtles, hawksbill sea turtles, crocodilians, and Burmese pythons. She is based in Davie, FL and has field sites in both Everglades and Dry Tortugas National Parks in South Florida, Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge (Gulf Shores, AL), and Buck Island Reef National Monument (St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands).
Education and Certifications
Ph.D., Ecology, Duke University, 2005
M.E.M. (Master's of Environmental Management), Coastal Environmental Management, Duke University, 1999
B.S., Boston College, Bachelor of Science, 1997
Science and Products
Loggerhead marine turtles (Caretta caretta) nesting at smaller sizes than expected in the Gulf of Mexico: Implications for turtle behavior, population dynamics, and conservation
Estimates of parameters that affect population dynamics, including the size at which individuals reproduce, are crucial for efforts aimed at understanding how imperiled species may recover from the numerous threats they face. In this study, we observed loggerhead marine turtles (Caretta caretta) nesting at three sites in the Gulf of Mexico at sizes assumed nonreproductive in this region (≤87 cm cu
Genome-wide SNP analysis reveals multiple paternity in Burmese pythons invasive to the Greater Florida Everglades
Role of ingesta particle size in the green turtle grazing strategy, ontogenetic diet shifts, and responses to seagrass declines
Stable isotopes used to infer trophic position of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) from Dry Tortugas National Park, Gulf of Mexico, United States
Native mammals lack resilience to invasive generalist predator
Spatial ecology of invasive Burmese pythons in southwestern Florida
Impacts of sediment removal from and placement in coastal barrier island systems
Executive SummaryOn June 24, 2019, Congressman Raul Grijalva of Arizona, Chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources, sent a letter to the directors of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey to request their assistance in answering questions regarding coastal sediment resource management within the Coastal Barrier Resources System as defined by the Coastal Barrier
A novel framework to predict relative habitat selection in aquatic systems: Applying machine learning and resource selection functions to acoustic telemetry data from multiple shark species
Tropicalization of temperate ecosystems in North America: The northward range expansion of tropical organisms in response to warming winter temperatures
Evaluating the use of marine protected areas by endangered species: A habitat selection approach
Drivers of realized satellite tracking duration in marine turtles
Accelerometry to study fine-scale activity of invasive Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) in the wild
Science and Products
Loggerhead marine turtles (Caretta caretta) nesting at smaller sizes than expected in the Gulf of Mexico: Implications for turtle behavior, population dynamics, and conservation
Estimates of parameters that affect population dynamics, including the size at which individuals reproduce, are crucial for efforts aimed at understanding how imperiled species may recover from the numerous threats they face. In this study, we observed loggerhead marine turtles (Caretta caretta) nesting at three sites in the Gulf of Mexico at sizes assumed nonreproductive in this region (≤87 cm cu
Genome-wide SNP analysis reveals multiple paternity in Burmese pythons invasive to the Greater Florida Everglades
Role of ingesta particle size in the green turtle grazing strategy, ontogenetic diet shifts, and responses to seagrass declines
Stable isotopes used to infer trophic position of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) from Dry Tortugas National Park, Gulf of Mexico, United States
Native mammals lack resilience to invasive generalist predator
Spatial ecology of invasive Burmese pythons in southwestern Florida
Impacts of sediment removal from and placement in coastal barrier island systems
Executive SummaryOn June 24, 2019, Congressman Raul Grijalva of Arizona, Chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources, sent a letter to the directors of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey to request their assistance in answering questions regarding coastal sediment resource management within the Coastal Barrier Resources System as defined by the Coastal Barrier