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Linda Weir

Linda Weir is Chief of Staff for the Ecosystems Mission Area. Prior to this role, she was a Research Manager at what is now the Eastern Ecological Science Center for seven years.

She was also a Wildlife Biologist at the center, specializing on amphibians for over a decade. In addition, she has served on a detail as a Budget Coordinator with the Office of Budget, Planning, and Integration. In 2015, Linda served on a Hurricane Sandy detail overseeing the ecological research portfolio for this supplemental appropriation. 

Science and Products

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Photo of Patuxent waterfowl

Science Summary—Learning More About Waterfowl to Inform Management

Today, perhaps as never before, waterfowl management faces significant challenges resulting from key scientific uncertainties about the effects of drivers of duck population change in fast-changing ecological and social arenas. Additionally waterfowl management has been on the cutting edge of considering integrated management of habitat, harvest, and humans to better meet the demands from a...
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Chesapeake Bay Activities
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Science Summary—Learning More About Waterfowl to Inform Management

Today, perhaps as never before, waterfowl management faces significant challenges resulting from key scientific uncertainties about the effects of drivers of duck population change in fast-changing ecological and social arenas. Additionally waterfowl management has been on the cutting edge of considering integrated management of habitat, harvest, and humans to better meet the demands from a...
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Filter Total Items: 13

Southeast regional and state trends in anuran occupancy from calling survey data (2001-2013) from the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program

We present the first regional trends in anuran occupancy for eight states of the southeastern United States, based on 13 y (2001–2013) of North American Amphibian Monitoring Program (NAAMP) data. The NAAMP is a longterm monitoring program in which observers collect anuran calling observation data at fixed locations along random roadside routes. We assessed occupancy trends for 14 species. We found
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Ecosystems, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Performance of species occurrence estimators when basic assumptions are not met: a test using field data where true occupancy status is known

Populations are rarely censused. Instead, observations are subject to incomplete detection, misclassification and detection heterogeneity that result from human and environmental constraints. Though numerous methods have been developed to deal with observational uncertainty, validation under field conditions is rare because truth is rarely known in these cases. We present the most comprehensive t
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Ecosystems, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Annual Report: 2014: Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC)

Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC) was established in 1999 to address the widespread declines, extinctions, and range reductions of amphibians and reptiles, with a focus on conservation of taxa and habitats in North America. Amphibians and reptiles are affected by a broad range of human activities, both as incidental effects of habitat alteration and direct effects from overexpl
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Ecosystems, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Northeast regional and state trends in anuran occupancy from calling survey data (2001-2011) from the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program

We present the first regional trends in anuran occupancy from North American Amphibian Monitoring Program (NAAMP) data from 11 northeastern states using an 11 years of data. NAAMP is a long-term monitoring program where observers collect data at assigned random roadside routes using a calling survey technique. We assessed occupancy trends for 17 species. Eight species had statistically significant
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Ecosystems, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

North American amphibians: Distribution and diversity

Some 300 species of amphibians inhabit North America. The past two decades have seen an enormous growth in interest about amphibians and an increased intensity of scientific research into their fascinating biology and continent-wide distribution.This atlas presents the spectacular diversity of North American amphibians in a geographic context. It covers all formally recognized amphibian species fo
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Ecosystems, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Partners in amphibian and reptile conservation 2013 annual report

Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC) was established in 1999 to address the widespread declines, extinctions, and range reductions of amphibians and reptiles, with a focus on conservation of taxa and habitats in North America. Amphibians and reptiles are affected by a broad range of human activities, both as incidental effects of habitat alteration and direct effect from overexplo
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Ecosystems, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Experimental investigation of false positive errors in auditory species occurrence surveys

False positive errors are a significant component of many ecological data sets, which in combination with false negative errors, can lead to severe biases in conclusions about ecological systems. We present results of a field experiment where observers recorded observations for known combinations of electronically broadcast calling anurans under conditions mimicking field surveys to determine spec
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Ecosystems, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Trends in anuran occupancy from northeastern states of the North American Monitoring Program

We present the first multi-year occupancy trends from North American Amphibian Monitoring Program (NAAMP) data in 10 northeastern states using seven years of data (2001-2007). NAAMP uses a calling survey technique where observers listen for anuran vocalizations along assigned random roadside routes. We were able to assess occupancy trends in 10 northeastern states for 16 species and one species co
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Ecosystems, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Improving occupancy estimation when two types of observational error occur: Non-detection and species misidentification

Efforts to draw inferences about species occurrence frequently account for false negatives, the common situation when individuals of a species are not detected even when a site is occupied. However, recent studies suggest the need to also deal with false positives, which occur when species are misidentified so that a species is recorded as detected when a site is unoccupied. Bias in estimators of
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Ecosystems, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Modeling anuran detection and site occupancy on North American Amphibian Monitoring Program (NAAMP) routes in Maryland

One of the most fundamental problems in monitoring animal populations is that of imperfect detection. Although imperfect detection can be modeled, studies examining patterns in occurrence often ignore detection and thus fail to properly partition variation in detection from that of occurrence. In this study, we used anuran calling survey data collected on North American Amphibian Monitoring Progra
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Ecosystems, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Geographic distribution: Hemidactylium scutatum (four-toed salamander.) USA: Maine

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Ecosystems, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Plethodon cinereus (Redback Salamander) predation

In 1999 at the Patuxent Research Refuge, we observed a large rove beetle (Staphylinus maculosus) consuming an eviscerated redback salamander (Plethodon cinereus) underneath a coverboard. Rove beetles typically eat invertebrates.
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Ecosystems, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
Illustration of the levels of participatory science in the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area.
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Orange long-tailed salamander with black spots on sandy ground partially hidden by leaves.
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