Michael Runge, Ph.D.
Biography
Michael Runge is a research ecologist at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, where he has worked since 1999. He received a B.A. in biology and philosophy (1989) from the Johns Hopkins University, an M.A.T. (Master of Arts in Teaching) in biology (1994) from Spalding University, and a Ph.D. in wildlife science (1999),with minors in biometrics and agricultural economics, from Cornell University. He taught math and science at St. Francis High School in Louisville, Kentucky, from 1989 to 1994. Dr. Runge was a visiting scientist at the University of Melbourne, School of Botany, from 2009 to 2010.
See July 2015 interview in Nature.
- Presidential Scholar. The White House. June 1985.
- Phi Beta Kappa. Johns Hopkins University. Election, March 1988.
- Delta Epsilon Sigma. Spalding University. Election, April 1994.
- Gamma Sigma Delta. Cornell University. Election, May 1998.
- Superior Service Award. United States Department of Interior. October 2005. For “an exceptional job of making your science available to natural resource managers for use in their management decisions.”
- Extraordinary Contribution. Chief, National Wildlife Refuge System, USFWS. June 2003. For extraordinary contributions to Fulfilling the Promise.
- Regional Director’s Conservation Award, USFWS Region 4. May 2007. For contributions to and partnership in the science and recovery efforts of the Florida manatee.
- Unit Award for Excellence of Service. U.S. Department of Interior. September 2007. “In recognition of outstanding achievements in introducing the adaptive management initiative across the Department.”
- Unit Award for Excellence of Service. U.S. Department of Interior. November 2007. “In recognition of the outstanding contributions of the International Polar Bear Science Team in providing timely information in support of the USFWS polar bear listing decision.”
- Regional Director’s Award for Excellence in Communication. USGS Western Region. November 2007. “In recognition of outstanding science leading to enhanced understanding of the relation between climate change and polar bears.”
- PWRC, U.S. Geological Survey. January 2002. For helping organize and present the Adaptive Management Workshop at the 2001 Wildlife Society Meeting.
- PWRC, U.S. Geological Survey. January 2002. For helping organize and present the Adaptive Management Workshop at the 2001 Wildlife Society Meeting.
- USGS. August 2003. For supporting the USFWS in the manatee incidental take rule-making.
- USFWS Region 5. June 2004. For outstanding contributions to improving wildlife management science on National Wildlife Refuges throughout Region 5.
- USFWS Region 4. February 2005. For extraordinary efforts assisting the USFWS when a Marine Mammal Protection Act Special Rule for manatees was proposed.
- USGS. November 2007. For significant contributions to the USGS Science Strategy to support USFWS decision-making on polar bears.
- USFWS, NCTC. December 2007. For development of the FWS/USGS structured decision making workshops, and “outstanding performance in developing new opportunities for FWS and USGS collaboration.”
- USGS. May 2011. For leadership in developing an integrated research project across multiple science centers and bureaus to bear on urgent permitting issues related to golden eagles and renewable energy development.
- USGS, August 2012. For national leadership in applying decision science to solve complex natural resource problems, including work to support the USGS regional realignment, the Integrated Arctic Management team, and the management of non-native fish in the Grand Canyon.
Science and Products
Decision science support for Chronic Wasting Disease
Eastern Ecological Science Center adds the decision analytical skill set to the existing body of USGS expertise on Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), in support of our sister DOI agencies.
Is timing really everything? Evaluating Resource Response to Spring Disturbance Flows
Glen Canyon Dam has altered ecological processes of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. Before the dam was built, the Colorado River experienced seasonable variable flow rates, including springtime flooding events. These spring floods scoured the river bottom and enhanced natural processes that sustained the Colorado River ecosystem. Since the dam’s construction in 1963, springtime floods have...
Markov decision processes in non-autonomous socio-ecological systems
Our ability to effectively manage natural resources is founded in an understanding of how our actions and the environment influence populations, communities, and ecosystems. Current practices use monitoring data from the past to determine key ecological relationships and make predictions about the future with the assumption that those relationships will remain constant. However, many natural...
Population Ecology of Florida Manatees
USGS is working with partners to understand how the federally protected Florida manatee population changes over time and responds to threats.
Environmental Management of Vector-borne Diseases
Effective management programs for vector-borne pathogens, such as West Nile Virus and the Lyme disease spirochete, are necessary to protect public health. However, some vector control methods, such as landscape manipulations and pesticide applications, can also adversely affect nontarget species and environmentally sensitive natural systems. Efficient targeting and integration of vector...
Structured Decision Making
The biggest natural resource management challenges include competing views of the value and uses of those resources in society. Patuxent scientists develop methods to manage resources given those competing views under a “structured decision making” (SDM) framework. Our scientists both practice and train others in key SDM skills, such as model development and monitoring design.
Integrating Habitat and Harvest Management for Northern Pintails
The Challenge: Several blue-ribbon panels have challenged the waterfowl management world to recognize the linkages between the two primary management frameworks: harvest management under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and habitat management under the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. Because these two frameworks seek to manage the same populations, there needs to be better coordination...
Modeling, Estimation, and Adaptive Management of Florida Manatees
The Challenge: Florida manatees are threatened by watercraft-related mortality, the potential loss of warmwater habitat, red tide events, and other anthropogenic factors. The USFWS and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have regulatory authorities under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), and state statutes to recover manatees. To...
Adaptive Management for Threatened and Endangered Species
The Challenge: Threatened and endangered species have to be managed in the face of uncertainty, but traditionally, there has been reluctance to think about adaptive management of listed species. Management agencies with responsibility for threatened and endangered species need tools to help manage in the face of uncertainty, with the hope of reducing that uncertainty.
Structured Decision Making: Methods, Applications, and Capacity-Building
The Challenge: The field of decision analysis is a rich and mature discipline that provides robust methods for helping decision makers understand the nature of their decisions, involve stakeholders and scientists in appropriate steps of the process, and develop transparent records for the public. The use of these structured approaches is emerging in natural resource management, and there is...
Strategic testing approaches for targeted disease monitoring can be used to inform pandemic decision-making
More than 1.6 million Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) tests were administered daily in the United States at the peak of the epidemic, with a significant focus on individual treatment. Here, we show that objective-driven, strategic sampling designs and analyses can maximize information gain at the population level,...
Nichols, James D.; Bogich, Tiffany L.; Howerton, Emily; Bjørnstad, Ottar N.; Borchering, Rebecca K.; Ferrari, Matthew J.; Haran, Murali; Jewell, Christopher P.; Pepin, Kim M.; Probert, William J. M.; Pulliam, Juliet R. C.; Runge, Michael C.; Tildesley, Michael J.; Viboud, Cecile; Shea, Katriona A decision-analytical framework for developing harvest regulations
The development of harvest regulations for fish or wildlife is a complex decision that needs to weigh multiple objectives, consider a set of alternative regulatory options, integrate scientific understanding about the population dynamics of the harvested species as well as the human response to regulations, account for uncertainty, and provide an...
Pope, Kevin L.; Powell, Larkin A.; Runge, Michael C. Incorporating climate change in a harvest risk assessment for polar bears Ursus maritimus in Southern Hudson Bay
Arctic marine mammals are harvested by Indigenous people for subsistence and are socially and culturally important. For ice-dependent species like the polar bear Ursus maritimus, management and conservation require understanding interactions between harvest and sea-ice loss due to climate change. We developed a demographic model to...
Regehr, Eric V.; Dyck, Markus; Iverson, Samuel A.; Lee, David S.; Lunn, Nicholas J; Northrup, Joseph M; Richer, Marie-Claude; Szor, Guillaume; Runge, Michael C. Modeling of future COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, by vaccination rates and nonpharmaceutical intervention scenarios — United States, April–September 2021
What is already known about this topic?Increases in COVID-19 cases in March and early April occurred despite a large-scale vaccination program. Increases coincided with the spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants and relaxation of nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs).What is added by this report?Data from six models indicate that with high vaccination...
Borchering, Rebecca K.; Viboud, Cecile; Howerton, Emily; Smith, Claire P.; Truelove, Shaun; Runge, Michael C.; Reich, Nicholas G.; Contamin, Lucie; Levander, John; Salerno, Jessica; van Panhuis, Wilbert; Kinsey, Matt; Tallaksen, Kate; Obrecht, R. Freddy; Asher, Laura; Costello, Cash; Kelbaugh, Michael; Wilson, Shelby; Shin, Lauren; Gallagher, Molly; Mullany, Luke; Rainwater-Lovett, Kaitlin; Lemaitre, Joseph; Dent, Juan; Grantz, Kyra; Kaminsky, Joshua; Lauer, Stephen; Lee, Elizabeth; Meredith, Hannah; Perez-Saez, Javier; Keegan, Lindsay T.; Karlen, Dean; Chinazzi, Matteo; Davis, Jessica; Mu, Kunpeng; Xiong, Xinyue; Pastore y Piontti, Ana; Vespignani, Alessandro; Srivastava, Ajitesh; Porebski, Przemyslaw; Venkatramanan, Srinivasan; Adiga, Aniruddha; Lewis, Bryan; Klahn, Brian; Outten, Joseph; Schlitt, James; Corbett, Patrick; Telionis, Pyrros A.; Wang, Lijing; Peddireddy, Akhil S.; Hurt, Benjamin; Chen, Jiangzhuo; Vullikanti, Anil; Marathe, Madhav; Healy, Jessica; Slayton, Rachel B; Biggerstaff, Matthew; Johansson, Michael A; Shea, Katriona; Lessler, Justin Weighing the unknowns: Value of information for biological and operational uncertainty in invasion management
The management of biological invasions is a worldwide conservation priority. Unfortunately, decision-making on optimal invasion management can be impeded by lack of information about the biological processes that determine invader success (i.e. biological uncertainty) or by uncertainty about the effectiveness of candidate interventions (i.e....
Li, Shou-Li; Keller, Joseph; Runge, Michael C.; Shea, Katriona Optimal strategies for managing wildlife harvest under climate change
Wildlife populations are experiencing shifting dynamics due to climate and landscape change. Management policies that fail to account for non‐stationary dynamics may fail to achieve management objectives. We establish a framework for understanding optimal strategies for managing a theoretical harvested population under non‐stationarity. Building...
Tucker, Anna Maureen; Runge, Michael C. A framework for allocating conservation resources among multiple threats and actions
Land managers decide how to allocate resources among multiple threats that can be addressed through multiple possible actions. Additionally, these actions vary in feasibility, effectiveness, and cost. We sought to provide a way to optimize resource allocation to address multiple threats when multiple management options are available, including...
Moore, Joslin L; Camaclang, Abbey E; Moore, Alana L.; Hauser, Cindy E; Runge, Michael C.; Picheny, Victor; Rumpff, Libby Risks posed by SARS‐CoV‐2 to North American bats during winter fieldwork
The virus that causes COVID‐19 likely evolved in a mammalian host, possibly Old‐World bats, before adapting to humans, raising the question of whether reverse zoonotic transmission to bats is possible. Wildlife management agencies in North America are concerned that the activities they authorize could lead to transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 to bats...
Cook, Jonathan D; Campbell Grant, Evan H.; Coleman, Jeremy T. H.; Sleeman, Jonathan M.; Runge, Michael C. Causes of delayed outbreak responses and their impacts on epidemic spread
Livestock diseases have devastating consequences economically, socially and politically across the globe. In certain systems, pathogens remain viable after host death, which enables residual transmissions from infected carcasses. Rapid culling and carcass disposal are well-established strategies for stamping out an outbreak and limiting its impact...
Tao, Y; Probert, William J. M.; Shea, Katriona; Runge, Michael C.; Lafferty, Kevin D.; Tildesley, Michael J.; Ferrari, Matthew J. Reconstructing population dynamics of a threatened marine mammal using multiple data sets
Models of marine mammal population dynamics have been used extensively to predict abundance. A less common application of these models is to reconstruct historical population dynamics, filling in gaps in observation data by integrating information from multiple sources. We developed an integrated population model for the Florida manatee (...
Hostetler, J.; Martin, Julien; Kosempa, M.; Edwards, H.; Rood, K.; Barton, S.; Runge, Michael C.
Research priorities for migratory birds under climate change—A qualitative value of information assessment
The mission of the U.S. Geological Survey National Climate Adaptation Science Center is to provide actionable, management-relevant research on climate change effects on ecosystems and wildlife to U.S. Department of the Interior bureaus. Providing this kind of useful scientific information requires understanding how natural-resource managers make...
Rubenstein, Madeleine A.; Rushing, Clark S.; Lyons, James E.; Runge, Michael C. Anticipating future learning affects current control decisions: A comparison between passive and active adaptive management in an epidemiological setting
Infectious disease epidemics present a difficult task for policymakers, requiring the implementation of control strategies under significant time constraints and uncertainty. Mathematical models can be used to predict the outcome of control interventions, providing useful information to policymakers in the event of such an epidemic. However, these...
Atkins, Benjamin D; Jewell, Chris P.; Runge, Michael C.; Ferrari, Matthew J.; Shea, Katriona; Probert, William J. M.; Tildesley, Michael J.
USGS-Led Study Helps in the Fight Against the Coronavirus Pandemic
With few additional targeted tests and non-invasive surveys, public health agencies can better estimate disease occurrence and trends, changes in transmission, rates of hospitalization and death and effectiveness of vaccines and other control measures.
Florida Manatees Likely to Persist For At Least 100 Years—US Geological Survey
Florida’s iconic manatee population is highly likely to endure for the next 100 years, so long as wildlife managers continue to protect the marine mammals and their habitat, a new study by the US Geological Survey and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute has found.
Media Inquiries on USGS Manatee Research
We appreciate your interest in USGS' Sirenia Project. To help inform members of the media and public, we have provided relevant publications, reports, and websites.
New Methods Developed to Assess Climate Model Predictions
Evaluating the predictions associated with climate change just became easier with the development of new statistical methods designed to assess the performance of models producing many of these predictions.