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
Structured Decision Making
USGS Patuxent is a recognized world-leader in the application of structured decision making to problems in natural resource management. Scientists at Patuxent are adept at a number of the key skills required in SDM, including objectives elicitation, model development, decision analysis, optimization, monitoring design, and facilitation. In addition, Patuxent scientists train other Federal,...
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...
Brown trout in the Lees Ferry reach of the Colorado River—Evaluation of causal hypotheses and potential interventions
Over the period 2014–2016, the number of nonnative brown trout (Salmo trutta) captured during routine monitoring in the Lees Ferry reach of the Colorado River, downstream of Glen Canyon Dam, began increasing. Management agencies and stakeholders have questioned whether the increase in brown trout in the Lees Ferry reach represents a threat to the...
Runge, Michael C.; Yackulic, Charles B.; Bair, Lucas S.; Kennedy, Theodore A.; Valdez, Richard A.; Ellsworth, Craig; Kershner, Jeffrey L.; Rogers, R. Scott; Trammell, Melissa A.; Young, Kirk L.
Decision support frameworks and tools for conservation
The practice of conservation occurs within complex socioecological systems fraught with challenges that require transparent, defensible, and often socially engaged project planning and management. Planning and decision support frameworks are designed to help conservation practitioners increase planning rigor, project accountability, stakeholder...
Schwartz, Mark W.; Cook, Carly N.; Pressey, Robert L.; Pullin, Andrew S.; Runge, Michael C.; Salafsky, Nick; Sutherland, William J.; Williamson, Matthew A. Strengthening links between waterfowl research and management
Waterfowl monitoring, research, regulation, and adaptive planning are leading the way in supporting science-informed wildlife management. However, increasing societal demands on natural resources have created a greater need for adaptable and successful linkages between waterfowl science and management. We presented a special session at the 2016...
Roberts, Anthony J.; Eadie, John M.; Howerter, David; Johnson, Fred A.; Nichols, James; Runge, Michael C.; Vrtiska, Mark; Williams, Byron K. Estimating the per-capita contribution of habitats and pathways in a migratory network: A modelling approach
Every year, migratory species undertake seasonal movements along different pathways between discrete regions and habitats. The ability to assess the relative demographic contributions of these different habitats and pathways to the species’ overall population dynamics is critical for understanding the ecology of migratory species, and also has...
Wiederholt, Ruscena; Mattsson, Brady J.; Thogmartin, Wayne E.; Runge, Michael C.; Diffendorfer, Jay E.; Erickson, Richard A.; Federico, Paula; Lopez-Hoffman, Laura; Fryxell, John; Norris, D. Ryan; Sample, Christine The value of information for woodland management: Updating a state–transition model
Value of information (VOI) analyses reveal the expected benefit of reducing uncertainty to a decision maker. Most ecological VOI analyses have focused on population models rarely addressing more complex community models. We performed a VOI analysis for a complex state–transition model of Box-Ironbark Forest and Woodland management. With three...
Morris, William K.; Runge, Michael C.; Vesk, Peter A.
An expert elicitation process to project the frequency and magnitude of Florida manatee mortality events caused by red tide (Karenia brevis)
Red tides (blooms of the harmful alga Karenia brevis) are one of the major sources of mortality for the Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris), especially in southwest Florida. It has been hypothesized that the frequency and severity of red tides may increase in the future because of global climate change and other factors. To improve...
Martin, Julien; Runge, Michael C.; Flewelling, Leanne J.; Deutsch, Charles J.; Landsberg, Jan H. New interventions are needed to save coral reefs
Since 2014, coral reefs worldwide have been subjected to the most extensive, prolonged and damaging heat wave in recorded history1. Large sections of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) bleached in response to heat stress in 2016 and 2017 — the first back-to-back event on record. Such severe coral bleaching results in widespread loss of reef...
Anthony, Ken; Bay, Line K.; Costanza, Robert; Firn, Jennifer; Gunn, John; Harrison, Peter; Heyward, Andrew; Lundgren, Petra; Mead, David; Moore, Tom; Mumby, Peter J.; van Oppen, Madeleine J. H.; Robertson, John; Runge, Michael C.; Suggett, David J.; Schaffelke, Britta; Wachenfeld, David; Walshe, Terry Harvesting wildlife affected by climate change: a modelling and management approach for polar bears
The conservation of many wildlife species requires understanding the demographic effects of climate change, including interactions between climate change and harvest, which can provide cultural, nutritional or economic value to humans.We present a demographic model that is based on the polar bear Ursus maritimus life cycle and includes...
Regehr, Eric V.; Wilson, Ryan R.; Rode, Karyn D.; Runge, Michael C.; Stern, Harry Rapid prototyping for decision structuring: an efficient approach to conservation decision analysis: Chapter 3
No abstract available.
Bunnefeld, Nils; Garrard, Georgia E.; Rumpff, Libby; Runge, Michael C.; Converse, Sarah J. Value of information analysis as a decision support tool for biosecurity: Chapter 15
This chapter demonstrates the economic concept of ‘value of information’(VOI), and how biosecurity managers can use VOI analysis to decide whether or not to reduce uncertainty by collecting additional information through monitoring, experimentation, or some other form of research. We first explore how some uncertainties may be scientifically...
Runge, Michael C.; Rout, Tracy; Spring, Daniel; Walshe, Terry Allowable take of a population of red-winged blackbirds in the northern Great Plains
Red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), which has provisions against take. Blackbirds may be taken legally without a Federal permit, however, under an existing Depredation Order (50 CFR 21.43), which allows for take of blackbirds that are in the process of doing, or about to do,...
Runge, Michael C.; Sauer, John Two-step adaptive management for choosing between two management actions
Adaptive management is widely advocated to improve environmental management. Derivations of optimal strategies for adaptive management, however, tend to be case specific and time consuming. In contrast, managers might seek relatively simple guidance, such as insight into when a new potential management action should be considered, and how much...
Moore, Alana L.; Walker, Leila; Runge, Michael C.; McDonald-Madden, Eve; McCarthy, Michael A
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.