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Noel B Pavlovic, PhD

Noel Pavlovic is a Research Ecologist based in Chesterton, IN.

Dr. Noel B. Pavlovic is a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, stationed at the Lake Michigan Ecological Research Station in Porter, Indiana, where he has worked for 30 years.  He addresses ecological and biological issues in plant and animal restoration and conservation from the populational, community, ecosystem, and landscape levels.  He is working on a conservation synthesis of the federally threatened Pitcher’s thistle (Cirsium pitcheri) in the sand dunes of the western Great Lakes.  Since his dissertation focusing on the biology and demography of prairie fame flower (Phemeranthus rugospermum), a Midwestern endemic succulent plant, he has been interested in disturbance dependent plants and metapopulation dynamics. He has studied fire effects on the structure, phenology, and floral and faunal composition of Midwest oak savannas. He is currently working on a regional perspective on oak savanna restoration in the lower Great Lakes. Another focus has been controlling of invasive plants, especially Asiatic bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) and the potential for hybridization with the native American bittersweet (C. scandens). That research also focused on habitat requirements and fire effects on the invasion and spread of Oriental bittersweet.  He is currently interested in the roles of soil and endophytic microorganisms on the bittersweet invasion. He has served on the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative’s Terrestrial Habitat and Connectivity Working Group leadership team and has been involved in research concerning coastal and regional corridor creation (habitat connectivity) in the Great Lakes region.

Professional Experience

  • USGS – Great Lakes Science Center, 1993 to present

  • National Park Service – Plant Ecologist, 1991 to 1993

  • National Park Service – Statistician, 1984 to 1991

Education and Certifications

  • PhD, Biological Sciences, University of Ilinois at Chicago, 1995

  • Graduate Diploma in Science, Department of Botany, Australian National University, 1982

  • M.Sc., Ecology, University of Tennessee, 1981

  • B.S., Biology, Earlham College, 1978

Science and Products

Publications by this scientist

Filter Total Items: 46

Changes in conservation value from grasslands to savannas to forests: How a temperate canopy cover gradient affects butterfly community composition

Temperate savannas and grasslands are globally threatened. In the Midwest United States of America (USA), for example, oak savannas persist today at a small percentage of recent historic coverage. Therefore, restoration of habitats of low and intermediate canopy cover is a landscape conservation priority that often emphasizes returning tree density to a savanna-like target value. Understanding how
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Great Lakes Science Center

Effects of life history and reproduction on recruitment time lags in reintroductions of rare plants

Reintroductions are important components of conservation and recovery programs for rare plant species, but their long‐term success rates are poorly understood. Previous reviews of plant reintroductions focused on short‐term (e.g., ≤3 years) survival and flowering of founder individuals rather than on benchmarks of intergenerational persistence, such as seedling recruitment. However, short‐term met
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Mislabeling of an invasive vine (Celastrus orbiculatus) as a native congener (C. scandens) in horticulture

The horticultural industry is an important source of invasive ornamental plant species, which is part of the motivation for an increased emphasis on using native alternatives. We were interested in the possibility that plants marketed in the midwestern United States as the native Celastrus scandens, or American bittersweet, were actually the difficult-to-distinguish invasive Celastrus orbiculatus 
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Great Lakes Science Center

Population-specific life histories contribute to metapopulation viability

Restoration efforts can be improved by understanding how variations in life-history traits occur within populations of the same species living in different environments. This can be done by first understanding the demographic responses of natural occurring populations. Population viability analysis continues to be useful to species management and conservation with sensitivity analysis aiding in th
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Great Lakes Science Center

Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus): Spreading by fire

In many forest ecosystems, fire is critical in maintaining indigenous plant communities, but can either promote or arrest the spread of invasive species depending on their regeneration niche and resprouting ability. We examined the effects of cutting and burning treatments on the vegetative response (cover, stem density) and root resources of Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), a liana i
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Great Lakes Science Center

Comparison of reintroduction and enhancement effects on metapopulation viability

Metapopulation viability depends upon a balance of extinction and colonization of local habitats by a species. Mechanisms that can affect this balance include physical characteristics related to natural processes (e.g. succession) as well as anthropogenic actions. Plant restorations can help to produce favorable metapopulation dynamics and consequently increase viability; however, to date no studi
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Genetic characterization of hybridization between native and invasive bittersweet vines (Celastrus spp.)

Hybridization associated with species introductions can accelerate the decline of native species. The main objective of this study was to determine if the decline of a North American liana (American bittersweet, Celastrus scandens) in the eastern portion of its range is related to hybridization with an introduced congener (oriental bittersweet, C. orbiculatus). We used newly characterized microsat
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Great Lakes Science Center

Opposing resonses to ecological gradients structure amphibian and reptile communities across a temperate grassland-savanna-forest landscape

Temperate savannas are threatened across the globe. If we prioritize savanna restoration, we should ask how savanna animal communities differ from communities in related open habitats and forests. We documented distribution of amphibian and reptile species across an open-savanna–forest gradient in the Midwest U.S. to determine how fire history and habitat structure affected herpetofaunal community
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Great Lakes Science Center

Lianas as invasive species in North America

Liana diversity is typically low in the temperate zones; however, the influx of non-native invasive liana species in North America has increased local diversity at the expense of native habitats and species. Some of the most illustrative studies of invasive lianas in temperate North America compared the biological traits of invasive lianas with native congeners or ecological analogs. The majority
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Great Lakes Science Center

Vegetation dynamics after spring and summer fires in red and white pine stands at Voyageurs National Park

Conducting dormant season or springtime prescribed fire treatments has become a common practice in many regions of the United States to restore ecosystems to their natural state. Despite the knowledge that historically, fires often occurred during the summer, the application of summer burns has been deterred, in part, by a lack of understanding of fire season effects on vegetation. We explored the
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Great Lakes Science Center

Geographic coincidence of richness, mass, conservation value, and response to climate of U.S. land birds

Distributional patterns across the United States of five avian community breeding-season characteristics—community biomass, richness, constituent species' vulnerability to extirpation, percentage of constituent species' global abundance present in the community (conservation index, CI), and the community's position along the ecological gradient underlying species composition (principal curve ordin
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Great Lakes Science Center

Impacts of white-tailed deer on red trillium (Trillium recurvatum): defining a threshold for deer browsing pressure at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

Overabundant white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) have been a concern for land managers in eastern North America because of their impacts on native forest ecosystems. Managers have sought native plant species to serve as phytoindicators of deer impacts to supplement deer surveys. We analyzed experimental data about red trillium (Trillium recurvatum), large flowered trillium (T. grandiflorum)
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Great Lakes Science Center

Non-USGS Publications**

Pavlovic, N.B., Grundel, R., 2009. Reintroduction of wild lupine (Lupinus perennis L.) depends on variation in canopy, vegetation, and litter cover. Restoration Ecology 17, 807-817.

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

Science pages by this scientist

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Pitcher's Thistle Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Terrestrial Native Species and Habitat Restoration: Pitcher’s Thistle (Cirsium pitcheri)

Pitcher’s thistle (Cirsium pitcher) is a native thistle that grows on beaches and grassland dunes along the shorelines of Lakes Michigan, Superior, and Huron. It has been listed as a threatened species likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future due to loss of critical dune habitat. Shoreline development and destructive recreational activities have fragmented remaining populations of...
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Terrestrial Native Species and Habitat Restoration: Pitcher’s Thistle (Cirsium pitcheri)

Pitcher’s thistle (Cirsium pitcher) is a native thistle that grows on beaches and grassland dunes along the shorelines of Lakes Michigan, Superior, and Huron. It has been listed as a threatened species likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future due to loss of critical dune habitat. Shoreline development and destructive recreational activities have fragmented remaining populations of...
Learn More
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Oak Savannas

Terrestrial Native Species Habitat Restoration: Restore Native Dunes and Oak Savanna

USGS scientists are collaborating with the National Park Service (NPS) to evaluate oak savanna restoration efforts in the Great Lakes by evaluating the success of different treatments in the southern basin and testing the efficacy of interseeding as a restoration tool.
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Terrestrial Native Species Habitat Restoration: Restore Native Dunes and Oak Savanna

USGS scientists are collaborating with the National Park Service (NPS) to evaluate oak savanna restoration efforts in the Great Lakes by evaluating the success of different treatments in the southern basin and testing the efficacy of interseeding as a restoration tool.
Learn More

Data releases by this scientist

Bee-Gap: Ecology, Life-History, and Distribution of Bee Species in the United States 2017

Bee-Gap describes the ecology, life-history, and distribution of 3,925 bee species in the United States that have geographical data and verified taxonomy. The database was constructed by compiling information from a broad range of internet sources and peer-reviewed journal articles. The 10 traits included in the database are: native status (native versus exotic/introduced), state and territory pre
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Great Lakes Science Center

Multimedia related to this scientist

Lake Michigan Ecological Research Station
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