Patrick Lemons, Ph.D.
Patrick Lemons is the Assistant Regional Administrator of the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center (AK CASC), one of the nine regional centers that form the National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Center Network. This position was formerly known as "Deputy Director".
Prior to joining the Alaska Climate Adaption Science Center, Patrick Lemons worked for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Marine Mammals Management program in Alaska where he served as a quantitative population ecologist from 2010 to 2016 and served as the Chief of the Marine Mammals Management program from 2016-2023. Much of his past work has included the use of novel quantitative approaches for addressing a variety of wildlife management needs. This includes the development of the first comprehensive estimate of the Pacific walrus population using a genetics based, capture-mark-recapture approach and through the use of integrated population models. He also specializes in program management and working with managing agencies to identify high priority science needs for numerous northern species including polar bears, Pacific walruses, sea otters, and migratory birds such as geese and loons.
Education and Certifications
Doctorate in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology from the University of Nevada, Reno
Masters of Science in Wildlife Sciences from Texas Tech University
Bachelors of Science in Fisheries and Wildlife Biology as well as Natural Resources and Environmental Science from Kansas State University
Science and Products
Estimating Pacific walrus abundance and survival with multievent mark-recapture models
Arctic marine ecosystems are undergoing rapid physical and biological change associated with climate warming and loss of sea ice. Sea ice loss will impact many species through altered spatial and temporal availability of resources. In the Bering and Chukchi Seas, the Pacific walrus Odobenus rosmarus divergens is one species that could be impacted by rapid environmental change, and thus, population
Authors
William S. Beatty, Patrick R. Lemons, Jason P. Everett, Cara J. Lewis, Rebecca L. Taylor, Robert J. Lynn, Suresh A. Sethi, Lori T. Quakenbush, John J. Citta, Michelle Kissling, Natalia Kryukova, John K. Wennburg
Genetic variation in sea otters (Enhydra lutris) from the North Pacific with relevance to the threatened Southwest Alaska Distinct Population Segment
For the sea otter (Enhydra lutris), genetic population structure is an area of research that has not received significant attention, especially in Southwest Alaska where that distinct population segment has been listed as threatened since 2005 pursuant to the U.S. Endangered Species Act. In this study, 501 samples from 14 locations from Prince William Sound, Alaska to the Commander Islands in Russ
Authors
Blair G. Flannery, Ora L. Russ, Michelle St. Martin, William S. Beatty, Kristen Worman, Joel Garlich-Miller, Verena A. Gill, Patrick R. Lemons, Daniel Monson, Kimberly A. Kloecker, Daniel Esler, John Wenburg
Demography of the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) in a changing Arctic
The Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) is a candidate to be listed as an endangered species under United States law, in part, because of climate change‐related concerns. While the population was known to be declining in the 1980s and 1990s, its recent status has not been determined. We developed Bayesian models of walrus population dynamics to assess the population by synthesizing inform
Authors
Rebecca L. Taylor, Mark S. Udevitz, Chadwick V. Jay, John J. Citta, Lori T. Quakenbush, Patrick R. Lemons, Jonathan A. Snyder
A likelihood-based approach for assessment of extra-pair paternity and conspecific brood parasitism in natural populations
Genotypes are frequently used to assess alternative reproductive strategies such as extra-pair paternity and conspecific brood parasitism in wild populations. However, such analyses are vulnerable to genotyping error or molecular artifacts that can bias results. For example, when using multilocus microsatellite data, a mismatch at a single locus, suggesting the offspring was not directly related t
Authors
Patrick R. Lemons, T.C. Marshall, Sarah E. McCloskey, S.A. Sethi, Joel A. Schmutz, James S. Sedinger
Egg size matching by an intraspecific brood parasite
Avian brood parasitism provides an ideal system with which to understand animal recognition and its affect on fitness. This phenomenon of laying eggs in the nests of other individuals has classically been framed from the perspective of interspecific brood parasitism and host recognition of parasitic eggs. Few examples exist of strategies adopted by intraspecific brood parasites to maximize success
Authors
Patrick R. Lemons, James S. Sedinger
Landscape effects on diets of two canids in Northwestern Texas: A multinomial modeling approach
Analyses of feces, stomach contents, and regurgitated pellets are common techniques for assessing diets of vertebrates and typically contain more than 1 food item per sampling unit. When analyzed, these individual food items have traditionally been treated as independent, which represents pseudoreplication. When food types are recorded as present or absent, these samples can be treated as multinom
Authors
P.R. Lemons, J.S. Sedinger, M.P. Herzog, P. S. Gipson, R.L. Gilliland
Den site activity patterns of adult male and female Swift Foxes, Vulpes velox, in northwestern Texas
Activity of Swift Foxes (Vulpes velox) at den sites was studied in northwestern Texas during pup rearing seasons in 2000 and 2001 to determine role of males in parental care. Twenty-four percent of radio-collared females with a potential to breed successfully raised pups to eight weeks of age. We intensively monitored presence and absence of male and female Swift Foxes at two den sites each year.
Authors
P.R. Lemons, W.B. Ballard, R.M. Sullivan, M.A. Sovada
Non-USGS Publications**
Beatty, W.S., P.R. Lemons, S.A. Sethi, J.P. Everett, C.J. Lewis, R.J. Lynn, G.M. Cook, J.L. Garlich-Miller, J.K. Wenburg. 2020. Panmixia in a sea-ice-associated marine mammal: evaluating genetic structure of the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) at multiple special scales. Journal of Mammalogy 101:755-765.
Cook, G.M, D.J. Prince, S.M. O’Rourke, T.L. King, M.R. Miller, C.J. Lewis, M.S. Eackles, P.R. Lemons, S.A. Sethi, J.B. Olsen, and J.K. Wenburg. 2020. A little SNP of this, a little SNP of that: the discovery of 116 single nucleotide polymorphism markers to enable the rapid identification of individual Pacific walruses (Ododbenus rosmarus divergens). Conservation Genetics Resources 12:555-565.
Van Dellen, A.W., T.V. Riecke, A.G. Leach, C.A. Nicolai, B.T. Person, P.R. Lemons, M.W. Eichholz, M.S. Lindberg, J.L. Schamber, M.P. Herzog, J.S. Sedinger. 2020. Constraint versus restraint in the body mass dynamics during moult of a species with precocial young. IBIS 162:1175-1185
Sethi, S.A., D. Linden, J. Wenburg, C. Lewis, P. Lemons, A. Fuller, M.P, Hare. 2016. Accurate recapture identification for genetic mark-recapture studies with error-tolerant likelihood-based match calling and sample clustering. Royal Society Open Science 3:160457
Kovacs, K.M., P. Lemons, J.G. MacCracken, C. Lydersen. 2015. Walruses in a time of climate change. Arctic Report Card.
Sethi, S.A., G.M. Cook, P.R. Lemons, J. Wenburg. 2014. Guidelines for MSAT and SNP panels that lead to high quality data for genetic mark recapture studies. Canadian Journal of Zoology 92:515-526.
MacCracken, J.G., P.R. Lemons, J. Garlich-Miller, J. Snyder. 2014. An index for optimum sustainable population for the Pacific walrus. Ecological Indicators 43:36-43.
Lemons, P.R., J.S. Sedinger, C.A. Nicolai, and L.W. Oring. 2012. Sexual dimorphism, survival, and parental investment in relation to offspring sex in a precocial bird. Journal of Avian Biology 43:445-453.
Lemons, P.R., J.S. Sedinger, P.S. Randle. 2011. Detecting conspecific brood parasitism using egg morphology in black brant. Journal of Avian Biology 42:282-288.
Cameron, E.Z., P.R Lemons, P.W. Bateman, and N. Bennett. 2008. Experimental alteration of liter sex ratios in mammals. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 275:323-328.
Nicholson, K.L., W.B. Ballard, B.K. McGee, P.R. Lemons, and H.A. Whitlaw. 2006. Swift fox use of black-tailed prairie dog towns in northwest Texas. Journal of Wildlife Management 70:1659-1666.
McGee, B.K., W.B. Ballard, K.L. Nicholson, B.L. Cypher, P.R. Lemons, and J.F. Kamler. 2006. Effects of artificial escape dens on swift fox populations in northwest Texas. Wildlife Society Bulletin 34:821-827.
Kamler, J.F., W.B. Ballard, P.R. Lemons, R.L. Gilliland, and K. Mote. 2005. Home range and habitat use of coyotes in an area of native prairie, farmland, and CRP fields. American Midland Naturalist 153:396-404.
Kamler, J.F., W.B. Ballard, P.R. Lemons, and K. Mote. 2004. Variation in mating system and group structure in two populations of swift foxes, Vulpes velox. Animal Behaviour 68:83-88.
Kamler, J.F., W.B. Ballard, E.B. Fish, P.R. Lemons, K. Mote, and C.C. Perchellet. 2003. Habitat use, home ranges, and survival of swift foxes in a fragmented landscape: conservation implications. Journal of Mammalogy 84:989-995.
Kamler, J.F., W.B. Ballard, R.L. Gilliland, P.R. Lemons, and K. Mote. 2003. Impacts of coyotes on swift foxes in northwestern Texas. Journal of Wildlife Management 67:317-323.
Vasilenko, T.F., I.N. Sivoxa, M.V. Kozhykhov, and P.R. Lemons. 2001. Peculiarities of daily milk productivity of Pechora Taiga domesticated cow moose and their interconnection with reproductive function. Alces 37:123-128.
Cully, J.F., P.R. Lemons, and R.D. Applegate. 1999. Results of a wild turkey release in Kansas tallgrass prairie. Prairie Naturalist 31:33-41.
**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 and Products
Estimating Pacific walrus abundance and survival with multievent mark-recapture models
Arctic marine ecosystems are undergoing rapid physical and biological change associated with climate warming and loss of sea ice. Sea ice loss will impact many species through altered spatial and temporal availability of resources. In the Bering and Chukchi Seas, the Pacific walrus Odobenus rosmarus divergens is one species that could be impacted by rapid environmental change, and thus, population
Authors
William S. Beatty, Patrick R. Lemons, Jason P. Everett, Cara J. Lewis, Rebecca L. Taylor, Robert J. Lynn, Suresh A. Sethi, Lori T. Quakenbush, John J. Citta, Michelle Kissling, Natalia Kryukova, John K. Wennburg
Genetic variation in sea otters (Enhydra lutris) from the North Pacific with relevance to the threatened Southwest Alaska Distinct Population Segment
For the sea otter (Enhydra lutris), genetic population structure is an area of research that has not received significant attention, especially in Southwest Alaska where that distinct population segment has been listed as threatened since 2005 pursuant to the U.S. Endangered Species Act. In this study, 501 samples from 14 locations from Prince William Sound, Alaska to the Commander Islands in Russ
Authors
Blair G. Flannery, Ora L. Russ, Michelle St. Martin, William S. Beatty, Kristen Worman, Joel Garlich-Miller, Verena A. Gill, Patrick R. Lemons, Daniel Monson, Kimberly A. Kloecker, Daniel Esler, John Wenburg
Demography of the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) in a changing Arctic
The Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) is a candidate to be listed as an endangered species under United States law, in part, because of climate change‐related concerns. While the population was known to be declining in the 1980s and 1990s, its recent status has not been determined. We developed Bayesian models of walrus population dynamics to assess the population by synthesizing inform
Authors
Rebecca L. Taylor, Mark S. Udevitz, Chadwick V. Jay, John J. Citta, Lori T. Quakenbush, Patrick R. Lemons, Jonathan A. Snyder
A likelihood-based approach for assessment of extra-pair paternity and conspecific brood parasitism in natural populations
Genotypes are frequently used to assess alternative reproductive strategies such as extra-pair paternity and conspecific brood parasitism in wild populations. However, such analyses are vulnerable to genotyping error or molecular artifacts that can bias results. For example, when using multilocus microsatellite data, a mismatch at a single locus, suggesting the offspring was not directly related t
Authors
Patrick R. Lemons, T.C. Marshall, Sarah E. McCloskey, S.A. Sethi, Joel A. Schmutz, James S. Sedinger
Egg size matching by an intraspecific brood parasite
Avian brood parasitism provides an ideal system with which to understand animal recognition and its affect on fitness. This phenomenon of laying eggs in the nests of other individuals has classically been framed from the perspective of interspecific brood parasitism and host recognition of parasitic eggs. Few examples exist of strategies adopted by intraspecific brood parasites to maximize success
Authors
Patrick R. Lemons, James S. Sedinger
Landscape effects on diets of two canids in Northwestern Texas: A multinomial modeling approach
Analyses of feces, stomach contents, and regurgitated pellets are common techniques for assessing diets of vertebrates and typically contain more than 1 food item per sampling unit. When analyzed, these individual food items have traditionally been treated as independent, which represents pseudoreplication. When food types are recorded as present or absent, these samples can be treated as multinom
Authors
P.R. Lemons, J.S. Sedinger, M.P. Herzog, P. S. Gipson, R.L. Gilliland
Den site activity patterns of adult male and female Swift Foxes, Vulpes velox, in northwestern Texas
Activity of Swift Foxes (Vulpes velox) at den sites was studied in northwestern Texas during pup rearing seasons in 2000 and 2001 to determine role of males in parental care. Twenty-four percent of radio-collared females with a potential to breed successfully raised pups to eight weeks of age. We intensively monitored presence and absence of male and female Swift Foxes at two den sites each year.
Authors
P.R. Lemons, W.B. Ballard, R.M. Sullivan, M.A. Sovada
Non-USGS Publications**
Beatty, W.S., P.R. Lemons, S.A. Sethi, J.P. Everett, C.J. Lewis, R.J. Lynn, G.M. Cook, J.L. Garlich-Miller, J.K. Wenburg. 2020. Panmixia in a sea-ice-associated marine mammal: evaluating genetic structure of the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) at multiple special scales. Journal of Mammalogy 101:755-765.
Cook, G.M, D.J. Prince, S.M. O’Rourke, T.L. King, M.R. Miller, C.J. Lewis, M.S. Eackles, P.R. Lemons, S.A. Sethi, J.B. Olsen, and J.K. Wenburg. 2020. A little SNP of this, a little SNP of that: the discovery of 116 single nucleotide polymorphism markers to enable the rapid identification of individual Pacific walruses (Ododbenus rosmarus divergens). Conservation Genetics Resources 12:555-565.
Van Dellen, A.W., T.V. Riecke, A.G. Leach, C.A. Nicolai, B.T. Person, P.R. Lemons, M.W. Eichholz, M.S. Lindberg, J.L. Schamber, M.P. Herzog, J.S. Sedinger. 2020. Constraint versus restraint in the body mass dynamics during moult of a species with precocial young. IBIS 162:1175-1185
Sethi, S.A., D. Linden, J. Wenburg, C. Lewis, P. Lemons, A. Fuller, M.P, Hare. 2016. Accurate recapture identification for genetic mark-recapture studies with error-tolerant likelihood-based match calling and sample clustering. Royal Society Open Science 3:160457
Kovacs, K.M., P. Lemons, J.G. MacCracken, C. Lydersen. 2015. Walruses in a time of climate change. Arctic Report Card.
Sethi, S.A., G.M. Cook, P.R. Lemons, J. Wenburg. 2014. Guidelines for MSAT and SNP panels that lead to high quality data for genetic mark recapture studies. Canadian Journal of Zoology 92:515-526.
MacCracken, J.G., P.R. Lemons, J. Garlich-Miller, J. Snyder. 2014. An index for optimum sustainable population for the Pacific walrus. Ecological Indicators 43:36-43.
Lemons, P.R., J.S. Sedinger, C.A. Nicolai, and L.W. Oring. 2012. Sexual dimorphism, survival, and parental investment in relation to offspring sex in a precocial bird. Journal of Avian Biology 43:445-453.
Lemons, P.R., J.S. Sedinger, P.S. Randle. 2011. Detecting conspecific brood parasitism using egg morphology in black brant. Journal of Avian Biology 42:282-288.
Cameron, E.Z., P.R Lemons, P.W. Bateman, and N. Bennett. 2008. Experimental alteration of liter sex ratios in mammals. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 275:323-328.
Nicholson, K.L., W.B. Ballard, B.K. McGee, P.R. Lemons, and H.A. Whitlaw. 2006. Swift fox use of black-tailed prairie dog towns in northwest Texas. Journal of Wildlife Management 70:1659-1666.
McGee, B.K., W.B. Ballard, K.L. Nicholson, B.L. Cypher, P.R. Lemons, and J.F. Kamler. 2006. Effects of artificial escape dens on swift fox populations in northwest Texas. Wildlife Society Bulletin 34:821-827.
Kamler, J.F., W.B. Ballard, P.R. Lemons, R.L. Gilliland, and K. Mote. 2005. Home range and habitat use of coyotes in an area of native prairie, farmland, and CRP fields. American Midland Naturalist 153:396-404.
Kamler, J.F., W.B. Ballard, P.R. Lemons, and K. Mote. 2004. Variation in mating system and group structure in two populations of swift foxes, Vulpes velox. Animal Behaviour 68:83-88.
Kamler, J.F., W.B. Ballard, E.B. Fish, P.R. Lemons, K. Mote, and C.C. Perchellet. 2003. Habitat use, home ranges, and survival of swift foxes in a fragmented landscape: conservation implications. Journal of Mammalogy 84:989-995.
Kamler, J.F., W.B. Ballard, R.L. Gilliland, P.R. Lemons, and K. Mote. 2003. Impacts of coyotes on swift foxes in northwestern Texas. Journal of Wildlife Management 67:317-323.
Vasilenko, T.F., I.N. Sivoxa, M.V. Kozhykhov, and P.R. Lemons. 2001. Peculiarities of daily milk productivity of Pechora Taiga domesticated cow moose and their interconnection with reproductive function. Alces 37:123-128.
Cully, J.F., P.R. Lemons, and R.D. Applegate. 1999. Results of a wild turkey release in Kansas tallgrass prairie. Prairie Naturalist 31:33-41.
**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.