Ralph Grundel is an Ecologist based in Chesterton, IN.
Ralph Grundel is a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center in Porter, Indiana. He received his Ph.D. in zoology from The University of Texas at Austin where he studied the foraging ecology of the Mountain Chickadee, a feisty bird that loves high places. Ralph earned his B.A. in Biology from Wesleyan University and completed postdoctoral training in cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Ralph does research on how climate change affects animal and plant populations and on how we might improve conservation and restoration of savannas, a highly threatened habitat present in the Midwest U.S. His work on savanna restoration emphasizes how animal and plant populations might change as savannas are restored. This includes examining amphibian, bee, bird, butterfly, reptile, and vascular plant responses to changes in tree density and fire frequency. Changing tree density through the use of fire is an important way in which savannas are restored so understanding animal and plant responses to that fire management is key to understanding how savanna restoration will proceed. Ralph also studies the effects of restoration on the Karner blue butterfly, a federally listed endangered species that inhabits oak savannas in the Midwest and Northeast. He is currently examining how climate change might affect the survival of Karner blues through a series of experiments on captive Karner blues, field studies, and genetic analyses. In addition to studying how climate change might affect the Karner blue, Ralph also is a lead investigator researching how climate change might affect native bee populations across the National Park system, and how bird communities are responding to landscape and climate changes across the U.S.
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Addressing detection uncertainty in Bombus affinis (Hymenoptera: Apidae) surveys can improve inferences made from monitoring
Evaluating the migration mortality hypothesis using monarch tagging data
Intact landscape promotes gene flow and low genetic structuring in the threatened Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake
Evidence of an extreme weather‐induced phenological mismatch and a local extirpation of the endangered Karner blue butterfly
Changes in conservation value from grasslands to savannas to forests: How a temperate canopy cover gradient affects butterfly community composition
Resource segregation at fine spatial scales explains Karner blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis) distribution
Is the timing, pace and success of the monarch migration associated with sun angle?
Balancing sampling intensity against spatial coverage for a community science monitoring programme
The integrated monarch monitoring program: From design to implementation
A guide to the use of distance sampling to estimate abundance of Karner blue butterflies
So, you want to be a Lepidopterist?
A call to insect scientists: Challenges and opportunities of managing insect communities under climate change
Non-USGS Publications**
**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
Terrestrial Native Species and Habitat Restoration: Kirtland’s Warbler Cowbird Control
Data releases by this scientist
Bee-Gap: Ecology, Life-History, and Distribution of Bee Species in the United States 2017
Butterfly community abundance and distribution along a gradient of woody vegetation density at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Hoosier Prairie Nature Preserve, and Tefft Savanna Nature Preserve, Indiana 1998-1999
Karner blue butterfly densities, resource densities, and resource use at Sandhill Wildlife Area, Wisconsin, 2016
Boat ramp locations within the Columbia River Basin with associated recreational use, water quality measurements, and risk assessment data for zebra and quagga mussels
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Filter Total Items: 41Addressing detection uncertainty in Bombus affinis (Hymenoptera: Apidae) surveys can improve inferences made from monitoring
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service developed national guidelines to track species recovery of the endangered rusty patched bumble bee [Bombus affinis Cresson (Hymenoptera: Apidae)] and to investigate changes in species occupancy across space and time. As with other native bee monitoring efforts, managers have specifically acknowledged the need to address species detection uncertainty and determineEvaluating the migration mortality hypothesis using monarch tagging data
The decline in the eastern North American population of the monarch butterfly population since the late 1990s has been attributed to the loss of milkweed during the summer breeding season and the consequent reduction in the size of the summer population that migrates to central Mexico to overwinter (milkweed limitation hypothesis). However, in some studies the size of the summer population was notIntact landscape promotes gene flow and low genetic structuring in the threatened Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake
Genetic structuring of wild populations is dependent on environmental, ecological, and life-history factors. The specific role environmental context plays in genetic structuring is important to conservation practitioners working with rare species across areas with varying degrees of fragmentation. We investigated fine-scale genetic patterns of the federally threatened Eastern Massasauga RattlesnakEvidence of an extreme weather‐induced phenological mismatch and a local extirpation of the endangered Karner blue butterfly
In 2011, an experiment was undertaken to examine spring synchrony between the endangered Karner blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis) (Kbb) and its obligate host plant, wild blue lupine (Lupinus perennis) at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (INDU), where the southernmost population of Kbb occurred at the time of this study. From 2012 to 2014, field‐placed Kbb eggs were observed for larvae haChanges 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 howResource segregation at fine spatial scales explains Karner blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis) distribution
The resource concentration hypothesis predicts that herbivorous insect density scales positively with plant density because insects are better able to identify, and remain longer in, patches with denser plant resources. While some studies support this hypothesis, others do not. Different explanations have been proposed for this discrepancy, including variation in insect dispersal ability and dietIs the timing, pace and success of the monarch migration associated with sun angle?
A basic question concerning the monarch butterfly’s fall migration is which monarchs succeed in reaching overwintering sites in Mexico, which fail—and why. We document the timing and pace of the fall migration, ask whether the sun’s position in the sky is associated with the pace of the migration, and whether timing affects success in completing the migration. Using data from the Monarch Watch tagBalancing sampling intensity against spatial coverage for a community science monitoring programme
Community science is an increasingly integral part of biodiversity research and monitoring, often achieving broad spatial and temporal coverage but lower sampling intensity than studies conducted by professional scientists. When designing a community‐science monitoring programme, careful assessment of sampling designs that could be both feasible and successful at meeting programme goals is essentiThe integrated monarch monitoring program: From design to implementation
Steep declines in North American monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) populations have prompted continent-wide conservation efforts. While monarch monitoring efforts have existed for years, we lack a comprehensive approach to monitoring population vital rates integrated with habitat quality to inform adaptive management and effective conservation strategies. Building a geographically and ecologicaA guide to the use of distance sampling to estimate abundance of Karner blue butterflies
This guide is intended to describe the use of distance sampling as a method for evaluating the abundance of Karner blue butterflies at a location. Other methods for evaluating abundance exist, including mark-release-recapture and index counts derived from Pollard-Yates surveys, for example. Although this guide is not intended to be a detailed comparison of the pros and cons of each type of method,So, you want to be a Lepidopterist?
No abstract available.A call to insect scientists: Challenges and opportunities of managing insect communities under climate change
As climate change moves insect systems into uncharted territory, more knowledge about insect dynamics and the factors that drive them could enable us to better manage and conserve insect communities. Climate change may also require us revisit insect management goals and strategies and lead to a new kind of scientific engagement in management decision-making. Here we make five key points about theNon-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.Grundel, R. 1992. How the mountain chickadee procures more food in less time for its nestlings. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 31:291-300.Grundel, R., and H. Rubin. 1992. Adaptation and selection as factors in the spontaneous transformation of NIH-3T3 cells. Carcinogenesis 13:1873-1877.Grundel, R., and D. L. Dahlsten. 1991. The feeding ecology of mountain chickadees (Parus gambeli): patterns of arthropod prey delivery to nestling birds. Canadian Journal of Zoology 69:1793-1804.Grundel, R. 1990. The role of dietary diversity, prey capture sequence and individuality in prey selection by parent mountain chickadees (Parus gambeli). Journal of Animal Ecology 59:959-976.Grundel, R., and H. Rubin. 1988. Maintenance of multiplication rate stability by cell populations in the face of heterogeneity among individual cells. Journal of Cell Science 91:571-576.Grundel, R. 1987. Determinants of nestling feeding rates and parental investment in the mountain chickadee. Condor 89:319-328.Lynch, G. R., S. E. White, R. Grundel, and M. S. Berger. 1978. Effects of photoperiod, melatonin administration and thyroid block on spontaneous daily torpor and temperature regulation in the white-footed mouse,Peromyscus leucopus. Journal of Comparative Physiology B: Biochemical, Systemic, and Environmental Physiology 125:157-163.Grundel, R., and H. Rubin. 1991. The effect of interclonal heterogeneity on the progressive, confluence-mediated acquisition of the focus forming phenotype in NIH 3T3 populations. Cancer Research 51:1003-1013.Grundel, R., and H. Rubin. 1992. Correspondence re: R. Grundel and H. Rubin, Effect of interclonal heterogeneity on the progressive, confluence-mediated acquisition of the focus-forming phenotype in NIH-3T3 populations. Cancer Research 52:1047-1050.**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.
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Terrestrial Native Species and Habitat Restoration: Kirtland’s Warbler Cowbird Control
By 1971, 69% of Kirtland’s warbler (a rare songbird with a limited breeding range in southern Ontario and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan) nests were parasitized by Brown-headed Cowbirds (a parasitic brood bird native to the Great Plains), resulting in less than one young Kirtland’s warbler produced per nest. Cowbird trapping began in 1972, and parasitism rates were quickly reduced to around 6%... - Data
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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 preButterfly community abundance and distribution along a gradient of woody vegetation density at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Hoosier Prairie Nature Preserve, and Tefft Savanna Nature Preserve, Indiana 1998-1999
The dataset consists of abundance information of butterfly species (61 species) collected at 25 sites in northwest Indiana in 1998 and 1999. Each site was surveyed 21 times. Auxiliary data on environmental conditions were collected to allow us to relate habitat differences among sites to differences in abundance and composition of the butterfly community.Karner blue butterfly densities, resource densities, and resource use at Sandhill Wildlife Area, Wisconsin, 2016
Insects with morphologically different life stages can face a time tradeoff between foraging and egg-laying behavior when larval and adult resources are spatially segregated. Understanding this tradeoff in the Karner blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis) can inform resource management for this federally endangered species under changing resource distribution and availability. We collected daBoat ramp locations within the Columbia River Basin with associated recreational use, water quality measurements, and risk assessment data for zebra and quagga mussels
Aquatic invasive species are often transported between water bodies on boats or boat trailers, thus they are considered one of the primary vectors for new introductions of invasive species to a water body. This data set contains geographic positioning system locational data for boater access points, use data (i.e. recreational, fishing), water quality measurements (e.g. calcium concentrations, pH) - Multimedia
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