Lindsey, P.A., Havemann, C.P., Lines, R.M., Price, A.E., Retief, T.A., Rhebergen, T., Van der Waal, C. and Romañach, S.S., 2013. Benefits of wildlife-based land uses on private lands in Namibia and limitations affecting their development. Oryx, 47(01), pp.41-53.
Stephanie Romañach, Ph.D.
Biography
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Ecology, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2003
M.A., Ecology, University of California, Santa Barbara
B.S., Zoology, University of Florida, 1998
RESEARCH
Stephanie uses a combination of field observations and predictive ecological models to explore the impacts of climate change and ecosystem restoration on wildlife.
BACKGROUND
Before joining USGS, Stephanie 's research focused on getting science used in natural resource decision making through projects such as endangered African wild dog conservation and ecology, bushmeat trade and rural livelihoods, the role of trophy hunting in wildlife conservation, and large carnivore population ecology.
Science and Products
Date published: November 21, 2019
Status: Active Upcoming Webinar: Using Decision Tools to Design the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge
View this webinar to learn how decision tools may be used to help managers identify habitat that meet land management objectives.
Contacts: Stephanie Romañach, Ph.D.
Date published: October 15, 2019
Status: Active Spatial Ecology of Bobcats in the Greater Everglades
WARC researchers will estimate the density and distribution of bobcats in relation to environmental variables through the development of spatially explicit capture-recapture and occupancy models.
Contacts: Stephanie Romañach, Ph.D.
Attribution: Ecosystems, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
Date published: June 28, 2019
Status: Active Modeling Conservation Targets for the Peninsular Florida Landscape Conservation Cooperative
The USGS is working with the Peninsular Florida Landscape Conservation Cooperative to develop forecast models that integrate potential impacts from external drivers for selected conservation targets and priority resources.
Contacts: Stephanie Romañach, Ph.D.
Date published: June 28, 2019
Status: Active Multispecies Operational Forecasting in the Florida Everglades
A USGS forecasting tool helps Everglades natural resource managers identify management actions that can benefit one or more species while quantifying the potential costs to others.
Contacts: Stephanie Romañach, Ph.D.
Date published: May 23, 2019
Status: Active Modeling Spatial Habitat Quality for the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow
The Joint Ecosystem Modeling (JEM) team will develop species distribution models that incorporate hydrologic and habitat variables known to influence Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow occurrence.
Contacts: Stephanie Romañach, Ph.D.
Date published: May 23, 2019
Status: Active Ecological Modeling in Support of the Western Everglades Restoration Project
Joint Ecosystem Modeling (JEM) provides ecological models tailored to address specific management issues, for example, the Western Everglades Restoration Project.
Contacts: Stephanie Romañach, Ph.D.
Date published: May 1, 2019
Status: Active Evaluating Ecological Vulnerabilities of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem to Provide Decision Support for Restoration
USGS scientists develop decision support tools to help inform management and restoration of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem.
Contacts: Laura E D'Acunto, Ph.D., Stephanie Romañach, Ph.D.
Date published: February 27, 2019
Status: Active Habitat Modeling for the Endangered Everglades Snail Kite and Its Prey
Joint Ecosystem Modeling (JEM) provides real-time habitat suitability models for species of interest in Everglades restoration planning, including the federally endangered Everglades snail kite.
Contacts: Stephanie Romañach, Ph.D.
Date published: September 19, 2018
Status: Active Joint Ecosystem Modeling: Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow Helper
The Sparrow Helper tool allows for the evaluation of water management scenarios by generating, plotting, and mapping hydrologic metrics across a range of time scales to predict impacts of proposed water depth changes to sparrow subpopulations.
Contacts: James Beerens, Ph.D., Stephanie Romañach, Ph.D.
Date published: September 18, 2018
Status: Active Joint Ecosystem Modeling: Wader Distribution & Evaluation Modeling (WADEM)
WADEM (Wader Distribution Evaluation Modeling) is a JEM model that estimates species-specific habitat suitability across the landscape for Great Egret (Ardea alba), White Ibis (Eudocimus albus), and Wood Stork (Mycteria americana).
Contacts: James Beerens, Ph.D., Stephanie Romañach, Ph.D.
Date published: May 10, 2018
Status: Active Joint Ecosystem Modeling: Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow Marl Prairie Indicator
Marl prairie is the most diverse freshwater vegetation community in the Greater Everglades and provides the only suitable habitat for the federally endangered Cape Sable seaside sparrow (CSSS; Ammodramus maritimus mirabilis).
Contacts: Stephanie Romañach, Ph.D.
Date published: May 10, 2018
Status: Active Joint Ecosystem Modeling: EverSnail
EverSnail, developed in collaboration with the University of West Florida, is an age- and size-structured spatially-explicit landscape model of native apple snails (Pomacea paludosa).
Contacts: Stephanie Romañach, Ph.D., Don DeAngelis, Ph.D.
Date published: April 20, 2016
Joint Ecosystem Modeling (JEM) Support
The JEM community of practice is focused on ecological modeling and monitoring across the Greater Everglades, with particular interest in habitats, how various factors affect habitat change, and how the organisms dependent on those habitats respond today and into the future.
Date published: April 20, 2016
Everglades Eco-Modeling Data Visualization and Tool Development
Working with the Joint Ecosystem Modeling (JEM) community of practice, the WARC Advanced Applications Team developed and maintains the EverVIEW Data Viewer desktop visualization platform, which allows users to easily visualize and inspect standards-compliant NetCDF modeling data and has experienced tremendous feature growth driven by user feedback.
Attribution: Ecosystems, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
Date published: April 20, 2016
EverVIEW Lite
Recently, the Team has developed and released EverVIEW Lite, an online web mapping framework based on the core features available in the desktop viewer.
Attribution: Ecosystems, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
Year Published: 2019
Coastal marsh bird habitat selection and responses to Hurricane Sandy
Wetlands provide numerous ecosystem functions such as water purification, nutrient cycling, and wildlife habitat. Avian populations are indicators of wetland health, and understanding their responses to extreme events can aid in targeting restoration efforts following disturbance. Here, we assessed the habitat selection of six coastal wetland bird...
Benscoter, Allison; Beerens, James; Romanach, StephanieAttribution: Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2019
Targeting wildlife crime interventions through geographic profiling
Seeing an animal hanging lifelessly from a snare is a heart-wrenching experience. Knowing that most animals caught in snares are left to rot without being used for meat or any other purpose might be worse. Over an eight-year period, 2001–2009, we recorded 10,231 incidents of illegal hunting in a wildlife conservation area in southeastern Zimbabwe...
Romanach, Stephanie; Faulkner, Sally C.; Stevens, Michael C.A.; Lindsey, Peter A.; Le Comber, Steven C.Attribution: Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2019
A multi-indicator spatial similarity approach for evaluating ecological restoration scenarios
ContextThe greater Everglades region in Florida (USA) is an area of wetlands that has been altered and reduced to 50% of its original area and faces multiple threats. Spatial landscape analysis can help guide a large and complex ecosystem restoration process, involving billions of dollars and multiple groups of stakeholders.ObjectivesTo guide...
Wiederholt, Ruscena; Paudel, Rajendara; Khare, Yogesh; Davis, Stephen E.; Naja, G.M.; Romanach, Stephanie; Pearlstine, L.; Van Lent, ThomasAttribution: Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2019
Impacts of saltwater intrusion on wetland prey production and composition in a historically freshwater marsh
Sea level rise is a fundamental driver of ecosystem change and has the potential to shift the spatial distributions of habitats more rapidly than species can adapt. Rapid sea level rise and associated saltwater intrusion have negative impacts on coastal environments, including loss of habitat for species such as sea turtles and shorebirds. In...
Romanach, Stephanie; Beerens, James M.; Patton, Brett; Chapman, Julia P.; Hanson, MattAttribution: Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2018
Designing a protected area to safeguard imperiled species from urbanization
Reserve design is a process that can address ecological, social, and political factors to identify parcels of land needed to sustain wildlife populations and other natural resources. Acquisition of parcels for a large terrestrial reserve is difficult because it typically occurs over a long timeframe and thus invokes consideration of future...
Romañach, Stephanie; Stith, Bradley; Johnson, Fred A.Attribution: Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2018
Conservation and restoration of mangroves: Global status, perspectives, and prognosis
Mangrove forests provide critical services around the globe to both human populations and the ecosystems they occupy. However, losses of mangrove habitat of more than 50% have been recorded in some parts of the world, and these losses are largely attributable to human activities. The importance of mangroves and the threats to their persistence...
Romañach, Stephanie; DeAngelis, Donald L.; Koh, Hock Lye; Li, Yuhong; Teh, Su Yean; Barizan, Raja Sulaiman Raja; Zhai, LuAttribution: Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, Ecosystems
View Citation
Romañach, S.S., DeAngelis, D.L., Koh, H.L., Li, Yuhong, Teh, S.Y., Barizan, R.S.R., and Zhai, Lu, 2018, Conservation and restoration of mangroves: Global status, perspectives, and prognosis: Ocean and Coastal Management, v. 154, p. 72-82, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2018.01.009.
Year Published: 2018
Making ecological models adequate
Critical evaluation of the adequacy of ecological models is urgently needed to enhance their utility in developing theory and enabling environmental managers and policymakers to make informed decisions. Poorly supported management can have detrimental, costly or irreversible impacts on the environment and society. Here, we examine common issues in...
Getz, Wayne M.; Marshall, Charles R.; Carlson, Colin J.; Giuggioli, Luca; Ryan, Sadie J.; Romañach, Stephanie; Boettiger, Carl; Chamberlain, Samuel D.; Larsen, Laurel; D'Odorico, Paolo; O'Sullivan, DavidAttribution: Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, Ecosystems
View Citation
Getz, W.M., Marshall, C.R., Carlson, C.J., Giuggioli, Luca, Ryan, S.J., Romañach, S.S., Boettiger, Carl, Chamberlain, S.D., Larsen, Laurel, D'Odorico, Paolo, and O'Sullivan, David, 2017, Making ecological models adequate: Ecology Letters, Early View, https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12893.
Year Published: 2018
A spatial approach to combatting wildlife crime
Poaching can have devastating impacts on animal and plant numbers, and in many countries has reached crisis levels, with illegal hunters employing increasingly sophisticated techniques. Here, we show how geographic profiling – a mathematical technique originally developed in criminology and recently applied to animal foraging and epidemiology –...
Faulkner, Sally C.; Stevens, Michael C.A.; Romañach, Stephanie; Lindsey, Peter A.; LeComber, Steven C.Attribution: Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, Ecosystems
View Citation
Faulkner, S.C., Stevens, M.C.A., Romañach, S.S., Lindsey, P.A. and Le Comber, S.C., 2017, A spatial approach to combatting wildlife crime: Conservation Biology, Accepted Articles, https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13027.
Year Published: 2017
Structured decision making as a conservation tool for recovery planning of two endangered salamanders
At least one-third of all amphibian species face the threat of extinction, and current amphibian extinction rates are four orders of magnitude greater than background rates. Preventing extirpation often requires both ex situ (i.e., conservation breeding programs) and in situ strategies (i.e., protecting natural habitats). Flatwoods salamanders (...
O'Donnell, Katherine; Messerman, Arianne F; Barichivich, William J.; Semlitsch, Raymond D.; Gorman, Thomas A.; Mitchell, Harold G; Allan, Nathan; Fenolio, Dante B.; Green, Adam; Johnson, Fred A.; Keever, Allison; Mandica, Mark; Martin, Julien; Mott, Jana; Peacock, Terry; Reinman, Joseph; Romañach, Stephanie; Titus, Greg; McGowan, Conor P.; Walls, Susan C.Attribution: Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, Ecosystems
View Citation
O'Donnell, K.M., Messerman, A.F., Barichivich, W.J., Semlitsch, R.D., Gorman, T.A., Mitchell, H.G., Allan, N., Fenolio, D., Green, A., Johnson, F.A., Keever, A., Mandica, M., Martin, J., Mott, J., Peacock, T., Reinman, J., Romañach, S.S., Titus, G., McGowan, C., and Walls, S.C., 2017, Structured decision making as a conservation tool for recovery planning of two endangered salamanders: Journal of Nature Conservation, Accepted Manuscript, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2017.02.011.
Year Published: 2017
Data for comparison of climate envelope models developed using expert-selected variables versus statistical selection
The data we used for this study include species occurrence data (n=15 species), climate data and predictions, an expert opinion questionnaire, and species masks that represented the model domain for each species. For this data release, we include the results of the expert opinion questionnaire and the species model domains (or masks). We developed...
Brandt, Laura A.; Benscoter, Allison; Harvey, Rebecca G.; Speroterra, Carolina; Bucklin, David N.; Romanach, Stephanie; Watling, James I.; Mazzotti, Frank J.Attribution: Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, Southeast
View Citation
Brandt, L.A., Benscoter, A.M., Harvey, Rebecca, Speroterra, Carolina, Bucklin, David, Romañach, S.S., Watling, J.I., and Mazzotti, F.J., 2017, Data for comparison of climate envelope models developed using expert-selected variables versus statistical selection: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F7J101BT.
Year Published: 2017
Comparison of climate envelope models developed using expert-selected variables versus statistical selection
Climate envelope models are widely used to describe potential future distribution of species under different climate change scenarios. It is broadly recognized that there are both strengths and limitations to using climate envelope models and that outcomes are sensitive to initial assumptions, inputs, and modeling methods Selection of predictor...
Brandt, Laura A.; Benscoter, Allison; Harvey, Rebecca G.; Speroterra, Carolina; Bucklin, David N.; Romañach, Stephanie; Watling, James I.; Mazzotti, Frank J.View Citation
Brandt, L.A., Benscoter, A.M., Harvey, R., Speroterra, C., Bucklin, D., Romanach, S.S., Watling, J.I., and Mazzotti, F.J., 2017, Comparison of climate envelope models developed using expert-selected variables versus statistical selection: Ecological Modelling, v. 345, p. 10-20, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2016.11.016.
Year Published: 2016
Considerations for building climate-based species distribution models
Climate plays an important role in the distribution of species. A given species may adjust to new conditions in-place, move to new areas with suitable climates, or go extinct. Scientists and conservation practitioners use mathematical models to predict the effects of future climate change on wildlife and plan for a biodiverse future. This 8-page...
Bucklin, David N.; Basille, Mathieu; Romañach, Stephanie; Brandt, Laura A.; Mazzotti, Frank J.; Watling, James I.View Citation
Bucklin, D.N., Basille, M., Romanach, S.S., Brandt, L.A., Mazzotti, F.J., and Watling, J.I., 2016, Considerations for building climate-based species distribution models: U.S. Department of Agriculture, University of Florida/IFAS Extension Service, Publication WEC375, 8 pp., http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/UW420.
Pre-USGS Publications
Romañach, S.S., Lindsey, P.A. and Woodroffe, R., 2010. Attitudes toward predators and options for their conservation in the Ewaso Ecosystem. A Chronology of Middle Missouri Plains Village Sites, 85.
Lindsey, Peter Andrew, S. S. Romanach, S. Matema, C. Matema, I. Mupamhadzi, and J. Muvengwi. "Dynamics and underlying causes of illegal bushmeat trade in Zimbabwe." Oryx 45, no. 01 (2011): 84-95.
Lindsey, Peter Andrew, S. S. Romanach, Craig J. Tambling, K. Chartier, and R. Groom. "Ecological and financial impacts of illegal bushmeat trade in Zimbabwe." Oryx 45, no. 01 (2011): 96-111.
Lindsey, P. A., S. S. Romanach, and H. T. Davies‐Mostert. "The importance of conservancies for enhancing the value of game ranch land for large mammal conservation in southern Africa." Journal of Zoology 277, no. 2 (2009): 99-105.
Lindsey, P., Romanach, S., Romanach, S.S. and Davies-Mostert, H., 2009. A synthesis of early indicators of the drivers of predator conservation on private lands in south africa. Anonymous Reintroduction of Top-Order Predators.: Wiley-Blackwell, pp.321-344.
Lindsey, P.A., du Toit, R., Pole, A. and Romañach, S., 2008. Savé Valley Conservancy: a large-scale African experiment in cooperative wildlife management. Evolution and innovation in wildlife conservation: parks and game ranches to transfrontier conservation areas, pp.163-184.
Romañach, S.S. and Lindsey, P.A., 2008. Conservation implications of prey responses to wild dogs Lycaon pictus during the denning season on wildlife ranches. Animal conservation, 11(2), pp.111-117.
Romanach, S.S., Lindsey, P.A. and Woodroffe, R., 2007. Determinants of attitudes towards predators in central Kenya and suggestions for increasing tolerance in livestock dominated landscapes. Oryx, 41(02), pp.185-195.
Romanach, S.S., Seabloom, E.W. and Reichman, O.J., 2007. Costs and benefits of pocket gopher foraging: Linking behavior and physiology. Ecology, 88(8), pp.2047-2057.
Georgiadis, N.J., Olwero, J.N. and Romañach, S.S., 2007. Savanna herbivore dynamics in a livestock-dominated landscape: I. Dependence on land use, rainfall, density, and time. Biological conservation, 137(3), pp.461-472.
Georgiadis, N.J., Ihwagi, F., Olwero, J.N. and Romañach, S.S., 2007. Savanna herbivore dynamics in a livestock-dominated landscape. II: Ecological, conservation, and management implications of predator restoration. Biological Conservation, 137(3), pp.473-483.
Economic and conservation significance of the trophy hunting industry in sub-Saharan Africa
Lindsey, P.A., Roulet, P.A. and Romanach, S.S., 2007. Economic and conservation significance of the trophy hunting industry in sub-Saharan Africa. Biological conservation, 134(4), pp.455-469.