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Taylor E. Woods, Ph.D.

Taylor is a research ecologist at the USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center Center in Kearneysville, WV

Dr. Taylor Woods is a macroecologist whose research investigates the effects of global change on biodiversity, body size, and phenology in freshwaters. 

Professional Experience

  • 2023 - Present: Research Ecologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Eastern Ecological Science Center

  • 2022 - 2023: Post-doctoral Research Ecologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Eastern Ecological Science Center

Education and Certifications

  • Ph.D. 2022, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee - Knoxville

  • M.Sc 2018, Environmental Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University

  • B.Sc. 2011, Environmental Biology, Tulane University 

Science and Products

Two aquatic macroinvertebrates in a pan.

Using Multiple Indicators to Assess Stream Condition in the Chesapeake Bay

USGS is working with federal, state and local partners to develop multiple assessments of stream and river conditions in non-tidal areas of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. These assessments will help managers preserve stream health and improve biological conditions in impaired streams as the human population and climate continue to change in this region.
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Land Management Research Program, Species Management Research Program, Chesapeake Bay Activities, Eastern Ecological Science Center
Using Multiple Indicators to Assess Stream Condition in the Chesapeake Bay

Using Multiple Indicators to Assess Stream Condition in the Chesapeake Bay

USGS is working with federal, state and local partners to develop multiple assessments of stream and river conditions in non-tidal areas of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. These assessments will help managers preserve stream health and improve biological conditions in impaired streams as the human population and climate continue to change in this region.
Learn More
Donut plots illustrate the change in proportion of habitats assigned through 2005-2090

Observed monitoring data and predictive modelling help understand ongoing and future vulnerability of Chesapeake Bay watershed stream fish communities to climate and land-use change

Issue: The Chesapeake Bay Watershed (CBW) is experiencing effects of climate (warming temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns) and land-use/land-cover (LULC; transition from forest or agriculture to developed lands) change, and these trends are likely to continue under future scenarios of warming and population growth. Stream biodiversity may be vulnerable to ongoing and future climate...
By
Chesapeake Bay Activities, Eastern Ecological Science Center
Observed monitoring data and predictive modelling help understand ongoing and future vulnerability of Chesapeake Bay watershed stream fish communities to climate and land-use change

Observed monitoring data and predictive modelling help understand ongoing and future vulnerability of Chesapeake Bay watershed stream fish communities to climate and land-use change

Issue: The Chesapeake Bay Watershed (CBW) is experiencing effects of climate (warming temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns) and land-use/land-cover (LULC; transition from forest or agriculture to developed lands) change, and these trends are likely to continue under future scenarios of warming and population growth. Stream biodiversity may be vulnerable to ongoing and future climate...
Learn More
USGS

Communicating stream fish vulnerability to climate change

We will develop a vulnerability assessment R Shiny web application and present to stakeholders. The stakeholder feedback will be summarized into a one page ‘lessons learned’ document that will assist researchers in designing effective climate change visualizations and an R markdown ‘quick start’ guide on R Shiny applications.
By
Chesapeake Bay Activities, Community for Data Integration (CDI)
Communicating stream fish vulnerability to climate change

Communicating stream fish vulnerability to climate change

We will develop a vulnerability assessment R Shiny web application and present to stakeholders. The stakeholder feedback will be summarized into a one page ‘lessons learned’ document that will assist researchers in designing effective climate change visualizations and an R markdown ‘quick start’ guide on R Shiny applications.
Learn More

Towards an integrated theory of body size distributions, life history and functional traits, and environmental flows in freshwater ecosystems Towards an integrated theory of body size distributions, life history and functional traits, and environmental flows in freshwater ecosystems

Efforts to quantify and explain individual size distributions (ISD) are prominent in ecological research and potentially for applications to management which increasingly consider ecosystem-scale objectives. We use a nation-wide database of individual size measurements for United States stream fishes paired with species’ traits and test for direct and indirect effects of traits, flow...
By
Eastern Ecological Science Center

Attributes for NHDPlus Version 2.1 Catchments and Modified Routing of Upstream Watersheds for Selected Regions of the Conterminous United States Attributes for NHDPlus Version 2.1 Catchments and Modified Routing of Upstream Watersheds for Selected Regions of the Conterminous United States

This metadata record describes a series of data sets of climate and land-use/land-cover features (provided in parquet file format) linked to NHDPlus Version 2.1’s (NHDPlusV2) stream segments, their associated catchments and their upstream watersheds within selected regions in the conterminous United States. All data can be linked to NHDPlusV2 using the COMID field in these tables and the...
By
Eastern Ecological Science Center

Evaluating the effectiveness of joint species distribution modeling for riverine fish communities Evaluating the effectiveness of joint species distribution modeling for riverine fish communities

Species Distribution Models (JSDMs) allow for accounting for both environmental predictors and species dependencies within a single statistical modeling frameworks. However, it is unclear under what conditions incorporating residual species dependencies (conditional predictions) might outperform predictions made using only environmental information (marginal predictions). Here, we...
By
Cooperative Research Units

Data from Assessing the added value of antecedent streamflow alteration in modelling stream condition Data from Assessing the added value of antecedent streamflow alteration in modelling stream condition

The dataset contains long-term and short-term summaries of streamflow alteration and measures of biological condition (fish multi-metric index). Streamflow alteration metrics include the magnitude, duration, frequency, and seasonality of high and low flow streamflow. Biological condition was estimated from the National Rivers and Streams Assessment and National Water Quality Assessment...
By
Eastern Ecological Science Center

“ChesBay 24k – LU": Land Use/Land Cover Related Data Summaries for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Within NHD Plus HR catchments (ver. 3.0, August 2025) “ChesBay 24k – LU": Land Use/Land Cover Related Data Summaries for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Within NHD Plus HR catchments (ver. 3.0, August 2025)

These tabular data are the summarization of land use/land cover related variables within the Chesapeake Bay watershed using the xstrm methodology bringing these data to the 1:24,000 scale. Variables being counted as land use/land cover related include all land use and land cover data. This also contains datasets that are split off or combined from source data (eg. agriculture or...
By
Chesapeake Bay Activities, Eastern Ecological Science Center

“ChesBay 24k – NE": Natural Environment Related Data Summaries for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Within NHD Plus HR catchments (ver. 4.0, August 2025) “ChesBay 24k – NE": Natural Environment Related Data Summaries for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Within NHD Plus HR catchments (ver. 4.0, August 2025)

These tabular data are the summarization of natural environment related variables within catchments of the Chesapeake Bay watershed at the 1:24,000 scale using the xstrm methodology. Variables being counted as natural environment related include soils/geology, lithology, elevation, slope, stream gradient, landform (geomorphon) and others. Outputs include tabular comma-separated values...
By
Chesapeake Bay Activities, Eastern Ecological Science Center

“ChesBay 24k – CL": Climate Related Data Summaries for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Within NHD Plus HR catchments (ver. 4.0, August 2025) “ChesBay 24k – CL": Climate Related Data Summaries for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Within NHD Plus HR catchments (ver. 4.0, August 2025)

These tabular data are the summarization of climate related variables within catchments of the Chesapeake Bay watershed at the 1:24,000 scale using the xstrm methodology. Variables being counted as climate related include temperature and precipitation by both annual and monthly timesteps. Outputs include tabular comma-separated values files (CSVs) and parquet formatted files for the...
By
Chesapeake Bay Activities, Eastern Ecological Science Center

“ChesBay 24k – HU": Human Related Data Summaries for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Within NHD Plus HR catchments (ver. 3.0, August 2025) “ChesBay 24k – HU": Human Related Data Summaries for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Within NHD Plus HR catchments (ver. 3.0, August 2025)

These tabular data are the summarization of human related variables within catchments of the Chesapeake Bay watershed at the 1:24,000 scale using the xstrm methodology. Variables being counted as human related include agriculture, barriers, road density, pesticide, and road/stream crossing data. Outputs include tabular comma-separated values files (CSVs), and parquet formatted files for...
By
Eastern Ecological Science Center
USGS staff in official green hat and shirt presenting on benthic macroinvertebrates during the Congressional Event
Taylor Woods presenting at first station of Congressional Event
Taylor Woods presenting at first station of Congressional Event
USGS staff in official green hat and shirt presenting on benthic macroinvertebrates during the Congressional Event

Taylor Woods presenting at first station of Congressional Event

Taylor Woods presenting at first station of Congressional Event

Taylor Woods presents at the first station on stream ecology and benthic macroinvertebrates during the Congressional Event at Patuxent Research Refuge 

By
Eastern Ecological Science Center, Eastern Ecological Science Center
USGS staff in official green hat and shirt presenting on benthic macroinvertebrates during the Congressional Event

Taylor Woods presenting at first station of Congressional Event

Taylor Woods presenting at first station of Congressional Event

Taylor Woods presents at the first station on stream ecology and benthic macroinvertebrates during the Congressional Event at Patuxent Research Refuge 

By
Eastern Ecological Science Center, Eastern Ecological Science Center

Integrating theory and empirical patterns: Fish body size distributions, life history traits, and environmental flows in streams Integrating theory and empirical patterns: Fish body size distributions, life history traits, and environmental flows in streams

Individual size distributions (ISDs) are prominent in ecological research and may support resource managers with ecosystem-scale objectives. We use a database of individual size measurements for US stream fishes to test for direct and indirect effects of traits, flow regimes, and land use on the interspecific ISD exponent. Path analysis indicates that traits have strong, direct effects...
Authors
Taylor Woods, Daniel J. McGarvey, Matthew J. Cashman, Michael R. Meador, Daren M. Carlisle, Ken Eng, Darin A. Kopp, Kelly O. Maloney
By
Eastern Ecological Science Center

Diverging fish biodiversity trends in cold and warm rivers and streams Diverging fish biodiversity trends in cold and warm rivers and streams

Worldwide, freshwater systems contain more than 18,000 fish species1,2,3, which are critical to the functioning of these ecosystems4 and are vital cultural and economic resources to humans5,6,7; despite this value, fish biodiversity is at risk globally8,9. In the USA, leading threats to fish communities in rivers and streams include climate change and invasive fish introductions and game...
Authors
Samantha L. Rumschlag, Brian Gallagher, Ryan Hill, Ralf B. Schafer, Travis S. Schmidt, Taylor Woods, Darin A. Kopp, Michael Dumelle, Jason Rohr, Frederik De Laender, Joel Hoffman, Jonathan Behrens, Ryan Lepak, Devin Jones, Michael Mahon
By
Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

Stressor-driven changes in freshwater biological indicators inform spatial management strategies using expert knowledge, observational data, and hierarchical models Stressor-driven changes in freshwater biological indicators inform spatial management strategies using expert knowledge, observational data, and hierarchical models

Stream ecosystems face continuous pressures from multiple anthropogenic stressors that reshape biological communities and impact ecosystem health and services. Managers can encounter challenges in stewarding ecosystems threatened by multiple stressors, in part because most multiple stressor studies are experimental and, while valuable, offer limited management relevance in targeting...
Authors
Sean Cassian Emmons, Matthew J. Cashman, Rosemary M. Fanelli, Greg Pond, Gregory E. Noe, Taylor Woods, Kelly O. Maloney
By
Chesapeake Bay Activities, Eastern Ecological Science Center

Causal inference approaches reveal both positive and negative unintended effects of agricultural and urban management practices on instream biological condition Causal inference approaches reveal both positive and negative unintended effects of agricultural and urban management practices on instream biological condition

Agricultural and urban management practices (MPs) are primarily designed and implemented to reduce nutrient and sediment concentrations in streams. However, there is growing interest in determining if MPs produce any unintended positive effects, or co-benefits, to instream biological and habitat conditions. Identifying co-benefits is challenging though because of confounding variables (i...
Authors
Sean Cassian Emmons, Taylor Woods, Matthew J. Cashman, Olivia Devereux, Gregory E. Noe, John A. Young, Scott Stranko, Jay V. Kilian, Katherine Hanna, Kelly O. Maloney
By
Chesapeake Bay Activities, Eastern Ecological Science Center

Evaluating the effectiveness of joint species distribution modeling for fresh water fish communities within large watersheds Evaluating the effectiveness of joint species distribution modeling for fresh water fish communities within large watersheds

Accurately predicting species’ distributions is critical for the management and conservation of fish and wildlife populations. Joint Species Distribution Models (JSDMs) account for dependencies between species often ignored by traditional species distribution models. We evaluated how a JSDM approach could improve predictive strength for stream fish communities within large watersheds...
Authors
Paul McLaughlin, Kevin Krause, Kelly O. Maloney, Taylor Woods, Tyler Wagner
By
Cooperative Research Units, Chesapeake Bay Activities, Eastern Ecological Science Center

Assessing the added value of antecedent streamflow alteration information in modeling stream biological condition Assessing the added value of antecedent streamflow alteration information in modeling stream biological condition

In stream systems, disentangling relationships between biology and flow and subsequent prediction of these relationships to unsampled streams is a common objective of large-scale ecological modeling. Often, streamflow metrics are derived from aggregating continuous streamflow records available at a subset of stream gages into long-term flow regime descriptors. Despite demonstrated value
Authors
Taylor Woods, Ken Eng, Daren M. Carlisle, Matthew J. Cashman, Michael R. Meador, Karen R. Ryberg, Kelly O. Maloney
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Dakota Water Science Center

Observed and projected functional reorganization of riverine fish assemblages from global change Observed and projected functional reorganization of riverine fish assemblages from global change

Climate and land-use/land-cover change (‘global change’) are restructuring biodiversity, globally. Broadly, environmental conditions are expected to become warmer, potentially drier (particularly in arid regions), and more anthropogenically developed in the future, with spatiotemporally complex effects on ecological communities. We used functional traits to inform Chesapeake Bay...
Authors
Taylor Woods, Mary Freeman, Kevin P. Krause, Kelly O. Maloney
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Chesapeake Bay Activities, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

Influence of grain size and shape on volcanic ash electrical conductivity Influence of grain size and shape on volcanic ash electrical conductivity

Few studies have examined the electrical properties of volcanic ash or considered the effects of physical characteristics, such as grain size and shape on its electrification. This study measures the resistivity of eight volcanic ash samples, three milled-samples and five natural ashfall samples from Alaska, U.S.A., using a current amplifier and examines the influence of particle size...
Authors
Taylor Woods, Kimberly Genareau, Kristi L. Wallace
By
Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center

Non-USGS Publications**

Woods, T., Kaz, A., & Giam, X. (2022). Phenology in freshwaters: A review and recommendations for future research. Ecography, 2022(6), e05564. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.05564.
Woods, T., Comte, L., Tedesco, P. A., & Giam, X. (2020). Testing the diversity–biomass relationship in riverine fish communities. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 29(10), 1743-1757. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13147.
McGarvey, D. J., Woods, T. E., & Kirk, A. J. (2019). Modeling the Size Spectrum for Macroinvertebrates and Fishes in Stream Ecosystems. JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments), (149), e59945. https://dx.doi.org/10.3791/59945.
Woods, T., & McGarvey, D. J. (2018). Assessing the relative influences of abiotic and biotic factors on American eel Anguilla rostrata distribution using hydrologic, physical habitat, and functional trait data. Ecography, 41(12), 2067-2079. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.03782.
McGarvey, D. J., Menon, M., Woods, T., Tassone, S., Reese, J., Vergamini, M., & Kellogg, E. (2018). On the use of climate covariates in aquatic species distribution models: are we at risk of throwing out the baby with the bath water?. Ecography, 41(4), 695-712. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.03134.

**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.

Ecoflows body size analysis Ecoflows body size analysis

The code repository has been produced by the CONUS Ecological Flows project and contains scripts to run an analysis of fish body size relationships with flow regimes, functional traits, and land-use. This code can be run with the input dataset found from Woods (2025).
By
Eastern Ecological Science Center

Evaluating the effectiveness of joint species distribution modeling for riverine fish communities Evaluating the effectiveness of joint species distribution modeling for riverine fish communities

Species Distribution Models (JSDMs) allow for accounting for both environmental predictors and species dependencies within a single statistical modeling frameworks. However, it is unclear under what conditions incorporating residual species dependencies (conditional predictions) might outperform predictions made using only environmental information (marginal predictions). Here, we...
By
Cooperative Research Units

Science and Products

Two aquatic macroinvertebrates in a pan.

Using Multiple Indicators to Assess Stream Condition in the Chesapeake Bay

USGS is working with federal, state and local partners to develop multiple assessments of stream and river conditions in non-tidal areas of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. These assessments will help managers preserve stream health and improve biological conditions in impaired streams as the human population and climate continue to change in this region.
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Land Management Research Program, Species Management Research Program, Chesapeake Bay Activities, Eastern Ecological Science Center
Using Multiple Indicators to Assess Stream Condition in the Chesapeake Bay

Using Multiple Indicators to Assess Stream Condition in the Chesapeake Bay

USGS is working with federal, state and local partners to develop multiple assessments of stream and river conditions in non-tidal areas of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. These assessments will help managers preserve stream health and improve biological conditions in impaired streams as the human population and climate continue to change in this region.
Learn More
Donut plots illustrate the change in proportion of habitats assigned through 2005-2090

Observed monitoring data and predictive modelling help understand ongoing and future vulnerability of Chesapeake Bay watershed stream fish communities to climate and land-use change

Issue: The Chesapeake Bay Watershed (CBW) is experiencing effects of climate (warming temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns) and land-use/land-cover (LULC; transition from forest or agriculture to developed lands) change, and these trends are likely to continue under future scenarios of warming and population growth. Stream biodiversity may be vulnerable to ongoing and future climate...
By
Chesapeake Bay Activities, Eastern Ecological Science Center
Observed monitoring data and predictive modelling help understand ongoing and future vulnerability of Chesapeake Bay watershed stream fish communities to climate and land-use change

Observed monitoring data and predictive modelling help understand ongoing and future vulnerability of Chesapeake Bay watershed stream fish communities to climate and land-use change

Issue: The Chesapeake Bay Watershed (CBW) is experiencing effects of climate (warming temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns) and land-use/land-cover (LULC; transition from forest or agriculture to developed lands) change, and these trends are likely to continue under future scenarios of warming and population growth. Stream biodiversity may be vulnerable to ongoing and future climate...
Learn More
USGS

Communicating stream fish vulnerability to climate change

We will develop a vulnerability assessment R Shiny web application and present to stakeholders. The stakeholder feedback will be summarized into a one page ‘lessons learned’ document that will assist researchers in designing effective climate change visualizations and an R markdown ‘quick start’ guide on R Shiny applications.
By
Chesapeake Bay Activities, Community for Data Integration (CDI)
Communicating stream fish vulnerability to climate change

Communicating stream fish vulnerability to climate change

We will develop a vulnerability assessment R Shiny web application and present to stakeholders. The stakeholder feedback will be summarized into a one page ‘lessons learned’ document that will assist researchers in designing effective climate change visualizations and an R markdown ‘quick start’ guide on R Shiny applications.
Learn More

Towards an integrated theory of body size distributions, life history and functional traits, and environmental flows in freshwater ecosystems Towards an integrated theory of body size distributions, life history and functional traits, and environmental flows in freshwater ecosystems

Efforts to quantify and explain individual size distributions (ISD) are prominent in ecological research and potentially for applications to management which increasingly consider ecosystem-scale objectives. We use a nation-wide database of individual size measurements for United States stream fishes paired with species’ traits and test for direct and indirect effects of traits, flow...
By
Eastern Ecological Science Center

Attributes for NHDPlus Version 2.1 Catchments and Modified Routing of Upstream Watersheds for Selected Regions of the Conterminous United States Attributes for NHDPlus Version 2.1 Catchments and Modified Routing of Upstream Watersheds for Selected Regions of the Conterminous United States

This metadata record describes a series of data sets of climate and land-use/land-cover features (provided in parquet file format) linked to NHDPlus Version 2.1’s (NHDPlusV2) stream segments, their associated catchments and their upstream watersheds within selected regions in the conterminous United States. All data can be linked to NHDPlusV2 using the COMID field in these tables and the...
By
Eastern Ecological Science Center

Evaluating the effectiveness of joint species distribution modeling for riverine fish communities Evaluating the effectiveness of joint species distribution modeling for riverine fish communities

Species Distribution Models (JSDMs) allow for accounting for both environmental predictors and species dependencies within a single statistical modeling frameworks. However, it is unclear under what conditions incorporating residual species dependencies (conditional predictions) might outperform predictions made using only environmental information (marginal predictions). Here, we...
By
Cooperative Research Units

Data from Assessing the added value of antecedent streamflow alteration in modelling stream condition Data from Assessing the added value of antecedent streamflow alteration in modelling stream condition

The dataset contains long-term and short-term summaries of streamflow alteration and measures of biological condition (fish multi-metric index). Streamflow alteration metrics include the magnitude, duration, frequency, and seasonality of high and low flow streamflow. Biological condition was estimated from the National Rivers and Streams Assessment and National Water Quality Assessment...
By
Eastern Ecological Science Center

“ChesBay 24k – LU": Land Use/Land Cover Related Data Summaries for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Within NHD Plus HR catchments (ver. 3.0, August 2025) “ChesBay 24k – LU": Land Use/Land Cover Related Data Summaries for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Within NHD Plus HR catchments (ver. 3.0, August 2025)

These tabular data are the summarization of land use/land cover related variables within the Chesapeake Bay watershed using the xstrm methodology bringing these data to the 1:24,000 scale. Variables being counted as land use/land cover related include all land use and land cover data. This also contains datasets that are split off or combined from source data (eg. agriculture or...
By
Chesapeake Bay Activities, Eastern Ecological Science Center

“ChesBay 24k – NE": Natural Environment Related Data Summaries for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Within NHD Plus HR catchments (ver. 4.0, August 2025) “ChesBay 24k – NE": Natural Environment Related Data Summaries for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Within NHD Plus HR catchments (ver. 4.0, August 2025)

These tabular data are the summarization of natural environment related variables within catchments of the Chesapeake Bay watershed at the 1:24,000 scale using the xstrm methodology. Variables being counted as natural environment related include soils/geology, lithology, elevation, slope, stream gradient, landform (geomorphon) and others. Outputs include tabular comma-separated values...
By
Chesapeake Bay Activities, Eastern Ecological Science Center

“ChesBay 24k – CL": Climate Related Data Summaries for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Within NHD Plus HR catchments (ver. 4.0, August 2025) “ChesBay 24k – CL": Climate Related Data Summaries for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Within NHD Plus HR catchments (ver. 4.0, August 2025)

These tabular data are the summarization of climate related variables within catchments of the Chesapeake Bay watershed at the 1:24,000 scale using the xstrm methodology. Variables being counted as climate related include temperature and precipitation by both annual and monthly timesteps. Outputs include tabular comma-separated values files (CSVs) and parquet formatted files for the...
By
Chesapeake Bay Activities, Eastern Ecological Science Center

“ChesBay 24k – HU": Human Related Data Summaries for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Within NHD Plus HR catchments (ver. 3.0, August 2025) “ChesBay 24k – HU": Human Related Data Summaries for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Within NHD Plus HR catchments (ver. 3.0, August 2025)

These tabular data are the summarization of human related variables within catchments of the Chesapeake Bay watershed at the 1:24,000 scale using the xstrm methodology. Variables being counted as human related include agriculture, barriers, road density, pesticide, and road/stream crossing data. Outputs include tabular comma-separated values files (CSVs), and parquet formatted files for...
By
Eastern Ecological Science Center
USGS staff in official green hat and shirt presenting on benthic macroinvertebrates during the Congressional Event
Taylor Woods presenting at first station of Congressional Event
Taylor Woods presenting at first station of Congressional Event
USGS staff in official green hat and shirt presenting on benthic macroinvertebrates during the Congressional Event

Taylor Woods presenting at first station of Congressional Event

Taylor Woods presenting at first station of Congressional Event

Taylor Woods presents at the first station on stream ecology and benthic macroinvertebrates during the Congressional Event at Patuxent Research Refuge 

By
Eastern Ecological Science Center, Eastern Ecological Science Center
USGS staff in official green hat and shirt presenting on benthic macroinvertebrates during the Congressional Event

Taylor Woods presenting at first station of Congressional Event

Taylor Woods presenting at first station of Congressional Event

Taylor Woods presents at the first station on stream ecology and benthic macroinvertebrates during the Congressional Event at Patuxent Research Refuge 

By
Eastern Ecological Science Center, Eastern Ecological Science Center

Integrating theory and empirical patterns: Fish body size distributions, life history traits, and environmental flows in streams Integrating theory and empirical patterns: Fish body size distributions, life history traits, and environmental flows in streams

Individual size distributions (ISDs) are prominent in ecological research and may support resource managers with ecosystem-scale objectives. We use a database of individual size measurements for US stream fishes to test for direct and indirect effects of traits, flow regimes, and land use on the interspecific ISD exponent. Path analysis indicates that traits have strong, direct effects...
Authors
Taylor Woods, Daniel J. McGarvey, Matthew J. Cashman, Michael R. Meador, Daren M. Carlisle, Ken Eng, Darin A. Kopp, Kelly O. Maloney
By
Eastern Ecological Science Center

Diverging fish biodiversity trends in cold and warm rivers and streams Diverging fish biodiversity trends in cold and warm rivers and streams

Worldwide, freshwater systems contain more than 18,000 fish species1,2,3, which are critical to the functioning of these ecosystems4 and are vital cultural and economic resources to humans5,6,7; despite this value, fish biodiversity is at risk globally8,9. In the USA, leading threats to fish communities in rivers and streams include climate change and invasive fish introductions and game...
Authors
Samantha L. Rumschlag, Brian Gallagher, Ryan Hill, Ralf B. Schafer, Travis S. Schmidt, Taylor Woods, Darin A. Kopp, Michael Dumelle, Jason Rohr, Frederik De Laender, Joel Hoffman, Jonathan Behrens, Ryan Lepak, Devin Jones, Michael Mahon
By
Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

Stressor-driven changes in freshwater biological indicators inform spatial management strategies using expert knowledge, observational data, and hierarchical models Stressor-driven changes in freshwater biological indicators inform spatial management strategies using expert knowledge, observational data, and hierarchical models

Stream ecosystems face continuous pressures from multiple anthropogenic stressors that reshape biological communities and impact ecosystem health and services. Managers can encounter challenges in stewarding ecosystems threatened by multiple stressors, in part because most multiple stressor studies are experimental and, while valuable, offer limited management relevance in targeting...
Authors
Sean Cassian Emmons, Matthew J. Cashman, Rosemary M. Fanelli, Greg Pond, Gregory E. Noe, Taylor Woods, Kelly O. Maloney
By
Chesapeake Bay Activities, Eastern Ecological Science Center

Causal inference approaches reveal both positive and negative unintended effects of agricultural and urban management practices on instream biological condition Causal inference approaches reveal both positive and negative unintended effects of agricultural and urban management practices on instream biological condition

Agricultural and urban management practices (MPs) are primarily designed and implemented to reduce nutrient and sediment concentrations in streams. However, there is growing interest in determining if MPs produce any unintended positive effects, or co-benefits, to instream biological and habitat conditions. Identifying co-benefits is challenging though because of confounding variables (i...
Authors
Sean Cassian Emmons, Taylor Woods, Matthew J. Cashman, Olivia Devereux, Gregory E. Noe, John A. Young, Scott Stranko, Jay V. Kilian, Katherine Hanna, Kelly O. Maloney
By
Chesapeake Bay Activities, Eastern Ecological Science Center

Evaluating the effectiveness of joint species distribution modeling for fresh water fish communities within large watersheds Evaluating the effectiveness of joint species distribution modeling for fresh water fish communities within large watersheds

Accurately predicting species’ distributions is critical for the management and conservation of fish and wildlife populations. Joint Species Distribution Models (JSDMs) account for dependencies between species often ignored by traditional species distribution models. We evaluated how a JSDM approach could improve predictive strength for stream fish communities within large watersheds...
Authors
Paul McLaughlin, Kevin Krause, Kelly O. Maloney, Taylor Woods, Tyler Wagner
By
Cooperative Research Units, Chesapeake Bay Activities, Eastern Ecological Science Center

Assessing the added value of antecedent streamflow alteration information in modeling stream biological condition Assessing the added value of antecedent streamflow alteration information in modeling stream biological condition

In stream systems, disentangling relationships between biology and flow and subsequent prediction of these relationships to unsampled streams is a common objective of large-scale ecological modeling. Often, streamflow metrics are derived from aggregating continuous streamflow records available at a subset of stream gages into long-term flow regime descriptors. Despite demonstrated value
Authors
Taylor Woods, Ken Eng, Daren M. Carlisle, Matthew J. Cashman, Michael R. Meador, Karen R. Ryberg, Kelly O. Maloney
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Dakota Water Science Center

Observed and projected functional reorganization of riverine fish assemblages from global change Observed and projected functional reorganization of riverine fish assemblages from global change

Climate and land-use/land-cover change (‘global change’) are restructuring biodiversity, globally. Broadly, environmental conditions are expected to become warmer, potentially drier (particularly in arid regions), and more anthropogenically developed in the future, with spatiotemporally complex effects on ecological communities. We used functional traits to inform Chesapeake Bay...
Authors
Taylor Woods, Mary Freeman, Kevin P. Krause, Kelly O. Maloney
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Chesapeake Bay Activities, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

Influence of grain size and shape on volcanic ash electrical conductivity Influence of grain size and shape on volcanic ash electrical conductivity

Few studies have examined the electrical properties of volcanic ash or considered the effects of physical characteristics, such as grain size and shape on its electrification. This study measures the resistivity of eight volcanic ash samples, three milled-samples and five natural ashfall samples from Alaska, U.S.A., using a current amplifier and examines the influence of particle size...
Authors
Taylor Woods, Kimberly Genareau, Kristi L. Wallace
By
Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center

Non-USGS Publications**

Woods, T., Kaz, A., & Giam, X. (2022). Phenology in freshwaters: A review and recommendations for future research. Ecography, 2022(6), e05564. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.05564.
Woods, T., Comte, L., Tedesco, P. A., & Giam, X. (2020). Testing the diversity–biomass relationship in riverine fish communities. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 29(10), 1743-1757. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13147.
McGarvey, D. J., Woods, T. E., & Kirk, A. J. (2019). Modeling the Size Spectrum for Macroinvertebrates and Fishes in Stream Ecosystems. JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments), (149), e59945. https://dx.doi.org/10.3791/59945.
Woods, T., & McGarvey, D. J. (2018). Assessing the relative influences of abiotic and biotic factors on American eel Anguilla rostrata distribution using hydrologic, physical habitat, and functional trait data. Ecography, 41(12), 2067-2079. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.03782.
McGarvey, D. J., Menon, M., Woods, T., Tassone, S., Reese, J., Vergamini, M., & Kellogg, E. (2018). On the use of climate covariates in aquatic species distribution models: are we at risk of throwing out the baby with the bath water?. Ecography, 41(4), 695-712. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.03134.

**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.

Ecoflows body size analysis Ecoflows body size analysis

The code repository has been produced by the CONUS Ecological Flows project and contains scripts to run an analysis of fish body size relationships with flow regimes, functional traits, and land-use. This code can be run with the input dataset found from Woods (2025).
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Eastern Ecological Science Center

Evaluating the effectiveness of joint species distribution modeling for riverine fish communities Evaluating the effectiveness of joint species distribution modeling for riverine fish communities

Species Distribution Models (JSDMs) allow for accounting for both environmental predictors and species dependencies within a single statistical modeling frameworks. However, it is unclear under what conditions incorporating residual species dependencies (conditional predictions) might outperform predictions made using only environmental information (marginal predictions). Here, we...
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Cooperative Research Units
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