Wayne E Thogmartin, PhD
I am a quantitative ecologist conducting scholarly research at the intersection of animal ecology, spatial analyses, and statistics.
My interests are in population ecology for animals declining in abundance, asking new questions of multiple, combined data sets to gain novel insight into the dynamics of animal populations, and translating science into guidance for practical management decisions.
Professional Experience
2014 to the present Research Ecologist, US Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, La Crosse, Wisconsin 54603
2002 to 2014 Research Statistician (Biology), US Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, La Crosse, Wisconsin 54603
1995 Wildlife Biologist, United States Forest Service, Forestry Sciences Lab
Education and Certifications
PhD, Zoology, Southern Illinois University, May, 2002
MS, Zoology, University of Arkansas, May, 1998
BA, Ecology / Behavior / Evolution, University of California, San Diego, June, 1990
Science and Products
Assessing the sensitivity of avian species abundance to land cover and climate
A management-oriented framework for selecting metrics used to assess habitat- and path-specific quality in spatially structured populations
Developing population models with data from marked individuals
Quasi-extinction risk and population targets for the Eastern, migratory population of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus)
The pace of past climate change vs. potential bird distributions and land use in the United States
Factors affecting nest survival of Henslow's Sparrows (Ammodramus henslowii) in southern Indiana
Evaluation of downscaled, gridded climate data for the conterminous United States
Effects of wind energy generation and white-nose syndrome on the viability of the Indiana bat
Assessing local population vulnerability to wind energy development with branching process models: an application to wind energy development
Evaluating predictors of local dabbling duck abundance during migration: Managing the spectrum of conditions faced by migrants
Winter habitat associations of blackbirds and starlings wintering in the south-central United States
Flexible risk metrics for identifying and monitoring conservation-priority species
Science and Products
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Assessing the sensitivity of avian species abundance to land cover and climate
Climate projections for the Midwestern United States predict southerly climates to shift northward. These shifts in climate could alter distributions of species across North America through changes in climate (i.e., temperature and precipitation), or through climate-induced changes on land cover. Our objective was to determine the relative impacts of land cover and climate on the abundance of fiveAuthorsJaymi J. LeBrun, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Frank R. Thompson, William D. Dijak, Joshua J. MillspaughA management-oriented framework for selecting metrics used to assess habitat- and path-specific quality in spatially structured populations
Mobile species with complex spatial dynamics can be difficult to manage because their population distributions vary across space and time, and because the consequences of managing particular habitats are uncertain when evaluated at the level of the entire population. Metrics to assess the importance of habitats and pathways connecting habitats in a network are necessary to guide a variety of managAuthorsSam Nicol, Ruscena Wiederholt, James E. Diffendorfer, Brady J. Mattsson, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Darius J. Semmens, Laura Lopez-Hoffman, Ryan NorrisDeveloping population models with data from marked individuals
Population viability analysis (PVA) is a powerful tool for biodiversity assessments, but its use has been limited because of the requirements for fully specified population models such as demographic structure, density-dependence, environmental stochasticity, and specification of uncertainties. Developing a fully specified population model from commonly available data sources – notably, mark–recapAuthorsHae Yeong Ryu, Kevin T. Shoemaker, Eva Kneip, Anna Pidgeon, Patricia Heglund, Brooke Bateman, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Reşit AkçakayaQuasi-extinction risk and population targets for the Eastern, migratory population of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus)
The Eastern, migratory population of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus), an iconic North American insect, has declined by ~80% over the last decade. The monarch’s multi-generational migration between overwintering grounds in central Mexico and the summer breeding grounds in the northern U.S. and southern Canada is celebrated in all three countries and creates shared management responsibilitiesAuthorsBrice X. Semmens, Darius J. Semmens, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Ruscena Wiederholt, Laura Lopez-Hoffman, James E. Diffendorfer, John M. Pleasants, Karen S. Oberhauser, Orley R. TaylorThe pace of past climate change vs. potential bird distributions and land use in the United States
Climate change may drastically alter patterns of species distributions and richness, but predicting future species patterns in occurrence is challenging. Significant shifts in distributions have already been observed, and understanding these recent changes can improve our understanding of potential future changes. We assessed how past climate change affected potential breeding distributions for laAuthorsBrooke L. Bateman, Anna M. Pidgeon, Volker C. Radeloff, Jeremy VanDerWal, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Stephen J. Vavrus, Patricia J. HeglundFactors affecting nest survival of Henslow's Sparrows (Ammodramus henslowii) in southern Indiana
Populations of Henslow’s Sparrows have declined dramatically in recent decades, coinciding with widespread loss of native grassland habitat. Prescribed burning is a primary tool for maintaining grassland patches, but its effects on nest survival of Henslow’s Sparrows remains largely unknown, especially in conjunction with other factors. We monitored 135 nests of Henslow’s Sparrows at Big Oaks NatiAuthorsShawn M. Crimmins, Patrick C. McKann, Joseph R. Robb, Jason P. Lewis, Teresa Vanosdol, Benjamin A. Walker, Perry J. Williams, Wayne E. ThogmartinEvaluation of downscaled, gridded climate data for the conterminous United States
Weather and climate affect many ecological processes, making spatially continuous yet fine-resolution weather data desirable for ecological research and predictions. Numerous downscaled weather data sets exist, but little attempt has been made to evaluate them systematically. Here we address this shortcoming by focusing on four major questions: (1) How accurate are downscaled, gridded climate dataAuthorsRobert J. Behnke, Stephen J. Vavrus, Andrew Allstadt, Thomas P. Albright, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Volker C. RadeloffEffects of wind energy generation and white-nose syndrome on the viability of the Indiana bat
Wind energy generation holds the potential to adversely affect wildlife populations. Species-wide effects are difficult to study and few, if any, studies examine effects of wind energy generation on any species across its entire range. One species that may be affected by wind energy generation is the endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis), which is found in the eastern and midwestern United StateAuthorsRichard A. Erickson, Wayne E. Thogmartin, James E. Diffendorfer, Robin E. Russell, Jennifer A. SzymanskiAssessing local population vulnerability to wind energy development with branching process models: an application to wind energy development
Quantifying the impact of anthropogenic development on local populations is important for conservation biology and wildlife management. However, these local populations are often subject to demographic stochasticity because of their small population size. Traditional modeling efforts such as population projection matrices do not consider this source of variation whereas individual-based models, whAuthorsRichard A. Erickson, Eric A. Eager, Jessica C. Stanton, Julie A. Beston, James E. Diffendorfer, Wayne E. ThogmartinEvaluating predictors of local dabbling duck abundance during migration: Managing the spectrum of conditions faced by migrants
The development of robust modelling techniques to derive inferences from large-scale migratory bird monitoring data at appropriate scales has direct relevance to their management. The Integrated Waterbird Management and Monitoring programme (IWMM) represents one of the few attempts to monitor migrating waterbirds across entire flyways using targeted local surveys. This dataset included 13,208,785AuthorsKevin Aagaard, Shawn M. Crimmins, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Brian G. Tavernia, James E. LyonsWinter habitat associations of blackbirds and starlings wintering in the south-central United States
Birds can cause extensive crop damage in the United States. In some regions, depredating species comprise a substantial portion of the total avian population, emphasizing their importance both economically and ecologically. We used the National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count data from the south-central United States and mixed-effects models to identify habitat factors associated with populatAuthorsMatthew Strassburg, Shawn M. Crimmins, Patrick C. McKann, Wayne E. ThogmartinFlexible risk metrics for identifying and monitoring conservation-priority species
Region-specific conservation programs should have objective, reliable metrics for species prioritization and progress evaluation that are customizable to the goals of a program, easy to comprehend and communicate, and standardized across time. Regional programs may have vastly different goals, spatial coverage, or management agendas, and one-size-fits-all schemes may not always be the best approacAuthorsJessica C. Stanton, Brice X. Semmens, Patrick C. McKann, Tom Will, Wayne E. Thogmartin - Web Tools
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