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
Evidence for a growing population of eastern migratory monarch butterflies is currently insufficient
Challenges for leveraging citizen science to support statistically robust monitoring programs
Recovery planning in a dynamic system: Integrating uncertainty into a decision support tool for an endangered songbird
Is the timing, pace and success of the monarch migration associated with sun angle?
Quantifying source and sink habitats and pathways in spatially structured populations: A generalized modelling approach
Willingness to pay for conservation of transborder migratory species: A case study of the Mexican free-tailed bat in the United States and Mexico
Balancing sampling intensity against spatial coverage for a community science monitoring programme
A Methodology to Assess the National and Regional Impacts of U.S. Wind Energy Development on Birds and Bats
Handbook to the partners in flight population estimates database, version 3.0
The integrated monarch monitoring program: From design to implementation
Top-down effect of repatriating bald eagles hinder jointly recovering competitors
Consequences of ignoring spatial variation in population trend when conducting a power analysis
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Evidence for a growing population of eastern migratory monarch butterflies is currently insufficient
The eastern migratory population of monarch butterflies has experienced a multi-decadal decline, but a recent increase in abundance (to 6.05 ha in winter 2018) has led some observers to question whether the population has reversed its long-standing decline and embarked on a trajectory of increasing abundance. We examined this possibility through changepoint analyses, first assessing whether a chanAuthorsWayne E. Thogmartin, Jennifer A Szymanski, Emily L. WeiserChallenges for leveraging citizen science to support statistically robust monitoring programs
Large samples and long time series are often needed for effective broad-scale monitoring of status and trends in wild populations. Obtaining those sample sizes can be more feasible when volunteers contribute to the dataset, but volunteer-selected sites are not always representative of a population. Previous work to account for biased site selection has relied on knowledge of covariates to explainAuthorsEmily L. Weiser, James E. Diffendorfer, Laura Lopez-Hoffman, Darius J. Semmens, Wayne E. ThogmartinRecovery planning in a dynamic system: Integrating uncertainty into a decision support tool for an endangered songbird
Along the Santa Clara River in California, populations of the federally and state-listed Least Bell's Vireo (Vireo bellii pusillus) are recovering from near extirpation. Habitat protection and restoration, as well as controlling rates of brood parasitism, are thought to be the primary drivers of this recovery. Continuing successful management of this population faces multiple challenges due to theAuthorsJessica Stanton, Jenny Marek, Linnea S. Hall, Barbara E. Kus, Allison Alvarado, Bruce K. Orr, Eric Morrissette, Laura Riege, Wayne E. ThogmartinIs 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 tagAuthorsOrley R. Taylor, James P Lovett, David L Gibo, Emily L. Weiser, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Darius J. Semmens, James E. Diffendorfer, John M. Pleasants, Samuel Pecoraro, Ralph GrundelQuantifying source and sink habitats and pathways in spatially structured populations: A generalized modelling approach
The ability to classify habitats and movement pathways as sources or sinks is an important part of the decision making process for the conservation of spatially structured populations. Diverse approaches have been used to quantify the importance of habitats and pathways in a spatial network, however these approaches have been limited by a lack of general applicability across life histories and movAuthorsJames E. Diffendorfer, Christine Sample, Joanna A Beiri, Benjamin L. Allen, Yulia Dementieva, Alyssa Carson, Connar Higgins, Sadie Piatt, Shirley Qiu, Summer Stafford, Brady J. Mattsson, Darius J. Semmens, Wayne E. ThogmartinWillingness to pay for conservation of transborder migratory species: A case study of the Mexican free-tailed bat in the United States and Mexico
We estimated U.S. and Mexican citizens’ willingness to pay (WTP) for protecting habitat for a transborder migratory species, the Mexican free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis mexicana), using the contingent valuation method. Few contingent valuation surveys have evaluated whether households in one country would pay to protect habitat in another country. This study addresses that gap. In our studyAuthorsMichelle Haefele, John B. Loomis, Robert W. Merideth, Aaron M. Lien, Darius J. Semmens, Jim Dubovsky, Ruscena Wiederholt, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Ta-Ken Huang, Gary McCracken, Laura Lopez-Hoffman, Rodrigo Medellin, James E. DiffendorferBalancing 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 essentiAuthorsEmily L. Weiser, Jay E. Diffendorfer, Ralph Grundel, Laura Lopez Hoffman, Samuel Pecoraro, Darius J. Semmens, Wayne E. ThogmartinA Methodology to Assess the National and Regional Impacts of U.S. Wind Energy Development on Birds and Bats
This scientific investigations report describes an effort by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) that used research, monitoring data, and modeling to develop a methodology to assess both the current and future population-level consequences of wind energy development on species of birds and bats that are present in the United States during any part of their life cycle. The methodology is currently apAuthorsJames E. Diffendorfer, J.A. Beston, Matthew D. Merrill, Jessica C. Stanton, M.D. Corum, S.R. Loss, W.E. Thogmartin, D.H. Johnson, R.A. Erickson, K.W. HeistHandbook to the partners in flight population estimates database, version 3.0
This document describes the content of Version 3.0 of the Partners in Flight (PIF) Population Estimates Database, which provides population estimates for breeding USA/Canada landbirds at several geographic scales following the Partners in Flight approach described initially in Rich et al. (2004) and by Rosenberg and Blancher (2005) and most recently refined by Stanton et al. (2019). The Handbook aAuthorsTom Will, Jessica C. Stanton, Kenneth V. Rosenberg, Arvind O. Panjabi, Alaine Camfield, Allison Shaw, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Peter J. BlancherThe 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 ecologicaAuthorsAlison B Cariveau, Holly L Holt, James P Ward, Laura Lukens, Kyle Kasten, Jennifer Thieme, Wendy Caldwell, Karen Tuerk, Kristen A Baum, Pauline Drobney, Ryan G. Drum, Ralph Grundel, Keith Hamilton, Cindy Hoang, Karen Kinkead, Julie McIntyre, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Tenlea Turner, Emily L. Weiser, Karen OberhauserTop-down effect of repatriating bald eagles hinder jointly recovering competitors
1. The recovery of piscivorous birds around the world is touted as one of the great conservation successes of the 21st century, but for some species, this success was short-lived. Bald eagles, ospreys, and great blue herons began repatriating Voyageurs National Park, USA, in the mid-20th century. However, after 1990, only eagles continued their recovery, while osprey and heron recovery failed forAuthorsJennyffer Cruz, Steve K. Windels, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Shawn M. Crimmins, Leland H. Grim, James H. Larson, Benjamin ZuckerbergConsequences of ignoring spatial variation in population trend when conducting a power analysis
Long-term, large-scale monitoring programs are becoming increasingly common to document status and trends of wild populations. A successful program for monitoring population trend hinges on the ability to detect the trend of interest. Power analyses are useful for quantifying the sample size needed for trend detection, given expected variation in the population. Four components of variation (withiAuthorsEmily L. Weiser, James E. Diffendorfer, Laura Lopez-Hoffman, Darius J. Semmens, Wayne E. Thogmartin - Web Tools
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