Biodiversity Assessment and Monitoring Course Instructor Biographies
Areas of Instruction
Aquatics
Reid Harris, Ph.D.
Professor James Madison University
Dr. Harris, who has been studying the population biology of amphibians for 20 years, is a professor of biology at James Madison University. Since 1993 he has also been studying the wet tropics of Australia. Dr. Harris holds a BS and Ph.D. from Duke University and a MS from Maryland University.
Krista Madaris, Ph.D. Candidate
Research Assistant James Madison University
Krista is currently researching amphibian developmental stability analysis in pursuit of her Ph.D. at James Madison University. She is also a Virginia Anuran Call Monitoring Coordinator. Krista holds a BS and MS from Old Dominion University and James Madison University.
Dan Everson, MS
Technical Trainer/Staff Biologist, National
Conservation Training Center, US Fish & Wildlife Service
Dan
has been teaching water density and abiotic measurement techniques
for the aquatic ecology portion of MAB's Biodiversity Assessment
and Monitoring for Adaptive Management Course since 1995.
A technical trainer and staff biologist at the US Fish and
Wildlife Service's National Conservation Training Center in
West Virginia, Dan has a BS in geology from the University
of Wisconsin and a MS in environmental biology from Hood College.
Dan has also worked for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and
Sequoia National Park as a watershed and forestry researcher.
David Lemarie
Fisheries Biologist, Biological Resources
Division, US Geological Survey
David
Lemarie, a MAB course instructor since 1994, is a research
fishery biologist with the Leetown Science Center of the Biological
Resources Division of the US Geological Survey. Dave has a
B.S. in fisheries biology from Cornell University, and has
nearly completed a M.S. in environmental biology at Hood College
(Maryland). He teaches sections on aquatic habitats, fish
diversity, and fish sampling techniques. His research areas
include assessment of fish community structure, fish systematics,
and development of survey methods and tagging techniques for
freshwater mussels.
"It is especially rewarding to realize that, through this course, I may be making a small contribution to the preservation of biodiversity at a global level," David explains of his participation in the MAB course.
Craig Snyder, Ph.D.
Research Ecologist, Biological Resources
Division, US Geological Survey
Dr.
Snyder, a MAB course instructor since 1995, is a research
ecologist with the Leetown Science Center of the Biological
Resources Division of the US Geological Survey. With a BS
in biology from Berry College (Georgia) and a Ph.D. in biology
from Virginia Tech, he teaches sections on aquatic biodiversity,
sampling design, and aquatic invertebrate sampling techniques.
Dr. Synder's current research focuses on quantifying the role
that land-water linkages play in structuring stream and wetland
communities. For example, he is researching into how landscape
patterns affect pond-breeding amphibians and how human- and
forest pest-induced changes to the landscape affect biological
integrity and biodiversity of fish and aquatic invertebrate
communities. He finds teaching through MAB fulfilling and
educational. "Teaching this course has forced me to take
a broader perspective of aquatic biodiversity issues, and
I particularly appreciate the opportunity to discuss ecological
issues with people from all over the world," he says.
Alan Temple, Ph.D.
Course Leader/Fisheries Biologist, National
Conservation Training Center, US Fish & Wildlife Service
Dr.
Temple, a MAB course instructor since 1995, develops aquatic
resource conservation and management courses for the National
Conservation Training Center of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service. His educational background includes a B.S. in biology
from Western Kentucky University, a M.S. in wildlife management
from Texas Tech University, and a Ph.D. in fisheries and wildlife
sciences from Virginia Tech. His dissertation research focused
on the effects of land uses on physical and chemical riverine
habitats and corresponding changes to fish assemblages. Along
with 3 other aquatic biologists from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service and the U.S. Geological Survey, Dr. Temple team-teaches
the three-day MAB session on "Monitoring Aquatic Biodiversity."
He states, "I always look forward to helping teach the
MAB session. Hearing the diverse perspectives and situations
as well as the insightful comments from the participants and
other instructors is a great learning experience. Since few
participants are aquatic biologists, it is a wonderful opportunity
to provide some knowledge and skills in monitoring aquatic
systems that hopefully will make an improvement in a country's
capability to manage their streams and lakes."
Richard Vari, Ph.D.
Research Scientists and Curator Division
of Fishes, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian
Institution
Since 1980 Dr. Vari has been a research scientist and curator for the National Museum of Natural History, a part of the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Vari, who did his studies at the City University of New York, has extensive field experience in Europe, Asia, and South and North America.
Ruth A. Beck
Associate Professor of Biology, Department
of Biology, College of William & Mary
A
Department of Biology faculty member since 1969 at the College
of William and Mary, Ruth has vast experience teaching ornithology
of the tropics. She is currently studying how to protect piping
plovers, least terns and black skimmers in parts of Virginia.
In collaboration with the Virginia Coast Reserve and The Nature
Conservancy she has studied water birds along the Virginia
barrier island system for over 20 years. In addition, she
is an active member of the Virginia Society of Ornithology,
the Colonial Waterbird Society and the Wintergreen Nature
Foundation, and has won several public service awards for
her conservation work.
Ruth's main research interests include studying the ecology,
behavior and population dynamics of wading birds and seabirds
(terns, herons, gulls and skimmers); the biological monitoring
of colonial water birds; the biology of endangered and threatened
species (piping plover and least terns); and the implementation
of management strategies and the evaluation of political and
economic policies affecting endangered and threatened avian
species.
Keith Bildstein
Director of Research, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary
Keith
L. Bildstein, Director of Research and Education at the Hawk
Mountain Sanctuary in Kempton, Pennsylvania, has been with
the Sanctuary since 1992. His responsibilities include the
following: overseeing Sanctuary research and education; coordinating
the activities of Sanctuary interns, graduate students, and
visiting scientists; managing the Sanctuary's expanding database
network; and interacting with national and international colleagues
in ecology and conservation, nationally and internationally.
Keith is currently analyzing the impact of the Sanctuary's
long-term migration database, the ecology and conservation
of the world's migratory raptors, and the wintering, breeding,
and migration ecology of American Kestrels in farmlands surrounding
the Sanctuary. He has been instructing MAB course participants
in raptor and wading bird monitoring techniques since 1995.
Keith received his B.S. in Biology from Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania and his Masters and Ph.D. in Zoology from the Ohio State University. His graduate studies focused on the behavioral ecology of Red-tailed Hawks, Rough-legged Hawks, Northern Harriers, and American Kestrels wintering in south-central Ohio farmlands. Keith is currently Adjunct Professor of Wildlife Biology at the State University of New York-Syracuse. He has also taught at the College of William and Mary and at Winthrop University. Bildstein is author or co-author of 3 books and 70 papers in ecology and conservation, including 35 papers on raptors.
Keith is a past president of the Wilson Ornithological Society and the Colonial Waterbird Society, and has served on the boards of directors of the Raptor Research Foundation and the American Ornithologists' Union. He currently serves as vice president of the Raptor Research Foundation. In addition, Bildstein has organized the scientific programs of six national and two international ornithological meetings. He currently oversees Hawk Aloft Worldwide, a global conservation initiative that focuses on protecting the world's migratory raptors.
“The course allows me to interact with like-mined conservationists worldwide, who, working together, are better able to protect long-distance migrants including raptors”, Bildestein explains of why he participates in the MAB course.
Daniel R. Petit, Ph.D.
Wildlife Biologist, Office of Migratory
Bird Management, US Fish & Wildlife Service
For
the last 20 years, Dr. Petit, a wildlife biologist with the
US Fish and Wildlife Service's Office of Migratory Bird Management,
has studied bird conservation and management around the world,
including in 16 US states, Belize and Panama. Currently he
is the national coordinator for USFW's Neotropical Migratory
Bird program. As the USFW liaison to the Partners in Flight
program, Dr. Petit is heavily involved in the development
of a North American bird conservation strategy called "The
Flight Plan," as well as other national and international
initiatives. Before coming to USFW, he researched the importance
of forest connectivity to migrating birds with the Smithsonian
Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Maryland. Dr.
Petit's other research has focused on the habitat use and
foraging behavior of migratory birds and the implications
of altered landscapes on bird populations. Dr. Petit has a
BS in biology from Kent State University, a MS in zoology
form The Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. in zoology from
the University of Arkansas.
Jim Siegel, MS
Wildlife Course Leader National Conservation
Training Center, US Fish & Wildlife Service
Jim
has been the coordinator of the MAB Biodiversity course bird
section for 5 years. He holds BS and MS degrees in wildlife
sciences from Cornell University and the University of Arizona,
respectively. Currently he teaches biology at Yavapai College
in Prescott, Arizona.
Jim worked for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for 7 years as a refuge biologist and a course leader at the National Conservation Training Center in West Virginia. His specialty is forest birds, with additional strong interests in amphibians and reptiles. Jim was also U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Botswana, Africa, for 2 and a half years working as the game warden of Gemsbok National Park in the Kalahari region. He has worked for the U.S. Department of the Interior on short-term projects in Uganda and India, and tested point count techniques as part of the MAB Urubamba, Peru, bird monitoring group.
Jim enjoys learning about other cultures, basketball and singing. "In a small, but significant way, the MAB course gives me an opportunity to contribute to biodiversity monitoring and conservation worldwide. If I can help train you to organize bird monitoring in your protected area or encourage you to spread the word about the need to monitor and conserve birds in your home countries, I will have achieved my goal."
Conceptual Framework Instructors
Gary E. Davis, MS
MS Research Marine Biologist National
Biological Service, US Department of the Interior
Gary
is the Senior Scientist at Channel Islands National Park in
Ventura, California. He designs, conducts and evaluates ecological
studies that guide national park stewardship. In addition,
he explores ways to sustain biodiversity and fisheries in
coastal parks. Finally, he consults world-wide on ecosystem
health monitoring, national park research and management,
and marine invertebrate fisheries. Gary holds a BS and MS
in biology from San Diego State College.
Gary began his work with the National Park Services in 1964, and has worked in the US Virgin Islands and the Florida Everglades. He has authored more than 120 articles, books and reports on such diverse topics as marine protected areas, lobster and abalone fisheries, sea turtle conservation, coral reef dynamics, kelp forest ecology and ecological monitoring. In addition, he has helped more than a dozen national parks design comprehensive, site-specific monitoring programs.
Thomas E. Blount, MS
Supervisory Ecologist, Shenandoah National
Park, US National Park Service
A
supervisory ecologist at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia,
Thomas also has experience as a forester and college instructor.
He has a BS in forestry from the University of Georgia and
a MS from Virginia Tech.
Thomas E. Lovejoy, Ph.D.
Counselor to the Secretary, Biodiversity
and Environmental
Since
1994 Dr. Lovejoy, a tropical and conservation biologist, has
been the Counselor to the Secretary for Biodiversity and Environmental
Affairs for the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Lovejoy, one
of the world's leading proponents in the struggle to conserve
biodiversity, is credited with having made the problem of
the unprecedented loss of the world's tropical forests a public
issue. He began his work in the Brazilian Amazon in 1965.
Through his Ph.D. work at Yale University he introduced the
technique of banding to Brazil and identified patterns of
community structure in the first long term study of birds
in the Amazon. From 1973 to 1987 he directed World Wildlife
Fund-US and was responsible for its scientific, Western hemisphere
and tropical forest orientations. Working with Brazil's National
Institute for Amazon Research, Dr. Lovejoy has lead the Smithsonian's
effort to develop the idea for the Minimum Critical Size of
Ecosystems project. The program is designed to define the
minimum size for national parks and biological reserves as
well as the best management strategies for small areas. He
is also the originator of the concept of debt-for-nature swaps.
Several such swaps of international debt for conservation
projects have been initiated in Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador,
the Philippines, Madagascar, Jamaica and Zambia.
Dr. Lovejoy serves on several scientific and conservation boards and advisory groups, including the Global Environmental Facility, the American Society for the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, Resources for the Future and the World Resources Institute. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Linnaean Society of London and the American Ornithologists' Union. In addition, Dr. Lovejoy has vast government experience, including serving on the White House Science Council and acting as the Science Advisor to the US Secretary of the Interior. He is also past chairman of the US Man and Biosphere Program and past president of the Society for Conservation Biology. Currently Dr. Lovejoy is co-chair for the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources under the Executive Office of the President's National Science and Technology Council.
On the education front, Dr. Lovejoy is the founder of the public television series Nature - the most popular long term series on public television. He is also the author or editor of numerous articles and books, including Key Environments: Amazonia with G.T. Prance and Global Warming and Biological Diversity with R.L. Peters.
Information Management Instructors
Sally O'Grady
Information Manager Kejimkujik National
Park - Nova Scotia, Canada
Sally
is an information management specialist at the Kejimkujik
National Park in Nova Scotia, Canada. She is an experienced
data manager and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technician
and is currently pursuing a Master's of Science degree in
protected landscape management at the Centre of Geographic
Science. In January 2000, Sally and Dr. Liette Vasseur, Coordinator
of Environmental Studies and Associate Professor of Biology
at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, received the national
Patricia Roberts-Pichette Award at the Ecological Monitoring
and Assessment Network Annual National Science Meeting. The
award recognizes enthusiastic leadership and commitment to
advancing ecological monitoring and research in Canada. (Read
about MAB's work in Canada.)
Cliff Drysdale, MS
Park Ecologist Kejimkujik National Park
- Nova Scotia, Canada
Cliff
Drysdale, Park Ecologist/Ecosystem Science Manager, has worked
at Kejimkujik National Park in Nova Scotia, Canada, since
1975. He also serves as site coordinator for the Kejimkujik
Ecological Research and Monitoring Network (EMAN) of Environment
Canada. In October 1999, Cliff and Kejimkujik National Park
received a Gold Leaf Award at the 16th national conference
of the Canadian Council on Ecological Areas (CCEA.) The award
recognizes the Park's scientific contributions and sustained
efforts towards promoting an improved scientific approach
to the conservation of Canadian ecosystems and biodiversity.
Prior to coming to Nova Scotia, he served as Chief Park Interpreter in Point Pelee National Park in Ontario, Canada from 1970-75. Cliff has a B.S. and M.S. from Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia with specialties in mammology, geology and limnology.
Following his attendance in 1993 of the first Smithsonian/MAB Biodiversity Monitoring course, Cliff began lecturing and leading workshops in subsequent courses. He has also taught biodiversity monitoring as part of the MAB team in a variety of locations in Canada and in the Philippines.
Cliff was the founding chairman of the Science and Management of Protected Areas Association(SAMPAA), and has served in a voluntary capacity with the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the United Nations Education and Science Commission (UNESCO). Cliff has also has extensive experience in civic government and rural communities management.
Cliff strongly believes in the importance of integrating the science of ecology with community governance at the community, national and international levels. “Mankind has perhaps one generation in time to ensure its ecosystems and economies are managed in a sustainable fashion,” he explains. “The consequences of failure are already becoming evident in some parts of the world.”
Adam Fenech, MSF
MSF Network Science Adviser, Environment
Canada
With
over 15 years of experience in ecological research, Adam currently
works as a network science advisor for Environment Canada
in Ontario, Canada.
Don C. MacIver
Science Advisor Environment Canada
Don
has a diverse career. He is a professor at York University
and the University of Toronto. He is also a biometrician at
the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and a science advisor
at Environment Canada.
Invertebrate Assessment and Monitoring Instructors
Albert (Bert) Finnamore, Ph.D.
Curator of Invertebrate Zoology, Provincial
Museum of Alberta, Canada
Dr.
Finnamore, Curator of Invertebrate Zoology at the Provincial
Museum of Alberta, Canada, specializes in arthropod biomonitoring,
including the systematic study of aculeate wasps. He has been
involved in biodiversity monitoring projects in Costa Rica,
Canada and Peru. (Read about MAB's Camisea project in Peru
in which Dr. Finnamore participated.) In addition, he is involved
with the Biological Survey of Canada and the Biodiversity
Science Board of Canada. A MAB instructor since 1995, Dr.
Finnamore has degrees from McGill University and Nova Scotia
Agriculture College.
Leeanne Alonso, Ph.D.
Manager Rapid Assessment Program, Conservation
International
Dr.
Alonso, who has a Ph.D. in biology from Harvard University,
manages the Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) for Conservation
International. Through RAP she organizes and conducts biodiversity
assessment throughout the world. An insect ecologist and conservation
biologist, she specializes in ant diversity and ant-plant
interactions. She has studied ants throughout Central and
South America. In addition, she has studied the imported fire
ant in Florida. Through her research, teaching and conservation
efforts Dr. Alonso hopes to promote the appreciation of insects
worldwide. She has been a MAB course instructor since 1995.
Alfonso Alonso, Ph.D.
Assistant Director for Conservation and
Development, MAB
Alfonso
has always been fascinated by the way nature works and passionate
about trying to understand it. Through his research as a biologist,
however, he soon learned about the pressures humans exert
on nature and decided to work to preserve it. "Biologists
love nature," he explains, "so I have to be involved
in protecting what I love."
At MAB, Alfonso does everything from planning project budgets to writing and reviewing scientific papers and educational materials on biodiversity assessment and monitoring to developing and carrying out strategies and designs for vegetation and invertebrate sampling protocols. He manages MAB's international research programs in conservation and development. He also teaches invertebrate assessment and monitoring protocols for many of MAB's international conferences and training courses. Alfonso, who has studied monarch butterflies extensively, has a B.S. in biology from the Universidad National Autonoma de Mexico and a M.S. and Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Florida at Gainesville.
Alfonso is beginning to develop several new projects. In collaboration with several partners, he is developing a framework for the practical application of biodiversity information into conservation. For example, in Madagascar work is beginning to conserve a threatened forest with a high number of endemic species. The forest may then serve as the base from which to restore other threatened forests on the island country. In addition, Alfonso is working in Panama and Mexico to develop conservation projects that combine cultural values with natural values to preserve threatened areas. In Panama, MAB will be working with the Wild Monuments Fund and the Panamanian government to protect old Spanish forts and the threatened ecosystems surrounding them. In Mexico, MAB will be working with local Tarahumara communities, linguists and anthropologists to preserve both the biodiversity and the native history and culture of the region - including nearly 20 idioms that were spoken by native communities. Protection of the region could bring in tourism revenues while protecting native species at the same time. Explains Alfonso, by using all available tools - from consulting stakeholders to mixing cultural, community, political, economic and biological values - biodiversity conservation can be successful.
Mammal Assessment and Monitoring Instructors
Major I. Boddicker, Ph.D.
Wildlife Biologist, Rocky Mountain Wildlife
Enterprises
Dr. Boddicker, a MAB instructor since 1995, is the owner/operator of Rocky Mountain Wildlife Enterprises at LaPorte, Colorado. RMWE includes three entities: (1) Rocky Mountain Wildlife Services, (2) RMW Products, and (3) Coyote Den Fur Company. Activities of the company are diverse and include manufacturing Crit'R Calls, buying fur pelts, fumigating prairie dogs, translocating beaver, teaching South African livestock producers how to control wildlife pests, and various consulting assignments including participating in the Smithsonian's Urubamba Project.
Dr. Boddicker has a B.S. in biology from St. Johns University, Minnesota, a M.S. in zoology from South Dakota State University (SDSU), and a Ph.D. in entomology from SDSU. He has taught environmental and outdoor education in South Dakota. In addition, he was an outdoor education specialist with Kansas State 4-H and an Extension Wildlife Specialist with Colorado State University. He created RMWE in 1985. Dr. Boddicker’s research and teaching mainly surrounds wildlife species with economic values and impacts. Predators, furbearers, and varmints have been the focus of his life's work and business enterprises.
Dr. Boddicker has traveled extensively and worked with biologists around the world with wildlife problems. He enjoys coaching the MAB participants during their early ventures into large mammal monitoring. "I enjoy introducing new friends from around the world to the secrets of large mammal behaviors and communications."
Patrick Campbell, MS
Research Ecologist, MAB
Since
1998 Patrick has combined his loves of nature and of travel
while working at MAB. His interest in international conservation
has taken him to the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Africa,
where he has explored research interests in plant/herbivore
interactions, forest dynamics and conservation of large mammals.
Patrick has a B. S. in wildlife management from Pennsylvania
State University and a M. S. in wildlife conservation from
the University of Minnesota.
Currently, Patrick works on a number of projects, including the Urubamba Biodiversity Monitoring Project in the Camisea region of Peru. Here, he is examining the structure and composition of the region's tropical forests and their associated mammal community. He is also helping write a book on the Camisea project, which will include information on the natural history and species diversity of the project's sites. In addition, he is co-editor for a special edition journal volume discussing protocols used by MAB researchers in Camisea. Recently, Patrick has taught courses on assessment and monitoring of vegetation and mammals in Cameroon and at the Smithsonian's Conservation and Research Center in Virginia.
Patrick feels MAB is successful because its approach to biodiversity conservation is multidisciplinary. "We apply biological knowledge to decision making and development, which before was seen as the enemy of conservation," he explains. "Now conservation and development can work together, which is a win/win situation." Overall, Patrick sees MAB's training and in-country capacity building programs as its biggest legacies. As he explains, "We're leaving a useful footprint for the future."
Charles T. Cushwa, Ph.D.
Wildlife Biologist, The Wildlife Consulting
Service
For
over 25 years, Dr. Cushwa has been a research biologist with
the US Forest Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
In addition, he owns The Wildlife Consulting Service in Virginia.
Dr. Cushwa's studies the use of prescribed fire in wildlife
management in the Southeastern US, the impact of fire in forest
ecosystems in Minnesota, Alaska and Canada, and the life cycle
of deer in Pennsylvania. He has also developed computer systems
that state and federal agencies can use to monitor fish and
wildlife.
Michael R. Gannon, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Pennsylvania State
University
Dr.
Gannon has been an instructor with the MAB program since 1994.
He is currently an Associate Professor of Biology at the Altoona
College of The Pennsylvania State University. He holds a B.A.
in biology from The State University of New York at Oswego,
an M.S. in biology from The State University of New York at
Brockport, and a Ph.D. in ecology from Texas Tech University.
His research interests are broad and lie in many areas of
zoology, evolution, and museum science. Current research activities
focus on population and community ecology of bats, with emphasis
on both temperate and tropical systems. Within the last few
years he has conducted ecological research on bats on the
Caribbean Islands of Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Dominica. Much
of this work is concerned with long-term monitoring of populations.
In addition, he has been working in the Allegheny National
Forest and Canoe Creek State Park, both in the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania. Here, he and his students have been developing
ultrasonic bat survey techniques that may be used to identify
different species of bats by their ultrasonic calls. Dr. Gannon
has found the MAB experience to be both fun and rewarding.
"I particularly enjoy the diversity of the group and
its sincere interest and enthusiasm in the different ecological
topics discussed."
Traci Porter, Ph.D.
Research Associate & Lecturer, University
of Maryland at College Park
Dr. Porter - an animal behaviorist and behavioral endocrinologist specializing in bats - is a research associate and lecturer at the University of Maryland at College Park. Her research interests include the cooperative interactions among conspecific animals and animal welfare, including the development of techniques for decreasing the invasiveness of research both in the laboratory and in the field. Dr. Porter has also studied the reproductive behavior and endocrinology of tamarin monkeys, the reproduction and ontogeny of Eastern boxelder bugs, and the repordutive behavior and physiology of microchiroptera. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Don Wilson, Ph.D.
Director, Biodiversity Programs, Smithsonian
Institution
Dr.
Wilson is the Director of Biodiversity Programs at the Smithsonian
Institution. A mammologist by training, he has been with the
Smithsonian since 1971 and has published over 160 articles,
including 10 books. Dr. Wilson has a BS in wildlife management
from the University of Arizona and an MS and PhD in biology
from the University of New Mexico. "I have been participating
in the MAB program since its inception," Dr. Wilson explains.
"I actually began teaching in this style of field course
for the Organization for Tropical Studies in 1968. That 30
years of experience convinced me that there is no substitute
for this type of field-oriented, intellectually stimulating
training course."
Vegetation Assessment and Monitoring Instructors
Thomas J. Stohlgren, Ph.D.
Ecologist Biological Resources Division,
US Geological Survey
Dr.
Stohlgren, who worked 14 years as an ecologist for the National
Park Service, has been with the National Biological Service
of the US Department of the Interior and with the Biological
Resources Division of the US Geological Survey since 1991.
As an instructor for MAB, he discusses techniques for landscape-scale
rapid assessment of biodiversity and compares sampling methods
for plant diversity. In addition, he helps students design
better studies for their regions and serves as a resource
participants can contact for future advice. Dr. Stohlgren
has a BS in forestry and resource management from the University
of California, Berkeley, a MA in biology from California State
University in Fresno, and a Ph.D. in ecology from the University
of California, Davis.
Shahroukh Mistry, Ph.D.
Dr.
Mistry, originally part of the MAB team, teaches courses on
ordination and seed dispersal.
James Comiskey, Ph.D.
Assistant Director for Research, MAB
Since
1992 Jim has been directing the biodiversity research program
at MAB. Jim works to develop usable, standardized protocols
and tools (including management software) to assess and monitor
biodiversity. Specifically, Jim tests and implements protocols
for the long-term monitoring of multiple species taxa in tropical
forests. By developing and implementing standardized monitoring
protocols, he explains, the biodiversity of different sites
can be compared to each other to create a global picture of
the long-term changes in tropical forest structure and dynamics.
Jim also manages the MAB sites that are part of the International
Biodiversity Monitoring Network (IBMN). He has worked at biodiversity
monitoring research sites in Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands,
Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil and Guyana.
What motivates Jim's work is a sense of urgency. "There
is so much work to be done," he explains. "There
is an urgency to protect what's there, yet we still don't
fully understand what species are there or how the systems
work. It is a continual challenge. We are in a race against
time to get baseline biodiversity information to conserve
these areas."
Christopher Ros, M.P.H.
Education and Training Coordinator, MAB
(bio not available)
