Sarah J. Converse

USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

12302 Beech Forest Road

Laurel, MD 20708

Telephone:   301-497-5635

Fax:   301-497-5605

Email:  sconverse@usgs.gov

Research Ecologist

Research into the ecology and conservation of threatened and endangered species, biological oversight of PWRC’s Whooping Crane breeding and propagation program

B.S., Michigan State University, 1996; Fisheries and Wildlife

M.S., University of Nebraska, 1999; Natural Resource Sciences

Ph.D., Colorado State University, 2005; Wildlife Biology

Population ecology and management of threatened and endangered species, demographic estimation methods, population modeling, quantitative methods in population ecology, decision analysis

Oscar and Isabel Anderson Graduate Fellowship, Colorado State University, 2003

University Graduate Fellowship, Colorado State University, 2001

Alpha Zeta Honorary Fraternity

Whooping Crane recovery and conservation

Carrying capacity of warm-water sites for Florida Manatees

Impacts of changing warm-water availability for Florida Manatees

Design and analysis methods for albatross population studies

Publications/Products: 

Mazerolle, M. J., L. L. Bailey, W. L. Kendall, J. A. Royle, S. J. Converse, and J. D. Nichols.  Accepted.  Making great leaps forward in herpetology: accounting for detectability in field studies.  Journal of Herpetology.

Converse, S. J., W. L. Kendall, P. F. Doherty, Jr., M. B. Naughton, and J. E. Hines.  Accepted. A traditional and a less-invasive robust design: choices in optimizing effort allocation for seabird population studies.  Environmental and Ecological Statistics. 

Converse, S. J., G. C. White, and W. M. Block.  2006.  Small mammal responses to thinning and wildfire in ponderosa pine-dominated forests of the southwestern United States.  Journal of Wildlife Management 70:1711-1722.   

Converse, S. J., G. C. White, K. Farris, and S. Zack.  2006.  Small mammal responses to forest fuel reduction: national-scale results from the fire and fire surrogate project.  Ecological Applications 16:1717-1729. 

Iverson, J. B., S. J. Converse, G. R. Smith, and J. M. Valiulis.  2006.  Long-term trends in the demography of the Allen Cays Rock Iguana (Cyclura cychlura inornata): human disturbance and density-dependent effects.  Biological Conservation 132:300-310.

Converse, S. J., J. B. Iverson, and J. A. Savidge.  2005.  Demographics of an Ornate Box Turtle population experiencing minimal human-induced disturbances.  Ecological Applications 15:2171-2179.