Hilary A. Neckles

USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
196 Whitten Road
Augusta, ME 04330

Telephone: 207-622-8205 ext.119

Fax: 207-622-8204

Email: hneckles@usgs.gov 

Research Ecologist

Primary Responsibilities: 
Research to provide scientific information needed by coastal resource managers and decision makers in the northeastern US

Education/Training: 

B.S. University of Massachusetts – 1980
M.S. University of Minnesota – 1984
Ph.D. Virginia Institute of Marine Science – 1990

National Park Service Northeast Regional Director's Award for Professional Excellence in Natural Resource Research for 2005

Associate Editor, Estuaries and Coasts, 2001 – present

Co-chair, Habitat Monitoring Subcommittee, Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine     Environment, 2002 – present

Active Projects: 

Seagrass Condition Assessment Within the NPS North Atlantic Coastal Parks: Site Selection, Training, and Integration with National Programs

Developing Tools to Monitor and Predict Effects of Nutrient Enrichment on Estuaries at Acadia National Park

Development of a wetland monitoring protocol for Acadia National Park

Developing an inventory and mapping strategy for submerged natural resources in Northeast Region coastal National Parks

Technical Assistance in Coastal Ecology

Development of a Preliminary Sampling Framework for Monitoring Wetlands in the Northeast Temperate Network

Regional standards to identify and evaluate tidal wetland restoration in the Gulf of Maine. (PWRC web page http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/resshow/neckles/gpac.htm) 

Coastal Issues and Information Needs web page

Publications/Products: 

Neckles, H. A., F. T. Short, S. Barker, and B. S. Kopp.  2005.  Disturbance of eelgrass Zostera marina by commercial mussel Mytilus edulis harvesting in Maine: dragging impacts and habitat recovery.  Marine Ecology Progress Series 285:57-73. (see Negative Effects of Commercial Mussel Dragging on Eelgrass Beds in Maine)

Keats, R. A., L. J. Osher, and H. A. Neckles.  2004. The effect of nitrogen loading on a brackish estuarine faunal community: a stable isotope approach.  Estuaries 27:460-471. 

Neckles, H.A., M. Dionne, D.M. Burdick, C.T. Roman, R. Buchsbaum, and E. Hutchins. 2002. A monitoring protocol to assess tidal restoration of salt marshes on local and regional scales. Restoration Ecology,  10:556-563.

Short, F. T. and H. A. Neckles.  1999.  The effects of global change on seagrasses.  Aquatic Botany 63:169-196. 

Moore, K. A., H. A. Neckles, and R. J. Orth.1996.  Zostera marina (eelgrass) growth and survival along a gradient of nutrients and turbidity in the lower Chesapeake Bay.  Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 142:247-259.

Neckles, H. A., Koepfler, E. T., Haas, L. W., Wetzel, R. L., and Orth, R. J. 1994. Dynamics of epiphytic photoautotrophs and heterotrophs in Zostera marina L. (eelgrass) microcosms: responses to nutrient enrichment and grazing.  Estuaries 17:597-605.

Neckles, H. A. and C. Neill.  1994.  Hydrologic control of litter decomposition in seasonally flooded prairie marshes.  Hydrobiologia 286:155-165. 

Neckles, H. A., R. L. Wetzel, and R. J. Orth.  1993.  Relative effects of nutrient enrichment and grazing on epiphyte-macrophyte (Zostera marina L.) dynamics.  Oecologia 93:285-295. 

Neckles, H. A., H. R. Murkin, and J. A. Cooper.  1990.  Influences of seasonal flooding on macroinvertebrate abundance in wetland habitats.  Freshwater Biology 23:311-322

Neckles, H. A. and R. L. Wetzel.  1989.  Effects of forage harvest in seasonally flooded prairie marshes: simulation model experiments.  pp. 975-990 in R. R. Sharitz and J. W. Gibbons (eds).  Freshwater Wetlands and Wildlife.  DOE Symposium Series No. 61, USDOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information, Oak Ridge, TN.  

Wetzel, R. L. and H. A. Neckles.  1986.  A model of Zostera marina L. photosynthesis and growth: simulated effects of selected physical-chemical variables and biological interactions.  Aquat. Bot. 26:307-323. *