USGS Home
Contact USGS
Search USGS

Home/ Overview/ Science Programs/ Data Library/ Products and Publications/States/ Rivers/Teachers and Students/ Links/ Contact/ Search

Speaker Bios

Craig J. Anderson
Natural Heritage Inventory Botanist
Wisconsin DNR Bureau of Endangered Resources
101 S Webster St.
PO Box 7921
Madison, WI  53707
608-267-5037
Craig.Anderson@wisconsin.gov

Craig Anderson leads the Natural Heritage Inventory Botany Program. Craig specializes in taxonomy, tracking, identification and monitoring of rare plant species in Wisconsin. Craig plans and conducts surveys for rare plants and provides consultation to other programs on plant ecology. Craig received a BS Botany, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and MS Biology Ecology, Utah State University. Craig worked as an ecologist/botanist in Missouri & Minnesota before becoming the Wisconsin Natural Heritage Program Botanist in 2001.

Tim R. Asplund
Limnologist - Lakes and Wetland Section
Wisconsin DNR Bureau of Watershed Management
101 S Webster St.
PO Box 7921
Madison, WI  53707
608-267-7602
Tim.Asplund@Wisconsin.gov

Tim Asplund is a limnologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Lakes and Wetlands Section, with responsibilities statewide. He received Master’s degrees in Water Resources Management and Oceanography & Limnology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 1993, where he first became interested in global climate change impacts on lakes.  His thesis examined the variability of oxygen depletion rates in lakes under the ice, examining the implications of a warmer climate. He has worked for the Department for 14 years, both as a researcher and a water resource manager. Current areas of expertise include groundwater-lake interactions, shallow lake ecology, recreational impacts on lakes, and statewide lake assessment.

Jason E. Bruggeman, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology
University of Minnesota
St. Paul, MN  55108
(651) 463-3540
brug0006@umn.edu
 
Jason Bruggeman is currently a research scientist at the University of Minnesota and has been serving as the western Great Lakes bioregional Northern Goshawk monitoring coordinator since April. Jason received his Ph.D. from Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana where he completed his dissertation research on bison spatial dynamics in Yellowstone National Park. Additionally, Jason completed postdoctoral work at Montana State—working with wolf-elk predator-prey dynamics, elk population dynamics, and additional bison work for an upcoming book on large mammal ecology in Yellowstone.

Gary S. Casper, Ph.D.
President, Great Lakes Ecological Services, LLC
P.O. Box 375
Slinger, WI 53086-0375
262-689-4095
gc@greatlakeseco.com

Dr. Casper served as a staff herpetologist at the Milwaukee Public Museum from 1984 through 2005, where he conducted research and managed collections. He oversaw transfer of collections data from the old Milwaukee County system, developed a digital Collections Management System for the Herpetology and Ichthyology collections, and substantially built the collections through active grant and research programs. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, with a dissertation topic on a new method for using museum records in biogeographical analyses. Dr. Casper is an Associate Scientist with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Field Station, serves on the Editorial Board for the Natural Areas Journal, and is a director for the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust. He is active in Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, and coordinates the Wisconsin Herpetological Atlas Project. Dr. Casper has published one book, over 50 peer reviewed papers, over 170 technical reports, and over 20 popular articles. His current research focuses on a variety of amphibian and reptile studies addressing biogeography, systematics, and conservation biology, in the U.S. and Canada. These include Butler’s gartersnake genetics and morphology, Blanding’s turtle ecology, amphibian and reptile monitoring methods, Great Lakes island phylogeography studies, and a North American Amphibian Atlas for the University of California Press. He was a 1998 recipient of the White Lady’s-Slipper Award from the Aldo Leopold Chapter of the Society For Conservation Biology, in recognition of outstanding service as an advocate in the appreciation and protection of biological diversity.

Terry Daulton
Artist/Educator/Biologist
3310 N Kein Rd
Mercer, WI 54547
tdaulton@centurytel.net

Terry Daulton is a field biologist and environmental educator. She received an MS from University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in environmental education and a BS from Northland College in Environmental Studies. She is also a pastel artist with work in galleries in northern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. Her role in this project is exhibit coordinator and co-curator. 

Dolly Ledin
Center for Biology Education
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI
(608) 222-4865
daledin@wisc.edu

Dolly Ledin has worked in outreach at the UW Madison Center for Biology Education for 18 years, engaging scientists in reaching out the community and engaging youth and adults in the process of science. She has worked as an elementary and middle school teacher, an educator with the Wisconsin DNR and University of Wisconsin-Steven’s Point, and has an MS in Land Resources from University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Christopher J. Kucharik, Ph.D.
Associate Scientist
Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1710 University of Wisconsin-Madison, Room 201, Lab Room 246
Madison, WI 53706
(608) 263-1859
kucharik@wisc.edu

Chris Kucharik is a research scientist in the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment within the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His current research focuses on integrating field observations and numerical models of natural and managed ecosystems to study the influence of changing climate and land management on ecosystem services. Chris' interests include carbon cycling and sequestration in prairie ecosystems and agricultural landscapes, water quality, biofuels, and how crop yields are affected by climate change and farmer management.

Michael A. Larson, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
MN DNR
1201 East Hwy 2
Grand Rapids, MN 55744
218-999-7933
Michael.Larson@dnr.state.mn.us

Mike Larson is a Research Scientist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. His interests are in avian ecology and quantitative methods. Mike has a Bachelor's degree from Gustavus Adolphus College, a Master's from Michigan State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. Mike is on the board of the Minnesota Chapter of The Wildlife Society, and he is a member of the Biometrics Working Group and the Working Group for the Steady State Economy.

Mark S. Lenarz, Ph.D.
Leader - Forest Wildlife Population and Research Group
Minnesota DNR
1201 East Highway 2
Grand Rapids, MN 55744
(218) 327-4432

Mark Lenarz has been the Group Leader for the Minnesota DNR's Forest Wildlife Population and Research Group for the last 18 years. In addition to normal administrative duties, Mark has acted as project leader on a study of moose population dynamics in northeastern Minnesota for the last 6 years.

John D. Lyons, Ph.D.
Fisheries Research Scientist
Wisconsin DNR Bureau of Science Services
2801 Progress Road
Madison WI  53716-3339
608-221-6328
John.Lyons@Wisconsin.gov

John Lyons is a fisheries research biologist for the WDNR in Madison, a position he has held in one form or another since joining the Department in 1985. Much of his research concerns effects of human activities across the Wisconsin landscape, particularly land use, on fish communities and fisheries. The results he presents here on climate change effects are a recent and natural extension of many years of work to understand the key factors that determine fish abundance and biotic integrity in streams and rivers. He received his PhD and MS in Zoology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his BS in Biology from Union College, Schenectady, New York.

Matthew G. Mitro, Ph.D.
Fisheries Research Scientist
Wisconsin DNR Bureau of Science Services
2801 Progress Road
Madison WI  53716-3339
608-221-6366
Matthew.Mitro@Wisconsin.gov

Matthew Mitro is a coldwater fisheries research scientist for the Wisconsin DNR.  Matt has been with the DNR since 2003 working on inland trout in Wisconsin streams. Prior to coming to the DNR, Matt was a population ecologist with the USEPA in Rhode Island and a fisheries stock assessment biologist with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Matt also conducted doctoral research on trout recruitment in the Henrys Fork of the Snake River in Idaho.

David J. Mladenoff, Ph.D.
Department of Forest Ecology and Management
1630 Linden Drive
Madison, WI  53706
608-262-1992
djmladen@wisc.edu

A native of the Wisconsin northwoods, Dr. David J. Mladenoff is the Beers-Bascom Professor of Conservation in the Department of Forest Ecology and Management at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Mladenoff earned his PhD from the UW-Madison in 1985, and held positions in The Nature Conservancy as western region Science and Stewardship Director, and the University of Minnesota Natural Resources Research Institute in Duluth. He has been in Madison again since 1994, and manages the Forest Landscape Ecology Lab at UW, jointly funded by the Wisconsin DNR.  He also teaches a graduate course in Landscape Ecology.

Work in the lab has been directed at sustainable forest issues in northern Wisconsin, such as old-growth forest characteristics, developing and testing methods for reconstructing past forests and change, ecological change and management of the Northwest pine barrens, and modeling of future forests under climate change. Mladenoff was also Editor-in-Chief of the journal Landscape Ecology from 1999-2005.

Mark D. Schwartz, Ph.D.
Department of Geography
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
P.O. Box 413
Milwaukee, WI 53201
Phone: 414-229-3740
Fax: 414-229-3981
Email: mds@uwm.edu
Web Site: www.uwm.edu/~mds

Mark D. Schwartz is a climatologist and professor of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His research interests are focused on plant phenology lower atmosphere interactions during the onset of spring in mid latitudes, detecting climatic change, and assessing vegetation condition with remote sensing imagery.