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Wildlife Ecology and Conservation department

Wildlife Ecology and Conservation department

Conor McGowan

McGowan, Conor

Florida Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
Bldg. 106
Gainesville, FL 32611-0485
Phone: (352) 273 - 3135
conor.mcgowan@ufl.edu

Position: Assistant Unit Leader, FL Coop Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
Appointment: Research: 100%

Educational Background:
Ph.D.: 2008, Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, University of Missouri
M.S.: 2004, Zoology, North Carolina State University
B.S.: 2000, Biology, Wake Forest University

Professional Experience:

  • Florida Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Assistant Unit Leader, June 2020 –
  • Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Courtesy Associate Professor, June 2020 - Present
  • Alabama Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Acting Unit Leader, 2017 – 2020.
  • Alabama Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Assistant Leader 2010 – 2017
  • School of Forestry and Wildlife Science, Auburn University Research Associate Professor, 2014 – present
  • School of Forestry and Wildlife Science, Auburn University Research Assistant Professor, 2010 – 2014
  • Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Post-Doctoral Research Associate 2008 – 2010

Teaching Responsibilities at UF (last 5 years): 
Decision Analysis for Wildlife Conservation (Graduate Seminar Class)

Graduate Students (last 5 years): 
Chair/co-chair: PhD 2 (Auburn University); MS 4 (AU)
Committee member: PhD 4; MS 4

Post-Doctoral Fellows: 5

Research area: 
Decision support science, especially endangered species decision making; population dynamics; predictive modeling of species status; harvest decision modeling, quantitative methods for population assessment.

Grants/Contracts/Gifts (last 5 years):

>$1.1 million (USFWS, Alabama DCNR, USGS)

Current Projects:

  • Western Pond Turtle Population viability analysis (USFWS; California)
  • Prioritizing effort allocation among status assessment projects in the South Eastern US (USFWS; Science Applications, Southeast region)
  • Gopher Tortoise Range Wide Viability Analysis (USFWS via Texas A&M sub-contract)
  • Species Status Assessments: Tools and Applications (USFWS; Southwest region)
  • Indigo snake reintroduction population assessment (Alabama DCNR)
  • Alligator Snapping Turtle Species Status Assessment (US Geological Survey)
  • Gopher Tortoise Population Dynamics and Viability in Alabama (Alabama Department of Transportation)

Publications (Career Summary) 
39 refereed journal articles including 4 book chapters, Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=8-3_fxYAAAAJ&hl=en

Selected Publications (last 5 years)

McGowan CP, Lyons JE, and Smith DR. 2020. Adaptive management of horseshoe crab harvest in Delaware Bay: decision implementation and the double-loop process, in Runge MC, Converse SJ, Lyons JE, Smith DR. (eds) Case Studies in Decision Analysis for Natural Resources Management, Johns Hopkins University Press

Tucker AM, McGowan CP, Mulero E, Angeli NF, Zagerra JP (in press) A demographic projection model to support conservation decision making for an endangered snake with limited monitoring data. Animal Conservation in press.

McGowan CP, Angeli NF, Beisler WA, Snyder C, Rankin NM, Woodrow JO, Wilson JK, Rivenbark E, Schwarzer A, Hand CE, Anthony R, Griffin RK, Barrett K, Haverland AA, Roach NS, Schnieder T, Smith AD, Smith FM, Tolliver JDM, Watts BD, In Press. Linking monitoring and data analysis to predictions and decisions for the range-wide eastern black rail status assessment. Endangered Species Research, accepted July 2020

Folt B., McGowan CP, Steen DA, Hoffman M, Godwin J, Guyer C, In Press, Modeling strategies and evaluating success during repatriations of an elusive and endangered species, Accepted by Animal Conservation, 08/20/2019.

Tucker AM, McGowan CP, Catalano M, Derose-Wilson A, Robinson R, Zimmerman J, 2019, Foraging ecology mediates response to ecological mismatch during migratory stopover, Accepted by EcoSphere 08/05/2019.

Tucker AM, McGowan CP, Robinson RA, Clark JA, Lyons JE, DeRose-Wilson A, Du Feu R, Austin GE, Atkinson PW, Clark NA. Effects of individual misidentification on estimates of survival in long-term mark–resight studies. The Condor: Ornithological Applications. 2019 Feb 19;121(1):duy017.

Smith DR, Allan NL, McGowan CP, Szymanski JA, Oetker SR, Bell HM. Development of a species status assessment process for decisions under the US Endangered Species Act. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management. 2018 Feb 2;9(1):302-20.

Price Tack JL, McGowan CP, Ditchkoff SS, Morse WC, Robinson OJ. Managing the vanishing North American hunter: a novel framework to address declines in hunters and hunter-generated conservation funds. Human dimensions of wildlife. 2018 Nov 2;23(6):515-32.

Mounce HL, Warren CC, McGowan CP, Paxton EH, Groombridge JJ. Extinction risk and conservation options for Maui Parrotbill, an endangered Hawaiian honeycreeper. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management. 2018 May 9;9(2):367-82.

McGowan, C.P., Allan, N., Servoss, J., Hedwall, S. and Wooldridge, B., 2017. Incorporating population viability models into species status assessment and listing decisions under the US Endangered Species Act. Global Ecology and Conservation, 12, pp.119-130.

Keever, A., McGowan, C., Ditchkoff, S.S., Acker, S.A., Grand, J.B. and Newbolt, C.H., 2017. Efficacy of time-lapse photography and repeated counts abundance estimation for white-tailed deer populations. Mammal Research, 62(4), pp.413-422.

O’Donnell, K.M., Messerman, A.F., Barichivich, W.J., Semlitsch, R.D., Gorman, T.A., Mitchell, H.G., Allan, N., Fenolio, D., Green, A., Johnson, F.A., Keever, A., Mandica, M., Martin, J., Mott, J., Peacock, T., Reinman, J., Romañach, S.S., Titus, G., McGowan, C.P., Walls S.C., 2017. Structured decision making as a conservation tool for recovery planning of two endangered salamanders. Journal for Nature Conservation, 37, pp.66-72.

Price Tack, J.L., West, B.S., McGowan, C.P., Ditchkoff, S.S., Reeves, S.J., Keever, A.C. and Grand, J.B., 2016. AnimalFinder: A semi-automated system for animal detection in time-lapse camera trap images. Ecological Informatics, 36, pp.145-151.

Robinson, O.J., McGowan, C.P. and Apodaca, J.J., 2016. Decision analysis for habitat conservation of an endangered, range‐limited salamander. Animal Conservation.

Robinson, O.J., McGowan, C.P. and Devers, P.K., 2016. Disentangling density‐dependent dynamics using full annual cycle models and Bayesian model weight updating. Journal of Applied Ecology.

Robinson, O.J., McGowan, C.P., Devers, P.K., Brook, R.W., Huang, M., Jones, M., McAuley, D.G. and Zimmerman, G., 2016. A full annual cycle modeling framework for American black ducks. Natural Resource Modeling, 29(1), pp.159-174.

Robinson, O.J., McGowan, C.P. and Devers, P.K., 2016. Updating movement estimates for American black ducks (Anas rubripes). PeerJ, 4, p.e1787.

Millard, MJ, Sweka JA, McGowan CP, Smith DR. 2015. Assessment and management of North American horseshoe crab populations, with emphasis on a multispecies framework for Delaware Bay populations. In: Carmichael R, Botton M, editors. Changing Global Perspectives on Biology, Conservation, and Management of Horseshoe Crabs. Springer, NY.

McGowan, C.P., D. R. Smith, J.D. Nichols, J.E. Lyons, J. Sweka, et al. 2015, Implementation of a framework for multi-species, multi-objective adaptive management in Delaware Bay. Biological Conservation 191: 759-769

McGowan CP, 2015, Comparing models of Red Knot population dynamics. The Condor: ornithological applications, The Condor 117, 494-502.

McGowan CP, Lyons JE, Smith DR. 2015. Developing Objectives with Multiple Stakeholders: Adaptive Management of Horseshoe Crabs and Red Knots in the Delaware Bay. Environmental Management 55:972–982.