Spring 2025 Highlights from EESC’s Disease Decision Analysis and Research Group
The Disease Decision Analysis and Research (DDAR) group is a multi-disciplinary team based out of the Eastern Ecological Science Center whose strengths are in ecology, decision sciences, quantitative modeling, social sciences, and natural resource management. Learn more about the recent activities of this team below.
In 2024, infectious diseases captured headlines across the country. While our understanding of the biology and ecology of pathogens advances rapidly, decision makers still face challenges when it comes to real-life management of wildlife diseases. Rising to meet these challenges, the USGS scientists of the Disease Decision Analysis and Research (DDAR) group and their collaborators marked another year of significant contributions to decision-relevant research for wildlife management agencies across the country. Recent highlights include:
- Facilitated decision-making workshops for state agencies to inform chronic wasting disease and deer management in Massachusetts, Washington, Vermont, and Ohio;
- Applied quantitative models to predict how potential management actions by the US Fish and Wildlife Service would affect elk and bison populations and social and economic resources in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem;
- Supported the response to highly pathogenic avian influenza by developing a tool to prioritize data collection efforts after mass bird mortalities in the Arctic;
- Advanced the science and practice of wildlife disease decision analysis with perspectives in leading journals and presentations to broad audiences; and
- Grew our network to over 20 members and 40 collaborating partners across the country.
As a team with wide-ranging scientific capabilities, DDAR has positioned itself to work directly with decision makers for rapid response to both persistent and emerging infectious disease issues. We look forward to another year expanding our impacts in 2025.
News and Notes
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza
In response to the widespread bird deaths caused by highly pathogenic avian influenza, USGS scientists were tapped to assist in developing a novel decision tool for managers who respond to mass mortality events. The tool can help managers identify which data to collect when a mass mortality occurs, given their desired information and management objectives. USGS scientists Dr. Diann Prosser and Jeffery Sullivan and DDAR affiliate Dr. Johanna Harvey developed the tool in partnership with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific Flyway Council representatives, and Canadian scientists and presented their findings to the Atlantic Marine Bird Council. Scientists have begun using the tool in response to an avian influenza outbreak in the Canadian Arctic and in the development of marine bird mortality plan by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Hawaii for overcoming challenges to responses in the Pacific Remote Monuments.
Chronic Wasting Disease
USGS expertise is being called upon to support the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) in developing cost-effective surveillance for chronic wasting disease (CWD) in elk and deer species in the western United States. USGS’ Dr. Jon Cook joins Dr. Noelle Thompson and the Cornell Yang Center for Wildlife Health in a coordinated effort to adapt existing surveillance optimization tools for the particular needs of 18 western states, where the vast and varied landscape requires novel approaches for disease risk assessment. This work will incorporate insights from USGS research on big game migrations to produce risk maps for CWD and make surveillance more cost effective.
In Massachusetts, USGS science is making a difference for state wildlife management decisions. The state’s Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, MassWildlife, has been using co-produced science, including a rapid prototype SDM workshop led by Dr. Grace DiRenzo, Dr. Jon Cook, and Dr. Meg McEachran, to inform new proposed deer regulations that are aimed at minimizing CWD introduction in Massachusetts. Dr. Martin Feehan, deer and moose biologist for MassWildlife, said that “the work we have done together over the last year put us in a far better position for CWD management for this state and we were prepared to respond publicly to the new cases in New York.”
DDAR Founding Member Honored
USGS Scientist Emeritus and DDAR founding member Dr. Howard Ginsberg was honored with the Distinguished Naturalist Award from the Rhode Island Natural History Survey. The award was presented in November 2024 and recognizes Dr. Ginsberg’s contributions to improving decision making for vector-borne diseases and his role as a trusted member of the science community. Congratulations to Dr. Ginsberg!
Workshops and Trainings
Structured Decision-Making Rapid Prototyping Workshop. Theme: Resist-Adapt-Direct framework for climate adaptation. National Conservation Training Center, Shepherdstown, West Virginia. January 8-12, 2024. (Lead facilitator: MC Runge)
Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, Chronic Wasting Disease Response Plan. Workshops held (Montpelier, VT): January 24-26, 2024; May 29-30, 2024; September 4, 2024. (Lead facilitators: A Stanley, MC Runge, JD Cook, BA Mosher)
Structured Decision-Making Workshop: Chronic wasting disease management of cervids in Massachusetts. February 13-15, 2024. (Lead facilitators: GV DiRenzo, M McEachran, JD Cook)
Structured Decision-Making to Enhance Surveillance for Chronic Wasting Disease in Eastern Washington Workshop. April 1-3, 2024 (Lead facilitators: N Thompson, L Bailey, JD Cook)
Value of Information Workshop. (Training). Bureau of Reclamation Bay-Delta Office, Sacramento, California. March 13-15, 2024. (Instructors: MC Runge, B Healy, C Phillis, A Jensen)
Value of Information: Tools to Identify the Uncertainties that Matter to Decision Makers. (Training). The Wildlife Society Conference, Baltimore, Maryland. October 19-23, 2024. (Instructors: MC Runge, A Lawson)
Advanced Structured Decision-Making Practicum (ALC 3138). (Training). National Conservation Training Center, Shepherdstown, WV. October 28-November 1, 2024. (Instructors: MC Runge, K Jenni)
Our Team
Principal Investigators at USGS-EESC
Jonathan D. Cook, Research wildlife biologist
Evan H. Campbell Grant, Research wildlife biologist
Howard Ginsberg (Retired)
Michael C. Runge, Research ecologist
Diann J. Prosser, Research wildlife biologist
Collaborators
Larissa Bailey, Associate professor, Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation, Colorado State University
Richard E.W. Berl, Research social scientist, National Wildlife Health Center, USGS
Riley Bernard, Assistant professor, Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming
Janelle Couret, Assistant professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rhode Island
Graziella V. DiRenzo, Assistant unit leader, USGS, Massachusetts Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
Johanna Harvey, Assistant professor, Department of Natural Resources Science, University of Rhode Island
Brittany Mosher, Assistant professor, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont
Jennifer Mullinax, Associate professor, Department of Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland
Jeffery Sullivan, Biologist, USGS-EESC
Noelle Thompson, Western interagency wildlife health specialist, Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies
Claire Teitelbaum, Assistant unit leader, USGS, Georgia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
Molly Bletz, Assistant professor, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Penn State University
Postdoctoral and Student Researchers
Andreas Eleftheriou, USGS visiting scientist and post-doc, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Matthew Gonnerman, USGS visiting scientist and post-doc at University of Maryland
Meg McEachran, USGS visiting scientist and post-doc, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Riley Mummah, Mendenhall post-doc, USGS-EESC
Isabella Ragonese, USGS visiting scientist and post-doc, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Elias Rosenblatt, Post-doc, University of Minnesota
Annabelle Stanley, PhD student, University of Vermont
Alexis L. White, Post-doc, University of Rhode Island
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