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Ernest Valdez, PhD

Ernie Valdez is a Research Wildlife Biologist at the Fort Collins Science Center, and works at the New Mexico Landscapes Field Station in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Ernie received his doctorate degree in Biology, during 2006, at the University of New Mexico. His research interests span a variety of topics but are focused on conservation and ecology of insects and small mammals, with an emphasis on bats in temperate and tropical ecosystems. Ernie specializes in the feeding ecology and movement of insectivorous bats but also includes research on the ectoparasites of bats. His current projects include research related to white-nose syndrome, wind energy, and habitat use by bats at uranium mines in the Southwest.

Professional Experience

  • U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, New Mexico Landscapes Field Station, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 1997-present

  • National Biological Survey (NBS), Albuquerque, New Mexico. 1994-1996

  • U.S. Fish & Wildlife, Mid-continent Ecological Science Center, Fort Collins, Colorado. 1991-1993

Education and Certifications

  • Ph.D. in Biological Sciences, University of New Mexico (Advisor: Dr. J. Scott Altenbach)

  • M.S. in Biological Sciences, Fort Hays State University (Advisor: Dr. Jerry Choate)

Affiliations and Memberships*

  • Adjunct faculty member in Dept. of Biology at University of New Mexico 2007-present

  • Museum Research Associate in Division of Mammals at the Museum of Southwestern Biology 2007-present

  • Museum Research Associate in Division of Arthropods at the Museum of Southwestern Biology 2009-present

  • American Society of Mammalogists 1994-Life Member

  • Southwestern Association of Naturalists 1995-Life Member

  • Research Associate of Indiana State University Center for North American Bat Research Center and Conservation 2005 to present

  • Western Bat Working Group 2003 to present (President 2015 to present)

  • New Mexico Bat Working Group 1997 to present (co-chair 2008-2009)

  • Arizona Bat Working Group 2003 to present

  • Colorado Bat Working Group 2002 to present

  • USGS Colorado Plateau Science Strategy Team 2015

Science and Products

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Little Brown Bat and Indiana Bats

Surveillance for the Presence of White-Nose Syndrome in the Bat Community at El Malpais National Monument, New Mexico

In 1999 and 2000, FORT conducted a survey of bats at El Malpais National Monument and adjacent lands. During this study, several species of bats were documented, including some that are known to use caves or lava-tube formations as roosts. In the winter of 2006–2007, the fungus-caused disease known as “white-nose syndrome” (WNS) began devastating populations of hibernating bat species that use...
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Biological Threats and Invasive Species Research Program, Species Management Research Program, Fort Collins Science Center
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Surveillance for the Presence of White-Nose Syndrome in the Bat Community at El Malpais National Monument, New Mexico

In 1999 and 2000, FORT conducted a survey of bats at El Malpais National Monument and adjacent lands. During this study, several species of bats were documented, including some that are known to use caves or lava-tube formations as roosts. In the winter of 2006–2007, the fungus-caused disease known as “white-nose syndrome” (WNS) began devastating populations of hibernating bat species that use...
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Assessing Impacts to Ecosystems from Uranium Mining in the Grand Canyon Region

The use of uranium is an alternative energy source to petroleum products and some of the United States’ highest quality ore is located on the Colorado Plateau. However, some regions where suitable mining efforts are conducted include areas that are near important environmental resources such as National Parks that provide viewscapes and habitat for wildlife.
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Energy and Mineral Resources Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Land Management Research Program, Species Management Research Program, Fort Collins Science Center
link

Assessing Impacts to Ecosystems from Uranium Mining in the Grand Canyon Region

The use of uranium is an alternative energy source to petroleum products and some of the United States’ highest quality ore is located on the Colorado Plateau. However, some regions where suitable mining efforts are conducted include areas that are near important environmental resources such as National Parks that provide viewscapes and habitat for wildlife.
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Streptomyces corynorhini sp. nov., isolated from Townsend’s big-eared bats (Corynorhinus townsendii)

Four bacterial strains, with the capability of inhibiting Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the causative agent of white-nose syndrome, were isolated from male Townsend’s big-eared bats (Corynorhinus townsendii, Family: Vespertilionidae) in New Mexico. Isolates AC161, AC162, AC208, and AC230T were characterised as a novel clade using morphological, phenotypic and phylogenetic analysis. A...
Authors
Paris S. Hamm, Nicole A. Caimi, Diana E. Northup, Ernest W. Valdez, Debbie C. Buecher, Christopher A. Dunlap, David P. Labeda, Andrea Porras-Alfaro
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center

Skin and fur bacterial diversity and community structure on American southwestern bats: effects of habitat, geography and bat traits

Microorganisms that reside on and in mammals, such as bats, have the potential to influence their host’s health and to provide defenses against invading pathogens. However, we have little understanding of the skin and fur bacterial microbiota on bats, or factors that influence the structure of these communities. The southwestern United States offers excellent sites for the study of...
Authors
Ara S. Winter, Jennifer J.M. Hathaway, Jason C. Kimble, Debbie C. Buecher, Ernest W. Valdez, Andrea Porras-Alfaro, Jesse M. Young, Kaitlyn J. H. Read, Diana E. Northup
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center

Landscape movements by two species of migratory nectar-feeding bats (Leptonycteris) in a northern area of seasonal sympatry

Animals often migrate to exploit seasonally ephemeral food. Three species of nectar-feeding phyllostomid bats migrate north from Mexico into deserts of the United States each spring and summer to feed on blooms of columnar cactus and century plants (Agave spp.). However, the habitat needs of these important desert pollinators are poorly understood. We followed the nighttime movements of...
Authors
Michael T. Bogan, Paul M. Cryan, Christa D. Weise, Ernest W. Valdez
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center

Western bats as a reservoir of novel Streptomyces species with antifungal activity

At least two-thirds of commercial antibiotics today are derived from Actinobacteria, more specifically from the genus Streptomyces. Antibiotic resistance and new emerging diseases pose great challenges in the field of microbiology. Cave systems, in which actinobacteria are ubiquitous and abundant, represent new opportunities for the discovery of novel bacterial species and the study of...
Authors
Paris S. Hamm, Nicole A. Caimi, Diana E. Northup, Ernest W. Valdez, Debbie C. Buecher, Christopher A. Dunlap, David P. Labeda, Shiloh Lueschow, Andrea Porras-Alfaro
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center

Evaluating the effectiveness of wildlife detection and observation technologies at a solar power tower facility

Solar power towers produce electrical energy from sunlight at an industrial scale. Little is known about the effects of this technology on flying animals and few methods exist for automatically detecting or observing wildlife at solar towers and other tall anthropogenic structures. Smoking objects are sometimes observed co-occurring with reflected, concentrated light (“solar flux”) in...
Authors
Robert H. Diehl, Ernest W. Valdez, Todd M. Preston, Mike J. Wellik, Paul M. Cryan
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Species Management Research Program, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center

Exposure pathways and biological receptors: baseline data for the canyon uranium mine, Coconino County, Arizona

Recent restrictions on uranium mining within the Grand Canyon watershed have drawn attention to scientific data gaps in evaluating the possible effects of ore extraction to human populations as well as wildlife communities in the area. Tissue contaminant concentrations, one of the most basic data requirements to determine exposure, are not available for biota from any historical or...
Authors
Jo Ellen Hinck, Greg Linder, Abigail J. Darrah, Charles A. Drost, Michael Duniway, Matthew S. Johnson, Francisca M. Méndez-Harclerode, Erika M. Nowak, Ernest W. Valdez, Charles van Riper III, S.W. Wolff
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Columbia Environmental Research Center

Science and Products

*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government

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