Jeffrey E Lovich, Ph.D.
As a Scientist Emeritus, Dr. Jeff Lovich is interested in the interactions of animals and their physical environment. His research focuses on the ecology of turtles and tortoises and the effects of utility-scale renewable energy development (wind and solar) on wildlife, particularly in the Desert Southwest USA.
Dr. Lovich Wins Prestigious Global Turtle Conservation Award
Dr. Lovich Wins Prestigious Global Turtle Conservation Award
Research interests
Jeff has studied the ecology and systematics of turtles and other animals for over 30 years, discovering and naming four of the world’s 356 turtle species, including three in the United States and one in Japan. Other interests include the ecological impacts of invasive species, the ecology and distribution of relict species, and the impacts of human activities (including wind and solar energy development) on wildlife and ecological patterns and processes in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts.
Books
- Turtles of the United States and Canada (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994)
- Biological Diversity: Problems and Challenges (Pennsylvania Academy of Science, 1994)
- The State of the Colorado River Ecosystem in the Grand Canyon (U.S. Geological Survey, 2005)
- Turtles of the United States and Canada, Second Edition (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009)
- Turtles of the World (Princeton University Press, 2021)
Professional Experience
Center Director - USGS, Western Ecological Research Center
Chief - USGS, Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center
Education and Certifications
B.S. (1982) and M.S. degrees (1984) Biology, George Mason University
Ph.D. (1990) Ecology, University of Georgia, Institute of Ecology
Affiliations and Memberships*
Member IUCN (World Conservation Union), Species Survival Commission, Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group
Honors and Awards
Recipient of the Behler Turtle Conservation Award, 2024
Fulbright Senior Specialist Award 2008 Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco
Elected Fellow of The Linnean Society of London, the world's oldest active biological society
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 109
Climate change and collapsing thermal niches of desert reptiles and amphibians: Assisted migration and acclimation rescue from extirpation
Recent climate change should result in expansion of species to northern or high elevation range margins, and contraction at southern and low elevation margins in the northern hemisphere, because of local extirpations or range shifts or both. We combined museum occurrence records from both the continental U.S. and Mexico with a new eco-physiological model of extinction developed for...
Authors
Barry Sinervo, Rafael A. Lara Reséndiz, Donald B. Miles, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Philip C. Rosen, Héctor Gadsden, Gamaliel Casteñada Gaytán, Patricia Galina Tessaro, Victor H. Luja, Raymond B. Huey, Amy V. Whipple, Víctor Sánchez Cordero, Jason R. Rohr, Gabriel Caetano, Juan Carlos Santos, Jr. Sites, Fausto R. Méndez de la Cruz
High female desert tortoise mortality in the western Sonoran Desert during California’s epic 2012–2016 drought
We conducted population surveys for desert tortoises Gopherus agassizii at 2 nearby sites in the western Sonoran Desert of California, USA, from 2015-2018, during the driest ongoing 22 yr period (2000-2021) in the southwestern USA in over 1200 yr. We hypothesized that drought-induced mortality would be female-biased due to water and energy losses attributable to egg production during...
Authors
Jeffrey E. Lovich, Michele (Shellie) R. Puffer, Kristy L. Cummings, Terence R. Arundel, Michael S. Vamstad, Kathleen D. Brundige
Injuries and abnormalities of the southwestern pond turtle (Actinemys pallida) in the Mojave River of California
The southwestern pond turtle (Actinemys pallida) is a semiaquatic turtle that occasionally spends time on land to bask, oviposit, make intermittent overland movements, and overwinter in terrestrial locations. Use of both aquatic and terrestrial environments exposes semiaquatic turtles to increased risk of injury or mortality from floods, predation attempts, and other environmental...
Authors
Kristy L. Cummings, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Michele (Shellie) R. Puffer, Sarah Greely, Christopher D Otahal, James Gannon
Re-evaluating invasive species in degraded ecosystems: A case study of red-eared slider turtles as partial ecological analogs
Exotic species are often vilified as "bad" without consideration of the potential they have for contributing to ecological functions in degraded ecosystems. The red-eared slider turtle (RES) has been disparaged as one of the worst invasive species. Based on this review, we suggest that RES contribute some ecosystem functions in urban wetlands comparable to those provided by the native...
Authors
Marc Dupuis-Desormeaux, Jeffrey E. Lovich, J. Whitfield Gibbons
Birds not in flight: Using camera traps to observe ground use of birds at a wind-energy facility
Context: Camera trapping is increasingly used to collect information on wildlife occurrence and behaviour remotely. Not only does the technique provide insights into habitat use by species of interest, it also gathers information on non-target species.Aims: We implemented ground-based camera trapping to investigate the behaviours of ground-dwelling birds, a technique that has largely...
Authors
Shellie R. Puffer, Laura A. Tennant, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Mickey Agha, Amanda Smith, David K. Delaney, Terence R. Arundel, Leo J. Fleckenstein, Jessica R. Briggs, Andrew D. Walde, Joshua R. Ennen
Turtles of the World: A guide to every family
Turtles of the World reveals the extraordinary diversity of these amazing reptiles. Characterized by the bony shell that acts as a shield to protect the softer body within, turtles are survivors from the time of the dinosaurs and are even more ancient in evolutionary terms than snakes and crocodilians. Of more than 350 species known today, some are highly endangered. In this beautiful...
Authors
Jeffrey E. Lovich, Whit Gibbons
Agassiz's desert tortoise and egg data from the Sonoran Desert of California (1997-2000, 2015-2018)
These data were compiled to evaluate reproductive output of Agassiz's desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizzi) in relation to environmental and individual-level variables. We collected data from four study sites in the Sonoran Desert of California, including two separate populations within Joshua Tree National Park, one population located on the northern versant of the Orocopia Mountains...
Southern Pacific Pond Turtle Data, Elizabeth Lake, Los Angeles County, California, USA
These data were compiled to study the effects of severe drought and a concurrent large wildfire on a large population of southern Pacific pond turtles living in a rapidly drying lake. The study was done in collaboration with biologists from Ecorp Consulting in Santa Ana, California with funding from the Desert Tortoise Council. Data were collected in August and September of 2014. This...
Spatial distribution and risk analysis data for diamond-backed terrapins relative to crab trapping, Savannah Coastal Refuge Complex, USA
There were five objects for compiling these data: 1) to conduct a systematic inventory of diamond-backed terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin) using headcount surveys on four National Wildlife Refuges (Harris Neck, Blackbeard Island, Wassaw, and Wolf Island) that are a part of the greater Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex in southeast Georgia, USA; 2) to use occupancy modeling to determine...
Desert tortoise reproductive ecology and precipitation, Mojave and Sonoran DesertsData
Estimated precipitation data were compiled using the WestMap web site (http://www.cefa.dri.edu/Westmap/) from 1995-2013. We selected pixels on the map shown on their web site that were in the core of our study areas: one near Palm Springs, California and the other at Sugarloaf Mountain in the Tonto National Forest of Arizona. WestMap uses PRISM data to make point measurements of climate...
Body size estimates for slider turtles in the United States, 1944-2010Data
These data are compiled from published studies of various subspecies of the slider turtle (Trachemys scripta) from throughout the native range of the species in the United States. Data include sample sizes of adult male and female turtles as well as various estimates of their body size as noted in the Comments column. The purpose for collecting these data was to make comparisons and...
Filter Total Items: 13
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 109
Climate change and collapsing thermal niches of desert reptiles and amphibians: Assisted migration and acclimation rescue from extirpation
Recent climate change should result in expansion of species to northern or high elevation range margins, and contraction at southern and low elevation margins in the northern hemisphere, because of local extirpations or range shifts or both. We combined museum occurrence records from both the continental U.S. and Mexico with a new eco-physiological model of extinction developed for...
Authors
Barry Sinervo, Rafael A. Lara Reséndiz, Donald B. Miles, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Philip C. Rosen, Héctor Gadsden, Gamaliel Casteñada Gaytán, Patricia Galina Tessaro, Victor H. Luja, Raymond B. Huey, Amy V. Whipple, Víctor Sánchez Cordero, Jason R. Rohr, Gabriel Caetano, Juan Carlos Santos, Jr. Sites, Fausto R. Méndez de la Cruz
High female desert tortoise mortality in the western Sonoran Desert during California’s epic 2012–2016 drought
We conducted population surveys for desert tortoises Gopherus agassizii at 2 nearby sites in the western Sonoran Desert of California, USA, from 2015-2018, during the driest ongoing 22 yr period (2000-2021) in the southwestern USA in over 1200 yr. We hypothesized that drought-induced mortality would be female-biased due to water and energy losses attributable to egg production during...
Authors
Jeffrey E. Lovich, Michele (Shellie) R. Puffer, Kristy L. Cummings, Terence R. Arundel, Michael S. Vamstad, Kathleen D. Brundige
Injuries and abnormalities of the southwestern pond turtle (Actinemys pallida) in the Mojave River of California
The southwestern pond turtle (Actinemys pallida) is a semiaquatic turtle that occasionally spends time on land to bask, oviposit, make intermittent overland movements, and overwinter in terrestrial locations. Use of both aquatic and terrestrial environments exposes semiaquatic turtles to increased risk of injury or mortality from floods, predation attempts, and other environmental...
Authors
Kristy L. Cummings, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Michele (Shellie) R. Puffer, Sarah Greely, Christopher D Otahal, James Gannon
Re-evaluating invasive species in degraded ecosystems: A case study of red-eared slider turtles as partial ecological analogs
Exotic species are often vilified as "bad" without consideration of the potential they have for contributing to ecological functions in degraded ecosystems. The red-eared slider turtle (RES) has been disparaged as one of the worst invasive species. Based on this review, we suggest that RES contribute some ecosystem functions in urban wetlands comparable to those provided by the native...
Authors
Marc Dupuis-Desormeaux, Jeffrey E. Lovich, J. Whitfield Gibbons
Birds not in flight: Using camera traps to observe ground use of birds at a wind-energy facility
Context: Camera trapping is increasingly used to collect information on wildlife occurrence and behaviour remotely. Not only does the technique provide insights into habitat use by species of interest, it also gathers information on non-target species.Aims: We implemented ground-based camera trapping to investigate the behaviours of ground-dwelling birds, a technique that has largely...
Authors
Shellie R. Puffer, Laura A. Tennant, Jeffrey E. Lovich, Mickey Agha, Amanda Smith, David K. Delaney, Terence R. Arundel, Leo J. Fleckenstein, Jessica R. Briggs, Andrew D. Walde, Joshua R. Ennen
Turtles of the World: A guide to every family
Turtles of the World reveals the extraordinary diversity of these amazing reptiles. Characterized by the bony shell that acts as a shield to protect the softer body within, turtles are survivors from the time of the dinosaurs and are even more ancient in evolutionary terms than snakes and crocodilians. Of more than 350 species known today, some are highly endangered. In this beautiful...
Authors
Jeffrey E. Lovich, Whit Gibbons
Agassiz's desert tortoise and egg data from the Sonoran Desert of California (1997-2000, 2015-2018)
These data were compiled to evaluate reproductive output of Agassiz's desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizzi) in relation to environmental and individual-level variables. We collected data from four study sites in the Sonoran Desert of California, including two separate populations within Joshua Tree National Park, one population located on the northern versant of the Orocopia Mountains...
Southern Pacific Pond Turtle Data, Elizabeth Lake, Los Angeles County, California, USA
These data were compiled to study the effects of severe drought and a concurrent large wildfire on a large population of southern Pacific pond turtles living in a rapidly drying lake. The study was done in collaboration with biologists from Ecorp Consulting in Santa Ana, California with funding from the Desert Tortoise Council. Data were collected in August and September of 2014. This...
Spatial distribution and risk analysis data for diamond-backed terrapins relative to crab trapping, Savannah Coastal Refuge Complex, USA
There were five objects for compiling these data: 1) to conduct a systematic inventory of diamond-backed terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin) using headcount surveys on four National Wildlife Refuges (Harris Neck, Blackbeard Island, Wassaw, and Wolf Island) that are a part of the greater Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex in southeast Georgia, USA; 2) to use occupancy modeling to determine...
Desert tortoise reproductive ecology and precipitation, Mojave and Sonoran DesertsData
Estimated precipitation data were compiled using the WestMap web site (http://www.cefa.dri.edu/Westmap/) from 1995-2013. We selected pixels on the map shown on their web site that were in the core of our study areas: one near Palm Springs, California and the other at Sugarloaf Mountain in the Tonto National Forest of Arizona. WestMap uses PRISM data to make point measurements of climate...
Body size estimates for slider turtles in the United States, 1944-2010Data
These data are compiled from published studies of various subspecies of the slider turtle (Trachemys scripta) from throughout the native range of the species in the United States. Data include sample sizes of adult male and female turtles as well as various estimates of their body size as noted in the Comments column. The purpose for collecting these data was to make comparisons and...
Filter Total Items: 13
*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