Jeffrey E Lovich, Ph.D.
As a Research Ecologist, Jeff is interested in the interactions of animals and their physical environment. Current research is focused 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.
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
Hatching success and predation of Bog Turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii) eggs in New Jersey and Pennsylvania
Variation in annual clutch phenology of desert tortoises (Gopherus morafkai) in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona
Sustainability of utility-scale solar energy – critical ecological concepts
Mammalian mesocarnivore visitation at tortoise burrows in a wind farm
Hierarchical, quantitative biogeographic provinces for all North American turtles and their contribution to the biogeography of turtles and the continent
The evolution of different maternal investment strategies in two closely related desert vertebrates
Unusual population attributes of invasive red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans) in Japan: do they have a performance advantage?
Developing an effective Agassiz's Desert Tortoise monitoring program: Final report to the Coachella Valley Conservation Commission
Reptiles and amphibians
The effects of drought and fire in the extirpation of an abundant semi-aquatic turtle from a lacustrine environment in the southwestern USA
A report on genetic affinities and relatedness of Agassiz’s desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) at opposite ends of the Coachella Valley in California
Climate change and collapsing thermal niches of Mexican endemic reptiles
Science and Products
Hatching success and predation of Bog Turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii) eggs in New Jersey and Pennsylvania
Variation in annual clutch phenology of desert tortoises (Gopherus morafkai) in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona
Sustainability of utility-scale solar energy – critical ecological concepts
Mammalian mesocarnivore visitation at tortoise burrows in a wind farm
Hierarchical, quantitative biogeographic provinces for all North American turtles and their contribution to the biogeography of turtles and the continent
The evolution of different maternal investment strategies in two closely related desert vertebrates
Unusual population attributes of invasive red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans) in Japan: do they have a performance advantage?
Developing an effective Agassiz's Desert Tortoise monitoring program: Final report to the Coachella Valley Conservation Commission
Reptiles and amphibians
The effects of drought and fire in the extirpation of an abundant semi-aquatic turtle from a lacustrine environment in the southwestern USA
A report on genetic affinities and relatedness of Agassiz’s desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) at opposite ends of the Coachella Valley in California
Climate change and collapsing thermal niches of Mexican endemic reptiles
*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