John A Young
John Young is a Research Biologist (Biogeography/GIS) at the USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center and Lead of the EESC Remote Sensing and GIS Team.
John Young is a Research Biologist (Biogeography/GIS) whose research interests include developing innovative applications of GIS and remote sensing technologies to assess the impact of landscape structure on the distribution of aquatic and terrestrial species and their habitats. His past research activities have included assessing watershed land use effects on aquatic communities, modeling the distribution of endangered, rare, and at risk plants and animals, remote sensing monitoring and assessment of forest vegetation communities, and characterizing forest structure and change using aerial lidar. His work has also included development of risk and vulnerability models using multi-criteria decision support tools and geospatial modeling, and development of spatial sampling designs for field data collection.
Professional Experience
2000 to present USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center (formerly USGS Leetown Science Center), Kearneysville, WV, Research Biologist (Biogeography/GIS).
1994-2000 USGS Leetown Science Center, Kearneysville, WV, Biologist (GIS Coordinator).
1991-1994 U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Olympia, WA, Geographer/GIS Coordinator.
Education and Certifications
M.S. Geography, 1992, Virginia Tech
B.A. Geography, 1987, Virginia Tech
Affiliations and Memberships*
International Association of Landscape Ecologists, International Biogeography Society
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 21
Data associated with the investigation of suitable habitat for the endangered plant Harperella (Ptilimnium nodosum Rose) in the Potomac River near Hancock Maryland
In lieu of a uniform mapping of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park corridor at very high-resolution using UAS, this study developed a multi-scale workflow, where (1) geospatial modeling methods and (2) historic image analysis were used to constrain the areal extent of (3) detailed field and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) observation. Geospatial Modeling Methods...
Topobathymetric elevation models of the upper Delaware River, USA - Version 1 - 10km tiles
This dataset includes topographic elevations (in meters) surrounding and bathymetric elevations within the upper Delaware River (USA). Bathymetric lidar data was acquired using the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar, version B. The EAARL-B is a successor instrument to the original EAARL bathymetric LiDAR sensor developed for mapping coral reef environments in clear water, but...
Low-altitude aerial imagery from unmanned aerial systems (UAS) at select locations over the Potomac River, October 2019
These digital images were taken at select locations over the Potomac River using 3DR Solo unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in October 2019. These images were collected for the purpose of evaluating UAS assessment of river habitat data such as water depth, substrate type, and water clarity. Each UAS was equipped with a Ricoh GRII digital camera for natural color photos, used to produce...
Potomac River ADCP Bathymetric Survey, October 2019
Water-penetrating LiDAR technology was used to remotely sense bathymetric elevation data as part of a spatial data acquisition on the Potomac River. In support of this effort, a bathymetric survey with a boat-mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) was conducted in the study area on October 21-24, 2019. Global Navigational Satellite Systems (GNSS) were used to concurrently...
Environmental data collected at piezometer field plot locations used to study hydrologic impacts on vegetation due to historic rail road embankment at Canaan Valley NWR
This data represents environmental attributes collected at or around field sample locations (groundwater piezometers or water wells) that were used in a study of impacts from a historic railroad embankment on wetland vegetation. GPS surveys were used to map piezometer locations, elevations, and the elevation of the ground surface in proximity to the piezometer. Water surface elevations...
Ambystomatid salamander population and breeding pond habitat data for the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (2001 - 2003)
This database contains breeding pond use data (i.e., egg mass and larval abundance counts) of three ambystomatid salamander species (Spotted salamander, Jefferson salamander, and marbled salamander) collected from 200 individual aquatic habitats (ponds, wetlands, and impoundments) in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation. Data were collected between the years 2001 and 2003. The...
Benthic macroinvertebrates abundance data for the study of urbanization effects in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, (2006)
This database contains aquatic benthic macroinvertebrate abundance data derived from samples collected from 33 75-meter stream site locations within the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation area in September of 2006. The database contains two separate table files (i.e., entities) in csv format: 1) Macroinvertebrate site abundance data and 2) site location data. For macroinvertebrate...
Estrogen Equivalents of Surface Water in the Upper Chesapeake Bay Watershed (2008 - 2011)
Intersex in small- and largemouth bass has been observed in the upper Chesapeake Bay Watershed since 2003. This observation is indicative of exposure to estrogenic endocrine disrupting chemicals. In order to complement biological data sets and better identify the spatial and temporal nature of this end-point, discrete grab water samples were collected throughout the upper Chesapeake Bay...
GIS data for predicting the occurrence of cave-inhabiting fauna based on features of the Earth surface environment in the Appalachian Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) Region
Cave-limited species display patchy and restricted distributions, but are challenging to study in situ because of the difficulty of sampling. It is often unclear whether the observed distribution is a sampling artifact or a true restriction in range. Further, the drivers of the distribution could be local environmental conditions, such as cave humidity, or they could be associated with...
Filter Total Items: 53
Identification of management thresholds of urban development in support of aquatic biodiversity conservation
Urbanization degrades stream ecosystems and causes loss of bodiversity. Using benthic macroinvertebrates as a surragate for overall aquatic diversity, we conducted a series of analytical approaches to derive management thresholds of urban development designed to link ecological responses to the primary management goal of protecting aquatic diversity in streams within the Delaware Water...
Authors
Craig D. Snyder, John A. Young
Disentangling the potential effects of land-use and climate change on stream conditions
Land‐use and climate change are significantly affecting stream ecosystems, yet understanding of their long‐term impacts is hindered by the few studies that have simultaneously investigated their interaction and high variability among future projections. We modeled possible effects of a suite of 2030, 2060, and 2090 land‐use and climate scenarios on the condition of 70,772 small streams...
Authors
Kelly O. Maloney, Kevin P. Krause, Claire Buchanan, Lauren Hay, Gregory J. McCabe, Zachary M. Smith, Terry L. Sohl, John A. Young
Assessing the hydrologic impact of historical railroad embankments on wetland vegetation response in Canaan Valley, WV (USA): The value of high-resolution data
The recovery of natural ecological processes after disturbance is poorly understood. Some disturbances may be so severe as to set ecosystems onto a new trajectory. The Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge in West Virginia protects a unique high-altitude wetland that was heavily disturbed by logging 100 years BP and has since transitioned to a new ecological state (shrub wetland)...
Authors
John A. Young, Daniel Welsch, Sarah Deacon
Explaining harvests of wild-harvested herbaceous plants: American ginseng as a case study
Wild-harvested plants face increasing demand globally. As in many fisheries, monitoring the effect of harvesting on the size and trajectory of resource stocks presents many challenges given often limited data from disparate sources. Here we analyze American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.) harvests from 18 states in the eastern U.S. 1978–2014 to infer temporal patterns and evidence of...
Authors
John Paul Schmidt, Jennifer Cruse-Sanders, James L. Chamberlain, Susana Ferreira, John A. Young
A preliminary assessment of hyperspectral remote sensing technology for mapping submerged aquatic vegetation in the Upper Delaware River National Parks
Hyperspectral remote sensing of submerged aquatic vegetation is a complex and difficult process that is affected by unique constraints on the energy flow profile near and below the water surface. In addition, shallow, winding, lotic systems, such as the Upper Delaware River, present additional remote sensing problems in the form of specular reflectance, variable depth and constituents in...
Authors
E. Terrence Slonecker, Siddiq Kalaly, John A. Young, Mary Ann Furedi, Kelly O. Maloney, Don Hamilton, Richard Evans, Elizabeth Zinecker
Predicting biological conditions for small headwater streams in the Chesapeake Bay watershed
A primary goal for Chesapeake Bay watershed restoration is to improve stream health and function in 10% of stream miles by 2025. Predictive spatial modeling of stream conditions, when accurate, is one method to fill gaps in monitoring coverage and estimate baseline conditions for restoration goals. Predictive modeling can also monitor progress as additional data become available. We...
Authors
Kelly O. Maloney, Zachary M. Smith, Claire Buchanan, Andrea Nagel, John A. Young
Community for Data Integration fiscal year 2017 funded project report
The U.S. Geological Survey Community for Data Integration annually funds small projects focusing on data integration for interdisciplinary research, innovative data management, and demonstration of new technologies. This report provides a summary of the 11 projects funded in fiscal year 2017, outlining their goals, activities, and outputs.
Authors
Leslie Hsu, Kate E. Allstadt, Tara M. Bell, Erin E. Boydston, Richard A. Erickson, A. Lance Everette, Erika Lentz, Jeff Peters, Brian Reichert, Sarah Nagorsen, Jason T. Sherba, Richard P. Signell, Mark T. Wiltermuth, John A. Young
Canopy volume removal from oil and gas development activity in the upper Susquehanna River basin in Pennsylvania and New York (USA): An assessment using lidar data
Oil and gas development is changing the landscape in many regions of the United States and globally. However, the nature, extent, and magnitude of landscape change and development, and precisely how this development compares to other ongoing land conversion (e.g. urban/sub-urban development, timber harvest) is not well understood. In this study, we examine land conversion from oil and...
Authors
John A. Young, Kelly O. Maloney, E. Terrence Slonecker, Lesley E. Milheim, David Siripoonsup
Brook trout distributional response to unconventional oil and gas development: Landscape context matters
We conducted a large-scale assessment of unconventional oil and gas (UOG) development effects on brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) distribution. We compiled 2231 brook trout collection records from the Upper Susquehanna River Watershed, USA. We used boosted regression tree (BRT) analysis to predict occurrence probability at the 1:24,000 stream-segment scale as a function of natural and...
Authors
Eric R. Merriam, J. Todd Petty, Kelly O. Maloney, John A. Young, Stephen Faulkner, E. Terrence Slonecker, Lesley E. Milheim, Atesmachew Hailegiorgis, Jonathan M. Niles
A detailed risk assessment of shale gas development on headwater streams in the Pennsylvania portion of the Upper Susquehanna River Basin, U.S.A.
The development of unconventional oil and gas (UOG) involves infrastructure development (well pads, roads and pipelines), well drilling and stimulation (hydraulic fracturing), and production; all of which have the potential to affect stream ecosystems. Here, we developed a fine-scaled (1:24,000) catchment-level disturbance intensity index (DII) that included 17 measures of UOG capturing...
Authors
Kelly O. Maloney, John A. Young, Stephen Faulkner, Atesmachew Hailegiorgis, E. Terrence Slonecker, Lesley Milheim
Integration of vegetation community spatial data into a prescribed fire planning process at Shenandoah National Park, Virginia (USA)
Many eastern forest communities depend on fire for regeneration or are enhanced by fire as a restoration practice. However, the use of prescribed fire in the mesic forested environments and the densely populated regions of the eastern United States has been limited. The objective of our research was to develop a science-based approach to prioritizing the use of prescribed fire in...
Authors
John A. Young, Carolyn G. Mahan, Melissa Forder
Predicting the occurrence of cave-inhabiting fauna based on features of the earth surface environment
One of the most challenging fauna to study in situ is the obligate cave fauna because of the difficulty of sampling. Cave-limited species display patchy and restricted distributions, but it is often unclear whether the observed distribution is a sampling artifact or a true restriction in range. Further, the drivers of the distribution could be local environmental conditions, such as cave...
Authors
Mary C. Christman, Daniel H. Doctor, Matthew L. Niemiller, David J. Weary, John A. Young, Kirk S. Zigler, David C. Culver
Non-USGS Publications**
Mahan, C. G. and J. A. Young. 2018. Natural resource condition assessment: New River Gorge National River. Technical Report NPS/NERI/NRR—2018/1622.
Mahan, C. G., and J. A. Young. 2016. Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park Natural Resource Condition Assessment. Natural Resource Report NPS/NERO/NRR—2016/1252. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 21
Data associated with the investigation of suitable habitat for the endangered plant Harperella (Ptilimnium nodosum Rose) in the Potomac River near Hancock Maryland
In lieu of a uniform mapping of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park corridor at very high-resolution using UAS, this study developed a multi-scale workflow, where (1) geospatial modeling methods and (2) historic image analysis were used to constrain the areal extent of (3) detailed field and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) observation. Geospatial Modeling Methods...
Topobathymetric elevation models of the upper Delaware River, USA - Version 1 - 10km tiles
This dataset includes topographic elevations (in meters) surrounding and bathymetric elevations within the upper Delaware River (USA). Bathymetric lidar data was acquired using the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar, version B. The EAARL-B is a successor instrument to the original EAARL bathymetric LiDAR sensor developed for mapping coral reef environments in clear water, but...
Low-altitude aerial imagery from unmanned aerial systems (UAS) at select locations over the Potomac River, October 2019
These digital images were taken at select locations over the Potomac River using 3DR Solo unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in October 2019. These images were collected for the purpose of evaluating UAS assessment of river habitat data such as water depth, substrate type, and water clarity. Each UAS was equipped with a Ricoh GRII digital camera for natural color photos, used to produce...
Potomac River ADCP Bathymetric Survey, October 2019
Water-penetrating LiDAR technology was used to remotely sense bathymetric elevation data as part of a spatial data acquisition on the Potomac River. In support of this effort, a bathymetric survey with a boat-mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) was conducted in the study area on October 21-24, 2019. Global Navigational Satellite Systems (GNSS) were used to concurrently...
Environmental data collected at piezometer field plot locations used to study hydrologic impacts on vegetation due to historic rail road embankment at Canaan Valley NWR
This data represents environmental attributes collected at or around field sample locations (groundwater piezometers or water wells) that were used in a study of impacts from a historic railroad embankment on wetland vegetation. GPS surveys were used to map piezometer locations, elevations, and the elevation of the ground surface in proximity to the piezometer. Water surface elevations...
Ambystomatid salamander population and breeding pond habitat data for the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (2001 - 2003)
This database contains breeding pond use data (i.e., egg mass and larval abundance counts) of three ambystomatid salamander species (Spotted salamander, Jefferson salamander, and marbled salamander) collected from 200 individual aquatic habitats (ponds, wetlands, and impoundments) in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation. Data were collected between the years 2001 and 2003. The...
Benthic macroinvertebrates abundance data for the study of urbanization effects in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, (2006)
This database contains aquatic benthic macroinvertebrate abundance data derived from samples collected from 33 75-meter stream site locations within the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation area in September of 2006. The database contains two separate table files (i.e., entities) in csv format: 1) Macroinvertebrate site abundance data and 2) site location data. For macroinvertebrate...
Estrogen Equivalents of Surface Water in the Upper Chesapeake Bay Watershed (2008 - 2011)
Intersex in small- and largemouth bass has been observed in the upper Chesapeake Bay Watershed since 2003. This observation is indicative of exposure to estrogenic endocrine disrupting chemicals. In order to complement biological data sets and better identify the spatial and temporal nature of this end-point, discrete grab water samples were collected throughout the upper Chesapeake Bay...
GIS data for predicting the occurrence of cave-inhabiting fauna based on features of the Earth surface environment in the Appalachian Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) Region
Cave-limited species display patchy and restricted distributions, but are challenging to study in situ because of the difficulty of sampling. It is often unclear whether the observed distribution is a sampling artifact or a true restriction in range. Further, the drivers of the distribution could be local environmental conditions, such as cave humidity, or they could be associated with...
Filter Total Items: 53
Identification of management thresholds of urban development in support of aquatic biodiversity conservation
Urbanization degrades stream ecosystems and causes loss of bodiversity. Using benthic macroinvertebrates as a surragate for overall aquatic diversity, we conducted a series of analytical approaches to derive management thresholds of urban development designed to link ecological responses to the primary management goal of protecting aquatic diversity in streams within the Delaware Water...
Authors
Craig D. Snyder, John A. Young
Disentangling the potential effects of land-use and climate change on stream conditions
Land‐use and climate change are significantly affecting stream ecosystems, yet understanding of their long‐term impacts is hindered by the few studies that have simultaneously investigated their interaction and high variability among future projections. We modeled possible effects of a suite of 2030, 2060, and 2090 land‐use and climate scenarios on the condition of 70,772 small streams...
Authors
Kelly O. Maloney, Kevin P. Krause, Claire Buchanan, Lauren Hay, Gregory J. McCabe, Zachary M. Smith, Terry L. Sohl, John A. Young
Assessing the hydrologic impact of historical railroad embankments on wetland vegetation response in Canaan Valley, WV (USA): The value of high-resolution data
The recovery of natural ecological processes after disturbance is poorly understood. Some disturbances may be so severe as to set ecosystems onto a new trajectory. The Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge in West Virginia protects a unique high-altitude wetland that was heavily disturbed by logging 100 years BP and has since transitioned to a new ecological state (shrub wetland)...
Authors
John A. Young, Daniel Welsch, Sarah Deacon
Explaining harvests of wild-harvested herbaceous plants: American ginseng as a case study
Wild-harvested plants face increasing demand globally. As in many fisheries, monitoring the effect of harvesting on the size and trajectory of resource stocks presents many challenges given often limited data from disparate sources. Here we analyze American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.) harvests from 18 states in the eastern U.S. 1978–2014 to infer temporal patterns and evidence of...
Authors
John Paul Schmidt, Jennifer Cruse-Sanders, James L. Chamberlain, Susana Ferreira, John A. Young
A preliminary assessment of hyperspectral remote sensing technology for mapping submerged aquatic vegetation in the Upper Delaware River National Parks
Hyperspectral remote sensing of submerged aquatic vegetation is a complex and difficult process that is affected by unique constraints on the energy flow profile near and below the water surface. In addition, shallow, winding, lotic systems, such as the Upper Delaware River, present additional remote sensing problems in the form of specular reflectance, variable depth and constituents in...
Authors
E. Terrence Slonecker, Siddiq Kalaly, John A. Young, Mary Ann Furedi, Kelly O. Maloney, Don Hamilton, Richard Evans, Elizabeth Zinecker
Predicting biological conditions for small headwater streams in the Chesapeake Bay watershed
A primary goal for Chesapeake Bay watershed restoration is to improve stream health and function in 10% of stream miles by 2025. Predictive spatial modeling of stream conditions, when accurate, is one method to fill gaps in monitoring coverage and estimate baseline conditions for restoration goals. Predictive modeling can also monitor progress as additional data become available. We...
Authors
Kelly O. Maloney, Zachary M. Smith, Claire Buchanan, Andrea Nagel, John A. Young
Community for Data Integration fiscal year 2017 funded project report
The U.S. Geological Survey Community for Data Integration annually funds small projects focusing on data integration for interdisciplinary research, innovative data management, and demonstration of new technologies. This report provides a summary of the 11 projects funded in fiscal year 2017, outlining their goals, activities, and outputs.
Authors
Leslie Hsu, Kate E. Allstadt, Tara M. Bell, Erin E. Boydston, Richard A. Erickson, A. Lance Everette, Erika Lentz, Jeff Peters, Brian Reichert, Sarah Nagorsen, Jason T. Sherba, Richard P. Signell, Mark T. Wiltermuth, John A. Young
Canopy volume removal from oil and gas development activity in the upper Susquehanna River basin in Pennsylvania and New York (USA): An assessment using lidar data
Oil and gas development is changing the landscape in many regions of the United States and globally. However, the nature, extent, and magnitude of landscape change and development, and precisely how this development compares to other ongoing land conversion (e.g. urban/sub-urban development, timber harvest) is not well understood. In this study, we examine land conversion from oil and...
Authors
John A. Young, Kelly O. Maloney, E. Terrence Slonecker, Lesley E. Milheim, David Siripoonsup
Brook trout distributional response to unconventional oil and gas development: Landscape context matters
We conducted a large-scale assessment of unconventional oil and gas (UOG) development effects on brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) distribution. We compiled 2231 brook trout collection records from the Upper Susquehanna River Watershed, USA. We used boosted regression tree (BRT) analysis to predict occurrence probability at the 1:24,000 stream-segment scale as a function of natural and...
Authors
Eric R. Merriam, J. Todd Petty, Kelly O. Maloney, John A. Young, Stephen Faulkner, E. Terrence Slonecker, Lesley E. Milheim, Atesmachew Hailegiorgis, Jonathan M. Niles
A detailed risk assessment of shale gas development on headwater streams in the Pennsylvania portion of the Upper Susquehanna River Basin, U.S.A.
The development of unconventional oil and gas (UOG) involves infrastructure development (well pads, roads and pipelines), well drilling and stimulation (hydraulic fracturing), and production; all of which have the potential to affect stream ecosystems. Here, we developed a fine-scaled (1:24,000) catchment-level disturbance intensity index (DII) that included 17 measures of UOG capturing...
Authors
Kelly O. Maloney, John A. Young, Stephen Faulkner, Atesmachew Hailegiorgis, E. Terrence Slonecker, Lesley Milheim
Integration of vegetation community spatial data into a prescribed fire planning process at Shenandoah National Park, Virginia (USA)
Many eastern forest communities depend on fire for regeneration or are enhanced by fire as a restoration practice. However, the use of prescribed fire in the mesic forested environments and the densely populated regions of the eastern United States has been limited. The objective of our research was to develop a science-based approach to prioritizing the use of prescribed fire in...
Authors
John A. Young, Carolyn G. Mahan, Melissa Forder
Predicting the occurrence of cave-inhabiting fauna based on features of the earth surface environment
One of the most challenging fauna to study in situ is the obligate cave fauna because of the difficulty of sampling. Cave-limited species display patchy and restricted distributions, but it is often unclear whether the observed distribution is a sampling artifact or a true restriction in range. Further, the drivers of the distribution could be local environmental conditions, such as cave...
Authors
Mary C. Christman, Daniel H. Doctor, Matthew L. Niemiller, David J. Weary, John A. Young, Kirk S. Zigler, David C. Culver
Non-USGS Publications**
Mahan, C. G. and J. A. Young. 2018. Natural resource condition assessment: New River Gorge National River. Technical Report NPS/NERI/NRR—2018/1622.
Mahan, C. G., and J. A. Young. 2016. Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park Natural Resource Condition Assessment. Natural Resource Report NPS/NERO/NRR—2016/1252. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
*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