Mitchell J Eaton, Ph.D.
Mitchell Eaton is a Research Ecologist with the USGS Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center and an adjunct faculty member in Applied Ecology at NC State University. His research focuses on wildlife ecology and management, emphasizing quantitative modeling to understand resource dynamics and use of decision-theoretic methods to guide management decisions under uncertainty.
Mitch earned a M.S. in Conservation Biology at the University of Minnesota (2002; use of harvest data to assess sustainability of tropical vertebrates) and his Ph.D in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from the University of Colorado (2009; population demographics, genetics and harvest management of African crocodiles). An interest in how policy makers actually use science to make decisions led him to a postdoc at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (USGS), where he worked with some of the top researchers in the field of decision theory to develop and apply quantitative decision-analytic tools for addressing resource management issues in the U.S. and globally. Mitch currently integrates his background and interests in population ecology with decision science to help managers and decision makers frame management problems, formulate approaches to predict outcomes and evaluate trade-offs, test hypotheses and improve decision making via adaptive management, and optimally allocate resources under uncertainty. Mitch is interested in bridging the science-management gap by working with decision makers early in their formulation of management issues and considering how science can most effectively support decision-making. He also has an ongoing interest in tropical ecology, crocodilian conservation and wildlife harvest dynamics.
Additional Projects:
-
Conservation and management of the New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis): designing a monitoring program and occupancy models to test hypotheses of habitat and competition on patch occupancy and dynamics
-
Development of an adaptive management plan to restore the Herring River estuary, Cape Cod
Education and Certifications
Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado
M.S. in Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 14
Filter Total Items: 44
Spatial conservation planning under uncertainty using modern portfolio theory and nash bargaining solution
In recent years, researchers from interdisciplinary teams involving ecologists, economists and operations re- searchers collaborated to provide decision support tools to address the challenges of preserving biodiversity by optimizing the design of reserves. The goal of this paper is to further advance this area of research and provide new solutions to solve complex Spatial Conservation...
Authors
Alvaro Sierra-Altamiranda, Hadi Charkhgard, Mitchell J. Eaton, Julien Martin, Simeon Yurek, Bradley James Udell
Climate change adaptation for coastal national wildlife refuges
National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) along the East Coast of the United States protect habitat for a host of wildlife species, while also offering storm surge protection, improving water quality, supporting nurseries for commercially important fish and shellfish, and providing recreation opportunities for coastal communities. Yet in the last century, coastal ecosystems in the eastern U.S...
Authors
Mitchell J. Eaton, Jennifer K. Costanza, Fred A. Johnson, Julien Martin, Laura Taylor
Spatial conservation planning under uncertainty: Adapting to climate change risks using modern portfolio theory
Climate change and urban growth impact habitats, species, and ecosystem services. To buffer against global change, an established adaptation strategy is designing protected areas to increase representation and complementarity of biodiversity features. Uncertainty regarding the scale and magnitude of landscape change complicates reserve planning and exposes decision makers to risk of...
Authors
Mitchell J. Eaton, Simeon Yurek, Zulqarnain Haider, Julien Martin, Fred A. Johnson, Bradley James Udell, Hadi Charkhgard, Changhyun Kwon
Implementation of an occupancy-based monitoring protocol for a wide-spread and cryptic species, the New England cottontail Sylvilagus transitionalis
Designing effective long-term monitoring strategies is essential for managing wildlife populations. Implementing a cost-effective, practical monitoring program is especially challenging for widespread but locally rare species. Early successional habitat preferred by the New England cottontail (NEC) has become increasingly rare and fragmented, resulting in substantial declines from their...
Authors
Colin P. Shea, Mitchell J. Eaton, Darryl I. MacKenzie
Optimizing historical preservation under climate change—An overview of the optimal preservation model and pilot testing at Cape Lookout National Seashore
Adapting cultural resources to climate-change effects challenges traditional cultural resource decision making because some adaptation strategies can negatively affect the integrity of cultural resources. Yet, the inevitability of climate-change effects—even given the uncertain timing of those effects—necessitates that managers begin prioritizing resources for climate-change adaptation...
Authors
Erin Seekamp, Max Post van der Burg, Sandra Fatorić, Mitchell J. Eaton, Xiao Xiao, Allie McCreary
Optimizing historic preservation under climate change: Decision support for cultural resource adaptation planning in national parks
Climate change poses great challenges for cultural resource management, particularly in coastal areas. Cultural resources, such as historic buildings, in coastal areas are vulnerable to climate impacts including inundation, deterioration, and destruction from sea-level rise and storm-related flooding and erosion. However, research that assesses the trade-offs between actions for...
Authors
Xiao Xiao, Erin Seekamp, Max Post van der Burg, Mitchell J. Eaton, Sandra Fatorić, Allie McCreary
Application of decision science to resilience management in Jamaica Bay
This book highlights the growing interest in management interventions designed to enhance the resilience of the Jamaica Bay socio-ecological system. Effective management, whether the focus is on managing biological processes or human behavior or (most likely) both, requires decision makers to anticipate how the managed system will respond to interventions (i.e., via predictions or...
Authors
Mitchell J. Eaton, Angela K. Fuller, Fred A. Johnson, M. P. Hare, Richard C. Stedman
Training conservation practitioners to be better decision makers
Traditional conservation curricula and training typically emphasizes only one part of systematic decision making (i.e., the science), at the expense of preparing conservation practitioners with critical skills in values-setting, working with decision makers and stakeholders, and effective problem framing. In this article we describe how the application of decision science is relevant to...
Authors
Fred A. Johnson, Mitchell J. Eaton, James Steele Williams, Gitte Høj Jensen, Jesper Madsen
Global change and conservation triage on National Wildlife Refuges
National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) in the United States play an important role in the adaptation of social-ecological systems to climate change, land-use change, and other global-change processes. Coastal refuges are already experiencing threats from sea-level rise and other change processes that are largely beyond their ability to influence, while at the same time facing tighter budgets...
Authors
Fred A. Johnson, Mitchell J. Eaton, Gerard McMahon, Raye Nilius, Mike Bryant, Dave Case, Julien Martin, Nathan J. Wood, Laura Taylor
Maximizing the social and ecological value of Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, South Carolina as the effects of global change processes increase.
Coastal ecosystems in the eastern U.S. have been severely altered by processes associated with human development, including drainage of coastal wetlands, changes in hydrology that alter sediment and freshwater delivery to the coast, land clearing, agricultural and forestry activity, and the construction of seawalls and other structures that “harden” the coast. Sea-level rise and the...
Authors
Raye Nilius, Sarah Dawsey, Mitchell J. Eaton, Julien Martin, Stephanie S. Romañach, Suzanne Baird, Michael Bryant, David J. Case, Fred A. Johnson, Gerard McMahon, Nancy Pau, Elizabeth Pienaar, Mary Ratnaswamy, Steven Seibert, Pamela Wingrove, Nathan J. Wood
Integrating land cover modeling and adaptive management to conserve endangered species and reduce catastrophic fire risk
Land cover modeling is used to inform land management, but most often via a two-step process, where science informs how management alternatives can influence resources, and then, decision makers can use this information to make decisions. A more efficient process is to directly integrate science and decision-making, where science allows us to learn in order to better accomplish...
Authors
David R. Breininger, Brean W. Duncan, Mitchell J. Eaton, Fred A. Johnson, James D. Nichols
Testing metapopulation concepts: effects of patch characteristics and neighborhood occupancy on the dynamics of an endangered lagomorph
Metapopulation ecology is a field that is richer in theory than in empirical results. Many existing empirical studies use an incidence function approach based on spatial patterns and key assumptions about extinction and colonization rates. Here we recast these assumptions as hypotheses to be tested using 18 years of historic detection survey data combined with four years of data from a...
Authors
Mitchell J. Eaton, Phillip T. Hughes, James E. Hines, James D. Nichols
Non-USGS Publications**
Eaton, MJ. 2012. Monitoring trends in hunting returns and harvest sustainability: catch per unit effort (CPUE). In Clark, C.J. and J.R. Poulsen (eds). Tropical Forest Conservation and Industry Partnership: an Experience from the Congo Basin. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK.
Laurance, W., Carolina Useche, D., Rendeiro, J. et al. Averting biodiversity collapse in tropical forest protected areas. Nature 489, 290–294 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11318
Eaton, M.J., Meyers, G.L., Kolokotronis, SO. et al. Barcoding bushmeat: molecular identification of Central African and South American harvested vertebrates. Conserv Genet 11, 1389–1404 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-009-9967-0
Mitchell J. Eaton, Andrew Martin, John Thorbjarnarson, George Amato. Species-level diversification of African dwarf crocodiles (Genus Osteolaemus): A geographic and phylogenetic perspective, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Volume 50, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 496-506, ISSN 1055-7903, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2008.11.009
**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: 14
Filter Total Items: 44
Spatial conservation planning under uncertainty using modern portfolio theory and nash bargaining solution
In recent years, researchers from interdisciplinary teams involving ecologists, economists and operations re- searchers collaborated to provide decision support tools to address the challenges of preserving biodiversity by optimizing the design of reserves. The goal of this paper is to further advance this area of research and provide new solutions to solve complex Spatial Conservation...
Authors
Alvaro Sierra-Altamiranda, Hadi Charkhgard, Mitchell J. Eaton, Julien Martin, Simeon Yurek, Bradley James Udell
Climate change adaptation for coastal national wildlife refuges
National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) along the East Coast of the United States protect habitat for a host of wildlife species, while also offering storm surge protection, improving water quality, supporting nurseries for commercially important fish and shellfish, and providing recreation opportunities for coastal communities. Yet in the last century, coastal ecosystems in the eastern U.S...
Authors
Mitchell J. Eaton, Jennifer K. Costanza, Fred A. Johnson, Julien Martin, Laura Taylor
Spatial conservation planning under uncertainty: Adapting to climate change risks using modern portfolio theory
Climate change and urban growth impact habitats, species, and ecosystem services. To buffer against global change, an established adaptation strategy is designing protected areas to increase representation and complementarity of biodiversity features. Uncertainty regarding the scale and magnitude of landscape change complicates reserve planning and exposes decision makers to risk of...
Authors
Mitchell J. Eaton, Simeon Yurek, Zulqarnain Haider, Julien Martin, Fred A. Johnson, Bradley James Udell, Hadi Charkhgard, Changhyun Kwon
Implementation of an occupancy-based monitoring protocol for a wide-spread and cryptic species, the New England cottontail Sylvilagus transitionalis
Designing effective long-term monitoring strategies is essential for managing wildlife populations. Implementing a cost-effective, practical monitoring program is especially challenging for widespread but locally rare species. Early successional habitat preferred by the New England cottontail (NEC) has become increasingly rare and fragmented, resulting in substantial declines from their...
Authors
Colin P. Shea, Mitchell J. Eaton, Darryl I. MacKenzie
Optimizing historical preservation under climate change—An overview of the optimal preservation model and pilot testing at Cape Lookout National Seashore
Adapting cultural resources to climate-change effects challenges traditional cultural resource decision making because some adaptation strategies can negatively affect the integrity of cultural resources. Yet, the inevitability of climate-change effects—even given the uncertain timing of those effects—necessitates that managers begin prioritizing resources for climate-change adaptation...
Authors
Erin Seekamp, Max Post van der Burg, Sandra Fatorić, Mitchell J. Eaton, Xiao Xiao, Allie McCreary
Optimizing historic preservation under climate change: Decision support for cultural resource adaptation planning in national parks
Climate change poses great challenges for cultural resource management, particularly in coastal areas. Cultural resources, such as historic buildings, in coastal areas are vulnerable to climate impacts including inundation, deterioration, and destruction from sea-level rise and storm-related flooding and erosion. However, research that assesses the trade-offs between actions for...
Authors
Xiao Xiao, Erin Seekamp, Max Post van der Burg, Mitchell J. Eaton, Sandra Fatorić, Allie McCreary
Application of decision science to resilience management in Jamaica Bay
This book highlights the growing interest in management interventions designed to enhance the resilience of the Jamaica Bay socio-ecological system. Effective management, whether the focus is on managing biological processes or human behavior or (most likely) both, requires decision makers to anticipate how the managed system will respond to interventions (i.e., via predictions or...
Authors
Mitchell J. Eaton, Angela K. Fuller, Fred A. Johnson, M. P. Hare, Richard C. Stedman
Training conservation practitioners to be better decision makers
Traditional conservation curricula and training typically emphasizes only one part of systematic decision making (i.e., the science), at the expense of preparing conservation practitioners with critical skills in values-setting, working with decision makers and stakeholders, and effective problem framing. In this article we describe how the application of decision science is relevant to...
Authors
Fred A. Johnson, Mitchell J. Eaton, James Steele Williams, Gitte Høj Jensen, Jesper Madsen
Global change and conservation triage on National Wildlife Refuges
National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) in the United States play an important role in the adaptation of social-ecological systems to climate change, land-use change, and other global-change processes. Coastal refuges are already experiencing threats from sea-level rise and other change processes that are largely beyond their ability to influence, while at the same time facing tighter budgets...
Authors
Fred A. Johnson, Mitchell J. Eaton, Gerard McMahon, Raye Nilius, Mike Bryant, Dave Case, Julien Martin, Nathan J. Wood, Laura Taylor
Maximizing the social and ecological value of Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, South Carolina as the effects of global change processes increase.
Coastal ecosystems in the eastern U.S. have been severely altered by processes associated with human development, including drainage of coastal wetlands, changes in hydrology that alter sediment and freshwater delivery to the coast, land clearing, agricultural and forestry activity, and the construction of seawalls and other structures that “harden” the coast. Sea-level rise and the...
Authors
Raye Nilius, Sarah Dawsey, Mitchell J. Eaton, Julien Martin, Stephanie S. Romañach, Suzanne Baird, Michael Bryant, David J. Case, Fred A. Johnson, Gerard McMahon, Nancy Pau, Elizabeth Pienaar, Mary Ratnaswamy, Steven Seibert, Pamela Wingrove, Nathan J. Wood
Integrating land cover modeling and adaptive management to conserve endangered species and reduce catastrophic fire risk
Land cover modeling is used to inform land management, but most often via a two-step process, where science informs how management alternatives can influence resources, and then, decision makers can use this information to make decisions. A more efficient process is to directly integrate science and decision-making, where science allows us to learn in order to better accomplish...
Authors
David R. Breininger, Brean W. Duncan, Mitchell J. Eaton, Fred A. Johnson, James D. Nichols
Testing metapopulation concepts: effects of patch characteristics and neighborhood occupancy on the dynamics of an endangered lagomorph
Metapopulation ecology is a field that is richer in theory than in empirical results. Many existing empirical studies use an incidence function approach based on spatial patterns and key assumptions about extinction and colonization rates. Here we recast these assumptions as hypotheses to be tested using 18 years of historic detection survey data combined with four years of data from a...
Authors
Mitchell J. Eaton, Phillip T. Hughes, James E. Hines, James D. Nichols
Non-USGS Publications**
Eaton, MJ. 2012. Monitoring trends in hunting returns and harvest sustainability: catch per unit effort (CPUE). In Clark, C.J. and J.R. Poulsen (eds). Tropical Forest Conservation and Industry Partnership: an Experience from the Congo Basin. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK.
Laurance, W., Carolina Useche, D., Rendeiro, J. et al. Averting biodiversity collapse in tropical forest protected areas. Nature 489, 290–294 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11318
Eaton, M.J., Meyers, G.L., Kolokotronis, SO. et al. Barcoding bushmeat: molecular identification of Central African and South American harvested vertebrates. Conserv Genet 11, 1389–1404 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-009-9967-0
Mitchell J. Eaton, Andrew Martin, John Thorbjarnarson, George Amato. Species-level diversification of African dwarf crocodiles (Genus Osteolaemus): A geographic and phylogenetic perspective, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Volume 50, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 496-506, ISSN 1055-7903, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2008.11.009
**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.