Joe Elias - Projects

Joe Elias - PhD Student, Binghamton University - Quantitative and Community Ecologist

Optimal site selection to help design ecological monitoring networks

Monitoring networks are crucial for understanding how ecosystems respond to environmental change. Apparent trends in biodiversity can be driven by site selection bias towards easily accessed sites, not necessarily the most representative of the landscape – future inference could misrepresent trends due to the original network design. Our objective is to create a framework for long-term monitoring of ecological and demographic trends that decreases spatial and environmental bias and increases representation of the focal variables used to choose sites.

Long-term acoustic trends of Orthoptera in Eastern Texas

Insects are declining in biomass and abundance at estimated rates of 1–2% per year, posing serious risks to ecosystem health. We rely on insects for crop pollination, pest control, decomposition, and numerous other ecosystem services. Orthoptera are declining more rapidly than other insect taxa and are an important part of ecological soundscapes, the collective noises in an ecosystem that can be used to indicate its health. We are using bioacoustics data (cricket soundscapes) in Eastern Texas to study long-term trends in Orthoptera and address some interesting questions related to global insect decline.

Lepidoptera monitoring using machine learning

Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) are irreplaceable for pollination and community stability, and are in steep and steady decline. However, there are places where complete naturalist records still do not exist for moths - this is potentially lost information for fields like conservation, evolution, and medicine. Given their steep decline, we are in a race to document species before they are lost. We are working on a framework for better standardized moth monitoring based on morphometric identification free of ground truth dependence, which will be especially useful in undocumented areas.

The relationship between ecology and microplastic loading using small terestrial birds

My master's research (in review) used landbirds as bioindicators to understand how the ecology and morphology of an animal influenced microplastic (MP) ingestion in their habitat. I compared methods to measure MP ingestion between commonly used invasive techniques like necropsies to newer methods of MP testing using fecal sampling from bird banding operations.

One of the smallest, most cryptic members of the Strigidae family. Northern Saw-whet Owls use Pennsylvania forests for migratory stopover habitat and breeding grounds.

Breeding Biology of Northern Saw-whet Owls in Deciduous Forests

I am deeply interested in Northern Saw-whet Owls (NSWO), a small cryptic raptor in the Strigidae family. Recently, my team and I finished a project on NSWO potentially breeding in reclaimed secondary deciduous forests, which is atypical nesting habitat for them. I continue to be involved with migratory owl banding in the same habitat this project took place.

Juvenile NSWO captured at the time of our breeding study.

Other Experience

Riverside Adventure Company: a contracting business specialized in river kayak trips, environmental education, and community outdoor activities (2024).
HACCP Quality Assurance: a microbiology lab focused on testing products to help guide businesses make informed decisions (2024).
Small stream monitoring assessment aimed at documenting tributary streams in Western Pennsylvania - we focused on recording invasive crayfish and gill lice (Keystone College - PA Fish and Boat Commission, 2021)
Dynamic Forest Restoration project which focused on landbird abundance and richness, and vegetation/tree composition across differently managed habitats as well as tracking Wood Thrush using radio telemetry throughout their breeding season (IUP - SUNY ESF, 2021) .
Abundance, health, and breeding behavior of declining populations of Cerulean Warblers in managed habitat (USFS, 2020).
Abundance, health, and breeding behavior of declining populations of Northern Goshawks in the Northeastern U.S (USFS, 2020).
Effects of the invasive Spotted-wing Drosophila in early-successional and forest interior habitat used by breeding and migratory birds (USFS, 2020).

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