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Study Design and Monitoring
2026-06-08
A recurring thread across projects: how do you design a monitoring program that can actually detect what you need to detect, in time to act on it? Power analysis and study design show up across species and contexts — wood frogs in Colorado, reptiles and amphibians in San Diego, long-term USGS monitoring programs. The answer is usually the same: it takes longer than you think, costs more than you planned, and the statistical design matters as much as the field effort.
Projects
Rare Plant Population Monitoring · San Diego County
Developed monitoring protocols for rare plant populations in San Diego County for the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). Because target populations were small enough to census completely — every individual located and measured within a study site — the design focused on field protocols for complete enumeration rather than statistical estimation of population size. Produced a formal monitoring report.
Taxa: Multiple rare plant species, San Diego County · Client: SANDAG
Vegetation and Wildlife Monitoring Design · San Diego County
Study design and monitoring program development for SANDAG, covering vegetation communities and wildlife species in the San Diego region. (Details to add.)
Client: SANDAG
Pacific Pocket Mouse Monitoring · Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton
Study design and monitoring for the Pacific pocket mouse (Perognathus longimembris pacificus), one of the most endangered mammals in North America. Work conducted primarily at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, a major stronghold for the subspecies in San Diego County.
Taxa: Pacific pocket mouse · Location: MCB Camp Pendleton, San Diego County
Arroyo Toad Monitoring · Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton
Study design and monitoring for the arroyo toad (Anaxyrus californicus), a federally threatened species dependent on sandy-bottomed stream reaches in southern California. Work conducted primarily at MCB Camp Pendleton.
Taxa: Arroyo toad · Location: MCB Camp Pendleton, San Diego County
Stephen’s Kangaroo Rat Monitoring · Southern California
Study design and monitoring for Stephen’s kangaroo rat (Dipodomys stephensi), a federally endangered species restricted to a small number of grassland and chaparral sites in southern California. (Details to add.)
Taxa: Stephen’s kangaroo rat
Coconut Crab Population Monitoring · Palmyra Atoll
Study design for monitoring coconut crab (Birgus latro) populations at Palmyra Atoll, a remote US territory in the central Pacific. The coconut crab is the largest terrestrial arthropod in the world and a key component of atoll ecosystems. (Details to add.)
Taxa: Coconut crab · Location: Palmyra Atoll, central Pacific
Golden Eagle Occupancy — GIS · Western United States
GIS analysis supporting the long-term golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) telemetry and occupancy modeling program. (Details to add — see also the Golden Eagles project page.)
Taxa: Golden eagle · Location: Western United States
Wood Frog Egg Mass Survey Design · Colorado
Simulation study to determine how many years of monitoring are required to detect a specified decline in wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) populations using counts of egg masses. Combined a stochastic population model with a survey simulation framework to estimate statistical power as a function of monitoring effort and duration. With Rick Scherer (Colorado State University).
Taxa: Wood frog · Location: Colorado
Papers
Scherer RD, Tracey JA (2011). A power analysis for the use of counts of egg masses to monitor wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) populations. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 6(1): 81–90. https://www.herpconbio.org/Volume_6/Issue_1/Scherer_Tracey_2011.pdf