Connette, Grant
Ecologist
- Landscape Ecology
- Spatial Data Analysis
- Biodiversity Conservation
- Wildlife Management
- Remote Sensing
- Population Dynamics
Positions
- Ecologist, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute , National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute 2019 -
- Post-doctoral Fellow, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute , National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute 2015 - 2019
- Post-doctoral Fellow, University of Missouri 2014 - 2015
Geographic Focus
- Myanmar Country
- North Carolina State or Province
Background And Education
Education And Training
- Ph.D., University of Missouri , Division of Biological Sciences 2009 - 2014
- B.S., Davidson College , Department of Biology 2004 - 2008
Professional Biography
- Grant is an ecologist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute with a research focus in landscape ecology, population dynamics, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and data analysis. He received his B.S. from Davidson College and a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri, where he studied the impacts of timber management on salamander populations in the Southern Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. After receiving his Ph.D., Grant held a brief position as a post-doctoral fellow with the University of Missouri and the Northeast Climate Science Center. In 2015, Grant began a post-doctoral fellowship under the umbrella of Smithsonian's Myanmar Biodiversity Initiative and spent 4 years living and working in Myanmar to lead and support collaborative biodiversity data analysis efforts with local partner organizations. Grant transitioned to a research ecologist position with Smithsonian's Working Land & Seascapes Initiative in 2019, and currently focuses on providing tools and information to support large-scale conservation planning.
Awards And Honors
- Smithsonian Scholarly Studies Award, conferred by Smithsonian Scholarly Studies Awards, 2018
Public Biography
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Grant Connette is an ecologist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute with a research focus in landscape ecology, population dynamics, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and data analysis.' He is part of the Smithsonian's Working Land and Seascapes initiative and currently focuses on providing tools and information to support large-scale conservation planning.
Connette started with the Smithsonian in 2015 as a postdoctoral fellow under the umbrella of Smithsonian's Myanmar Biodiversity initiative and spent four years living and working in Myanmar with a focus on collaborative biodiversity data analysis efforts with local partner organizations.'Connette transitioned to a research ecologist position in 2019, and has since supported large-scale conservation planning efforts, such as Myanmar's National Tiger Action Plan, the IUCN Amphibian Specialist Group's Amphibian Conservation Action Plan, and the National Red List of Birds for Myanmar.
He received his B.S. from Davidson College and his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri, where he studied the impacts of timber management on salamander populations in the Southern Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. After receiving his Ph.D., he was a postdoctoral fellow with the University of Missouri and the Northeast Climate Science Center.
Research And Grants
Research Overview
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Major Projects
Conservation Scenario Planning in Google Earth Engine (GEE)- Mapping and forecasting species distributions, connectivity and land use change
- Development of related GEE training courses in the USA, Kenya and Myanmar
- Mapping key habitat for birds and mammals
- Design and implementation of biodiversity surveys
- Remote sensing to understand patterns of land use change
- Ongoing 12-year mark-recapture study of salamander population dynamics
- Modeling climate and land-use effects
Investigator On
Publications
Selected Publications
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Article
- Crego, Ramiro D., Fennessy, J., Brown, Michael B., Connette, Grant M., Stacy-Dawes, J., Masiaine, S., and Stabach, Jared A. 2023. "Combining species distribution models and moderate resolution satellite information to guide conservation programs for reticulated giraffe." Animal Conservation, https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12894. 2023
- Crego, Ramiro D., Wells, Harry B. M., Connette, Grant, Stabach, Jared A., Soit, Naitareu, and Thompson, Stewart. 2023. "Monitoring spatiotemporal dynamics of large herbivores across an African rangeland using hierarchical multi-species distance sampling." African Journal of Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1111/aje.13219. 2023
- Crego, Ramiro D., Wells, Harry B. M., Connette, Grant, Stabach, Jared A., Soit, Naitareu, and Thompson, Stewart. 2023. "Monitoring spatiotemporal dynamics of large herbivores across an African rangeland using hierarchical multi‐species distance sampling." African Journal of Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1111/aje.13219. 2023
- Biswas, Sumalika, Huang, Qiongyu, Swe, Khine Khine, Arnold, Franz-Eugen, Mon, Myat Su, Connette, Katherine J. LaJeunesse, Connette, Grant, and Leimgruber, Peter. 2022. "Conservation Status of Forest Types Vary Greatly in Myanmar - the Most Forested Country in the Indo-burma Biodiversity Hotspot." ResearchSquare Preprint, https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1171476/v1. 2022
- Luhring, Thomas M., Wszola, Lyndsie S., Connette, Grant M., and Schalk, Christopher M. 2022. "Droughts Reduce Growth Rates and Increase Vulnerability to Increasingly Frequent and Severe Drying Events in an Aquatic Ectotherm." Journal of Herpetology, 56, (4) 521–527. https://doi.org/10.1670/21-084. 2022
- Crego, Ramiro D., Stabach, Jared A., and Connette, Grant. 2022. "Implementation of species distribution models in Google Earth Engine." Diversity and Distributions, 28, (5) 904–916. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13491. 2022
- McEvoy, J. F., Connette, G. M., Huang, Qiongyu, Soe, Paing, Pyone, Khin Htet Htet, Htun, Yan Lin, Lin, Aung Naing, Thant, Aung Lwin, Htun, Wai Yan, Paing, Kaung Htet, Swe, Khine Khine, Aung, Myint, Songer, M., and Leimgruber, P. 2022. "Joining the dots in an era of uncertainty – Reviewing Myanmar's Illegal wildlife trade and looking to the future." Global Ecology and Conservation, 37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2022.e02179. 2022
- Canty, Steven W. J., Nowakowski, A. J., Connette, Grant M., Deichmann, Jessica L., Songer, Melissa, Chiaravalloti, Rafael, Dodge, Molly, Feistner, Anna T. C., Fergus, Craig, Hall, Jefferson S., Komatsu, Kimberly J., Linares‐Palomino, Reynaldo, McField, Melanie, Ogburn, Matthew B., Velez‐Zuazo, Ximena, and Akre, Thomas S. 2022. "Mapping a conservation research network to the Sustainable Development Goals." Conservation Science and Practice, https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.12731. 2022
- De Alban, Jose Don T., Leong, Bryan Po Ian, Venegas-Li, Ruben, Connette, Grant M., Jamaludin, Johanness, Latt, Kyaw Thinn, Oswald, Patrick, Reeder, Carl, and Webb, Edward L. 2021. "Conservation beyond the existing protected area network is required to improve species and habitat representation in a global biodiversity hotspot." Biological Conservation, 257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109105. 2021
- Crego, Ramiro D., Masolele, Majaliwa M., Connette, Grant, and Stabach, Jared A. 2021. "Enhancing Animal Movement Analyses: Spatiotemporal Matching of Animal Positions with Remotely Sensed Data Using Google Earth Engine and R." Remote Sensing, 13, (20). https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13204154. 2021
- McKenzie, Jennifer M., Price, Steven J., Connette, Grant M., Bonner, Simon J., and Lorch, Jeffrey M. 2020. "Effects of snake fungal disease on short‐term survival, behavior, and movement in free‐ranging snakes." Ecological Applications, https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2251. 2020
- Suarez-Rubio, Marcela, Connette, Grant, Aung, Thein, Kyaw, Myint, and Renner, Swen C. 2020. "Hkakabo Razi landscape as one of the last exemplar of large contiguous forests." Scientific Reports, 10, (1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-70917-y. 2020
- Gade, Meaghan R., Connette, Grant M., Crawford, John A., Hocking, Daniel J., Maerz, John C., Milanovich, Joseph R., and Peterman, William E. 2020. "Predicted alteration of surface activity as a consequence of climate change." Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3154. 2020
- Stabach, Jared A., Cunningham, Stephanie A., Connette, Grant, Mota, Joel L., Reed, Dolores, Byron, Michael, Songer, Melissa, Wacher, Tim, Mertes, Katherine, Brown, Janine L., Comizzoli, Pierre, Newby, John, Monfort, Steven L., and Leimgruber, Peter. 2020. "Short-term effects of GPS collars on the activity, behavior, and adrenal response of scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah)." PloS One, 15, (2) Article e0221843. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0221843. 2020
- McKenzie, Jennifer M., Price, Steven J., Fleckenstein, J. Leo, Drayer, Andrea N., Connette, Grant M., Bohuski, Elizabeth, and Lorch, Jeffrey M. 2019. "Field Diagnostics and Seasonality of Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola in Wild Snake Populations." EcoHealth, 16, (1) 141–150. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-018-1384-8. 2019
- McEvoy, John F., Connette, Grant M., Huang, Qiongyu, Soe, Paing, Pyone, Khin Htet Htet, Valitutto, Marc T., Htun, Yan Lin, Lin, Aung Naing, Thant, Aung Lwin, Htun, Wai Yan, Paing, Kaung Htet, Swe, Khine Khine, Aung, Myint, Min, Sapai, Songer, Melissa, and Leimgruber, Peter. 2019. "Two sides of the same coin – Wildmeat consumption and illegal wildlife trade at the crossroads of Asia." Biological Conservation, 238 Article 108197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108197. 2019
- De Alban, Jose Don T., Connette, Grant M., Oswald, Patrick, and Webb, Edward L. 2018. "Combined Landsat and L-Band SAR Data Improves Land Cover Classification and Change Detection in Dynamic Tropical Landscapes." Remote Sensing, 10, (2) 306. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10020306. 2018
- Reidy, Jennifer L., Thompson, Frank R., Connette, Grant M., and O'Donnell, Lisa. 2018. "Demographic rates of Golden-cheeked Warblers in an urbanizing woodland preserve." The Condor, 120, (2) 249–264. https://doi.org/10.1650/CONDOR-17-86.1. 2018
- Lee, Justin L., Miller, Aryeh H., Connette, Grant M., Oo, Khin Swe, Zug, George R., and Mulcahy, Daniel G. 2018. "First record of the Malaysian Bridle Snake, Dryocalamus subannulatus (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854), in Myanmar (Reptilia, Serpentes, Colubridae)." Check List, 14, (2) 341–345. https://doi.org/10.15560/14.2.341. 2018
- Morato, Ronaldo G., Connette, Grant M., Stabach, Jared A., De Paula, R. C., Ferraz, K. M. P. M., Kantek, D. L. Z., Miyazaki, S. S., Pereira, T. D. C., Silva, L. C., Paviolo, A., De Angelo, C., Di Bitetti, M. S., Cruz, P., Lima, F., Cullen, L., Sana, D. A., Ramalho, E. E., Carvalho, M. M., da Silva, M. X., Moraes, M. D. F., Vogliotti, A., May, J. A., Haberfeld, M., Rampim, L., Sartorello, L. et al. 2018. "Resource selection in an apex predator and variation in response to local landscape characteristics." Biological Conservation, 228 233–240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2018.10.022. 2018
- McShea, William J., Aung, Myint, Songer, Melissa A., and Connette, Grant. 2018. "The Challenges of Protecting an Endangered Species in the Developing World: A Case History of Eld’s Deer Conservation in Myanmar." Case Studies in the Environment, 2, (1) 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1525/cse.2017.000760. 2018
- Bhagwat, Tejas, Hess, Andrea, Horning, Ned, Khaing, Thiri, Thein, Zaw Min, Aung, Kyaw Moe, Aung, Kyaw Htet, Phyo, Paing, Tun, Ye Lin, Oo, Aung Htat, Neil, Anthony, Thu, Win Myo, Songer, Melissa A., LaJeunesse Connette, Katherine J., Bernd, Asja, Huang, Qiongyu, Connette, Grant, and Leimgruber, Peter. 2017. "Losing a jewel-Rapid declines in Myanmar's intact forests from 2002-2014." PloS One, 12, (5). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0176364. 2017
- Prescott, Graham W., Sutherland, William J., Aguirre, Daniel, Baird, Matthew, Bowman, Vicky, Brunner, Jake, Connette, Grant M., Cosier, Martin, Dapice, David, De Alban, Jose Don T., Diment, Alex, Fogerite, Julia, Fox, Jefferson, Hlaing, Win, Htun, Saw, Hurd, Jack, LaJeunesse Connette, Katherine J., Lasmana, Felicia, Lim, Cheng Ling, Lynam, Antony, Maung, Aye Chan, McCarron, Benjamin, McCarthy, John F., McShea, William J., Momberg, Frank et al. 2017. "Political transition and emergent forest-conservation issues in Myanmar." Conservation Biology, 31, (6) 1257–1270. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13021. 2017
- Connette, Grant M., Oswald, Patrick, Thura, Myint Kyaw, LaJeunesse Connette, Katherine J., Grindley, Mark E., Songer, Melissa A., Zug, George R., and Mulcahy, Daniel G. 2017. "Rapid forest clearing in a Myanmar proposed national park threatens two newly discovered species of geckos (Gekkonidae: Cyrtodactylus)." PLOS ONE, 12, (4) 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0174432. 2017
- George, Andrew D., Connette, Grant M., Thompson, Frank R., and Faaborg, John. 2017. "Resource selection by an ectothermic predator in a dynamic thermal landscape." Ecology and Evolution, 7, (22) 9557–9566. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3440. 2017
- LaJeunesse Connette, Katherine J., Connette, Grant, Bernd, Asja, Phyo, Paing, Aung, Kyaw Htet, Tun, Ye Lin, Thein, Zaw Min, Horning, Ned, Leimgruber, Peter, and Songer, Melissa A. 2016. "Assessment of Mining Extent and Expansion in Myanmar Based on Freely-Available Satellite Imagery." Remote Sensing, 8, (11) 912. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8110912. 2016
- Connette, Grant, Oswald, Patrick, Songer, Melissa A., and Leimgruber, Peter. 2016. "Mapping Distinct Forest Types Improves Overall Forest Identification Based on Multi-Spectral Landsat Imagery for Myanmar’s Tanintharyi Region." Remote Sensing, 8, (11) 882. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8110882. 2016
- Connette, Grant M., Osbourn, Michael S., and Peterman, William E. 2016. "The Distribution of a Stream-breeding Salamander, Desmognathus ocoee, in Terrestrial Habitat Suggests the Ecological Importance of Low-order Streams." Copeia, 149–156. https://doi.org/10.1643/OT-14-215. 2016
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Chapter
- Nowakowski, A. Justin, Deichmann, Jessica L., Connette, Grant, Barata, Izabela M., Basham, Edmund W., Bower, Deborah S., Lau, Michael W. N., and Olson, Deanna H. 2023. "Surveys and Monitoring: Challenges in an Age of Rapid Declines and Discoveries." In IUCN Amphibian Conservation Action Plan (ACAP). Amphibian Specialist Group (ASG). 2023
Activities
Teaching Activities
- International Technical Trainings [50+ days, 300+ trainees] Instructor 2015 - 2020
- Applied Bayesian Data Analysis for Ecologists, University of Missouri Instructor 2015
- Ornithology, University of Missouri Teaching Assistant 2013 - 2015
Contact
Location
- National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute Academic Department