Item talk:Q48722

usgs_staff_profile:

 meta:
   status_code: 200
   timestamp: '2023-09-30T17:10:06.849598'
   url: https://www.usgs.gov/staff-profiles/shellie-michele-r-puffer
 profile:
   abstracts: []
   affiliations: []
   education: []
   email: mpuffer@usgs.gov
   expertise_terms:
   - Wildlife ecology
   - Wildlife physiology
   - Conservation
   - Climate change
   - Herpetology
   honors: []
   intro_statements:
   - "As a Wildlife Biologist, Shellie\u2019s research interests focus on conservation\
     \ of animals and their habitats, the effects of climate change on wildlife,\
     \ and animal ecology and physiology. Her current focus is directed toward the\
     \ study of turtle and tortoise ecology and conservation in the Desert Southwest,\
     \ working closely under herpetologist and Research Ecologist, Dr. Jeffrey Lovich."
   name: Shellie (Michele) R Puffer
   name_qualifier: null
   orcid: 0000-0003-4957-0963
   organization_link: https://www.usgs.gov/centers/southwest-biological-science-center
   organization_name: Southwest Biological Science Center
   personal_statement: "Shellie is a Wildlife Biologist in the Terrestrial Dryland\
     \ Ecology Branch of the Southwest Biological Science Center. She began as a\
     \ volunteer with USGS, providing field support for collecting data on the demography\
     \ and ecology of the federallythreatenedAgassiz\u2019s desert tortoise (Gopherus\
     \ agassizii) at Joshua Tree National Park and then was hired as a Biological\
     \ Science Technician with USGS to assist in a mark-recapture study of a population\
     \ of Sonora mud turtles (Kinosternon sonoriense) at Montezuma Well. She is currently\
     \ investigating desert tortoise ecology and demography in the Sonoran Desert\
     \ of California with the ultimate objective of aiding in establishing a long-term\
     \ desert tortoise monitoring program. The program will be used by the Coachella\
     \ Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan and Natural Community Conservation\
     \ Plan to measure desert tortoise population trends. Additionally, Shellie is\
     \ working on a project that focuses on locating, studying, and protecting relict\
     \ populations of the southwestern pond turtle (Actinemys pallida) along the\
     \ Mojave River in San Bernardino County, California. The southwestern pond turtle\
     \ has been listed as a species of special concern in California, primarily due\
     \ to loss of habitat as the river dries due to drought and overdraft from urban\
     \ and agricultural use.Before coming to USGS, Shellie received her education\
     \ at the University of Toledo, Ohio. As an undergraduate fascinated by the Life\
     \ Sciences, she worked in an immunology lab that studied Experimental Autoimmune\
     \ Encephalomyelitis (EAE) in mice. EAE is an analog for demyelinating diseases\
     \ in humans, such as multiple sclerosis. Her undergraduate thesis focused on\
     \ researching ways to ameliorate the disease. Her work earned her college and\
     \ departmental honors. After graduating summa cum laude with a B.S. in Biology\
     \ and a B.A. in Chemistry, she decided to begin a Master\u2019s Program in Biology/Ecology\
     \ at UT. During the remainder of her time at the university, she studied the\
     \ effects of climate change, specifically heat waves, on plant physiology and\
     \ plant-herbivore interactions. She also participated in research on developing\
     \ a biofuel from diatoms (a type of algae) harvested from Lake Erie. Her free\
     \ time was spent working in the UT Outdoor Classroom Garden \u2013 a community\
     \ garden established to teach and promote sustainability \u2013 or learning\
     \ to be a guide on the rivers of West Virginia in order to discover more about\
     \ the natural history and native flora and fauna of the area, with the goal\
     \ of passing the knowledge along to others. Her developing enthusiasm for becoming\
     \ a steward of the natural environment and using research to develop strategies\
     \ for addressing climate change and wildlife conservation eventually pushed\
     \ her to move West to Arizona in order to pursue other opportunities. Since\
     \ then, she has been building her portfolio in the exciting world of research\
     \ and conservation in herpetology under the tutelage of Dr. Jeffrey Lovich."
   professional_experience: []
   title: Wildlife Biologist