Phone: 301.689.7141
Fax: 301.689.7200
Email:

Personal Website: http://www.al.umces.edu/~bhilderbrand/index.htm

• Ecology and conservation biology of running waters
• Watershed and stream habitat restoration
• Linking landscapes and populations

1998  Ph.D.

1994  M.S.

1992  B.S.

• Hilderbrand, R. H., A. C. Watts, and A. M. Randle. 2005. The myths of restoration ecology. Ecology and Society 10(1): 19. [online] URL:http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol10/iss1/art19. (nutshell)
• Colyer, W. C., J. L. Kershner, and R. H. Hilderbrand. 2004. Movements of fluvial Bonneville cutthroat trout in the Thomas Fork of the Bear River, Idaho-Wyoming. North American Journal of Fisheries Management.
• Wiley, D. J., R. P. Morgan, II, R. H. Hilderbrand, R. L. Raesly, and D. L. Shumway. 2004. Relations of physical habitat and abundance of American eels in five river basins in Maryland. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 133:515-526.
• Hilderbrand, R. H., and J. L. Kershner. 2004b. Influence of habitat type on food supply, selectivity, and diet overlap of Bonneville cutthroat trout and nonnative brook trout in Beaver Creek, Idaho. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 24:33-40. (nutshell)
• Hilderbrand, R. H., and J. L. Kershner. 2004. Are there differences in growth and condition between mobile and resident cutthroat trout? Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 133:1042-1046.
• Hilderbrand, R. H. 2003. The roles of carrying capacity, immigration, and population synchrony on persistence of stream-resident cutthroat trout. Biological Conservation 110:257-266. (nutshell)
• Hilderbrand, R. H. 2002. Simulating supplementation strategies for restoring and maintaining persistent cutthroat trout populations. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 22:879-887. (nutshell)
• Rowinski, P.M., J.J. Napiorkowski, and R.H. Hilderbrand. 2001. Measures of assessing the behavior of natural systems. Proceedings of the Polish Geophysical Society 76-81.
• Hilderbrand, R. H., and J. L. Kershner. 2000. Movement patterns of stream-resident cutthroat trout in Beaver Creek, Idaho-Utah. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 129:1160-1170.
• Hilderbrand, R. H., and J. L. Kershner. 2000. Conserving inland cutthroat trout in small streams: how much stream is enough? North American Journal of Fisheries Management 20:513-520.
• Lemly, A. D., and R. H. Hilderbrand. 2000. Influence of large woody debris on stream insect communities and benthic detritus. Hydrobiologia 421:179-185.

Inventory and Biological Monitoring of Fishes in National Parks of the National Capital Region - Little is known about the fishes inhabiting streams flowing through national parks in the National Capital Region. As part of the Omnibus Act of 1998, the National Park Service was mandated by the US Congress to know the organisms in their parks. Initiated in 2002, this project provides a starting point for identifying fishes in parks of the National Capital Region and a baseline for long-term monitoring of aquatic resources.

Baseline water resource inventory to support aquatic and watershed management activities in National Capital Region parks - Initiated in 2003, this project is a companion to the fish inventory project and builds on it by collecting data on benthic macroinvertebrates, water chemistry, and physical habitat of streams flowing across parks in the National Capital Region. The data collected will be used to provide biotic assessments of the "health" of Park streams. Funded by the National Park Service.

Aiding Management by Assessing Condition and Identifying Stressors of Aquatic Resources in National Capital Region Parks - Initiated in 2003, this project is a companion and synthesis of the fish inventory and the water resources inventory projects. It will collect original data, but the main focus is to use the NPS and the Maryland Biological Stream Survey datasets to develop stressor-response relationships between landscape/watershed characters and stream "health" and community structure. We believe that certain stream attributes will make them more or less resilient to anthropogenic actions in the watershed. We will apply the stressor-response model to develop a risk map of streams on selected NPS parks of the National Capital Region. Funded by the National Park Service.

Inventory and monitoring protocols for water resources of National Capital Region Parks - Initiated in 2003, this project seeks to develop a scientifically defensible monitoring plan to assess the "health" of water resources, to identify trends, and be able to detect changes in the quality of water resources over time. Funded by the National Park Service.

Landscape determinants of population viability of the Delmarva fox squirrel - This project is a collaborative effort between the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and Bob Gardner and I. The USFWS is interested in knowing how best to manage for continued persistence of the endangered Delmarva fox squirrel. A critical component is knowing the sizes of population or habitat patches necessary to minimize risk of extirpated. We are using stochastic population matrix models to assess extirpation risk under a wide range to possible scenarios.

Conservation planning for rare freshwater fishes in Maryland watersheds - Initiated in 2004, this project is a collaborative effort between the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Frostburg State University, and the Appalachian Lab to develop management and conservation guidance for selected rare freshwater fishes. We will use the intensive and extensive Maryland Biological Stream Survey dataset and spatial data to identify hotspots of fish diversity and to develop relationships between fishes and landscape/habitat attributes and effects of anthropogenic actions. Projected human population growth models will be overlaid onto the watersheds to examine the long-term prognosis for fishes of concern in light of changing watershed characterstics. We hope the analysis will provide guidance on where to manage growth and development in order to maintain freshwater fishes.

Design of Freshwater Conservation Reserves: A Methodology Using Landscape Level Analyses of Cutthroat Trout Distributions - This project was my work as a Smith Fellow with TNC. The ultimate goal is to identify watersheds in the Intermountain West where the native cutthroat trout have the greatest likelihood of persisting indefinitely. The project has two phases: 1) Phase 1 is to conduct a landscape analysis of cutthroat trout distributions to identify characteristics of watersheds where cutthroat trout are resilient to the presence of non-native trout and other insults; and 2) Phase 2 is the development of a population model to assess the viability of populations based on their available space/density and survival rates. Results from the population model will be applied to the watersheds identified in Phase 1 and the likelihood of persistence assessed for each candidate watershed.

Biometry, MEES 698A (3 credits) - Spring 2005

This is an entry-level graduate course emphasizing the analysis and design of experiments dealing with natural resources data. Topics include descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing and inference using parametric tests (including ANOVA and regression) and their non-parametric counterparts; statistical power; experimental design, and using SAS. An independent student project analyzing existing or newly collected data is required.

Readings in Conservation and Restoration Ecology, MEES 698X (1 credit) - Spring even years. 

This is a graduate readings and discussion based seminar on conservation and restoration ecology.  The focus is on larger scale issues such as dynamic landscapes and resilience and how they relate to the conservation, management, and restoration of landscapes.