Jonathan G. Kennan, Ph.D

Dr. Jonathan Kennen is the Ecological Water Coordinator for the USGS Water Availability and Use Science Program (WAUSP) and is the Biological Specialist for the NJ Water Science Center. His ongoing research addresses integrated multidisciplinary hydroecological investigations at the state, regional, and national level. Jonathan was a coauthor of the Ecological Limits of Hydrologic Alteration (ELOHA) paper and was co-developer of the Hydroecological Integrity Assessment Process for determining suitable flows for streams.  Jonathan has also been involved in the development of biological and ecological protocols and procedures that are used for conducting State, regional, and National aquatic biology investigations, and providing training on techniques and methods relating to biological and ecological aspects of water-quality and water-resource investigations.

Jonathan represents the U.S. Geological Survey on numerous multi-agency technical advisory committees and science advisory boards addressing complex ecological, hydrological, management, and natural resource issues. His current research focuses on understanding the effects of changes in naturally and artificially modified flow regimes on aquatic assemblages. As part of the WAUSP, Jonathan is helping to develop tools and technical information to support stakeholder water availability and ecological water needs. Currently this includes classifying rivers and streams into distinctive flow regime types, the development of a user-driven and web-available hydroecological toolbox that serves streamflow statistics and biological data to stakeholders, and the support and development of flow-ecology models.

In his leisure time, Jonathan enjoys hiking, biking and visiting State and National parks with his family, and when time allows, he relishes the opportunity to be on the water fly fishing for trout and bass.