James Kennedy | University of North Texas (original) (raw)
James H. Kennedy, is a Regents Professor of biological sciences and the Executive Director of the Elm Fork Education Center and Natural Heritage Museum. In addition, he is an associate director of the University of North Texas Sub-Antarctic Biocultural and Conservation program and has served as a visiting professor for the last eight years in the graduate program at the University of Magallanes in Punta Arenas, Chile. Dr. Kennedy was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Magallanes in 2009.
Dr. Kennedy received the Ph.D. in zoology/aquatic ecology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). After finishing his Ph.D. he spent a year in a post doctoral fellowship at Virginia Tech developing and applying flow-through toxicity tests and field assessment techniques to evaluate the impacts of oil refinery effluents on freshwater river systems. Prior to joining the University of North Texas faculty in 1987, University of North Texas he was employed with the Pennsylvania Fish Commission and Ichthyological Associates. In 1982 he founded Water Science Associates Inc (WSA). WSA designed and conducted field research studies throughout the southern United States that were part of the ecological risk assessment of agricultural pesticides being considered for registration by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In 1985 WSA teamed with ZENECA agricultural chemical division, to design and perform the first mesocosm study in support of agricultural chemical registration. Dr Kennedy began his career at the University of North Texas in 1987, where he was hired to develop a mesocosm facility and research program focusing on non-target effects of pesticides on aquatic organisms; in 1989 he was named Director of the facility he remained director of this facility until 2004.
Today Dr. Kennedy’s research program focuses on five areas: Stream ecology, aquatic insect biology, biodiversity studies, the use of macroinvertebrates in the ecological risk assessment process and environmental education. Professor Kennedy has authored or coauthored over 100 publications covering various aspects of aquatic ecology, and ecotoxicology, including laboratory and field toxicity testing procedures, and simulated field studies. He is recognized internationally for his work in the use of surrogate aquatic ecosystems in the ecological risk assessment process. Much of his current research is focused in the Sub-Antarctic region of South America where he is developing long term monitoring programs using benthic macroinvertebrates to monitor biologically significant changes in rivers and streams that may be associated with global climate change. The goal of most of the laboratories projects is to develop information to aid in management decisions and conservation of freshwater ecosystems.
Professor Kennedy also serves as the executive director of the The Elm Fork Education Center (EFEC) and Natural Heritage Museum. This program is the public education branch of UNT’s Environmental Science, Environmental Ethics, Environmental and Community Journalism, Astronomy, Environmental Education, and Geography programs. Its mission is to develop and implement environmental education programs that engage students of all ages in field activities and discovery experiences. These opportunities are designed to encourage sound environmental decision making and responsible environmental stewardship. The mission of the Elm Fork Natural Heritage Museum is to provide opportunities to discover and share knowledge about plants, animals and their environment. In addition to providing resources to trained scientists the museum also provides resources and opportunities for citizen scientists of all ages and backgrounds to explore natural history and especially to inspire in the young a lifelong interest in nature.
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Papers by James Kennedy
Great Lakes Entomologist, 1985
The new genus Barhaetis Waltz and McCafferty, and new species Barhaetis henfieldi Kennedy are des... more The new genus Barhaetis Waltz and McCafferty, and new species Barhaetis henfieldi Kennedy are described from larvae collected from the New River, Virginia. Barhaetis is easily told from Baetis by the presence of procoxal osmobranchia. Cladistics of B. henfieldi, related Pseudocloeon species, and the lutheri and pavidus complexes of Baetis are presented and indicate the need for further taxonomic revision. The habitat of B. benfieldi is described in terms of several ecological parameters. The new species demonstrates a univoltine life history with postembryonic development restricted to a short springtime period. The species of Nearctic Baetidae are thought to be relatively well known; however, a number of apparently endemic and problematic taxa have been recently encountered in the southeastern United States. One such taxon is described here as a new genus. Barbaetis Waltz and McCafferty, New Genus Adult. Unknown. Larva. Head capsule broad. Mandibles asymmetric; left mandible inciso...
Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 2016
The bumble bee (Bombus spp.) fauna of Texas has been infrequently studied and few modern surveys ... more The bumble bee (Bombus spp.) fauna of Texas has been infrequently studied and few modern surveys have been conducted to assess the current status of the state's species. A significant body of research has documented declines for bumble bee species across several continents including North America. Historically, six bumble bee species have been recorded from northeastern Texas: B. griseocollis (De Geer 1773), B. bimaculatus Cresson 1863, B. impatiens Cresson 1863, B. variabilis (Cresson 1872), B. fraternus (Smith 1854), and B. pensylvanicus (De Geer 1773). Three of those (B. fraternus, B. pensylvanicus, and B. variablis) are considered potentially threatened given evidence of range-wide declines. However, the current status of these species in northeast Texas has not been addressed. In this study we perform field surveys of bumble bees in northeastern Texas and compare those data to historical specimen records to evaluate the current status of historically present species. We confirm that B. fraternus, B. griseocollis, and B. pensylvanicus persist across the study region. The remaining species, B. bimaculatus, B. impatiens, and B. variabilis, were historically rare in the study region and were not detected in the present study; the two former are on the western edge of their ranges in Texas and the latter is a cleptoparasitic species that is inherently difficult to detect. The results of this study establish current bumble bee persistence in northeast Texas and can serve as a departure point for future assessments of bumble bee species dynamics.
Hydrobiologia, 2015
The impoundment of running waters is a threat to freshwater mussels and has only been cursorily e... more The impoundment of running waters is a threat to freshwater mussels and has only been cursorily examined in Texas. To address this, we evaluate mussel assemblage structure in the Sabine River downstream of a flood control and hydropower reservoir. We use the serial discontinuity concept (SDC) and the Life History Continuum model (LHCM) to explain relationships between stream position (i.e., downstream distance from either dam) and mussel species richness, catch-per-unit effort (CPUE), and life history strategy. Using 90th, 85th, and 80th quantile regression models, we observed that mussel species richness and abundance were reduced for stream segments located near Lake Tawakoni and Toledo Bend Reservoir and that these reductions decreased with distance from either reservoir. We also observed significant shifts in life history composition of mussel assemblages depending on stream position from either dam. Opportunistic strategists were more abundant in reaches located immediately downstream of Lake Tawakoni and Toledo Bend Reservoir whereas periodic and equilibrium strategists were most abundant in reaches located at intermediate distances from either reservoir. Findings from this study confirm the negative impact large impoundments have on downstream mussel populations and demonstrate the value of using the SDC and LHCM for evaluating mussel response to river impoundment.
Bumble bees (Bombus spp.) are adept pollinators of many cultivated and wild flowering plants, but... more Bumble bees (Bombus spp.) are adept pollinators of many cultivated and wild flowering plants, but many species have experienced precipitous declines in recent decades. A variety of factors have been implicated in these declines, including changing land use and associated habitat fragmentation. The implementation and evaluation of conservation efforts requires information on how populations change over time, but there is a void in data regarding bumble bee populations in many places. The present research is part of an ongoing study on bumble bees in Denton County, Texas, and serves to establish baseline and current population data for conservation purposes. Historic museum collection specimens have been catalogued to determine species presence and trends over the past 60 years, and 2013 field surveys of both urban community gardens and minimally-disturbed locations have been performed to ascertain the current status of populations. Our data document the presence of four species in De...
The Southwestern Naturalist, 2014
Journal of Ethnobiology, 2009
The cause of megafaunal extinctions at the end of the last glaciation has been hotly debated duri... more The cause of megafaunal extinctions at the end of the last glaciation has been hotly debated during the last few decades, most recently at the global scale. In North America and elsewhere the debate centers on whether or not human hunters, who seemingly first entered the continent during the extinction period, caused the extinctions through over-hunting. An alternative explanation is that climate change during the terminal Pleistocene radically modified existing habitats and this caused the extinctions. Huston's (1979, 1994) dynamic equilibrium model (DEM) of community species richness provides a theoretical context for explanations of the extinctions in North America and highlights life history characteristics of extinct mammals. These life history traits and associated phenotypes are a seldom-explored line of evidence concerning the causes of the extinctions. In light of life history traits, environmental disturbance is implicated as the proximate cause of the extinctions, but the DEM does not preclude overkill as a contributing cause in North America.
Journal of vector ecology : journal of the Society for Vector Ecology, 2005
A population survey was conducted from April through September 2002 on mosquito species occurring... more A population survey was conducted from April through September 2002 on mosquito species occurring on the Ray Roberts Greenbelt, a riparian corridor used for public recreation on the Elm Fork of the Trinity River, in Denton County, TX. Geographic information system software was used to set up a stratified random sampling design based on habitat parameters. Mosquitoes were collected using light traps, gravid traps, and resting boxes. A total of 29 species was collected during this study belonging to the following genera: Aedes, Anopheles, Coquillettidia, Culex, Mansonia, Ochlerotatus, Orthopodomyia, Psorophora, and Uranotaenia. The four most common species collected during this study were Aedes vexans, Culex erraticus, Culex salinarius, and Psorophora columbiae. West Nile virus (WNV) has been detected in these species in the United States, and they may serve as important vector species in Denton County. Collections were analyzed by the Texas Department of Health for arboviruses. One p...
The Southwestern Naturalist, 1994
Journal of the North American Benthological Society, 2006
Journal of Freshwater Ecology, 2013
Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 1992
Robust canonical correlation and classification methods were used to evaluate relationships betwe... more Robust canonical correlation and classification methods were used to evaluate relationships between ambient toxicity and instream biological response. Ten studies of freshwater aquatic systems were used in the analysis. These studies included eight site studies conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Complex Effluent Toxicity Testing Program, one study by the University of Kentucky and one study by the University of North Texas. Results from ambient toxicity tests, including Cerioduphnia neonate production and Pimephalespromelas dry weight and survival, were used to predict impact at sampling stations. Instream biological response variables, including fish and benthic richness, were used to classify whether or not a station was impacted. The strength of the relationship between ambient toxicity and instream impact was determined by statistically evaluating agreement between the predicted and observed impacts. Results of the analysis showed that statistically significant relationships between ambient toxicity and instream impact were found in each of the studies.
Environmental Science & Technology, 2013
Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 2006
Abstract: In 2007, a 20-county area encompassing the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex was designated b... more Abstract: In 2007, a 20-county area encompassing the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex was designated by the State as a Priority Groundwater Management Area (PGMA) in need of implementing strategies for groundwater conservation. The newly created PGMA ’s population is expected to increase from 5.5 million in 2000 to 9.5 million by 2030 with projected water needs rising from 1,677 million m3 in 2000 to 3,034 million m3 by 2030 according to a study by Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The Trinity ...
Data on white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) body size and population density have been col... more Data on white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) body size and population density have been collected for several decades at Fort Hood, Texas. Habitat quality related to vegetation composition differs at the fort in two areas, West Fort Hood (WFH) and the West Region (WR). In other ...
Page 1. COHORT DYNAMICS OF A CAENIS LATIPENNIS POPULATION LIFE HISTORY & REPRODUCTION 201 Coh... more Page 1. COHORT DYNAMICS OF A CAENIS LATIPENNIS POPULATION LIFE HISTORY & REPRODUCTION 201 Cohort dynamics of an over-wintering Caenis latipennis population in Honey Creek, Oklahoma, USA JASON ...
Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 1997
As part of a larger program to examine the relationships between laboratory and ambient toxicity,... more As part of a larger program to examine the relationships between laboratory and ambient toxicity, data from a series of 28 marine microcosm experiments, which included both laboratory and field studies, were reanalyzed. The statistical methods applied to the data include log-...
Great Lakes Entomologist, 1985
The new genus Barhaetis Waltz and McCafferty, and new species Barhaetis henfieldi Kennedy are des... more The new genus Barhaetis Waltz and McCafferty, and new species Barhaetis henfieldi Kennedy are described from larvae collected from the New River, Virginia. Barhaetis is easily told from Baetis by the presence of procoxal osmobranchia. Cladistics of B. henfieldi, related Pseudocloeon species, and the lutheri and pavidus complexes of Baetis are presented and indicate the need for further taxonomic revision. The habitat of B. benfieldi is described in terms of several ecological parameters. The new species demonstrates a univoltine life history with postembryonic development restricted to a short springtime period. The species of Nearctic Baetidae are thought to be relatively well known; however, a number of apparently endemic and problematic taxa have been recently encountered in the southeastern United States. One such taxon is described here as a new genus. Barbaetis Waltz and McCafferty, New Genus Adult. Unknown. Larva. Head capsule broad. Mandibles asymmetric; left mandible inciso...
Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 2016
The bumble bee (Bombus spp.) fauna of Texas has been infrequently studied and few modern surveys ... more The bumble bee (Bombus spp.) fauna of Texas has been infrequently studied and few modern surveys have been conducted to assess the current status of the state's species. A significant body of research has documented declines for bumble bee species across several continents including North America. Historically, six bumble bee species have been recorded from northeastern Texas: B. griseocollis (De Geer 1773), B. bimaculatus Cresson 1863, B. impatiens Cresson 1863, B. variabilis (Cresson 1872), B. fraternus (Smith 1854), and B. pensylvanicus (De Geer 1773). Three of those (B. fraternus, B. pensylvanicus, and B. variablis) are considered potentially threatened given evidence of range-wide declines. However, the current status of these species in northeast Texas has not been addressed. In this study we perform field surveys of bumble bees in northeastern Texas and compare those data to historical specimen records to evaluate the current status of historically present species. We confirm that B. fraternus, B. griseocollis, and B. pensylvanicus persist across the study region. The remaining species, B. bimaculatus, B. impatiens, and B. variabilis, were historically rare in the study region and were not detected in the present study; the two former are on the western edge of their ranges in Texas and the latter is a cleptoparasitic species that is inherently difficult to detect. The results of this study establish current bumble bee persistence in northeast Texas and can serve as a departure point for future assessments of bumble bee species dynamics.
Hydrobiologia, 2015
The impoundment of running waters is a threat to freshwater mussels and has only been cursorily e... more The impoundment of running waters is a threat to freshwater mussels and has only been cursorily examined in Texas. To address this, we evaluate mussel assemblage structure in the Sabine River downstream of a flood control and hydropower reservoir. We use the serial discontinuity concept (SDC) and the Life History Continuum model (LHCM) to explain relationships between stream position (i.e., downstream distance from either dam) and mussel species richness, catch-per-unit effort (CPUE), and life history strategy. Using 90th, 85th, and 80th quantile regression models, we observed that mussel species richness and abundance were reduced for stream segments located near Lake Tawakoni and Toledo Bend Reservoir and that these reductions decreased with distance from either reservoir. We also observed significant shifts in life history composition of mussel assemblages depending on stream position from either dam. Opportunistic strategists were more abundant in reaches located immediately downstream of Lake Tawakoni and Toledo Bend Reservoir whereas periodic and equilibrium strategists were most abundant in reaches located at intermediate distances from either reservoir. Findings from this study confirm the negative impact large impoundments have on downstream mussel populations and demonstrate the value of using the SDC and LHCM for evaluating mussel response to river impoundment.
Bumble bees (Bombus spp.) are adept pollinators of many cultivated and wild flowering plants, but... more Bumble bees (Bombus spp.) are adept pollinators of many cultivated and wild flowering plants, but many species have experienced precipitous declines in recent decades. A variety of factors have been implicated in these declines, including changing land use and associated habitat fragmentation. The implementation and evaluation of conservation efforts requires information on how populations change over time, but there is a void in data regarding bumble bee populations in many places. The present research is part of an ongoing study on bumble bees in Denton County, Texas, and serves to establish baseline and current population data for conservation purposes. Historic museum collection specimens have been catalogued to determine species presence and trends over the past 60 years, and 2013 field surveys of both urban community gardens and minimally-disturbed locations have been performed to ascertain the current status of populations. Our data document the presence of four species in De...
The Southwestern Naturalist, 2014
Journal of Ethnobiology, 2009
The cause of megafaunal extinctions at the end of the last glaciation has been hotly debated duri... more The cause of megafaunal extinctions at the end of the last glaciation has been hotly debated during the last few decades, most recently at the global scale. In North America and elsewhere the debate centers on whether or not human hunters, who seemingly first entered the continent during the extinction period, caused the extinctions through over-hunting. An alternative explanation is that climate change during the terminal Pleistocene radically modified existing habitats and this caused the extinctions. Huston's (1979, 1994) dynamic equilibrium model (DEM) of community species richness provides a theoretical context for explanations of the extinctions in North America and highlights life history characteristics of extinct mammals. These life history traits and associated phenotypes are a seldom-explored line of evidence concerning the causes of the extinctions. In light of life history traits, environmental disturbance is implicated as the proximate cause of the extinctions, but the DEM does not preclude overkill as a contributing cause in North America.
Journal of vector ecology : journal of the Society for Vector Ecology, 2005
A population survey was conducted from April through September 2002 on mosquito species occurring... more A population survey was conducted from April through September 2002 on mosquito species occurring on the Ray Roberts Greenbelt, a riparian corridor used for public recreation on the Elm Fork of the Trinity River, in Denton County, TX. Geographic information system software was used to set up a stratified random sampling design based on habitat parameters. Mosquitoes were collected using light traps, gravid traps, and resting boxes. A total of 29 species was collected during this study belonging to the following genera: Aedes, Anopheles, Coquillettidia, Culex, Mansonia, Ochlerotatus, Orthopodomyia, Psorophora, and Uranotaenia. The four most common species collected during this study were Aedes vexans, Culex erraticus, Culex salinarius, and Psorophora columbiae. West Nile virus (WNV) has been detected in these species in the United States, and they may serve as important vector species in Denton County. Collections were analyzed by the Texas Department of Health for arboviruses. One p...
The Southwestern Naturalist, 1994
Journal of the North American Benthological Society, 2006
Journal of Freshwater Ecology, 2013
Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 1992
Robust canonical correlation and classification methods were used to evaluate relationships betwe... more Robust canonical correlation and classification methods were used to evaluate relationships between ambient toxicity and instream biological response. Ten studies of freshwater aquatic systems were used in the analysis. These studies included eight site studies conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Complex Effluent Toxicity Testing Program, one study by the University of Kentucky and one study by the University of North Texas. Results from ambient toxicity tests, including Cerioduphnia neonate production and Pimephalespromelas dry weight and survival, were used to predict impact at sampling stations. Instream biological response variables, including fish and benthic richness, were used to classify whether or not a station was impacted. The strength of the relationship between ambient toxicity and instream impact was determined by statistically evaluating agreement between the predicted and observed impacts. Results of the analysis showed that statistically significant relationships between ambient toxicity and instream impact were found in each of the studies.
Environmental Science & Technology, 2013
Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 2006
Abstract: In 2007, a 20-county area encompassing the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex was designated b... more Abstract: In 2007, a 20-county area encompassing the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex was designated by the State as a Priority Groundwater Management Area (PGMA) in need of implementing strategies for groundwater conservation. The newly created PGMA ’s population is expected to increase from 5.5 million in 2000 to 9.5 million by 2030 with projected water needs rising from 1,677 million m3 in 2000 to 3,034 million m3 by 2030 according to a study by Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The Trinity ...
Data on white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) body size and population density have been col... more Data on white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) body size and population density have been collected for several decades at Fort Hood, Texas. Habitat quality related to vegetation composition differs at the fort in two areas, West Fort Hood (WFH) and the West Region (WR). In other ...
Page 1. COHORT DYNAMICS OF A CAENIS LATIPENNIS POPULATION LIFE HISTORY & REPRODUCTION 201 Coh... more Page 1. COHORT DYNAMICS OF A CAENIS LATIPENNIS POPULATION LIFE HISTORY & REPRODUCTION 201 Cohort dynamics of an over-wintering Caenis latipennis population in Honey Creek, Oklahoma, USA JASON ...
Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 1997
As part of a larger program to examine the relationships between laboratory and ambient toxicity,... more As part of a larger program to examine the relationships between laboratory and ambient toxicity, data from a series of 28 marine microcosm experiments, which included both laboratory and field studies, were reanalyzed. The statistical methods applied to the data include log-...