PROJECTS & CLIENTS

Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast

Lemur Conservation Foundation

Shafer Consulting created maps for the Lemur Conservation Foundation detailing the habitats and hydrologic features surrounding their nature preserve located in the Myakka River watershed. The Lemur Conservation Foundation is a small non-profit corporation dedicated to the preservation and conservation of the primates of Madagascar through captive breeding, scientific research, education, and reintroduction.

Grant Writing

David Shafer and Jennifer Shafer have written and assisted in the preparation of numerous successful grants in cooperation with research scientists, resource managers, and educators at the University of Hawaii, University of Maine, Non-profit groups Sarasota Bay Watch, Audubon of Florida, and Save Our Seabirds in Sarasota. Selected Grants include:

Fourth Annual Great Scallop Search (2011) $2,500: Community Foundation of Sarasota County made possible through the Robert R. Harlan and Susan H. Lowy Harlan Fund This grant provides funding for Sarasota Bay Watch’s signature annual event, which brings about 70-80 people together to informally survey the distribution and abundance of scallops in Sarasota Bay.

General Project Support (2011) $1,000: Longboat Key Garden Club This grant provided general funding to partially cover costs involved with organizing and conducting community-based environmental conservation and outreach events for Sarasota Bay Watch.

Third Annual Monofilament Cleanup: Protecting Sarasota Bay’s Seabirds and Critical Bird Nesting Habitats (2010) $4,000: Community Foundation of Sarasota County from the Pitching for Projects Fund This grant provided funding for a Sarasota Bay Watch – led monofilament cleanup and outreach event, public service announcements, and print materials to help remove derelict fishing gear from sensitive bird nesting areas as well as to educate the community about conservation of colonial bird nesting habitat and the proper disposal of monofilament line.

Organizational Capacity Building: Sarasota Bay Watch (2010) $20,000: Community Foundation of Sarasota County from the Boost Initiative Fund This grant provided partial funding for a paid Executive Director to coordinate membership, fundraising, and events in order to build the necessary organizational capacity to accomplish community-based restoration projects in Sarasota Bay.

Agent-based Simulation of a Recreational Coral Reef Fishery: Linking Ecological and Social Dynamics (2003) $66,000: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (STAR Program) This research used a complex systems modeling approach to design and evaluate management alternatives for tropical coral reef fisheries.

Recruitment Dynamics and Dispersal of Keystone Coral Reef Species in a Hawaiian MPA Network (2002) Hawaii Coral Reef Initiative (NOAA) This study examined critical early life history information of keystone coral reef species in order to better understand Hawaii's coral reef ecosystem.

Life History Trait Plasticity and Adaptations to Stochastic Environmental Divergences: High Arctic Charr (1999) $385,114 and (2002) $145,000: National Science Foundation (Arctic Natural Sciences) This project was an interdisciplinary study to test the hypothesis that stochastic climate and habitat variation play a decisive role in the development of life history traits, adaptation mechanisms and population composition in Arctic charr in high Arctic freshwater systems.

Origins of Cod on Georges Bank: Contribution of Early Developmental Stages from the Scotian Shelf (1998) $183,465 and (2002) $56,900: National Science Foundation (Biological Oceanography) This research used (1) retrospective elemental analyses of otoliths from larval cod samples and (2) nuclear DNA microsatellite techniques to determine the genetic identity of the larvae relative to larval and adult populations from Georges Bank and from the Scotian Shelf.

Plasticity of Life History Traits in Arctic Charr: Use of Retrospective Data to Couple Migration Data with Environmental Variation (1996) $180,721: National Science Foundation (Arctic Natural Sciences) This research investigated the influence of environmental conditions upon morphology and life history plasticity of Arctic Charr.

Restoration & Preservation of Native Fish Populations: Use of Retrospective Data to Couple Life History, Recruitment, & Population Dynamics with Environmental Vicissitudes (1994) $315,430: National Science Foundation (Department of Environmental Biology) This project analyzed critical periods in the life history of native amphidromous fishes, including spawning, early growth, and recruitment, that may be affected by altercation, reduction, or fragmentation of habitats.

Distribution and Survival of Cod Larvae in Relation to Hydrography on Georges Bank (1992) $122,973: National Science Foundation (Biological Oceanography) This project investigated the "distributional histories" of larval cod on Georges Bank during the spring and early summer period of developing thermal stratification.

Plasticity of Life History Traits: Arctic Charr as a Paradigm (1992) $380,685: National Science Foundation (Arctic Natural Sciences) This project investigated relationships between morph, growth and environmental history of Arctic Charr.

Early Life History of Antarctic Fishes (1989) $302,283: National Science Foundation (Antarctic Program) This grant examined larval fish growth rates, hatching periodicity, and environmental histories of key Antarctic fishes to better understand the population dynamics of Antarctic Fishes.