Senior Ecologist, NRDA Consulting Group

Senior Ecologist Karen Carney

Karen Carney, Ph.D., PMP

Senior Ecologist
karen.carney@briwildlife.org

Karen joined BRI in 2025 as a Senior Ecologist for the NRDA Consulting Group, bringing nearly 20 years of environmental consulting experience across a wide range of topics. Karen’s consulting work has focused on bridging environmental science and on-the-ground restoration, conservation and policy. Her core areas of expertise include ecosystem ecology, wildlife conservation and restoration, and climate change analysis. More specifically, Karen has led planning and assessments of aquatic, terrestrial, and marine ecosystem restoration and conservation actions across the United States for foundations, federal agencies, state agencies, and Tribes. She has also led and implemented analytical efforts focused on understanding, mitigating, and adapting to the impacts of climate change, with this work cited in and influencing U.S. EPA’s national climate assessment.

Early in her career, Karen was an iterant field biologist who studied songbird reproductive success in coastal California, penguin breeding behavior in Antarctica, seabird reproductive success on Alcatraz, and migratory bird habitat use in Costa Rica. Her Ph.D. and post-doctoral work at Stanford and the Smithsonian focused on the impacts of plant diversity and elevated CO2 on soil carbon cycling. She also worked at USAID, focusing on international efforts to conserve biodiversity and slow climate change through an AAAS Science and Technology Fellowship.

Education & Certifications

Education:

  • Stanford University, 2004 – Ph.D., Earth, Energy, and Environmental Sciences
  • Kalamazoo College, 1993 – B.A., Biology

Certifications:

  • Project Management Professional

Other:

  • Research Associate, University of Vermont, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources

Research Interests

  • Restoration and conservation planning
  • Climate change impacts, adaptation, and mitigation 
  • Carbon and nutrient cycling 
  • Project and program monitoring and evaluation
  • Natural Resource Damage Assessment

Selected Publications

  • Mills, D., R. Jones, K. Carney, A. St. Juliana, R. Ready, A. Crimmins, J. Martinich, K. Shouse, B. DeAngelo, and E. Monier. 2015. Quantifying and monetizing potential climate change policy impacts on terrestrial ecosystem carbon storage and wildfires in the United States. April. Climatic Change 131(1):163–178. Available: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10584-014-1118-z.
  • O’Grady, M., K. Carney, and J.M. Vogel. 2015. Reducing vulnerability to catastrophic wildfires and related flooding in Flagstaff, Arizona. In Living with Climate Change: How Communities are Surviving and Thriving in a Changing Climate, J.A. Bullock, G.D. Haddow, K.S. Haddow, and D.P. Coppola (eds.). CRC Press, Boca, Raton, FL. pp. 205–215.
  • Carney, K.M., B. Lazar, C. Rodgers, D.R. Lane, P.A.T. Higgins, R. Jones, S. Morlando, and A.E. Ebbets. 2013. Chapter 2: Recent and future climate change and potential implications for species and ecosystem dynamics. In Conserving Wildlife Populations in a Changing Climate, J. Brodie, E. Post, and D. Doak (eds.). University of Chicago Press.
  • Nelson, E., K. Carney, C. Fissore, N. Olwero, A. Plantinga, and B. Stanley. 2012. Chapter 3: Terrestrial carbon storage and sequestration. In The Theory and Practice of Ecosystem Service Valuation, P. Kareiva, T. Ricketts, G. Daily, H. Tallis, and S. Polasky (eds.). Oxford University Press.
  • Fierer, N., K.M. Carney, M.C. Horner-Devine, and J.P. Megonigal. 2009. The biogeography of ammonia-oxidizing bacterial communities in soil. Microbial Ecology 58:435-445.
  • Carney, K.M., B.A. Hungate, B.G. Drake, and J.P. Megonigal. 2007. Altered soil microbial community at elevated CO2 leads to loss of soil carbon. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104(12):4990–4995.
  • Zhang, W., T.H. Ricketts, C. Kremen, K.M. Carney, and S.M. Swinton. 2007. Ecosystem services and dis-services to agriculture. Ecological Economics 64:253–260.
  • Carney, K.M. and P.A. Matson. 2005. Plant communities, soil microorganisms, and soil carbon cycling: Does altering the world belowground matter to ecosystem functioning? Ecosystems 8:928-940.
  • Carney, K.M. and W. Sydeman. 1999. A review of human disturbance effects on colonial waterbirds. Colonial Waterbirds 22(1):68-79.
  • Ricketts, T.H., E. Dinerstein, D.M. Olson, C.J. Loucks, W. Eichbaum, K. Kavanagh, P. Hedao, P. Hurley, K.M. Carney, R. Abell, and S. Walters. 1999. Terrestrial Ecoregions of North America: A Conservation Assessment. Island Press, Washington, DC.

Grants, Awards & Fellowships

  • AAAS Science and Technology Fellowship, USAID Biodiversity and Forestry Team, 2005-2007
  • Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, 2004-2005
  • NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, 1999-2003.