Shawn Clem

Shawn Clem, PhD

Director of Research

BS, Marine Science and Mathematics; minor, Chemistry: Eckerd College, 1998

PhD, Biology: Florida International University, 2004

Dr. Shawn Clem is the Research Director of Audubon Florida's Western Everglades Research Center, located at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. Dr. Clem is a community ecologist with twenty years of experience in researching and describing the ecology, hydrology, and impacts from environmental stressors on our region, with past positons and projects at Everglades National Park, Audubon’s Everglades Science Center in Tavernier, and Big Cypress National Preserve.

Helping establish our research center in 2013, Dr. Clem is focused on filling science gaps in order to answer critical questions about Western Everglades’ conservation and restoration. Current long-term monitoring projects include tracking and understanding hydrology, Wood Storks and other wildlife changes at Corkscrew, gauging restoration success on Panther Island Mitigation Bank, and documenting changes in fish communities within the Picayune Strand Restoration Project. Under her direction, Audubon’s research program is focused on better understanding and describing our region’s unique ecology in light of increased environmental pressures, and using this understanding to guide wetland conservation, stewardship, and restoration throughout the boundaries of Corkscrew and beyond.

Dr. Clem is the founder and leader of the annual Corkscrew Watershed Science Forum, co-director of Corkscrew’s Conservation Internship program; co-organizer of Audubon Florida’s Conservation Leadership Initiative; adjunct graduate faculty at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU); and a Research Affiliate of FGCU's Everglades Wetland Research Park.

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Articles by Shawn Clem, PhD

Hurricane Ian's Rainfall Resulted in Record Water Levels
News

Hurricane Ian's Rainfall Resulted in Record Water Levels

— Rainfall and Water Level Data: September 2022
Wood Stork Nest Monitoring for 2022 Season Underway
Marsh And Prairie Restoration

Wood Stork Nest Monitoring for 2022 Season Underway

— No nest activity was spotted in the Sanctuary on the first overflight of the season on 12/8.
Restoration Update
Marsh And Prairie Restoration

Restoration Update

— From mid-April to early June of 2019, we cleared 229 acres of important marsh and prairie habitat, bringing this restoration project to a total of 570 acres.
Glimpses from the Trail Camera
Conservation

Glimpses from the Trail Camera

— These data serve a variety of purposes, from providing information about how wildlife respond to land management activities, to documenting prey populations prior to the establishment of Burmese pythons or other injurious non-native reptiles.