Jesse De La Cruz
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Dr. Jesse L. De La Cruz is a Research Scientist leading projects on wildlife ecology, bat conservation, and forest ecosystem resilience across the eastern United States. His work integrates field studies, ecological statistics, and geospatial analysis to understand species-habitat relationships, population dynamics, and landscape-scale conservation strategies.
Dr. De La Cruz earned his PhD in Geospatial and Environmental Analysis from Virginia Tech in 2024 while serving as a Research Associate at CMI. His dissertation focused on the spatial ecology and conservation strategies for the endangered northern long-eared bat in a post-white-nose syndrome landscape. During this time, he also collaborated to establish national survey protocols for Indiana and northern long-eared bats and published widely on bat habitat use, activity patterns, and conservation planning.
In his current role, Dr. De La Cruz serves as Principal Investigator or Co‑Principal Investigator on research examining tricolored bat winter roosting ecology in coastal North Carolina, multi‑state acoustic monitoring across the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge system, forest resilience modeling in the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan region, and bat use of pine plantations in the Deep South. He also contributes to graduate education as a committee member on master’s theses in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation at Virginia Tech, and provides mentorship and research training to undergraduate students. His publications have addressed bat conservation and disease ecology across diverse landscapes, along with habitat associations of game and specialist species such as wild turkeys in West Virginia, northern flying squirrels in high‑elevation red spruce forests, and southeastern fox squirrels in fire‑maintained pine savannas.
He began his career as Lead Bat Biologist at AllStar Ecology LLC in West Virginia from 2012 to 2017, where he managed Endangered Species Act consultations, conservation planning, and regulatory compliance, while leading field teams in bat surveys and habitat assessments.
Conservation of game species, threatened and endangered wildlife, and habitat specialists, with an emphasis on bats
Quantitative ecology using hierarchical Bayesian and frequentist models of species distributions, occupancy, abundance, activity, and resource selection
Geospatial analysis of habitats, landscape change, and ecosystem resilience
Applied land management and conservation strategies
Doctor of Philosophy, Geospatial and Environmental Analysis 2024 (Virginia Tech)
Master of Science: Wildlife and Fisheries Resources 2012 (West Virginia University)
Bachelor of Science: Natural Resource Management 2009 (Glenville State College)
Humber, T., A. W. McKellips, D. R. Carter, P. C. Green, J. L. De La Cruz, C. A. Diggins, W. M. Ford. 2025. Red spruce forest stand structure and Virginia northern flying squirrel habitat suitability. International Journal of Forestry Research. Accepted for publication September 19, 2025.
Ford, W. M., E. D. Thorne, J. L. De La Cruz, A. Silvis, V. Kuczynska, M. P. Armstrong, and R. A. King. 2025. Assessing tricolored bat acoustic monitoring for regulatory purposes in relation to reproductive period, cover type, and presence of eastern red bats. Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 12:69–76.
De La Cruz, J. L., S. E. Rauch, J. T. Anderson. 2025. Age-specific third-order resource selection of male eastern wild turkeys in West Virginia. Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 12:77–86.
Guill, M. H., J. L. De La Cruz, K. M. Puckett, and W. M. Ford. 2024. Resource selection of the southern fox squirrel (Sciurus niger niger) in the coastal plain of Virginia. Virginia Journal of Science 75:1–26.
Ford, W. M., J. L. De La Cruz, E. D. Thorne, A. Silvis, M. P. Armstrong, R. A. King. 2024. Second guessing the maximum likelihood estimator values for bat surveys. Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 11:177–184.
De La Cruz, J. L., N. J. Kalen, E. L. Barr, E. D. Thorne, A. Silvis, R. J. Reynolds, and W. M. Ford. 2024. Seasonal activity patterns of northern long-eared bats on the coastal Mid-Atlantic. Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 11:185–195.
De La Cruz, J. L., R. J. Reynolds, W. Orndorff, T. Malabad, K. E. Powers, and W. M. Ford. 2024. Seasonal activity patterns of northern long-eared bats at hibernacula in western Virginia. Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 11:196–205.
Guill, M. H., J. L. De La Cruz, M. Puckett, S. D. Klopfer, B. Martin, and W. M. Ford. 2024. Southern fox squirrel and eastern gray squirrel interactions in a fire-maintained ecosystem. Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 11:215–222.
De La Cruz, J. L., W. M. Ford, S. Jones, J. B. Johnson, and A. Silvis. 2023. Distribution of northern long-eared bat summer habitat on the Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia. Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 10:114–124.
De La Cruz, J. L., W. M. Ford, S. Jones, J. B. Johnson, and A. Silvis. 2023. Distribution of summer habitat for the Indiana bat on the Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia. Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 10:125–134.
Moran, M., W. Boyd, J. L. De La Cruz, A. S. Bertke, and W. M. Ford. 2023. Oral sampling of little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) maternity colonies for SARS-CoV-2 in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, USA. Animals 13(4):550.
Deeley, S., W. M. Ford, N. J. Kalen, S. R. Freeze, M. S. Germain, M. Muthersbaugh, E. Barr, A. Kniowski, A. Silvis, and J. L. De La Cruz. 2022. Mid-Atlantic big brown and eastern red bats: Relationships between acoustic activity and reproductive phenology. Diversity 14:319.
De La Cruz, J. L., M. C. True, H. Taylor, D. C. Brown, and W. M. Ford. 2022. Unique land cover classification to assess day-roost habitat selection of northern long-eared bats on the Coastal Plain of North Carolina, USA. Forests 13:792.
Ford, W. M., C. A. Diggins, J. L. De La Cruz, and A. Silvis. 2022. Distribution probability of the Virginia northern flying squirrel in the High Allegheny Mountains. Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 9:168–175.
Lituma, C. M., J. J. Cox, S. F. Spear, J. W. Edwards, J. L. De La Cruz, L.I. Muller, and W. M. Ford. 2021. Terrestrial wildlife in the post-mined Appalachian landscape: Status and opportunities. Pages 135–166, In C.E. Zipper and J. Skousen (Eds.). Appalachia’s Coal-Mined Landscapes. Springer International Publishing, Cham, Switzerland.
De La Cruz, J.L., R.L. Ward, and E.S. Schroder. 2018. Landscape characteristics related to use of artificial roosts by northern long-eared bats in north-central West Virginia. Northeastern Naturalist, 25(3), 487–501.
De La Cruz, J. L. and R.L. Ward. 2016. Summer-habitat suitability modeling of Myotis sodalis (Indiana Bat) in the eastern mountains of West Virginia. Northeastern Naturalist 23(1):100–117.