Matt Patterson
I&M Network Coordinator
South Florida Caribbean Network
http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/units/sfcn/
18001 Old Cutler Road Suite 419
Miami, FL 33157

phone: (786) 249-0070
fax: (305) 253-0463
matt_patterson@nps.gov

Matt Patterson is the network coordinator for the South Florida/Caribbean Network since its inception in 2000. He started with the National Park Service in 2000 as a marine ecologist for Biscayne National Park, and migrated to the Inventory and Monitoring program when he saw a need for leadership in the network. Matt guided the network through Vertebrate and Vascular Plant inventories from 2000 to 2004 to help develop a robust species list for the network parks at the millennium. Those projects increased the basic understanding of species richness and distribution, increasing Big Cypress and Biscayne National Park’s vascular plant list by 25% to over 1,000 species, identified Opuntia corallicola, the semaphore tree cactus in Biscayne National Park, extending its wild range from 7 plants in the wild in the world to well over 650 individuals in South Florida. Additional inventory projects examined fish, mammals, bats, herpetofauna, and developed maps for vegetation and marine resources.

Currently, he leads a team of scientists conducting long-term ecosystem Vital Signs monitoring for seven National Park units. This NPS Vital Signs monitoring program is one of 32 across the U. S. supporting 270 national parks with significant natural resources. His background is in coral ecology, with 6 years of coral monitoring for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Coral Reef and Hardbottom Monitoring Program working for the State of Florida as a field biologist and program data manager. He is a U. S. Navy submarine veteran (USS Parche SSN-683), and has two children. Education: M. S. University of South Florida (Marine Science), B.S. Eckerd College (Marine Science), U.S.D.A Graduate School Executive Leadership Program.