Populations
The majority of terrestrial landscapes have undergone vast human-induced environmental change. For most species, however, we do not fully understand how human-induced change influences demographic vital rates and population state variables, nor do we know how decision makers can best manage populations to negate or enhance the impacts of these changes. I have been investigating the role of various types of human-induced change on populations in several systems, including military readiness activities on Colorado checkered whiptails, water developments on kit foxes in the Great Basin Desert, and urban encroachment on bald eagles in the Northeastern United States. |
Behavior
Species interactions (e.g., parasitism) and human-induced changes involving environmental and biological factors (e.g., domestication) can alter how organisms choose to acquire resources, avoid being preyed upon, and move across a given landscape. Determining the direct and indirect effects of behavioral plasticity is challenging due to the difficult nature of parsing out contributions of behavior on community and population dynamics. This challenge, however, presents an opportunity for taking a multidisciplinary approach to ecological research. I have been investigating the roles of large predators and domestication on the behavior of range cattle through observational field work and experimental pen studies. This work has provided vital information on the foraging behavior of both wild and domesticated ungulates while also providing solutions to minimize predator-livestock interactions and develop new strategies for large carnivore conservation. I am also investigating how ectoparasite burden influences kit fox movements and den partitioning. |