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Dr. Dan Thornton's Mammal Spatial Ecology and Conservation Lab

PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS

Students interested in joining the lab should send a letter of interest to Dr. Thornton (daniel.thornton@wsu.edu), outlining your research interests and goals, and how they fit within the type of work that is conducted in this lab. Please also include a CV with relevant information (e.g., GPA/GRE scores).

CURRENT LAB MEMBERS

Steven Woodley, POST-DOC

Steven is leading a project to assess how wildlife species utilize “working landscapes” in east central Washington. These landscapes are heavily modified by agriculture, but maintain small remnants of native and restored sagebrush. Steven is assessing the value of this mosaic of habitats for the wildlife community using a combination of camera traps and sign/pellet surveys. This work is a collaboration with Lisa Shipley, and is funded by NRCS.

LUCY PERERA-ROMERO, PhD

Lucy is examining the impacts of hunting on Neotropical carnivores and other mammals in the Maya Biosphere Reserve of northern Guatemala. Lucy is also using camera traps to generate indices of large mammal community health at large-scales, which can be linked to disturbances like land cover and hunting. Lucy is collaborating with the Wildlife Conservation Society to implement her research. Lucy is the recipient of a WCS Graduate Research Fellowship, and secured a Rufford Grant to support her work.

 

TRAVIS KING, PhD

Travis King: Travis just completed his MS degree in this lab, studying lynx (and other carnivore) distribution in Washington using a large-scale camera array consisting of over 700 camera stations and covering 7000 square kilometers. Travis has now transitioned to a PhD, and is working to examine the impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation on jaguars and other mid-large sized mammals in northern Honduras. Travis is collaborating with Panthera to complete his Honduran work. Travis is the recipient of an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a Northwest Climate Science Center Fellowship. 

 

 

SUJAY SINGH, MS

Sujay is studying bobcat-lynx spatial associations and densities along an elevation and snow gradient in northcentral Washington. His work will involve an intensive camera trapping effort in Loomis State Forest, building on a long-term effort in the region, and contributing to our understanding of lynx population status and threats in the state. This work is a collaborative effort with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

 

COMPLETED STUDENTS

Katie Van, MS (2015): Thesis title: Species distribution modeling of high-elevation pine species to examine potential impacts of climate change.

Arthur Scully, MS (2016): Thesis title: Influence of biotic interactions on Canada lynx distribution along their southern range edge.

Kyle Ebenhoch, MS (2017): Thesis title: Comparing population vital rates of resident and translocated greater sage-grouse on the Yakima Training Center, Yakima, WA.

Landon Charlo, MS (2018): Thesis title: Influence of artificial canopy gaps on wildlife and understory in young coastal temperate coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest

Travis King, MS (2019): Thesis title: Broad-scale influence of biotic and abiotic drivers of carnivore occupancy in Washington

Peter Olsoy, PhD (2019):

Paul Jenson, MS (2020): Snowshoe hare population ecology in lynx occupied areas of Washington

Anna Staudenmaier, MS (2020):

Michelle Peziol, MS (2020):

Kelsey Gump, MS (2021): Spatial and temporal effects of motorized and nonmotorized recreation on a wildlife in eastern Washington

Alissa Anderson MS (2022): Glacier’s Wildlife: a noninvasive investigation of a Canada lynx population and wildlife spatiotemporal response to recreation in a popular national park.

Erik Peterson MS (2022): A summer feast atop the Crown of the Continent: The interplay of grizzly bears and army cutworm moths across Glacier National Park’s alpine talus slopes.