CURRENT RESEARCH FOCI
Carnivore Distribution and Abundance
A major theme of current and past research is attempting to document and understand carnivore distribution and abundance patterns, and how those patterns are influenced by a variety of human activities (hunting, deforestation, climate change, etc.). We use a combination of intensive field collection, pre-existing data, and spatial and statistical modeling to address a variety of questions regarding the large-scale ecology of carnivores, and to help our partners better manage and conserve those species.
Conservation Biogeography and Transboundary Ecology
A new key theme of my research is examining transboundary ecology and conservation of mammals. Although much thinking in conservation occurs at national or smaller scales, protection of wide-ranging species in the face of extensive changes to ecosystem will necessitate a cross-border, multi-country approach. My lab has led several large-scale spatial analyses to improve conservation planning for carnivores and other large mammals, and we continue to look for ways to integrate cross-border actions in our research.
Improving Survey Techniques for Carnivores and other Mammals
Large-scale monitoring will be fundamental to successful management and conservation in the 21st century. However, reliably surveying carnivores and other large mammals at appropriate scales for conservation is difficult. Much of our work in this area involves camera trapping efforts, including efforts to design camera-based monitoring of high elevation forest carnivore communities in Washington and efforts to use cameras to conduct landscape-scale surveys in the tropics. We have also recently become interested in the ways in which AI can improve efficiencies of camera monitoring and the speed at which camera data can be analyzed.
Conservation Value of Disturbed and Fragmented Ecosystems
A key theme extending through many projects in the lab is developing a better understanding of the factors that influence species persistence within heavily disturbed or fragmented ecosystems. This includes work to examine connectivity, habitat use, and abundance patterns of species in human-dominated systems, with an eye toward improving conservation outcomes.
CO-PRODUCED, “ACTIONABLE” SCIENCE
We are engaged in several different projects that were developed in close consultation with land managers and agencies. This engagement will hopefully lead to more impactful work from a management viewpoint, and is part of a concerted effort to make research directly relevant to management decisions. Two current examples of this are:
- The design and implementation of a large-scale, 20 year monitoring effort for lynx and wolverine in the Cascade mountains, in close collaboration with the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. This project involves over 20 partners from agencies, NGOs, universities, and tribes, and aims to provide managers with periodic snapshots of the status of these two threatened carnivores.
- A collaborate effort with Washington Department of Natural Resources to examine forest silvacultural impacts on snowshoe hare in northcentral Washington, and options for making forests more resilient without negatively impacting hare and the species that depend on them (including threatened Canada lynx),