• Research Interests
• Research Projects
• CV (pdf)
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My primary interest is wildlife population dynamics in space and time. I seek to understand what causes populations to rise and fall and to differ between places. More interestingly, I seek to understand how differences in space affect changes over time, and vice versa. Within this broad field, my recent research has focused on two main fields:

Predator/prey interactions in space. How does the risk of being attacked vary in space and why? How does that spatial variation affect the impact of predators on their prey? For any prey species, some places represent pose high risk, whereas others act as refuges from predators. Such differences can be imposed by the environment (e.g., cover for prey, ambush sites for predators, etc.) but can also arise through behavior of the predators (e.g., selection of food-rich sites, avoidance of their own predators). Therefore, "hot spots" and "cold spots" of risk may vary over time, so that the same site could be a refuge in one year and a risky site in another. As a model system for addressing these questions, I have been studying gypsy moth pupae as prey and white-footed mice as predators. Although gypsy moths are most well-known because of their occasional destructive outbreaks, they can provide a model for understanding how sparse prey can persist in the face of abundant generalist predators. Another project along this line is a study of how local abundance of prey (small mammals) affects how long-tailed weasels use space, which could have repercussions for nesting birds and other alternative prey.

Landscape epidemiology. How do characteristics of a landscape affect the persistence and spread of diseases? The distribution, abundance, and behavior of host animals are all affected by characteristics of their landscape, including: the relative amounts of various habitat types, habitat patch size, and connectivity among patches. For infectious diseases to persist, they must be transmitted both among hosts in particular site and between sites. Habitat fragmentation can affect local abundance of hosts, influencing transmission among individuals, and the ability of hosts to move between sites. In collaboration with Dr. Clay Nielsen, I am exploring how potential disease spread among white-tailed deer differs between southern Illinois (where forests are abundant and largely connected) and east-central Illinois (where forest patches are few and far between), due to differences in local population processes as well as dispersal behaviors.

• Space use of the long-tailed weasel (Mustela frenata) in relation to changes in prey availability
• Individual-based modeling of white-tailed deer movements and epizootiology
• GIS Lab
• Doves
• Habitat Occupancy of Sympatric Carnivores in Southern Illinois
• Effect of concentrated food on contact rates and space use of white-tailed deer