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| My research combines theory and methods from conservation biology and landscape ecology to examine the relationships among human development patterns, land-use practices, and the distributions and viability of wildlife populations. I am particularly motivated by research questions that have the potential to inform conservation policies and land-use decisions as well as to expand our understanding of how biological communities respond to human disturbances. I have employed a wide range of techniques, including non-invasive field monitoring, genetic analysis, and spatial modeling, to investigate four related sets of questions, with a particular focus on mammalian carnivore populations in the western U.S.: |
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1) Wildlife responses to development configuration and land-use intensity Residential site design strategies for protecting wildlife habitat connectivity Land-use intensity and the effective area of reserves in urbanizing landscapes Effects of development density on woodland bird community composition
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2) Human recreation, domestic dogs, and protected area effectiveness Quiet, non-consumptive recreation reduces protected area effectiveness Effects of domestic dog management policy and recreational visitation on carnivores
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3) Anthropogenic noise disturbances to wildlife communities Motor vehicle noise disturbances to bird and mammal communities in the Sierra Nevada SPreAD-GIS: a tool for modeling anthropogenic noise propagation in natural ecosystems |
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4) Improving non-invasive survey techniques Detection distance and environmental factors in wildlife detection dog surveys Species co-occurrence in non-invasive surveys for carnivores Restriction enzyme analyses to distinguish western North American carnivore scats |