Spatial Conservation

As quantitative ecologists with a spatial focus, our group typically creates spatial products that guide aspects of wildlife management & conservation or informs policy & decision making.

Creating robust predictions of CWD risk

CWD is spreading across the southeastern U.S . A fatal disease in infected deer, our team is looking to create predictions of this diseases' transmission across the landscape as a function of deer movement and known disease properties. We are starting on a pilot state with lots of data for deer that can help create these predictions: the state of Mississippi.

Black Skimmer and Least Tern Conservation

Following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the northern
Gulf of Mexico, efforts to restore damaged ecosystems and wildlife populations have been numerous and wide-ranging. Two coastal seabird species that have been identified as needing research and conservation action are Least Terns and Black Skimmers as many knowledge gaps about their life histories remain in affected coastal regions. Our team aims to describe Tern and Skimmer foraging patterns, movements, and demographic patterns to better inform stewardship and management efforts along the Mississippi coast.

Catfish Movement & Disease Susceptibility

Understanding how catfish move and behave is a daunting task given their lack of observability within the murky ponds they inhabit. Our team (in collaboration with USDA-ARS researcher Brian Ott) are working to use biologging technology to understand [1] how catfish respond to temporal changes in pond temperature and oxygen levels and [2] how changes in movement and behavior influence their susceptibility to disease. Our work aims to create best practice recommendations to enhance catfish production systems.

Thermal Roadside Surveys

Wildlife monitoring is imperative for informing wildlife management. In the era of Chronic Wasting Disease and its spread across the US, population monitoring is vital to the conservation and appropriate management of white-tailed deer. However, current monitoring techniques can be wildly inefficient. Technological advances in thermal imaging has demonstrated promise, with detection from thermal sensors exceeding those of traditional spotlight counts. In collaboration with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks (MDWFP), we aim to examine the biases associated with this monitoring technique for deer in and outside the CWD zone.

Poultry-Wildlife Interactions

Direct or indirect interactions between wildlife and domestic animals are a concern for pathogen spillover. For poultry, wild birds and mammals serve as vectors or reservoirs for a wide range of bacterial and viral pathogens, but much remains unknown regarding the diversity of fauna that are consistently prevalent facilities. In collaboration with USDA-ARS, we aim to gain a wholistic understanding of the way a variety of potential vectors (i.e., avian and mammalian) use the space in and around poultry facilities