CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS [last updated December 2019]

Megafires and ecological networks

Funded by the University of California Office of the President (UCOP)

In collaboration with Hillary Young (UC Santa Barbara), Justin Brashares (UC Berkeley) and Angela White (US Forest Service)

This project investigates the effect of large and high-severity wildfires on foodwebs and plant-pollinator networks in the coniferous forests of the Sierra Nevada.

Students involved: Gina Tarbill, Haley Mirts

 

B zones fecal DNA deer abundance project

Funded by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW)

In collaboration with Ben Sacks (UC Davis) and David Casady (CDFW)

This project aims to provide black-tailed deer abundance estimates for much of northwestern California using fecal DNA in combination with spatial capture-recapture models and refine large-scale survey protocols.

Students involved: Andrea Broad

 

Carnivores in the changing Amazonian landscape: habitat loss, conflict with people and climate change

Funded by CAPES, National Geographic, Explorers Club, Horodas Family, UC Davis Jastro Fund

This project investigates deforestation and its effects on carnivore communities and their interactions with people in a heavily fragmented multi-use landscape in the Southern Brazilian Amazon, using a combination of camera-trapping and interviews.

Students involved: Daniel Rocha

 

COLLABORATIONS

ScreenForBio

Run by Andreas Wilting (Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin)

Funded by: German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

This project develops and evaluates systematic monitoring protocols for terrestrial mammals in Southeast Asia using camera-trapping and invertebrate-derived DNA, and investigates how these species are affected by anthropogenic use of forests.