Christie Boser, M.S. Candidate
Foraging ecology of eastern coyotes in New York State
My research interests include: conservation biology, animal movements, landscape ecology, and animal behavior.
Email: clboser@syr.edu
Amy Dechen, Ph.D. Candidate
Developing a risk assessment for chronic wasting disease in New York: How does animal behavior influence disease spread?
Because prion diseases are a relatively new discovery, and because CWD is the first known prion disease to occur in free-ranging animals, we find ourselves in largely uncharted waters when faced with the predictions, consequences, and management strategies required of infected populations. A few biologists have attempted to create models to predict the persistence and transmission of diseases but spatially explicit components specific to New York State have not yet been addressed.
While much CWD research is currently being conducted in areas of pathology, genetics, and molecular biology, few data have been collected that evaluate the role of behavior in the spread of this contagious disease. Recent trends suggest that CWD prevalence may be two times higher in males, and that prevalence increases with age in both sexes, with highest incidence occurring in 4-6 year old animals. It is likely that both seasonal movements and dispersal are driving these trends, but empirical data on the subject are lacking.
I intend to develop a risk assessment model for CWD in New York that estimates the direction and spread of a disease from a point of first occurrence. The model will be parameterized using data from 100 GPS collars that will be deployed in winter 2006 and 2007. These long term, high resolution data will shed light on the manner in which white-tailed deer perceive and navigate the landscape and ultimately, on the direction and extent to which disease is likely spread between conspecifics. This model will assist state agencies in identifying the most parsimonious and effective method of management, control, and potential eradication of CWD in New York State.
Email: acdechen@syr.edu
Frank DeSantis, M.S. Candidate
Evaluating white-tailed deer migratory behavior as a pathway for chronic wasting disease spread
With the recent discovery of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in New York, confirmed cases of CWD have been found in cervid populations from 11 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces. This research will build on our understanding of white-tailed deer behavioral ecology with current knowledge of CWD. A predictive model of deer migration will be created through analysis of long-term radio-telemetry data from the Adirondack State Park of upstate New York. This tool will aid wildlife managers in directing CWD surveillance efforts and appropriate management actions for areas where deer exhibit long-range seasonal migrations.
Email: fdesanti@syr.edu
Ariel Diggory, M.S. Candidate
A landscape level look at wetlands in the AuSable and Boquet River Watersheds of the Adirondack Park, New York
I am interested in how to use science at a landscape level for conservation planning. Using aerial photography to locate and map wetlands is a common practice, but this method only maps wetlands that exist at the time the aerial photo is taken. I am using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to make a map that predicts where wetlands could be ("potential wetlands") based on permanent land features: land position, elevation, slope, moisture, soil, and geology. Each square in the grid of my map gets an Ecological Land Unit (ELU) number based on the features that are there (example: valley + mid-elevation + gentle slope + poorly drained + hydric soil + acidic granitic bedrock = ELU#). Certain ELUs, because of their features, have the potential to be wetlands. Whether they are currently wetlands depends on the influence of humans and beavers, but can be checked using aerial photos or field observations. Having GIS maps of potential wetlands and current wetlands allows for many analyses. Conservation planners or wetland regulators can look at wetland area, wetland community type, spatial distribution, proximate land uses, land ownership, and changes in wetland coverage (loss or gain). This knowledge will also support decisions for wetland mitigation - a created or restored wetland is more likely to succeed if it is sited where the underlying features are supportive of a wetland.
Email: aadiggor@syr.edu
Elizabeth Dowling, M.S. Candidate
Assessment of the impacts of residential development on the ecological integrity of surrounding wilderness areas
Email: efdowling@yahoo.com
Katie Haase, M.S. Candidate
TBA
My research interests include: mammals; population ecology; and the impacts of humans on animal populations, especially climate change.
Email: cghaase@syr.edu
Robin Holevinski, Ph.D. Candidate
TBA
Email: raholevi@syr.edu
Kevin Jablonski, M.S. Candidate
TBA
Email: kejablon@syr.edu
Matt Smith, M.S. Candidate
Modeling spread of disease in deer in the Adirondack Mountains of New York
Email: mcsmit07@syr.edu
Megan Skrip, M.S. Candidate
Harvest pressure and population dynamics of ruffed grouse in New York
Understanding the patterns in habitat quality that influence species abundance and survivorship is crucial to effective management at varying scales. As an obligate inhabitant of early-successional habitat, the ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) has declined since the 1960s by >75% in New York State with the aging of the state's forest. My Masters research concerns the fall-winter survival, harvest, and population dynamics of ruffed grouse in two areas of NYS with different stand age and degrees of fragmentation. My work will consider grouse survivorship at a local scale and examine the impacts of landscape-scale habitat composition on abundance statewide.
Email: mmskrip@syr.edu
David Williams, Ph.D. Candidate
Landscape scale influences on animal movement, habitat use, and disease spread
Advancing technologies in global positioning devices and energy storage devices have resulted in expanded opportunities in animal ecology. Fine-scale resolution of animal positions, with increasingly less positional error, over greater periods of time allows for lines of questioning and analyses which were not possible with previous technologies such as radio telemetry. I am interested in understanding how landscape heterogeneity influences animal movements and habitat use. I intend to incorporate that knowledge into movement models for the purpose of predicting probable locations of animals over time. These predictions coupled with knowledge of regional densities will result in a spatio-temporal bioscape of probable animal distributions over which to model the potential spread of disease and develop a risk assessment mapping protocol (RAMP). Additionally, I plan to use animal movement modeling to aid the decision making process for determining appropriate positional fix schedules of global positioning system (GPS) collars.
Email: dmwill02@syr.edu
Benjamin Zuckerberg, Ph.D. Candidate
Thresholds in the responses of breeding birds to land-use change in New York State
Imagine a species that inhabits a forest, depending on it for food, cover, and breeding grounds. One day a road is built, dissecting the once continuous landscape. The species continues to persist and survive over generations. Over time, however, forest is cleared and habitat is lost as farms begin to dot the edge of the road. More roads and farms are built, but yet the species persists and multiplies. More forest is cleared and houses, yards, and buildings arise fragmenting the landscape into a patchwork of forests, and yet the species persists. At some point, a single forest patch is removed, and quite unexpectedly, the species can no longer be found. The entire landscape, now altered, no longer supports the species. An unforeseen threshold has been crossed and extinction has occurred.
With the advent of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), ecologists have found that species respond to habitat changes at larger, landscape-level spatial scales. Landscape simulations suggest that species will exhibit an extinction threshold response past certain levels of habitat loss and fragmentation. This threshold concept is largely theoretical, but has important implications for sustainable development and environmental mitigation. My research focuses on using the New York State Breeding Bird Atlas (BBA) to investigate the extinction and colonization thresholds in species' response to habitat loss, fragmentation, and forest regeneration. The BBA is a statewide distributional survey of over 5,000 5 X 5 km blocks conducted in two separate time periods, 1980 to 1985 and 2000 to 2005. I will analyze these data to document the response of individual species and guilds to changes in land cover, landscape pattern, and other important environmental variables such as climate change and acid precipitation patterns.
Email: bzuckerb@syr.edu
Jonathan Zysik, M.S. Candidate
Biological feasibility of restoring elk to West Virginia
