Conservation Biology Lab at OHIO
quantitative wildlife ecology and conservation science
- https://phys.org/news/2019-11-country-romania-cohabitation-strenuous.html
- https://news.yahoo.com/bear-country-romania-cohabitation-grows-strenuous-041055066.html
- https://phys.org/news/2019-11-turtles-highway-didnt-impacted.html
- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191106114200.htm
- https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-11/ou-wdt110619.php
- https://earther.gizmodo.com/a-fight-over-killing-bobcats-is-raging-across-the-midwe-1828682544
- https://www.dispatch.com/news/20180312/ohio-proposal-for-limited-bobcat-season-pits-trappers-vs-conservationists
LAB RESEARCH IN THE NEWS
Summer 2021: New letter in Science hot off the press: Popescu, V. D., M. I. Pop, and L. Rozylowicz. 2021. Trophy hunting undermines public trust. Science 372:1049 LP – 1049. This perspective piece provides a critique of the current wildlife management in Romania, which is tolerant of trophy hunting for brown bears despite the species protected by EU legislation and payment for trophies being banned since 2016. Read more about the events that threw Romanian wildlife management in turmoil here.
Winter-Spring 2021: Lots of exciting news!!! We started 2 camera trap projects in Ohio and Romania aimed at evaluating interspecific relations between terrestrial carnivores (keep an eye on Twitter updates!). Also, after 4 years of sustained work, “Fundamentals of Conservation Biology” 4th edition textbook (with mentors Mac Hunter [University of Maine] and James Gibbs [SUNY-Environmental Science and Forestry]) is finally out!
- August 2020: We are welcoming Ryan Brown as a new MSc student in the lab! Ryan has been engaged with research in our lab since 2018, first as a undergraduate research assistant, then as a Lab Manager for the last year. Ryan obtained a degree from Hocking College prior to joining Ohio University, has a broad set of field skills, and is an encyclopedia of natural history knowledge. Ryan will work with Matt Kaunert exploring the lives and reproductive ecology of Eastern Hellbenders and contribute to proposing sound conservation strategies for hellbenders in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
- November 2019 – Heidi Bencin’s MSc research on road mortality in Ohio’s bobcat population is out in Scientific Reports! Heidi’s study integrated roadkill data across two decades, a GPS telemetry dataset to evaluate road-crossing behaviors, and theoretical estimations of road mortality risk at the population level to ultimate valuate predictors and hotspots of roadkill. Interstate highways were the top threat with high chance of mortality during crossings, and overall, we estimated that 6 – 18% of Ohio’s bobcat population may be affected by direct mortality from vehicle strikes. This finding is critical for projecting future population trajectory, which is the next step in the Ohio DNR funded project in the lab.
Prospective graduate students: If you are interested in joining our lab at Ohio University, please send me: (A) a short statement about yourself and your research interests (background, goals/ambitions, why Ohio University), (B) your resume or CV, and (C) your GPA and GRE scores.
