Research

Wildlife habitat ecology is the study of how animals interact with their habitats, which our lab investigates by identifying animals' critical resources and the factors that constrain their use. Though we work on a range of systems, several core themes emerge, described below.

Habitat Selection

Why do animals use some habitats more than others? Underlying this seemingly simple question lies enormous ecological complexity involving animal behavior, competition, predation, physiological constraints, ecological disturbances, and complications from spatial scale and evolutionary history. In this figure adapted from work by Dick Hutto, why does this violet-green swallow choose southern over central Mexico, why the woodland over the shrubland, and then which tree does it select? Our lab studies how and why animals select habitats, as well as the implications of these choices for both the animals and for people. We use state-of-the-art field techniques (such as GPS telemetry) and analytical tools (such as step selection functions) to quantify which habitat animals select and why. See our ongoing projects on barn owls, birds in vineyards, and Swainson's hawks for examples of some of this work.

Habitat Quality

Natural selection predicts that animals should end up in the habitats that are best for them, that are the highest in quality. Can animals assess this, or do they just choose randomly and adjust based on their experience (succeed-stay, fail-go), or maybe they just copy what older more experienced animals do? And how should we measure variation in habitat quality? Our lab studies these questions, which often come in sequence after earlier studies on habitat selection, because understand which habitat are best for animals has vital implications for conservation and management. See our projects with barn owls, grassland sparrows, warblers in Jamaica (see figure to the right), and Swainson's hawks for examples of this work.

Figure adapted from research on American redstarts overwintering in various habitats in Jaimaica (from Johnson et al. 2006).

Habitat Models

Once we have an understanding of animals' habitat selection, we often use statistical and cartographic models to project their distributions across space, and how those distributions could change based on changes in land use, climate, and so on. These models are useful if they're accurate, so model evaluation is a crucial step in the research process. Our lab often builds such maps, and we assess how well they can be transferred in space and time using empirical data. See our projects in birds in Kenya coffee farms, birds in winegrape vineyards for examples of this work. This figure shows modeled bird diversity in East Africa under varying habitat climate scenarios (from Schooler et al. 2020).

Habitat in Working Landscapes

Our lab is particularly interested in the conservation of wildlife in so-called "working landscapes", meaning farms, rangelands, and managed forests where many of the world's people work, live, and play. These areas not only provide food and fiber to sustain human communities and economies, they can also provide homes for wildlife, sequester carbon, filter and store water, cycle key nutrients, and offer people places of refuge and inspiration. These ecosystem services, perhaps better thought of as environmental gifts, represent a reciprocal relationship between people and the rest of nature. As Aldo Leopold once wrote, "When the land does well for its owner, and the owner does well by their land – when both end up better by reason of their partnership – then we have conservation." Our previous work in Jamaica and Kenya examined how coffee farms can provide habitat for birds that help control insect pests (as depicted in this illustration by Gould), and our ongoing reserach with barn owls and songbirds in vineyards continues this theme.

Illustration by Shawn Gould depicting a black-throated blue warbler attacking a coffee berry borer, an insect pest of coffee.

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