Research Interests and Goals
Broadly, I am interested in understanding the implications of human activity on wildlife. Humans have altered ecosystems and natural processes in ways that affect the physiology, spatial ecology, reproduction and persistence of various species. The unprecedented changes facing wildlife present unique opportunities to study fluctuating population and community compositions, wildlife management strategies and the ability of organisms to adapt to a rapidly changing environment.
My dissertation focused on the impact of roads on wildlife and the effectiveness and efficiency of strategies we use to mitigate road-related threats. Typically the combination of exclusion fencing to prevent access to the road and crossing structures to limit habitat fragmentation are used, but many questions remain concerning the effectiveness of this approach as well as the best ways to plan, prioritize, and implement this type of strategy.
I strongly believe conservation can be successful through the use of modern techniques and public engagement, but that neither can be wholly effective in isolation. One of the main goals of my dissertation was to identify specific cues responsible for mobilizing the public to participate in conservation, thus increasing its overall value.
Research Highlights
From Boyle et al. 2021. Biological Conservation. Using 6 years of Paired Before-After-Control-Impact road survey data, we demonstrate (a) the impact of wildlife exclusion fencing on reptile and amphibian mortality which varied seasonally, and between years. GAMs indicate that (b) turtles were less abundant on the road after fencing was constructed, (c) snake abundance was unaffected by exclusion fencing, and (d) amphibian abundance increased along the control site, but not along the impact site as a result of the exclusion fencing.
By comparing road surveys and habitat resistance models from the program Circuitscape, we were able to evaluate scenarios in which each approach is most effective. Further we highlight the value of using both methods in order to identify ideal locations for road-effect mitigation as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Modifed from Boyle et al. 2017, Biodiversity and Conservation. Left: Circuitscape outputs predicting ideal herpetofauna and large mammal habitat usage patterns. Right: Spatial aggregation analysis output for snakes in Presqu'ile Provincial Park identifying crossing patterns. We compared road crossing patterns between methods and determined that while circuit models require less effort, they produce larger and therefore less precise hotspots.
Roads get a lot of attention these days. Unfortunately, railroads, which have been shown to have equal or even greater impact on local wildlife, receive considerably less focus from researchers and remain a significant threat. Dr. Jesse Popp and I collaborated to review these impacts and quantify the underrepresentation of railways in scientific literature to draw attention to this issue.
Modified from Popp and Boyle 2017, Basic and Applied Ecology. Top: publication rates for roads and railroads over the last 25 years. Notice the sharp increase for road-related studies but none for railway-related research. Bottom: Road and railway related research by journal.