SCALE lab Projects

Anthropogenic impacts on the environment are increasing globally and threatening many mammal species with extinction. Understanding the effects of human activities on mammals is necessary to increase conservation efforts, prevent trophic cascades, and preserve ecosystem health and biodiversity. This study aims to elucidate the effects of anthropogenic activities, predominately wildlife-based tourism and human-carnivore conflict, on wild mammal behavior, movement, and diet in Etosha National Park, Namibia. 

White-tailed deer are a ubiquitous species in North America and as a result provide the perfect subject for investigating spatial heterogeneity in morphology and ecology. We use large datasets from across North America to better understand how whitetail body size varies with latitude potentially relates to established ecological / evolutionary "rules". We also use stable isotopes to elucidate seasonal and ontogenetic changes in diet as potential models for similar patterns in the fossil record of southeastern North America.

The fossil deposits of East Turkana in northern Kenya contain a spatially and temporally resolved record of mammalian evolution. This region is also host to one of the most extensive records of hominin morphology and behavior in the entire world. Our work focuses on understanding how alterations and heterogeneity in the physical environment relate to ecological dynamics in the mammal community. We use faunal abundance analyses, stable isotope geochemistry of fossil enamel and soil, as well as ecometrics to investigate ecosystem-level changes in this important region.

An emerging threat to free-ranging snake populations in the eastern United States is becoming increasingly more severe and fatal. Snake Fungal Disease (SFD) is caused by a naturally-occurring fungal pathogen, Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola, that acts as an opportunistic invader and results in a high mortality rate. Our research focuses on the prevalence of SFD in the northeast Georgia and environmental variables that contribute to its spread.

Neonicotinoids are water-soluble insecticides used for the treatment of the Eastern Hemlock tree in the Appalachian Mountains to combat the invasive Woolly Adelgid. While it is important to maintain the health of Hemlocks for our forest ecosystems, neonicotinoids are banned in Europe. We are working to determine the effects that neonicotinoids might be having on local amphibian populations, including their growth, development, and reproductive fitness.