Conservation behaviour in human-dominated landscapes

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Anthropogenic habitat modification is mainly responsible for the sharp rise in extinctions that characterizes the past century. Reducing the rate of extinction requires that society reverse the reasons for population declines, which have frequently been associated with habitat loss and fragmentation, and conflict with humans. My research program addresses these causes with two main objectives (1) identify the barriers and corridors to animal movement that determine the permeability to animals of fragmented landscapes and (2) address the human-wildlife conflict which sometimes results when wildlife are attracted to anthropogenic features in these landscapes. I emphasize animal movement because it underlies several processes that are essential to the success of both individuals (e.g., finding food and mates) and populations (e.g., metapopulation dynamics). Increasingly, I target situations of active human-wildlife conflict and attempt to find behavioural alternatives to lethal management of wildlife. I aim to conduct innovative and rigorous projects that provide excellent science training for students while also providing tangible, defensible information for wildlife managers and landscape planners who are charged with maintaining biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes.