Conservation Biologist
Being a person with diverse interests, I enjoy being a conservation biologist because it allows, and often requires, one to synthesize theory, techniques, and predictions from many fields of ecology (behavioral, evolutionary, population, spatial) while also addressing urgent problems for biodiversity. I am interested in using a variety of statistical and ecological modeling approaches to solve conservation and biodiversity management problems.
Interactions between plants and animals are of particular interest to me, and a reduction of "interaction richness" through the loss of key organisms can have a more insidious effect on ecosystems than the loss of species alone. Through understanding of the ecological drivers of animal behavior and interacting species' distributions, we may be able to predict the effects of interaction disruption (through e.g. species or habitat loss, climate change, non-native species invasion) and thus mitigate for those effects.
For example, we may wish to know: how will climate change affect the distribution of a certain large herbivore species? We would do better at answering this question, and mitigating for undesirable effects, if we took into consideration not only the physiological constraints of the species in relation to climate, but also those of its major food items, competitors, and predators, how the behavior of this species leads to the modification of its environment, and how that behavior might be affected by changes in climate. All of these factors will influence the herbivores' ability to either adjust to climate changes in the current distribution or move to a new location.
Interactions between plants and animals are of particular interest to me, and a reduction of "interaction richness" through the loss of key organisms can have a more insidious effect on ecosystems than the loss of species alone. Through understanding of the ecological drivers of animal behavior and interacting species' distributions, we may be able to predict the effects of interaction disruption (through e.g. species or habitat loss, climate change, non-native species invasion) and thus mitigate for those effects.
For example, we may wish to know: how will climate change affect the distribution of a certain large herbivore species? We would do better at answering this question, and mitigating for undesirable effects, if we took into consideration not only the physiological constraints of the species in relation to climate, but also those of its major food items, competitors, and predators, how the behavior of this species leads to the modification of its environment, and how that behavior might be affected by changes in climate. All of these factors will influence the herbivores' ability to either adjust to climate changes in the current distribution or move to a new location.
