We work | werc |

To generate new knowledge about the ecology of mammals and their habitats

We work | werc |

To build a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive scientific community by explicitly acknowledging the systems of oppression that have led to the marginalization and exclusion of underrepresented communities in science and academia, identifying and changing our own unconscious biases, and recruiting, training, and collaborating with scientists and conservationists from underrepresented communities as well as local and Indigenous people in the places where we conduct our research

The WERC Lab partners with state and federal agencies as well as NGO and community-based organizations to identify key conservation concerns, then uses movement, remotely sensed, molecular, isotopic, and field data to generate new knowledge, both basic and applied, that helps its partners address their concerns. Although there are some dominant themes in the lab, we allow the questions at hand to dictate the concepts and techniques used to solve ecological and conservation problems. Dominant themes in the lab include :  

Understanding how large herbivores shape the ecosystems in which they live

understanding how individual variation in resource use and behavioral diversification may allow individuals, populations, and communities to adapt to environmental change

how social learning and cultural transmission may influence ecologically relevant behaviors (e.g., foraging, movement, antipredator behaviors)

quantifying nutritional carrying capacity and understanding factors limiting population growth, including intraspecific competition for resources, predation, and disease. Please visit project pages for more details about individuals research projects.