Arthur Middleton completed his Ph.D. during summer 2012. He is now an associate research scientist at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. During his time with the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Arthur coordinated the Absaroka Elk Ecology Project in collaboration with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, studying wolf-elk interactions in the Absaroka Range. He continues to work primarily on the ecology of large mammals, with field studies in Wyoming and Argentina. In Wyoming, Arthur is conducting research on the major elk migrations of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). In Argentina, he is studying the influence of puma predation on vicuñas, condors, and the surrounding landscape of the San Guillermo Biosphere Reserve. Along with photojournalist Joe Riis, Arthur was awarded the Camp Monaco Prize (2013) and named a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year (2015) for linking research and public education on the subject of trans-boundary wildlife migrations in the GYE. He is currently a research associate of the Wyoming Migration Initiative and an adjunct research associate of the Draper Museum of Natural History in Cody, Wyoming. Before his Ph.D. research in Wyoming, Arthur received a master’s degree from Yale University and a bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College. He has also worked as a raptor biologist and falconer in the U.S., Europe, and Central America.
Publications
(While at WY Coop Unit)
Middleton, A.D., M.J. Kauffman, D.E. McWhirter, M.D. Jimenez, J.G. Cook, R.C. Cook, S.E. Albeke, H. Sawyer, and P.J. White. 2013. Linking antipredator behavior to prey demography reveals limited risk effects of an actively hunting large carnivore. Ecology Letters 16:1023-1030. Original article, ScienceNOW, Casper Star-Tribune, Jackson Hole News and Guide, Missoulian.
Middleton, A.D., M.J. Kauffman, D.E. McWhirter, J.G. Cook, R.C. Cook, A.A. Nelson, M.D. Jimenez, and R.W. Klaver. 2013. Rejoinder: Challenge and opportunity in the study of ungulate migration amid environmental change. Ecology 94:1280-86.
Middleton, A.D., M.J. Kauffman, D.E. McWhirter, J.G. Cook, R.C. Cook, A.A. Nelson, M.D. Jimenez, and R.W. Klaver. 2013. Animal migration amid shifting patterns of phenology and predation: Lessons from a Yellowstone elk herd. Ecology 94:1245-56. Original article, Connecticut Public Radio (audio), Wyoming Public Radio’s Open Spaces (audio), Billings Gazette, Casper Star-Tribune, Jackson Hole News and Guide, San Francisco Chronicle
Middleton, A.D., T.A. Morrison, J.K. Fortin, M.J. Kauffman, C.T. Robbins, K.M. Proffitt, P.J. White, D.E. McWhirter, T.M. Koel, D. Brimeyer, and W.S. Fairbanks. 2013. Grizzly bear predation links the loss of native trout to the demography of migratory elk in Yellowstone. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 280: 20130870. Original article, Nature Research Highlight, ScienceNOW, Billings Gazette, Casper Star-Tribune, Jackson Hole News and Guide, Bozeman Chronicle, Conservation Magazine, Agence France-Presse, Le Monde, Spiegel
Christianson, D., R.W. Klaver, A.D. Middleton, and M.J. Kauffman. 2013. Confounded winter and spring phenoclimatology on large herbivore ranges. Landscape Ecology 28:427-437.
Sawyer, H., M.J. Kauffman, A.D. Middleton, T.A. Morrison, R. Nielsen, T. Wyckoff. 2013. A framework for understanding semi-permeable barrier effects on migratory ungulates. Journal of Applied Ecology 50:68-78.
Nelson, A.A., M.J. Kauffman, A.D. Middleton, M.D. Jimenez, D.E. McWhirter, J. Barber, and K. Gerow. 2012. Elk migration patterns and human activity influence wolf habitat use in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Ecological Applications 22:2293-2307. View PDF
Cross, P.C., E.K. Cole, A.P. Dobson, W.H. Edwards, K.L. Hamlin, G. Luikart, A.D. Middleton, B.M. Scurlock, and P.J. White. 2010. Probable causes of increasing elk brucellosis in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Ecological Applications 20: 278-288. View PDF
Martínez del Rio, C. and A.D. Middleton. 2010. Laws for ecology? (book review). Ecology 91:1244-1245. View PDF
Pauli, J.N., J.P. Whiteman, M. Riley, and A.D. Middleton. 2010. Defining noninvasive for sampling of vertebrates. Conservation Biology 24:349-352. View PDF
In review/revision
Koch, B.J., A.D. Middleton, R.O. Hall, and B.L. Peckarsky. In revision. Secondary production integrates behavioral, physiological, and life history effects in diverse prey taxa.
In preparation
Middleton, A.D., M.J. Kauffman, and C. Martinez del Rio. Prey nutritional condition: a common influence on antipredator behavior and the ‘ecology of fear’ (Synthesis).
Nelson, A.A., M.J. Kauffman, A.D. Middleton, M.D. Jimenez, and D.E. McWhirter, and K. Gerow. A comparison of wolf depredation sites in areas with migratory and resident prey.
Selected Presentations
(While at WY Coop Unit)
Middleton, A.D., M.J. Kauffman, M.D. Jimenez, D.E. McWhirter, A.A. Nelson, J.C. Cook, and R.C. Cook. Evaluating a proposed non-consumptive effect of wolves on elk in Yellowstone. Annual Meeting of The Wildlife Society, Kona, Hawaii, November 2011 (and Annual Meeting of the Wyoming Chapter of The Wildlife Society, Jackson, WY, December 2011).
Middleton, A.D. Animal migration amid shifting patterns of phenology and predation: Lessons from a Yellowstone elk herd. Invited seminar, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin – Madison, Madison, WI, 23 September 2011.
Middleton, A.D. Changing times in Wyoming elk country: Large carnivores, drought, and elk migration. Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Annual Habitat Council Retreat, Cody, WY, 11 June 2011.
Middleton, A.D. The ecology of elk migration in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina, 18 March 2011. View PDF
Middleton, A.D., M.J. Kauffman, D.E. McWhirter, M.D. Jimenez, J.G. Cook, R.C. Cook, and A.A. Nelson. Do predators influence the condition and reproduction of their prey? Annual Meeting of the Wyoming Chapter of The Wildlife Society. Lander, WY, November 2010.
Middleton, A.D., M.J. Kauffman, D.E. McWhirter, J.G. Cook, R.C. Cook, A.A. Nelson, M.D. Jimenez, and R.W. Klaver. Large carnivore recovery and long-term drought reduce the benefits of migration for a Yellowstone elk herd. Invited seminar, Faculty Seminar Series, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, New Haven, CT, October 2010.
Middleton, A.D., M.J. Kauffman, D.E. McWhirter, J.G. Cook, R.C. Cook, A.A. Nelson, M.D. Jimenez, and R.W. Klaver. Large carnivore recovery and long-term drought reduce the benefits of migration for a Yellowstone elk herd. Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Pittsburgh, PA, August 2010.
Middleton, A.D., M.J. Kauffman, D.E. McWhirter, J.G. Cook, R.C. Cook, A.A. Nelson, M.D. Jimenez, and R.W. Klaver. Large carnivore recovery and severe drought reduce the benefits of migration for a Yellowstone elk herd. Annual Meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists, Laramie, WY, June 2010. Reported by Science News.
Middleton, A.D. Drought, predation, and migratory Clarks Fork elk. Several talks given at the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s Cody All-Region Meeting and Terrestrial Habitat Section Annual Meeting and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wolf Recovery Annual Meeting. Cody and Kelly, WY and West Yellowstone, MT. May-June 2010.
Middleton, A.D. Drought, predation, and migratory Clarks Fork elk. Invited public presentations at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, WY and Teton County Library in Jackson, WY. May 2010. Reported by the Billings Gazette.
Middleton, A.D. The shifting benefits of migration for Clarks Fork elk. Annual Meeting of the Wyoming Chapter of The Wildlife Society. Cody, WY, November 2009.
Scholarships & Fellowships
2011: Scott-Walter Funds, Department of Zoology & Physiology, University of Wyoming
2011: Dick & Lynne Cheney International Funds, University of Wyoming
2010: L. Floyd Clarke Graduate Scholar Award, University of Wyoming
2009-10: Resident Fellow, Cody Institute for Western Studies, Buffalo Bill Historical Center
2008: NSF Graduate Research Fellowship – Honorable Mention
2008: Plummer Scholarship, Environment & Natural Resources, University of Wyoming
2007-08: NSF-EPSCoR Fellowship, Program in Ecology, University of Wyoming
2007: Paul D. Camp Award, Yale University
2006: Gilman Ordway Environmental Scholarship, Yale University
2006-07: Doris Duke Conservation Fellowship, Yale University
2003-04: Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, Thomas J. Watson Foundation