Research

The overarching theme of our lab’s research program is understanding wildlife-habitat relationships, and particularly why animals choose the habitats that they do and the contexts under which such choices are adaptive. The impacts of superimposed human-induced habitat changes are examined within this context. Our projects span diverse taxa including birds, small mammals, the American pika, reptiles and amphibians. Focal habitat types have included grassland, riparian, coniferous forest, and alpine, with a strong focus on sagebrush steppe. Our questions are addressed with empirical, modeling and experimental approaches and students are encouraged to simultaneously advance both conceptual and applied ecological understanding.