Current Project-
In the United States, national parks lands represent an important cache of natural ecosystems and habitats. They also are destinations for hundreds of millions of people looking for recreation opportunities every year. The infrastructure to support these visitors, and the presence and behavior of those people, may be changing the structure of the landscape and impact species' populations.
This project aims to quantify how the fragmentation of these landscapes may be shaped by the roads, trails, and bridges built in national parks. Further, we hope to develop an approach to allow individual parks to incorporate their own visitor use data to understand and manage disturbance for sensitive species or habitats. We will be using Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain national parks as test cases to develop this methodology on a park-wide scale.
We also hope to work with Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain parks to further address aspects of recreation ecology in their areas. In particular, I hope to explore how animal movement behavior or habitat use may shift in response to visitor use and activities.
Conway Science Fellowship Program
In the United States, national parks lands represent an important cache of natural ecosystems and habitats. They also are destinations for hundreds of millions of people looking for recreation opportunities every year. The infrastructure to support these visitors, and the presence and behavior of those people, may be changing the structure of the landscape and impact species' populations.
This project aims to quantify how the fragmentation of these landscapes may be shaped by the roads, trails, and bridges built in national parks. Further, we hope to develop an approach to allow individual parks to incorporate their own visitor use data to understand and manage disturbance for sensitive species or habitats. We will be using Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain national parks as test cases to develop this methodology on a park-wide scale.
We also hope to work with Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain parks to further address aspects of recreation ecology in their areas. In particular, I hope to explore how animal movement behavior or habitat use may shift in response to visitor use and activities.
Conway Science Fellowship Program
Graduate Research-
My research is focused on the terrestrial movement of amphibians. Despite being the subject of hundreds of studies, the technical challenges of tracking amphibians on land has limited most studies to breeding pools. My goal is to begin to understand how pond breeding amphibians move while away from the ponds. In order to bridge from the extensive knowledge of pond-level effects on development, my research is focusing on how larval factors such as predator exposure and pond hydroperiod influence the behaviors and movement of post-metamorphosis juveniles. In future research, I hope to focus on questions about how movement behavior interacts with the composition of a landscape and associated implications for connectivity.
My research is focused on the terrestrial movement of amphibians. Despite being the subject of hundreds of studies, the technical challenges of tracking amphibians on land has limited most studies to breeding pools. My goal is to begin to understand how pond breeding amphibians move while away from the ponds. In order to bridge from the extensive knowledge of pond-level effects on development, my research is focusing on how larval factors such as predator exposure and pond hydroperiod influence the behaviors and movement of post-metamorphosis juveniles. In future research, I hope to focus on questions about how movement behavior interacts with the composition of a landscape and associated implications for connectivity.
Agricultural Interest-
While my current research is focused more abstractly on amphibian movement, I am fascinated with how agricultural landscapes can be managed for wildlife populations. It has been slowly recognized that mainland systems do not precisely follow island biogeography theory. Habitats in agricultural landscapes are not isolated islands; they interact with their surrounding lands. The incorporation of a broader view of landscape ecology is vital for future management of these systems.
My mother is an agricultural engineer, and has always been very open about discussion various issues around agricultural production. The several years I lived in Omaha, Nebraska, I worked in an agricultural analytical laboratory. While there, I learned much more about the various forms agricultural management and modern industrial practices.
With the prevalence and importance or food production, agriculture has become a fixed entity in our society. And while many farmers are interested in being responsible land owners and managers, many conservation groups have not recognized the potential of conservation on agricultural lands. I became very interested in assessing the potential of various agricultural managements for help conservation goals.
While my current research is focused more abstractly on amphibian movement, I am fascinated with how agricultural landscapes can be managed for wildlife populations. It has been slowly recognized that mainland systems do not precisely follow island biogeography theory. Habitats in agricultural landscapes are not isolated islands; they interact with their surrounding lands. The incorporation of a broader view of landscape ecology is vital for future management of these systems.
My mother is an agricultural engineer, and has always been very open about discussion various issues around agricultural production. The several years I lived in Omaha, Nebraska, I worked in an agricultural analytical laboratory. While there, I learned much more about the various forms agricultural management and modern industrial practices.
With the prevalence and importance or food production, agriculture has become a fixed entity in our society. And while many farmers are interested in being responsible land owners and managers, many conservation groups have not recognized the potential of conservation on agricultural lands. I became very interested in assessing the potential of various agricultural managements for help conservation goals.
Background-
My previous research experience has been centered onconservation biology. I graduated from Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon where I studied Environmental Science with and emphasis in Biology. While there, I participated on a wide range of projects including studies on environmental toxicology, amphibian developmental biology, and genetic tracking of non-point source stream contamination.
After Pacific University, was awarded a Fulbright Grant to New Zealand to study the Tuatara, an ancient reptile that is now only found in New Zealand. I was working in the Reptile Conservation Lab at Victoria University of Wellington. My main focus was a project on Sexual dimorphism, body size, bite force, and male mating success in tuatara, but I also participated in several other projects on the conservation of native species.
My previous research experience has been centered onconservation biology. I graduated from Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon where I studied Environmental Science with and emphasis in Biology. While there, I participated on a wide range of projects including studies on environmental toxicology, amphibian developmental biology, and genetic tracking of non-point source stream contamination.
After Pacific University, was awarded a Fulbright Grant to New Zealand to study the Tuatara, an ancient reptile that is now only found in New Zealand. I was working in the Reptile Conservation Lab at Victoria University of Wellington. My main focus was a project on Sexual dimorphism, body size, bite force, and male mating success in tuatara, but I also participated in several other projects on the conservation of native species.
All photographs on this page were taken by and are the property of Evan Bredeweg