Current Lab Members
Dirk Van Vuren
Professor Van Vuren's research interests include the ecology, behavior, and conservation of mammals; ecological approaches for managing human-wildlife conflicts; exotic species, especially in island ecosystems.
Education and Experience:
Education and Experience:
- BA, UC Berkeley, 1975
- MS, Oregon State University, 1979
- PhD, University of Kansas, 1990
- Assistant Professor, UC Davis, 1990
- Associate Professor, UC Davis, 1996
- Professor, UC Davis, 2000
Summer Schlageter
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Summer is interested in mammalian conservation and has experience trapping and studying small mammal populations in California, Washington, and Colorado. Before coming to UC Davis she worked several field seasons for the US Forest Service mammal trapping as part of demography studies.
Her Master’s project will utilize a long-term data set collected on a population of golden-mantled ground squirrels (Callospermophilus lateralis) at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado. She is particularly interested in body mass dynamics and effects variables such as climate have on survival. Please click here for additional information on her research, teaching and publications. |
Graduated Lab Members
Amy Collins
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Amy studies the efficacy of conservation strategies aimed at mitigating habitat fragmentation. Currently she is studying the effectiveness of wildlife crossing structures in California, US, and community based resource management in Pemba, Tanzania.
Please click here to visit Amy's personal website. |
Jaclyn Aliperti
Jackie is broadly interested in the behavioral ecology and conservation of mammals. Her Master's project investigated how opportunistic dietary habits influence mutualist network dynamics between two species of facultatively frugivorous bats (the insectivorous pallid bat, Antrozous pallidus, and the nectar-feeding lesser long-nosed bat, Leptonycteris yerbabuenae) and a dominant columnar cactus (Pachycereus pringlei) in Baja California Sur, Mexico. Jackie is now focusing her dissertation research on long-term habitat selection decisions and the interplay between behavioral and spatial dynamics of golden-mantled ground squirrels (Callospermophilus lateralis) at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado. Jackie is interested in science communication and, in addition to research, enjoys teaching and mentoring students.
Please click here to visit Jackie's personal website.
Please click here to visit Jackie's personal website.
Aviva Rossi
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Aviva studies habitat use by species, and how that can be used to predict changes to range under climate change. Her current work focuses on montane ground squirrels in the Sierra-Nevada. Warming temperatures and changing precipitation patterns in the Sierra Nevada will lead to changes the distribution of habitat these species depend on. This changing habitat and environmental conditions will likely result in species occurring in different location in the future than where they are now. Being able to predict where those new locations will be is important for conservation and management decisions. Initial work is to quantify habitat use by three common montane ground squirrels: Yellow-bellied Marmots (Marmota flaviventris), Belding’s Ground Squirrel (Urocitellus beldingi), and Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrels (Callospermophilus lateralis).
Please click here for additional information on her research, teaching, and publications. |
Ellie Bolas
Ellie’s research interests include species interactions such as competition and predation, wildlife movement and habitat use, interactions between wildlife and humans, and island ecology. She earned her MS in Ecology in the Van Vuren lab in 2020. Her master’s research took place on the California Channel Islands. She investigated appropriate methods for monitoring island spotted skunks (Spilogale gracilis amphiala), and evaluated microhabitat associations and temporal activity by island spotted skunks and island foxes (Urocyon littoralis) that may facilitate coexistence between the two. Ellie is currently a PhD student in the Smith lab, studying predator-prey interactions between mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and mountain lions (Puma concolor) relative to wildfire, human activity, and human development in the greater Los Angeles area.
Please click here for additional information on her research, teaching, and publications.
Please click here for additional information on her research, teaching, and publications.
Caitlin Wells
Caitlin's research centers on the reproductive ecology of birds and mammals. Her dissertation work on Golden-mantled ground squirrels (Callospermophilus lateralis) used long-term demography, behavioral observations, and molecular tools to investigate variation in female life-histories. Caitlin also works on patterns of hybridization in the endangered Koloa maoli (Hawaiian duck, Anas wyvilliana), and the evolution of monochromatism in island waterfowl. She was a member of the Graduate Group in Ecology, earning her Phd in Ecology with an emphasis in Conservation Ecology in 2016. She is currently a post-doctoral researcher in the Eadie lab, working on maternal investment and conspecific brood parasitism in wood ducks (Aix sponsa), and remains involved in the ground squirrel project at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado.
Please click here for additional information on her research, teaching, and publications, or go to her website.
Please click here for additional information on her research, teaching, and publications, or go to her website.
