PhD Student, Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences
Department of Ecosystem Science and Management
The Pennsylvania State University
Ph.D. Research
I will be developing methods to detect changes
in low-density and elusive species of greatest conservation need
in Pennsylvania. This work will focus on barn owls, bats, and marsh birds
Research Interests
I am interested in bridging basic and applied wildlife sciences to
help managers make informed decisions with limited knowledge or data.
Featured Research
Connecting applied statistical methods
to wildlife ecology.
Change-point models for detecting behavioral transitions in wild animals
I developed two change-point models for identifying singular changes in movement behavior: a location-based and a movement metric-based model. I applied these models to two ungulate species, white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and elk (Cervus canadensis) in central Pennsylvania with the goal of identifying parturition events. Previous research and anecdotal evidence suggest that these two species exhibit different location- and movement-based changes during parturition.
Anthropogenic source of predation and movement behaviors during hunting season
Predator activity can alter behavior of prey species, as prey must balance habitat benefits with predation risk. In the eastern U.S., recreational hunting is the primary source of mortality for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). We developed two Bayesian state-switching hidden Markov-models to examine how hunting season affects deer behavior. Our results indicate that hunting season may not be a driving factor influencing behavioral state transitions in most individuals.
Ecological characteristics of diurnal rest sites used by ringtails
Kathleen P. Gundermann, D.S. Green, F.E. Buderman, C. Myers, J.M. Higley, R. Brown, & S.M. Matthews
The ringtail (Bassariscus astutus) is a species of conservation concern. Yet, little is known about their basic ecology in the northwestern edge of their range. We found that ringtails were more likely to select rest sites in mature older forests compared to oak woodland and open areas. These results demonstrate that ringtails use a mosaic of seral stages in the forests of the Pacific Northwest.
Using supplemental data sources to estimate occupancy of secretive marsh birds
Kathleen P. Gundermann, S. Murphy, C. Lutz, L. Williams, F.E. Buderman
Understanding distributions and habitat associations of species of conservation concern is critical for making appropriate management recommendations. However, some species, such as marsh birds, are difficult to monitor due to their secretive nature. Our objective is to compare the effect of supplemental data sources on the precision of site-level occupancy estimates using a multi-species, integrated data occupancy model in a Bayesian framework.
Recent Publications
Highlighting recently published work in peer-reviewed journals.