Global meta analysis of wild pig populationsWild pigs occur on all continents except Antarctica. Their incredible success is attributed to their generalist tendencies, high growth rate, and omnivorous diet. However, it is unclear if wild pigs have different demographic strategies in their native versus invaded range. This research is a global meta analysis of wild pig populations to asses how invasive wild pig populations differ in their demographic characteristics from their native counterparts.
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Message Frames and Invasive SpeciesFrames describe how a message is communicated, and framing can play an important role in the formation of public opinion about a particular topic. In environmental management, message frames can influence the public's support for proposed policies. For invasive species management, in particular, policies to reduce the abundance of pests can results in strong public opposition, stalling or reducing the effectiveness of such policies. I conducted two projects to understand the role of message frames in determining public support for management. One experiment tested the use of attribute and outcome frames and measures of human demographics to predict support for invasive wild pig management. This work has been expanded to examine the interaction between framing and species identity in determining the support for management policies. This work was done in collaboration with Alex DeGolia and Sarah E. Anderson. The second project builds on this work by aiming to understand how introduction method influences support for management. We hypothesized that policies managing pests that were framed as arriving at a place on their own would garner less public support, while policies managing pests that were intentionally introduced would have higher support. This work has been funded by the National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant program in the Political Science directorate and is in collaboration with Dr. Sarah E. Anderson.
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Using a generalist predator to manage a pest speciesA fundamental question for agriculturalists is how to reduce the impacts from pest populations. Rodent populations can be especially difficult and expensive to manage given their high numbers and the damage they can do to crops and other equipment. Simple predator-prey models can provide us with insights as to what we can expect when using biocontrols as a management option and help to guide our intuition on the effectiveness of varying predator densities across the landscape. This research is focused on the theory of predator-prey models, locating parameter combinations where regions of bistability exist and under what circumstances the models will predict extinction of the prey population.
Barn owls (Tyto alba) are a commonly used predator in agricultural settings because they are inexpensive to recruit and do not have the secondary effects common to rodenticides and other control methods. Despite this, there is little evidence that barn owls are an effective tool for driving down rodent populations. Using stage structured matrix population models and predator prey models to assess the feasibility of using barn owls to drive down rodent populations in agricultural fields. |