Collaborators
N. Thompson Hobbs: Hobbs offered seminal applied and theoretical work on the problem of ungulate carrying capacity during the 1980's. He has also done definitive modeling of effects of fertility control on ungulate population dynamics and has expertise in statistical estimation of population equilibria based on historic data. He recently worked to support development of Environmental Impact Statements involving overabundant populations in Grand Teton and Rocky Mountain National Parks and at Point Reyes National Seashore (see RMNP Final Report, see Point Reyes Final Report). His current work focuses on understanding dynamics of mule deer populations infected with chronic wasting disease. He has long term experience working with agencies and the public to solve management problems. He was a founding member of the Colorado Statewide Council of the Habit Partnership Program. In 1998, he received the Distinguished Service Award of the Society for Conservation Biology for his work making scientific information available to local governments for decisions on land use planning involving wildlife. He is currently an Aldo Leopold Fellow and serves on the Science Panel of the National Park Service Rocky Mountain Monitoring Network.
Visit Tom Hobbs' website here.
Michael Coughenour: Dr. Coughenour has carried out three substantive carrying capacity analyses in U.S. National Parks or Wild Horse Ranges (Rocky Mountain N.P., Yellowstone NP, Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range), has consulted on three others in the US and Canada (Grand Teton N.P, Wind Cave NP, Elk Island NP) and has developed a generalized approach for carrying out such analyses that can be applied to any ecosystem. The approach has also been used in Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania. Spatially explicit ecosystem modeling is combined with GIS and other data to estimate potential interactions between vegetation, herbivores, and predators. In place of traditional techniques based upon static estimates of forage supply and animal forage requirements, ungulate impacts on vegetation are predicted, as well as ungulate population responses to climate and herbivory driven forage supply. Effects of changing snow depth conditions on the extent and quality of foraging conditions are explicitly represented. The approach considers past, present, and potential effects of predators on ungulates, and indirectly, on vegetation. The model, and its first principles are based upon a wide range of grazing ecosystem studies around the world.
Visit Mike Coughenour's website here.
Francis Singer: Francis Singer has studied elk and their effects on vegetation and ecosystem processes for 17 years in 3 different national parks. He has radio-collared > 900 ungulates and has studied 6 species of ungulates in 7 states, mostly in the Rocky Mountains and Alaska. He has over 2,000 hours as an aerial observer, classifying and counting ungulates. He has worked extensively with several techniques to correct for the numbers of ungulates not seen-- especially the Idaho Sightability model. He has counted and classified approximately 82,000 elk and 35,000 mountain sheep. Francis will be a primary observer on the classification flights. Francis has published 38 papers and 4 book chapters on ungulates -- 20 of these papers deal with elk or their habitats, and he has received 8 DOI awards, mostly for the elk work. Francis' areas of expertise include ungulate population dynamics, ungulate sightability models, cascading trophic effects of wolves on ungulates and habitats, restoration of mountain sheep, trophy-hunting effects on mountain sheep, ungulate-vegetation interactions, and ecosystem effects of ungulate herbivory. Francis has also worked with a variety of modelers on analyzing the effects of human harvests, wolves, and other predators on ungulates, especially elk.
Visit Francis Singer's website here.
Kate Schoenecker: Kate Schoenecker has worked with ungulates for 11 years, including graduate work on desert bighorn sheep. Kate's focus at USGS for the past 7 years has been on ungulate movements, distribution, population dynamics, and survivorship. She studied effects of elk herbivory on nutrient cycling and nitrogen processes in Rocky Mountain National Park, including monitoring the movements and behavior of elk at night. She has conducted the annual elk aerial survey and classification for Rocky Mountain National Park for the past 5 years, and has experience with the Idaho Sightability model and Mark-resight. Kate radio-collared ~40 bighorn sheep in Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area and recently completed a bighorn sheep survivorship study. This research, along with co-authors, included 2 habitat suitability models (using 2 different methodologies), vegetation studies of ungulate effects on different vegetation communities, analysis of potential competition between bighorn sheep and wild horses, and population dynamics modeling using POP-II and POP-III. Kate has experience with wild horse ecology, and currently has an ongoing study in a high elevation sagebrush steppe community in Wyoming to evaluate ungulate effects on vegetation and nutrient processes. Treatments for this study include burning and manipulations of grazing levels. Other current research includes a major initiative in Great Sand Dunes National Park on effects of bison and elk herbivory and ungulate population dynamics in the park and surrounding lands, and a study in Rocky Mountain National Park on the west side elk population to evaluate elk movements and population ecology.
Visit Kate Schoenecker's website here.
Gary Wockner: Wockner specializes in GIs/ecological modeling exercises. He has carried these out in varied settings including Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, Grand Teton National Park, and numerous Colorado locations including an upcoming project in Sand Dunes National Park. Wockner's approach, co-developed with Tom Hobbs, is to employ a kind of cutting-edge simplicity with a "Landscape Carrying Capacity Model" which predicts forage availability and then carrying capacity of the habitat for wild and domestic ungulates based on forage-use thresholds. This approach is transparent and easy to understand while also being inexpensive and relatively quick to deploy. This approach has proved very successful on the National Elk Refuge and Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming for a carrying capacity prediction of elk and bison. With Wockner's guidance, the approach is being fully deployed by the Colorado Division of Wildlife for elk, deer, moose, and pronghorn herds around the entire state.
Visit Gary Wockner's website here.
Guiming Wang: Wang had extensive modeling and statistical training and expertise. He led an effort to understand impacts of climate change on future elk populations in Rocky Mountain National Park. He also contributed to understanding effects of winter severity on elk survival as part of efforts to model the carrying capacity of the Greater Teton Ecosystem.
Visit Guiming Wang's website here.
This team is available for consulting and contract work. We are confident that we can develop and apply analytical approaches appropriate for a broad range of park-specific problems involving overabundant populations of ungulates.
Page Last Modified: November 19, 2004
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