Research Interests

As nature conservationists, we share the challenge of developing scientific theory into practical tools that stakeholders can implement to enable a sustainable lifestyle. Co-existence is a fragile state, often imbalanced by opposing pressures for human development or species protection. I am fascinated by the strong roles that keystone predators play within ecosystems, and my research approaches human-wildlife conflict through this perspective. I am currently carrying out my doctoral research in Kanha Tiger Reserve and the larger landscape of central India to explore how tiger and leopard predation shapes the ecology of prey fear and can be quantified to sustain large cat survival while also protecting the local people who share their forests.

Predation risk modeling and mapping of tiger and leopard attacks on livestock

Carnivore attacks on humans and livestock are by far the most gruesome and provocative form of human-wildlife conflict. In response to attacks, people often poison animals and destroy habitat, actions that threaten the survival of rare carnivores and may erode lines of dependency between predators and wild prey, causing tigers and leopards to increase depredation on livestock. The risk of an attack varies geographically and depends on a variety of factors, including habitat, topography, wild prey availability and distribution of human infrastructure and livestock. It is currently unclear which features conflate the risk of attack, creating challenges for landscape-scale conservation planning that reconciles human land use and felid conservation. 

My research addresses two questions: What determines where tigers and leopards attack prey and how can people minimize the risk of an attack on their livestock? I am exploring how tigers and leopards select certain landscape features when hunting livestock in order to predict attack risk across Kanha Tiger Reserve. Though mapping attack risk across the landscape, I am also developing a tool for managers and livestock owners to use for conservation and land-use planning to mitigate attacks and focus protection efforts.

Attack risk maps depict the probability of a carnivore attack over a landscape. Risk maps were initially developed to explore spatial drivers of wolf-elk interactions in Yellowstone National Park (e.g. Hebblewhite et al. 2005, Kauffman et al. 2007) and have only recently been applied to a human-wildlife conflict context (e.g. Treves et al. 2011). I plan to explore whether these maps can offer villagers and Forest Department officials in India a tangible tool for avoiding attack hot spots and making decisions about where to graze livestock and carry out species conservation efforts. Maps could especially provide a novel service to tiger reserve managers by helping them target protection efforts, such as forest guard anti-poaching patrols, in areas where tigers and leopard hunt as well as assist them in managing livestock grazing. Attack risk models and maps may aid livestock compensation schemes to help avoid attacks on livestock and reduce economic losses from carnivores.

Related popular articles
Live and let live (Frontline). Link to original article and photos (make a free account to access) or download PDF.
Reading the bones: In the field with a depredation detective (Sage Magazine). 
Following the hunt: Tracking livestock kills to reduce villager's losses in India (Scientists Without Borders).

Predator effects on prey: hunting mode and habitat domain as predictors

Ecologists have long searched for a framework of a priori species traits to help predict predator–prey interactions in food webs. Empirical evidence has shown that predator hunting mode and predator and prey habitat domain are useful traits for explaining predator–prey interactions. Yet, individual experiments have yet to replicate predator hunting mode, calling into question whether predator impacts can be attributed to hunting mode or merely species identity.

Collaborating with Oswald Schmitz and Judith Ament (FES MESc '13), I recently conducted research in the Connecticut fields of Yale Myers Forest to investigate how predator hunting mode and habitat domain influence prey anti-predator behavior. We conducted behavioral observations in field microcosms to test how six spider species displaying a gradient of hunting modes - from sit-&-wait to sit-&-pursue to active - influence grasshopper mortality, habitat domain and activity levels. We found that predator hunting mode predicted both density- and trait-mediated effects on prey, generating further evidence that hunting mode is a strong predictor of prey anti-predator behavior.

Related scientific articles
Miller, J.R.B., J.M. Ament, and O.J. Schmitz. 2013.  Fear on the move: predator hunting mode predicts variation in prey mortality and plasticity in prey spatial response. Journal of Animal Ecology 83(1):214-222.

Piscarina mira, a sit-and-wait spider with strong fear effects on grasshopper prey.

Melanoplus femurrubrum responds strongly to spider predator risk effects.