RESEARCH INTERESTS & BACKGROUND:
I completed my undergraduate degree at Ohio State with a major in forestry, fisheries, and wildlife. During my time there I also worked with Dr. Bill Peterman on a project examining the effects of habitat patch size on urban salamander populations. From that, I discovered an interest in landscape level ecology with a focus on the effects that disturbance can have on species occupancy, distribution, abundance and genetics . This interest has led me to work on projects examining the range reductions, distributions, environmental drivers, and potential climate responses of understudied IUCN listed birds. I decided to remain at my alma mater for graduate school and began a master’s project examining the effects that historic disturbance and wildfire have on Plethodontid salamander communities in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
My current research interests mainly revolve around understanding legacy effects of land use, identifying drivers of distribution, leveraging remotely sensed data in novel ways, informing conservation while accounting for shifting distributions, utilizing historic data to its fullest, and modeling microclimate. Some topics that I would like to explore in future research include landscape genetics; combined ecophysical, movement, and distribution models to predict range shifts; species distributions in seascapes; and changes in biodiversity utilizing historic data. I strive to conduct research that will contribute the scientific community and be useful managers.
PUBLICATIONS:
Wilk, A. J., Donlon, K. C., & Peterman, W. E. 2020. Effects of habitat fragment size and isolation on the density and genetics of urban red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus). Urban Ecosystems 23:761–773.
I completed my undergraduate degree at Ohio State with a major in forestry, fisheries, and wildlife. During my time there I also worked with Dr. Bill Peterman on a project examining the effects of habitat patch size on urban salamander populations. From that, I discovered an interest in landscape level ecology with a focus on the effects that disturbance can have on species occupancy, distribution, abundance and genetics . This interest has led me to work on projects examining the range reductions, distributions, environmental drivers, and potential climate responses of understudied IUCN listed birds. I decided to remain at my alma mater for graduate school and began a master’s project examining the effects that historic disturbance and wildfire have on Plethodontid salamander communities in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
My current research interests mainly revolve around understanding legacy effects of land use, identifying drivers of distribution, leveraging remotely sensed data in novel ways, informing conservation while accounting for shifting distributions, utilizing historic data to its fullest, and modeling microclimate. Some topics that I would like to explore in future research include landscape genetics; combined ecophysical, movement, and distribution models to predict range shifts; species distributions in seascapes; and changes in biodiversity utilizing historic data. I strive to conduct research that will contribute the scientific community and be useful managers.
PUBLICATIONS:
Wilk, A. J., Donlon, K. C., & Peterman, W. E. 2020. Effects of habitat fragment size and isolation on the density and genetics of urban red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus). Urban Ecosystems 23:761–773.