Dr. Shoemaker’s PhD dissertation focused on the conservation of bog turtles (Glyptemys muhlenbergii) in New York and Massachusetts. Building upon an existing capture-recapture dataset, he estimated population vital rates and abundance of these turtles in small wetlands in eastern New York (Dutchess County) and assessed for evidence of dispersal within a complex of multiple neighboring wetlands. His work also used microsatellite genotypes to further assess gene flow within these wetland…
In the 19th century, populations of giant tortoises in the Galapagos Islands were decimated by whalers and pirates, who kept and killed tortoises on their ships as a resilient source of fresh meat for long ocean voyages. Particularly hard-hit were “saddlebacked” species that inhabited the islands’ arid lowlands closer to the coasts. Of the five saddlebacked species, two have been declared extinct: Chelonoidis elephantopus from Floreana Island and C. abingdonii from Pinta…
Rangewide demography, genetics and habitat mapping
The A.P.E. lab is part of a larger team at UNR investigating the population genetics and demography of the pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis) in the Great Basin.
The Applied Population Ecology lab at UNR focuses on supporting the conservation and management of wildlife populations in the Great Basin and beyond using state-of-the-art analytical and simulation tools
The current members of the A.P.E. lab are Kevin Shoemaker, Margarete Walden, Miranda Crowell, and Danielle Miles.
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