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…
PhD Candidate at University of Nevada, Reno
Miranda is a PhD student who joined the Shoemaker and Matocq labs in April 2016. She came to University of Nevada, Reno from Washington State University in Pullman, WA where she completed her M.S. with Dr. Lisa Shipley investigating pygmy rabbits’ foraging ecology. Here, at UNR, Miranda is researching pygmy rabbit distribution across Nevada and southeastern Oregon, focusing on demography, genetic connectivity, and key landscape characteristics that pygmy rabbits require. To learn more…
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.
Learn More
