PhD - first step

So first year over, now its on to some new research.


My first thought was, where do I go next?

My PhD is aimed at a real-life problems. My case study is a corridor area in Belize, in central america.

The issues remain the same as with the hedgehog work. How do mammals move through the landscape? How will increased habitat fragmentation affect the movement of mammals through the landscape? How do we measure landscape permeability? How can we best model the effects of landscape structure on the movement of mammals in a landscape?


These questions have huge implications on the persistence of populations in a landscape and on the amount of disturbance and development that a landscape can absorb before a population reaches a threshold tipping point. My research is really focused on questions surrounding ecosystem function and resilience.

"To halt the decline of an ecosystem, it is necessary to think like an ecosystem."

- Douglas P. Wheeler, EPA Journal,September-October 1990

The overall goal of my research is to attempt to understand how a species views and interacts with its environment. Exploring these issues and gaining some understanding of the relationship between animals and their environment can help us understand ecosystems function and how anthropogenic processes may affect ecosystem processes.