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Catherine E. Burns
Research Assistant Professor Dr. Burns joined the faculty of the Wildlife Ecology Department in September 2007. Dr. Burns’s research is motivated by an interest in addressing ecological questions within the context of wildlife conservation. She is particularly interested in the interface between animal behavior and wildlife conservation, and typically uses field observations and experiments in her research, although she also uses modeling and molecular techniques as needed. Specifically, Dr. Burns focuses on how insights from animal behavior can enhance our ability to predict how natural systems respond to human-induced landscape changes. Her dissertation research was conducted in northeastern Connecticut and addressed the importance of behavior, specifically territorial interactions, in determining how populations of small mammals respond to habitat loss (logging and prescribed burning). As a post-doctoral fellow, she investigated the response of large ungulates to fire-managed grassland ecosystems in South Africa (with native herbivores such as giraffes, rhino, zebra, wildebeest) and North America (native bison). More recently, Dr. Burns and her colleagues have been investigating patterns of mammal distribution and abundance across an urbanization gradient in New York. Funding for new research on the impacts of urbanization on mammals, birds, amphibians and plants in the New York metropolitan region has recently been secured. Dr. Burns is teaching Ecology (WLE 200) during the fall 2007 semester. |
