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David Ausband, PhD

Assistant Unit Leader - Idaho Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit

Dr. Ausband received his Msc and PhD from the University of Montana and was a Senior Wildlife Research Biologist for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game before joining the Idaho Unit in 2018. He began his research career studying snowshoe hares and carnivore reintroductions such as those for swift foxes and gray wolves in the western U.S. Currently, his research program focuses largely on carnivore ecology, management, and conservation. Additionally, when sought out by collaborators, he conducts research on various topics of pressing management needs. He collaborates widely with state, federal, and tribal wildlife agencies on research that provides both applied and basic inferences. Additionally, he provides research leadership by maintaining a long-term research program on gray wolves whose questions encompass the behavioral ecology of cooperative breeders, harvest management, population monitoring, and population ecology. Dr. Ausband teaches graduate courses in Advanced Fish and Wildlife Management and Science Communication.<br><br>

Professional Experience

  • Assistant Unit Leader, Idaho Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, 2018-

Education and Certifications

  • PhD, University of Montana, 2012

  • MS, University of Montana, 2003

  • BS, University of Montana, 1999

Science and Products

Inherit the kingdom or storm the castle? Breeding strategies in a social carnivore

Breeding opportunities are inherently limited for animals that live and breed in groups. Turnover in breeding positions can have marked effects on groups of cooperative breeders, particularly social carnivores. We generally know little about how breeding vacancies are filled in social carnivores and what factors might influence an individual's ability to successfully fill a vacancy. I used a long-
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Cooperative Research Units

Wolf use of humanmade objects during pup-rearing

Some animals use humanmade objects for building and constructing nests or shelter and even for play. Gray wolves (Canis lupus) gather and use humanmade objects discovered in their natural environment. Gathering humanmade objects is a peculiar behavior particularly when there is no immediately apparent benefit to survival or reproduction. I opportunistically documented 46 different types of humanma
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Cooperative Research Units

Assessing the robustness of time-to-event models for estimating unmarked wildlife abundance using remote cameras

Recently developed methods, including time-to-event and space-to-event models, estimate the abundance of unmarked populations from encounter rates with camera trap arrays, addressing a gap in noninvasive wildlife monitoring. However, estimating abundance from encounter rates relies on assumptions that can be difficult to meet in the field, including random movement, population closure, and an accu
By
Cooperative Research Units

Does harvest affect genetic diversity in grey wolves?

Harvest can affect vital rates such as reproduction and survival, but also genetic measures of individual and population health. Grey wolves (Canis lupus) live and breed in groups, and effective population size is a small fraction of total abundance. As a result, genetic diversity of wolves may be particularly sensitive to harvest. We evaluated how harvest affected genetic diversity and relatednes
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Cooperative Research Units

Environmental and social factors influencing wolf (Canis lupus) howling behavior

Animals communicate in a variety of ways and calls are used for a number of important behaviors. Temperature, wind, time of day, and human activities can affect animals’ use of calls, particularly over long distances. Effects of group size on the use of calls can be particularly influential in territorial social carnivores. Where gray wolves (Canis lupus) are hunted by humans, for example, howling
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Cooperative Research Units

Immigration does not offset harvest mortality in groups of a cooperatively breeding carnivore

The effects of harvest on cooperatively breeding species are often more complex than simply subtracting the number of animals that died from the group count. Changes in demographic rates, particularly dispersal, could offset some effects of harvest mortality in groups but this is rarely explored with cooperative breeders. We asked whether a cooperatively breeding species known for long-distance di
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Cooperative Research Units

Science and Products