David R Edmunds, Ph.D.
Dave Edmunds is an ecologist at the Fort Collins Science Center, whose research focuses on greater sage-grouse population dynamics in Wyoming and across the western United States.
Biography
Dave Edmunds has been an Ecologist in the Ecosystem and Landscape Dynamics Research Branch at the Fort Collins Science Center since August 2020. Prior to coming to the US Geological Survey (USGS), Dave was a Research Scientist in the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL) at Colorado State University (CSU) while working in cooperation with the USGS in Dr. Cameron Aldridge’s lab (2014-2020). Dave maintains his connection with CSU as an Affiliate Research Scientist in NREL.
His career began at Virginia Tech, where he earned a B.S. in Wildlife Sciences in 2002. After graduation, he moved to Wyoming where he worked as a field technician for two years assisting on research projects that focused on black and grizzly bears, mountain lions, Greater sage-grouse, and white-tailed deer. Dave obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Wyoming in the Department of Veterinary Sciences in 2008 and 2013, respectively. Both degrees were under the guidance of Dr. Todd Cornish and focused on the ecology and epidemiology of chronic wasting disease in a high prevalence white-tailed deer population in southeast Wyoming.
His research interests include population dynamics, population viability analyses, wildlife disease ecology, and movement ecology. His current research is varied, but his main focus is on Greater sage-grouse population dynamics in Wyoming and across the western United States.
Science and Products
America's Wild Horses and Burros—Research to Support Management
The wild horses that roam the west are feral descendents of domestic animals that either escaped from or were intentionally released by early European explorers and later settlers. As a result of both origin and contemporary management, the Spanish or Iberian influence remains strong in some wild horse populations (e.g., the Kiger, Pryor Mountain, and Sulfur Mountain herds). In other...
Hierarchically nested and biologically relevant monitoring frameworks for Greater Sage-grouse, 2019, Nevada and Wyoming, Interim
We developed a hierarchical clustering approach that identifies biologically relevant landscape units that can 1) be used as a long-term population monitoring framework, 2) be repeated across the Greater sage-grouse range, 3) be used to track the outcomes of local and regional populations by comparing population changes across scales, and 4) be used to inform where to best spatially
Range-wide greater sage-grouse hierarchical monitoring framework—Implications for defining population boundaries, trend estimation, and a targeted annual warning system
Incorporating spatial and temporal scales into greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) population monitoring strategies is challenging and rarely implemented. Sage-grouse populations experience fluctuations in abundance that lead to temporal oscillations, making trend estimation difficult. Accounting for stochasticity is critical to...
Coates, Peter S.; Prochazka, Brian G.; O'Donnell, Michael S.; Aldridge, Cameron L.; Edmunds, David R.; Monroe, Adrian P.; Ricca, Mark A.; Wann, Gregory T.; Hanser, Steve E.; Wiechman, Lief A.; Chenaille, Michael
Prioritizing landscapes for grassland bird conservation with hierarchical community models
ContextGiven widespread population declines of birds breeding in North American grasslands, management that sustains wildlife while supporting rancher livelihoods is needed. However, management effects vary across landscapes, and identifying areas with the greatest potential bird response to conservation is a pressing research need.ObjectivesWe...
Monroe, Adrian Pierre-Frederic; Edmunds, David R.; Aldridge, Cameron L.; Holloran, Matthew J; Assal, Timothy J; Holloran, Alison G Designing multi-scale hierarchical monitoring frameworks for wildlife to support management: A sage-grouse case study
Population monitoring is integral to the conservation and management of wildlife; yet, analyses of population demographic data rarely consider processes occurring across spatial scales, potentially limiting the effectiveness of adaptive management. Therefore, we developed a method to identify hierarchical levels of organization (i.e., populations...
O'Donnell, Michael S.; Edmunds, David R.; Aldridge, Cameron L.; Heinrichs, Julie; Coates, Peter S.; Prochazka, Brian G.; Hanser, Steve E. Erratum - Greater sage-grouse population trends across Wyoming.
No abstract available.
Edmunds, David R.; Aldridge, Cameron L.; O'Donnell, Michael; Monroe, Adrian P. Greater sage-grouse population trends across Wyoming
The scale at which analyses are performed can have an effect on model results and often one scale does not accurately describe the ecological phenomena of interest (e.g., population trends) for wide-ranging species: yet, most ecological studies are performed at a single, arbitrary scale. To best determine local and regional trends for greater sage...
Edmunds, David R.; Aldridge, Cameron L.; O'Donnell, Michael; Monroe, Adrian P. Endemic chronic wasting disease causes mule deer population decline in Wyoming
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal transmissible spongiform encephalopathy affecting white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni), and moose (Alces alces shirasi) in North America. In southeastern Wyoming average annual CWD prevalence in mule deer exceeds 20%...
DeVivo, Melia T.; Edmunds, David R.; Kauffman, Matthew J.; Schumaker, Brant A.; Binfet, Justin; Kreeger, Terry J.; Richards, Bryan J.; Schatzl, Hermann M.; Cornish, Todd Chronic wasting disease drives population decline of white-tailed deer
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is an invariably fatal transmissible spongiform encephalopathy of white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, and moose. Despite a 100% fatality rate, areas of high prevalence, and increasingly expanding geographic endemic areas, little is known about the population-level effects of CWD in deer. To investigate these effects,...
Edmunds, David R.; Kauffman, Matthew; Schumaker, Brant; Lindzey, Frederick G.; Cook, Walter; Kreeger, Terry J.; Grogan, Ronald; Cornish, Todd Effects of lek count protocols on greater sage-grouse population trend estimates
Annual counts of males displaying at lek sites are an important tool for monitoring greater sage-grouse populations (Centrocercus urophasianus), but seasonal and diurnal variation in lek attendance may increase variance and bias of trend analyses. Recommendations for protocols to reduce observation error have called for restricting lek counts to...
Monroe, Adrian P.; Edmunds, David R.; Aldridge, Cameron L.
Fort Collins Science Center Scientists Share Expertise at Society for Range Management Meeting
Scientists from the US Geological Survey Fort Collins Science Center will be presenting on topics ranging from sage-grouse to invasive plant species at the upcoming Society for Range Management Annual Meeting.