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.
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
Greater Sage-Grouse and Mule Deer Population Viability Analysis Across Scales
Hierarchical Sage-Grouse Population Assessment Tool: Building a Foundation for True Adaptive Management
America's Wild Horses and Burros—Research to Support Management
Multi-scale Statewide Wyoming Greater Sage-grouse Trends Determined by Population Viability Analysis
Science and Products
- Science
Greater Sage-Grouse and Mule Deer Population Viability Analysis Across Scales
USGS and Colorado State University scientists will use data about sage-grouse and mule deer population data across Wyoming to evaluate the effectiveness of disturbance thresholds and investigate the efficacy of other disturbance metrics.Hierarchical Sage-Grouse Population Assessment Tool: Building a Foundation for True Adaptive Management
USGS scientists and colleagues have designed a hierarchical monitoring framework for greater sage-grouse in Nevada, Wyoming, and northeastern California that will provide land managers with a monitoring and detection system to identify sage-grouse breeding locations (known as leks), clusters of leks, and populations where intervention may be necessary to sustain populations and to evaluate...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 populations...Multi-scale Statewide Wyoming Greater Sage-grouse Trends Determined by Population Viability Analysis
USGS scientists and partners investigated sage-grouse population trends in Wyoming and at multiple spatial scales. - Data
- Publications
- Software
- News