Duane Diefenbach, PhD (Former Employee)

Background Identifying the behavioral state for wild animals that can’t be directly observed is of growing interest to the ecological community. Advances in telemetry technology and statistical methodologies allow researchers to use space-use and movement metrics to infer the underlying, latent, behavioral state of an animal without direct observations. For example, researchers studying...

The future challenge to managing ungulate populations to meet objectives is likely to become more difficult as participation in recreational hunting declines and ungulate populations become more abundant. The authors use the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in North America as a case study to illustrate the management challenges facing decision makers. In states with fewer...

Perceived predation risk and the resulting antipredator behaviour varies across space, time and predator identity. Communities with multiple predators that interact and differ in their use of space, time of activity and hunting mode create a complex landscape for prey to avoid predation. Anthropogenic presence and disturbance have the potential to shift interactions among predators and...

Among felids worldwide, only 6 of 38 species have stable or increasing populations, and most felid species are threatened by anthropogenic influences, especially habitat loss and fragmentation. We documented changes in genetic diversity in an isolated, reintroduced population of bobcats on Cumberland Island (CUIS), Georgia, USA, compared to another bobcat population on Kiawah Island...

Natal dispersal is assumed to be a particularly risky movement behavior as individuals transfer, often long distances, from birth site to site of potential first reproduction. Though, because this behavior persists in populations, it is assumed that dispersal increases the fitness of individuals despite the potential for increased risk of mortality. The extent of dispersal risk, however...

Localized management of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) involves the removal of matriarchal family units with the intent to create areas of reduced deer density. However, application of this approach has not always been successful, possibly because of female dispersal and high deer densities. We developed a spatially explicit, agent-based model to investigate the intensity of...