Behavioral Ecology and Conservation
Research Group
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Phenotypic responses to climate change and Population dynamics
Individuals are constantly exposed to variation in their environment. To cope with this variation, individual can adjust their phenotypes to the new conditions thus influencing the amount of phenotyic variation in a population. These phenotypic responses can influence the dynamics of a population directly through its effect on demographic traits such as survival, and fecundity or indirectly through its effect in body mass (i.e., trait-mediated effects). Understanding how variation among individuals influences population dynamics requires understanding the link between life histories and environment. In this study, I used a individual-based long-term dataset on a yellow-bellied marmot population to quantify the influence of trait-mediated effects on the variation in population growth. I have explored this question using a diversity of modeling approaches such as integral projection models and individual-based models.
Linking social behavior to management strategies in wildlife populations
In seasonal environments individuals can adjust their behavior to variation in the availability of resources such as food or water. I seek to understand the spatial dynamics, social dynamics and genetic structure of a population of wild capybaras in response to seasonal environmental variations. I used social network analysis and GIS to evaluate how capybaras’ social structure and spatial distribution were affected by seasonal environmental conditions. Furthermore, social behavior can affect demographic traits such as growth, survival and fecundity thus influencing the dynamics of a population. Thus, one of my main interests is to understand the interplay between social behavior and population dynamics, with the aim of informing management desicions. I have explored this question using population models, where I evaluated the effect of infanticide and social hierarchy, and quantified the harvesting quota for capybaras in the eastern savannas of Colombia.
