Applied Population Ecology Lab
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People                           
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Dr. David Miller
Associate Professor of Wildlife Population Ecology

I work with a variety of questions and taxa - all with a general focus on better understanding the population and community dynamics of wildlife species. My research focuses on matching quantitative tools and ecological understanding to better understand how species will respond to environmental change.
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Dr. Riley Bernard 

Post Doc

Riley Bernard joined the lab in January 2017 as a Penn State post-doc working closely with USGS Northeast Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative. Her current work focuses on using Structured Decision Making (SDM) to help inform State, Federal and Provincial management agencies on how to implement proactive management decisions to combat emerging wildlife diseases such as white-nose syndrome (WNS) and salamander chytrid fungus (Bsal). Check out her personal website to learn more​

Dr. Graziella DiRenzo 

Post Doc

Grace is a post-doc working in association with our USGS collaborators with the Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative. Her research focuses on infectious disease dynamics in amphibian populations and quantitative ecology. Check out her personal website to learn more.
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Carli Dinsmore

Research Associate

Carli completed her M.S. degree in the fall of 2019 and is currently working as a research associate in the lab. Her M.S. research focused on estimating the effects of climate on growth rates of garter snakes using mark-recapture data. 

Courtney Davis 

PhD Student - Ecology 

Courtney's interests focus on the integration of math and ecology. She is applying her passion for quantitative ecology to examine the effects of climatic variability on the structure of pond breeding amphibian communities. Her work examines how physical environment and species traits modify responses of individual species to hydrologic variation. Check out her personal website to learn more.
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Jim Lor

MS Student - Ecology

Jim is broadly interested in how inter-specific and intra-specific interactions affect populations as well as habitat-species relationships. His research is focused on investigating the Eastern Red-spotted newt's role in the chytrid fungus disease dynamic within vernal pool amphibian communities. His work focuses on the role of movement, within season infection dynamics, and community interaction in determining how chytrid is maintained and spread in the environment.

Fiona Lunt

MS Student - Ecology

Fiona is an M.S. student in the Ecology program who joined the lab in the fall of 2019. Fiona research focuses on developing approaches to combine multiple data sets to make better predictions about the distributions of forest bird species. 
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Maisie MacKnight 

PhD Student - Ecology

Maisie comes from the University of Georgia, where she established her passion for amphibian conservation. Her dissertation research is focused on the relationship between dispersal and habitat fragmentation in a changing climate. Her research is part of SPARCNet, a regional population monitoring network that assesses drivers of population dynamics and she will coordinate mark-recapture efforts for two study areas in PA.

David Muñoz

PhD Student - Ecology

David's research focuses on understanding the demographic, physiological, and behavioral underpinnings of climate effects on terrestrial salamanders. His research includes conducting capture mark-recapture surveys on Red-backed salamanders in Pennsylvania as part of SPARCNet, a regional population monitoring network that assesses drivers of population dynamics and climate adaptation. Check out his personal website to learn more.
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Asia Murphy  

PhD Student - Ecology

Asia, is examining the interactions of humans, carnivores, and their prey in forested landscapes of the northeast. Her research interests include tropical rainforest biodiversity hotspots, interspecific interactions, and the population ecology of any species that can be camera-trapped (especially carnivores). Other interests include: photography, xenomorphs, writing, knives, and Pokemon.

​Check out her website or tweet her hello @am_anatiala.

Bruna Rodrigues do Amaral

M.S Student - Ecology

Bruna joined the lab in the Fall of 2019 motivated by her interest in population dynamics and quantitative ecology. She got her undergraduate degree in biology from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), and she developed her undergraduate thesis looking at how under-story birds in the Amazon terra firme are coping with second-growth forests. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in ecology, investigating how bird populations are affected by hemlock tree mortality caused by adelgid infestation. Her research will also focus on spotted salamanders, and how taking into account individuals’ size and age can improve recruitment estimates.
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Vishnupriya Sankaraman

PhD Student - Ecology

Vishnupriya is a PhD student in the interdepartmental Ecology program. Her work focuses on the effects of agro-forestry practices on amphibian community dynamics. Her field work is in the western Ghats of India where she previously work for the Wildlife Conservation Society studying birds and stream dwelling amphibians. ​

Lab Alumni

Dr. Brittany Mosher

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post-doc - 2017-2019;
​faculty at University of Vermont

Dr. Beth Reinke

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post-doc - 2018-2019; 
​faculty at Northeastern Illinois University

Dr. Staci Amburgey

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PhD 2019;
​post-doc at University of Washington

Kim Serno

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M.S. 2017;
​PhD student at Baylor University

Matt Toenies

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M.S. 2017;
Environmental Scientist - State of California

Dr. Thierry Chambert

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post-doc - 2014-2017;
Calao Wildlife Consulting

Dr. Glenn Stauffer

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post-doc 2015 - 2017;
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Dr. Sean Sterrett

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post-doc 2015-2017;
Faculty at Monmouth University

Eric Teitsworth

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lab manager - 2015-2017;
​M.S. student NCSU

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