Michael Egan, Postdoctoral fellow
I am a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Spatial Wildlife Ecology Lab (SWEL). Broadly, I am interested in the spatial and behavioral ecology of animals and the implications these fields have for applied topics such as conservation, management, and wildlife disease transmission. Specifically, my current research focuses on white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) with a particular emphasis on the spatial ecology of deer through the lens of GPS data. Currently, I am working on two main areas of research. First, as part of a large team studying SARS-CoV-2 across multiple states across the U.S., I am using a novel application of scale-integrated resource selection functions (RSFs) to evaluate the resource associations of deer-to-deer contacts, predict where contacts occur, and determine the risk of contact between deer and humans. Second, I am working with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) to estimate deer populations from harvest data using novel Bayesian models.
Tadao Kishimoto, Research Scientist​
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Hello, my name is Tadao, and I joined the SWEL and CWRL in August 2022 as a MS student and I am now a research scientist in the lab. I love connecting with nature through outdoor recreational activities, particularly rock climbing, trail running, and hiking. While it is exciting to be part of a rapidly growing outdoors community, non-consumptive recreation has consequences on animal behavior, physiology, and demography. My MS project examine the impacts of mountain biking trail construction and use on white-tailed deer behavior using a before-after-control-impact (BACI) design. My hope for this study is to help land managers make informed decisions during trail development, mitigating negative impacts of recreators on wildlife. Happy trails!