Research of the Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Group

The Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Group (WEC) studies subjects related to resource use by animals in their environment. We focus on animal-animal, animal-plant, predator-prey and host-pathogen interactions, and address fundamental scientific challenges as well as questions related to wildlife conservation.

We embrace field-based, experimental and theoretical studies, and we work at levels of biological organization ranging from individuals to ecosystems. Our work considers a variety of biomes across the globe. For example, we study how wildlife and associated resources respond to stressors like anthropogenic land use and climate change, and how this influences disease transmission. WEC embodies the idea of ‘Learning from nature’ and aligns itself to the fields of ‘Global change, food and the environment’ and ‘One Health’. WEC integrates advancements in technology and big data analytics to track animals, measure physiological parameters, quantify population dynamics and monitor ecological resilience. These and other novel approaches advance the fields of animal ecology, population biology, community ecology, and conservation science. Our work ultimately contributes to understanding and managing life on earth, including disease ecology, eco-tourism, rangeland ecology, and wildlife conservation.