USU Wildlife Biologist Receives Top Human-Wildlife Conflict Award
Wildland Resources research assistant professor Mary Conner received the Berryman Institute's 2008 Research Award.
Conner uses RF-telemetry to track radio-collared coyotes for population studies.
Utah State University wildlife biologist Mary Conner received the Jack H. Berryman Institute’s 2008 Research Award in recognition of her evaluation of coyote management strategies in the American West. Conner, research assistant professor in USU’s Department of Wildland Resources, was presented with the national award at the annual conference of The Wildlife Society held Nov. 8-12 in Miami.
“Mary was selected from researchers throughout the United States working on topics related to human-wildlife conflict,” says Johan du Toit, head of the Department of Wildland Resources and co-director of the Berryman Institute. “She played a lead role in a landmark research project that resulted in the creation of new knowledge.”
Conner published her research results in “Evaluating Coyote Management Strategies using a Spatially Explicit, Individual-based, Socially Structured Population Model,” in the Sept. 8, 2008 issue of Ecological Modeling. She authored the paper with USU doctoral student Michael Ebinger and Emeritus Professor Fred Knowlton.
Conner’s research focused on coyote- domestic sheep conflicts on Western ranges. Resilient predators, coyotes present a constant hazard for sheep producers. Yet efforts to remove the canids, and thus prevent livestock predation, are environmentally and socially controversial.
“Coyotes can live anywhere and can eat almost anything,” she says. “Our work examined the impact of existing coyote control efforts and we also considered the question, ‘Do all coyotes kill sheep?’”
Current control methods include shooting problem animals; sterilization of animals has been proposed. With a research grant awarded by the Berryman Institute in 2005, Conner worked to develop a simulated population model to evaluate commonly used and promoted coyote control strategies.
“Our model incorporated behavioral features in coyotes, such as dominance and territoriality,” Conner says. “We added a spatial component and enhanced the social rule set to more realistically model coyote movement and territory replacement.”
The model, she says, suggests that spatially intensive lethal control removals are more efficient and long-lasting than random removal methods. However, sterilization appears to offer a larger and more lasting impact.
“Sterilization is expensive,” she says. “But, in the long run, it might be the most cost-effective method.”
Conner’s current research focuses on mule deer movement in relation to chronic wasting disease, a form of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy in ungulates that is similar to mad cow disease.
Related Links
Berryman Institute
USU Department of Wildland Resources
USU College of Natural Resources
Contact: Mary Conner, 435-797-1481
Writer: Mary-Ann Muffoletto, 435-797-3517
“Mary was selected from researchers throughout the United States working on topics related to human-wildlife conflict,” says Johan du Toit, head of the Department of Wildland Resources and co-director of the Berryman Institute. “She played a lead role in a landmark research project that resulted in the creation of new knowledge.”
Conner published her research results in “Evaluating Coyote Management Strategies using a Spatially Explicit, Individual-based, Socially Structured Population Model,” in the Sept. 8, 2008 issue of Ecological Modeling. She authored the paper with USU doctoral student Michael Ebinger and Emeritus Professor Fred Knowlton.
Conner’s research focused on coyote- domestic sheep conflicts on Western ranges. Resilient predators, coyotes present a constant hazard for sheep producers. Yet efforts to remove the canids, and thus prevent livestock predation, are environmentally and socially controversial.
“Coyotes can live anywhere and can eat almost anything,” she says. “Our work examined the impact of existing coyote control efforts and we also considered the question, ‘Do all coyotes kill sheep?’”
Current control methods include shooting problem animals; sterilization of animals has been proposed. With a research grant awarded by the Berryman Institute in 2005, Conner worked to develop a simulated population model to evaluate commonly used and promoted coyote control strategies.
“Our model incorporated behavioral features in coyotes, such as dominance and territoriality,” Conner says. “We added a spatial component and enhanced the social rule set to more realistically model coyote movement and territory replacement.”
The model, she says, suggests that spatially intensive lethal control removals are more efficient and long-lasting than random removal methods. However, sterilization appears to offer a larger and more lasting impact.
“Sterilization is expensive,” she says. “But, in the long run, it might be the most cost-effective method.”
Conner’s current research focuses on mule deer movement in relation to chronic wasting disease, a form of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy in ungulates that is similar to mad cow disease.
Related Links
Berryman Institute
USU Department of Wildland Resources
USU College of Natural Resources
Contact: Mary Conner, 435-797-1481
Writer: Mary-Ann Muffoletto, 435-797-3517
