Wildlife sciences are continually shifting in response to global environmental change, arising threats to conservation and the sustainability of natural resources, and technological and analytical advances. As such, wildlife professionals are required to have a diverse skillset for addressing these challenges. My dissertation focuses on a variety of topics that are currently at the forefront of interest and in the purview of wildlife sciences moving forward. In Chapter 1, I describe various behaviors and spatial ecology of a widely distributed and detrimental invasive species in North America ─ the wild pig. I collated global information from published research on wild pigs to describe the ecology of this species and identify areas that merit additional research. In Chapter 2, I explore capacity of wild pigs to act as exotic engineers and quantify their impacts to biotic and abiotic properties in Michigan. I found wild pigs to adversely influence diversity of plants of high conservation value, and reduce concentrations of macronutrients and ammonium in soils, having implications for how this species functions in northern systems. In Chapter 3, I explored wild pig movement and activity in Michigan. Previously, limited information existed on movements and activity of wild pigs in northern systems, and this research provides a foundation for understanding wild pig movement ecology in these newly colonized regions. In Chapter 4, I assessed the spatio-temporal signatures of lion roaring in relation to a dominance shift in Addo Elephant National Park. I found that subordinate males roared less and constrained roaring to the interior of their range, likely to lower chances of being overheard by the dominant male coalition. In Chapter 5, I examined the research-implementation gap pertaining to human-carnivore conflict (HCC) research being conducted in East Africa. I found evidence that current HCC research lacks evidence of interdisciplinarity and seldom included practitioners. In addition, studies rarely engaged local stakeholders in the research process or explicitly listed management and conservation actions as objectives. The breadth of my research displays a diversity of techniques, subject matter, and topics currently at the leading edge of wildlife science. Results of this research provide contributions to invasive species management, wildlife conservation, behavioral ecology, as well as development and practice of conservation research.
Read
