Matt Falcy, Principal Investigator
My team of scientists and I develop quantitative tools to solve difficult ecological problems. We use math, statistics, and numerical simulations to model fish and wildlife management systems.
I am Assistant Unit Leader of the US Geological Survey's Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Idaho. I am also Assistant Professor of Biometrics at the University of Idaho https://www.uidaho.edu/cnr/faculty/falcy .
I teach a graduate courses on Ecological Modeling and Bayesian Analysis in Ecology.
Biographical and academic details are here.
Sarah Bassing, Post-doctoral scholar
Dr. Bassing is using data collected from camera traps throughout Idaho to investigate patterns and processes among wolves, mountain lions, black bears, bobcats, and coyotes.
Details on Dr. Bassing's research are here: www.sarahbassing.com
Sam Foster, PhD Student
Sam studies the effects of disturbance on mule deer in British Columbia. He is working with camera trap data, structural equation modeling, and circular distributions of diurnal activity to understand how mule deer respond to complex and changing environments.
Sam in action (9:00):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCd36Yzk6Dk&ab_channel=TELUSoriginals
Joshua Heishman, MS Student
Joshua is developing a Bayesian integrated population model for burbot in Kootenai River, Idaho. Joshua will estimate (i) density-dependent survival (ii) survival-at-age and (iii) abundance from capture-recapture data using Jolly-Seber open population models. Joshua is also discovering magnitudes of natural reproduction and survival of juveniles released at various locations and ages. Joshua will ultimately project metapopulation growth rates and age compositions to inform sustainable fishery goals for hatchery and natural-origin burbot.
Ryan Vosbigian, MS Student
Ryan is modeling steelhead runs in the Snake River Basin. He has synthesized multiple data sources into a model of abundance in space and time. Using numerical simulations, the delta method, and good-old-fashioned likelihood analysis, Ryan is quantifying sensitivity of model estimates to data and assumptions. Additionally, Ryan is exploring the effects of harvest regulations on adults abundance and the effects of habitat characteristics on juvenile steelhead abundance.
Brianna Winkel, PhD Student
Bri is linking remotely sensed habitat data to caribou movement data in Southern British Columbia. She will develop habitat suitability indices and project habitat use indices under climate change scenarios.