People
Adrian Treves
Professor and Founder of the Carnivore Coexistence Lab
Adrian Treves conducts independent research and advocates for future generations of all life, for scientific integrity, and for sovereign publics worldwide. He studies and speaks about the public trust doctrine and intergenerational equity around the world More on public trust doctrines and intergenerational equity here. Adrian earned his PhD at Harvard University in 1997 and is a Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and director of the Carnivore Coexistence Lab since 2007. For the past 27 years, his research focuses on ecology, law, and human dimensions of ecosystems in which crop and livestock ownership overlaps the habitat of large carnivores from coyotes up to grizzly bears. He has authored >133 scientific papers on predator-prey ecology or conservation.
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Address:
30A Science Hall
550 N. Park Street
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: (608) 890-1450
Email: atreves [at] wisc.edu
Google Scholar profile here
The University of Wisconsin–Madison occupies ancestral Ho-Chunk land, a place their nation has called Teejop (day-JOPE) since time immemorial. In an 1832 treaty, the Ho-Chunk were forced to cede this territory. Decades of ethnic cleansing followed when both the federal and state government repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, sought to forcibly remove the Ho-Chunk from Wisconsin. This history of colonization informs our shared future of collaboration and innovation.Today, UW–Madison respects the inherent sovereignty of the Ho-Chunk Nation, along with the eleven other First Nations of Wisconsin.
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Post docs
Dr. Naomi Louchouarn, Ph.D. Aug 2023, post-doc currently
Naomi graduated from McGill University in 2014 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Environmental Biology and dual minors in wildlife biology and applied ecology. During and after her Bachelor’s degree Naomi worked on various research projects in Northern Canada, South Africa and Australia. These experiences provided her with the inspiration to pursue research focused on conservation planning and mitigating conflicts between humans and wildlife. Naomi received a Master’s of Environmental Science and Management at UC-Santa Barbara’s Bren School in 2017. Her Master’s research focused on prioritizing land for conservation in Canada’s Mackenzie River Basin to maximize the protection of caribou habitat and minimize economic losses to resource extraction industries in the region. Her projects are on Range Riders protecting cattle from wolves and grizzlies (https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-1061804/v1) in
Longview, Alberta, Canada and surrounding private and public grazing parcels >50 square km: Google map: grizzly bears, grey wolves, cougars, black bears, and coyotes coexisting with thousands of head of cattle owned by the Spruce Cooperative on public grazing lands. Our project here is a gold-standard experiment with Range Riders. She also worked on Mexican wolf mortality (https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200330).
Graduate Students
Drew Bantlin, M.S. 2016 and Ph.D. candidate currently
Drew earned his M.S. in 2017 in Environment and Resources from UW-Madison. Drew's research focuses on the effect of African lion reintroduction to Akagera National Park, Rwanda. He is exploring the trophic cascade hypothesis, that top carnivores have top-down influence on other species in an ecosystem. He is examining how lions may influence the behavior of other species in the park, which may in turn have effects on plant communities and ecosystem processes. Much of his field work involves direct observations of the lions and their prey, camera trapping, and analysis of GPS collared animals. In addition to research, Drew also assists Akagera with other research projects, including assisting with monitoring the newly reintroduced black rhinos, conducting population surveys on the ground and in the air, and collecting data on the demographics of elephants, giraffes, hyenas, and leopards. Prior to coming to Akagera, Drew has had field experience working with gray wolves, mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, and numerous monkey species.
Karann Putrevu (Ph.D. candidate)
Karann is a computational biologist originally from St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. He completed his Bachelor of Science with a dual degree in biological engineering and biology at Cornell University. He has a particularly strong passion for tigers and has studied topics ranging from modeling their interspecific conflicts (with leopards in India and wolves in Russia) to the Panthera genus' genetic lineage to the social and political context of the South China tiger's extinction in the wild. Karann is currently working on studying the predator ecology of the Amur tiger in the Russian Far East, applying Bayesian methods to model large carnivore population dynamics, and modeling spatial risk of poaching. Visit my website.
Alexandra Pineda Guerrero, Professional Masters in Environmental Conservation 2016 and Ph.D. candidate currently
Alexandra is a biologist from Bogotá, Colombia and received a Master’s degree of Environmental Conservation at UW-Madison in 2016. She has worked as a researcher in the public and private sector in Colombia. Her work has been related to the ecology of carnivores, conservation planning for tropical mammals and ecosystems, and human-carnivore coexistence and conflicts, specifically related to jaguar and pumas. Alexandra won a scholarship from the Colombian government – COLCIENCIAS- for her Ph.D and she is interested in testing the efficacy of non-lethal methods of preventing jaguar and puma attacks in Colombia.
Brian Schuh, Professional Masters in Environmental Conservation 2018 and PhD candidate currently
Brian is a wildlife conservationist originally from Santa Barbara, California, who recently completed his Master's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During his bachelor's degrees in Zoology and Botany, also from UW-Madison, he worked on conservation projects with lumholtz tree kangaroos in Australia, whale sharks in Mexico, and cheetahs in South Africa. These experiences cemented in him a passion for wildlife conservation, particularly focusing on international human-wildlife coexistence with a special interest in cheetahs. During his Master's project he partnered with the Kenya Wildlife Trust (KWT) working to mitigate human-wildlife conflict and understand the population dynamics of lions and cheetahs in the Maasai Mara. Continuing this partnership with KWT, his current research aims at identifying human and natural variables affecting the distribution and abundance of cheetahs in the Maasai Mara and developing management srecommendations for their long term survival.
Grad Packet for use within the UW G suite, find a living document you can edit as we learn together about the graduate career.
Under graduate research assistants
Natalia Vonarburg
Kaari Hostler
Joey Schwirtz
Olivia Deering
Marek Thomas Higley
Alex Seaborg
Graham Stier
Affiliates and Graduates
Francisco J. Santiago-Ávila (Fran) won the Nelson Institute's Rising Star Alumni ward: in 2023.
Dr. Suzanne Agan (Ph.D. from Antioch University of New England)
Suzanne is working on the human dimensions and spatial ecology of poaching and implications for red wolf survival in North Carolina.
bioRxiv pre-publication manuscript on red wolf mortality risk.
Jeannine McManus, Ph.D.
Jeannine is interested in the scientific underpinning of practical conservation biology solutions to major conservation challenges. Jeannine has 10 years of conservation work experience which has focused on human-wildlife conflict resolution by linking practical and economical tools; biodiversity conservation, within and outside of protected areas; and environmental education. Jeannine ha worked on research projects comparing the economic and ecological effects of production landscapes on biodiversity; meta-population structure, spatial ecology, behaviour, and resource selection of leopard (Panthera pardus) in the Eastern and Western Cape, South Africa. Jeannine passed my PhD in Ecology at Witwatersrand University, and I am currently working on an arid region restoration project in the Karoo, South Africa with the Landmark Foundation.
Tshabalala, T., McManus, J., Treves, A., Masocha, V., Faulconbridge, S., Schurch, M., Goets, S., Smuts, B. 2021. Leopards and mesopredators as indicators of mammalian species richness across diverse landscapes of South Africa. Ecological Indicators 121, 107201.
Arlyne Johnson, Ph.D.
Arlyne is an Honorary Fellow with the Nelson Institute and works with Foundations of Success providing training for conservation organizations in the U.S. and abroad in designing and monitoring the effectiveness of conservation projects. She has led wildlife research and conservation programs in Latin American and Asia for the Wildlife Conservation Society since 1988, including projects to reduce conflict between local communities and large carnivores (tiger, dhole) and Asian elephant in Lao PDR. Arlyne currently teaches a graduate-level course in Conservation Planning for the Nelson Institute. She holds a Ph.D. in Environment and Resources from the Nelson Institute.
Congratulations to graduates 2012–present
Naomi Louchouarn, PhD, 2023, post-doc 2023-2024
Samuel Hermanstorfer, MS, 2023
Allison Rogers, MS, 2022
Abigail M. Fergus, MS, 2020. Also see her work on a Ma'iingan (Wolf) Relationship Plan.
Francisco Santiago-Ávila, Ph.D. 2019, post-doc 2021
Omar Ohrens, M.S. 2013, Ph.D. 2018, post-doc 2019
Drew Bantlin, M.S. 2016
Jamie Hogberg, M.S. 2014
Zachary Voyles, M.S. 2013
Brittany Bovard, M.S. 2013
Professional Masters in Environmental Conservation 2012–present
Brian Schuh, 2018
Elena Jove-Edens, 2017
Alexandra Pineda Guerrero, 2016
Naseem Sultani, 2015
Paula Henriquez, 2014
Non-thesis Masters in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development
Doris Ming Hua, M.S. 2014
Nathan Schulfer, M.S. 2012
For older records, email Adrian Treves