Staff Member
Jerod Merkle
Biography
Jerod has a B.S. in Wildlife Biology from the University of Arizona (2006), a M.S. in Wildlife Biology from the University of Montana (2011), and a Ph.D. in Biology from Université Laval, Québec (2014). His research mainly focuses on understanding foraging ecology and predator-prey dynamics to help develop management plans that minimize human-wildlife conflicts. Jerod has contributed to research on gray wolves, coyotes, black bears, bison, mule deer, elk, bighorn sheep, moose, and caribou. . Currently, Jerod is investigating how climate variability will affect ungulate migratory behavior in Wyoming, and how changes in such behavior will ultimately influence the risk of comingling between wild ungulates and livestock.
| Research Publications | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| Oates, B. et al. Antipredator response diminishes during periods of resource deficit for a large herbivore. | March 2019 |
| Oates and others. Spatially explicit demography reveals disparate influences of resource limitation and predation on population growth of a large herbivore | December 2021 |
| Middleton and others. Green-wave surfing influences fitness in a large migratory herbivore | July 2018 |
| Merkle, J.A., Monteith, K.L., Aikens, E.O., Hayes, M.M., Hersey, K.R., Middleton, A.D., Oates, B.A., Sawyer, H., Scurlock, B.M. and Kauffman, M.J. (2016). Large herbivores surf waves of green-up in spring. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 283:20160456. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.0456. | Abstract | December 2016 |
| Lamont et al. Multi-Scale Habitat Selection of Elk in Response to Beetle-Killed Forest | February 2019 |
| Jesmer, B. R., Merkle, J. A., Goheen, J. R., Aikens, E. O., Beck, J. L., Courtemanch, A. B., Hurley, M.A., McWhirter, D.E., Miyasaki, H.M., Monteith, K.L., and Kauffman, M. J. (2018). Is ungulate migration culturally transmitted? Evidence of social learning from translocated animals. Science, 361(6406), 1023-1025. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat0985. | Abstract | October 2018 |
| Aikens E.O., Kauffman M.J., Merkle J.A., Dwinnell S.P.H., Fralick G.L., and Monteith K.L. (2017). The greenscape shapes surfing of resource waves in a large migratory herbivore. Ecology Letters, 20(6): 741-750. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele.12772. | Abstract | June 2017 |
| Project | Completion Date |
|---|---|
| Wildlife-Livestock Disease Transmission in a Changing Climate | September 2018 |
| Identifying Structure of the Yellowstone Bison Population | December 2022 |
| An automated analytical system to synthesize environmental data from long-term remote sensors for use in animal migration ecology | December 2023 |
| Migration Assessment | December 2022 |
| Presentations | Presentation Date |
|---|---|
| Merkle, J.A., and Kauffman, M.J. 2017. Sustaining ungulate migrations: new tools to identify and conserve corridors across multiple-use landscapes. 24th Annual Conference of The Wildlife Society, Albuquerque, New Mexico. | September 2017 |
| Merkle, J.A., Sawyer, H., and Kauffman, M.J. 2017. Memory shapes mammalian migration and its benefits. Gordon Research Conference: Movement Ecology of Animals, March 2017, Ventura, CA. | March 2017 |
| Aikens EO, Kauffman MJ, Merkle JA, Dwinnell SP, Fralick GL, and Monteith KL. 2017. The greenscape shapes surfing of resource waves in a large migratory herbivore. Gordon Research Conference on the Movement Ecology of Animals, Ventura, CA, March 20th, 2017. | March 2017 |