Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit Staff Member


Dr. Daniel P Walsh

Dan Walsh

Unit Leader
Phone: (406) 243 - 4390
Email: dwalsh@usgs.gov
Faculty Email: daniel.walsh@umontana.edu

Biography

Daniel Walsh - Unit Leader, Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit

Dr. Walsh received graduate degrees in Fisheries and Wildlife and Statistics from Michigan State University and Colorado State University. He worked as a Disease Researcher with Colorado Division of Wildlife and as a Quantitative Ecologist at the USGS National Wildlife Health Center before joining the Montana Unit in 2022. He conducts applied research that develops and applies novel quantitative approaches in conjunction with field research to improve the health of wildlife populations. His research interests are broad, and he has worked on a wide array of taxonomic groups and wildlife health issues including chronic wasting disease, bighorn sheep respiratory disease, avian influenza, white nose syndrome, New Castle disease, among others. One focus of his current research is leveraging systems modeling to inform decision-making and applying scientific principles to the implementation of management efforts to improve the likelihood of desired outcomes. Additionally, Dr. Walsh has helped develop national surveillance strategies for avian influenza and white nose syndrome and has conducted extensive work with the World Animal Health Organisation and others to build wildlife health capacity globally. Dr. Walsh will teach courses in statistical methods for population dynamics and wildlife health modeling.

Areas of Expertise

AI/Machine Learning, Disease/Parasites, Epidemiology, GIS/Spatial Analysis, Population Dynamics, Statistics and Modelling, Wildlife Management

Taxon Groups Studied

Bats, Ungulates, Waterfowl

Research Publications Publication Date
Hefley, T.J., M.B. Hooten, R.E. Russell, D.P. Walsh, and J. Powell. (2017). When mechanism matters: Forecasting the spread of disease using ecological diffusion. Ecology Letters, 20: 640-650. September 2017
Hefley, T.J., M.B. Hooten, J.M. Drake, R.E. Russell, and D.P. Walsh. (2016). When can the cause of a population decline be determined? Ecology Letters, 19: 1353-1362. December 2016
Hefley, T.J., M.B. Hooten, E.M. Hanks, R.E. Russell, and D.P. Walsh. (2017). Dynamic spatio-temporal models for spatial data. Spatial Statistics, 20: 206-220. March 2017
Hefley, T.J., M.B. Hooten, E.M. Hanks, R.E. Russell, and D.P. Walsh. (2017). The Bayesian spatial group lasso. Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics, 22: 42-59. February 2017
Project Completion Date
Assessing chronic wasting disease environmental prion reservoirs June 2025
Effects of Conifer Removal on Songbirds in Sage-Grouse Habitat September 2024
Patterns of bat activity along seasonal, environmental and disease gradients in western Washington: Monitoring populations along the front line of WNS September 2024
Role of study length and life-history traits on the reliability of management recommendations September 2023
Structuring Governance to Achieve Landscape-scale Conservation Outcomes January 2024
UM Pronghorn Movement and Population Study June 2024
Sage-grouse Synergies: Community Responses to Wetland Restoration in the Northern Great Plans September 2024
Fish Creek Recreation Planning June 2023
Preventing Predation July 2024
Elk Recreation Study June 2024
Predator use of Prey June 2024
From Beavers to Bats: Assessing the Importance of Beaver and Beaver-based Restoration to Riparian Communities in Prairie Systems December 2027
The Next Frontier: D&E Tools to estimate density via cameras to examine population impacts of CWD/Effects of Management June 2023
A Framework for guiding management decisions for amphibians July 2023
US FWS-UM Collaboration to Support Native American Graduate Students in Wildlife Biology July 2024
Wolverine Survey Analysis June 2024
Moose Population March 2024
Sage Grouse-Songbird Bug Grazing June 2024
Modeling host behavior and environmental transmission of chronic wasting disease July 2027
Investigating the Role of Host Behavior and Environmental Transmission in CWD Dynamics September 2025
Statistical model development to inform disease management in Montana June 2027
Highland's Sheep Project December 2027
Highland's Sheep Project December 2027
Building a modeling framework for understanding and predicting dynamics of diseases in wildlife: WNS surveillance as a case study July 2024
Application of systems modeling to identify novel approaches for wildlife health management September 2025
Applications of structured-decision making to disease systems February 2027
Improving management and surveillance decisions related to white nose syndrome by accounting for imperfect detection and misclassification error October 2023
Spatial Risk Factors August 2018
Padilla, Colton
PhD
colton.padilla@umontana.edu

Strickfaden, Kaitlyn
PhD
ks237242@umconnect.umt.edu

Presentations Presentation Date
Walsh, D.P., E. Robertson, and J. Marten. 2023. Using rapid prototyping to synthesize knowledge regarding the cause of an emerging disease. The Wildlife Society Annual Meeting, Louisville, KY, USA. November 5-9, 2023. (oral) November 2023
V. Boccadori, V., K. Proffitt, and D. P. Walsh. 2023. Highland Bighorn Sheep Project. Wild Sheep Working Group Test and Remove Workshop. (virtual) Reno, Nevada. 1/11/2023. January 2023
Tallon, A. K., J. Blanchong, D. Navarro, P. Euclide, C. Ott-Conn, D. P. Walsh, R. DeYoung, and E K. Latch. 2022. Development and application of a high-throughput genomic resource to inform white-tailed deer population and disease management. Part 2 of 2. The Wildlife Society Annual Conference. Spokane WA. 11/9/2022 November 2022
S. S. Lichtenberg, S. Thomas, D. Storm, and D. P. Walsh. Real-time quaking-induced conversion for prion detection in contaminated environmental samples. 2023. 4th International Symposium. Denver, Colorado, USA. 5/31/23-6/2/23. May 2023
Piel III, R. B., S. E. Veneziano, E. Nicholson, D. P. Walsh, T. A. Nichols, and D. A. Schneider. 2023. Disparate tissue effects of pre-analytic differential centrifugation and NaPTA precipitation on enhanced detection of CWD prions by RT-QuIC using RAMALT and MRPLN samples from naturally infected WTD. 4th International CWD Symposium, Denver, Colorado, USA. May 31-June 2, 2023. May 2023
McGahan, I., F. Mandujano, D. Storm, M. Gilbertson, S. Lichtenberg, J. Powell, D. Walsh, J. Zhu, W.C. Turner. Modeling host behavior and environmental transmission of chronic wasting disease. Annual Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases (CRWAD), Chicago, Illinois, USA, January 20-23, 2024. January 2023
Mandujano Reyes, J. F., I. P. McGahan, T. F. Ma, R.E. Russell, D. P. Walsh, and J. Zhu. 2023. Learning complex spatial dynamics of ecological processes with machine learning-guided partial differential equations. NeurIPS, New Orleans, LA,USA 12/10/23-12/16/23 December 2023
Ketz, A. C., D. J. Storm, W. C. Turner, and D. P. Walsh. 2023. Progression of a chronic wasting disease epizootic: A spatiotemporal integrated population model. 4th International CWD Symposium. Denver, Colorado, USA. May 31- June 2, 2023. May 2023
Katircioglu, S., M. Hunsaker, A. Herbst, S.S. Lichtenberg, D.J. Storm, D.P. Walsh, W.C. Turner. Comparing relative PrP(CWD) loads in soil from deer scrapes and food plots in southern Wisconsin. 4th International Conference on Chronic Wasting Disease May 2023
Inzalaco, H.N., M.L.J. Gilbertson, S. Katircioglu, K. Lepard, J. McEarl, A. Bibb, J. Dennison, D. Grove, A. Houston, D.J. Storm, D.P. Walsh, W.C. Turner, S.S. Lichtenberg. Artificial mineral sites that pre-date endemic chronic wasting disease become prion hotspots. 4th International Chronic Wasting Disease Symposium. Denver, Colorado, USA. May 30 – June 2, 2023. May 2023
Inzalaco, H.N., E.E. Brandell, S. Wilson, M. Hunsaker, D.R. Stahler, K. Woelfel, D.P. Walsh, D.J. Storm, S.S. Lichtenberg, W.C. Turner. A prion in a poop-stack: detection tools and carnivore-based surveillance of chronic wasting disease. 4th International Chronic Wasting Disease Symposium. Denver, Colorado, USA. May 30 – June 2, 2023. May 2023
Gilbertson, M.L.J., A. Ketz, M. Hunsaker, D.P. Walsh, D.J. Storm, W.C. Turner. Seasonal variation in white-tailed deer (<i>Odocoileus virginianus</i>) habitat selection, encounter locations, and chronic wasting disease transmission potential. 4<sup>th</sup> International Chronic Wasting Disease Symposium. Denver, Colorado, USA. May 30 – June 2, 2023. May 2023
Ensrud, M. N., D. P. Walsh, E. F. Cassirer, C. P. Lehman and J. A. Jenks. 2023. FURTHER EVIDENCE THAT THE REMOVAL OF MYCOPLASMA<br>OVIPNEUMONIAE CARRIER BIGHORN SHEEP INCREASES LAMB SURVIVAL. South Dakota Chapter of The Wildlife Society. Chamberlain-Oacoma, South Dakota, USA. March 7-10,2023. March 2023
Brandell, E. E., W. Turner, D. P. Walsh, D. Storm, B. Wojcik and T. Van Deelen. 2023. Evaluating white-tailed deer harvest in Wisconsin and relationships to management practices and chronic wasting disease. 4<sup>th</sup> International Chronic Wasting Disease Symposium. Denver, Colorado, USA. May 30 – June 2, 2023. May 2023
Boccadori, V., K. Proffitt, and D. P. Walsh. 2022. Testing the tools: Montana's Highlands bighorn sheep (<i>Ovis canadensis) </i>project. Northern Wild Sheep and Goat Council Symposium. Jackson Hole, Wyoming. 4/4-4/7/2022. April 2022
Blanchong, J., D. Navarro, A. K. Tallon, P. Euclide, C. Ott-Conn, D. P. Walsh, R. W. DeYoung, and E. K. Latch. Development and application of a high-throughput genomic resource to inform white-tailed deer population and disease management. Part 1 of 2. The Wildlife Society Annual Conference. Spokane, WA 11/9/2022. November 2022
Alison C. Ketz, Daniel J. Storm, Daniel P. Walsh. 2022. Anomaly detection: A multivariate time series algorithm for predicting changes in real time. The Wildlife Society Conference, Spokane, WA. 11/8/2022 November 2022
<b>Reyes, J. F. M., T. F. Ma, I. McGahan, D. J. Storm, D. P. Walsh, and J. Zhu. Physics-informed neural networks for spatio-temporal causal inference in wildlife disease modeling. Midwest Machine Learning Symposium. Dorin Forum, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, USA. May 16-17, 2023.</b><br><b> </b> May 2023
Technical Publications Publication Date
Hopkins, M.C., Carlson, C.M., Cross, P.C., Johnson, C.J., Richards, B.J., Russell, R.E., Samuel, M.D., Sargeant, G.A., Walsh, D.P., and Walter, W.D., 2019, Chronic wasting disease—Research by the U.S. Geological Survey and partners: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2019‒1109, 29 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20191109. | Download September 2019