Predicting Livestock Depredation Risk by African Lions
European Journal of Wildlife Research, January 2020
Reducing human-wildlife conflicts by analyzing when and why lions attack livestock.
“I started at Northland as a junior transfer in Erik’s lab in 2013. I told him I was studying abroad in 2014 in Tanzania with the School for Field Studies and had to do a directed research project when I was there. He suggested I take some cameras along and turn it into an undergraduate research project. Erik has always pushed me to be a better student and researcher and I would not be in the position I am without his guidance.“ —Kristen Beattie ’15, graduate student and research assistant at the Wildlife & Fisheries Conservation Center at the University of Connecticut
A better understanding of life at the tops of trees.
“The lab provides ample opportunity for students to participate in all stages of the scientific process—from designing a research project to collecting data in the field and learning how to communicate research findings.”—Madison Laughlin ’18, a research scientist at the University of Washington in the Forest Landscape and Disturbance Ecology Lab. She is currently preparing a fourth paper on the arboreal behavior of the gray tree frog and will start graduate school in the fall.
The Great Lakes Entomologist, Volume 52, Spring/Summer 2019
Providing new insights into the boreal stonefly and their behaviors in the tops of trees.
“Publishing in a scientific journal during my undergraduate career made me a strong candidate for PhD assistantships and gave me invaluable experience in the difficult process of scientific writing and publication.” —Hannah Hoff ’19, PhD assistant in the Department of Plant Science and Plant Pathology at Montana State University-Bozeman
Wildlife Society Bulletin, April 2020
Revealing the monitoring benefits of acoustic triangulation in place of collars.
This research was the result of a study developed by Olson’s Wolf Ecology, Management & Research class in 2018. The authors, Jordyn O’Gara ’18, Charlie Weider ‘18, Elyse Mallinger ‘19, and Alyx Simon ’18, continued working on the research well after class concluded—including after graduation—in an effort to publish the work. Jordyn, the lead author, has also presented this research at multiple scientific conferences.
Journal of Mammalogy, January 24, 2019
Discovering that flying squirrels fluoresce pink.
“Erik’s lab provided an amazing opportunity to work with three professors to produce a manuscript for publication. Erik’s lab taught me how to select important questions, produce valuable research, present my findings, and how to get closer to nature and share her beauty with the world.” —Allison Kohler ’18, who is now a graduate student at Texas A&M.