Research

What We Do

Our broad research interests are in the ecology and conservation of populations. We employ and test new statistical techniques for understanding species abundances and distributions across landscapes. We use information from these observed patterns to test ecological and conservation theories. Further, we employ experiments over a wide variety of scales from the laboratory to aquatic and terrestrial mesocosms to large-scale forest manipulations. The diversity of scales allows for understanding different ecological processes while balancing control and realism. We work with managers and regulators to inform natural resource management decisions based on the best available science. These partnerships help us identify and prioritize future research projects.

Salamander Population and Adaptation Research Collaborative Network (SPARCNet)

We are working with a network of collaborators using a common set of experiments in many locations to understand impacts of land use and climate change on salamander populations, develop a model to describe local and regional drivers of population dynamics, and understand the spatial and temporal variability in terrestrial salamander populations. Find out more about SPARCNet.

Forecasting Climate Change Effects on Trout and Salamander Populations

Dr. Hocking is working with collaborators at UMass, USGS, and USFS to model climate change effects on brook trout and stream salamanders. We are using hierarchical Bayesian models to estimate abundance, occupancy, growth, survival, and recruitment while accounting for imperfect detection probabilities. We are also partitioning model uncertainty to help inform Structured Decision Models for managers and policymakers to develop evidence-based plans. You can find more information on the SDM portion of the project here and here and some press here). Our Spatial Hydro-Ecological Decision Support system (SHEDS) related to this project is under development at www.ecosheds.org.

Visit our webpage (http://streamfishmodeling.weebly.com/) for more information on some of our collaborative stream fish modeling.

Changes in Salamander Elevational Distributions with Climate Change

Collaborators: Bill Peterman, John Crawford, & Joe Milanovich. Models using habitat suitability and climate projections suggest that many salamanders through the southern Appalachian Mountains will experience significant declines over the next century. High elevation endemics are expected to be especially susceptible to climate warming. High elevation species can’t shift their entire distribution higher, so if the lower extent of their distribution moves higher, they lose a large area in these range contractions. We are studying the elevational distributions of Plethodontid salamanders in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We are also comparing these findings with historic presence-only data from museum specimens to understand how distributions have changed over time.

Here is a great video on Appalachian salamanders: http://vimeo.com/23474410. Most people don’t realize that the southern Appalachian mountains host the greatest diversity of salamanders of anywhere on the planet. The southern Appalachians are like the coral reefs of salamander biodiversity!

Spatial Ecology of Freshwater Turtles in the C&O Canal

Collaborators: Sean Sterrett. We are examining the spatial ecology of freshwater turtles in the upper end of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park. Near it's terminal in Cumberland Maryland, the canal is partially filled in sections creating a series of shallow, linear ponds. We are using spatial capture-recapture techniques to evaluate the density and movements of the resident turtles. Data are being collected as part of courses at Frostburg State University including Herpetology (BIOL 422/522), General Ecology (BIOL 340), and Quantitative Analysis of Vertebrate Populations (BIOL 414/514).

Statistical Code and R Packages