Joe Sexton
Graduate Student,
Utah State University

 

Bachelor of Science, 1999
Major: Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

 

I came into the WEC program sure that I wanted to study reptiles and amphibians in 'natural' environments. The courses, seminars, and field experience in WEC quickly made me realize that there are more parties claiming rights to natural resources than native plants and animals, and that strong linkages existed between natural and anthropogenic processes in ecosystems. I left UF with knowledge of the ecological patterns and processes that structure ecosystems, and a greater understanding of the effects of a growing human population on those systems…and with the

 

realization that I needed to go to graduate school to pursue my long-term career goals in research on the interactions of human and 'natural' systems.

I continued with graduate studies in the Landscape Ecology, Modeling and Analysis Center of the Department of Forest Resources, Utah State University. My graduate research focuses on the decline of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides). Stands of this tree are a key component of wildlife habitat in the Intermountain Western U.S. I am using satellite imagery, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and traditional methods of forest sampling to examine distributions of aspen stands and to produce spatial databases for ecologists studying wildlife habitat relationships. This work incorporates tools from the areas of landscape ecology, physical geography, statistical modeling, mathematics, and computer programming. As computer technology expands, researchers and managers in the field of wildlife ecology and conservation biology increasingly are using geographic information sytems (GIS) and remote sensing to address issues related to wildlife habitat, wildland fire, species invasion, deforestation, urban growth, and global climate change. After graduating from Utah State University in May 2003, I will continue, use and develop these tools in a Ph.D. program at Duke University.

Joe Sexton
Doctoral Research Associate
Duke University
Levine Science Research Center Box 90328
Durham, NC 27708
Jos2@duke.edu