Todd MacKenzie - Physics & Biology

Todd is working on a computer simulation model to describe animal movement in fragmented habitats.  Habitat fragmentation occurs when natural habitats like forests are chopped into smaller sections by agriculture, forestry, or other human development and it is currently a very real threat for conservation of many species.  The animal populations in the resulting small habitats are isolated from each other, and don’t mix as easily with other populations as they would if the habitats were continuous.  Therefore, inbreeding and local extinctions can occur, and recolonization from other fragments depends on the health of those populations, as well as the distance between fragments.  One possible way to improve the movement between fragments is to construct corridors of habitat between them, therefore connecting isolated populations.  Animal movement studies have shown that corridors work for several species, though other species do not use them as freely, so information is needed about how to effectively construct corridors.  Todd’s project has been to create a computer simulation model to study the effects of confinement on animal movement in complex fragmented landscapes.  The model is being used to systematically study the effects of corridor length, width and composition on animal movement and to compare against both theory and movement data obtained from field studies conducted during the previous summer.