Jonathan Cole

Concordia University
Ph.D. candidate

Supervisor: Jochen Jaeger
Start: 2017-09-05
End: 2023-12-31

Project

Changes in habitat amount, fragmentation, and connectivity in the Adirondacks to Laurentians (A2L) transboundary wildlife linkage: Implications for conservation and restoration policy and practice.
Jonathan’s PhD research involves measuring changes in habitat amount, fragmentation, and connectivity in the Adirondacks to Laurentians (A2L) transboundary wildlife linkage from 1992 to 2018. This work is conducted at three spatial scales (study area, provincial/state portion, MRC)/county) using six species (eastern wolf, black bear, fisher, moose, white-tailed deer and porcupine). The purpose of his research is to locate priority areas for protection and ecological restoration as well as pin-point optimal sites for the placement of wildlife crossing structures and fencing. Another aspect of Jonathan’s research involves the establishment of optimal configurations for wildlife crossing structures and fencing to reduce animal-vehicle collisions and increase species connectivity.

Keywords

Effective Mesh Size, Linkage Mapper, CircuitScape, KDE+