African wild dogs

Intraguild competition mediates human avoidance in an endangered African large carnivore

Publications /

Excerpt from the abstract: Here, we examined the spatial behaviour of two sympatric large carnivore species exhibiting intense intraguild competition—lions and African wild dogs—to investigate whether intraguild competition mediates large carnivore responses to human disturbance in support of the anthropogenic refuge hypothesis. We found that lions consistently avoided human-dominated areas. Similarly, we found that wild dogs generally avoided human-dominated areas, […]

Intraguild competition mediates human avoidance in an endangered African large carnivore Read More »

Meet Marie-Pier

Abrahms Lab, Meet CES /

Welcome to Meet CES, where we get to meet the people behind the Center for Ecosystem Sentinels. In this first post we are meeting one of the newest members of the team, Marie-Pier Poulin. She received her BS in Biology from the Université du Québec in Rimouski in 2019, where she tracked arctic foxes in the Canadian tundra for her

Meet Marie-Pier Read More »

Abrahms Lab grad student Leigh West publishes first article

Abrahms Lab, News /

Congratulations to Leigh West, Dr. Abrahms’s graduate student, who just recently published her first paper as lead author. Her research article, “Droughts reshape apex predator space use and intraguild overlap,” was published in the Journal of Animal Ecology on October 4th, and also serves as the second chapter of her dissertation. This is an exciting milestone for Leigh as she

Abrahms Lab grad student Leigh West publishes first article Read More »

Droughts reshape apex predator space use and intraguild overlap

Publications /

From the Abstract:Droughts are increasing in frequency and severity globally due to climate change, leading to changes in resource availability that may have cascading effects on animal ecology. Although several studies have demonstrated the ecological impacts of drought, the behavioural responses of individuals that scale up to these broader-scale effects are not well known, particularly among animals in top trophic

Droughts reshape apex predator space use and intraguild overlap Read More »

Scale at the interface of spatial and social ecology

Publications /

From the abstract: “We propose three key innovations that incrementally build upon each other […] These conceptual innovations cast our understanding of the relationships between social and spatial dimensions of animal ecology in a new light, allowing a more holistic understanding and clearer hypothesis development for animal behaviour.” Authors: Simona Picardi, Briana L. Abrahms and Jerod A. MerkleJournal: Philosophical Transactions

Scale at the interface of spatial and social ecology Read More »

World African Wild Dog Day

News /

Happy World African Wild Dog Day! While most people know the Center for Ecosystem Sentinels for our work on penguins, we also research African Wild Dogs. In fact, Dr. Kasim Rafiq and graduate students Leigh West and Marie-Pier Poulin are just returning from Botswana right now! As usual, they worked alongside our collaborators from Botswana Predator Conservation over the summer.

World African Wild Dog Day Read More »

Ecosystem Sentinels as Early-Warning Indicators in the Anthropocene

Publications /

Authors: Elliott L. Hazen, Matthew S. Savoca T.J. Clark-Wolf, Max Czapanskiy, Peter M. Rabinowitz, and Briana AbrahmsJournal: Annual Review of Environment and ResourcesDOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-111522-102317 “Sentinel species, from birds to invertebrates, have been used to provide insights into ecosystem function, as leading indicators of risk to human health and as harbingers of future change, with implications for ecosystem structure and function.

Ecosystem Sentinels as Early-Warning Indicators in the Anthropocene Read More »

WRF Symposium

Abrahms Lab, News /

Dr. Kasim Rafiq recently presented his work on using animal-worn sensors to understand the impacts of environmental change on African wild dogs and lions at the Washington Research Foundation Symposium, who fund his position at the university. As part of this work, over the past two years, Kasim, Leigh West, and Dr. Briana Abrahms developed and deployed fitness trackers for

WRF Symposium Read More »

Welcome Marie-Pier and Meredith!

Abrahms Lab, News /

The Abrahms Lab is growing! This fall we will have two new grad students join us in the Center: Meredith HonigPenguin Camp Meredith is interested in how species interactions shape ecological communities and wildlife population dynamics, especially in the implications of global climate change on these processes. She received a BS in Wildlife and Conservation Biology from the University of

Welcome Marie-Pier and Meredith! Read More »

Abrahms Lab featured in AppleTV’s “EarthSounds”

Abrahms Lab, News /

If you ever wondered how we use acoustic collars to gain insights into the daily lives of African wild dogs, watch the new nature documentary series EarthSounds on AppleTV! Dr. Briana Abrahms and postdoc Dr. Kasim Rafiq were scientific consultants on the show, while Dr. Rafiq’s and grad student Leigh West‘s research was featured in the episode “Listening to Our

Abrahms Lab featured in AppleTV’s “EarthSounds” Read More »

Increasing ambient temperatures trigger shifts in activity patterns and temporal partitioning in a large carnivore guild

Publications /

Authors: Kasim Rafiq, Neil R. Jordan, Krystyna Golabek, John W. McNutt, Alan Wilsonand, Briana AbrahmsJournal: Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological SciencesDOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.1938 Shifts in species’ interactions are implicated as an important proximate cause underpinning climate-change-related extinction. However, there is little empirical evidence on the pathways through which climate conditions, such as ambient temperature, impact community dynamics… Photo credit: Krystyna

Increasing ambient temperatures trigger shifts in activity patterns and temporal partitioning in a large carnivore guild Read More »

Field updates: Readying the 2023 season

Abrahms Lab, Updates from the Field /

After Assistant Professor of Biology and Boersma Endowed Chair Dr. Briana Abrahms and her team deployed GPS-audio wildlife tracking collars on African wild dogs and lions during the summer of 2022, Dr. Abrahms and Dr. Kasim Rafiq, a postdoc in the Abrahms Lab, have been working with industry collaborators to build AI models that detect behaviors (such as hunting) and hunger levels

Field updates: Readying the 2023 season Read More »

Long-term, climate-driven phenological shift in a tropical large carnivore

Publications /

Authors: Briana Abrahms, Kasim Rafiq, Neil R. Jordan, and J. W. McNuttJournal: Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesDOI:10.1073/pnas.2121667119 Understanding the degree to which animals are shifting their phenology to track optimal conditions as the climate changes is essential to predicting ecological responses to global change…

Long-term, climate-driven phenological shift in a tropical large carnivore Read More »

A spatial capture–recapture model for group-living species

Publications /

Authors: Robert L. Emmet, Ben C. Augustine, Briana Abrahms, Lindsey N. Rich, Beth GardnerJournal: EcologyDOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3576 From the abstract: “Spatial capture–recapture (SCR) has been used to model both individual and group density in group-living species, but modeling either individual-level or group-level detection results in different biases due to common characteristics of group-living species, such as highly cohesive movement or variation in group size […]

A spatial capture–recapture model for group-living species Read More »

Scroll to Top