University of Wyoming Ph.D. candidate Jonathan Pauli holds an anesthetized American
marten while conducting fieldwork in Alaska's Tongass National Forest.
Work with an elusive predator in Alaskan forests has earned University of Wyoming student Jonathan Pauli the American Society of Mammalogists' Graduate Fellowship.
Pauli was honored for his work with American martens, carnivorous mammals that prey upon rodents and songbirds and scavenge larger animals such as deer and salmon. Pauli's research has resulted in novel molecular and stable isotopic tools to identify characteristics of wild animals, such as individual identity, gender and age, to better understand their population processes.
"These tools will help to answer important questions on how these predators are affected by logging activities in Alaska," says Pauli. His research also involved martens that live in Wyoming's Snowy Range.
The ASM offers one fellowship annually to recognize current accomplishments in mammalogy, service to ASM, and the potential for a productive, future role in professional mammalogy.
The fellowship continues the international recognition of Pauli's research. Last year, he won the Southwood Prize, a prestigious annual award of the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology. The award was for his research on the effects of recreational shooting on black-tailed prairie dog colonies in northeastern Wyoming. He also received a Menkens Fellowship and research awards from the National Science Foundation and the UW Graduate School.
Pauli, of Madison, Wis., earned his master's degree in zoology and physiology from UW in 2005. His advisers are Steve Buskirk and Merav Ben-David, professors in the UW Program in Ecology, Department of Zoology and Physiology.
Posted on Thursday, July 23, 2009