Welcome!
Structural ecology is the study of how organisms interact with the 2- and 3-dimensional structure of their environment. In practice, this means trying to understand how animals respond to their surroundings as revealed by their movement, and the implication of this for their ability to survive and thrive on that landscape.
Our lab studies metapopulation dynamics, individual and collective animal movements in complex landscapes, and other issues of spatial ecology and conservation. We collaborate closely with the Swarm Lab at NJIT.
Elephant tracks in Etosha National Park, Namibia.
My other lab
I am also a co-PI of the Urban Ecology Lab at NJIT, an undergraduate-focused group conducting research on campus, in Newark, and elsewhere.
News
23 May, 2026My former PhD student Andrew Mashintonio has been promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure at Kutztown University! Congratulations to Andrew. He has continued to study animal distribution and movement patterns, and recently published a paper in collaboration with another former student, Tanya Lubansky, on [changing humpback whale distributions in the Gulf of Maine](https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.70134), which was the topic of Tanya's PhD dissertation. Nice to see the academic family working together!
19 May, 2025Lilith Janevska, a Biology and Math double major and member of the Urban Ecology Lab, will be working this summer on her project to develop an inexpensive device for detectig and recording bird window strikes.
3 May, 2025ESA finally confirmed acceptance of my presentation: Baltimore here we come!