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Coupled Human Natural Systems

and Quantitative Conservation Biology

The era in which we now live has been called the anthropocene, suggesting that humans have become such a global force that we fundamentally alter global ecological interactions, the carbon and nitrogen cycles, the ecology of infectious diseases, and our own climate. In some cases, management actions informed by science can mitigate or reverse negative anthropogenic environmental impacts. For example, the scientific discovery of the ozone hole led to international action to regulate ozone depleting chemicals. My approach to science is to combine empirical data with quantitative methods to provide ecological inExample image - aligned to the rightsight that informs management. My focus is broad, extending from understanding how to assess the spatial extent and ecological consequences of defaunation induced by hunters, to fisheries management, the ecology and conservation of predators, disease ecology, and population dynamics in a changing climate. In each case, anthropogenic impacts have altered biotic interactions, and these alterations have consequences for things that humans care about, which is where management options need to be considered. Although my work is rooted in ecology and applied mathematics, It is interdisciplinary because it uses science to consider a hierarchy of interactions including ecological effects, and the resulting implications for human livelihoods and health.