Research Projects

Mad Dog Initiative

Collaborators: Kim Valenta, Zoavina Randriana, Rado Rafaliariason, & Sarah Zohdy

Project: We are working to protect wildlife via cat and dog control programs across Madagascar. We are investigating the effects of cats and dogs on native wildlife via direct and indirect interactions and disease transmission. To date, we have treated >3,000 dogs and cats across Ranomafana and Andasibe-Mantadia regions.

Madagascar Carnivore Ecology

Collaborators: Brian D. Gerber, Asia Murphy, & Erin Wampole

Project: For the last 15 years we have been surveying, estimating, and investigating threats to Madagascar's carnivore community across eastern rainforest habitat.

Free-ranging dog, cat range, activity, and behavior

Collaborators: Brian D. Gerber and Ntsoa Ramarondrinaibe

Project: We have started tracking dogs and cats across multiple villages bordering the Andasibe-Mantadia protected landscape to estimate home range, explore activity patterns, and improve our understanding of how these exotic carnivores influence native wildlife.

Toxoplasmosis in Madagascar

Collaborators: Sarah Zohdy, Kayleigh Chalkowski, Kim Valenta, Zoavina Randriana, & Rado Rafaliariason, &

Project: After our initial season in the Andasibe region of Madagascar, we found high levels of Toxo in the free-ranging cat population and we have begun exploring the prevalence of this pathogen and its transmission to local people in and around Andasibe.

Lemur Population Dynamics: Occupancy & Density

Collaborators: Brian D. Gerber and Edgar Villeda

Project: For the past 15 years I have worked with collaborators to provide estimates for numerous lemur species across eastern Madagascar, primarily focusing on how anthropogenic pressures are influencing these threatened, endemic primates.

Predator-primate interactions

Collaborators: Mamadou Kane, Susan Lappan

Project: Using a data set from camera traps across a Senegales protected area, we are exploring how primate spatial dynamics change in response to predators across two protected areas in Senegal.