Melissa Bauer Email & Phone Number

Durham, NH, US

• Assessing the response of New England cottontail populations to prior and ongoing habitat restoration with spatially explicit genetic capture-recapture estimates of cottontail density and abundance in the R package.
• Using the individual-based, spatially explicit simulation model CDPOP to predict the outcome of future habitat management and reintroduction restoration scenarios on cottontail population persistence in a small.
• Monitoring reintroduced New England cottontail populations in Maine and New Hampshire and breeding success and pedigrees for founder rabbits and their offspring in an outdoor breeding enclosure at Great Bay National.

Durham, New Hampshire

• Thesis: Assessing the effects of habitat restoration on shrubland specialists: case study on the New England cottontail and shrubland birds
• Used occupancy modeling in program PRESENCE to identify habitat associations for 5 shrubland-obligate bird species on sites managed for New England cottontails. Used multivariate approaches to identify 12.
• Used noninvasive genetic sampling to monitor the reproductive success of founder New England cottontails at reintroduction sites. Tracked the population growth, genetic diversity, and dispersal of the first.
• Used landscape genetic tools and expert opinion to optimize a model relating barrier and facilitating landscape features to cottontail genetic structure. Parameterized an individual-based, spatially explicit simulation.

Multiple Field Sites Throughout Iowa

• Crew leader for bird, vegetation, and butterfly surveys. Individually conducted avian point count surveys for breeding and migratory species in forest, wetland, and prairie habitats. Trained crew members in butterfly.
• Conducted odonate, amphibian, reptile, and mussel surveys. Conducted mark-recapture small mammal surveys.

Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, NJ

• Developed the scientific protocol for a forest assessment of wetland and upland forest health in a team of three. Team lead for field data collection. Conducted analyses of forest health and biodiversity metrics and.
• Located cryptic shorebird nests and monitored nest success and parental activity of Piping Plovers, Least Terns, Black Skimmers, and American Oystercatchers.
• Conducted Saltmarsh Habitat and Avian Research Program (SHARP) point counts, marsh vegetation surveys, and surveyed secretive marsh birds (King Rail, Virginia Rail, Black Rail, and Clapper Rail) with broadcast call.
• Conducted nekton surveys and Surface Elevation Table readings. Constructed and monitored living shorelines and conducted water and air quality testing.

Glacier Bay National Park, AK

• Performed focal follows on Kittlitz’s Murrelets and distinguished closely related species at distances up to 1,000 meters. Classified behavior of individuals for activity budgets to determine the frequency and.
• Successfully maneuvered a skiff through ice fields and cruise ship wake and climbed slick cliffs with gear to reach observation sites.

St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, FL

• Navigated 120 kilometers of line transects through pine sandhill and dense scrub habitat, scoped and classified 800 Gopher Tortoise burrows, and documented burrow commensal species in order to determine population.
• Assisted with Red-cockaded Woodpecker artificial cavity installation and nest monitoring.

Master’S Degree, Natural Resources - Wildlife And Conservation Biology

Thesis: Assessing the effects of habitat restoration on shrubland specialists: case study on the New England cottontail and shrubland birds

Bachelor’S Degree, Environmental Science And Policy - Wildlife Ecology And Management