Tabitha Graves Email & Phone Number

West Glacier, Mt, Us

West Glacier, Mt

I am evaluating the influence of habitat and land-use on grizzly bear dispersal, investigating alternative methods for monitoring bighorn sheep, researching a potential citizen science approach to monitoring berries and other bear foods, and working on optimal monitoring methods for wildlife populations to improve our understanding of management actions and climate change.

Fort Collins, Co

I investigated ways to choose optimal spatially explicit sample designs for occupancy and spatial capture recapture questions that minimize cost, maximize precision of one or more demographic parameters, or balance cost and precision.

Flagstaff, Arizona

For my dissertation I studied the spatial ecology of grizzly bears in northwestern Montana. I am linking habitat and human disturbance to bear abundance, dispersal, and gene flow. I explored the theoretical relationships between genetic and geographic distance and evaluated the use of Mantel correlations and inter-individual genetic distance metrics as a tool to estimate the resistance of landscape to gene flow.

West Glacier, Mt

Analyzed spatial aspects of genetic data, provided the Northern Divide Grizzly Bear Project (NDGBP) technical expertise in the utilization of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for ecological research applications, assisted in the development and coordination of GIS projects, and prepared graphics for multimedia presentations to various technical and non-technical audiences. Participated in a variety of bear research activities including analysis of grizzly bear movement and genetic data which required specialized knowledge of bear ecology. Recommended and implemented appropriate methods and approaches to compile, assemble, store, retrieve, and evaluate information from multiple databases. Used a variety of software applications to capture, manipulate, maintain, and analyze digital data files. Created data layers as specified in project objectives. Analyzed data using GIS and statistical programs and prepared appropriate reports and manuscripts for publication. This work required specific knowledge in geostatistics, spatial point process statistics, time series statistics, genetics, connectivity metrics, landscape ecology, and bear biology.

Missoula, Mt

Conducted research including collaboration with representatives of many agencies and organizations, grant-writing, experimental design, bear trapping, data collection and management, statistical, spatial & biological analysis, result presentation, and manuscript and report preparation. Acted as technical advisor on GPS collars, road counter, and statistical and spatial software. Analyzed brown bear relationship to highways on the Kenai Peninsula, AK. Wrote GIS code to simulate brown bear movement. Used Access, Excel, SPSS, and ArcGIS to assess landscape processes, particularly how movements related to brown bear ecology and conservation. Trapped and monitored grizzly bears in the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem to collect information about bear recovery.

Ph.D., Forest Science (Focus On Wildlife Biology)

Activities and Societies: Forestry Graduate Student Association: President 2009-2010. Graduate Student Organization: Forestry.

M.Sc., Wildlife Biology

Activities and Societies: Coordinated brown bag lunch series for Women in Natural Resources student group; student representative.

B.A., German Literature - Honors