Gaining a comprehensive understanding of how wildlife are adapting to urban environments
Our research pushes animal cognition and urban ecology forward by bringing traditional tests of animal cognition into the field. We study carnivores, discovering novel and critical insights into the evolution of intelligence, how species deal with anthropogenic disturbance, and how we can mitigate conflict between humans and urban wildlife.
Cognition
We quantify cognitive abilities of individual wild animals in urban spaces and determine how cognition may be enabling these individuals to utilize novel resources in urban environments. We also examine the role of animal cognition in human-wildlife conflict.
Sociality
We study how urbanization alters the sociality of urban carnivores. Specifically, we examine whether clumped and abundant anthropogenic resources alter social network structure, interspecific interactions, and social tolerance of urban carnivores.
Environmental Harshness & Complexity
There can be large differences in how habitable an urban space is for wildlife across different neighborhoods in the same city. We examine how features of an urban space affect the ecology, cognition, and behavior of urban wildlife.
Health
Urban wildlife consume more human food, are exposed to new and different diseases, and can experience a lot of stress. We examine the impacts of urbanization on wildlife health and the connections between health, cognition, and behavior.
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The Urban Wildlife Project
The University of British Columbia Urban Wildlife Project (UBC UWP) is an internationally renowned long-term urban ecology project that focuses on gaining a comprehensive understanding of how wildlife are adapting to cities.
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