Kristin Brunk

Research interests

I have a wide range of interests but am broadly interested in how anthropogenic influences affect the behavioral ecology, adaptation, and conservation of species. I believe that understanding as much as possible about organisms and the ecosystems they inhabit is the best way to begin to conserve biodiversity. I am interested in conducting research that both answers basic scientific questions and has real-world applications for the conservation of biodiversity.

In my PhD research with Dr. Zach Peery and Dr. Anna Pidgeon, I aim to (1) understand how local-scale land management and broad-scale oceanographic conditions contribute to long-term occupancy dynamics of an endangered seabird, the Marbled Murrelet, (2) assess current management strategies for Steller's Jay populations in high-use areas where their populations have high potential to affect Marbled Murrelet reproductive success, and (3) understand how human food subsidies may affect species' space-use strategies, fitness, and dominance hierarchies in a behavioral ecology context.