ncarter
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Postdoctoral Alumnus
Neil is broadly interested in the dynamics and governance of complex socio-environmental systems, particularly as they relate to wildlife conservation. Neil’s PhD research at Michigan State University evaluated the dynamics of a socio-environmental system comprising Nepal’s Chitwan National Park – a global biodiversity hotspot – with an emphasis on how these dynamics influence the conservation of tigers and impact human livelihoods. As a postdoc at SESYNC Neil will synthesize datasets from disparate disciplines to develop a spatially-explicit, agent-based model of the reciprocal interactions between people and the environment in Chitwan. Using the model Neil will examine future socioeconomic (e.g., subsistence needs) and ecological (e.g., tiger habitat) impacts of different conservation policy scenarios (e.g., payments for ecosystem services). Neil’s postdoc work will advance efforts to simultaneously conserve wildlife and meet human resource needs along the interface of subsistence-based communities and natural ecosystems.
| Resources | |
|---|---|
| A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Illegal Killing of Large Carnivores |
Nov 16, 2016 Article published in Ambio. |
| Co-Adaptation is Key to Coexisting with Large Carnivores |
Jul 05, 2016 Article published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution. |
| Realizing Coexistence Between People & Large Carnivores in Shared Landscapes |
Aug 06, 2015 Poster presented at the 27th International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB) and the 4th European Congress for Conservation Biology (ECCB), held on August 2–6, 2015 in Montpellier, France. |
| Modeling tiger population and territory dynamics using an agent-based approach |
Jun 24, 2015 Article published in Ecological Modelling. |
| A simple example of a socio-environmental system: coupled rabbit and farm dynamics |
Jan 12, 2015 Quantitative models are excellent tools for understanding the dynamics of complex socio-environmental systems (SES), and for explicating those dynamics in a meaningful way to students. Here we utilize both a dynamical and an agent-based model to examine a suite of human-environment interactions in a hypothetical SES. Specifically, the hypothetical SES involves the management of rabbit populations while maximizing nearby farm productivity and profitability. The purpose of this exercise is to demonstrate how manipulating different components of these two alternative models can help students visualize and analyze key features of the SES, such as feedbacks and adaptation. The models also allow students to assess how different decisions, like implementing certain policies, influence tradeoffs and synergies in the SES. |
| Impacts of people and tigers on leopard spatiotemporal activity patterns in a global biodiversity hotspot |
Dec 09, 2014 Article published in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation. |
| Coupled human and natural systems approach to wildlife research and conservation |
Sep 12, 2014 Article published in the journal Ecology and Society. |
| Assessing spatiotemporal changes in tiger habitat across different land management regimes |
Oct 18, 2013 Article published in the October 2013 issue of Ecosphere. |