Department of Environmental Conservation

(Ph.D.)
 

Project:

Resource predictability and movement strategies in ungulates: does temporal uncertainty lead to nomadism?

Contact:

kirko “at” eco.umass.edu
 

Support:

National Science Foundation
University of Maryland, College Park
Conservation and Research Center, Smithsonian Institution
Wildlife Conservation Society
Institute of Biology – Mongolian Academy of Sciences

Web links: 

 http://www.wcs.org/globalconservation/Asia/177487/gazelle

Project abstract:

I have been focusing on developing an understanding of movement patterns, population size, human impacts and basic natural history of Mongolian gazelles in Mongolia ‘s vast eastern steppe. This has consisted of marking and tracking known individuals, conducting large scale driving transects, collecting vegetation and fecal samples, and carrying out household interviews of nomadic herders. This project has involved a great deal of collaborators. Much of this work is near completion and future efforts will focus on understanding how gazelles perceive changes in their environment in relation to movement patterns and investigation of wolves in the steppe. I also have had the opportunity to work with Dukha reindeer herding people in the remote forests of Northern Mongolia . Here the focus has been to investigate reasons for decline in the reindeer population and wildlife use by subsistence hunters.

Publications:

Frey, R., A. Gebler, K.A. Olson, D. Odonkhuu, G. Fritsch, N. Batsaikhan, and I.W. Stuermer. 2008. Mobile larynx in Mongolian gazelle: retraction of the larynx during rutting barks in male Mongolian gazelle (/Procapra gutturosa/ Pallas, 1777). Journal of Morphology 269:1223-1237.

Mueller, T., Olson, K. A., T. K. Fuller, G. B. Schaller, M. G. Murray, and P. Leimgruber. 2008. In search of forage: predicting dynamic habitats of Mongolian gazelles using satellite-based biomass estimates.  Journal of Applied Ecology 45:649-658
 
Frey, R., A. Gebler, K.A. Olson, D. Odonkhuu, G. Fritsch, N. Batsaikhan, and I.W. Stuermer. 2007.  Mobile larynx in male Mongolian gazelle (/Procapra gutturosa/ Pallas, 1777). Journal of Morphology 268:1074-1074.    

Nyamsuren, D., D.O. Joly, S. Enkhtuvshin, D. Odonkhuu, K.A. Olson, M. Draisma, and  W.B. Karesh.  2006.  Exposure of Mongolian gazelles (/Procapra gutturosa/) to foot and mouth disease virus. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 42:154-158.