The Robins Awards are the most coveted of all Utah State honors, and the awards night is the year’s most prestigious event. They reward students and faculty for hard work and dedication to their individual goals, as well as the goals of USU. This year, our very own Jarod Raithel was nominated for the Graduate Student Teacher of the Year award: This award goes to the graduate researcher at Utah State University who has shown superior research capability and academic excellence. David Iles (David Koons' lab) was nominated for the Graduate Student Researcher of the Year award: This award goes to the graduate instructor at Utah State University who has demonstrated superior teaching capability and academic excellence.

From left to right: Jarod Raithel, Heather Raithel, Dave Koons, Elsa Koons, Lise Aubry, and Dave Iles

Great work by Dakin Henderson (Lost Cabin Production). www.hcn.org/articles/wild-science-uinta-ground-squirrels-and-climate-change

The goals of this research project based in Logan Canyon, Utah are to 1) measure climate-driven variability in the phenology and demography of a hibernating species over a 50-year period; 2) understand the ecological and physiological processes that mediate this variability and associated fitness consequences; 3) predict ecosystem responses to changes in small mammal abundance in light of climate change. Research will be supported by both historical (1960s-70s) and contemporary data collection (2013-present) on the ecology, phenology, and demography of the Uinta ground squirrel, an alpine species endemic to the Western US. For additional information contact Dr. Lise Aubry, Email: [email protected]

picture credit: Carsten Meier

Tanisha and Autumn are visiting students from the Blanding Campus. They are learning about ecological responses to climate change in our lab through field and lab activities, and looking good doing it!

I seek a motivated undergraduate student interested in helping with fieldwork this spring / summer under my supervision. Your contribution could potentially evolve into an undergraduate research project in the fall if interested. Fieldwork activities typically take place between May and July, from 8am to 2pm, 2 to 3 times a week. This is a chance to become skilled in a number of field technics (e.g. live trapping, pit-tagging, taking biometric measurements, taking samples) to learn about potential changes in the demography, immunity, stress physiology, and genetics of a hibernator in response to climate change. To inquire about this opportunity, please contact me via email at [email protected], and please send your Curriculum Vitae, GPA and copy of transcripts.

Is anthropogenic cougar mortality compensated by changes in natural mortality in Utah?

Insight from long-term studies

Find out more here!

Methods for studying cause-specific senescence in the wild. These efforts were led by David Koons here at USU: 

David N. Koons, Marlène Gamelon, Jean-Michel Gaillard, Lise M. Aubry, Robert F. Rockwell, François Klein, Rémi Choquet & Olivier Gimenez

Find out more here!