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David Christianson

Postdoctoral Research Ecologist
Department of Ecology
310 Lewis Hall
Bozeman, MT 59717


 collaringelkandcalfnightlion

zcp
 Research Ecologist
Zambian Carnivore Program
South Luangwa National Park
Mfuwe, Zambia

*Ecological Applications (2011) data sources : Data sources cited in the 2011 Ecological Applicaitons ppaper "A survey of the effects of wolf predation risk on pregnancy rates and calf recruitment in elk" can be found on the ESA's Ecological Archives page.

Research Interests

 Curriculum Vitae

dave My broad research interests include population biology, predator-prey dynamics, conservation biology, evolutionary ecology, and behavioral ecology of large mammals.  I work primarily with large mammalian carnivores, large mammalian herbivores and the landscapes they occupy.  My general approach to research is to design and conduct field studies that will most directly test a priori hypotheses or generate novel insight using known individuals, direct observation, population surveys, non-invasive sampling, environmental monitoring, and remotely-sensed data.  I also develop and test theory based on modeling or meta-analyses of existing data.  I am interested in developing new techniques for studying the behavior, physiology, and life-history of free-ranging animals.  I work with data from very fine scales (e.g. describing selection for green grass in the dry season by female impala under immediate threat of predation by lions in Kenya), intermediate scales (e.g. comparing behavior of chamois and mouflon across National Parks in the French Alps), and very broad scales (e.g. modeling effects of primary production on decadal trends in recruitment across all of Wyoming’s elk populations).  I typically work in close collaboration with multiple partners pursuing similar or complementary research goals. 






Teaching


BIOE 440/BIOL 521 Conservation Biology


BIOE 303 General Ecology


BIOL 580 Teaching Controversial Science





Current Research Projects


cowelk
  • Effects of land-use, predation and management on wildlife contact and Brucella transmission in the Yellowstone Ecosystem  with Scott Creel- MSU Department of Ecology and Paul Cross-USGS Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center and in collaboration with Wyoming Game and Fish Department and Matt Kauffman-University of Wyoming.  My work in this research focuses on modelling population demography in Wyoming's 35 elk herds using historic data on predators, primary production, climate, disease, and management.  I am also exploring the effects of supplemental feeding on elk herbivory.


twolions
  • Risk effects in large carnivore-ungulate interactions: relationships between direct predation rates, antipredator responses and the costs of response with Scott Creel and Paul Schuette-MSU Department of Ecology and Matt Becker-Zambian Carnivore Programs.  This research builds off my work on predator-prey interactions in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem with wolves and elk and in the French Alps with wolves, mouflon and chamois.  We are using direct observation of large carnivores (lions, hyena & wild dogs) and their prey (giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, impala & gazelle) in Kenya and Zambia to desribe predation risk at fine spatio-temporal scales (e.g., hunting events) and coarse scales (e.g. ungulate home ranges) to explain evolutionary and ecological differences in prey vulnerability, predator preferences, and trade-offs between safety and nutrition in ungulate  tactics for survival, growth, and reproduction.


wildebeest
  • Restoring a Keystone Species for Transfrontier Conservation: Assessing Limitations to Wildebeest Recovery in the Liuwa Plain-Mussuma Ecosystem with Matt Becker-Zambian Carnivore Program, Fred Watson-California State University, Scott Creel-MSU, the African Parks Network.  In this exciting new research project, we will explore population regualation and ecosystem function in wildebeest in Liuwa Plains National Park of Eastern Zambia, an area of which little is known but is of great conservation and scientific interest as wildebeest and large carnivore numbers rebound following decades of unregulated harvest exacerabated by civil war in neighboring Angola.  Currently wildebeest numbers are estimated at 43,000 and increasing  5% annually.


zebra
  • The role of phenology and climate in shaping herbivory: the link between primary and secondary production in large herbivores.   Using the non-invasive fecal chlorophyll index to describe consumption of photosynthetic biomass by African and North American herbivores, I am linking herbivore foraging behavior with spatio-temporal variation in primary productivity.  Variation in phenology is likely the primary driver of variation in consmption of green plant biomass, so  seasonal and climatic variation in plant phenology should ultimately cascade down to large herbivores.






black wolf
  • Ecological consequences of wolf recovery in the Greater Yellowstone with John Winnie and Scott Creel- MSU Department of Ecology.  This work continues to quantify the responses of elk to variation in predation risk including responses in behavior, the costs of these responses, physiologically and demographically, and the impact of these costs on the population dynamics of both elk and wolves and the functioning of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.  This research began in 2001 and continues to unfold as we monitor one of the greaterst ecological experiments of our time. 




Publications


pdf
 		Creel, S., D. Christianson, and J. Winnie. In press. A survey of the effects of wolf predation risk on pregnancy rates and calf recruitment in elk. Ecological Applications.






pdf Griffin K. A., M. Hebblewhite, H. S. Robinson, P. Zager, S. M. Berber-Meyer, D. Christianson, S. Creel, N. C. Harris, M. A. Hurley, D. H. Jackson, B. K. Johnson, W. L. Myers, J. D. Raithel, M Schlegel, B. L. Smith, C. White, P. J. White. 2011. Neonatal mortality of elk driven by climate, predator phenology and predator community composition. Journal of Animal Ecology doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2011.01856.x.







Nilsen, E. B., D. Christianson, J. M. Gaillard, D. Halley, J. D. C. Linnel, M. Odden, M. Panzacchi, C. Toigo, B. Zimmermann. In press. Describing food habits and predation: field methods and statistical considerations. in Boitani L. and R. Powell (eds.) Carnivore Ecology and Conservation: A Handbook of Techniques. Oxford University Press.






pdf
 Christianson, D. and S. Creel. 2010. A nutritionally mediated risk effect of wolves on elk. Ecology 91:1184-1191.






pdf Christianson, D. 2009. La reproduction des cerfs en présence de loups dans le Yellowstone. Herbivorie Info 7:4.






pdf Creel, S. and D. Christianson. 2009. Wolf presence and increased willow consumption by Yellowstone elk: implications for trophic cascades. Ecology 90:2454-2466.






pdf Christianson, D. and S. Creel. 2009. Effects of grass and browse consumption on the winter mass dynamics of elk. Oecologia 158:603-613.






pdf Creel, S., J. A. Winnie, and D. Christianson. 2009. Glucocorticoid stress hormones and the effect of predation risk on elk reproduction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106:12388-12393.






pdf Christianson, D. and S. Creel. 2009. Fecal chlorophyll describes the link between primary production and consumption in a terrestrial herbivore. Ecological Applications 19:1323-1335.






pdf Christianson, D. and S. Creel. 2008. Risk effects in elk: sex-specific responses in grazing and browsing due to predation risk from wolves. Behavioral Ecology 19:1258-1266.






pdf Creel, S. and D. Christianson. 2008. Relationships between direct predation and risk effects. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 23:194-201.






pdf Creel, S., J. A. Winnie, D. Christianson, and S. Liley. 2008. Time and space in general models of antipredator response: tests with wolves and elk. Animal Behaviour 76:1139-1146.






pdf Christianson, D. A. and S. Creel. 2007. A review of environmental factors affecting elk winter diets. Journal of Wildlife Management 71:164-176.






pdf Creel, S., D. Christianson, S. Liley, and J. A. Winnie. 2007. Predation risk affects reproductive physiology and demography of elk. Science 315:960-960.






pdf Winnie, J., D. Christianson, S. Creel, and B. Maxwell. 2006. Elk decision-making rules are simplified in the presence of wolves. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 61:277-289.






pdf Christianson, D. A., P. J. P. Gogan, K. M. Podruzny, and E. M. Olexa. 2005. Incisor wear and age in Yellowstone bison. Wildlife Society Bulletin 33:669-676.