Current Graduate Students in the Creel Lab at MSU

Wigganson Matandiko (PhD): Fulbright Fellow and NSF GRA. Wigganson will examine interactions between predators and prey in three Zambian National Parks, especially Kafue National Park. His work will focus on factors that affect ungulate herd sizes, the rate of contact among individuals with herds, and seroprevalence for several diseases.  Wigganson is co-supervised by Matt Becker of the Zambia Carnivore Programme.  He was the chief veterinary officer for ZAWA, the Zambian Wildlife Authority, before beginning his PhD.

Angela Brennan (PhD):  NSF GRA and Fulbright Fellow. Angela, co-advised by Dr. Paul Cross of USGS, is developing a project to examine the ecology and epidemiology of brucellosis in elk on Wyoming feedgrounds and the Yellowstone Ecosystem.  Her main project examines the factors that affect the size and spatial distribution of elk herds, and the relationship between these variables and changes in the seroprevalence of Brucella.  Because predation risk and snow conditions are two of the factors that affect the distribution and aggregation of elk, she has also published research on methods to detect wolves over large areas (howlboxes) and the consequences of modelling the distibution of snow rather than measuring it directly.

Jassiel M'Soka (MS):  Wildlife Conservation Network Scholarship and NSF GRA.  Jassiel is examining the demography and ecology of spotted hyenas in an ecosystem with very low density of their strong competitor the lion.  His field work is in Liuwa Plain National Park, where he is also involved in a study of the migratory wildebeest population.  Jassiel is co-supervised by Matt Becker of the Zambia Carnivore Programme, and was an ecologist for the Zambian Wildlife Authority prior to beginning his graduate work.

Eli Rosenblatt (MS): MSU GTA and WWF GRA.  Eli's project has two main elements.  First, he is conducting a survey of population size and occupancy patterns of leopards and their prey in South Luangwa National Park, using data from a grid of motion sensitive cameras.  Second, he is developing a new method to estimate population size through pedigree reconstruction, conducting simulations to validate the method, and applying it to the lion population of South Luangwa with SNP genotypes (in collaboration with Goran Spong of the Univeristy of Umea).