Education:

2000 B.Sc. Environmental Biology, Millersville University of Pennsylvania

2000 B. A. Applied Geography, Millersville University of Pennsylvania

Investigating habitat selection, home ranges, and movements of feral pigs on Fort Benning, Georgia.

Objectives:
Feral pigs are an invasive species with the potential to negatively affect native ecosystems. This study is a manipulative experiment designed to examine habitat use, movements, and home ranges of feral pigs on Ft. Benning. It has the following objectives:

1. To provide detailed information on the home ranges, movements, and habitat use of feral pigs on Ft. Benning through the use of GPS and VHF telemetry.
2. Examine changes in these variables during an intensive removal campaign.
3. Identify habitats at Ft. Benning that are especially at risk to impacts of feral pigs.

Progress:
A combination of techniques including lethal hunting and trapping has been used to remove pigs in the treatment area. This effort has removed over 200 pigs from the treatment area since the beginning of the project. The final mark-recapture session was completed in July 2006. This summer we captured 126 pigs 222 times. This data will be used to estimate pig density in the control and treatment areas.

We have retrieved data from 26 sows affixed with GPS\VHF radio collars resulting in over 7,000 GPS locations and all collars have been retrieved at this time. Increasing our knowledge of the habitat use and movements of feral pigs on Fort Benning should improve efficiency of control efforts. Pig exclosures and damage survey transects were also sampled again this summer. Information collected through exclosures and damage survey transects should provide information on potential impacts to sensitive species and habitats.